The Weak Knife-Wielding Girl

"Run!"

"This way! The gym is over here!" Jason shouted as he sprinted ahead.

Bang!

While running, the four of them shot at the zombies closing in from all directions, trying to keep them at bay. Their speed wasn't very fast due to the heavy backpacks filled with supplies, and they had to constantly clear zombies from their path.

The zombies behind them were relentless, and now nearly forty of them were following closely.

"Pick up the pace, everyone!" Hank called from the front.

"We can't keep this up! If we keep running like this, we'll lead the zombies straight to the gym!" Jason looked back at the growing horde, realizing they couldn't shake them off. They needed to find a way to deal with them.

"Hank, what do we do now?" Jason shouted as they ran.

"I don't know! There are too many of them!" Hank responded, his voice strained.

"Ah! We're going to die! I don't want to die!" Simon started his usual panicked shouting.

"Shut up, fatass! Keep making noise and I'll feed you to the zombies!" Sakura snapped at Simon.

"If it comes to it, we can use a grenade!" Hank shouted.

"A grenade? That'll only draw more zombies! We'd be surrounded by hundreds of them!" Jason imagined the chaos that would follow and immediately stopped him. "We can't do that!"

"Then how about a Molotov cocktail?" Hank suggested.

"A Molotov's good! Let's burn them!" Simon said, eagerly reaching for the Molotov cocktail hanging from his chest.

"We can't just keep running like this! The Molotovs won't do anything unless we're in the right place!" Sakura pointed out.

"Quick! Everyone, head for the field!"

Jason's eyes lit up when he saw dried leaves under a tree root. This is perfect!

The autumn grass had withered, and the field was filled with tall weeds. If they could lure the zombies onto the grass and throw Molotovs around the perimeter, they'd create an instant firestorm.

The four of them ran, fighting zombies along the way, and reached the west side of the field. There weren't many zombies here yet, and the area was open, but behind them, nearly a hundred zombies were in hot pursuit!

The ground itself seemed to shake under the weight of the horde.

"Quick! Throw one to each side!" Jason shouted.

They reached the center of the field and tossed their Molotovs. The flames erupted, turning the field into an inferno.

The entire field was engulfed in fire in an instant, the flames rising higher as the zombies were trapped in the fiery hellscape.

On the Gym Roof

The students on the rooftop saw Jason and his group leap out of the office building window, followed by a horde of zombies.

"Oh no, this is it!"

"Yeah, I thought they were coming to rescue us, but it looks like they're just bringing the end here."

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"Look! They're leading the zombies straight to us!"

"Are they stupid? Trying to die and taking us down with them?"

The students murmured among themselves.

"Anyone with weapons, follow me! We need to help them!" The older student said, her gaze fixed on the approaching group.

She wasn't doing this for the students on the roof or for herself. It was for those who had come to them, fighting for survival.

The other students hesitated, making excuses, and the older student's eyes darkened with disappointment. Without a word, she turned and headed down.

"Senior, you can't go! That's just walking into certain death!" One student stepped forward to stop her.

"Move." The older student's voice was cold, and the student, sensing her determination, quickly stepped aside.

On the Field

As the fire began to die down, most of the zombies had been burned beyond recognition, their ability to move destroyed. The more resilient ones were dispatched by Jason and the others with their knives.

Their combat gear was high-end, made by the Dawn Tower, fireproof, waterproof, and resistant to scratches—perfect for these kinds of situations.

"I've killed people... I'm sorry... Don't blame me..." Simon muttered as he stabbed another zombie, his mind clearly unfocused.

Jason, however, was still frowning, unable to calm his racing thoughts. Nearly a hundred zombies had fallen in front of him, and the reality of the deaths weighed heavily on him.

"We need to go." Hank said, his voice tight after the battle.

The four of them stepped out of the field, covered in ashes. Though they weren't burned, the heat and the smoke, combined with the bloody scenes they had just witnessed, almost made Jason throw up.

Thankfully, there weren't many zombies left near the gym, as they had intentionally passed by it, drawing the remaining zombies away and killing them along the way.

Unaware of the curses thrown at them from the rooftop, the group finally reached the gym's entrance.

There, a girl was weakly leaning against the door, holding a long knife with a dulled blade. The ground was littered with corpses in various positions.

Jason immediately recognized her as the same girl he had seen through the binoculars earlier.

Seeing her fighting ability made Jason understand why she had managed to survive so long. She was tough.

When the girl saw them, her tense posture loosened, and she collapsed to the ground, realizing the danger had passed.

Simon couldn't help but swallow nervously when he saw her.

"Whoa… She's so strong... How can a girl be this brutal?" He muttered in disbelief.

"Hey, are you alright?" Jason quickly ran to her and helped her to her feet.

"I'm fine, just need to rest for a bit," the girl weakly replied, attempting to stand, only to fall back against Jason.

"Eat something first." Jason pulled out some compressed biscuits and a bottle of water from his bag, opening them and handing them to the girl.

The girl stared at the food and water in Jason's hands, her eyes misting over.

For days, she had been protecting her classmates, but when it came to food distribution, there was no special treatment. They all got the same amount. After fighting non-stop, she could feel her strength fading.

She could have survived alone, but she didn't want to be like that. She couldn't bring herself to take food from others or hurt her classmates. That would make her no different from the zombies.

"Um… Sakura, since there's a difference between men and women, could you carry her upstairs?" Jason asked, looking at Sakura.

"Hmph! Now you know there's a difference, huh? You didn't say that when you were the one running up to help her," Sakura shot him a look.

After a brief silence, the five of them made their way up to the roof. It was already past 5 PM, and the sky was starting to darken.

Jason looked at the students with weapons, his frown deepening. In this apocalypse, he could understand their actions, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth.

If it weren't for the mission and the need to gain survival points, he wouldn't have bothered helping them.

"Ah! Senior, you're back! Hello, big brothers! Please, have a seat and rest!" One student immediately rushed up to flatter them.

"Are you from the government? You're here to save us, right? Thank goodness!" Another student chimed in, and the rest quickly followed suit.

Jason, seeing the swarm of students, said nothing. He simply raised his gun.