The engineering workshop doors slammed shut.
BANG!
BANG!
Something threw itself against the reinforced steel entrance.
The entire room shook.
Someone screamed.
“They’re going to get in!”
Another student dropped to the floor, crying.
“We’re all going to die…”
The workshop descended into panic.
Everyone talked.
Nobody thought.
Except Elias.
His eyes swept across the room.
Tool cabinets.
Industrial workbenches.
Steel beams.
Welding stations.
Forklift.
Compressed gas cylinders.
Emergency generator.
Storage shelves.
His breathing slowed.
This wasn’t a classroom anymore.
It was a workshop.
Which meant…
It was full of materials.
“Elias!”
Noah shoved another table against the door.
“What do we do?”
Elias ignored the pounding for a moment.
Instead, he looked upward.
The ventilation ducts.
The windows.
Emergency exits.
Fire sprinklers.
Every engineering building was designed with redundancy.
There was always another way in.
Which meant…
There was another way out.
“We don’t defend the classroom.”
Noah blinked.
“What?”
“We defend the workshop.”
He pointed toward the fabrication room.
“The walls are reinforced concrete.”
“The doors are solid steel.”
“There are only two entrances.”
Everyone stared at him.
He continued.
“We can control two entrances.”
“We can’t control six.”
Silence.
One student finally asked,
“…How do you know that?”
“I helped design the evacuation model for this building last semester.”
That got everyone’s attention.
“Listen carefully.”
His voice remained calm.
“If everyone keeps panicking…”
“…everyone dies.”
The room became quiet.
Good.
Now they were listening.
“You.”
He pointed at two students.
“Push every welding table against the front entrance.”
“You two.”
He pointed elsewhere.
“Empty every tool cabinet.”
“I need every wrench, hammer, crowbar, and bolt cutter.”
“What about weapons?”
“We’re making them.”
The students hesitated.
Noah didn’t.
“You heard the man!”
He clapped loudly.
“Move!”
For the first time since the attack began…
People had orders.
Fear became action.
Within minutes…
The workshop transformed.
Steel workbenches formed the first barricade.
Industrial shelving became a second wall.
Forklift pallets blocked the lower windows.
The welding room became a medical area.
The storage room became the food supply.
One student stared in disbelief.
“You thought of all this…”
“…in two minutes?”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
“I’ve been learning this for four years.”
The pounding returned.
Louder.
BOOM!
The steel doors bent inward.
One infected had become five.
Five became twenty.
They slammed against the barricade with mindless determination.
The room trembled.
Several students backed away.
One whispered,
“They never stop…”
Elias crouched beside the door.
He listened.
Not to the banging.
To the rhythm.
“They’re not working together.”
“What?”
“They’re hitting randomly.”
Noah looked confused.
“They don’t coordinate.”
“They react to movement and sound.”
Another crash.
The barricade held.
Barely.
Elias looked around.
His gaze settled on the workshop’s breaker panel.
“…Noah.”
“I know that look.”
“We’re cutting the power.”
“…You’re kidding.”
“If they hunt by sight…”
“…make them blind.”
The lights flickered.
One by one…
The workshop disappeared into darkness.
Only the emergency lights remained.
A dim red glow filled the room.
Outside…
The pounding slowed.
Then…
Stopped.
Everyone held their breath.
Silence.
One minute.
Two.
Nothing.
Someone exhaled.
“It…”
“It worked.”
For now.
Elias wasn’t celebrating.
He knew this wasn’t safe.
It was borrowed time.
He walked toward the rain-streaked window overlooking the campus.
The university had become hell.
Cars burned in the parking lot.
Students fled in every direction.
Some were chased.
Some were caught.
Military helicopters thundered across the distant skyline.
For a brief moment…
Hope spread through the room.
“The army!”
“They’re here!”
“We’re saved!”
Elias watched the helicopters disappear toward the city.
Something felt wrong.
They weren’t slowing down.
They weren’t landing.
They were flying past the university.
Past the people screaming for help.
Toward somewhere else.
He narrowed his eyes.
“…Why?”
Behind him, Noah approached quietly.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Elias didn’t answer immediately.
“No.”
“…I’m thinking this is only the first day.”
“And somehow…”
“I have the feeling…”
“The worst is still coming.”
Outside…
A distant scream echoed across the dark campus.
Then another.
Then dozens more.
The long night had only just begun.