Lin Yuzhi snapped his eyes open. Gripping his baseball bat, he scrambled to his feet and hurried to the window.
He lifted a corner of the test papers to peer outside. The zombies that had previously surrounded the window were gone. He wasn’t sure if they had moved back to where he first arrived or if they had headed toward the long corridor at the corner.
But that piercing scream meant there were still people alive in the school.
However, if he could hear that scream, the zombies throughout the school had surely heard it too.
Sure enough, a moment later, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps and guttural roars from nearby. At the same time, several students suddenly appeared at the corner.
Because Class 12 was situated right at the corner, he could clearly see anyone coming from that direction.
The students skidded to a halt, seeing the zombies rushing toward them from the front of the corridor. They looked terrified, their wits scattered.
“What do we do? They’re on that side too!”
“Quick, open the door!”
Several students closest to the entrance desperately tried to open the door to Class 12, but since it was locked from the inside, it wouldn’t budge. They began slamming their bodies against the door in a panic.
As the zombies from both sides closed in, the students holding makeshift weapons tried to fight back.
There were simply too many zombies, and the door wouldn’t open. In their desperation, they felt as though they were certainly going to die here today.
Lin Yuzhi saw them and quickly shoved the desks and chairs away from the back door, pulling it open.
“Get in, fast!” he shouted.
The students at the door, who had been preparing to ram it again, were clearly startled that someone was already inside Class 12. They froze for a split second.
But they reacted quickly. “The door is open!” one yelled. They scrambled inside, and the others followed suit.
Lin Yuzhi tried to slam the door shut the moment they were in, but the zombies were too fast. Several grey, rotting hands were caught in the door frame, and one zombie even managed to wedge its head inside, trying to squeeze through.
The students rushed forward to help block the door, shouting, “Push them out!”
A student with a wooden club began stabbing it violently at the zombies. Even though they were terrified to their core, they kept thrusting the club, trying to drive the monsters back.
After a tense moment, they finally managed to shove the zombies out. The door slammed shut, and they immediately dragged desks over to barricade it.
No one dared to move away, fearing the door might be burst open at any second.
As the door was secured, the thumping from outside gradually weakened, eventually leaving nothing but the sound of scratching and low growls.
The group retreated a couple of steps, their hearts still pounding.
Every face was etched with terror and exhaustion; it was clear the nightmare had taken a heavy toll on them. Their clothes were stained with blood, though it was impossible to tell if it was their own or the zombies’.
Lin Yuzhi retreated slightly as well, eventually sitting down on a chair. The stamina he had just regained during his nap had vanished.
He checked his phone and saw it was only 11:30 AM—he had only slept for about two hours. Yet, those two hours felt like an eternity.
The students collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air.
Lin Yuzhi looked them over. There were five of them: two girls and three boys. The two girls were huddled together, trembling and biting their lips to keep from crying out. The three boys were in no better shape, their faces pale with fright.
Lin Yuzhi said in a low voice, “Are you all okay? Were any of you bitten or scratched?”
He wasn’t sure if they had been injured before entering. Although it was just a theory, Xu An’s hypothesis about their sense of smell had been correct, so Lin Yuzhi suspected the theory about bites and scratches was likely true as well.
The students shook their heads and looked at Lin Yuzhi, asking weakly, “Are you here to rescue us?”
“I came in to find some things,” Lin Yuzhi offered as an excuse.
Everyone stared at him. “Did you come from outside? How is it out there? Is the riot only happening at the school?”
“No, it’s chaotic outside too. I received an emergency SMS from the municipal government. It’s likely not just Linyan City,” Lin Yuzhi told them. He then asked, “Are you the only ones left in the school?”
Hearing that the world outside was in chaos, the students fell into a silent, fearful stupor.
Finally, a boy who looked slightly older spoke up. “There were several others hiding with us at first, but for some reason, one of them changed. He bit and killed the others. We had no choice but to run. We don’t know if there are any other survivors. We don’t have our phones, so we couldn’t contact the outside. You’re the first living person we’ve seen in days. Everyone else has turned into those monsters.” He began to sob as he spoke.
The others nodded. One of the girls said, “We were in class when the teacher suddenly started attacking people. We went up to pull the teacher away, but the class president had already been bitten to death—a piece of his neck was gone. Then the teacher attacked others, and later, the dead class president stood back up and started biting people too. So many people were killed. My desk mate and I escaped and found that the hallway was full of people biting each other. We’ve been hiding in the restroom ever since.”
“We thought about waiting for help, but we didn’t have phones to call anyone, so we could only wait. We didn’t dare go out because the halls were full of monsters. But then, just now, one of the classmates hiding with us turned into a monster. When we ran out, we couldn’t get downstairs, so we had to run toward the long corridor. The students who were too slow died. Only the few of us made it here,” another boy added, his voice raspy.
Wary of the zombies outside, they kept their voices very low, but the sound of weeping was evident in their tone.
From their descriptions, Lin Yuzhi gathered they had been hiding in the restrooms of Building 2. There were likely many people hiding there initially, but someone had turned, and only these five had managed to escape to this classroom.
When he first entered the school, he suspected there wouldn’t be many survivors. Given the terrifying number of zombies he had encountered on his way in, it seemed the situation was even worse than he had imagined. It was possible these were among the last survivors in the entire school.
Rescue had still not arrived. Lin Yuzhi could guess why; the police stations had likely fallen as well, making any hope for organized rescue slim—especially since this outbreak seemed to be nationwide, or perhaps even global.
After a long pause, he said, “The emergency line 110 has been a busy signal since the 2nd.”
Hearing this, several of them began to cry openly, calling out for their parents.
Lin Yuzhi watched them, feeling helpless. He ran a hand through his hair, knowing there was nothing he could do. Perhaps crying it out would make them feel a little better.
Looking at their haggard appearance and knowing they had been hiding in a restroom, he guessed they hadn’t eaten anything in days.
After a moment’s thought, he reached into his backpack and pulled out two small packs of cookies, handing them to the students.
“You probably haven’t eaten in days. I found these; it’s not much, but these two packs should tide you over. You need strength to escape,” he said.
The cookie packaging featured a little bear and some hearts.
When the students saw the two packs of cookies, they began to cry even harder, despite the small offering. They thought about refusing, but they were truly starving and had no way of finding food on their own.
Finally, the boy closest to him, Wang Rui, took the cookies. “Thank you… brother.”
“It’s fine. Honestly, I’m actually your senior. I attended No. 5 High as well, Class of 2017,” Lin Yuzhi said with a smile.
They had assumed he was just someone who broke in to find something, but hearing that he was a fellow student—a senior—made them feel a sudden, deep connection, as if they had found a long-lost relative. The crying intensified.
“Senior, it’s so scary. All our classmates turned into monsters,” the two girls, Sun Feiyu and Zhu Shan, sobbed.
The three boys—Hu Wangping, Wang Rui, and Qi Wenhuan—nodded, their eyes red. They had abandoned any pretense of composure.
Lin Yuzhi understood. These were fifteen and sixteen-year-old students; to the world, they were still just kids. It was only natural to be terrified by such a catastrophe.
He could only offer a few simple words of comfort. He watched as they carefully divided the cookies among themselves, even trying to offer him a piece. During this, they introduced themselves.
They weren’t all from the same class; only the two girls were classmates.
Lin Yuzhi didn’t refuse the small piece of cookie they gave back. He sat astride a chair, resting his arms on the backrest as he watched them. He asked the question that was on his mind: “By the way, you said the person hiding with you suddenly turned into a zombie. Were there any specific signs? For example, did they have a fever?”
“Is that what they are? Zombies?” Wang Rui asked.
Lin Yuzhi replied, “Just like in the movies. They bite people, and you get infected after you die. So, I call them zombies.”
The students nodded. They had all seen movies, but they had been too terrified to make the connection until now. With Lin Yuzhi’s prompt, they began to recall the events.
Sun Feiyu spoke up quickly. “I remember the one who changed first seemed to have a fever, right?” She looked at the others.
They thought for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, I think so. At first, we thought it was just because we were staying in the restroom at night without blankets and because he was so shaken up during the day. Senior, are you saying a fever means you’re turning into a zombie?”
Lin Yuzhi nodded. “Remember those reports about ‘rabid’ people biting others? It wasn’t serious at first, but those bitten were infected with a virus. It erupts after a certain period, but before that, there’s a fever. Was the person you mentioned bitten or scratched by a zombie before that?”
The group immediately nodded.
Hu Wangping said, “Yes. When we first hid in the restroom, a zombie tackled him and bit his arm. We helped pull him into the restroom. After that, he looked unwell and very pale. Then, he suddenly started biting people.”
The others confirmed his story.
Lin Yuzhi nodded; it was now certain that their previous deductions were correct.
He was about to send a message to Xu An when a new notification popped up on his phone. He opened it quickly and saw it was another message from the municipal government. His inbox was empty except for two messages: the one from a few days ago and this new one.
“Regarding the riots in Linyan City, it is now confirmed as an infectious disease breaking out globally. The specific cause is still unknown. All citizens are advised to stay indoors as much as possible, keep doors and windows tightly shut, and use heavy objects to barricade entrances. The infected possess great strength; their hearing and vision are still functional, and they will seek out survivors. Please be careful to avoid being scratched or bitten. Once scratched or bitten, you will be infected. If you encounter an infected person, use a weapon to strike their head; the head is their lethal point. We are actively attempting to coordinate rescue efforts. You must protect yourselves. This message may be the last one, or there may be more, but please, you must protect yourselves.”