[A/N: Hello everyone.
Alex must decide what to do with the group of students he found earlier.
Will he find Emily?
In this chapter we will see it.]
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At the high school, near the main staircase.
Alex returned and crouched beside the students, his eyes searching the dark hallway.
The kids were pale, trembling, with fear still plastered to their faces. They looked at him as if he were the only safe thing in a sea of chaos, their small bodies huddled under the large shadow of the barricade.
The air, thick and dirty, smelled of dust, sweat, and, faintly, of the sweet decomposition he already knew so well.
"Listen to me," Alex said, his voice low but firm, breaking the heavy silence. "There are people upstairs. They are organizing, fortifying. It's your best chance. I can't leave you here."
The students looked at each other doubtfully, their eyes darting from Alex to the darkness of the hallway. The tallest boy, the one who had spoken before, nodded almost imperceptibly, his voice still trembling.
"Yes. Please. We want to get out of here."
"Good," Alex stood up, his knife ready, the cold, familiar metal in his hand.
The image of Sonny's broken neck flashed in his mind, a harsh reminder of the cost of slowness, of error.
No.
Not today. Not these kids.
"The main staircase is blocked and if we try to clear it, we could make a lot of noise. We'll look for another, but I need you to do exactly as I say. No noise. No screaming. Every shadow is a danger. Every sound, a call for attention. Understood?"
Everyone nodded in silence, some barely moving their heads.
"Let's go," Alex said confidently, but inside he doubted a lot.
He wasn't sure he would find another staircase that wasn't already blocked, and the stairs he had seen before were very close to the gym. Just as he was thinking about what to do, one of the girls in the group spoke.
"Uhm… I think there's a service staircase over there," said one of the frightened girls, pointing to a distant hallway. It seemed to be at the end of that part of the building.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Alex, noticing her doubts, went ahead, moving with an almost natural caution.
Every shadow was a possible danger, every open classroom a trap.
The hallway stretched before them, a labyrinth of fallen lockers that looked like open mouths in the darkness, backpacks strewn like the remains of a stampede, and the unsettling silence broken only by their rapid breaths and the distant, almost imperceptible, moan of something.
Alex felt the weight of all of them behind him, a precious and fragile burden.
As he advanced, he constantly looked back.
He wanted one of the young people to keep watch, but he knew they were too scared to do it.
Suddenly, a dull dragging sound was heard.
Alex stopped abruptly, raising his hand.
A zombie, with a dislocated jaw and a bite mark on its face, staggered from a side door, its body twisted.
Alex reacted before the students could even react. A quick movement, the knife briefly glinting in the darkness, a dry sound, and the living dead fell without a groan, its head hitting the floor with a muffled thud.
The students cowered, some covering their mouths to stifle a gasp.
They had already seen Alex kill zombies, but before, in the rush of the previous escape, they hadn't had time to process what Alex had done.
"Move!" Alex hissed, his voice an urgent murmur.
They moved forward.
The students' fear was palpable, almost an odor.
One of them, a girl with her hair tied back, tripped over a backpack, letting out a small gasp. The sound, amplified by the deathly silence, seemed to echo throughout the corridor, a treacherous sound.
"Silence!" Alex growled, turning, his patience stretched to the limit.
Too late.
Two more zombies, attracted by the noise, emerged from a nearby classroom, their ungainly bodies casting grotesque shadows.
"Get down! Behind me! Now!" Alex ordered, placing himself between them and the threat.
The first one lunged, its arms outstretched. Alex dodged the attack by inches, feeling the foul breath on his face, and plunged the knife into its skull.
The second, slower, was knocked down with a forceful kick before Alex delivered the final blow, the steel penetrating the rotting flesh.
Behind him, he heard a stifled sob.
"What… what are those things?" the boy whispered, his voice barely a thread, his eyes fixed on the lifeless bodies.
Alex turned, his face grim, adrenaline still pumping.
"They are zombies. They only stop if you destroy their brain. Bites turn you. No time for more questions. Focus on following me. Stay together. I don't want to see anyone else trip!"
They continued, the pace now faster, the urgency very clear.
The air felt heavier, filled with the smell of decomposition and the distant echo of gunshots and screams coming from outside, as if hell were overflowing.
At a crossroad of hallways, the girl who had tripped before letting out a choked scream.
A zombie, hidden behind a door, lunged at her. This time, one of the boys tried to push her, a useless but instinctive movement.
Alex reacted in an instant.
A shove to the girl, putting her out of danger, and then he lunged at the living dead. The knife found its target with a dry sound, and the zombie fell.
"Don't separate! Focus! Watch where you step!" Alex's voice was growling.
They couldn't afford any more mistakes. Every second was a life at stake.
Finally, Alex saw a discreet door at the end of a side hallway, almost hidden by shadow, a service staircase that seemed not to have been used much, but which had traces of cigarette butts.
It was their best option.
"This way," he indicated, opening the door with great caution.
The metallic creak of the hinges echoed in silence, a loud sound that seemed to alert every dark corner of the high school.
Alex waited, knife in hand, scanning the hallway and the staircase before giving a signal.
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[A/N: I can only imagine the tension a person must feel in that situation. What would you do in that situation?]
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They went up, step by step, each creak of the metal stairs, a strong beat in the darkness, amplified by the total silence. As they ascended, the sounds from the floor above became clearer and closer: dragging, dull thuds, low and muffled voices that were barely heard.
People.
They reached the second floor.
The door opened to a less chaotic hallway, but with clear signs of recent activity: drag marks on the floor, empty boxes stacked without order. Further on, in the gloom, Alex distinguished some human figures.
Two men, moving a heavy metal cabinet, blocking access to another section of the hallway. One of them was tall, with a robust and strong build.
Alex stopped, with the students behind him, holding their breath with difficulty.
The men had not seen them at all. They were completely focused on their task, securing the place carefully. Alex knew immediately that they were part of the group that was fortifying the high school. An almost imperceptible sigh of relief escaped his chest.
Alex approached from the door with all the young people he had saved behind him, protecting them. He was about to speak to them, but a low, menacing growl suddenly broke the silence, and Alex saw the zombie stagger directly towards the two men.
The younger man quickly raised a pistol, but Alex had already lunged without hesitation.
His arm moved in a quick and precise arc, and the knife he wielded plunged with a wet and unpleasant sound into the infected's head.
The zombie collapsed without a single groan, falling to the ground.
Alex stood tall, his silhouette tall and tense against the faint moonlight filtering through a distant window. He felt the fixed gazes of the two men, who remained motionless, with their weapons ready for anything.
He turned to them, his face covered in dried blood and dirt, his dark and penetrating eyes quickly assessing the situation. Behind Alex, in the gloom, the frightened and trembling figures of the eight or ten students could be distinguished.
"Tim?" Alex's voice was grave and deep, but a hint of relief crept in as he recognized his friend, whom he had not expected to see.
Tim, the taller man, nodded with a barely perceptible movement of his head, his tense and rigid expression relaxing only slightly. He lowered his weapon slightly, and the young man beside him imitated him, though with more caution and slowness.
"Alex," Tim replied, his voice contained and discreet.
Alex had no time for emotional reunions or formal conversations, so he decided to get straight to the point, without beating around the bush.
"We need a safe place for them," Alex said, pointing to the students behind him. "Did you secure the area completely?"
Tim nodded.
"Yes. Emily is in her classroom, on this same floor. We have secured the main staircase and are clearing the rest of the areas."
"Good," Alex nodded his head, his gaze evaluating the hallway and the improvised barricades. They were enough for now, he thought. "Guide me."
Tim set off, with the young man beside him, following his steps.
Alex followed closely, with the rescued students behind him, feeling a little safer.
As they advanced, Alex felt the new layer of security that his presence instilled in the young people. The way back to the main classroom felt safer under his leadership, a small respite in the constant and exhausting struggle to survive.
"I finally found Emily," Alex thought with relief, but a hint of worry reappeared on his face, clouding his relief.
Tim led the group down the hallway, which opened into a wider and clearer area.
They entered a classroom near those main stairs they had seen on the first floor.
They had converted the classroom, and those next to it, into an improvised and safe base for the survivors.
The atmosphere was a palpable mix of extreme exhaustion, deep fear, and a desperate determination to keep going.
The fluorescent lights flickered dimly on the ceiling, casting harsh shadows over the rudimentary barricades of desks, cabinets, and bookshelves, hastily piled and secured with cables and belts.
There were open backpacks with their contents scattered on the floor, half-drunk water bottles, and fast-food wrappers from the last hours of normality.
Low murmurs of conversation and nervous coughs filled the air, mixing with the distant and constant hum of traffic jams and the occasional echo of sirens slowly fading in the distance outside.
There was Emily.
She was standing near a table, talking to a young woman who seemed to be her best friend. Alex had seen her at Emily's birthday party two weeks ago. In addition, there were other students around her. They all looked at an improvised map on the table, trying to understand it.
Emily's face, though tired and with traces of dirt, radiated a determination Alex had not seen before in the girl Ron always treated as his 'princess'. She no longer seemed that pampered young woman from the birthday. However, it was not only determination that her face showed.
Alex noticed a trace of fear and sadness, mostly deep sadness.
"It must be because of Sonny," Alex reflected with regret.
Both had met only a few days ago but had shared dangerous situations that brought them together unexpectedly. Alex still remembered how Sonny calmed and comforted him when worry flooded Alex for having attracted the attention of the 'Drugos' in that arms purchase.
"It's a shame," Alex thought, looking back at Emily with melancholy.
Just then she looked up, her eyes widening in surprise and then with clear relief at seeing Alex. "Alex!" she exclaimed, and for an instant, a glimpse of the younger, carefree Emily appeared on her face, before the new, harsh reality hardened it again.
Alex approached her, the urgency palpable in every step he took.
"Emily. Thank God you're okay. We must go. Your father is very worried about you. The curfew didn't work, and the city is total hell. The roads are completely blocked, the military will surely withdraw soon," Alex told her in a relieved and urgent tone.
Emily looked at him, her relief transforming into an expression of unwavering, almost defiant firmness. Her voice was clear, without any hesitation, and resonated in the room, capturing the attention of everyone present.
"We are not leaving, Alex."
Emily paused, her gaze sweeping the room, observing the group of frightened students and their tired faces.
"We don't know if we can survive outside, Alex… We've seen it. The military cannot contain the threat. Here we have walls, we have water, we have light. We are together. We are going to turn this into a refuge. Here we will be safe. Here we can survive."
The conviction in her words was total, born from the horror witnessed and the need to protect her own.
Alex felt a pang of frustration. She didn't know what he had seen in his visions, she couldn't comprehend the true scale of what was coming.
"How could I convince her of this?" Alex wondered.
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[A/N: CHAPTER COMPLETED
Thanks everyone for reading.
I hope you enjoyed this tense chapter.
In the previous chapter, Alex noticed his changes, and now he's acting as he normally would. With more caution, fear, but more determination.
By the way, in a few hours I'll publish the first chapter of another spin-off of this novel.
This one will be about a virologist who works in a private laboratory for a corporation called Umbrella (just kidding). He will interact with the virus long before the date Chuta had the dreams. Realizing that his lab is trying to manipulate the virus and not find a cure, he escapes just as the chaos begins. With renewed determination, he tries to inform everyone about his discoveries, but first he must survive the first days of the apocalypse.
Will he ever meet Alex?
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Read my other novels
#Vinland Kingdom: Race Against Time.
#The Walking Dead: Emily's Metamorphosis from the Visions of Future Saga
You can find them on my profile.]