The hallway outside the infirmary was a warzone of echoing alarms, smeared blood, and broken lights. The group moved quickly, but the tension clung to them like wet cloth.
Their destination: the East Exit, just beyond the old science labs—a stretch of hallway no one had dared enter since the outbreak began.
Takiya wiped sweat from her brow, shifting the weight of the wounded Godou-sensei on her back.
"She saved my life," Kanata muttered, eyes locked ahead. "We don't leave her."
"Wasn't planning to," Takiya grunted, adjusting her grip. "Just don't make her heavier."
Godou-sensei groaned softly, clutching her side. Blood oozed between her fingers. A deep gash, likely from shielding Kanata from that last crawler in the stairwell.
"She's fading," Kanami whispered. "We need to find antiseptic—fast."
"I saw the chem lab up ahead," Serizawa said, voice tight. "Maybe there's something."
They entered the lab corridor, shattered beakers and overturned tables littering the floor. Cabinets hung open, their contents spilled—sulfur, ethanol, formaldehyde.
And bodies.
So many bodies.
But these were different.
One body had skin like wax, peeling in thick sheets. Another's head was swollen and purple, its jaw split unnaturally wide.
Then something moved.
"Contact left!" Serizawa yelled.
A figure stumbled out of the chemistry room. Its face was distorted, with melted skin, and one of its arms pulsed with tumor-like growths.
Then it screamed.
The sound was like glass shattering in their ears.
Kanata stepped forward, gripping his bat.
"No!" Serizawa shouted. "We don't know what it—"
Too late. It charged.
Kanata sidestepped and slammed the bat across its face. Bone cracked. It dropped—but another emerged from the dark, this one faster, with twitching limbs and milky white eyes.
Kanami spun her nail-gun but realized it was nearly out of pressure.
She dove into the chemistry station, grabbing gas canisters and wiring from a broken Bunsen system.
"Cover me!" she shouted.
Takiya dropped Godou behind an overturned desk. "Hurry up, genius!"
Kanata fought like a man possessed, swinging with brutal precision. Blood flew. His movements were faster than before. Sharper.
His body... was recovering.
Even the deep bite mark on his shoulder—it didn't throb as much now.
"What the hell…?" he muttered, shaking his hand. His eyes flicked toward a crawling zombie. It was close—too close—yet it didn't notice him until he coughed.
"They're blind," he realized. "But their hearing…"
A loud clatter across the room drew three of them at once.
"They respond to sound!"
"Good to know," Takiya muttered, grabbing a glass bottle. She threw it across the room—it shattered.
All three monsters turned away.
"Done!" Kanami shouted.
She stood, hoisting a rebuilt gas-powered nail gun over her shoulder, with an added pressure tank and two chemical cartridges strapped to the sides.
She fired.
The first mutated zombie's head exploded, a hiss of white smoke trailing behind.
"Who's the genius now?" she smirked.
"Remind me never to piss you off," Serizawa muttered.
Together, the group cleared the lab, their weapons cracking through skulls and flesh until silence returned—save for Godou-sensei's labored breathing.
"We need to keep moving," Takiya said, breath heavy.
Kanata paused, wiping blood from his cheek.
"Wait—what's that?"
In the corner of the lab, half-crushed beneath fallen shelves, was a police uniform. The man's ID was cracked, unreadable, but a notebook lay nearby.
Kanata picked it up and flipped to the last page.
Scrawled in shaky handwriting:
> "Yuka... headed to Shinjuku Base. Said she'd wait. I couldn't... too many of them..."
His hands trembled.
"Yuka…" he whispered.
The image of her face flashed in his mind—soft smile, a red ribbon in her hair.
"She's alive," he said, more to himself than anyone. "She has to be."
Kanami stepped beside him, placing a hand on his back. Her voice was soft.
"We'll find her."
He didn't reply, but in his eyes was a fire none of them had seen before.
---
The group reached the final hallway before the East Exit. A double door—metal reinforced—marked the last barrier between them and freedom.
But something blocked the way.
Something huge.
It turned slowly.
Their former PE coach.
Or... what was left of him.
His flesh was blackened, muscles bulging unnaturally, veins pulsing. One eye hung loose from its socket, his spine twisting like a snake under the skin.
He roared.
Serizawa dropped her bag. "Oh HELL no."
"Big guy wants a rematch," Takiya said grimly.
Kanata stepped forward, arms trembling slightly.
"Fall back," he said. "I'll lead him."
"Are you insane?!" Serizawa grabbed his arm. "You can't take him alone!"
"I'm not dying here," Kanata said quietly. "Not before I see Yuka again."
His eyes locked with hers.
Serizawa blushed—deeply.
"You dumb idiot," she muttered, releasing him.
Kanami stared too, biting her lip. Even Takiya hesitated, watching him with a strange softness in her eyes.
Then the PE coach charged.
"GO!" Kanata screamed, sprinting left and banging a metal rod against a locker.
The mutant followed, crashing through desks and pipes like they were paper.
"Kanami!" Takiya shouted. "Chemicals! Fire!"
"On it!" she barked, darting into the storage closet.
Serizawa and Takiya grabbed ethanol and magnesium strips, creating a crude trap across the floor.
Kanata ducked under a table, narrowly avoiding the mutant's massive fist. He threw a beaker to the right—sound, again.
The creature turned.
"Light it up!" he yelled.
Kanami fired a nail into the chemicals—BOOM!
The fire whooshed to life, engulfing the coach's leg. He shrieked and thrashed, slamming walls and crushing vents.
"Keep going! It's working!" Serizawa shouted.
Takiya lit a second trail of ethanol.
Another explosion.
The coach's head slammed into a beam—and finally, the massive body collapsed in a pile of smoke and melted flesh.
It didn't move again.
---
The hallway stank of burning flesh. Everyone was coughing, but alive.
Kanata leaned against the wall, sweat dripping down his face. His legs felt weak—but not from injury.
From emotion.
They were so close now.
Serizawa approached him slowly, placing a cold water bottle against his hand.
"You should rest."
"I'm fine."
"You're not," she said, her voice shaking.
He looked at her.
"Serizawa…"
She turned, cheeks red. "Don't say anything stupid."
"I wasn't."
Takiya helped lift Godou-sensei, who was barely conscious.
Kanami placed a fresh bandage on Kanata's arm. Her fingers lingered a little too long.
They all felt it.
The shift.
The pull.
Kanata, the quiet boy who had once stood at the back of the class, had changed. Grown. Led them.
And something deep inside each of them responded.
---
As they pushed open the last door, light spilled in from the cracked sky—gray, cold, but open.
Freedom was near.
But Kanata only had one thought.
"Yuka... wait for me."
---
To be continued…