Chapter 3
Atop the rooftop of an abandoned building, a woman clung to the stone railing, her gaze fixed on the vast expanse of the ocean.
'No! Let me go! Please!'
The woman saw herself struggling, tears streaming down her face, surrounded by five men. One was on top of her; two others filmed the horrific scene.
'Don't move! Or I will beat you more!'
A choked sob escaped her lips as he forced a kiss her.
She pleaded with them, begging them to stop, explaining she was pregnant. But they ignored her pleas, their brutality continuing unabated.
She clutched at her abdomen. Despair etched itself deeply onto her face. The thought of losing the child—her only remaining link to the man she loved, now gone—was unbearable.
"I'm so sorry, baby," she wept. "Mommy's so tired. Your daddy left us, and now you're leaving me too. What am I going to do? I can't bear this hell anymore. I tried to live, I tried to fight, but...it just keeps repeating. It's always me," she sobbed, taking a step back, then closing her eyes.
"I wish every student and teacher in this school would die. They're all demons, they don't deserve to live," she muttered, her eyes snapping open, revealing a burning fury.
"They took my son and me. They killed us both."
"May you all die!"
She leaped from the dilapidated building, plummeting into the lake below.
As her body sank, she slowly opened her eyes, catching sight of a distant light.
'I didn't know...it's this dark down here. Joseph, I bet you were terrified when they threw you in,' she thought.
Just as her eyes closed, many hands reached out, pulling her—her lifeless body—beneath the surface.
Later, in the gymnasium, Joanna Banaag wept, Mika roughly gripping her jaw.
"Didn't I tell you to stand up straight!"
Frustrated, Mika grabbed the juice she was holding and angrily flung it at Joanna.
"Get out of my sight! You're so irritating!" Mika snapped. Joanna struggled to stand, the pain in her leg excruciating.
Someone else shoved her, sending her sprawling to the floor.
"Joanna!"
Sairah rushed to her side, helping her to her feet. Joanna paused, looking at Sairah.
"And what's your problem, loser?" Mika sneered, rising to her feet.
A moment later, Mika let out a cruel laugh, mocking Sairah as the captain of the archery team who'd never even made it to nationals.
Her loud voice drew the attention of everyone in the gymnasium. Some were there for P.E., others ogling crushes, some just hanging around. Vincent Baltazar's team was present, their laughter echoing through the space.
"I heard the school's thinking of axing the archery club. They say it's a waste of money, facilities, and training time," Vincent interjected, shooting a basketball.
Joanna stood behind Sairah, silently urging her to leave.
"You know, the ones who contribute the least are the loudest complainers. You, Mika—all you do on this court is dance, jump, and flash your underwear. You'd be better off in a circus, wouldn't you? The nerve you have to look down on us! You're only the squad leader because your dad's a politician and throws money at this school."
The gymnasium erupted in laughter. Sairah turned her fury on Vincent.
"And you, Vincent—I saw your game. How'd you manage to not even finish the first half? You faked a sprain after practically handing the ball to the other team and leaving Joaquin to clean up your mess? You act so superior, like you're some kind of star player!"
"You! You've got a big mouth! You're just an orphan! You have no parents!"
Before Vincent could attack Sairah, a basketball zipped between them, bouncing off a distant post.
"Hey, are you guys sure you want to start a fight with us around?"
Mika froze, spotting Joaquin on the bench, Edgar sitting behind him, his eyebrows raised in warning.
"Stay out of this, Joaquin!" Vincent yelled, still intent on confronting Sairah.
Joaquin and Edgar stood, their gaze sweeping over the basketball players.
"I think you guys know we don't stand by and watch when you hurt our classmates in Class F," Edgar said, picking up a basketball.
"Estrella, take Banaag to the clinic. She took a bad fall earlier," Joaquin ordered. Sairah looked at Joanna, who was pale and sweating, clutching her arm, trying to gather her strength.
"Let's go," Sairah said, helping Joanna out of the gymnasium. Edgar and Vincent exchanged glances. Vincent was seething, furious at Edgar's group's arrogance.
"You'll pay for this."
Later, in the teachers' faculty room, Ruth sat at a computer, surrounded by documents.
Her laptop had broken, so she had no choice but to come to the faculty room to use a computer and prepare her lesson plans.
Some teachers whispered and giggled. A few even told Ruth to just stay in her office and sleep; they said she was wasting her time making lesson plans and teaching the children.
That was why she hated the faculty room.
"Teacher!"
A student entered the faculty room. Ruth looked up.
"Ma'am, Erica's in the clinic!"
One of the teachers left the faculty room and followed the student.
"Ma'am Ruth."
Ruth stopped when another student called her. She remembered the student's name was Sairah.
Ruth stood and asked Sairah what she needed.
Sairah approached her desk and said Joanna was in the clinic.
"The clinic nurse told me to get you. Joanna needs to go to the hospital. The principal isn't at school, and no one's answering the calls to Joanna's house."
Ruth stood, gathered her things, and said she would go with Joanna.
As she left, carrying her things, Ruth asked Sairah what happened.
"She fell badly during practice, Ma'am. The nurse said she needs an X-ray," Sairah replied. Ruth immediately worried about the possibility of a serious injury to one of her students.
Ruth sent Sairah back to the classroom, instructing her to tell her classmates not to leave during class time.
Sairah went to the fourth-floor building. She saw some classmates wandering outside.
"Hey! Ma'am Ruth said to go back upstairs!" Sairah called to her classmates. Two girls from Class F approached her.
"We heard what happened in the gymnasium. Are Joanna and the others okay?"
Edgar and Philip, coming from the canteen with popsicles and junk food, noticed an ambulance arriving at the gate. Edgar stopped walking.
"What happened?" Edgar asked. Philip also looked at the ambulance. Moments later, students ran toward the gate carrying a girl.
"Whoa! What's that?"
The girl was covered in blood, and before she was put into the ambulance, she vomited blood.
"Rabies? Does that look like rabies? She vomited so much blood."
Edgar was stunned. As the ambulance drove away, he overheard other students saying the girl had only been bitten by a cat.
"Are you okay? Go to the clinic; that bite from Erica looks bad."
Edgar and Philip turned around when they heard the bell. They saw some girls downstairs and Sairah.
"Has Ma'am Ruth arrived yet?"
Sairah and the others looked up. They saw Edgar, but they stopped when they heard a loud scream.
They all turned towards the main gate. They were shocked to see three students from the main gate suddenly attacking other students on the school grounds.
"What—"
"Holy shit," Philip cursed. They saw one of the students from the main gate biting another student's neck.
The attacker's eyes were bloodshot, and his uniform was soaked in blood.
"Shit! Run!"
Sairah fell after being bumped by a panicked student who screamed for a teacher.
Philip and Sairah's friend ran away as the bitten students attacked those nearby.
Terrified and shocked, Sairah couldn't move. One of the creatures turned to Sairah—it lunged at her, while the other two who had been bitten earlier stood up as if nothing had happened.
"Damn it! What are you doing, Estrella!"
Edgar arrived, wielding a trash can lid, and hit the creature about to bite Sairah.
Edgar immediately grabbed Sairah's hand and pulled her away.
They were heading toward the senior high building when they saw the five infected students from earlier in a classroom.
"Holy shit!"
Edgar kicked the infected student trying to bite him. Edgar fell and let go of Estrella when another jumped at his side.
Edgar struggled to push the monster away. He cursed repeatedly, then stopped when someone hit the infected student on top of him with a bag.
Edgar saw many infected students attacking them.
"Run, Estrella!" Edgar yelled. Sairah quickly dodged a student attacking her from behind.
Sairah ran away. Edgar kicked the one on top of him, but before he could get up, another infected student attacked. Edgar grabbed a book dropped by a classmate.
He shoved it into the infected student's mouth and pushed it away. Edgar picked up a rock and hit the infected student on the head.
Edgar was stunned because it didn't even flinch. Three more piled on him, and he used his bag to shield himself.
"Edgar!"
Edgar was surprised when an arrow struck an infected student in the head, causing it to fall.
Sairah hit one of the students on Edgar with her bow and Edgar pushed it off.
More were coming, so Edgar quickly stood up and pulled Sairah to run.
"Why did you come back? Are you crazy?" Edgar asked, stopping. They didn't know where to go now.
"What? Do you want to be lunch for those monsters? You should have told me, then I wouldn't have bothered coming back," Sairah snapped. Edgar wasn't surprised by her temper and just laughed.
Edgar and Sairah stopped when they saw the school grounds. All the students there were biting and chasing each other.
"What's happening at this school? Is this another one of the principal's pranks?" Edgar asked, his eyes wide.
He saw one of his classmates eating the innards of a school staff member.
Edgar started counting in his head, and after 60 seconds, the school staff member slowly got up and screamed.
"This is just a dream, right?" Sairah said, her eyes wide.
"No, no—this is a nightmare," Edgar whispered. He hoped it was just a nightmare, because if it was real—it was the end for them.
It was impossible to say those students were still alive. Most were covered in blood, their insides ripped open. Some had bites on their necks and were missing an arm.
"Help us!"
"Teacher!"
Many screamed from different parts of the school, begging for help and crying.