[Lin – 6:42 a.m.]
I always thought I'd be the calm one in a disaster.
Turns out I was only calm
—until I saw classmates I knew
—screaming
—bleeding
—and turning.
Now I just pretend.
[6:43 a.m.]
Kao walks ahead of me, barefoot, like a ghost.
The hallways are still dark.
Bodies are everywhere — some twitching.
The silence between doors feels too loud.
We're supposed to search the canteen wing.
Water, anything not rotted, protein bars if we're lucky.
I carry a rusted metal pipe.
Kao? Just a sharpened rod and whatever's inside her.
[6:50 a.m.]
We find the first zombie in the stairwell.
Used to be a janitor.
Now it's hunched, limbs twisted like it's melting.
It turns at the sound of my breath.
"Back,"
Kao whispers.
I freeze.
She steps forward.
One movement.
Rod in—
Rod out—
Neck split.
The body falls without a sound.
She wipes the weapon clean on her own sleeve.
Like it's muscle memory.
[6:55 a.m.]
We keep walking.
My pulse won't settle.
"You've done that before,"
I whisper.
Kao doesn't answer.
We reach the second floor.
More zombies.
She doesn't even hesitate now.
[7:10 a.m.]
There's a cluster near the water station.
Five of them.
Snarling.
Scraping the tiles with nails.
I raise my pipe.
Kao puts a hand on my shoulder.
"I'll handle it."
"Wait—"
She runs in.
Not reckless.
Efficient.
One to the neck.
One to the eye.
Two get stabbed through the throat and shoved into the sink.
The last one tries to run.
She grabs it by the hair
—and slams it down so hard the skull cracks.
[7:13 a.m.]
It's over.
I stare at the mess.
She wipes her face.
Black streak on her cheek. No emotion.
I whisper, "How can you be so… brutal?"
She looks at me, blank.
Then says:
"If you want to live, you have to do this."
[7:18 a.m.]
We gather two water bottles and a box of dried crackers.
I feel like vomiting.
She looks completely normal.
Not even breathing hard.
For the first time,
I realize I don't know what Kao is.
But I do know one thing.
She's keeping me alive.
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