Riku grabbed the MP5 from the ground and checked the magazine. It was low. He hasn't reloaded yet since his encounter with the screamer. So he swapped it with a full magazine, leaving him with eight mags left in his arsenal, with one being in his weapon right now.
He can't purchase additional magazines or weapons due to restrictions in the system.
The zombies were coming at any moment and there was no escape. His heart began to race with anxiety and fear, thinking that this might be the last moment of his life.
To think that he wouldn't have a chance to enjoy the system he was given by god knows who, was just an unfortunate fate.
Still, he won't go down without a fight. If he is going to die in this very hallway right now, he might as well go down while taking as many zombies as he can along with him.
The floor shook and vibrated from the hordes running upstairs, and Riku aimed the MP5 at where the zombies would come out. Fortunately, he was positioned in the hallway with the zombies having to make a sharp right turn to get to him, giving him a slight advantage over them. However, everyone knew that an MP5 couldn't stop an onslaught of zombies numbering greater than one hundred.
And seconds later. They came crashing down the wall as they couldn't turn right.
Like a tidal wave of rot and rage.
Riku didn't hesitate.
Tak-tak-tak-tak-tak!
He squeezed the trigger, going full auto. The MP5 roared in his hands, and the muzzle flash lit the bloodstained hallway like a strobe.
The first row of zombies took bullets straight to the face—skulls cracking, eyes bursting, jaws snapping open one last time before collapsing.
But there were too many.
They kept coming. Tripping, tumbling, crashing over their own kind.
The sharp corner slowed them, and the ones in front became obstacles for those behind. Arms flailed. Bodies slammed into walls. The hallway was narrow enough that they bunched up, forming a tangled, groaning mass of limbs and teeth.
Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!
Soon the floor was cluttered with twitching bodies, making the horde slower than it should've been.
He stepped back.
One step.
Two steps.
Firing all the while.
Then—his eyes caught something.
A laminated evacuation map posted on the wall beside a fire extinguisher.
His eyes flicked toward it, scanning quickly while still squeezing the trigger with muscle memory.
EMERGENCY EXIT → ROOM 4-G (BACK CORRIDOR)
LEFT TURN AHEAD → LAST DOOR ON THE RIGHT
His heart skipped.
An exit. A chance.
"Thank you, school bureaucracy," he muttered through clenched teeth.
The horde was still surging, slowed but relentless. They were pushing over the bodies now, crawling, climbing, snarling. He couldn't hold them off forever.
Tak-tak-tak!
Click.
Empty.
He ejected the mag and slapped in another.
Seven left now.
He turned, bolting down the hall.
He reached the left turn.
Took it hard, shoulder brushing the wall. The screams behind him grew louder. The horde was redirecting.
They were following.
The hallway beyond was quieter—eerily so. Only a few flickering ceiling lights remained intact. He spotted the classroom at the far end.
The door marked 4-G.
Still intact. Still closed.
Riku sprinted.
He reached the door and slid it to the side. Fortunately, it was unlocked. Well no one locked their classroom during class. Inside, it was just your typical classroom with chairs and tables with bags on it as the original owner must have left it.
He slid the door closed and locked it and the zombies that were chasing him were now pounding on the door with a loud bang.
Riku observed the door if it could handle the force being thrown at it or not. Fortunately, it stood firm. He let out a sigh of relief. He thought he would die in that hallway.
Now, he turned his attention to the door at the back of the classroom. That must be the emergency exit leading to a fire escape stairs. He walked towards it and opened it.
He looked down and a disappointed expression immediately formed across his face.
The fire escape stairwell led directly into the schoolyard—and it was already packed.
Zombies.
Dozens. Maybe hundreds.
All of them scattered across the yard like ants crawling aimlessly, heads twitching, jaws snapping at the air, as if they could still smell life somewhere. A few of them were even bumping into each other, too mindless to care. Some were just standing still, swaying, their eyes empty but always searching.
Riku clenched his jaw. "You've got to be kidding me."
This was supposed to be the escape.
This was supposed to be the way out.
But if he even made a single step down that metal stairwell, the entire horde would notice. And if one zombie screamed—just one—he'd have a repeat of earlier. A repeat he probably wouldn't survive this time.
He stared down for a few more seconds, gripping the metal rail tightly. His fingers were shaking slightly, either from the adrenaline or from the exhaustion finally catching up to him. Maybe both.
"Dammit."
He stepped back inside the classroom and shut the emergency exit door quietly. He didn't slam it. No point attracting more of the walking corpses.
He locked the handle and slid the latch into place.
Then, he turned back to the classroom.
The door he had entered through was still holding, but the pounding had grown louder. The zombies outside had not given up. The steel frame groaned slightly each time their weight smashed into it.
"Okay…" Riku muttered under his breath, thinking fast. "If I can't go out… I go down."
There was only one way left—the fire escape stairs.
But not all the way down.
Just… one level.
Just enough to find another classroom or hallway where he could regroup. Maybe even find a better escape route. He needed height to his advantage—visibility—a plan.
So he made his decision.
Riku rechecked his MP5, gave it a light slap, and crept back toward the emergency exit. He opened it just enough to slip through and slowly descended one level down the exterior stairwell. His boots clanked softly on the steel with every step, and he made sure to crouch low, his eyes locked on every zombie in the yard.
So far, none noticed.
As he made his last step down, he was now on the third floor. And he opened the door which seemed to be a music room.
Inside, it was empty like every classroom. At this point, he was starting to believe that all the students in this school were infected. He closed the door behind him and scanned the surroundings. At the far back of the room, there was a mini-room, possibly an equipment room and it has a door.
He slowly walked towards it and once near, he reached for the doorknob.
Just as he was about to turn it, he heard something, a voice.