Click—!
Ren unlocked the boys' locker room door that the five students had locked before hiding inside, just before the four boys turned undead and devoured the only girl in their group.
Although Ren couldn't hear any noise outside—neither footsteps nor undead growls—he still prepared himself to rush out and fight alongside Elizabeth.
"3... 2... 1..."
The instant his countdown reached zero, Ren opened the door.
Fortunately, there were no undead right outside the boys' locker room.
Ren rushed out with Natalie, followed by Gian.
Natalie swiftly pulled three arrows from her quiver—the exact number of undead wandering farther down the left side of the corridor.
Before the three undead could growl upon noticing her, Natalie drew her bow and fired three consecutive shots, hitting each one directly in the eye and taking them down.
RARGHHH—
Gian handled the right side of the corridor a little slower than Natalie, causing the undead to make noise since he had to take down four of them.
The moment the silence was broken, the tension rose.
Natalie and Gian drew their bows and aimed down opposite sides of the corridor, waiting for any undead that might appear after being attracted by the growls.
Elizabeth rushed out beside Ren as well, ready to defend Natalie and Gian if necessary. Tristan and Marcus did the same.
Meanwhile, Karl, Mike, and Ivan remained inside the boys' locker room, only peeking out through the doorway.
Ren kept track of every second that passed.
After a minute passed without any undead appearing at the end of the corridor or emerging from the other rooms, Ren finally tried to ease everyone's worries.
"I don't think the undead heard that, but don't let your guard down yet..."
"If you wanted to help Natalie, then don't mess up," Tristan muttered, interrupting Ren.
He grabbed Gian by the collar and argued with him before shoving him against the wall.
Gian didn't fight back, thinking it would be pointless to argue with Tristan.
Instead, Natalie spoke up.
"If you think you can do better, then maybe you should take his bow."
Everyone assumed Tristan wouldn't dare talk back to Natalie.
Or so they thought.
"If you really wanted to save your sister, maybe you should have relied on someone more capable," Tristan said before walking back into the boys' locker room.
"As if there's anyone more capable than him," Natalie retorted, ignoring Tristan's tantrum.
Her remark made it sound as though she were defending Gian, though Elizabeth, Evelyn, and even Tristan himself knew exactly who she was referring to.
***
"Are you sure they'll be fine?" Karl asked, referring to Natalie, Evelyn, and Elizabeth going to the girls' locker room on their own.
"The undead didn't get inside since the girls always lock their room..."
"But shouldn't they at least have someone keeping watch outside?"
Mike and Ivan couldn't help but worry as well, even though the girls' locker room was right next to the boys' locker room.
Or so they thought they could hide their real intentions from Ren.
"Just hurry up and get your stuff, you three pervert bastards."
Greedy pervert bastard.
Cursing Ren internally out of jealousy, Karl, Mike, and Ivan opened their lockers and grabbed their belongings, especially their smartphones.
Karl quickly called his older sister's number, but the call wouldn't go through.
He tried calling his sister's boyfriend next, assuming he was with her at the company where they worked together. Once again, the call didn't go through.
Karl then tried calling his sister's company, but the phone kept ringing without anyone answering. It was the same when he called her apartment.
"Where the heck are you, ugly sister...?"
Ivan hurriedly called his parents at home after noticing the multiple missed calls on his smartphone. The call went through, but no matter how many times he redialed, no one picked up.
"Please be safe, Mom, Dad..."
Seeing his friends growing anxious, even Mike, who was an orphan, couldn't help but worry about their families.
"What about you three?" he asked, referring to Gian, Tristan, and Marcus, mostly out of curiosity rather than concern.
"My parents live in New York," Gian said while fiddling with his smartphone.
"I'm checking their social media, and it seems this undead outbreak is happening overseas too."
"My parents and sister were safe in our Clan's mansion in Crossroad City."
Marcus kept his response short before slipping his smartphone into his pocket. He then glanced at Tristan, waiting for his answer.
"My father works at Crossroad City Hospital, and my mother is a politician," Tristan replied without even taking out his smartphone.
"They'd both be too busy to call right now."
While everyone else continued trying to contact their families or checking social media for news about the undead outbreak, Ren remained focused on the only message on his smartphone.
Survive and keep your sister safe.
It was a message his parents had just sent him.
Ren tried calling his mother again and even called his father, but neither call went through.
Believing that his parents were alive and safe overseas, Ren tried calling his younger sister next, only for the phone to keep ringing.
"Pick up your phone, Rin..."
***
"That brat... Why isn't she answering...?"
Despite Natalie's irritated voice, Evelyn and Elizabeth could see the anxiety in her eyes as she stared at her smartphone, watching the call continue to ring.
"Even if Nicole isn't picking up, that doesn't mean something bad happened to her," Elizabeth said, trying to ease Natalie's worries about her younger sister.
"Try connecting to the GPS Monitoring App on Nicole's smartphone."
Natalie immediately followed Evelyn's advice. She was able to confirm that her sister was at Central City Elementary School, but Nicole neither replied to her messages nor answered her calls.
"Nicole's a smart kid. She can protect herself."
"And she's with Ren's sister too."
"I hope that idiot managed to contact Rin..."
Trusting her friends' words and believing her sister was safe, Natalie proceeded with their plan to leave the Academy.
"Grab your stuff. Let's go."
"Wait! We're not done here yet."
Evelyn grabbed Natalie's hands, stopping her from leaving the girls' locker room.
"You already have your smartphone, right?"
Natalie glanced at Evelyn and Elizabeth, wondering if they wanted to contact their families as well. However, neither of them seemed interested in doing so.
"I'm sure my parents has already taken shelter at our Clan's mansion," Elizabeth said, understanding Natalie's confused look.
Evelyn released Natalie's hands before explaining her own situation.
"And my Dad and Mom are probably taking shelter at one of our hotels."
"Then what else should we be doing here?"
Natalie and Elizabeth both looked at Evelyn, waiting for her answer.
"I'm not gonna keep fighting these zombies while wearing this lame combat practice uniform!"
***
"Isn't this much better?"
After taking a few minutes to change, Evelyn was now wearing the Florescence Academy girls' uniform.
"Aren't you two going to change into your uniforms as well?"
"I actually prefer this combat practice uniform," Elizabeth said while tying her long black hair into a high ponytail.
"It's more comfortable and easier to move in."
"What about you, Nat?"
Natalie considered Elizabeth's remark and Evelyn's question.
The combat practice uniform was indeed comfortable, but it wasn't something she wanted to wear outside the Academy where the public could see her—assuming there was still anyone around to see her amid the undead outbreak.
On the other hand, the Florescence Academy girls' uniform looked like a high school uniform, aside from its protective gear. Wearing something like that was embarrassing for an eighteen-year-old college student, at least in her opinion.
"We don't have much time, Nat."
"Hurry up and choose."
"Fine!" Natalie muttered, pressured by Elizabeth and Evelyn.
Natalie tied her long pink-blonde hair into twin tails, then put on the Florescence Academy girls' uniform with the combat practice uniform jacket over it.
"That jacket..."
"It's Ren's... right?"
***
"Aren't they taking too long?"
Back in the boys' locker room, Karl, Ivan, and even Ren were growing worried about the girls. They were also anxious about the time they were wasting, since they couldn't begin their escape from the Academy and confirm whether their families were safe.
"Go and check on them, Ren," Karl said, secretly hoping to send Ren to his death by making him peek into the girls' locker room.
Ivan, however, thought otherwise.
"It's not like they'd actually kill you."
"Just give them a few more minutes..."
CREAK—!
"Did you hear that?" Mike asked, interrupting the conversation.
"I think it came from outside."
Gian approached the windows with Mike.
Then, all of a sudden...
CRASH—!
"Get away from the windows!"