Within minutes, he crashed into the health department block. He didn't knock. He didn't hesitate. He shoved the door open and stormed into Lili's class like he owned it.
Heads turned towards him.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?" the lecturer snapped. "You don't just barge into my class like that."
Students chuckled.
"Lili, what did you do to him this time?" her friend teased, grinning.
Lili froze in her front-row seat, eyes wide. "…Xender?"
He didn't answer. He just strode up, grabbed her wrist and yanked her to her feet.
The lecturer marched toward him. "Listen, young man, if you and your girlfriend have issues, take them outside. Don't waste my class time."
From the back, someone whooped.
"That's badass, bro! Just walking in like that!"
"Who the hell is that guy?" another laughed.
"Damn, smooth move."
The class rippled with laughter. Xender's jaw clenched. He opened his mouth to warn them, but before he could, the door slammed open again. A girl stumbled in, hands slick with blood.
"Hey, what is this madness?" the lecturer started, his irritation cutting off when he saw her. His face was drained of color.
Lili gasped. "What the hell?"
"Lili, we gotta go. Now," Xender said, voice sharp, urgent. "Some weird shit's happening outside."
The class erupted in noise.
"What is this?
" A terrorist attack?"
"Is it war?!"
"Holy shit, is this some shooter?"
The girl clutched her wrist, shaking.
"No, some… bastard bit me. He's crazy!"
The blood wasn't fake. The bite was deep, chunks of flesh torn out. Lili stared at Xender, panic flickering in her eyes.
"Xender, what's happening?"
He turned to the room, his voice rising above the chaos.
"It's not terrorists. It's not war. People are going insane, biting others. And those bitten? They change. They fucking change too."
For one heartbeat, silence. Then a chuckle at the back. And another. Then the whole class burst out laughing, like a damn choir.
"Man, this guy's serious!"
"Zombie outbreak, huh? What is this, a prank?"
"Where's the camera?"
Even the lecturer smirked, shaking his head. "Enough games. Where did you get that fake blood, huh?" He looked at the wounded girl.
"I didn't—" she snapped. She pulled back her sleeve, showing the bite mark. It was red, torn and very ugly.
"Ewww!" a girl shrieked.
"What the hell is that?"
"No way that's real!"
The class buzzed with disgust and disbelief. Xender didn't wait for them to get it. He pulled Lili by the arm toward the door. "We're out. Now."
Lili's friend, pale and silent, scrambled after them. Behind them, laughter still echoed. But it wouldn't last long.
Outside the class, Lili pulled Xender's hand.
"What the hell is happening, really?" she demanded, panic in her eyes.
Before Xender could reply, a scream erupted from the classroom. Both Lili and her friend froze, dumb enough to peek through the glass door. Inside, the girl had turned, her teeth sinking deep into the lecturer's neck.
The losers at the back started cheering, too blind to see the truth.
"Hey, you'll kill him!" one shouted, laughing.
"Damn, what the fuck is she on? Some kind of new drug or what?" another asked.
A few students rushed forward to help, grabbing the thrashing girl.
"Chill, bitch!"
"The fuck is wrong with her?"
They dragged the lecturer away, blood soaking his shirt.
"Quick, take him to the school clinic!"
"Holy shit… is he dead? He's not moving."
Phones came out, trembling hands dialing emergency lines.
"Call an ambulance!"
"Sorry… the line's unreachable."
"What?"
"997 and 999 are busy right now."
"Seriously?!"
The lecturer's body twitched. His limbs jerked, just like the girl before she turned.
"Wait… she did the same thing," a guy muttered, his voice shaking.
"It's like… like they're possessed."
"What the hell is happening?" Lili's friend whispered, eyes locked on the horror behind the glass.
Xender grabbed them both. "We need to move. Now."
Inside, the lecturer sprang up, his eyes glazed, his mouth hungry. He lunged into the crowd. More screams, more bites. Panic exploded. Students trampled each other trying to reach the door. Those stuck at the back had no chance, their cries ended in wet, tearing sounds as teeth ripped into their flesh.
Xender didn't wait to see more. He dragged Lili and her friend away. The corridor was already madness. The entire health department block was chaos, screams echoing, blood slicking the tiles, the twitching infected multiplying with every bite.
"Holy shit… it's spreading fast. It's everywhere in the school," Xender said, breath sharp.
"They're eating everyone…" Lili's friend whimpered.
"Where are we going? I'm calling the police!" Lili cried, fumbling for her phone.
"Don't bother, it's pointless. No one's picking up," Xender snapped.
Around them, blood sprayed, bodies fell, students twitched as the change consumed them.
"Damn it, we're not getting anywhere like this," Xender hissed.
Then, a Z burst from the corner, rushing them with unnatural speed. Lili screamed, covering her eyes. Her friend did the same. Xender stepped forward, and with all his strength, kicked it back.
"Quick, let's find a place to hide," Xender hissed.
"Where?" Lili asked, eyes darting around in panic.
"I don't know," Xender muttered.
"The toilets," Lili's friend blurted.
Without hesitation. They dove into the girls' toilets like it was the Olympics of survival. Xender glared at the 'Girls Only' sign and completely ignored it, survival first, common sense later. They huddled in a stall, backs to the door, holding their breath like a bad game of hide-and-seek gone deadly.
Lili gripped her phone tightly, whispering a prayer as she dialed 999 again. The same cold response echoed in her ear: lines busy.
Outside, the world was ending. Screams and blood, flesh tearing, desperate voices begging. Students and lecturers alike fought for their lives, most rushing toward the school clinic. But that place had already become hell. The bitten students turned inside, overrunning the doctors, nurses and anyone unlucky enough to seek help there.
Within less than two hours, the school clinic and the entire school was overrun. The only survivors were those who had found places to hide.
Inside the stall, the silence was unbearable. Every sound from outside pressed against their nerves.
"The sound… it's not calming down. It's been hours now," Lili's friend whispered, trembling.
"How long do we stay here?" Lili asked.
"I don't know," Xender replied. He glanced at them, jaw clenched. "I'll go check. You two stay here."
"What? No, you're leaving us alone?" Lili's voice cracked.
"I'll be back, Lili," he said firmly.
Slowly, Xender opened the stall door. The toilets were quiet, no infected inside yet. He crept toward the main entrance and peeked out.
What he saw froze him.
The corridor wasn't human anymore. Dozens of Z's shuffled back and forth in slow, eerie rhythm, like a grotesque patrol. Their jaws twitched, heads jerking in broken motions, their skin pale and torn.
"The fuck…" Xender whispered under his breath. "No way I'm passing through that."
He shut the door quietly and turned back.
But he wasn't the only one hiding here. In the far stalls, whispers carried. A couple of students, mostly girls, had been hiding since the outbreak started.
"Did you hear that?" a girl whispered. "I think… I think one of them got in."
"Shit…" a guy replied nervously. He wasn't supposed to be in here, but from the sound of it, he'd been having his own 'fun' in the stalls before the world collapsed.
The boy peeked out carefully, only to see Xender moving quietly. Xender tapped on the stall where Lili and her friend hid, signaling them it was safe inside. They stepped out cautiously.
"What did you see?" Lili whispered.
Xender pointed at the windows. Lili crept closer, peeked outside and gasped.