Samara stood on the edge of the nurse's office, looking over its collapsed counterpart. She wondered where the smell came from and what it was, so she surveyed the rubbles on the ground with her inquiring gaze.
It was hard to perceive through the ruins as the shadow of the school building seemed to have covered it, though after a long while of peering through it. Samara finally noticed something on the ground. It appeared to be trapped between the rubbles, and it kind of resembled a body.
Not noticing the hints of an awful truth, Samara continued analyzing her discovery.
It seemed to be a body with only its dirty, battered waist and legs. Samara's eyes couldn't discern the upper body, the head, and the arms, and she wondered where it was. But there appeared to be blood splattered around the boulder that crushed the body.
Now that Samara had thought about it, parts of the stomach, intestines, and many more internal organs could be seen throughout the boulder, with some squashed into mush meaty bits. It was a horrifying sight, and it made Samara feel sick.
"What the-"
Samara felt shivers within her spine as a chill resonated throughout her body. Her arms shook as she felt a sick feeling within her stomach. Samara wanted to puke but couldn't, and she also had a disgusted expression that had recently emerged on her face.
She hurriedly turned her head away from the crushed corpse and immediately walked back to the internal part of the intact nurse's office. Samara still had a disgusted expression, though it slowly faded along with time.
Samara didn't want to see such an awful scene ever again. But she knew that this wouldn't be the last time. In a disaster, death was as common as the light posts.
She looked around the nurse's office and saw a dusty bed. There were a couple of beds in the nurse's office, though the dusty bed seemed to be the only one that wasn't severely damaged.
Without a single ounce of hesitation, she sat on it and calmed herself down. Samara thought that if she forgot about it or placed it at the back of her mind, it would fade along with her many thoughts. But unfortunately, the image of the corpse remained distinct and unwavering.
Since the image seemed to be vivid no matter how much time passed, there was no use in forgetting it. With this in mind, Samara thought she had to adapt and get used to seeing a corpse.
It was pretty loathsome, but there was nothing Samara could do about it. Adapting by itself wasn't a pleasant sight as it was a synonym for getting used to something good or horrifying.
"That... Body."
"Who was that?"
Samara curiously questioned after calming her heart and mind. She wondered about the one who got crushed by the rubbles of the collapsed half part of the nurse's office. It might have been a nurse, or it might be a student. Sadly, the answer would only emerge if Samara personally investigated the scene.
Which would be something she would never dare to do.
"Let's not think too much about it." Samara shook her head and decided not to think much about the subject. Adapting was a good thing, but unnecessarily delving deeper would bring problems. Besides, she had to direct her attention fully to her survival.
Samara could only hope that those who met their deaths could die immediately without going through torture and suffering. For her, Dying as fast as possible was merciful as there would be no unnecessary pain to feel. If possible, she would like to see her family safe before dying.
She sighed to herself, wanting to deny her thoughts.
Samara then began inspecting the entirety of the nurse's office. She surveyed every nook and cranny and found it mostly empty of people other than the corpse trapped in the rubbles below. It was fortunate and unfortunate at the same time.
Concluding that she was alone, Samara walked towards the first-aid kit strapped to a metallic box on the wall. She stood before the metal box and took the medical aid from it. After taking it, she held it under her pale hands and walked back to the dirty bed along with it.
As she placed the first-aid kit on the soft and dirty bed. Samara opened the medical box with her pale white fingers and leered at the things inside it. The goods within the medical kit were life-saving items in times of disaster. She was fortunate to have found an untouched one.
The items within the first-aid kit were somewhat simple.
There were dressings and bandages, over-the-counter medicine for cuts, burns, and injuries, essential medications, a thermometer, blanket, hand sanitizer, antibiotic ointment, and many more medical products. Honestly, it was much more than what Samara had expected.
"This is great..." For the first time after the disaster, Samara smiled slightly. She was beautiful when smiling, though most of the time, her face was stiff as a rock.
Anyhow, the things within the first-aid kit increased Samara's odds of survival, so she welcomed it with a little smile. It was a small blessing that would achieve great results. "Now, shall we start?" Samara conveyed while taking out the medicine for cuts and a hand sanitizer.
But before treating herself, Samara turned her head towards the bathroom. First, she needed to clean her arms with water and soap before applying her cuts with medicines. With this in mind, she stood up and walked toward the bathroom without delay.
Stepping into it, Samara couldn't open the lights, which made her a bit disappointed. But the bathroom time was in a state a hundred times better than the nurse's office. From the way it looks. The bathroom seemed unaffected by the explosion brought upon by the crash.
"As expected of the nurse's office bathroom, it looks nice," Samara remarked as she walked forward and stood before the sink. She turned the faucet lever, resulting in water escaping from the spout.
Despite not having a crumb of electricity, the water was still running well without that much of a problem. But to be sure, Samara peered at it for a few dozen seconds. She then sighed with relief after concluding that the water was clean and devoid of unwanted contamination.
"Education regarding disasters and survival is becoming useful by the minute. I'm glad I listened carefully during that time," Samara expressed while washing her arms. She carefully cleaned her little cuts with soap and water so that they would be eligible for medication.
Samara seemed to be trying too hard. But even if the cuts weren't severe enough to create a scar, an infection might aid in making a spot. So medication was needed no matter what.
While washing her arms, Samara felt glad to have paced towards the nurse's office instead of walking into the gymnasium. With everything going on... She might have gotten trapped along with the teachers and students. And treating her cuts would probably have to wait until rescue came and treated her.
That was to say, if the rescuers arrive.
The reason why Samara doubted the early arrival of the rescuers was somewhat apparent. Because of the image of the decimated city which treaded within her mind, such horrifying scenery made it clear that the rescuers would have more problems to deal with.
If she guessed without care, it might take a day or more for the rescuers to come and save them.
"Maybe the rescuers had already rescued father and sister at this moment," Samara uttered to herself as it was the only way to raise her morale. But honestly, she knew it was nothing more than a false hope that she anchored within her heart. But it was one of the things driving Samara forward.
As Samara concluded her business on the sink, she dried her wet arms before leaving the bathroom. After the conclusion of her cleaning session, she returned to the dirty bed and stood before it.
Samara took a metal chair and sat on top of it. She then opened the prescribed medications for little cuts and began putting down the medicines for the minor scratches on her arms.
Samara didn't take much time to cover her little cuts with medications entirely. A soothing enveloped her arm afterward, making her a little bit relaxed. And under her relaxed state, Samara's beating heart began calming down.
"I feel a lot better than before." She stated while sighing with a little smile plastered on her face. Relaxing for a short while was a good thing. But overdoing it would become a bad habit, which was something Samara would rather avoid.
And as if fate agreed with her, something surprising happened.
One after another, the ceiling lights began to gleam with radiance. Unexpectedly, the lost electricity of the school had returned. Most would have felt relief upon the electricity lighting up. But Samara couldn't help but feel a grave premonition within her heart.
"T-This..."
"The electricity came back? How?' Samara questioned as she found herself confused. The electricity might have returned due to the generator, or the electric plant had been activated. There were tons of possibilities, and such prospects also had their risks.
*Th-... ent-ty...f..t-e.. co..unt--ry...had..b..n-decimated.*
A statement sounded throughout the nurse's office. It was distorted beyond relief and kept cutting on and off.
Samara furrowed her eyebrows upon hearing it and turned her head towards the direction of the television, which was opened. Samara squinted her eyes while staring at it. After all, it was partially scary for the TV to open without warning.
'It opened? How?' Samara couldn't help but think to herself while slowly and cautiously walking towards it. She leered at the television and wondered what the images that kept blinking on the screen were.
Inspecting it with her own two eyes, it seemed to resemble that of a newscast. Samara couldn't understand the words escaping from the television. But with how the images on the screen looked like... Their city wasn't the only one decimated by the lustrous lights.
Upon the realization, Samara felt her body tensing up. Even though she was becoming nervous, she still had an emotionless and uncaring expression. "This world is becoming a hellhole." Samara silently uttered as she sat back on the metallic chair.
She lowered her head and acted depressed despite having an aloof face. It looked somewhat comedic, though one must not be entertained through the other's suffering.
"Why did it turn out like this?" Samara continued as she shrinkingly questioned since she found herself in disbelief. With everything going on, Samara was a lot calmer than she had expected.
Considering that the country or the entire world was in chaos. Followed by the towering monoliths that stood above such destruction. And most do not even know how they emerged. Millions might be dying by the minute, though it wasn't something Samara shouldn't be problematic about.
Before Samara could continue being depressed, she heard a thud in the hallway. It resonated throughout it and echoed in the nurse's office. Samara immediately noticed it and turned her head towards the hallway, raising an eyebrow along the way.
"What the hell..." Samara wondered if it was a teacher or a student who had survived the blast like her, so she walked towards the front door, though she was cautious and quiet along the way.
Arriving before the front door, Samara stopped herself as her heart wildly beat for some reason. She then cautiously peeked into the hallway and froze in shock.
What Samara saw was a humanoid figure at the end of the hallway. But for her... That wasn't the main problem.
The issue was the simple fact that the figure was crawling on the ceiling at quite a high speed. Its body was thin, and its spine protruded from its back. Its head was facing its back instead of the front. And finally, its mouth consumed two-thirds of its head.
The scene resembled something that typically emerges in horror movies.
"What the fu-"