Azie's POV
"Fuck."
"Hurry dwarf!" I wasted no more time and immediately took Arius' hand and with full force, he pulled me into the duct.
Before that, I swung my foot and the mop I was holding on the chair at the same time to make it fall, which was successful.
"What the fuck? I thought we were going to leave here? Why did you do that ?!" Arius asked annoyed after I closed the duct screen while avoiding looking beneath us.
"Calm down. I'm fine, okay?" I stated and rubbed my forehead.
"Tss!"
"That was freaking close!" Gifflet exclaimed while leaning and slouching against the tiny duct. My eyes landed at Kaliya and Dearil and saw their pale faces. I was about to tell them how stupid they were when Gifflet already did.
"What the hell guys?! We almost died on what you two did!" I shuddered as I remembered Dearil's shouting and Kaliya being an idiot for 10 seconds.
"I'm sorry. I'm just too nervous and paranoid." Dearil replied avoiding our gaze. Kaliya, on the other hand, remained quiet.
I bit my lower lip and forced my eyes shut before my gaze landed back at the four people in front of me.
"Let's be all clear first. Do you still want to leave here?"
"Of course!" They all answer at once. Tumango ako.
"Pwes, don't be stupid! Think first before doing stuffs! Because for the record, if you can't do this properly, better tell me now while we're here. I can go on with or without y'all." I said irritatingly. I can't do this with them if they'll act as if they're the only ones who's terrified and scared and don't know what to do.
"Sorry."
"Believe me, I'm also trying to think straight at the moment. I'm scared too, you know?" I avoided my gaze at them and started crawling towards the end of the duct.
I felt them did the same behind me as silence filled the air.
Well, I hope better days still come for us in this chaotic city.
***
"Shit. How's that, I see more than ten infected students down below." Gifflet said eyes on the duct's screen, worried after we finished more than 25 minutes of crawling and reached the Music room on the 2nd floor.
I peeked behind Gifflet and he was right, I see infected students behind the stage of the music room.
Damn. It's just backstage, what more if we go out on this music room? I looked at them.
"Okay, since they're a bit far from where the duct ceiling is, you'll open the screen and I'll be the first to go down," I said throwing Gifflet a glance yet both he and Arius disagree.
"No. Ako ang mauunang bababa." Arius butted in.
"Tsk, not now Arius. And besides, I have a bow and arrows. It's better to use it than a gun that can only attract other infected people!" Asik ko naman saka umiling iling.
"I agree with her." Kaliya seconded. I just stared at her and then faced Arius and Gifflet, narrowing my eyes.
"Alright?"
Thet didn't say a word so I just shook my head.
"Come on guys! It's better if Azie go first since she's the only one who carries such silent weapons among us." Dearil said quietly pointing at my bow and arrows and the sword.
I nodded at them and then peeked at the screen calculating the distance I have to make and to see how far we were from the infected.
"I'll go after you." Arius said.
"Alright, in the count of three, Giff, you open the screen duct right away," I said then readied myself. He bobbed his head and I position myself to jump down.
"One...
Two...
Three .... "Gifflet opened the screen making a sound so I immediately jumped down almost losing my balance and quickly reached for the arrows behind me and rained down the infected who's nearing me.
Arius also went down immediately, followed by Gifflet, Kaliya, and Dearil who backed me up. More than ten infected people are here. I bet they are arranging decorations for the upcoming school event next week before things turns frenzy like what happened earlier.
We quickly ran towards the closed door and positioned ourselves on each side, Dearil holding the knob.
"Remember, if possible, don't make any noise." I reminded them while touching my bow with my clammy hands.
One .. two .. three...
We were immediately alerted when we caught the attention of two infected people who were only two inches away from us. I hit the other four and then we ran to the entrance door of the music room.
I peeked first into the hallway and lucky enough, no infected wandering around except for the walls and floors which were covered in slimy dark red blood.
"Hallway's clear." I beckoned the four of them before Arius placed his hand on the brass doorknob since the three of them— Arius, Kaliya and Dearil lined up behind the opening of the door while me and Gifflet is on the other side of the door.
With a sigh, Arius mouthed '1,2,3' before opening the door and we all started our way towards the quiet-bloody-messed up hallway.
We have two more hallways to go through in front making me much more anxious.
Silently walking and alert, Arius suddenly raised his hand and signaled for us to hide behind him since he's on the front.
We stopped at the side of the first hallway so I went in front of Dearil since he's behind Arius. I peeked and saw two infected walking in the hallway where the teachers' office is located.
"Arius." He nodded his head at me and I stood in front of him and shoot one arrow that pierced the two down straight in their heads.
I heard Kaliya gasped.
Well, didn't know I've exerted that much force for it to kill two in one shot. I might try this trick later.
"That's a good shot there." I heard Dearil muttered. I nodded at him as we continue until we reached the audio room.
Sumilip naman agad si Arius sa glass window ng audio room ng makarating kami sa harap ng audio room.
"How many?" Kaliya asked.
"Two." We bobbed our heads to Arius as he turn his gaze back in front. He steps inside and immediately shot the two in the head using his gun making my eyes widened.
"What the fu—"
"Shh.. relax, it's a silencer." He showed it to me and I just stared at it.
We all went inside as Dearil locked the door. We immediately did what was planned.
Gifflet sat on a chair and started scrolling through a lists of songs while I did all my best hooking this amplifier to the other big one which connects music to the speakers on the school grounds.
Kaliya on the other hand, is standing at the half glass door peeking through it to see if any infected were lurking outside while Arius and Dearil doing their things on the CCTV monitors that's attached to the wall.
One CCTV's on each floor of the building and five in the first-floor hallways where the lockers were. Good thing there's a CCTV pointed directly at the school grounds too.
"I'm done." I said, approaching Gifflet who's still rummaging the book list.
"Having a hard time picking, huh." He nodded.
"I can't choose the right one for us. You know, the ones that can definitely give us amount of time to travel to where we are going." I bit my lower lip and agreed.
"This one's better." I pointed at the music title I knew could pull so many infected into the school grounds and the end time was just right for us to get out of here.
"Bingo!" I just smirked at him.
"Sometimes I think you're full of luck." He smiled.
"I'm actually full of shits if you don't mind." He laughed.
I stood beside Arius, watching the monitors in front of me.
Only the second floor is not full of infected, as all the activities were held on the first floor.
"This is absolutely horrifying." I heard him say.
"True."
"Holy fudge! What a freaking gruesome view!" I averted my gaze to Kaliya who looks so disgusted.
Who won't gross out when you see heads or different parts of the body being eaten, scrambled in the hallways?
Just shit.
I pressed the button of the CCTV monitor 1 which was on the first floor.
"This will be tough." I whispered my eyes wandering at the monitor and the thing playing on it.
How was it? This thing happened earlier this morning. And almost half of the population inside this university was wiped out by this ravishing monsters.
What more outside and in the city?
"And I'm fucking scared for my damn life." Utas naman ni Kaliya which I do understand.
Kung kanina mabibilang mo lang ang mga infected students na makakasalubong mo bawat palapag ng building, pwes iba na kapag nasa school grounds ka na.
"Every one of us does." I murmured heads down and in a daze. There stood a moment of silence before Dearil decided to break it.
"I believe we'll survive this. We're all in this together. And I'm sure we can get out of here alive and well."
"Right."
"All we have to do is to avoid them in anyway we can." Gifflet cheered. Which for me, sounds like a comforting lie.
"You done?" Arius looked at Gifflet.
"What song?" Kaliya ask as she peeked at the computer.
"Wow. Good choice." She said. I grinned at them.
"Well, it's our second to last plan. Might as well enjoy the Final countdown."