The undead rushed me, and I knew it was already too late to keep playing the stealth game.
I wrenched my foot away from the guy who was grabbing me, I couldn't look him in the eyes, because I knew the look of betrayal that will be on his face will be too much for me to bear. I've been in these situations many times before and there is nothing I can do to make it feel less painful.
I looked up, destination, the amphitheater's exit. And I rushed forward, jumping on top of the nearest row desk, and onto the next, one after another as I rushed up towards the entrance.
A few zombies came at me in an attempt to grab my legs, but with agility far beyond what a normal human could express, I jumped, twisted my body, and even front flipped away from the grabbing hands, leaving the zombies grabbing at each other. Since visibility was low, and they could only use their ears, I managed to make my way away from them and once I was far enough, I slowed down and continued creeping forward.
Until I heard a snivel next to me, too close for comfort I almost killed whoever was sniveling.
A girl, in her early twenties, had managed to somehow avoid all the wandering undead and hide under a desk and never moved from her spot, even after the whole class was being murdered in front of her. Fear can petrify people, and in her case, this horror made her freeze up and saved her life in the process.
I looked up, there were only a few stairs left before I can reach the room's exit, and from then on I can move in a more comfortable manner through the University, the classrooms are the best to hide in, and the halls can be a death sentence, but for me, it's the best option since I can easily take out any undead in a well lit and not too open area. The halls will allow me to fight back against the zombies in a straight line unlike here where I can be attacked from all corners.
I didn't dare to speak or make noise, I did a quick check on the girl, she didn't have any signs of bites on her, so she was worth helping. I gestured to the girl with my fingers, to follow me.
She shook her head, fear gripping at her tightly.
If she were to stay here, she will eventually be discovered or caught or something bad could happen.
I sighed and grabbed her hand and dragged her.
She was panicking but she knew damn well that she shouldn't scream or yelp, otherwise it's only death that'll await her from the undead once they hear it.
She was struggling but I was far too strong for her and once I dragged her to me, I nodded to her to trust me, and slowly made my way forward with her in toe.
If she was wounded or bitten I wouldn't have cared, but now she has a shot at survival and I can't just give up anyone just because it will inconvenience me.
She was panicking at first but seeing that no undead had come towards us, she managed to understand my intentions.
We made it to the door, and before I tried to open it, I made sure to grab a piece of debris from the ground, it was a piece of a speaker that was broken. I grabbed it and hurled it all the way to the professor's desk down at the base of the amphitheater.
The noise the speaker made was more than enough to pull the attention of all the undead in the room, and thankfully, it pulled the attention of an undead that was too close to me for comfort and I didn't notice at all.
This caused my heart to almost burst from its place, as I was too close to death without even realizing it.
Looking at the girl next to me, she was too terrified to speak.
But once the undead own noise began drawing even more undead to the lowest part of the amphitheater I decided it was time to open the door.
Only to have the door screech and stop in its place. Causing the attention of the undead to focus back on me.
"Shit, someone locked it from outside. Back away!" I called.
To hell with being silent, we were already exposed.
I then pulled my foot up and kicked the door so hard, whatever was blocking it just broke and the door spread open.
The girl went out first and I followed after, only to realize that there was a couple of undead on the other side of the hall, and the noise we made was more than enough for them to notice us. And since the hall was well lit, once we were spotted, they came at us.
I looked at the door, it thankfully didn't break, and only a broom that was holding it together had snapped in two.
I then pulled up my sword and swung it twice, taking off the heads of two undead that were coming our way.
I closed the door back, grabbed the snapped broom, and used it to block the door once again.
The girl next to me thankfully didn't scream or shout but looked in utter and complete terror at a person decapitating two students of the same university that she studied in.
"Hey!" I said.
"Hey! Snap out of it!" I called again.
"Eh, ehh, yes, yes…" she said stuttering and panic-stricken.
"What's your name?" I asked.
This was basic stuff, since she was feeling terrorized, I needed to calm her down, and give her solace in an unexpected hell that came out of nowhere.
"I'm Mary…Mary Sanderson."
"Good, I'm Lucas. Listen, do you know Nadia Friex?" I asked.
"Yes… she is my friend."
This was a small ray of hope that came out of nowhere.
"Good, do you know where she is?" I asked.
"N-not with all this shit happening…"
"Please, anything would help? Where did you last see her, or her class, or did she even come here today?" I asked.
"I remember, they had a psychology sermon this morning, it's in the main conference room, the third floor," she said.
"Good, good," I said as I turned towards the main hall.
There is hope.
"I'll need to find her. But it's not going to be pretty. What are you going to do?" I asked.
"I-I don't know… I just want to go home," she said and was about to break down crying.
"Don't cry, not now, it's not time for that yet. Listen. If you go on your own, you'll die, one hundred percent. This shit isn't only at uni, it's all over the streets and your chances of survival won't be kind." I said.
The words I spoke to her came down like an avalanche crumbling her will.
"But stick close, I'll make sure to get you out of this place alive and in one piece. I would have ignored you here if you weren't Nadia's friend, but in a world like this, friends are too precious. Follow me if you want to live, or you can go on your own, but the responsibility of your own survival is your own," I said.
It wasn't a choice for her, she knew it well. Stay here, and die, leave and die. Follow me and maybe you live. It was obvious what she was going to do.
"I'll follow," she said.
"Good, make damn sure you don't get bitten, and if you do tell me. You're better off with a missing limb than turning to an undead," I said as I pulled my bloodied sword.
Though it's super counterintuitive to use a sword tainted with undead blood to cut a limb, she didn't need to know that, she only needed to know that getting bit is bad, and I can do bad things.
"Follow me closely and watch my back if you see an undead behind us, don't speak, nudge me, okay? We need to move silently from here onwards and especially away from this door," I pointed.
She didn't understand why, but a second later the door rattled causing her to yelp.
"The undead there know that this is an exit, and they'll probably break it very quickly. So let's move before that happens," I said and I headed down the hall.
She followed me closely and made sure to keep a lookout behind us. Though I didn't need her to do that, I needed her to do something to keep her mind off the shit that went on.
"They say, every situation has a bright side," I said slowly.
Mary looked at me questioningly, as if I was a mad man.
"Hey, at least you don't need to worry about finals anymore," I said grinning.
That was enough to melt the stressed-out and completely terrified expression out of her face.
She cringed at first, but then smiled and had a hard time stopping her laugh from coming out.
I inwardly nodded to myself. It wasn't even a good joke, but it was far better than focusing on the current situation.
A bit of goofing around is good in this situation. This will keep her head off of the shit that's happening and we can proceed faster.
There were many amphitheater entrances and classroom entrances that were broken down. Windows cracked and completely shattered, and bodies of students all over the place, festering with the undead curse, crawling about, and growling like beasts.
There was no life in where I was, and I didn't think that there will be.
The situation is ugly right now, and most students, the smarter ones have probably grouped up together.
These students were probably the same, but if there were one or two students among them with bites on them… then the scenario that would develop would be this of course.
This made me more anxious, I was thankful for the fact that Nadia is on the third floor, the outbreak would probably not reach all the way there as it did on the first floor. And they would relatively be safer for a while.
I needed to get there fast.