"Aaaaahhhhh!" rang out down the hall again, thick with terror.
Zane, with his dagger ready, ripped open Ava's chest like he was carving a Thanksgiving turkey.
Her ribs cracked and scattered like busted chips.
Her heart, still thumping, seemed to scream that she was checking out fast.
Zane smirked, hoisting the heart like he was cutting through a birthday cake.
Blood went flying, dripping non-stop.
Jake watched, eyes lit up, drool almost hitting the floor.
Ava was gone, her eyes stuck wide open in terror and despair.
"Gross," Zane muttered as he skewered the heart on his dagger like a marshmallow, his face twisted in disgust.
Without pausing, he flipped the dagger to Jake, who wolfed down the heart in one bite.
The last dude left was shaking like a leaf, his sobs of fear pushing him to the edge.
Zoe, chilling nearby, cracked a "heh heh heh" laugh, like she was poking fun at his fear.
All of a sudden, sharp nails ripped into the guy's neck, hitting an artery.
His screams cut off quick, and the hall went dead silent.
But soon, the sound of munching flesh filled the air as a bunch of zombies started their nasty feast.
Feeling oddly good after the carnage, Zane remembered the school cafeteria might still have some goodies, especially the freezer packed with fresh meat.
Since they were already on campus, might as well stock up.
Leading his zombie crew, Zane left the dorm, crossed the playground, and hit up the cafeteria.
He noticed more zombies hanging around, especially at the cafeteria door.
Four or five of them were pounding on the glass, drawn by something inside, desperate to get in.
The door was a mess of bloody handprints, all smeared into a red haze.
"Could there be survivors in there?" Zane wondered.
But the zombies in front of him were clueless; they kept pushing on the glass door, not getting that it needed to be pulled.
Zane saw these clueless zombies as just another roadblock, so he signaled Jake to take point.
"Roar—" Jake growled low and charged.
He grabbed a zombie by the arm and slammed it against the wall.
"Smack!" The zombie got plastered against the wall, then slid down leaving a trail of red.
Jake tossed a few more zombies aside.
They growled but were clearly spooked by Jake, not daring to come at him and instead backing off.
Jake wasn't exactly a brainiac either; he pushed the glass door inward.
With too much muscle, "Crack!" the glass broke and the frame bent.
Clearly, when you've got brute strength, finesse doesn't really matter.
Zane walked into the cafeteria.
The first-floor hall was creepy quiet, just the stink of decay hanging around.
Several bodies were on the floor, all zombies with their heads blown off, their blood dried to a dark purple.
Looks like these zombies had been taken out by human survivors.
The apocalypse kicked off at 9 AM, and the cafeteria wasn't usually a hotspot, so it wasn't marked as a danger zone.
But if there were any survivors, they'd probably be holed up in the storeroom, where there was enough food to keep folks alive.
Zane made a beeline for the storeroom.
Soon enough, a big ol' double iron door loomed ahead, shut tight.
He gave it a shove, but no dice—it was locked up solid.
Inside, he could just make out some faint whispers.
Zane's ears were sharp; he caught every word.
"Oh no, sounds like zombies are on the move! What do we do?" a woman's voice freaked out.
"Don't sweat it, I got you," a dude reassured her, pulling her in close.
But the chick was still stressing.
"Maybe... we should just bail."
"Pfft! If you wanna bail, then scram. Staying here's just eating up our supplies!" A middle-aged dude in a chef's getup scoffed from across the room.
The young guy looked like he wanted to snap back, but the chef was waving a boning knife around, so he bit his tongue.
In this gloomy storeroom, five folks were holed up: the chef, a young couple, and two other ladies.
One of them, Emma, a warehouse manager Zane remembered from a supermarket, stood out.
She was a real looker, lips pursed, all determination and grit.
Despite coming from a tough background, she always hustled, working while studying, all about that self-reliance life.
Emma's voice shook a bit, "Zombies... they won't get in, right?"
The chef nodded, sounding kinda sure of himself: "These zombies ain't that bright. They couldn't even handle a glass door, let alone this locked iron one." His words chilled everyone out a bit.
But then, boom! Like thunder, a loud bang rocked the calm. A massive fist print smashed into the iron door, each finger clear as day, showing off some serious muscle.
Oh snap, that's Jake! He was hammering at the iron door with his giant fists! Each hit made the door shake, dust falling like snow, the door bending in.
The five inside freaked, realizing this door wasn't gonna hold. They bolted down the hall, aiming for a tiny freezer at the end.
But they hadn't gotten far when Jake slammed his fist down again, harder this time, busting half the iron door as he squeezed his buff body through.
"Oh my God!" They spun around, stunned. They'd never seen such a beastly zombie, and panic spread like wildfire.
The chef, knife in hand, was the quickest and first into the freezer. He yelled, "Move it, zombies are right behind us!"
But then, a creepy laugh echoed down the dim hall, like something out of a horror flick. The chef squinted and spotted a skinny figure blitzing towards them behind Jake, claws slashing through the air.
The young dude from the couple was quick too, second into the freezer. But his girl and Emma lagged behind. The chick called out, "Babe, wait for me!" But the terrifying Zoe was already too close, leaving her no escape.
The young man gritted his teeth, and as the third woman made it into the freezer, the three of them managed to slam the heavy freezer door shut...