Kiaan's mind went blank at the sight of this crazy man, who despite having a sword through his neck was still groaning and had his hands stretched out. "This... This can't be..." he thought.
Jerry stood frozen behind her brother, shocked but unable to process that the man should be dead.
A horde of groaning infected were moving towards Viren now.
Suddenly, the speaker above all the buildings boomed with an urgent announcement: "All students below class ten, report to the girls' hostel immediately! Lock the doors and stay inside!"
Viren quickly assessed the situation and made mental notes:
1)Kids rushing towards the hostel from the football field.Kiaan is in immediate danger and a good number of infected are coming towards me.
2)Taking a deep breath, he assessed his options:
3)The children would head for the main entrance, directly in front of these infected.No hand-to-hand, I'm already bitten.I have a gun with fifteen rounds, one magazine.I should shoot them all.
Viren pointed his gun at the infected approaching from the right, also the direction of the approaching students.
Loud bangs echoed throughout the academy as he fired several bullets into the infected's chest where the heart should be.
To Viren's horror, the infected didn't die but kept coming towards him. A few stumbled but kept advancing.
Kiaan, focused on observing the man in front of him, wondered, "The sword in his neck should have killed him. Is he really a zombie?" Still dazed, he stared into the red, angry eyes of the man.
"Let's see if you are a zombie or not," Kiaan said as he kicked the zombie to dislodge the blade. The sword came free, drenched in blood.
Without thinking twice, Kiaan swung the sword, aiming for the man's head with a loud cry "AHHHHHHH!!!!" He wanted to bisect the zombie in two. But the moment the blade struck the skull, it went in a bit and got stuck, although the man lay still. "It's dead," Kiaan muttered, his eyes widening, realizing indeed these things are zombies.
"WHY WON'T THEY DIE!?" Viren shouted in frustration as he kept shooting at the advancing zombies.
Kiaan then yelled, "Shoot 'em in the head, sir. Typical zombie rule."
Viren, who had never seen any zombie movie in his life and didn't even know what a zombie was, didn't understand what Kiaan was saying. So he was left with no choice but to take Kiaan's advice.
Viren shifted his aim from the heart to the head of the infected person and took the shot. This time, the infected stopped and fell to the ground. It was not groaning or getting up; it was dead indeed.
Viren let out a relieved chuckle. "If I had known about this, I would have worn a helmet my entire life," he muttered to himself. "So we have to take this seriously?" Viren asked Kiaan, who didn't reply, maybe not even hearing Viren.
Kiaan was indeed a class clown, but when things really mattered, he was serious. So serious that he didn't even care whether the person he was talking to should be respected or not.
This was not the only area inside the academy where chaos was occurring. Many zombies were still alive, lingering near the entrance of the campus. They were consuming the flesh of poor students who couldn't run away or stumbled while trying to escape. All these students were dead, having tried to resist and fight back against the vicious cannibals.
.....
Meanwhile at the football field
Every junior kid had started moving towards the hostel, but not in a very graceful manner. Many of them were struggling and crying due to fear, although not all of them.
Some kids, who hadn't seen the zombies and what they had done, weren't even buying the threat and were thinking this was just another drill.
However, the seniors had taken this matter seriously, as Kabir had informed them of what he saw. This news had shocked them all.
Everyone was tense during this situation. Rahul threw a mace into Kabir's hands, saying, "Here, no hand-to-hand." Kabir replied with a nod.
Sarah rushed her words, indicating how urgent the matter was. "We have to hurry," she said, giving Maya a belt with two short swords attached.
Maya gasped. "Kiaan... he ran straight towards those things the moment these kids arrived?" she asked in surprise, hoping for Sarah to reply with "I am just kidding" or "No, you heard wrong."
But nothing like that happened. Instead, Sarah nodded, confirming everyone's doubts.
Jai clenched his fist. "Is he gone mad? Ma'am clearly said no hand-to-hand. Why does he keep pulling crap like this?" he roared in fury and slight worry.
Rahul, sensing Jai's worry, quickly replied, "Don't worry, he took Viren's favorite sword with him."
This didn't ease Jai's anxiety one bit. Instead, it raised a sense of jealousy and frustration within his heart.
Viren's sword was strictly off-limits to every student. Jai had always wanted to try it or hold it, but Viren wouldn't even let anyone else touch it except him and Anju.
It was said that this was Viren's ancestral sword, and there were even rumors that Viren's great-grandfather used this sword to fight off Britishers during the freedom movement.
"We need to help that smart crackhole," Kabir said, turning around on his heel.
Jai looked at Sarah, wondering if she was worried about him. Sarah was definitely worried, clenching her fist around a sword with a handguard.
In his heart, Jai wished, "I hope you die there, bulldozer," as he thought of Kiaan. "First Viren's sword and now my girlfriend. Why does this guy always try to annoy me?" Jai wondered as he turned and looked towards the kids standing behind him holding air rifles.
These kids belonged to class 11, the second senior class of the academy. Jai shouted the order, "Everyone, follow me!"