As soon as the sound of music rang through the entire campus, the zombies stopped eating on the students and got up to move towards the sound.
"Here they come," Viren said, raising his gun. He still felt sad about the poor kids, and his sorrow turned into rage after he saw the zombies moving over the dead bodies of innocent students.
All four members of "Team Generator" lined up, shooting any zombie that came near them.
The plan was to direct these zombies towards the speakers quickly and save as many bullets as they could.
They were all filled with anger, just like Viren, and the reason was obvious. "HOW DARE YOU HARM MY KIDS!" Viren loudly yelled as he became overwhelmed and shot 5 zombies in a row in rage, not caring about the plan.
"SIR, PLEASE DON'T OVERFIRE, WE MIGHT NEED THE BULLETS LATER IF ANYTHING GOES SOUTH!" Kiaan shouted, but the sound of gunfire was loud, and his voice couldn't reach Viren's ears.
They took five steps back every five seconds, and Jai kept count of each step they took, instructing them every five seconds to step further back. "I must admit, this plan of his is nice," Jai complemented Kiaan in his head, but he wasn't happy about it.
...
Team Balcony was still waiting for the zombies to show up.
"It's taking time," Sarah said, standing on the balcony and looking for approaching zombies.
Anju pulled her back instantly, saying, "No peeking, kiddo."
Their wait ended soon as they were able to hear growls and footsteps amidst the song approaching.
"I'll peek, you two stay put," Anju instructed in a whisper.
All four of them stood a bit away from the balcony wall.
Anju saw a limping zombie approach the speaker. Looking at it with a frown, she thought to herself, "Even though he harmed the kids, he too is a victim in all this and probably had a family of his own."
She placed one hand on her stomach, "Maybe a daughter, or maybe twins?" She was lost in thought, but another approaching zombie shook her to her core.
This zombie was wearing the academy training outfit (orange T-shirt and dark blue pants), showing she was one of them at some point.
"There's nothing we can do now," Anju mumbled as she recognized this kid. "I'm sorry, Randi. I couldn't save you." She wiped a tear drop from her cheek. She needed to seem strong and stoic in front of these kids.
...
Team Generator kept shooting zombies and moving back, and this action was getting tiresome for most.
"TILL WHEN DO WE HAVE TO DO THIS!?" Maya asked Kiaan amidst the loud gunfire.
Kiaan looked back for just a second and said, "JUST A FEW MORE STEPS!" in response to Maya.
"NOW!" Jai shouted, indicating it was time to step back. They slowly took a few steps back until Jai again shouted, "STOP!" indicating they had taken five steps.
This process went on two more times until they finally reached a point from where they could see the staircase of the Tagore block, which led to the particular balcony where the rest of the group was.
"SHOOT ALL THE CLOSE ONES AND RUN!" Kiaan shouted, and everyone followed, shooting the first two rows of zombies and then running for the stairs at full speed.
The first two rows of zombies were the ones Kiaan suspected could be able to follow them. "Moreover, follow him, as he is the slowest among us, reason being the FATEST among us." This was what Jai believed. And he was not wrong.
Kiaan's plan had worked, but a single zombie was able to outrun every other zombie and was now climbing the stairs behind Kiaan.
While all the other zombies were walking, this one was running like a wild werewolf.
"OH BLOODY HELL NO!" Kiaan shouted as he climbed the stairs on all fours. But the zombie was faster and somehow clever, as it grabbed Kiaan's leg and pulled to take a bite.
"GET THE DUCK OFF ME!" Kiaan shouted while kicking the female zombie in her face twice, but the kicks were of no use.
"HERE, TASTE THEM!" He then shoved his feet into the zombie's mouth and pulled out his leg from the shoe, then immediately kicked the shoe, sending it further inside her throat, blocking all her teeth.
By then, Viren had come back to Kiaan's aid, carrying the other automated rifle and shooting the zombie down. This rifle had a silencer in front of it and didn't make any sound.
"I should have stayed back," Viren said as he approached Kiaan, who was now trying to pull out his shoe.
"No sir," he said as he used his gun to bash the zombie's teeth, "IT'S... OKAY... AFTER ALL... I... AM... FINE!" He smashed the zombie's face with his gun during each gap between words.
"What type of ruthless kid is he?" Viren wondered as he witnessed Kiaan pulling out his bloody shoe from the zombie's mouth and shaking it to check if there were any teeth inside the shoe hole.
Then they both climbed the stairs, but Kiaan walked with a limp as he had twisted his ankle in an odd way to fit into the zombie's mouth safely.
"What's going on?" Kiaan asked, catching his breath and peeking out from the balcony carefully. "Looks like we're ready," he continued, with another even bigger grin.
Almost all the zombies surrounded the speakers, standing still and staring at them. Unfortunately, some of the zombies were former students, and this made all of them sad.
Even Kiaan's grin turned into a frown as he looked at them and prayed, "Oh Krishna, please accept their souls at your feet."
This prayer surprised everyone, as Kiaan was not someone who prayed to god often and always questioned the ways of all religions and their beliefs.
"It will be hard to hate you now," Anju said in her mind. But then Kiaan's grin returned, and he said, "Let's blast these zombies up," his excitement evident in his voice.
"Or maybe not," Anju again said to herself in her mind, with a sigh of disbelief.
"Aren't they going to attack the speakers?" Sarah asked as she too peeked through the balcony.
"I don't know, babe. I am not a zombie expert," Jai replied, feeling jealous of Kiaan.
"BABE! Where are the grenades?" Viren asked Anju, clearly indicating Jai's mistake.
Jai gulped as he apologized for his mistake to both the wardens, while Rahul was distributing the grenades.
"Okay, remember, only two people throw at a time. Aim for both speakers at opposite ends. We'll slowly work our way towards the center," Kiaan explained the plan again as he held two grenades, one in each hand.
"I hope nothing goes wrong," Kabir mumbled as he held a grenade in his hand.
...
They followed Kiaan's plan, blowing up the speakers at each end of the line first, then the ones beside them.
All the kids and both wardens took turns blasting the speakers. A few grenades were off target as Sarah lacked the force to throw them and Kabir messed up the aim. But Kiaan had already anticipated that could be the case.
In no time, the once-manicured football field was a horrific mess. The explosion had ripped through the grass, leaving behind a cratered and scorched surface. Chunks of flesh and bone had scattered everywhere, and the air was thick with the smell of blood and gunpowder.
"Now comes the hard part," Viren declared with a frown.