Chapter 12 - [12] Rallying the crowd

The creature kept slamming into the glass, each hit sending cracks spider-webbing across the door. The students around me were panicking, backing away, screaming—but no one was doing anything. We were sitting ducks. My heart was pounding in my chest, and it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. The thing outside would be through in seconds, and we'd all be screwed.I was the first to snap out of it."Shit, move!" I yelled, shoving a nearby desk toward the door. The metal legs screeched against the floor as I dragged it, adrenaline kicking into overdrive. "We need to barricade this entrance!"Raul was next, rushing over to help me. "Jake's right! We need to block it off, now!"I strained against the desk, pushing it up against the door. The creature outside let out another low, guttural growl, its head smacking against the weakening glass. More cracks splintered out, but the desk provided some extra support—at least for the moment."Come on!" I shouted at the crowd, my voice sharp and desperate. "If you don't help, we're all fking dead!"Kenji and Malcolm were the first to move, each grabbing one side of a nearby bookshelf. "Let's go!" Kenji grunted, muscles straining as they lifted the shelf and dragged it toward the door.The rest of the students just stared, frozen in place. Some were crying, others whispering to each other, but no one was making a move."Goddamn it!" I yelled, my voice echoing through the library. "Help us, or we're all fked!"That snapped a few more people out of it. A couple of guys from the front started pushing desks, chairs, anything they could find to block off the entrance. Slowly, others joined in, dragging furniture toward the door, creating a makeshift barricade. It was sloppy, but it was better than nothing."Okay, that's a start," Raul said, stepping back to assess the barricade. "But this isn't gonna hold forever."The creature on the other side of the door let out another growl, smacking its head against the glass again. The door shuddered under the impact, but it held—for now."We need to leave," I said, panting from the effort of moving the furniture. "That thing outside? It's a fking zombie. We stay here, and we'll run out of food, water, everything. We have to get out before it's too late."One of the girls in the crowd shook her head, her face pale but defiant. "No, I'm not leaving! The authorities will save us. The military is here, they'll handle it. They'll protect us."I could feel my eyes rolling so hard I thought they might get stuck. "Are you serious? Did you not see what just happened? That soldier is dead, okay? He's fking dead, and if we stay here, we'll starve to death or worse."She looked at me, her expression full of doubt. "But... they're trained for this. They're supposed to keep us safe."I couldn't help it. I snapped. "What fking part of 'the soldier is dead' do you not understand?!" I shouted, my voice sharp enough to cut through the chatter. The room fell into a tense silence. "You really think they're gonna save us? If we stay here, we'll all run out of food. We'll fucking starve to death. Is that what you want?"Her face crumpled, and she didn't respond. No one else said anything, either. They all just stood there, staring at me like I had punched them in the gut. I didn't care—I was too pissed to care."Look," I said, taking a deep breath to calm myself down. "We need to barricade the front for now, but we can't stay here forever. We have to make a plan to leave. If we don't, we're just waiting to die."The silence hung in the air for a moment longer, but then, slowly, people started moving again. The reality of the situation was sinking in. There was no cavalry coming. No one was going to save us. We were on our own."Let's just focus on the barricade for now," I said, my voice calmer but firm. "We'll figure out the rest later."Kenji and Raul nodded, and soon the rest of the crowd began to help, dragging more shelves and desks toward the entrance. We worked together, the fear in the air fueling us. No one wanted to die.Ethan and a few others pushed a large bookshelf up against the windows, blocking the view of the outside. Another group moved a few more desks to reinforce the doors. The library was starting to look like a war zone, but it was better than nothing.Malcolm, still limping from his fall, leaned against one of the shelves, breathing hard. "That should hold for a bit. At least give us time to figure out what to do next.""Yeah, but not for long," Raul said, eyeing the barricade. "If more of those things show up, we're fked.""Then we need to start thinking about an exit plan," I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead. "If this doesn't hold, we'll need to move fast. We can't stay here."The room was quiet again, but this time it was the silence of grim realization. Everyone was thinking the same thing: we were trapped in a library full of scared, unprepared students, and outside the door, something inhuman was trying to break in."We need to stick together," Kenji said, his voice unusually serious. "No one's gonna survive this alone."I nodded, feeling the weight of his words. We had managed to hold off the immediate threat, but I knew this was just the beginning. The barricade wouldn't hold forever, and when it gave out, we needed to be ready.For now, we'd done what we could. The question was, how much time did we have left?Q: Do you own a katana collection?