Thomas froze, lowering his weapon slightly as two figures emerged from behind a stack of old sound equipment. It was two female students, their faces pale and streaked with dirt. They were clutching each other tightly, their eyes wide with fear as they stared at him. One was taller, with long, disheveled brown hair, while the other was shorter, her jet-black hair tied in a loose ponytail. Both looked like they hadn't eaten or slept in days.
As he looked closer, their faces stirred a memory. He reached up and switched on the flashlight mounted under his MP5, the beam cutting through the shadows and landing on their faces. His breath caught in his throat.
"Samantha? Anna?" he said in disbelief.
The taller girl, Samantha, blinked at him in surprise, her brown eyes wide with recognition.
"Thomas?" she asked shakingly.
"It's really you," Thomas muttered, lowering the weapon completely.
Samantha and Anna. The campus belles of Adamson University. Everyone knew them—they were inseparable best friends, and their beauty and charisma had made them stand out in any crowd.
He couldn't help but remember the last time he had seen them. It was the day everything fell apart. The zombies had appeared out of nowhere, turning the school into a nightmare. He remembered the chaos vividly—students screaming, running in every direction, desperate to escape the undead that had infiltrated the campus. Samantha and Anna had been part of a larger group, one that seemed better equipped to protect themselves. He had assumed they'd made it out safely, but seeing them here, dirty and terrified, told a different story.
"What... what happened to you?" Thomas asked.
Anna clung tighter to Samantha, her body trembling as she buried her face in her best friend's shoulder.
Samantha took a deep breath, her voice shaky but steady enough to respond.
"We were with a group at first… but the zombies, they… they kept coming. We got separated when the group was attacked. We ran and ended up here. We've been hiding ever since."
"I see…are they dead? The group that you went with?"
"I don't know," Samantha simply replied, then she scanned his appearance from top to bottom curiously. "What about you? You are wearing a SWAT uniform and armed with a gun…how is that possible?"
"Ah…"
Common sense dictates that he couldn't tell Samantha and Anna about the system that he had received earlier. He has to come up with a plausible reason about how he had gotten possession of firearms.
And—he couldn't think of one. Almost all of his classmates knew about his family background, he has none, he was an orphan, and a scholarship student. There was no way he could convincingly claim he had connections to military or law enforcement resources. Samantha's questioning gaze lingered on him, and he knew he had to say something before the situation grew awkward.
"I, uh… found it," Thomas said hesitantly, avoiding eye contact. "You know, in one of the abandoned storage rooms. It's a miracle, really. Someone must have stashed it here before everything went to hell."
Samantha raised an eyebrow, but she didn't press further. "I see. Guess you've been lucky," she muttered, her voice tinged with disbelief. Anna, still clutching Samantha's arm, glanced at the weapon nervously but said nothing.
Thomas decided to change the subject. "You said you've been hiding here? How long?"
Samantha let out a sigh. "Three days. We've barely eaten, and we've been trying to stay quiet. Every time we thought about leaving, there were zombies nearby. We didn't want to risk it."
Thomas nodded, understanding their plight. He knew the feeling of being trapped, helpless against the overwhelming odds. But when the system appeared, he had regained hope in this forsaken world, and he thought that he should share that hope to his classmates as well.
"I have food here with me but you need to stay here as I have to prepare it."
"You have food?" Finally, Anna spoke.
Thomas gave Anna a reassuring nod before stepping back into the small equipment room to prepare the food. He quickly opened his system interface, navigating to his inventory. With a flick of his finger, he selected two MREs and two bottles of water.
The items materialized in his hands instantly.
He knelt down on the floor, tearing open the first MRE packet labeled "Beef Stew." Following the instructions printed on the side, he activated the self-heating mechanism with a small amount of water. As the pouch hissed and began to heat up, he set it aside and repeated the process for the second packet, this one labeled "Chicken Teriyaki."
The smell of the food quickly filled the air, and Thomas heard a soft gasp from behind him. Turning his head slightly, he saw Samantha and Anna peeking into the room, their wide eyes fixed on the steaming pouches.
Thomas' eyes widened momentarily. Did they see him activating the system? No, he had been careful. He took a glance over his shoulder before he interacted with the system, and when he was preparing it, he threw another glance and they didn't peek.
He relaxed himself and spoke. "Are you guys familiar with the MREs?"
"Isn't it food prepared for the soldiers in the military?" Samantha replied with a thoughtful expression.
"You are right, and you are lucky that I still have two," Thomas chuckled softly before offering them the MREs. "I don't know what flavor you two prefer so you can just choose which one you like."
Samantha hesitated for a moment, her gaze shifting between the steaming packets. "I'll take this one," she said, choosing the Chicken Teriyaki. She handed the remaining packet to Anna, who nodded gratefully.
"Thank you," Anna murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. She quickly tore open the Beef Stew packet, her hands trembling slightly as the aroma hit her.
Thomas passed them each a bottle of water. "You'll need this too. Stay hydrated," he said firmly, watching as they took the bottles with murmurs of thanks.
Samantha and Anna sat down on the floor, their backs against the wall as they dug into the food. They ate with the desperation of people who hadn't had a proper meal in days, practically shoveling the warm food into their mouths. Samantha closed her eyes briefly, savoring the taste.
"This is amazing," she mumbled between bites.
Anna nodded in agreement, barely pausing to breathe as she devoured the stew.
"I didn't realize how hungry I was until now," she admitted.
Thomas leaned against the wall opposite them, his MP5 resting across his lap as he kept an eye on the door. He couldn't help but feel a sense of responsibility for the two girls whose blank eyes rekindled with hope.
"So, Thomas," Samantha said after a few moments. "What were you doing?"
"Well I am trying to get out of this campus but there are a lot of zombies outside. I had to retreat," Thomas said.
Samantha looked at his MP5. "You were fighting zombies? I didn't expect you to have such talent for it. Well, you were silent almost every time in class and you barely interacted with our other classmates."
"Let's just say I have a life outside other than being a student," Thomas said.
"And are you going to try again?" Samantha inquired.
"I have to."
Hearing that, Samantha and Anna exchanged glances with one another and then—turned their eyes back to him.
"Thomas…uhm—can we come…with you?" Samantha finished hesitantly, her voice trembling slightly as she met Thomas's gaze.