Chapter 2: Hope Amidst Chaos

The others were also surprised to see Luke, his clothes covered in blood. Cruz got up from the floor, breaking the silence. "I'm so glad you're still alive," he said with a sense of relief, his eyes scanning Luke for any signs of injury. Floyd rushed over to Luke and hugged him tightly. "You have no idea how happy I am. I thought you turned into one of those zombies as well. We gotta get out of here."

"Yeah, I know," Luke replied, feeling a mix of relief and uncertainty, not knowing how to respond to that.

"Hey, mind if I ask a question?" Rina interjected, her voice cutting through the moment.

"Go ahead," said Luke, turning to face her.

"What's with the bloodstains on your clothes? Were you bitten?" Rina asked cautiously, keeping her distance. The others watched Luke with a mix of fear and curiosity.

"Nope, I'm not bitten. And it's not like we are in the movies where they infect only by biting," Luke reassured them. The others seemed to be relieved by his words.

"I know that, but still, what's with all the blood and the fire extinguisher? Is it okay if we check you for any bite marks?" Rina asked, her tone cautious and persistent.

"I used the fire extinguisher to defend myself. The zombies' blood got on my shirt in the process. That's all. You can check me for bite marks if you need to," said Luke, understanding her fear.

"Okay, but like you said, it's not a movie. The infection could also spread by blood, you kn-" Floyd interrupted, sounding angry. "Cut it out, Rina. He said he's not bitten, and if the blood could infect him, he should have turned into a zombie by now. Some time must have passed since it got on his clothes."

"Floyd, she's just trying to make sure we're safe. Don't get mad at her," said Alice, trying to calm him down.

"She's right, Floyd. I'd do the same if I were in Rina's place. So, Rina, what can I do to prove I'm not infected?" Luke asked.

The room they were in was the school's art club, and Rina's a member. That's why she tried opening this specific classroom out of all the others.

"I'm sorry about this, but can we tape your mouth and tie your hands and legs for like an hour? I just don't want to lose anyone here," she said, sounding genuinely sorry.

"Alright, but can we skip the taping the mouth part? I swear, if I start changing, I'll jump out the window," Luke tried to reassure her.

She nodded and walked to a drawer, pulling out duct tape, knowing exactly where it was. She handed it to Cruz. "Can you...?" Rina asked hesitantly.

"Sure, I may never get another chance to tie him up," Cruz chuckled.

He walked towards Luke and tied his legs with the duct tape. "You look like you're enjoying this a bit too much Cruz," Luke joked.

"You bet I am," Cruz chuckled, tying Luke's hands to his legs. "You jerk, she never said anything about tying my hands to my legs," said Luke.

"I figured you'd look good like this, and also, if you turn into a zombie, you can't crawl, isn't that a advantage for us," Cruz said, both of them laughing.

After finishing, Cruz stood up. "Don't bother jumping out when you feel like you're changing. I'll do the honor myself," Cruz joked.

"Yeah, I bet you will, you jerk," Luke chuckled, and the others laughed, the tension in the room easing.

All the others sat opposite Luke, maintaining their distance. Then Alice spoke up and broke the silence. "Hey Luke, what was the situation out there?"

"It's worse, I mean really worse. If we go out, we will surely die. On my way here, I didn't see any zombies, but when I tried to escape to the ground floor, it was swarming with them.

I'm not even sure how so many of them appeared there," Luke said, looking frustrated.

"So what do we do now? There's no way for us to escape, and even if there is, where do we escape to?" Rina asked, feeling a mix of worry and uncertainty.

"Man, I just hope our parents are safe," said Cruz, looking worried.

"Yeah, me too," Rina added.

Luke opened his mouth to say something but hesitated and decided to keep it to himself. Floyd was comforting Alice, and Christina looked like she was thinking deeply. They all sat there in silence.

"Yo Cruz, how much longer do I have to stay like this?" Luke asked. Cruz glanced at his watch before answering him.

"Forty more minutes, buddy," Cruz replied. Luke sighed in frustration.

"By the way, I'm not sure if our parents are safe because when I was walking to school this morning, the road was unusually silent. It might be because the place was already infested, and I was just lucky enough to get past them. If I remember correctly, I heard my parents talking about some weird noises they heard this morning, so it's highly likely the place was already infested, and even if it wasn't, it should be by now. So what I'm trying to say is our parents might not be very safe," said Luke hesitantly.

All the others got very quiet after hearing his statement, knowing that Luke might be right.

Tears streamed down Christina's face as she spoke while gasping for breath. "Yo... you don't know that, th... they could be a few lucky ones like yourse... yourself." Rina tried to comfort her, but it was in vain.

"Man, this is the reason why I was so hesitant about saying it, but someone's gotta say it, and now I have to sweet talk her. Damn it," Luke mumbled to himself before facing Christina. "You are totally right, and I want nothing more than our parents and siblings to be among those lucky ones. What I'm trying to imply is we have to be ready even for the worst of possibilities." A small smile appeared on Luke's face.

"If my parents unfortunately hadn't survived this," he leaned his head against the wall behind him and looked up, "I'm sure they are watching me right now, feeling happy that I survived and wanting me to not die, no matter what. And I'm sure all of your parents want nothing more than that," Luke said with a smile on his face.

His words seemed to have an impact on the others. They all looked motivated now, and even Christina was trying to stop her tears.

"There you go, your parents wouldn't want you to cry, would they? So always keep a smile on that beautiful face, okay?" Luke said reassuringly.

A small smile emerged on Christina's face. "Okay..." she said, while trying to get her breath under control. The others were surprised and impressed to see how good he was at comforting people. Cruz walked over to him and sat next to him, then whispered, "I didn't know you were that good at comforting people."

Luke turned his head to face him. "Guess what? I didn't know I was good at it until now either," Luke whispered back. They both smiled.

"We can free him now; I don't think he's infected," said Rina, starting to trust him. The others were relieved by her words.

"Are you sure? I mean, we can keep him like this for a bit longer," Cruz said playfully.

"Free me, you jerk," said Luke, feeling a sense of relief.

"Okay, okay," said Cruz before using scissors to cut the tape and finally free Luke.

Luke stretched his hands and legs and sat down. "So what do we do now?" he asked.

"We could just stay here until the zombie leaves the area," Floyd suggested.

"That actually does sounds like a good idea to me," Luke replied. "Same here," Cruz added.

"Okay, but what do we do for food and bathroom?" Rina asked, not being satisfied with the plan.

"Answer it, Floyd," Alice requested, believing that he would have some kind of answer.

"Can't we just hold off all those things for a day?" said Floyd, looking confused as he didn't expect anyone to take his plan seriously.

"Even if we do that despite the potential problem, there's still no guarantee that the zombies will leave the area within a day. If those zombies were still there, the next day and if we decide to search for food then, after going a whole day without eating, we will be in bad shape, and we might just easily get killed by a zombie," said Rina clearly jot liking the plan

"damn" Cruz muttered to himself, impressed by her intellectual prowess.

"So what do you think we should do, Rina?" asked Cruz.

"I'm not opposed to us staying here, but not like this. We at least have to try and gather supplies. The best option for us now is to transfer to the cafeteria; all of the things we need are there, from food to the bathroom," she said thoughtfully.

"But it's very risky, Rina. The cafeteria is located on the ground floor, and the hallway is probably full of zombies," said Christina, looking worried.

"But it's right there near the stairs. If we take this risk, we can just stay there with no problem," said Rina, trying to convince them.

"Nah, that's not happening. Going to the ground floor is pretty much the same thing as killing yourself now. I did tell you that the ground floor was full of zombies, didn't I?" said Luke firmly.

"Yeah, you did say that," replied Rina slowly, looking at the floor, not knowing what to do. Alice leaned towards her and wrapped her hand around her shoulder. "Don't be upset now; there must be a way for us to escape," said Alice reassuringly.

"Wouldn't they just slowly die? I mean, how long can they even live with that decaying body?" said Floyd, trying to find their weakness.

"Of course, they would. But how long will it take? It could be days, weeks, or even a month. If we apply simple logic, we could say that the infected ones with a weak body will die soon, like in days, and the infected ones who had strong body may live for a month or even beyond. But they will surely get weaker as they live if they don't consume food," said Luke.

"Don't consume food?" asked Cruz, seemingly curious.

"Yep, and I don't think they do consume food. I mean, from what I saw, they crave human flesh, but once they bite someone to eat, the one who is bitten gets infected, and the zombies are no longer interested in that flesh as it is infected. I'm not sure as to why; it's maybe because the infected flesh emits some kind of smell that disinterests the zombies," said Luke, trying to make sense of their strange behavior.

"Then can't we just use something to mask our scent?" said Alice.

"Even if we do find a way to mask our scent, they have eyes too. What if the zombies see us, then, they will surely try to eat us, won't they?" asked Floyd.

"We can just act like zombies, can't we??" Alice questioned him.

Rina interjected and said "No, Alice. What if the only thing they are not interested in is the infected flesh? And the try to eat anything that seems like flesh, Then they will still bite us if they see us move, even if we mask our scent. We can't risk it".

"I suppose you are right," Alice agreed.

"So how do we find food now? At this rate, we will die of starvati-" She was interrupted by the notification sound from Cruz's phone. All of their eyes widened.

"WE HAVE PHONES!" they all shouted in excitement.

"Damn, we are so dumb. How did we even forget about this?" said Cruz. He took his phone out of his pocket and called emergency. All of them got very excited. Alice and Christina held Rina's hand, saying "We are saved, we are saved!" in unison, unable to contain their excitement.

They all looked eagerly at Cruz's phone, waiting for it to connect.