8th Death - For Whom The Bell Tolls

[NTR PART OVER!!!!}

Jiho stood in the bathroom just outside the school's perimeter, near the small forest, staring at the flowing water from the sink. It had been an hour since he left the classroom after finding out that Daniel and Eunhee had been seeing each other for a while now.

Since then, he hadn't been able to return.

Daniel—the same Daniel who had taught him about courage, calmness, and the strength of bond, the one he had trusted so deeply—had betrayed him in the most appalling way.

'What was the point of everything I learned?' Jiho wondered. 'What was the point of the smiles we shared, my honesty, my trust?'

This mountain they had climbed together—trust, bond—was it ever real? Or had it been nothing more than a mirage, crafted by Daniel? If it was a mirage, it was never tangible, yet somehow he had still risen to great heights, thinking it was solid. But now... he had nothing left to hold onto.

He fell.

And he plummeted. Drowning in an ocean of despair, he hit the cold pavement, watching as Daniel and Eunhee soared above him in together, leaving him behind.

Just like that, the trust that had once kept him afloat deflated in mere moments.

Once more, he was a hollow, sinking mess.

"Why..." Jiho murmured.

"Why did I stop torturing you, Pooch?" he found himself asking his long-dead dog, lacking the strength to lift his head.

"No, really. What... What did it give me, in the end?" he asked, his voice faint. "Everything I did out of this... abundance I felt... What did it amount to, in the end?" His hands trembled as he gripped the dirtied ceramic sink, his knees weakening.

"I'm... I'm all alone again..." His voice was raspy, dried up, a shadow of the punch and vibrance it had once held when he still believed, when he had still been alight.

"I... I knew it, Mom..." He closed his eyes, swallowing back the tears. "There was no point to anything you asked... Whether it was a year or ten... Just like I feared... It was all for nothi—"

"Muhggghhheee..."

A loud, raspy groan came from one of the stalls.

Jiho snapped upright. "S-SORRY, I'LL LEAVE..!!" he called out, startled by the loud banging on the stall door.

'Ahh... Who am I kidding..!! What's wrong with me, doing this one-man show? Like there's a camera filming me or something...' he thought bitterly.

'No matter what I pretend to say to my deceased dog, my mom... or Daniel and Eunhee...'

'I'll never get that image out of my head,' he thought, his lips tightening as the memory of Daniel and Eunhee's embrace flooded back.

'And... they've been going out for a while, apparently... even though he said...'

============

"Don't worry, bro," Daniel had assured him once.

"I'm the brawn, you're the brains, remember? I'm on your side."

"You can always trust me. I'll always carry you to safety~ You're my princess~..." Daniel teased, scooping Jiho up in a playful princess carry.

"STOP, I GET IT, EUGH!" Jiho had shouted, struggling in embarrassment as Daniel laughed.

"Aww, you just ruined such a romantic moment~" Daniel had mocked, as Jiho leapt out of his arms.

"YOU RUINED IT YOURSELF!" Jiho had shouted back, while Eunhee laughed so hard she cried.

============

'...Well, what can I do about it? I'll just go home for today... and for the rest of the week... or maybe the month... or maybe I'll never leave,' Jiho thought, gritting his teeth as he grappled with the weight of his emotions, hastily turning to leave.

Just as he was about to step out, he glanced back at the stall. The banging continued, louder and more insistent.

His eyes narrowed as he noticed something—dark red-black liquid was slowly seeping out from beneath the stall door, where the banging and groaning were coming from.

"Uh... A-are you okay...?" Jiho asked hesitantly, stopping in his tracks, frozen just before the exit.

'What am I doing...? Asking a stranger if they're okay, what's that going to do for me? Nothing good ever comes from getting involved in this kind of stuff...' Jiho thought, his mind screaming at him to leave, but something deeper—his heart, maybe—pulled him back toward the toilet area.

"Mugghhhhe..." Another groan echoed from the stall, as the pool of black, oily liquid spread further.

Jiho felt an unsettling chill crawl up his spine. He edged closer to the stall and shouted, "HELLO!? ARE YOU OKAY IN THERE?!"

"Mughghhhhee..." came another groan, this one more guttural, and the banging against the door grew more frantic.

"FUCK, ARE YOU DYING?!" Jiho yelled, tugging at the stall door.

"H-HEY, THE SAFETY LOCK! DISENGAGE IT NOW!!" he cried, pulling harder.

And then, he heard a snap.

The plastic safety lock broke, and the stall door slowly creaked open in Jiho's direction.

"Hey...!" Jiho called out, peering into the stall as the door swung wide.

And then, it opened fully.

'W-what... what is that...?'

"Uhm... M-...Mis—" Jiho tried to speak, but before he could finish, the figure inside lunged at him with a feral growl, knocking him violently to the ground.

"WHAT THE FUCK...!! HEY...!!!"

'No... no... wait, what the fuck...!!? Is... is that a... ZOMBIE!?' Jiho's mind raced in disbelief as he struggled to keep the disfigured, decaying figure at bay. The creature—a girl, or what was left of her—was bleeding, her flesh rotting and peeling off as she growled and pushed closer.

"FUCK... FUCK...!! Fuck...!! OH FUCK...!!" Jiho gasped, half-convinced he was in some kind of nightmare.

Her head lurched closer, jaws snapping. Desperate, Jiho released one of her arms and shoved his hand against her mouth, trying to hold her off.

For a moment, Jiho froze. He couldn't think, couldn't move, as the coldness of her dead skin, the sickening texture of flesh peeling under his grip, and the stench of decay overwhelmed him. The zombie's blood seeped onto his hand, sticky and rancid.

It felt unreal, like some terrible dream.

But the zombie growled again, a harsh reminder that this was no dream. Jiho snapped back to reality, his heart pounding as the danger became terrifyingly real.

"Grrggh...!!!" Jiho struggled. "Fuck... OH FUCK...!!! FUCK!!!" he cried out, his eyes fixated on the zombie's decayed pupils and dried skin. The flesh was so thin, he could see through it to the bones and teeth beneath.

But the zombie had other 'ideas.' She lunged forward and bit down hard on his wrist, just below his thumb.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" Jiho screamed as pain shot through him, his blood spilling over his hand as he watched his skin tear beneath her teeth.

Desperation surged through him. He let go of her other hand and, with all the strength he could muster, punched her in the side, knocking her off him.

He scrambled to his feet and bolted for the door, tripping on his way out of the bathroom.

"Z-zombie...!!" he gasped, drenched in cold sweat as he stumbled into the scorching sunlight, clutching his bleeding wrist with his free hand.

"ZOMBIE!!!" he screamed, tears streaming down his face.

And then, the school's emergency alarm blared, deafening and ominous, just as he sprinted toward the building, desperate for help.

"No... no...!!! NO...!!! NO!!!!!" he shouted, only to see several more figures, grotesque and rotting, banging on the front doors of the school.

There was no going back.

Jiho found himself standing in the schoolyard, his heart pounding as he looked around in a panic. The blaring alarms, the distant screams, and the small plume of smoke rising in the distance painted a grim picture.

Zombies were climbing over the school's gates and walls. The sound of their groans and the chaos in the city made it clear—this was no isolated event.

'The end of the world.' The thought surged through his mind, unbidden.

"No... NO...!!" Jiho muttered, frozen in place as the zombies spotted him—a lone human standing in the middle of the schoolyard. Slowly, they turned toward him, shambling closer, closing in on all sides.

What's there to do?

What can I do?

What should I do?

It's the end.

I'm gonna die.

I was bit. So I'll probably end up like them.

I'm all alone.

I'm by myself.

Is there a point to run?

Where?

Who'll... even care if I'll die...

He looked down, out of breath, still gripping tightly against his bite wound as the zombies were now mere steps away from him.

"JIHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" a rough call was heard from the direction of the top floor of the school. Whoever it was, it sounded as if they tore their lungs shouting.

Jiho's head snapped upwards, his eyes wide open in shock.

He saw a figure popping out from the window, several dozen figures standing behind him, appearing just as shocked and distressed as he was.

It was Daniel, with Eunhee tightly gripping his arm, and several other students looking out the window from every single classroom.

All eyes were on him.

"D-...Dan...iel...?" Jiho stuttered softly.

"RUN!!!!!!!!!! RUN AWAY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!" Daniel tore his throat as he nearly fell out of the window. "GO TO THE BACK EXIT, THE SCHOOL IS SURROUNDED BUT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO LEAVE THROUGH THERE!!!!! IT'S LESS CROWDED. RUN!!!!!!!!!!! RUN NOWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he desperately cried.

"R-run...?" Jiho echoed to himself, feeling his body shift involuntarily.

'A-ah, I see... I... I need to run,' he thought as he turned and started jogging mechanically towards the back entrance.

Like a flock of birds, all the students shifted to watch Jiho run for his life.

"COME ON!!!!! RUN FASTER!!!!!!!" Daniel screamed and screamed until Jiho eventually disappeared from sight.

"H-holy... Is... He's bleeding...!" someone murmured after they looked at his palm. Eunhee quickly snapped her palm to her mouth with a sharp gasp.

"Was he bitten..!!?" someone else called.

"No...!" Eunhee softly called out, gripping Daniel's arm even tighter as her face paled.

Yet it didn't pale as much as Daniel's.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT A MINUTE!! It could also be just a trip wound or something else, don't go and jump to conclusions!!" Daniel snapped, quieting everyone.

"I mean, it's that weak Jiho... And that seemed like it bled a lot... Like, his skin was literally ripped off... What else could it be but a bite wound..." one student reluctantly blurted, sowing doubt in everyone's minds.

Eunhee could only gasp at their words as she looked down, growing more out of breath by the minute as she felt the honesty in their words. Both she and Daniel knew Jiho wasn't athletic, or robust.

What else could it have been? She thought, shuddering at herself as a result.

"Well... at least it's just Jiho..."

"WHAT...?" Daniel glared at the student who said that just before the rest nodded in relief at the statement. He immediately let go of Eunhee and stomped towards the student.

"I-I mea— WOAH..!!" the student cried as Daniel clutched his shirt and held him upwards.

"YOU SAY THAT AGAIN, YOU FUCKING SAY THAT AGAIN!!!" Daniel shouted in his face.

"Wh—WHY DO YOU CARE... SO MUCH...!!? HE'S JUST SOME NOBODY, NO!!? HE'S JUST SOME MANIPULATIVE TRASH, ISN'T HE!!?" the student called in confusion. "At least it's him dying and not us..!!" he said as Daniel held him high.

The students looked at each other, silently nodding solemnly.

Daniel's eye twitched as he tightened his grip on the student's shirt.

'No... what... what have I done...?' Daniel thought as his face grew paler by the minute. 'JIHO.... NO..!'

"But..." Daniel started, "He's... he's still one of us... He's a student... To... to say something... like that...!!" he said, as he then felt Eunhee's touch on his back.

As he felt her touch, his feelings, rather than relaxing, only escalated.