Chapter 1: Outbreak

"Wake up, Luke, please wake up! Just wake up! Don't leave us!" A female voice sobbed and cried. I jolted awake, shocked and startled by the voice, only to realize it was just a dream. I rubbed my eyes and sighed. "What a weird dream. It felt so real, and my left arm is numb. I really need to correct my sleeping posture." I leaned over toward my nightstand, where my clock sat further back to my right. "6:20? Guess I won't be late to school today."

I stretched a bit and rolled out of bed, making my way to the bathroom. After brushing my teeth and taking a refreshing bath, I headed to my closet. I pulled out my school uniform—a white shirt, dark blue tie, charcoal gray pants, and a navy blue blazer. Getting dressed quickly, I checked the clock again; it was 7:02. "I sure took my time bathing," I muttered to myself as I walked downstairs to the dining table.

Breakfast awaited me—a bowl of cereal, the usual. My mom was busy searching for something in the living room. Taking a seat at the table, I asked, "Hey, what are you searching for, Mom?"

She turned with a smile. "Oh, Luke, good morning. Have you seen the new magazine I bought last week? A friend asked to borrow it, but I can't seem to find it."

I racked my brain but couldn't recall seeing the magazine. "No, Mom, I don't think I saw it."

She smiled knowingly. "It's okay. Eat your breakfast and head to school; you don't want to be late again."

I nodded and ate my breakfast swiftly. Turning to my mom, I asked, "By the way, where's Dad?"

She paused her search and replied, "He left early for work today. He received a phone call."

I nodded again. "Alright, I'll get going now. Bye."

"Bye, be safe on the roads," she said in her usual concerned tone, as she always does.

"Yeah, I will," I replied as I grabbed my backpack and made my way to the front door. Opening it, I stepped outside, closing the door behind me. The fresh air greeted me as I took in the atmosphere.

As I began my walk to school, I glanced at my watch. "It's 7:22 now. It usually takes me about 20-25 minutes to reach school from home, so I'll arrive by 7:47 and have 13 minutes to spare," I muttered to myself, a wide smile and a sense of pride on my face. I continued my peaceful walk, enjoying the morning as I made my way to school.

I arrived at school at 7:45 and headed straight to class 3A. "It's my final year, and I don't even know what I'm going to study in college, damn it," I grumbled to myself, feeling annoyed at the thought. Upon reaching the classroom, I entered and made my way to my seat in the left corner just before the last row. Sitting down, I sighed. "I guess it's a bit too early, huh? There's not a single loser who arrived before me. Those punks are probably going to think I had a fight with my family and left home early," I mumbled with a smirk on my face as I waited for other students to show up.

After a few minutes, a group of girls entered the class and took their seats. They glanced at me for a split-second before continuing their conversation. They were some of the attractive and popular girls in school—Rina Wilson, Alice Moore, and Christina Hayes. Soon, many more students began to enter the class. I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone thinking about the weird dream I had this morning but paused when I heard some familiar voices.

"Look who's early," chuckled Cruz Dolton.

"Yeah, we must be in a dream or something," added Floyd Conner in the same joking tone as Cruz. Cruz and Floyd were two of my close friends. While I had many friends, I usually spent my time with these two. Speaking of em, Floyd and Alice were almost in a relationship. As for Cruz, well, he was interested in any girl who looked decent enough, but he always acted like a gentleman in front of everyone.

"Cut it out; it's 7:55. No one in their right mind would call that early," I said, a hint of annoyance in my voice.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's still early, considering it's Luke Kain we're talking about," Cruz replied, still maintaining the same playful tone.

"Fine, just sit down," I replied. They both took their seats, and after a minute, our teacher finally arrived and began the class.

The class was as boring as usual, and soon it was lunch break. I made my way to the cafeteria with Cruz and Floyd.

"By the way," said Floyd with a hint of hesitation in his voice.

"What is it?" asked Cruz curiously.

"I... I and Alice, we're in an official relationship now," said Floyd with a smile on his face.

"You finally asked her out?" chuckled Cruz.

"Yeah," said Floyd, a slight blush on his face. "Congrats, dude," said Cruz, genuinely happy for him.

"Congratulations, you two would make a cute couple," I said with a smile.

"Yeah, they sure would," added Cruz.

After we finished our meal, we returned to class and took our seats. I struggled to stay awake, barely managing until the class was over.

"Let's go home," said Cruz, who was sitting behind me. Floyd nodded and got up from his desk.

"You guys go ahead today. I'm feeling a bit too tired to walk," I said.

"Seriously? You didn't even pay attention in class, and you're tired? Maybe you planned a secret meeting with someone special after school," teased Cruz playfully.

"Yeah, I wish, idiot," I chuckled. They both laughed and left the class, waving goodbye to me.

I sat there for about 10 minutes, feeling tired, before finally getting up from my desk and heading home.

After a long walk, I finally reached home and went inside. I found my mom in the living room, sitting on the couch and watching the news on TV. "I'm home," I announced.

"How was your day, Luke?" she asked with a smile.

"It was good," I replied before heading upstairs. I changed into casual clothes and lay on my bed, scrolling through my phone. Unknowingly, I fell asleep, and it was a peaceful nap. I woke up after an hour, muttering, "Damn, that was a good nap," feeling refreshed.

Heading downstairs, I found my father. "You're finally awake," he remarked.

"Yeah, I was feeling a bit tired, that's all," I replied, then had a little chat with my dad.

"The dinner's ready," my mom announced, coming over to us.

"Well, this is a rare sight, seeing father and son having a little chat," she chuckled. We all laughed and headed to the dining table, taking our seats.

"It's been some time since we sat together and had dinner," I said with a wide smile, feeling happy. They both smiled in agreement. We finished our dinner with a bit of chatting.

As I headed upstairs, my dad called out my name. "Luke, there was some news about a flu spreading in some countries. Be cautious," he advised, their concerned looks prompting me to reassure them.

"Yep, I will. Don't worry about me," I said reassuringly with a smile before heading upstairs. There, I lay on the bed and played some games on my phone before falling into a deep sleep.

The next morning, I woke up and glanced at the watch, feeling a shock run through my body. "What the heck? It's 7:20!? Why didn't Mom wake me up?" I exclaimed to myself before rushing out of bed. I went through my morning routine as quickly as I could, changing into my school uniform and rushing downstairs. I saw my breakfast on the table but ignored it, heading straight to my mom.

She and Dad were talking about some weird noise they heard that morning. "Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked her in a rushed tone.

"I did, but you just wouldn't wake up," she replied, holding back a smile.

"Why are you even smiling? This isn't funn—" I paused as Dad started laughing.

"If you keep arguing with her, you'll only be even more late," he advised.

I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. "Fine, I'm going to head to school then. Bye, both of you. See you this evening..." They both smiled and waved goodbye as I rushed out of the house. I quickly glanced at my watch while walking. "It's 7:50 already?" I grumbled to myself, increasing my pace. The road was quieter than usual; I couldn't see anyone on the road. It was very strange, but I kept walking to school.

Luke Kain sensed that something was off, but he couldn't dwell on that thought as he was already late for school. Finally arriving, he noticed an unusual quietness. "I don't remember today being a holiday," he muttered, looking confused. Glancing at his watch, he realized it was 8:28 AM. "All the students should be here by now, right?" he asked himself, growing even more puzzled.

He started walking towards the main building, making his way up to the third floor where his class 3A was located. As he walked, a loud scream pierced the silence, sounding like someone in pain. "What the hell is going on here?" he muttered to himself, feeling uneasy.

Then, he heard shuffling and groaning behind him. Turning back, his eyes widened at the sight: a student with rotten, pale skin, torn and bloodied uniform, staring at him as if he were prey. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked in a soft tone. But before he could react, she rushed towards him with her mouth wide open. More similar-looking students followed, closing in on him.

She was seconds away from reaching him, and Luke found himself frozen in shock and disbelief. "Is this... is this really the end for me?" he said, his heart racing as time seemed to slow down, the only sound being his pounding heartbeats.

30 minutes ago

"That jerk Luke is late again. I thought he would be here before us like yesterday," said Cruz, looking upset.

"Yeah, I thought the same," Floyd added as they both took their seats.

"It's strange. Looks like many students are going to be late today," said Cruz, puzzled. "There are about 8 students who haven't shown up to school today," replied Floyd, equally puzzled.

The teacher entered the class and continued yesterday's lessons. Suddenly, a scream from outside interrupted him. All the students looked shocked and puzzled.

The teacher walked towards the door, opening it and stepping outside. After a few moments, his scream echoed back into the classroom. The students, now scared, saw other students running in the hallway. These students looked decayed and pale, with clothes covered in blood.

"Hey Floyd, what the hell is going on?" asked Cruz in a scared and puzzled tone.

"Beats me," Floyd replied, equally puzzled. Both of them moved to the corner of the room.

"Hey Cruz, can I ask Alice to come and stand with us? I'm worried about her," Floyd said with a worried expression.

"Sure, why are you even asking me that? Just tell her to come over to us. She and her friends are standing near the door, that's not safe" said Cruz, still confused by the situation.

Floyd gestured to Alice and her friends, Rina and Christina, to stay away from the door. Alice and her friends joined them, looking scared. "What's going on? Some of the students look like zombies, and our teacher hasn't returned yet," asked Alice with a scared look on her face.

"I don't know," Floyd replied.

"We should close the door. It's trouble if they get inside," said Rina, looking scared.

"You're right, but it's too dangerous to go near that damn door," said Cruz with frustration in his voice.

The shuffling sound slowly disappeared, and the hallway seemed empty. Other students ran outside trying to escape. "We should move too," said Floyd. With some students still in the classroom, the group of 5 slowly walked towards the door. They paused as they heard the voices of other students in the class.

"Hey, let's all just stay here. It's safe. What if they are still out there?" they said with a scared expression.

"Maybe we should just stay here," said Alice.

"No, we should try and leave the school as soon as possible. The zombies will only grow in number the longer we stay here," said Rina thoughtfully. "Yeah, I agree with her. We should leave the school as soon as possible," said Cruz, still looking frustrated.

Cruz gestured the other 4 not to move as he slowly walked towards the door and peeked outside. Then he gave the others a thumbs up, and they slowly followed him out of the class. As the five of them made their way towards the stairs, a loud scream pierced the silence, sounding like someone in pain. They were startled but quickly regained their composure.

Cruz gestured them to stop again as he crawled down the stairs without making any noise to see if the second floor was safe. His eyes widened. "HOLY SHIT, RUN!" Cruz shouted with dread in his eyes. They all ran for their lives in the opposite direction they came from, with Rina leading the way. She stopped near a closed classroom and tried to open it. Fortunately, it wasn't locked, and she gestured everyone to enter the class. After they all entered, Rina locked the door. They all sat on the floor panting and gasping for air.

"Why did you tell us to run? I couldn't see any zombies behind us," said Floyd, panting.

"There was a student in the hallway of the second floor, he was about to be swarmed by like 15 zombies. If we had gone down, it would have been the end of us," said Cruz, still catching his breath.

"What are we gonna do now?" asked Rina, finally getting her breath under control.

No one answered her, and they all sat there in silence for a few minutes. Christina, with tears in her eyes, broke the silence. "Are our families even alive? What if they're not?"

The question hit the others like a brick as they all froze in disbelief.

"No, no. I need them. I need them," said Christina, crying with despair.

"Hey, I'm sure all our parents are safe," said Rina, trying to comfort Christina. But Rina herself knew it was indeed a possibility.

"Let's stay here and go out once the zombies leave the area, alright?" suggested Rina. Christina nodded and wiped her tears, though she couldn't stop them.

"We need to come up with a good plan," said Cruz with newfound determination.

"Yeah, you're rig—" Rina paused as they heard a loud knock on their door.

"No freaking way," said Cruz in a barely audible tone, his confidence fading away Then Rina spoke in a hushed tone, "It could be a survivor." She walked up to the door and asked, "Who is it?"

Luke stood frozen as the zombies closed in on him, a part of him resigned to his fate. However, he was snapped back to reality by a shout near the stairs. Reacting quickly, he used his backpack to push the lead female zombie into the wall and sprinted away, his mind racing with thoughts of survival.

"Come on, think, think. What can I do to survive?" he mumbled to himself as he kept running. He dashed downstairs, only to find the ground floor swarming with zombies. Turning back, he used the handrail on the stairs to climb up as the stairs were also infested. Reaching the second floor again, he tried to remove the fire extinguishers but couldn't. Another zombie approached him from the hallway. Thinking fast, he noticed a lock on the extinguisher bracket, swiftly releasing it and lifting the extinguisher.

He aimed at the zombies on the stairs and fired, but it didn't work for some reason. "Goddamn it," he grumbled and used the extinguisher to strike the approaching zombie in the hallway, causing its head to almost detach and blood to splash on his clothes. Then, he sprinted back upstairs.

On the way up, he recalled his fire safety class and realized he needed to pull the pin at the top to break the seal. He did so and fired back at the pursuing zombies, blocking their vision. Taking advantage of the distraction, he used the extinguisher to strike the leading zombies' heads and fired again before running up to the third-floor hallway.

As he ran, he halted in his tracks upon hearing voices coming from a classroom. He knocked at the door, and there was sudden silence. A female voice asked, "Who is it?"

"I'm Luke Kain, a third-year from Class 3A. I'm not injured, I promi—" Before he could finish, the door swung open, and the girl pulled him inside, quickly closing the door behind him. As he looked around at the familiar faces of the other students in the room, his eyes widened in surprise