"Wake up, Raph. You're dosing off," said Amy, nudging him awake.
"Huh, wha?" He raised his head from his desk and looked around.
"C'mon. We gotta finish this before the end of class," she said. Raphael shook off his drowsiness and directed his attention back to his pad on his desk.
As he began working again, Susan came over to them and sat down. "Hey, did you hear?"
"What? The accident at the R&D building? I know about it," said Amy.
"Yeah, but did you hear that they're sending a special unit to investigate it? I was coming back from the bathroom when I heard a couple instructors talking about it."
"What kind of special unit?"
"I don't know. They didn't say."
"What do they need a special unit for, anyway? It was just a gas leak, wasn't it?" asked Raphael.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps roaring down the hallway as a student sprinted past their room, shouting indiscriminately.
Instructor Richards got up from his desk and went to see what was going on. "Stay seated and continue your work."
As he left the classroom, they continued their conversation. "Do you think the explosion caused any serious damage?" asked Susan.
"Who knows. They didn't say much on the news," said Amy.
"Do you think it has something to do with all the sick prodigies? I mean, it's not even flu season and a large number of us have been laid up in the infirmary since the accident," said Susan.
"What's with all the questions? I have no idea, Susan. I think you've been watching too many movies."
As they were talking, the PA system came on. "Prodigy Noland, please report to the front office. Your father is here to pick you up."
"Dang, that's the fifth time today. Where are all these guys going, anyway? Vacation?" said Trey, one of the students in their work group.
"Pssh…who cares?" said Amy, growing more irritated that her group was deviating from their work.
Susan stopped and thought for a moment, staring down at her desk. 'Wait…could it be?'
Raphael looked over at her, concerned by her troubled look. "What's the matter, Susan?"
She broke off from her daze and turned to him and Amy. "Guys, I think I've come on to something. You know all the prodigies that left earlier today?"
Amy sighed, putting down her pen. "Yeah. And?"
"Well, at least one of their parents is a very high-ranking officer, a colonel or general."
"So?"
"So what is really intriguing is that the high-ranking parent also happens to be part of the Research and Development department."
"Okay…so where are you going with this?"
"Don't you see? Those high-ranking parents of theirs probably know something about the 'accident' that those of us outside the R&D aren't aware of…yet, anyway. It must be serious if they're pulling their kids out from school like that."
All of a sudden, a warning siren was heard from Huntington Air Force Base followed by a general announcement. "Emergency. All personnel, report to your stations. I repeat. Emergency. All personnel…report to your stations. Code Black. Combat personnel, standby for deployment orders."
Once the message repeated, Susan turned to Amy with a smug look. "Now do you believe me?"
As the base-wide announcement was blaring, one of the principals got on the campus-wide PA system to address the prodigies. "Attention, Centre Ridge Academy. Do not panic. I repeat. Remain calm. Instructors, immediately shut your classroom doors and keep your prodigies inside while we initiate lockdown. Once the doors close, the locks will activate, leaving you safe inside until we find out what the situation is. Await further instructions once the rooms are secured. Security, wait for- Hey, they're breaking through! Captain, secure that door! What are you waiting for-" The line went dead with a screech as the principal knocked over the microphone.
Everyone in Raphael's classroom looked at each other with confused looks. Once they heard gunfire in the distance, they all scrambled out of their seats and headed over to the window, raising the blinds. They all gasped as they saw explosions and large fires from the adjacent air force base. From their floor, they couldn't see much, just over the campus perimeter wall.
"What do we do!?" asked one of the prodigies in their class.
"Are we under attack!?" asked another prodigy.
"Now everyone stay calm," said the highest-ranking prodigy in the room. The other prodigies looked away from the window and directed their attention to him. "We need to stay calm and focus. We're prodigies of the Cornerian military, are we not?" His classmates nodded and regained their bearing, listening intently to what he had to say. "Our first order of business is to close the door. Then we'll find out what's happening on the outside. Does anyone have their pad handy?"
"But Instructor Richards isn't back yet. Shouldn't we wait for him to return?" asked Raphael.
"Fine. Comet, you take a team and find Instructor Richards. Report back in five. If you're not back by then, seek shelter elsewhere because we're closing the door whether you're back or not."
Raphael nodded and took Amy, Susan, and Trey with him to find their instructor. He peeked out of the classroom and looked back and forth to see if anyone else was around. The hallway was empty, so he and his team made their way out and headed in the direction Instructor Richards went.
As they were walking, Amy thought she heard screaming coming from outside. "Hey, do you hear that?" She and the others continued down the hallway and looked out a window overlooking the center of the campus.
To their horror, they saw prodigies running for their lives all around the center courtyard. Freshmen who weren't in class were panicking all over the place, unsure of what was happening. Instructors and campus security were running amidst the chaos, trying to restrain prodigies who had become violently belligerent. Raphael and the others thought they even saw prodigies biting each other as swarms of them slowly grabbed on to someone, dragging them to the ground. As they were watching, they heard a siren in the distance, slowly growing louder and louder. Before they could spot the source of the siren, an ambulance ran through the front gate, rolling onto its side as it plowed through a group of prodigies huddled around the one they dragged down.
"What the heck is going on?" asked Trey after witnessing the crash. Before he could say another word, he was tackled to the ground by a larger assailant. Raphael, Amy, and Susan moved back from the window as he came crashing to the ground. Trey tried to push the man off him, but he received a horrific bite to the neck, piercing his jugular.
"Trey!" said Raphael, finally realizing what was happening. Amy acted without hesitation and moved behind the attacker, placing her arms around him in a headlock to subdue him. As she tried to get the man off of him, the attacker bit her arm, unaffected by the headlock.
She let go of the man and moved away, gripping her wound. "The guy bit me!" To their terror, Trey lay motionless on the ground having bled out from his wound. Once the man stood up, they all recognized him instantly.
"Instructor Richards?" asked Susan in shock.
Before he could lunge at her, Raphael kicked him back with a sidekick, finishing him off with a roundhouse kick to the head, knocking him to the ground. "Amy! Are you okay?" he asked.
She took off her bandanna and wrapped it around her bite, wincing as she tightened it around her arm. "I'm fine. I've got it under control…for now. Check Trey."
Raphael bent down by his fellow classmate who was already in a pool of his own blood. He didn't think he was alive, but checked his pulse anyway, placing his hand to his neck. He shook his head and stood up. "He's gone."
"Just what the heck is going on!?" asked Susan. She was usually the calm one of the group, but after what she had witnessed, she couldn't help but feel panicked.
"I hate to say it, but…I think this is a zombie outbreak," said Raphael.
Amy walked over to him with an unconvinced look, still holding her arm. "A zombie outbreak. Really? There's got to be a more reasonable explanation for-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Susan interjected. "For the bite victims? The Code Black warning? The incident at the R&D building? For what happened to Trey and Instructor Richards! This is a zombie outbreak, Amy." Immediately, a cruel reality crossed her mind. "And you've been bitten…" Susan started to back away from her and moved next to Raphael, pointing at her. "She's going to turn! She's going to become one of them. A zombie!"
"If I were going to become one of them, I would've done so already…right?" Amy had a fearful look on her face as she started coughing up blood. Looking up, she shakily pointed behind Raphael and Susan. They quickly turned around and saw four zombies walking towards them.
"C'mon, we...we can take them," said Amy.
"Not in your condition. C'mon, let's move before we're overrun," said Raphael as he started walking in the opposite direction, taking Amy by the hand.
Susan didn't follow and refused to move. "There's no way I'm going with her! She's been bitten. I'm sorry I'm acting this way, Amy, but you might end up killing me if I still with you."
"You're going to die now by the zombies behind you if you don't move!" said Raphael. Susan cringed as she saw Instructor Richards start to move on the ground next to her. She shook her head then hurried behind him. They rushed down the hallway and made for the staircase.
"Why are going this way? Shouldn't we get help?" asked Susan.
"I'm betting those zombies can't go up stairs, so we should be safe on the upper floors," said Raphael.
"What about the others?"
"They'll be fine. They probably already barricaded the door by now."
"I mean our friends. Do you think they're okay?" Once they reached the top of the stairs, they stopped for a breather to plan their next move.
"I don't know. Maybe we should try giving them a call," said Raphael. He and Susan took out their phones and tried calling their friends. "No good. The lines have been commandeered by emergency services," he said.
After pocketing their phones, they heard banging and screaming coming from a nearby classroom. They looked at each other then slowly made their way over to the source of the noise. Once they looked through the door's window, Amy broke away and headed straight for the bathroom, gagging from the repulsive sight in the room. Raphael and Susan stayed, dumbstruck by what they were witnessing. There were zombies devouring fellow prodigies inside, blood splattered all over the room. They figured that there were around twenty-five prodigies in there, all of which were already turned or dead.
After she wet her lips at the water fountain, Amy stumbled into the bathroom, feeling sick to her stomach. She hurried to the sink and vomited, rinsing her mouth and face afterwards. "I'm going…to die." She let the words echo in her head as she broke down in tears, collapsing to the floor. When she finally pulled herself together, she got up and opened one of the stalls to relieve herself. As the door opened, a zombie popped out and charged at her. "Motherf*****!" she said, slamming the door in its face. Once the zombie was on the floor, she stomped its head into the ground with her foot. Looking at the sight of the dead corpse at her feet, she started sobbing again, realizing that she was soon going to turn out the same way.
Starting to feel ill from watching the mutilation of their classmates, Raphael and Susan went to find Amy. When they walked by the bathrooms, she came out, drying her tears with her sleeves. "Are you okay?" asked Raphael.
Unsure of how to react, whether with anger or compassion, she just looked down with a mute expression. "Yeah, I'm fine." A water drop fell on the tip of her nose, then another on her head. Before she could look up, the sprinkler system activated, drenching the three of them. The fire alarm was triggered, beeping and blinking throughout the building.
"Why is the fire alarm on?" asked Susan.
"I don't know. Maybe there's an actual fire somewhere," said Raphael. A mechanical buzz filled the hallways as all the doors to the classrooms unlocked and opened.
"Why did all the doors open all of a sudden?" asked Amy.
"It's the fire alarm. Once it's triggered, it overrides all locks and opens all the doors to make evacuation easier," said Susan.
Raphael was looking at all the open doors and saw blood flow out from more than one of them. "We need to move, now." He took Amy and Susan, leading them to another staircase, one that was off to the side and away from the main one.
"Raph! Why are we going up!? Shouldn't we be going down to get help?" asked Susan.
"If we went down, we would get caught in the large influx of students and staff, both dead and alive. We need to head up and away from everyone to assess the situation before we make a move out of here," said Raphael.
As they opened the door to the top floor, they all stopped before proceeding further. The hallways were filled with panicking students trying to get to the main staircase, pushing each other out of the way as they trampled over those who had fallen. Amongst the crowd, zombies continued to increase in number, catching unsuspecting students off guard. The instructors tried to fight their way to the staircase, but one after another, they succumbed to the horde and were devoured. When they walked onto the floor, one of the students was fiercely fighting against the zombies, protecting the group's rear from them.
After bashing a zombie's head in with a blunt object, she noticed Raphael and the others watching her. "Susan?"
"Haruhi?" said the three of them.
Once she spotted them, so did other students. "There's another staircase! Everyone, head to the side staircase!" said one of the prodigies.
"F***. Move! Into the classroom!" said Raphael, leading Amy and Susan into a nearby classroom. The students swarmed the staircase, attracting zombies as they flooded down the stairs.
Once the group of students was in the stairwell, one of the instructors stopped by the classroom where Raphael and the others took cover. "What are you still doing here? Follow us to the ground floor. We're evacuating the campus and heading to the base." While he was focused on getting Raphael's group to move, a zombie grabbed him from behind, digging its teeth into his neck.
"Close the door!" said Susan.
"I can't! It's the fire alarm! It's controlling the doors!" said Raphael.
The zombie wrestled the instructor to the ground and continued to feast on his flesh. Raphael was about to kick the zombie off him, but Haruhi intervened first and smashed the zombie's skull in with her weapon. More zombies started to approach, prompting the group to relocate to a better protected position.
"Where do we go now!?" asked Susan.
"We can't go forward. There's too many of them. And if we go back down the stairs, we're bound to encounter more of them on the lower floors," said Amy.
"The lab! The lab's doors aren't connected to the security system," said Haruhi. She and the others retreated into the classroom and went into the adjacent lab, closing the door behind them.
"That should hold them," said Raphael. Once everything was secure, they started to relax and caught a breather.
"Haruhi!" said Susan, overcome with joy as she ran over to her, embracing her sister. "I'm so happy that you're alive!"
"Yeah, me too, sis. What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Richards' class on the first floor?"
"I was. But things happened and this and that, so we ended up here," said Susan, stepping back to look at her.
"Okay, but this is some crazy s***, right? Who would've thought I would actually get to use this thing in a zombie outbreak?" said Haruhi.
"You have no idea. By the way, what is that?" she said, pointing to her weapon.
"This? It's a paper cutter I requisitioned from the teacher work room. It's actually pretty good at killing zombies."
"Have you seen anyone else?" asked Raphael.
Haruhi looked away, fiddling with her weapon. "No. Well…yes."
"Who?" asked Susan.
"One of the Z Brothers. Zaku."
"You sure it was him?" asked Raphael.
"Yeah. I'm the one who killed him after he turned." There was a feeling of uneasiness between the four of them after hearing the news.
"I'm sorry, Haruhi. It must've been hard to do that," said Susan, hugging her sister again.
"It's fine. Hey, Amy's bleeding, is she all right?" asked Haruhi.
"She was bitten on our way up here."
Haruhi gripped her weapon and readied it to strike. "Then she needs to be taken care of! She could turn at any moment, just like everyone else!" She was about to swing, but Raphael and Susan intervened. Susan grabbed Haruhi and restrained her while Raphael moved between her and Amy.
"Hey, I'm still alive here, you know? Don't be so eager to kill me just yet," said Amy, coughing more blood into her hand.
Haruhi realized what she was doing and lowered her weapon. "I'm sorry, Amy. I've just seen too many people die because they failed to act sooner. It's nothing personal."
"It's all right, Haruhi. I'm sure you meant nothing by it," said Amy.
"So now what? We're stuck here on the top floor with a horde of zombies running all over campus," said Haruhi.
"It's more than that, Haruhi. Didn't you hear? A Code Black alert has been issued and Huntington has been put on standby. We heard gunfire and explosions coming from the base. For all we know, this outbreak could have spread to the base and even the city," said Susan.
"What's a Code Black alert anyway?" asked Amy.
"It signifies what kind of disaster is taking place. In this case, it's a black alert, meaning a serious disease or biological threat has been identified."
"So again, I ask. What are we going to do? We can't stay here. We have no supplies and there's a ticking time-bomb right next to us, no offense," said Haruhi.
Raphael paced around the room then took a seat. "I don't know. Where can we go? How are we going to get there?" They all stood around with their hands in their pockets, unsure of what to do next. Amy's condition started to worsen as she began coughing more frequently and with increasing intensity. "Just hang in there, honey. We'll find help," he said, putting his arm around her. Amy put her arm around him as well, snuggling up close to him, tears running down her cheeks. They waited in the room together for fifteen minutes before they heard something other than the moans of the zombies.
"Hey, do you hear that? It sounds like gun shots," said Susan.
"It's probably coming from next door," said Haruhi, sitting on the floor with her back against a desk.
"No. It sounds like it's coming from inside the building, this floor actually." She stood up and went to the door, placing her head near it. "Those are definitely gunshots."
"What should we do?" asked Haruhi.
They all turned to Raphael, waiting for him to say something. "What? What are you looking at me for?"
"What should we do?" asked Susan.
Raphael looked around and thought it over. "If they've got guns, we can get out of here. They can protect us."
"So s-should we go out t-to them?" asked Amy, shivering from the loss of blood and her soaked clothes.
"Let's get a move on. They might not find us cooped up in here," said Raphael. Everyone stood up and readied themselves to move out. He found a large, metallic meter stick to use as a weapon and acted as the vanguard with Haruhi, still wielding her paper cutter blade. Susan was going to help Amy walk and stayed behind them. "On the count of three, I'm opening the door. Haruhi, you rush through and take out the first zombie. I'll move in and get the second one to your right. Afterwards, we'll just hack and slash our way into the hall. Got it?" he said.
Haruhi nodded and prepared to charge in at the zombies. When he counted down, she stormed into the room and hacked at the first zombie, nearly decapitating him. Raphael moved in and smacked the second zombie in the head, finishing it with a sidekick. They cleared the way through the classroom and made their way into the hallway. Susan and Amy kept pace and followed behind them, keeping mindful of the zombies on the floor, just in case. When the room was clear, Raphael and Haruhi secured the hallway.
"All clear," said Haruhi.
"Okay. They shouldn't be far," said Raphael after hearing a couple more shots from down the hall. They quickly made their way to the source, turning the corner into the main hallway. As they did, Raphael was greeted with a pistol barrel in his face.
"Wait! Hold your fire." The person with the pistol lowered his gun and stepped aside. Once he moved out of the way, Raphael and the others were relieved as they recognized several members of the group.
"Instructor Ren? Instructor Takahashi? Debbie! I mean, Instructor Airre. Thank goodness you're alive," said Raphael.
"Prodigy Comet. It's good to see that someone made it. Are there others?" asked Carolyn, moving in front of the group. Along with her, Debbie, and Han, there were a few members of campus security and a few prodigies with them, all armed with weapons.
"Just a few of us. Prodigies Nagase, Stevens, and Okane are with me, ma'am." The others from his group came out from behind him and moved into the open.
Carolyn immediately noticed Amy's wound when she walked into view. "Prodigy Nagase. Was she bitten?"
"Yes, she was bitten when we were attacked by Instructor Richards."
"Goby…was infected?"
"Yes, ma'am. We don't know what happened to him after we fled up here."
She stood there for a moment, paralyzed with grief. She turned her back to him, trying to hold back her tears. "That's unfortunate to hear. How long ago was Prodigy Nagase bitten?" she said without hesitation.
"About an hour ago, ma'am."
"That's rather peculiar. Most of the others we encountered, after having been bit, turned in just a matter of minutes. How did she survive so long after being bitten?"
"I don't know, ma'am."
"Doesn't matter. Either way, we need to restrain her. Berner, cuff her."
One of the security guards stepped forward, but Raphael stepped in front of him. "Ma'am, is that really necessary?"
Ren turned around and faced him. "I could just shoot her now and get it over with. Would you rather me do that?"
"No, ma'am. But could you at least treat her wound. Her condition is getting worse."
"Fine. Capps, see what you can do."
"Thank you, ma'am," said Raphael, stepping aside for the security guards. Capps treated her wound and cleaned it up to the best of her ability before Berner handcuffed her.
"What are you doing up here anyway, ma'am? Shouldn't you all be evacuating or something?" asked Haruhi.
"What evacuation? There is no rescue. We already stopped by the main office to receive further orders, but we found the colonels zombified. We are on our own, boys and girls. We're rounding up all the survivors we can to form Sweep Teams to retake the academy. Once we clear the campus, we plan on securing the perimeter and holding out as long as we can. There's plenty of supplies already here to last awhile, so there's no need to leave quite just yet."
"If you're done chit-chatting, Carolyn, we have a campus to take back. Comet, you and the others better follow us if you want to make it to tomorrow," said Instructor Takahashi. He and Carolyn returned to the head of the group along with the security guards.
As Raphael and his group moved to join the others, one of the prodigies from Carolyn's group walked up to them. "Raph! Guys! You're still alive?"
"Steven! You made it!" said Raphael.
"So far. Is this all of you?"
"Yeah. We didn't see anyone else. Have you?"
Steven shook his head. "I hope the others are okay."
"Yeah, me too," said Susan. They continued to talk as they walked along with Carolyn's Sweep Team.
While they were walking down the main hallway, Raphael saw something in the courtyard after passing a window. "Instructor Ren! You better have a look at this!" Everyone stopped and hurried over to him, leaving room for Carolyn to make her way to the window with Raphael.
"What is it, Comet?" asked Carolyn. He pointed outside the window and directed her attention to a group of people fighting their way to the front gate. The group consisted of ten prodigies led by an instructor, and only a few of them had melee weapons to defend themselves. "What the heck do they think they're doing?" she asked.
"Hey, I think that's Z and Zander with them," said Haruhi.
"No way. They wouldn't recklessly go out there like that," said Amy.
"No, that's them all right," said Susan.
The group in the center courtyard was moving at a steady pace until one of the prodigies tripped and fell. The instructor and a majority of the prodigies stopped to help the downed student, forming a defensive circle around her. A few of the students didn't stop running and made it to the front gate, only to find that it was blocked by a burning vehicle. They tried climbing over it, but were dragged back down by zombies who caught a hold of their tails. The other people from the group were slowly surrounded by the mass amounts of zombies that had emerged from the buildings.
"We need to help them!" said one of the prodigies watching from the window.
"We can't help them. By the time we get down there, they'd already be dead and part of the zombie horde," said Carolyn.
"But we can get there if we hurry," said the prodigy.
"If we leave now, and rush through the building without properly clearing it, we'd not only lose those outside, but likely most of us as well."
"So you're just going to leave them out there?"
"There's nothing we can do."
"That's insane! I'm going to help them, with or without your help. Those of you who want to come, follow me." The prodigy ran off to try and save his fellow classmates outside, persuading most of the other prodigies from Carolyn's group to go with him.
"F***. Debbie, bring those kids back. Take Capps, Darr, and Berner with you," said Carolyn.
She acknowledged her, taking the rest of the security force with her in pursuit of the prodigies. The only ones left by the window were Carolyn, Han, Raphael, Susan, Haruhi, Amy, and Steven. As they continued to watch from the window, the zombie horde eventually took over the group, slaughtering everyone. Susan and Amy looked away from the grisly scene after seeing people they knew get eaten.
"Still think we can retake the campus, ma'am?" asked Raphael, turning to Carolyn with a concerned look.
She looked away from the window and the group, crossing her arms. "No. It seems things have gotten more out of hand than I thought."
"So what now, Carolyn?" asked Han.
She walked away from the group and stopped, contemplating on what to do in her head. She then motioned for Han to come to her to discuss their next move. As they were talking, Raphael felt relieved that he was no longer "in-charge". It was reassuring to him that someone else, someone older and with more experience, was leading them, though in their current situation, anything could happen regardless of who was leading the group. After discussing things through, Carolyn and Han returned to the prodigies.
"What's the verdict, ma'am?" asked Steven.
"We're going to continue searching for survivors and then get out of here," said Carolyn.
"Get out of here? How do you plan do that, ma'am? The front gate is blocked," said Susan.
"Simple. We drive out." Susan and Haruhi turned to each other, thinking that she didn't hear her. "You look troubled. But you assume that I plan on going through the front gate, correct?" Susan nodded as that was exactly what she was thinking. "Well, there is more than one exit on campus, you know. In Building B, there are garages on the first floor that students use to learn about ground vehicles and such. If I'm correct, there's bound to be something there we can use to drive out of here. The garage leads directly off campus and onto a nearby street. From there, we'll head into Huntington to see if we can regroup with other survivors."
The prodigies talked amongst themselves, realizing it was better than staying at the overrun academy. As they were talking, the others returned bearing bad news. Only three of them (Debbie, Capps and Darr) made it back alive; none of the prodigies that left returned with them.
"What happened, Debbie?" asked Carolyn, walking over to her to help with Darr.
"We ran after the prodigies, but got bogged down with zombies on the third floor. Darr tripped over a zombie and fell down the stairs, breaking his leg. Fortunately, he wasn't bitten. After we took care of the remaining zombies, we caught up with them on the first floor, but they were surrounded by the time we got there. On the way back up, Berner covered our retreat so we could escape. He didn't make it."
Carolyn gritted her teeth, frustrated that all the prodigies died while under her command. With the feeling of failure flowing through her, she completely broke down after she started having flashbacks of when she got her team killed. She erratically grasped her head with both her hands and knelt down on the ground. "They're all dead! Goby's dead! My only love is dead and it's all my fault!" She was crying madly as she sobbed on the ground.
"Carolyn? Carolyn!" Han walked over to her and lifted her to her feet, smacking her across the cheek. "Pull yourself together, Captain. This wasn't your fault. They made the decision, not you. We're in command here and these kids need us, so get your act together. If you need a minute to walk it off, fine. Capps, have you treated Darr yet?"
"Not yet, sir," she said, taking out her med-kit.
"Get to it. We move in five."
"So where are we going, sir?" asked Debbie.