Namra looked with a sad expression at her close friend, who was silently crying for the fear of losing her childhood friend. Trying to make her close friend feel at ease, the class president sneaked a peek through the small window on the wooden door to look for Suhyeok. Completely aware that Areum has developed feelings toward Suhyeok for as long as she had known the class vice president.

Unable to see his appearance, Namra went to comfort Areum by giving the black-haired girl a hug. Sobbed could be heard through Namra’s ears as Areum tightened her hold around the class president, afraid of losing her as well after losing Suhyeok. After some time, Areum was able to calm down with the help from her close friend. Her cousin, Wujin, also checked on her as he was worried about her state.

“It’s okay, Areum-ah. I’m sure he’s still alive. You know him really well. He can fight any zombies coming his way.” Namra comforted her friend as they were sitting on the chairs near the door. 

“That stubborn, idiotic, reckless boy. Always put others before himself.” Areum muttered to herself as she wiped her tears. Namra chuckled at her small talk. Suddenly, the school PA system made a different frequency noises, which grabbed the attention of the survival students.

“Students and teachers of Hyosan High School. I’m Park Sunhwa, the English teacher.” The students heard their English teacher’s voice over the PA system. 

“Something strange is happening throughout the school. Some students are attacking people indiscriminately, so please find a safe place and take shelter. And if any student or faculty hears this and is able, please call the police and the fire department. Students, hide somewhere safe until help arrives. If you can get out of the school, please get out. I repeat once again. Some students are…” Areum noticed Ms. Park's voice started to quiver, causing the black-haired girl to hold her tears as she heard her teacher breathing heavily.

“Kids, you guys are okay, right? You’re not hurt, right? I don’t know what’s going on or why this is happening. Still, find a safe place and hide.” Ms. Park paused, taking a breath as she sniffed her cry. 

“I’m sorry I can’t be of any help. Don’t get hurt, okay? Let’s stay alive and meet again. Okay?” Ms. Park claimed, causing a single tear dropped from Areum’s eyes. 

***********

Sitting on the floor  in between Namra and Daesu, Areum was aimlessly looking around for something interesting in the science lab while hearing the chattering of her cousin and his best friend.  Completely bored with the situation, Areum had laid her head on Namra’s shoulder, seeing the cold exterior girl does not mind her doing it and resting her eyes for a bit while playing with the small rose pendant necklace that she hid under her school cardigan.

“No, I wasn’t bit. Really.” Hearing Isak’s voice, Areum lifted her head off Namra’s shoulder and looked at the girl, seeing her wiping the blood under her nose. “I mean it. I really wasn’t.” 

“She was bit.” Wujin told Daesu after waking him up. Hearing the commotion near the window, Nayeon lifted her head and looked at the pair, alarmed when she saw Isak was bleeding under her nose.

“Were you bit?” Nayeon asked as she stood up from the stool. The others also joined her action as they began to stand up from the floor.

“No, I wasn’t.” Isak defended herself. The girl then ran to the sink at the back of the science lab and looked at herself in the mirror, seeing her eyes turn into bloodshots. 

“Hey. You’re okay, right?” Gyeongsu approached the girl while Areum, Namra, Wujin and Daesu looked at the hallway window when they heard the loud snarling coming from the zombies. Isak then turned her focus to her best and called her name.

“Isak.” The white hoodie girl called as the two girls approached each other. Onjo held her best friend’s arms while Isak stared at her as blood kept coming down her nose.

“It’s not true, right? I’m not going to be like them, right?” Isak asked, feeling scared to be turned into the flesh eating monsters. Onjo blinked her tears away as she tried to be strong for her friend, nodding her head in an attempt to reassure her best friend. Unable to hold her tears any longer, Onjo hugged her friend and began to cry on her friend’s shoulder. 

“I’m not one of them.” the bloody girl uttered as she pulled Onjo away from the hug in order to look at the crying girl. Onjo looked at Isak with a sad expression as she hugged her friend once again.

“What are you guys doing? Get her out of here!” Nayeon yelled as she looked over at her classmates. The zombies outside the science lab were aggressively slamming their hands, trying to get into the classroom when they heard the loud noise from inside.

“Shit. They’re going to climb over.” Daesu cursed, climbed on top of the table to block the table using his body while the other students went to block the doorways. Standing beside her cousin, Areum gloomy watched the two best friends hug each other for the last time.

“No. Come on. I said I was okay.” Isak shouted, trying to make the others believe her. Cheongsan went to drag Onjo away from the bloody girl as Onjo tried to escape his tight grasp. Isak called her best friend's name again and approached the struggling girl. However, before she could do that, Isak fell down on the floor. Bones started to crunch as Isak jerked around on the floor.

“Hurry up! Do something. Throw her out of the window.” Nayeon ordered while Onjo whimpered as she tried to move out of her childhood friend’s grip. “Hurry! She’s turning into a zombie!” The light brown haired girl frantically yelled.

“No, not Isak.” Onjo cied as the newly turned Isak bent its body as she tried to stand. Once Isak completely turned into a zombie, she turned her whole body toward Cheongsan and Onjo’s direction and she charged towards the pair. Seeing her dart towards them, Cheongsan pushed Onjo out of the way as he shoved the zombie away. The newly turned zombie began to attack Cheongsan while the boy pushed her away using the stool nearby. 

“I said stop it.” Onjo shouted as the zombies outside the science lab forcefully tried to enter the classroom. 

Onjo shouted Cheongsan’s full name before he could smash her best friend with the wooden stool, causing the female zombie to turn her target to the shouting girl. Seeing Isak dash her way to Onjo, Cheongsan sprinted toward the zombie and pushed her out of the window. Before her best friend completely fell out of the window, Onjo immediately grabbed her hand while Cheongsan  tried to pry her hand off the zombie.

“Have you lost your mind? Let go. You have to let it go.” Cheongsan mentioned, still trying to pry Onjo’s hand off the newly turned zombie. 

“Yah.” Nayeon called, watching Cheongsan struggling to pry his friend’s grip on the zombie, pushing the wooden stool near Cheongsan. Grabbing the wooden stool, he hit Isak several times before she completely fell off the school building, leaving Onjo to witness her best friend fall to her death. Areum watched Onjo’s devastated face with sorrow as the white hoodie girl shed tears, mourning her best friend's death.

“Come hold this!” Gyeongsu screamed as he tried to hide his emotions from his classmates. Areum stood beside Wujin as they blocked the violent zombies from entering, the black-haired girl silently hoped in her mind that Suhyeok would be alive.

“I don’t want us to be like that, Areum-ah. I want you to live as long as you can.” Namra whispered as she looked at her close friend with a sad smile. Areum quickly glanced back at Namra when she heard her quiet statement.

“Hey. Don’t talk like that. We’ll survive this together. After this, we’ll graduate together, get a job, get ourselves a boyfriend, marry someone we love and perhaps our children will be each other’s best friends.” Areum mentioned, trying to lighten the atmosphere that surrounds them. 

“And maybe we can tell our kids about this whole thing.” Areum smirked when she caught sight of Namra chuckling at her ridiculous thoughts. 

“Once we survive this, we can plan out our future together.” Areum smiled. “So, make sure you survive this too, okay?”

***********

Few minutes after the death of one of her friends, Areum along with Hyoryeong and Jimin went to comfort the devastated Onjo. Seeing the white hoodie girl still crying over her best friend’s death, Areum rubbed Onjo’s hand to help her calm, in which the white hoodie girl completely ignored their presence. 

Cheongsan went to check on his childhood friend, who utterly looked lost after losing her best friend. The young boy then turned his gaze to Areum, who stared back at him and shook her head to whatever planned Cheongsan wanted to ask toward the crying girl, silently telling him to give his childhood friend some space. 

Understanding her silent statement, Cheongsan turned his focus to his other friends, who were trying their hardest to keep the zombies from entering the class. Seeing the zombies almost get access to enter the class, Cheongsan looked around the classroom searching for an alternative escape route before the flesh eating monster filled the classroom. 

“Let’s go out. We can’t last here much longer.” Cheongsan announced once he finally  found another alternative route for them to escape the classroom.

“Where would we go? And how?” Wujin asked as helped Namra block the zombies away.

“We can use the rope from earlier.” Cheongsan suggested. Then, he called Gyeongsu’s name, gaining the boy’s attention.

“Yeah? What is it?” Gyeongsu asked when his best friend stared at him without giving any further explanation.

***********

“Just open the door a little. Enough for the hose to fit.” Cheongsan proposed when he saw Gyeongsu's hesitant face.

“Isn’t it better to wait until the rescuers come?” Gyeongsu groaned, not liking his best friend’s risky idea.

“We could all die if we wait.” Cheongsan commented, making Gyeongsu’s eyes widen.

“This might kill us faster. If we…” Gyeongsu tried to argue with his best friends.

“Is waiting for someone the best thing we can do?” Cheongsan remarked. 

“Screw it. I’ve never given my best at anything other than playing.” Gyeongsu said defeatedly as he tried to open the door a little. 

Unable to reach the fire house, Cheongsan went to the supplies room to search for something that could help him in reaching the fire hose. Seeing the human anatomy plastic body, the young boy pulled its arm and used it to reach the fire hose. Once he managed to reach the fire hose, Gyeongsu immediately closed the door shut.

“Class president, hold the door.” Gyeongsu muttered as he helped his best friend pull the fire hose.

“Help me make knots.” Cheongsan uttered as Jimin went to help him. Jimin asked him how he wanted to make knots. “Wrap it and tie it, so a hand or foot can fit.” The young boy instructed as he tried to make the first knot on the hose.

“Big enough for the foot?” Jimin questioned as she and Gyeongsu followed his action.

“Zigzag. Tie them in a zigzag. In 50-centimeter increments.” Joonyeong suggested as he tried his best to hold the door in the front of the classroom. 

Areum watched from her seat beside Onjo as her three friends tied the horse in zigzag. When they finished making the knots on the fire hose, Cheongsan told them that it was time to go. Cheongsan and Gyeongsu opened the window and let the hose fall down the building.

“Can we make it?” Gyeongsu asked as he looked at the hose with doubtful expression, in which his best friend completely ignored his question.

“I’ll go down and check the empty room. Come down when I tell you too.” Cheongsan mentioned as he stared at his best friend. Wujin and Jimin went to the window to assist Cheongsan as Gyeongsu told him to be careful. 

Before he went down, Cheongsan looked at Onjo, still worried about her, which caused him to hesitate to climb down the hose to search an empty room for them to occupy. He completely ignored his best friend's complaint before making his final decision. 

“Gyeongsu, you go first.” The young boy told his best friend as he climbed down from the window sill. 

“Why? Did you see something?” Gyeongsu worriedly asked.

“No. You go first.” Cheongsan insisted, making his friend complain about the situation he faced.

Both Wujin and Jimin suggested Gyeongsu to quickly climb down the rope, causing a small bickering between the two boys. When the boy began to climb up on the window sill, Gyeongsu started to mumble to himself as he tried to delay so that his other friends would volunteer to do the job. Areum tried to ignore the commotion beside her as Nayeon impatiently wanted to climb down the rope after Gyeongsu went down.

“I want to go first.” Areum heard Nayeon urged, causing the black-haired girl to roll her eyes on her selfish attitude.

“One person at a time. You might fall if it shakes too much.” Cheongsan argued as both Wujin and himself pushed her from climbing down the rope.

“I won’t shake it.” Nayeon uttered as she looked at the zombies outside the classroom. “How long do I have to wait?”

“Just a little while. Until Gyeongsu tells us that it's safe for us to go down.” Areum remarked as she turned her focus on the four students near the opened window. “So, be patient, Nayeon. Don’t be selfish.” Areum coldly smiled at the light brown-haired girl, causing the girl to groan in frustration.

“Cheongsan! Ms. Park is here!” Areum could heard Gyeongsu’s shout from where she was seating.

“Ms. Park is on the second floor.” Cheongsan passed the news to his friends.

“The second floor? The broadcasting room?” Daesu mentioned, still guarding the exposed windows.

One by one, the students began to climb the rope to the broadcasting room. Before Wujin left the science lab, he went to his cousin, who was still sitting next to Onjo. 

“Areum-ah. You better climb down after me, okay? Or else I’ll kill you myself.” Wujin joked as he tried to lighten the mood.

“I will. Only after Namra climbs down, then I’ll climb down.” Areum stated as she smiled to her only surviving family. Seeing Wujin about to argue with her, Areum immediately reassured him, “She’s my close friend, Wujin-ah. I’ll promise you that I’ll climb down after her, okay?” 

“You better be there after her, okay?” Wujin sighed, fully aware she would not listen to him once her mind set onto something. Areum nodded her head in response as she smiled at her cousin. Wujin left her and began climbing down to the broadcasting room, believing that his cousin would climb down after the class president.

Once it was Namra’s turn to climb down, she went to Areum and gave her a notepad and pen to write down a note to Suhyeok, telling her to tell him about their current location. 

“Here, you should write a note to Suhyeok about our current location. Maybe he'll come here once we're at the broadcasting room.” Namra suggested. Areum nodded her head in agreement as she thanked her friend. 

While waiting for her turn, Areum went to the back counter and wrote her note to Suhyeok, placing the piece of note on the wall near the supplies room. Hearing a sudden thud on the doorway, Areum glanced toward the sound and she could see the door slowly slide to open. Before she climbed down, Areum stared at Onjo, who was still spacing out, as she whispered to Cheongsan.

“Cheongsan, make sure you talk to Onjo. Don’t make her lose hope, okay? There are other people who still care about her such as yourself.” Areum advised, making the boy look at her in shock. “I’ll see you two later. Be careful, okay?” Cheongsan nodded his head as a response. 

The black-haired girl began to descend her way down using the rope as the wind blew past her long black hair and body. Feeling grateful to whoever created their school uniform skirt with the underpant short as they were able to make the female students comfortable wearing it in a situation like this. Reaching the broadcasting room, Areum entered the room with the help of Gyeongsu and Ms. Park. 

“Areum, are you okay?” Ms. Park worriedly asked, as she hugged the young girl.

“Yeah, I’m alright. What about you, Ms. Park?” Areum said. 

“I’m alright as well. I’m just glad to see you kids.” Ms. Park mentioned as she pulled away from the young girl, smiled down at her student.

***********

On the same floor of the science lab, Suhyeok was hiding behind the small wooden stand table in the art room, quietly hiding from the zombies inside the room as he tried to look for any possible route to escape. The only way that could help him escape was through the window. 

The tall boy slowly made his move to the window, however his body accidentally bumped into the wooden stand table, causing the ceramic sculpture to fall to the floor. Suhyeok managed to grab the sculpture before it fell but the sound of pencil clanking against the concrete floor had grabbed the attention of the zombies in the room.

The bald zombie without its right arm began to charge toward Suhyeok, making him smash the sculpture near the armless zombie. Suhyeok then pushed the long table to the male zombie in front of him, slowing its movement as he rushed toward the window to escape the room.

Once he managed to open the window, Suhyeok was being held back by the female  zombie before he made his escape. Suhyeok pushed the zombie roughly off his back, making it fall onto the ground as he pushed the metal storage cart on the female zombie.

“Oh shit!” Suhyeok cursed as he nearly fell off the building after leaving the room.

Trying to navigate which way he should go, Suhyeok moved sideways along the thin ledge outside of the school building, managed to pass the school pillar as he barely escaped from the three zombies that were leaning their bodies over the window. He tried to catch breath after stabilising himself against the narrow ledge.

"Shit." Suhyeok cursed as he looked at the amount of zombies roaming around the school yard.

***********

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