Hanna always found it easy to fall asleep. All she had to do was close her eyes and she'd quickly be whisked off to the land of sand and dreams. So she found it quite annoying that sleep elluded her now.

  She knew full well why sleep was unattainable for her. She was stuck in her English classroom surrounded by classmates of her that she rarely if ever interacted with and a wall linned with the bodies of her dead colleges. One of them was her best friend Kathrine.

  Hanna didn't want to think about Kathrine but she couldn't stop herself. The events following the Tutorial were playing on a loop in her mind. Kathrine had gone insane, rabbid even. She attacked Hanna relentlessly forcing Hanna to defend herself. Hanna killed her best friend and while she knew it was in self-defence she couldn't stop herself from playing the scene over and over and over.

  Hanna tried to stay busy immediately after, keeping her mind off of her actions by focusing on their immediate survival. However now that the storm had calmed and they had nothing better to do but wait for the morning to try and make their escape she was plagued with guilt over her actions.

  Guilt wasn't the only thing keeping her from finding the sweet bliss of sleep. Worry for her parents sprinkled her thoughts. They both worked on the other side of the river. Every indication she had pointed to this shit show of an apocalypse being city-wide if not world wide.

  She worried that if it was a city wide problem then her loving parents would mount a rescue attempt. Throwing themselves into the midst of danger for her sake. Hanna didn't want this, but knowing her parents they would travel to hell and back for her.

  She missed her parents. She wanted to be at home, sleeping in her bed with her parents just down the hallway. She didn't want to confront their mortality let alone her own or that of her friends.

  Hanna wanted to cry. She yearned for that release it would give her. But she didn't. She needed to stay strong and alive if she had any hope of reuniting with her parents. She didn't know how she would go about getting back to them. If miles of zombies stood between her and them then it was nearly a death sentence.

  To top that off she feels in charge of the survives in the English classroom. It was never directly stated but in the events following the Tutorial she took charge. They listened to her and she directed their efforts to ensure the group's survival. After placing herself in that position does she have a right to abandon them and try to find her parents?

  Hanna knew that in life-or-death situations like this people needed focus. They needed a goal to focus on, a direction to keep them moving. Without direction humans have a tendency to stagnate, to passively let current events sweep them away. Hanna knew she couldn't let that happen. If the current events managed to sweep them away it would sweep them into the jaws of one of the monsters wearing their classmate's skin.

  So instead of sleeping and trying to rest before they try to escape the school Hanna was laying on the cleanest patch of carpet she could find. She kept her eyes closed but her mind was running a thousand miles an hour. That was until Jason yelled out a warning so loud she doubted anyone would be able to sleep through it.

  "EVERYBODY UP! THE DEAD ARE COMING BACK!"

  Hanna bolted up, her spear clutched between her hands. She's never taken any martial arts or had any interest in violent sports that would lead her to ever holding a spear. Yet the solid black staff with a nasty point at its end felt familiar to her. It was comforting and provided her with a sense of security. It was a weapon, a way to defend herself, and in this situation, she was loathed to let it out of her grip.

  As the others stirred from their restless sleep a spine chilling snapping sound echoed through the room. The sound was reminiscent of a dog chewing on a bone. The sound set the hair on the back of Hanna's neck to standing.

  From beyond the make-shift wall of desks, bodies begin to rise. They were unsteady and moved in jerky motions that made them appear to be action figures snapping into their set poses. The first one to rise to their feet turned towards Jason who now stood between the group of survivors and rising corpses. It's jaw snapped open as wide as it could go. Then it roared a horse moan that Hanna knew if she tried to recreate, it would strain and stress her vocal cords to the point of not being able to speak for days.

  It lunged, crashing through the wall of desks. More horse cries echoed in the room as the other corpses charged through the barricade of desks. Jason was the first to react, catching the first zombie in the side of it's head with a pink hammer.

  From the corner of her eye, she could make out Derrick standing guard over an unconscious Sandra. For a moment Hanna entertained the idea of leaving the two to fend for themselves. Out of everyone in the group, Derrick has been the most antagonistic. Barely willing to cooperate or provide any helpful ideas.

  But Hanna couldn't sit back and let them fall prey to the monsters. She knew if she did that she would never be able to forgive herself. She knew she would always hold herself accountable for their deaths.

  The tall girl threw herself in between the jock and the cheerleader. Hanna thought it was funny. Usually in the movies, the jock is the one to be ready for any fight. Yet here she is, one of the resident emos in their grade standing ready to fight and protect the athletic man and unconscious girl.

  A zombie leaped at Hanna faster than a zombie should be capable of. The older movies always made the zombies out to be slow creatures that are really only dangerous in large numbers or when caught by surprise. But as Hanna caught the full weight of the charging zombie with her spear she cursed the creators of those movies.

  She was forced several steps back as the monster impaled itself on her spear. Unfortunately for her being impaled in the gut appeared to not deter or affect the zombie in the slightest. Hanna struggled back, knowing that she couldn't give too much ground or she'd start stepping over Derrick and Sandra.

  A second zombie body slammed into the one caught on the spear, sending the three of them toppling to the ground. Hanna's spear was wrenched from her grasp in the fall. She scrambled to reclaim it but was assaulted by a new zombie.

  She caught the zombie by the throat but she knew that she would not be strong enough to hold the zombie off. She worked a foot between them but even then the jerky movements of the zombie made it hard to control.

  Hanna looked around for anything she could use to kill the zombie. If only she could find a weapon to use her skill with. That's all she needed. A medium for her skill.

  The skills offered by the system were a fascinating marvel. She was given the skill [Flowing Strike]. With it, her spear moved so fast she could barely see it. While in the tutorial she was able to catch the Goblin off guard with her lightning-fast strike, but speed wasn't everything to the attack. Hanna couldn't tell how it managed to but the strike would weave around any obstacle to hit her target.

  The weight pressing down on her doubled as another zombie fell onto her. Her arms buckled drawing the zombies ever nearer to her. It took all her strength to keep the zombie from sinking it's teeth into her throat. She faced the maw of death and new she was too weak to resist it.

  But she wasn't ready to die. She wanted to live, no needed to. Her family couldn't risk their lives just to find out she was dead. She needed to live to make sure they had a daughter to get back to. She needed to live to atone for killing her best friend. She needed to live to lead the others out of this hell hole.

  It didn't matter if she had a weapon or not. Hanna would make herself into the weapon if none were available to her. She stared down the maw of death, determined to overcome and vanquish it.

  Screaming she focused on the skill, willing for it to work. She imaged kicking out, sending the zombies flying. For a moment nothing happened. Hanna didn't feel the skill activate but that didn't stop her from struggling. Skill or no skill she'll survive, she had to.

  With all her strength she kicked out, trying to throw the zombies off of her. Then it clicked, her skill activated and she felt her leg fly out. The weight pressing on her vanished as the zombies were sent sailing through the air.

  She wanted to take a moment to breathe, to collect herself. But this wasn't the time nor the place. She needed to move, needed to act.

  Throwing herself back to her feet she searched around for the zombie baring her spear. She quickly found it racing after Sebastian whose blade blade sang through the air.

  She bolted after the two, apologizing to Derrick for abandoning him. However, even with her skill, her attacks weren't potent enough to end the threat the zombies presented. To protect them she needed to be lethal and for that, she needed a weapon.

  Sebastian disappeared for a moment. The zombie stumbled in place, almost appearing confused by the disappearance of it's prey. Hanna didn't afford herself the time to ponder this oddity. She was determined to retrieve her spear.

  A dark, wickedly sharp blade cleaved through the neck of the zombie before her. It toppled to the ground, it's momentum carrying it a couple of feel. Hanna felt hope at the site, her spear was in reach. All she had to do was reach out and grasp it.

  She never got the chance. A zombie tackled her sending her skinding across the carpeted floor. Heat seared through her back as pain exploded in her head. She felt something on top of her but was unable to focus on it. It was like someone replaced her thoughts with static that was too loud.

  The weight on top of her disappeared and hand appeared before her. Taking it she was pulled to her feet where she found Sebastian helping her up. He offered a small smile before turning and catching an incoming zombie.

  Forcing the static out of her mind she finally retrieved her spear. Whirling around she watched as a zombie bared down on Derrick. Derrick was raising the black bracer but Hanna couldn't see anything happening. With no other recourse, she reached for her skill and focused on the spear's ability. Her skill activated and she felt the cold material of the spear heat up.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  She was a dozen feet away. Too far to actually hit the zombie and too far to make it in time. But none of that mattered. Her spear flashed forward to the extent of her reach. Then the heat in her spear disappeared as an invisible force rocketed away from it.

  The zombie crumpled and fell, its attack forgotten in its death. A spear-sized hole was now present in its temple. Hanna wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. She wanted the fight to be over. But commotion behind her revealed that it wasn't done.

  "ENOUGH"! Jason roared.

  Jason ripped a zombie off of Abby and threw it across the room. The body flew through the air, colliding into the stone exterior wall of the classroom. Hanna could almost hear the bones breaking from the impact.

  Jason didn't stop. He surged forward like a tidlewave. The pink hammer in his hands screamed through the air as he caught the nearest zombie in the temple. The monster's head exploded under the single attack, the zombie body spiraling away from the attack.

  A leap took Jason several feet to another zombie. He grabbed this one by the back of their collar, preventing it from charging into Sebastian as it had appeared to be doing. The zombie's skull erupted in a guiser of blood as it crumpled to the ground. A single blow was all it took from Jason to end the monster's undead life.

  Blood coated Jason, matting his hair and streaming down his face but that wasn't what Hanna found terrifying about him. It was his expression of rage. It was monstrous, made worse by his glowing eyes. The lights still illuminated the classroom, leaving nothing to be obscured by shadows, yet Jason's eyes still shined brightly making him look less human.

  He caught another zombie charging him by the throat, lifting it into the air with a single hand. He glared at the beast, and his forearm flexed. Something in the monster's neck cracked leading to it's body going limp, yet it's jaw still snaped open and closed. As if it were trying to bite Jason with sheer force of will alone.

  It was dispatched in a similar matter to the others leading to Jason searching for the next zombie. Hanna couldn't watch his terrifying strength in action as she was caught by a Zombie.

  The weight of the zombie pushed her back a few feet but she took this as an opportunity. With a twist she was able to throw the zombie off of her, letting it's own momentum bring it down. As it rolled across the floor she leaped after it, her skill activating as she trusted the spear down. The black cross blade slid neatly into the skull of the zombie, arresting it's movements.

  She tore the spear from the zombie and readied for another attack. She scanned the room for the deadly threat the zombies pose but none were found. Instead, she found an almost motionless classroom aside from the heavy breathing of her classmates.

  A clacking sound caught Hanna's attention bringing her focus to a severed skull slightly twitching. The zombie that Sebstian had decapitated sat of the floor with it's jaw opening and closing with enough force to crack teeth.

  Jason appeared before the abnormal abomination and threw the gore coated hammer down. The zombie's skull split and buckled ending the monster's movements. Blood and brain matter spilled out of the cracks making Hanna's stomach heave.

  Swallowing the vomit Hanna forced herself to focus on something else, particularly what happened. They had called them zombies yet none of them really stopped to consider what that meant. In almost any media Hanna could think of zombies would turn humans with a bite.

  "We need to make sure they're dead." Hanna told the room.

  "What the fuck is wrong with you? That's desecration of a corpse. Which, if I need to remind you is illegal." Derrick stated.

  It took everything Hanna had to hold the sigh back. How dumb can this jock be? They're in a god damned zombie apocalypse and he's worried about the fucking law? Does he not realize the situation that they are in?

  "Derrick I'm going to say this only once." Hanna walked to the nearest corpse and plunged her spear into it's skull. "We don't have the luxury of worrying about laws. Zombies are wearing the fucking skin of our classmates. Those that they kill come back as zombies themselves." With a revulsive squelching sound she rips the spear out of the corpse. "We need to do what we can to survive this and that means ensuring that the dead stay dead. The law can come for us after we survive. So stop being such a blockhead and get your fucking head in the game."

  Hanna sighs and turns to the rest of the group. All of them are watching her at this point. Looking to her for the answers they need. For the direction that will lead them out of her.

  "We can't let shit like worrying over laws or guilt for what we've done stop us from doing what it takes to survive. We all have family we want to get back to, so until we reunite with them we need to do whatever it takes to survive. Derrick, I know you want to sit here and wait for help to arrive but we have no way of truly knowing if help is on it's way. We need to be proactive here. We need to save ourselves."

  Hanna watched the reactions of her classmates. Gauging who she can or can't trust. For the majority they appeared to be in agreement with her. Aside from Derrick and surprisingly Jason. Hanna knew Derrick was unlikely to listen to her, too use to being top dog to listen to others.

  Jason on the other hand she'd image would be the first to agree with her. With how he was dispatching the zombies she thought he had longed accepted their situation. Jason's gaze was casted down at the decapitated skull of the last zombie he killed. Hanna struggled to determine what he was thinking but he almost appeared like a dog who did something they knew they shouldn't. Unsure how to use this information she filed it away for later use and pressed on.

  "I know it's a lot. This isn't fair and we shouldn't have to deal with this. But we have a responsibility to our loved ones to try and stay alive. We have to do what we can to survive. To live on. I won't ask any of you to help me ensure that the dead stay dead. But I will ask you guys to understand why we need to do this."

  Silence falls over the room as Hanna ends her speech. She can tell that she hasn't won the room over but she doesn't know what else to say. They'll either agree with her or not. It's not like she knows any of them on a close level.

  Sebastian took the blade in his hand and stabbed down at a nearby zombie with it. The blade sunk into the skull with barely any effort. He freed the blade with ease and turned to Hanna.

  "Survival takes what it takes. I'm going to make it back home even if it's the last thing I do." He stated.

  Hanna was relieved to have someone agree with her. Part of her had worried that she was making the wrong choice. It was a small part, easily ignored but it was still there. Whispering doubt through her mind.

  "I'd rather it not be the last thing you do, so lets work together to get you home." Hanna replied to Sebastian.

  A stone shard blitzed across the room crashing into the skull of a zombie. It left a mist of blood in the air and a hole the size of a baseball in the zombie's skull. Turning to Michael Hanna raised an eyebrow in question.

  "I don't know how much help I can be. I'm not athletic or anything like that, but I want to survive. I'm with you." He answered her unasked question.

  "I was,nt to survive, but I don't know if I can..." Abigail's words died out as if she was unable to finish the thought.

  "Can what?" Hanna asked.

  "I can't fight them."

  "Seriously?" Hanna asked.

  What did Abigail mean she wasn't willing to fight the zombies? If it's between life and death how could any not choose life? How could someone be willing to let death take them without a fight?

  "I don't want to hurt anyone."

  Before Hanna could ask any of the questions plaguing her Jason stepped forwards. Soaked him blood, he strikes a grusome vissage that would appear more at home in a horror movie. The embers of anger still etched his usually calm face, silencing any thoughts Hanna had.

  "You won't have to." He spoke to Abigail but Hanna felt as if he was speaking to her directly. "I'll make sure you won't have too."

  "Are you hurt?" Abigail sprung up from where she was kneeling, quickly rushing over to Jason. "You're limping."

  Hanna only now realized that Jason was indeed limping. When she watched him earlier she could have sworn he wasn't, but now that she's focusing he's clearly placing most of his weight on one leg.

  "Don't worry about it. I twisted my ankle in the fight, I'll be fine."

  "If you're hurt you should say something. Injuries can get worse if they aren't taken care. Let me see it." Abigail was already lifting Jason's pants leg.

  "Stop, you do…" Jason began to speak but a glare from Abigail shut him up.

  Abigail held her hand over Jason's exposed ankle. A faint golden glow emanated from Abigail's bracelet. A tear shaped ball of light left the bracelt and floated gently onto Jason's ankle. The glow died out as the ball of light floated into Jason.

  Jason's face relaxed revealing the usual calmness that Hanna was used to. The blood still ruined the image she had of Jason in her mind, but it was easier to see that version of Jason without him glaring.

  "Does that feel better?" Abigail asked.

  Jason nodded in answer. He tested the ankle a bit before giving a more assertive nod. "Thank you."

  "So, do you have any ideas on how we can survive this?" Sebastian asked Hanna.

  Hanna took a moment to answer his question. Not because she didn't have any ideas but because she had too many. She knew that they needed direction as a group but she knew they all had their own individual goals. She needed an answer that would provide direction to all of them while also letting them complete their goals.

  If she were to try and give them direction that lead them away from their personal goals they wouldn't accept it. There is safety in numbers, so Hanna wanted to keep everyone together as much as possible.

  Hanna found herself wandering towards the window of the classroom. The city still looked so far away. The soft orange glow of unseen fires only confirms Hanna's thought that in a situation like this, the cities are death sentences. Yet she knew Jason and Sebastian wanted to run right into that mess.

  "We can't stay in this classroom. You've all heard the rule of three right?" She asked turning to the group.

  "Three minutes without oxygen, three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food." Sebastian answered her.

  With a nod to Sebastian, Hanna continued. "We need to get our families and leave the city. The city has a population just shy of a million. If even a portion were zombies it would be bedlam there. So we need to get out of here, get our families, then leave the cities and find a place safe to stay until things are figured out."

  "Kind of a shit plan." Derrick stated.

  "It's not a plan, its a goal." Michael chimed in.

  With fingers pressed to hips lips Michael looked to be deep in thought. His lips moved ever so slightly as if he was speaking to himself.

  "We'll need supplies, we have no idea how long it'll take us to get to the city or what supplies we'll be able to get once we're there. We need to figure out how large the forest is. Can we go around it or do we have to go through it? We also need to figure out where our families should be." Michael began to mutter to himself. "I don't know how good of a plan we can make without more information."

  Michael focused back on the group, his final comment meant for the room and not himself. Hanna turned back to the window. The appearance of this forest changes a lot. What else has changed outside? Is it really their city sitting just beyond the forest?

  She wanted to believe it was, needed too. But it was like she was the blind trying to lead the blind. They had a goal but not enough information to make a plan. They need more information.

  "We should get to the roof." Sebastian stated. "We can survey the area and figure out the best way back to the city."

  "So how do we get out of this room?" Michael asked.

  "I have an idea for that but I don't know if it'll work. I think my Skill works on zombies, letting me hide from them." Sebastian stated.

  "You think?" Hanna asked.

  "I don't actually know. I was using it after Jason warned us about the zombies and none of them seemed to come after me until I stopped using it. Granted I didn't use it for long but even the moments during the fight that I tried they seemed to loose sight of me."

  "What's your skill?" Michael asked.

  "It's called Shadow Step. It reads like a generic sneak sk…"

  "Hey, do you guys see that?" Jason asked the group.

  He was pointing at something beyond the window. Following his fingers Hanna found a purple haze stretching down from the heavens. It moved slowly as if it was molosas, yet it persited in the air unaided. It appeared too solid to be light but Hanna couldn't fathom what material could stretch and hang in the air like that.

  In a few moments the haze reached the earth without a sound. No stirs of dust or obvious signs could be witnessed that the haze was there.

  "What the fuck is that?" Derrick asked having walked over to discover what held everyone's attention.

  "I don't know…"

  [QUEST: Kill the Grave Walker]

  [Reward: Territory Core]

  [Penaltiy: Forfeitureof Life]

  [A Grave Walker has awakened. Kill it before it can realize its full power. A barrier has been placed to prevent it from leaving the area, this also means you'll be prevented from leaving while it's still alive. Failure to slay the Grave Walker before it realizes it's power will result in forfeiture of live.]

  [Time Remaining: 71 Hours 59 Minutes 43 Seconds]

  "Well." Hanna sighed. "Fuck me."