Karna leans on the wall, exhausted after pushing so many desks to stall the rabid students. Chairs, desks, anything large enough was used to make a barricade large enough to be impassable. It'd been hours, and the screaming had died down, with only faint animalistic sounds heard from the outside. No one dared to look out the windows and check.

  Kenji bandages Rey's hand with the emergency first aid kits under the teacher's desk. He wraps a bandage around tightly after disinfecting the wounds, making Rey wince once more.

  "Sorry, was that too tight?" Kenji pauses in worry.

  "No, I'm fine. That whole fight took a lot out of me, though..." Rey hesitates before lifting his shirt up to reveal multiple large bruises on his torso. Kenji flinches at the sight and starts rummaging in the tiny medical box.

  "How did that happen?! You weren't even attacked there! There's no ointment in here for bruises! Don't tell me those bastards did that again! Someone must have took it...let me look-"

  "Calm down. They're just bruises. As bad as they may look, they don't hurt too badly. I didn't break any bones, so I'll live. I'll just be more careful," Rey comforts Kenji, feeling bad for revealing the hidden injuries. "Sorry...I forgot you don't like seeing me so hurt."

  "It's okay. What matters most is your well-being right now," Kenji finishes wrapping Rey's hands after regaining his composure. "I can't say the same for Lydia though."

  Lydia trembles in horror, despite not being targeted or the ones fighting against the monsters, she took it the hardest. After two hours, she finally broke her silence.

  "Fuck! What are we supposed to do now!" Lydia throws her hair pin to the ground out of anger. "How are we supposed to get out of here alive now?! Those things are way too strong! I don't wanna die!"

  "Shut up, Lydia. Seriously, I'm not in the mood for another tantrum right now," Karna glares at Lydia, annoyed by her noisy complaining. Lydia scoffs and glares back. She looks into her pocket mirror again and notices her hair completely out of place, irritating her. Her thick and long hair got messy quickly after long periods of time.

  "Ugh, fuck! Now my hair's ruined!" Lydia tousles her hair even further in fury. "Rika! Get over here and fix my hair!"

  Rika hurries over and picks up Lydia's comb from her bag and starts combing as gently as possible. As she untangles the hair carefully, she accidentally breaks a knot and Lydia winces.

  "Fucking hell!" Lydia grabs the nearest item, a ruler, and throws it to the ground, almost cracking it in half. "I said fix it, not rip my hair out! I swear, if you do that again, I'm making sure your parents will never escape their debt! Fucking useless! Do it properly, dammit!"

  Lydia screeches loudly at Rika, ordering her around in a much more agitated state than normal. Lydia's shrill voice makes Rika flinch in fear. All she could do was listen quietly, having no power to talk back or do anything. Her status was far too low to even fathom that.

  "Instead of complaining, we could do something useful," Shinta rolls his eyes. "Like calling the authorities?"

  "Right. I'll call and see what they can do," Rey pulls out his phone and starts dialing the number. It doesn't take long until a dispatcher gets on the line with the group.

  "Authorities on the phone, what is your emergency?" a monotone voice drawls, sounding bored and unamused.

  "We need assistance at Sidina Academy, please! There are...er..." Rey pauses, not knowing what to call the rabid students. Silence arises in the group, contemplating how to describe or what to call the monsters.

  Lydia puts her hand out to gesture to Rika to stop combing. She bolts and intervenes, "Zombies! They're-"

  "What are you saying, Lydia?! They're not going to believe us if we call them that!" Karna puts his hand over her mouth and whispers harshly. "Those only exist in movies, dumbass!"

  "Am I wrong?! They are basically dead and killing people mindlessly! Did you see how inhuman they were when you guys were fighting?! We might as well be in a movie!" Lydia argues back. Rey bumps Karna's shoulder and signals them to be quiet with a finger over his mouth. Rey continues speaking.

  "Anyways, we need help! Students are dying everywhere and we don't know how long until we're next!" he shouts desperately.

  "...Name of the address please," they make a brief pause before continuing to talk.

  "Sidina Academy. We're near the borders of the walls leading outside, north of Pradana's main building. I'm sure a station is right next to the school."

  "Describe to me what type of troops are needed for your situation. We just need confirmation on the type of emergency you have. "

  "Well, we definitely need some armed troops to take down the people attacking and some medical help. A rescue team too! Please, come quick!"

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  "Please refrain from speaking too fast. We still need to assess what's happening. How many are dead and alive?"

  "I don't know...? Me and my friends are in a classroom right now and we're all alive, from what we've seen, many are dead. We can't check because we'll risk losing our lives. Is that enough?"

  "Wait. We need to call the school to confirm your help."

  "Can't you do that later...? The administration might not even be alive right now."

  "It's better to be safe than sorry. Please wait-"

  "Why the fuck are you trying to stall us?! We need help, so why won't you help us?! Every second that passes, we're in more danger! Stop asking unnecessary questions!" Karna snatches Rey's phone and yells at the dispatcher. Rey shoves Karna away to shut him up and grabs his phone back. The dispatcher stays silent for a couple seconds, everyone worrying if they hung up.

  "...Call them off. These children are simply being a nuisance to us," the voice responds coldly.

  "Hey! Wait, you can't do that! You're supposed to help us, that's your job!" Karna steals the phone again in anger.

  "We are not obligated to send help if the receiver is trying to keep us from assisting with real emergencies."

  "Stop it! This is an emergency! Send-"

  CLICK!

  The dispatcher hangs up, leaving Karna speechless. He lowers the phone and clenches his fist in anger. Rey seizes his phone quickly before it gets smashed.

  Lydia walks up and shoves Karna, "What the fuck was that?! If you were patient enough to let Rey answer all the questions, we would've gotten help from the authorities! That was our only chance and you blew it!"

  "Did you hear that heinous bitch?! Those were stupid questions! She was stalling us! She was never going to help us if we didn't insist on it!" Karna shouts back, getting up to Lydia's face. He'd always hated the power difference revolving around age. "Those aren't even questions the authorities ask during an emergency! They should've been assisting us right away instead of condescending us!"

  "Look where that went dumbass! Did we get the help we needed? Are the authorities coming? She ended the call because your bitch ass was stupid enough to provoke her and think we're just trying to prank her! It's not even possible to get outside help anymore!"

  "At least I did something in trying to help! Look who's stopped crying just to get up and blame someone else trying to assist our group's survival!"

  "Help?! Stop trying to act all high and noble, you arrogant fuck! At least hold some fucking accountability for being the reason authorities won't help us anymore! We can't even call from a different device because of the stupid location law! I swear, if Khari knew what you did, she'd fucking hate you for being the death of us," Lydia points and shoves him back.

  Karna grabs Lydia's shirt and glares at her.

  "Say that one more fucking time."

  "You'd be the death of us and Khari. Imagine how she'd feel. You already fucked up and that's why Elios is with her. If she knew what you did, Khari would hate your fucking guts." she scoffs, looking straight into his eyes without fear. Elios glares at Lydia from afar.

  "Bitch," he snarls under his breath.

  Before Lydia could continue provoking him, Karna punches Lydia in the face and throws her to the ground. Elios's mouth tugs into a slight smirk. She coughs in pain and slowly sits up, an evil grin spreading on her face.

  "Ha! You're fucking proving my point! With how violent and deranged you are, no wonder she rejected-"

  THWACK!

  Lydia gets punched again, much harder this time. She wheezes, the wind taken out of her with how heavy Karna was hitting. She smirks, knowing he was playing into the bait. As Karna starts walking closer to Lydia, Kenji puts himself between the two.

  "Enough. We aren't being productive or gaining anything by fighting each other. Be rational and calm down," Kenji puts out his arms to keep them at a distance.

  "Blame Mr. Got-Rejected-and-Still-Salty-About-It. It's not my fault he lunged at me first," Lydia stands up weakly, holding her chest in pain. Karna tries to push through Kenji's body, but Rey interferes and shoves Karna to keep him away.

  "Listen to Kenji! Not a single word from either of you anymore! We should be trying to find useful solutions, not trying to murder each other!" Rey stands over Karna. Karna scowls, but complies and turns around. "I'm not saying you guys need to be buddy buddy. I'm telling you to have self-control now and once we're out of this shit, then you can kill each other. And for future reference, maybe don't take my shit and go crazy like that. Not like we can even do that now."

  Lydia rolls her eyes and leans on a wall, mumbling something to herself. Shinta glares at Lydia, which makes her flinch and look down. She takes out her pocket mirror again and quietly fixes up her face which now has a large purple bruise.

  "What are we supposed to do then? The authorities can't help us and we can't leave either," Rika speaks up, slowly walking to Lydia's right side. "Our phones are useless now because of the new law. I can't believe they made it apply to our families too."

  Rika glances over at Shinta, whose face darkens after her statement. She averts eye contact and stares at the floor.

  "We rest and calm down. No more talking now thanks to these two fucks. We collect our thoughts, then make a plan," Rey seats himself next to Kenji on the floor and leans on him. Lydia scoffs and mumbles, as if mocking Rey's words. Karna and Lydia glare at each other for what feels like eternity.

  Two hours later, still quiet and tense. Kenji looks around and decides it was enough time to start a conversation.

  "After sitting around for a while, I certainly feel famished. Shouldn't have skipped out on lunch," Kenji rubs his stomach.

  "Good thing I ate already," Rey pokes Kenji's face and continues to lean on his shoulder. Kenji rolls his eyes and hides a small smile. Rey plays with Kenji's long, brown hair out of boredom.

  "Well I'm sure at least one of us ought to bring something to the table. We brought food, right?" Rika stands up and looks at everyone. In response, everyone looks away to hide a guilty face. "No one? There's seven of us! There has to be something!"

  "Oh, shut up already! You act like you brought a Thanksgiving feast and no one contributed when you didn't bring anything either!" Lydia exclaims. She picks up her water bottle and takes a sip. "Luckily we all have water."

  "That won't be enough," Shinta says. Everyone looks at him with a perplexed face.

  "Enough for what?" Karna asks.

  Shinta stands up and offers a solution, "I have a plan. With how limited we are on resources , we need to leave as soon as possible before the energy runs out. While we're still able to, we leave now before we can no longer do so."

  "I suggest all of us eat at least something before trying something too risky," Rey turns down the idea. "Remember those zombie things?"

  "There's nothing here at all. How are we going to get any food?" Rika asks with a hopeless expression. Shinta's mouth curls to a wide grin and he points to a connecting door leading to another classroom.

  "There. That's where we'll get food."