Shinta enters back into the classroom, noticing all three of them standing awkwardly together. They were all huddled up together, making it obvious that they were talking about something important considering what friendships were 'burned' moments ago.

  "What's wrong? Did something happen?" he smiles, trying to cover his intrigue.

  "Yes, something did happen," Rey steps forward. Karna grabs his hands to hold him back. Shinta slightly flinches at the sight.

  "What are you doing?! Why are you confronting him?! You're still injured!" he whispers quickly.

  "I've had enough of waiting and fucking around. I'm making that bastard pay," Rey whispers aggressively and snatches his hand away.

  "Have you killed everyone so far?" Rey asks boldly, words blunt and immediately raising the tension.

  "...Why do you ask?" Shinta responds just a little too calmly. "What led you to that daring assumption?"

  "Answer my question."

  "Even if I did, what would you do about it?"

  "Did you kill Kenji?"

  Shinta scoffs and rolls his eyes.

  "You saw that he got bit. How could I possibly do so?"

  "You opened the door."

  Shinta briefly glances at Lydia who turns away, trembling behind Karna. As Shinta lets his guard down, he looks back to see a flying bloody fist in his view. Rey punches Shinta square in the jaw, the force knocking him to the ground with a nasty crunch. The glass in his hand dug deeper into his fist, but he didn't care. Rey's eyes darken as he approaches slowly, his face demented.

  "You fucking murderer. You bastard. You little fucking bitch," Rey pulls Shinta by the shirt and continues to beat him down, bones on his face cracking and blood gushing. "I should've known it was you. You were acting so fucking shifty from the start."

  Rey grits his teeth and grabs Shinta's hair, smashing his face to the floor. Shinta struggles to breathe as Rey's heavy hits were quickly taking him down. His vision starts to blur, his face looking blotchy and deformed. Bruises start to form, swelling up his face and blood dripping from his nose and mouth.

  Rey brings Shinta's lolling head to his seething expression, "How could you?! How could you do this?! You killed him! You killed everyone! Why?! Why would you do this to people you care about?!"

  His eyes start to water again and he bashes Shinta's head in before stopping the brutal beatdown. Shinta stops moving, blood starting to seep out of his head.

  "That one was for you, Kenji," Rey stands up and leaves Shinta's limp body behind.

  STAB!

  Shinta immediately seizes Rey's ankle as soon as he drops his guard and stabs it with a new pair of scissors. Rey freezes, unable to react. Shinta drags the sharp blade all the way down, creating a ghastly sight as blood spurts out of Rey's leg. He sinks down to clasp it in agony, but notices a shadow loom over him as soon as he kneels down, unable to recover quick enough. Bloody raised scissors with bits of Rey's flesh and carnage flashes in his eyes.

  SLASH!

  Shinta grins ear to ear, admiring the sight of Rey's blood pooling over his grotesque body.

  "You should be more grateful. I gave you an entryway to see your bitch again," he smirks. Karna just stared at the gory scene, speechless and dreading that he was next. Shinta had finally revealed his true nature. Every standing nerve in his body told Karna to run, but all he could do was stare and watch, his eyes widening in fear. Shinta notices and smiles innocently.

  "What's wrong, Karna?" Shinta strides towards him with a cheerful pace. He wipes his bloody hands on his shirt and gives him a playful smile. No matter how good looking Shinta was, it couldn't cover up the fact Rey rearranged his face to something as hideous as the beholder's personality. He taps the bloody scissors on Karna's chest lightly. "I was defending myself. I was going to die if I didn't stop him."

  Karna grinds his teeth in fright and fury, unknowing of what to do. He couldn't let a killer like that loose. And he let it all happen in front of him. He suddenly grabs Shinta's hand.

  "Karna? What are you-"

  Karna yanks his arm and swings Shinta's body to the ground, his stomach facing flat on the floor. Shinta groans in pain and looks back in surprise. Karna starts to bend Shinta's arm at a nasty angle. Shinta's voice becomes louder the more his arm twisted unnaturally. First, slow cracks, then-

  SNAP!

  Bones shatter, Shinta's arm wrecked into a horrid sight as his screams of agony fill the room. Trembling, Karna still stands over him.

  "I never expected you to do something like this," Karna clenches his fist. The thought of him defending Shinta minutes before made him sick. "Why?! I trusted you! I believed you! I really thought it wasn't possible for you to kill the others! Why...why would a sick bastard like you even think of killing your friends so gruesomely?!"

  He looks away, unable to face Shinta and pushes his hair back in frustration.

  "Ha...! What a fool I made myself to even think this..." Karna laughs at himself. "I never wanted to believe it. That you murdered everyone. But now...now it's too late. I can't believe I thought you were ever a good person."

  Shinta stays quiet, staring blankly at Karna facing the grave reality of the situation. As Karna circles back to finish the job Rey couldn't, Shinta uses his right leg to trip Karna. Shinta stumbles up slowly, which gives Karna enough time to stand up.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "I did it...because I needed to get rid of liabilities," Shinta sprints at Karna, scissors raised, but he deflects it. Karna catches his arm and keeps a tight grip on it. "I never planned to get rid of you. But now...now that I realize how you intend to kill me, I have to."

  Unable to break free of Karna's iron grip, Shinta forcefully shoves Karna down with his weight, tripping Karna and ramming his head down on a desk. Karna screams as he goes down, trying to crawl to a wall close by for support. Shinta quickly lunges and seizes Karna's neck, instantly closing his airways. Karna claws at Shinta's hand for air, unable to breathe. Shinta flinches in pain with how much skin Karna was tearing off, but he wasn't budging.

  "I wanted you to live, you know. I liked you the most. I didn't want it to be this way."

  Karna gasps and chokes, unable to respond nor process Shinta's words.

  "But you forced my hand."

  Shinta tightens his grasp, pushing the back of Karna's head to the wall. The gasps and wheezing become breathier and shorter as Karna slowly feels his body losing strength, and his lungs losing air. His eyes glint with desperation, his last sight being Shinta's solemn, malformed face before he finally stops struggling. Shinta releases as soon as Karna's eyes close shut. As his body goes limp, Shinta catches the body and lightly touches the welting, purple ring he left behind on Karna's neck. Shinta hears a noisy rustling behind him, breaking his immersion and turns around to see Lydia stumbling back and trying to run away.

  Shinta's face darkens to malevolence seeing her still alive. He gently pushes Karna's body off and stands up, slowly closing in on Lydia. She tries to back away, but bumps into a corner of the room.

  "S-stay back!" she shrieks in terror. Shinta traps her in the corner and boxes her in with his leg, pointing the scissors to her throat. Tears start spilling out of her eyes again and Lydia starts hyperventilating, feeling the sharp edge scraping roughly against her skin. A drop of blood slowly leaks down her neck.

  "Please, spare me! I...I don't wanna die!" Lydia cries in fear. There was nothing she could do now.

  Shinta rolls his eyes, "No one wants to die. That doesn't mean I'll-"

  STAB!

  Blood starts gushing out of his torso as Lydia pushes her scissors deep inside his stomach. She hid a pair behind her back in case of this exact scenario. Seeing Shinta groan from the pain, she takes the chance to shove him to the ground and run away to the connecting classroom. Lydia looks around frantically, no exit whatsoever to get away from the psycho that would stop at nothing to kill her. She was trapped. In her peripheral vision, she spots Shinta standing up, staggering, and holding his side for stability. There was blood caked onto his clothes and body, his limp arm and face nastily contorted.

  "I should thank that woman for that. She taught me to use my acting as a disguise in dire situations," Lydia backs away cautiously from Shinta.

  "You little bitch..." he huffs in a raspy voice, bloodthirst seeping out of his face. "Why didn't you kill me? Too scared even though I'm a murderer?"

  Lydia flinches, grabbing anything around her to defend herself. She spots another pair of scissors lying around and frantically snatches it, pointing it at Shinta.

  "I-I'm not a murderer like you."

  "Ha! You act like you never did anything wrong," he approaches slowly, getting closer with each step he took. Despite how weakened Shinta's state was, Lydia had never felt more fear than before. She was really going to die if she didn't do anything, and she didn't have the guts to finish the job. Lydia starts to back up again as he approaches closer. "In the end, you're just like me."

  "No! I am no murderer like you! I'm not a monster! I wouldn't just kill my friends for the hell of it!" Lydia screams in response. Shinta pauses and a manic laugh erupts the room.

  "Except you are," he smiles. "You don't even realize the things you did, do you? You're deluding yourself by painting your deeds like some sort of saint. Think about it. You disrespected Khari's name after she died. You treated Rika like shit until the end. You grimaced at Elios's body. You couldn't even look at Kenji. You watched Rey die even though he defended you. And you couldn't even help Karna when he needed it. Your frivolous acts contributed to their deaths."

  "Shut up! I'm nothing like you!" Lydia wails and covers her ears. Her loud, shrill voice still bled through her closed off hearing. "I'm not the one who soiled my hands with blood! I'm not the one who deliberately killed everyone like some psycho! I'm not the reason why everyone's dead!"

  She stumbles back and trips over a chair. Shinta cackles at her utter helplessness and kneels down to her, the adrenaline rush blocking out the pain in his arm and torso, making it easier for him to move around.

  "Look at you, you pathetic, worthless bitch. I'm the one who's injured and yet you still trip over yourself. Who's that woman that seemed to have taught you so much? Should I thank her now that she's made you easier to kill?" Shinta laughs derisively. Lydia tries to get back away again, but he kicks her down at her futile attempts. He yanks her hair and brings her face closer to his. "You don't deserve to die yet. I'm going to make you pay for almost fucking up everything I planned."

  Lydia raises her scissors in hopes to stop Shinta, but he swiftly dodges and drops her.

  "Stop trying. It's not getting you anywhere," Shinta stomps her face and she falls to the ground again, trembling. She recollects all her strength and musters courage to kick his shin. As Shinta howls in pain and caught off guard, she hastily pulls herself up and runs to the connecting classroom again. Both of them knew that one of them had to die. Lydia looks around, but there was nothing. She flinches seeing the two corpses and grabs a chair. Shinta again recovers, but was far more sluggish as the adrenaline slowly starts to wear off, blood starting to seep through his clothes from the wound.

  "Your biggest mistake was never killing me in the first place," Shinta exhales completely, with Lydia's scissors in his hand. He launches the scissors and winces from the pain in his torso, but Lydia uses the chair as a shield and deflects. Knowing he would stop at nothing to kill her, she drops the chair and instinctively opens the door to the hallway. She sprints and shuts the door behind her.

  As soon as Lydia spots zombies, she realizes what a grave mistake she just made. She spots the broken window from the other connecting classroom leading to the hallway and tries to climb back in. Glass shards start to cut and scrape against her hand, but she still persists. Shinta rushes back over and smiles. He shoves her back, even though she continues hopelessly to climb in. As one zombie notices the commotion, Shinta throws a chair outside the window. Lydia shrieks and takes the full brunt of the hit, the force knocking her back to the ground.

  CRUNCH!

  Before Lydia knew it, an opportunistic zombie bites her arm. Her eyes widen as more rush in to feast on her, gnawing away at her body. Only a bloodcurdling scream is heard, then extinguished, before only the crunches of biting and chomping of her now-dead body remained. It doesn't take long until Lydia turns into the very monster she feared most. Shinta's mouth curls into a manic smile, knowing he just won. Suddenly, a thought intrudes his mind and he starts hobbling back to the other classroom.

  "Testing, testing? Ok this works, thank you. Attention to all people at Sidina Academy that are still alive. A rescue team has arrived with reinforcements from the police force. Find somewhere safe to hide, as we will be searching any possible place for remaining survivors. We'll take care of any other creatures lurking around and will ensure your safety," An announcer speaks up, assuming an officer had finally arrived. "Do not fret. You are all safe."

  Hearing the reassuring message, he cackles victoriously. But as Shinta arrives back to the other classroom, wheezing, he looks remorsefully at Karna's limp body and brings it up to lean against the wall. He slumps to the floor and leans on Karna's shoulder lightly, holding his wound that was progressively getting worse by the second. His breathing turns into gasps and wheezes as the amount of movement starts to take a toll on him. Shinta's vision starts to blur, blood starting to pool on the floor.

  He looks around at the bloodbath staining the once clean walls with blood-red and corpses decorating the once-dull classroom. His body starts to feel heavier and the feeling of death grips him. Shinta takes one last glance at everything he caused, the corpses, the massacre, and the stained classroom. He closes his eyes and exhales tiredly, "...I'm sorry."

  For the first time in his life, he genuinely apologized. And not a single soul was able to hear it.

  END