Sorry this chapter took sooooo long! I just moved into my first apartment and I then I had to finish the last finals I'll ever have to do for school so I've been super busy, so so sorry. I think I will probably update the story every other week, but I haven't decided on a day yet. I just realized I mentioned there were 600 students in the school which is not nearly enough so it is now retconned to 950 students lmaooo. Happy Reading

Chapter 4:

The school grounds were now a slaughterhouse. Outside of Waizuneko Preparatory High student's bodies littered the fields, some dead, but most undead. Those who were unlucky enough to survive the initial infection, rose on heavy feet and staggered along the school grounds. Their jaws clenched and unclenched in a mechanical frenzy as they hungered for their next meal. The gold painted gate that served as a barrier to the public was ripped off of its hinges and laid out in the street in big, broken, jagged pieces. The concrete walls that once supported the gate were stained with the blood of students who had meant their end trying to escape. In the streets there was massive chaos. People were trying to escape their homes, their offices, their schools, with nowhere to go but in the streets or in their cars, packed like sardines awaiting to be eaten. Outside the school an old Toyota Camry had crashed into the eyewear shop from across the street. The driver was sprawled across the steering wheel, dead, and leaning heavily on the horn. The loud continuous blaring of the horn brought a massive horde of them into the street. Those who were stuck bumper to bumper on the road panicked as the wave of them came. Most of the horde just piled into the eyewear shop attracted to the noise like flies to a light, but some caught onto the sound of other horns, car brakes, yelling and screaming, that brought their attention to the other cars. They busted through windows, ripped at car doors, and threw their bodies into their next meals, or simply dragged them out into the street, their victims screaming as their backs burned against the hot asphalt before they were consumed moments later.

Some people ran towards the school for safety only to meet the gray slacken faces of young teens. The haunting scene stopped them in their tracks. If they were too sentimental, too soft to react and attack, they too would be consumed. There was chaos, massive chaos, but all Vixel and Clay heard was the sound of Vixel's locker opening, and the very faint screams of those directly inside the school or outside the locker room. They didn't hear the car horn or the carnage that surrounded it just outside their schools walls. Neither of them had spoken a word after the incident. Vixel tried, but every time he opened his mouth his brain emptied and the words fumbled before he could even say them. What could he even say? Clay killed Liam and Vixel watched, and he...he didn't know how to feel. He could only imagine what was going through Clay's mind. Although he knew it was the right thing to do Vixel just couldn't form that into words without, at least to him, sounding like an ass, so the two of them remained quiet.

The locker room had four rows of red lockers and all four walls were covered with them too. In between each row of lockers was a long wooden bench where the guys could sit and hang for a bit. Vixel's locker was in the third row which was positioned right by the side door, the side door just where Liam was attacked. Right in front of the door laid the body of his attacker, a nice clean cut from Clay's hatchet severed the middle of its face. Vixel ruffled through his stuff intently, he didn't want to think about any of this.

Clay had gone to his locker first. Now he was on his phone constantly bringing it from his lap to his ear as he dialed and redialed numbers.

"Did you get anyone yet?" Vixel asked quietly.

Clay shook his head. Small strands of his blonde hair clung to his forehead, and when he talked his voice was hoarse, but calm. "My friend Komuro had sent me a text fifteen minutes before we were attacked. Apparently his school was hit with these things as well. He goes to school in Tokyo, Vixel." Clay looked Vixel in the eyes. "This means this outbreak is most likely spreading all over Japan."

Vixel huffed a big puff of air and crossed his arms. "And the rest of the world?"

"I don't know." Clay said calmly, gaining a bit of strength in his voice. "I've been trying to call him, call my parents, look at the internet but my phone just keeps saying out of range. If it does go through it goes straight to a busy line. Try your phone."

Vixel pulled his small brown messenger bag out of his locker and wrapped it around his shoulder. He pulled out his phone and tried to get in touch with his parents. As he expected the line was dead. Vixel sighed as he dropped his phone back in the bag.

"No luck." He murmured. Vixel grabbed the rest of his belongings, including a jeweled four leaf clover necklace that he tucked underneath his gym shirt. He suddenly thought about Shao and felt a tightening in his throat before shoving the memories away all together. He could mourn Liam's death and fall apart about Shao after they were somewhere safe. Before he closed his locker for good, he reached inside the bag and pulled out a black taser. It was black, boxy, and heavy, but easily concealable. He pressed the button on the side of it repeatedly and smiled as a bright strike of electricity buzzed on and off as he did.

"Do you think this will work against them?" He asked CLay.

"I don't know." Clay shrugged, looking wary. "I'm not too eager to find out."

Vixel sat down and squeezed Clay's. Slowly he said, "What happened wasn't your fault."

Clay began to shake his head back and forth. "Don't Vixel."

Vixel stood up. "I just don't want you to keep what happened to yourself okay. Guilt is a dangerous thing, and it makes you do dangerous things and I- "

"Vixel." Clay snapped.

"Clay I just-"

Suddenly Clay's hand was clamped onto Vixel's mouth. Vixel glanced up at the taller boy, his mouth moving against Clay's hand as he began to mumble incoherently in it. Clay pressed his index finger to his own lip and mouthed the word 'quiet' ever so softly. Vixel borrowed his eyebrows and right when he was about to grab Clay's arm he hard it. The small hiss of air as the main door of the locker room silently fell back into place. They heard a guttural moan, and both boys tensed. Vixel glanced down at his messenger bag and slowly began to fumble as quietly as possible to open it. Clay shook his head 'no' and Vixel stopped, trusting his friend. They heard its uncoordinated feet dragging against the cold concrete floor as it shuffled closer to them. They both stared towards the big side doors, above the body of the dead one, and waited for it to slowly come into their view. Clay's hand were getting clammy, and Vixel could see a sweat drop flow freely from down his face like a raindrop on a window. Vixel could feel sweat accumulating in his pits and in the crevices of his own gym shorts as his heart beat got atomically louder than he thought possible. As it came into view, they stood still as statues. Clay turned his head towards the hatchet which was resting on the bench, but made no moves towards it. Instead, he locked his green eyes on the undead substitute teacher as he stumbled into view, a painful wheezing emitted from lungs he no longer needed. He had made his way into the building and had blood on his face, probably from an attack on his part now. He was in the center of the hallway, just a few inches away from the undead boy that attacked Liam, and kept slowly shuffling, not catching a whiff of the two boys just a meer feet away on his right.

As Vixel flexed his hand, his knuckles cracked, both he and Clay winced. The teacher froze, and it's jaw began to click as if he was scanning the room with it. It's head lolled in the direction of Clay and Vixel. A wheeze escaped from its lips and Vixel could feel his knees shaking. Clay's hand was starting to slip from his mouth from the sweat. Drool dribbled from its mouth as they froze. How long could they keep this up? Vixel struggled. When was it going to attack.

I can't do this much longer. His breathing Vixel noted was getting heavier and he couldn't stop it. He tried holding his breath but that only made his chest burn. In a minute he was going to heave and then one of his body parts would crash into the lockers and then it was over. He looked at Clay who kept his eyes squinted at the dead teacher. How long, how long?

The teacher moaned. And then he turned away, and kept walking. In shock, they waited a minute to two, disbelief written on their faces before Clay finally whispered as softly as he could manage. "I'm going to see something, take out your phone, as quietly as you can."

Vixel did as he was told, his gray eyes widened as Clay disappeared around the corner with his own phone. Before he could say anything Clay came back empty-handed, grabbed the hatchet carefully and said. "Call my phone Vixel."

"What?"

"I need you to call my phone. I think, they are attracted to sound."

Vixel dropped his jaw as a smile broke on his face, he hurriedly dialed Clay's number. As Clay's phone began to rang, they heard a loud growl from the left end of the locker room followed by a fast shuffling and then a bang as the teacher slammed into the lockers on the far right end of the room. Vixel ended the call, and the banging stopped. They peeped around the lockers as they saw the teacher in the corner, mindlessly moving its head around as Clay's phone laid silently on the ground.

Vixel couldn't help but laugh. "They're really blind." He said amazed. "We are losing to a bunch of blind idiots. How do you think we should kill him?"

"We shouldn't." Clay cautioned. "The phones aren't working right now, which means it's probably pure chaos on the street. If we're quiet enough we could sneak out and up to somewhere with a television, maybe even food. If we want to go home, we have to wait till these things get like this guy. Right now with people still screaming and running their going to be in a frenzy. Why bother with a fight with them when we can just bypass them when it quiets down, we don't even have to wait super late," Clay grabbed Vixel's phone and looked at the time, 11:14am. "Maybe around 2pm we can go."

Vixel nodded as the two of them walked to their left and took another left towards the front entrance. "The cafeteria is on the second floor, the teacher's lounge is on the fourth, and so is the library."

Clay reached for the door and carefully pulled the handle. "We can aim for the teacher's lounge." He said as they crept through.

The locker's room entrance was met with a long white hallway. In the middle of the hallway to their left was the gym teacher's office and to their right, a side entrance to the inside gym. As they walked past the office they could see it was empty, but they could hear a faint commotion in the gym. They kept walking. Clay rested the hatchet on his shoulder as Vixel took out his taser.

"If we can avoid people as well, we should." Clay added as they approached the exit that would officially lead into the school. "We should just avoid all problems."

Vixel cracked his neck and held his head high. "Okay. Let's do it."

The small white door flew wide open as both Clay and Vixel looked around surprised. The first floor was a wide open space with two wide stairwells in the middle of it, that served as the main stairs that led directly into the second floor. The first floor wasn't nearly as crowded as it could've been, and that was a bad sign. That meant people had fled upstairs, which meant a huge chunk of people and them were upstairs. But it was still pretty crowded as students were beginning to pile in from the higher floors in a desperate attempt to omit the onslaughter upstairs. The screaming was louder in here, and they could hear a car horn blaring in the distance, the two of them looked at each confused until Vixel gestured his head towards the side stairs down the end of the hall. Clay understood, and together the two of them readied their weapons and ran.

Rose watched as her teacher tried to calm her classmates down. Some of them we're huddled in different corners of the room, sitting on desks and in groups trying to reach people on their phones. Her teacher was standing in fron of the door, her hands on the doorknob as she yelled at her students to stay away from it. Every few seconds the doorknob shook as students in the hallway tried to get in. One girl broke down and began to rock back and forth in her chair, covering her ears as her friends tried to console her. The screams must've been too much for her to bear. In the type of area Blood lived in, where it wasn't recommended to walk in the alleyways even in the daytime, Rose was used to a little screaming. She fidgeted with her phone and sent a text to Blood. Oh Blood. She thought. Why did I listen to you?

Blood had convinced Rose to go back to class after the announcement. As he didn'tt want her to get in trouble because of him. Rose put up a fight but was easily won over with a kiss to the forehead and a reassurance they'd skip during lunch hour. Now she was alone with a bunch of classmates she couldn't get herself to talk too. Rose began to comb at her long dark locks absently as she waited for a reply from Blood. This was an emergency, why wasn't he responding. Rose hurriedly went to their message thread and her face dropped.

Not delivered.

"Rose?" She heard a voice beside her. Rose snapped her neck to look at Hirashi Koto who looked back at her worriedly.

Hirashi put a hand throw her frayed pink hair. "I just noticed you were on your phone Rose. My messages aren't getting through and neither are Togami's or Jenny's...do you have any luck?"

Rose clawed through her hair. "No sorry."

She pulled a snagged strand, she winced. The pain momentarily gave her a lasp of courage.

"I'm leaving though." She blurted. "...If you guys...wanna...come?"

Hirashi looked at Rose as if she grew two heads and Rose grew red in the face.

"Why would you do that!?" Hirashi asked. "It's dangerous, you'll be putting us in danger, the teacher said no one can leave!"

"Hirashi it's not like that, please." Rose begged, seeing Hirashi's yelling garnered other people's attention. She didn't mean she was leaving right this second, and it was just to make sure her boyfriend was okay, but no one would pay attention to her even if she tried to explain. Hirashi's outburst made certain of that.

"Miss Toga, Rose wants to leave!" Hirashi spat, pointing a finger at her.

Rose stood up in her chair defensively and a bold Hirashi did the same.

"Rose sit down right now, none of you are going anywhere!" The teacher screamed.

Rose furrowed her eyebrows as she slammed her shaking fists on her desk. She was scared, terrified to speak but her anger and frustration was even more prevalent. "You're not going to stop me! I have to make sure my boyfriend is okay, only when the danger is over."

Miss Toga's hawk-like face held a smirk. "Sit down Rose. You don't have it in you. Just sit down."

Before could scold her any further, Miss Toga screamed as glass shattered on the floor. A blonde head of hair crashed through the classroom door's window. The girl moaned in pain, still alive. She looked up as blood streamed down her forehead, glass shards sprinkled in her blonde hair like jewels.

She held out a bloodied arm to them, "Help me." She whimpered.

A gray hand clamped onto her face like a vice. The girl screamed as her back was bent into an arch before the mouth of a man came closer and bit into her shoulder. Rose's stance faltered as the disruption began to pour into her classroom. Her amber eyes sharply followed everyone's movements as people began to scream. The girl's screams, her classmates screams, Miss Toga's screams, the screams of everyone around her was cut off by the intercom.

"This is your assistant principal Mrs. Orauno. I-I don't know what's going on and I-" She began to break down into the microphone her sniffles and cries echoed in the bloody school hallways as she continued. "We are supposed to protect our students, and we have failed you."

In the hallways students cried out in fear or frustration as they fought for their lives.

"I am so sorry this is happening, and I cherish each and everyone of you so, so much. I can't protect you all any longer."

The sports fields were quiet as the remaining students still intact, rose to their feet with shaky, bloodstreaked legs, no longer able to see, but to feel, feel an insatiable hunger.

"The situation is out of my control. But what I can do is play a song. Please listen to the song, if you are in trouble, if you see no hope please listen...It will all be over soon."

Rose looked up to the cieling, her lips clamped into a tight line as music streamed from above. This was madness, and she'd be damned if she and Blood didn't get out alive. She wasn't going to die, at least not without a fight. As the music and blood rose to a crescendo as more and more bodies piled into the classroom, Rose grabbed the back of her chair and raised it in the air. The legs of the chair stuck out as barrier as she silently began to walk head first into danger.

"Rose, hey wait!" Hirashi screamed as Rose passed her before getting attacked.

Rose didn't look back, she just tightened her grip on the chair as she bit into her lip. As she approached the door, Rose sidestepped to the left and took a massive swing at the body coming through. The body tumbled on it's back as Rose took an opportunity and ran through the door, jumping over the reaching hands of the undead boy on the floor. Skillfully she dodged bodies caught in scuffles and flailing limbs as her fellow students fought for their lives. Her locker was just a few feet away from her classroom thankfully, and Rose practically flew into it as her body pressed on to the metal. As she put in her combination, Rose recognized the song playing was Sweet Memories by Olivia Ong, and it was already on it's third replay, and that she knew every word because it was a song she and Blood liked to play if the other couldn't fall asleep. She was horrified of the whole scenario, but nonetheless she swung open her locker and cringed as the door slammed against the locker next to it.

Rose looked around before she frantically pulled out a wooden kendo sword. She felt calmer as it swung steadily in her right hand. Her eyes saddened as she thought about her fellow kendo club members, she hoped they were able to arm themselves as well, and if they hadn't made it out, she hoped they were hiding. Rose held the sword tight as she looked at the chaos surrounding her, but she couldn't look for long. She heard a moan, one closer and louder than the others.

Her eyes slowly rose as her locker door swung with the faintest tilt. Rose yelped as her locker door was slammed shut by a gray bloodied hand. The surprise sent Rose stumbling backwards before she went sliding to the floor. Blood dampened her skirt as her now bloodied shoes were kicking out, trying to gain some footing. The thing lunged for her and Rose stabbed her sword in its stomach as it swung its meaty hands at her. Rose's arms buckled a bit but her grip remained firm as she tried not to let fear get the best of her. Should I let him fall and then swing at his neck? Should I kick out at his legs? Was even of this too risky? She thought to herself. Did she have a choice? Rose dodged one of its hands as it came too close to her cheek. Suddenly Rose pulled her sword back, and as it came falling towards her she swung her sword on the side of its neck. The blow wasn't enough to keep it from falling completely on top of her. As they both crashed into the ground, Rose had enough space to stab her sword into the small neck wound that opened up when she first hit it. With a swift pull and a grunt Rose sent her sword back, popping it's head clean off.

Rose let her head rest on the sticky red floor to catch her breath as the headless body weighed on her own. But of course she couldn't rest, and the commotion of their fight brought the attention of a few nearby. She watched silently as two grey heads looked down at her. Rose closed her eyes. She had tried, right? She'd just hoped it was quick and that Blood was safe and that she couldn't turn into one of them. Rose waited for their hands, to hear their moans so close to her ear as their teeth gnashed on her. Rose flinched, and her eyes fluttered open to the sound of a body hitting a locker. She gasped as a tall blonde boy pulled his hatchet out of a dead boy's skull with a wet glewp. Ungraciously she was pulled by her right arm from under the dead body and up to her feet. Rose turned around as a boy with black, blue tipped hair gave her a small smile.

"Hey are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes, thanks." Rose said shortly, as she pulled at the back of her clothes, trying to keep the blood that seeped in them from sticking onto her skin.

Sadie had no idea how what do. She stared idly at her phone as 'out of range' flashed in the right corner. Before they were disconnected her parents had called her back and told her Jace was coming. She hadn't had time to ask them how? When? Or any other important questions before they were cut off. Sadie rubbed her sleeves along her eyes and nose clearing up the wet debris on her face. She looked down and saw they were stained with the mascara she shouldn't have been wearing. Sadie beat her fists softly against her temples. Think Think Think she urged herself. Sadie took a deep shaky breath, the school had four floors, and she was on the second. Should she go downstairs and try to hide until he came? Should she find somewhere more durable than the bathroom? The library? The cafeteria? That was right around the corner. But how would Jace know where she was? Sadie racked her brain and then her blue eyes widened. Landline phones, she thought. Maybe they still work? She wasn't sure, she wasn't that tech-savvy, and couldn't remember the last time she held a landline phone. But it was worth a try, she would have to go to either the principal or nurses office on the first floor, or the teacher's lounge on the forth. Saide shuddered, and when she swallowed it felt like rocks. She pulled herself up off the tiled floor and peeked out of the stall. Every once in a while she could hear screaming, running, and groans, she noticed it was becoming less screaming and more groaning.

Just then she heard music. Sadie jerked her head to the ceiling, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Are you kidding me?" She asked aloud as the assistant principal's voiced aired out into the intercom. "I can't believe this."

Sadie yelped as the bathroom door opened and a couple stumbled into it, a male student and an older woman, who slipped in the mess Sadie made earlier as they struggled to get away from the door. Hurriedly the student ran to the door and pressed his body weight on it as they began to bang on it. Sadie watched as the teacher slid back into the wall opposite of the door, she dropped the broken table leg she was carrying to clutch her bleeding side as she struggled to keep her eyes open. She seemed to out of it to notice Sadie eyeing the ring of keys hooked to her belt. Sadie gulped, the boy pressing his body against the door cursed as the door violently shook. He glanced back at her and went from suprised to angry in a split second.

"Don't just stand there, help me dammit!" He cried out to her as Sadie flinched.

As she grabbed the ring of keys, the teacher's eyes fluttered open and Sadie felt her eyes begin to water. "I'm sorry." She mumbled.

Sadie ripped the keys from the teacher's belt and grabbed the wooden table leg. She gasped as the door busted open and three ghouls burst through. Sadie screamed as they tackled the boy to the floor. She ran out of the bathroom and into the hallway screaming and was immediately grabbed by one of them. The vice like grip caused Sadie to drop her weapon as she looked in horror as Hirashi Koto yanked her arm towards her mouth. The two of them weren't close by any means, but Hirashi was popular and often invited Sadie to social events and stayed by her side until said event was over. The two could talk for the whole event whether it was one hour or five hours because Hirashi would yap away as if they had knew each other since birth. And sometimes, late at night, Sadie would think about the way Hirashi would lean in a little too close sometimes, or how her hand would linger onto some parts of Sadie a little too long, but once they got back to school the next day it was if nothing happened. Sadie never understood why, and now she couldn't fathom that the same girl was about to kill her. Hirashi was missing her left arm completely, and chunks of her scalp were missing, the pink of her brain blended bizzarely with the pink of her hair.

"No Hirashi, stop!" Sadie slapped Hirashi across the face, sickened that the impact did nothing but make Hirashi snarl. Sadie pressed her hand against Hirashi's forehead as she tried to pull her arm away, but Hirashi was too strong, and Sadie's fingers seemed to do nothing but peel into the now soft flesh of Hirashi's forehead. Hirashi's jaw cracked as her mouth widened, tearing the little grey flesh left on the side of her face.

"Close your eyes Sadie!" Sadie heard as a wooden sword suddenly bore through the back of Hirashi's throat and stuck up and out of her mouth. The sword was pulled back, and Hirashi fell revealing a blood-soaked Rose with a determined look in her amber eyes.

"Seriously! Again!?" Sadie hollered as she scratched at the blood on her own uniform. "Glad too see you're alive Rose." She spat.

"Keep it." Vixel pushed one of them back before smacking it in the face with the textbook. "Down please, they're sensitive to sound!"

Sadie's face lit up as she looked past Rose at the two taller boys behind her, defending off the undead.

"Vixel! Clay!" Sadie gawked.

Rose pushed Sadie out of the way as an undead girl came towards her from behind. With one swift move she brought her sword down the side of its neck, the force smashed its skull into the lockers as it slid down to the floor, a long bloodstain covering the locker like a painting. Rose did a 180 spin ready to attack whoever may be behind them as well, only to be nudged in the hip by Sadie who picked up the jagged table leg and sent it through the ghoul's chin and out the scalp.

"See," She said as she cooly drew her weapon back. "Now we're even." She smirked, before sticking her tongue out.

"Now's not the time for game's Sadie." Clay barked.

"Are we going to have this clear this whole goddamn hallway?" Vixel heaved in frustration as he dodged an attack from an undead girl with a red bow in her hair. With one swift movement, he pivots her into the window, shattering the glass broke as her torso gets stuck on the jagged pieces. She seemed unfazed, only focused on turning around to the sound of what was supposed to be her next meal.

"Maybe that wasn't a good idea." Vixel nervously laughed as the glass shattering brought on the attention of most of the ghouls in the hallway.

"Shit! There's the cafeteria around the hall, we have to go now." Clay ordered as the four of them beelined down the hallway, pushing and shoving at anything that got too close. Rose, Vixel, and Clay all looked forward, but Sadie couldn't help but let her eyes wander to the horrific sights like magnets, of her fellow students devouring each other. She clutched her stomach. Clay, who was behind the girls poked the back of Sadie's head with two fingers.

"Eyes forward." He said stiffly.

As they turned the corner, with Vixel at the front, they all bumped into him as he abruptly stopped. To their left was the cafeteria down the next hall with it's double doors torn off the hinges, and blood splattered at the entrance. The cafeteria itself was quiet and they all knew why.

"Upstairs." Rose whispered. "We have to go upstairs."

Infront of them was the stairwell which looked like it had been picked clean already by them. Rose was the first to tread the steps as Sadie looked at her confused. "Hey wait for us."

Rose turned around momentairly. "I need to get my boyfriend."

Sadie rolled her eyes as she followed up a couple of steps. "He's probably dead hun, probably went somewhere to play boy cop and got himself killed. Hey!" Sadie reeled as Vixel elbowed her in the side.

"Lay off Sadie." He said it so warmly that Sadie sighed.

"Me and him don't get along." She simply murmured.

Vixel smiled. "Sadie may be right though. Where's his classroom?"

"It's 4-3, so right in the middle." Rose whispered.

"If he's smart he'll stay there." Clay murmured. "There's no harm in going to check, the teacher's lounge is up there as well, and that should be our next destination, the only problem is breaking in without making a bunch of noise or damaging the door too much."

Sadie shook her head, "No need to worry about that," She unzipped her fanny pack and took out a ring of keys. "I was already five steps ahead."

"Where did you get those?" Vixel asked.

"That..." Sadie looked at the ground. "That part doesn't matter, let's just have no idea what we might face up there, hey wait!"

Rose had already climbed the remaining stairs as Sadie and the boys followed. As they made it to the top they all slowed down, processing the sight in front of them. There was a couple of desks strewn about like they had been thrown around and once used as a barrier, and the bodies. There were bodies, both ghouls and normal students laid around the hallway in heaps.

"What happened here?" Vixel asked.

As there eyes travelled down the hallway, they saw some that more and more slain students without the grey tacky skin had weapons either on them, and near them, and they had holes in there heads, as if they were bashed in. At the end of the hallway it was there they saw him. A tall, slender male with red hair and golden peach skin. His uniform had become just as red as his hair. He had a baseball bat in one hand and metal trash can top in the other. They watched as he yanked his bat out of the concave of a student's skull, watching as blood dripped from the end.

"Blood!" Rose ran towards him, making sure to sidestep the bodies as she got closer.

Blood raised his red eyes in her direction and said weakly. "Rose?"

Blood dropped his weapons and the two embraced as she threw herself in his arms. Blood swung her around in circles before he stopped and they kissed.

Vixel pulled at his collar, feeling just as uncomfortable as the other two as they made there way over. "This is cute and all but can he explain what the fuck happened here?"

Sadie to their surprise, raised her weapon to Blood's throat. "We're you killing students?" She spat.

Rose had raised her sword but Blood shook his head. "It's okay Rose." Blood looked down sadly. "I...well some of us in my class and class 4-4 had tried to barricade the steps and stand our ground...but we got overrun. I've just...I thought it'd be best if I made sure they didn't come back, I know they wouldn't have wanted to come back as them."

Rose gently pushed Blood's head to her chest as she rubbed a hand through his hair. "I'm so sorry." She cooed in his ear.

"We're heading to the teacher's lounge." Clay said. "Do you know how it's looking down there?"

"No, I haven't been to that side yet, I have no idea if the other stair wells have been overrun." Clay nodded. "We thought it'd be best to group there and find out our next steps. The cafeteria is done for, and Sadie already has the keys to the lounge. We just need to get in as quickly and quietly as we can."

"Right." Blood nodded in agreement. He picked up the metal trash can top with by the handle. "I can go first, since I have this."

"Sure." Clay said. "Let's go."

The five of them decided to hastily walk in the middle of the hallway, keeping their weapons raised and their elbows in as they tried to stay as quiet as possible. As they rounded the teacher the corner to the teacher's lounge, Blood raised a fist. Sadie kept walking as Vixel pulled on her shirt, causing her to stumble.

"What?" She snapped.

"That means wait, idiot." Vixel chided with a smirk on his face as Sadie huffed.

"Sorry." She murmured.

Blood turned to them. "There's 11 of them, one of them is stuck crawling on the ground." He turned to Sadie. "I don't think all five of us should go at once in that cluster, I think maybe one or two of us should. One of us can unlock the door while the other looks out, and once the lock turns we can come one by one as to avoid a fight, and if you want I'll take the keys."

"No way." Sadie said, clutching the keys to her chest. "I can do it."

"I'll come with you then." Rose piped up.

"What? No."

"Yeah no Rose, you're not going." Blood agreed.

"I've already saved your life twice and we're both the smallest, it'll be easy to manuver around them." She said, ignoring Blood. "That's what friends are for right."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "If you want to die for me, I won't stop you, but we aren't friends, Nadachi." Sadie turned the corner not even caring if Rose was ready as she hastily followed. The two of them froze as the ghouls walked aimlessly around the room, four of them were teachers and the rest were students, it looked like they had the same idea as them, but a worser fate.

Rose grabbed a piece of Sadie's collar as the two girls cautiously approached the door. Her hands shook as she took out the keys and Sadie took a deep breath. Ever so slowly she stooped down and grabbed the lock, she turned to Rose who nodded her head slightly, encouraging her to proceed. As Sadie carefully put the key in the lock Rose rested her back against the wall, watching the ghouls. Sadie turned the lock and there was nothing. Sadie took it out slowly and tried another key, no luck. She was starting to sweat. As she went for the third key, Sadie felt the ring slip from her fingers, she cried as the heavy set of keys hit the floor. Like greyhounds the ghouls necks snapped in their direction as Rose clenched her teeth ready to swing. The boys quickly intervened as Sadie panicked before grabbing the keys. Hastily she moved through them trying to find the right one as the others fought. Sadie placed a key in the hole and was suddenly yanked back by her hair. Sadie screamed as Rose took her wooden sword by both ends and swung it over the ghoul's neck before pulling hard, securing it into a chokehold. The two of them stumbled backwards. Rose quickly caught her footing and smashed the ghoul into the wall as Blood came beside her and hit it in the head with his bat. Rose flinched as blood splattered on her face and on the wall.

Regaining a little composure, Sadie grabbed for the doorknob and shimmied the key.

Click

"Bingo." She hurriedly pushed the door open and ran inside followed by the others. Vixel slammed the door closed as Clay and Blood grabbed for the large brown sofa to their left and practically shoved it into the door. As soon as they did so Vixel grabbed a round table and added it before Clay pushed a heavy metal filing cabinet into the mix for extra measure. The door shook the remaining ghouls slammed into it, but to their relief, their barricade didn't budge. A collection of stretching and heavy breathing filled the room as everyone began to loosen their composure very slowly. The teacher's lounge was just a redesigned classroom so it had plenty of space. On the wall across from the door a small boxed TV was mounted on the wall with two windows on each side of it. To the left of the room was a fridge in the corner, a small counter with coffee and some snacks, and a small round table with three wooden chairs surrounding it. In the middle of the room was another round table, this one much smaller and wider with an old green sofa to the left of it, positioned slightly diagonal. To the right of the table was a big gap where the brown couch used to reside. In the right hand corner was a computer desk, a longer table beside it with an old assortment of desktops, and a coat rack with the teacher's belongings. The five of them all naturally distanced themselves from the door and found spaces in the room to reside while their adrenaline ran its course. Clay found comfort away from the others, slamming himself down into the desk chair and pulling himself up to the computer. He rested his head in his hands as he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. Vixel began to make his way around the room as he searched for the TV remote. Rose sat in one of the wooden chairs as Blood knelt down beside her. He took her hands in his and began to massage them, as Rose looked into her boyfriend's crimson red eyes and chuckled sweetly as he broke a small smile.

"I know, I know none of this is laughing matter but I'm just-I'm so happy we found each other. I mean what were the odds?" She squeezed his hand tight. "I love you."

Before he could say it back, Sadie climbed onto the dining table and cleared her throat. Her blue eyes became cold and she sniffled. Her ponytail was still lopsided from when it was pulled. "Thanks for saving me." She simply said.

"You're…" The 'welcome' faded into the air as Sadie slid off the desk and walked away.

Rose frowned but didn't say anything as she grabbed Blood's hand and pulled him up to embrace him in a hug, losing herself in him.

Sadie came up behind Vixel as he continued to his quest of locating the remote. Sadie rolled her eyes before doing a quick scan of the room, and shook her head. The remote was resting in a cup full of desk supplies, camaflouging behind a pair of scissors.

She let the remote dangle in her hands as she smirked. "Looking for this?"

Vixel smirked. "Good looking short stuff, thanks." He reached for the remote.

She retracted the remote from the air into her hands, her smile faltered as she looked away from them. "Where's Liam? She asked softly.

Vixel's face grew red as Clay's paled. Vixel looked at Clay whose head shoulders had immediately slumped. His head hung low under his moss of blonde hair. Sadie bit her lip as it quivered, her knuckles clenched. A small choking noise escaped from Clay's throat, and Sadie reached for him, figuring out the answer. Sadie hugged Clay as he collapsed in her arms, and braced herself to keep them from falling as she hugged him tighter. She began to rub a hand softly through his hair before mumbling comforting affirmations.

Rose approached them. "What's wrong?"

Vixel shook his head at her and walked away from the two, trying not to become overcome with emotion himself, and leaving Rose to stare awkwardly at the two, unsure of what to do.

To distract himself, Vixel climbed into a chair, turned on the TV, and flipped through the channels until he found the CWN Network. Vixel shook his blue-tipped bangs out of his face and leaned in, as if getting closer to the screen would somehow change the image. he gasped as he saw what they were showing. It was worse than he could've possible imagined. As Vixel's jaw hung open, he muttered loudly.

"Oh no."

So writing is all about experimentation, so I'm thinking of writing the next chapter in present tense and see if I like it more (or if you guys like it) as I enjoy it more than past tense even though it's not as popular. Also I really do like everyone's OC's but for the vision and tragic ending I'm going for, it's all going to just go downhill from here lmaoo, sorry in advance. Also, who is your favorite HOTD character in the actual show? Mine is Takagi, I stan an annoying but yet unapologetic queen. Also I'd thought to cut the chapter off here, one b/c it was getting long and two I thought why describe what's happening on the screen when Jace and crew will be living through it in the next chapter + some needed char development :) because I feel like I forgot some stuff! Anyways have a good rest of the week guys and thanks for reading.