"We need to figure something out, or we're all going to end up like them, Mr. Nacht," Luel said after seeing dozens of students—both alive and undead—fall right in front of the classroom windows from the floors above, crashing down to the ground. The living died instantly, while the undead began crawling to devour their corpses.
Looking at the undead horde slowly flooding the corridor, stacking one on top of another like an avalanche of human corpses, both Luel and Nacht realized that their barricade of desks and chairs wouldn't last much longer.
Their only escape route was through the window—from the third floor down to almost a hundred undead students crawling on the ground below.
"Could anyone think of any other way out?" Nacht asked, gathering the attention of the thirty-five students in his class, plus the three bitten boys who had forced themselves to join them.
When none of the students responded—not even Luel—their teacher proceeded to explain his nearly suicidal plan.
To put it briefly, Nacht would jump down first, eliminate and attract as many of the undead as possible to increase the survival chances of everyone who would follow after him.
Nacht had combat experience as the school's Self-defense Force Instructor, not to mention his well-trained, muscular body.
The fourth-year students had already been training for two months since the start of school in April.
At the very least, everyone could fight to defend themselves and had enough stamina to sprint across the track field toward the gymnasium, three hundred meters away from the fourth-year students' annex building.
Following Nacht's instructions, Luel, Kasumi, and Yhuna yanked down the curtains and tied them to the window frame to be used as makeshift ropes, shortening the jump from the third floor.
Nacht, however, didn't need the rope. He easily jumped from the third-floor window, landing on the ground past the undead horde before performing a safety roll to reduce the impact.
ROAR!!!
The horde of undead students immediately rushed toward Nacht. Some ran aggressively, while others crawled rapidly across the ground with broken legs—but all of them wanted to devour him.
"Sorry about this, kids."
ROAR—BAM!
With a single strike, using a mop's wooden handle as a makeshift spear, Nacht smashed the head of the first undead student that entered his range.
He swiftly retreated, dodging the next undead that leaped at him before bashing its head as well. Then he continued retreating, dragging the undead horde with him.
"I'll go first and catch both of you," Luel said before jumping down, gripping the curtain to slow his fall.
His other classmates also began sliding down using the other curtains, including Jinsu, who carried the still-unconscious Kazuto on his back.
Ignoring his surprise at how loyal Jinsu was to Kazuto, Luel shifted his attention to the multiple corpses scattered across the ground.
"Hurry up, Kasumi, Yhuna!" Luel shouted after noticing the corpses twitching, realizing they would soon turn undead.
"You go next, Yhuna," Kasumi said, reassuring her that she would follow right after.
Yhuna slid down smoothly while gripping the curtain and was caught safely in Luel's arms.
CRASH!
"Kasumi!" Yhuna shouted as soon as she landed, startled by the loud crashing sound that she could only assume was the barricade collapsing.
"Run!" Kasumi shouted in terror as she jumped from the third-floor window in such a hurry that she barely managed to grip the curtain to slow her fall.
Luel quickly put Yhuna down and desperately tried to catch Kasumi, knowing how impossible it would be without both of them getting injured.
But to his surprise, the mysterious strength he had felt ever since punching Kazuto in the face—along with the lustful heat surging within his body—allowed him to catch Kasumi safely.
"Let's run, Luel! Yhuna!" Kasumi repeated her warning the moment she landed in his arms. She grabbed both their hands and urged them to run—not because of the undead horde that had broken through the classroom barricade and was about to rain down on them, but because of something else she had seen falling from the sky.
Luel didn't need to ask what Kasumi had seen.
Neither did Yhuna.
Neither did the rest of his classmates.
SWOOSHHH!!!
The thunderous sweeping roar above them as they ran gave everyone the answer.
A large passenger plane was flying incredibly low, diving from the sky—straight toward their school building.
BOOOMMMM!!!!
The explosion's shockwave caught up to them before the undead could, knocking everyone running across the track field off their feet.
Kasumi didn't let go of Lu-el and Yhuna's hands.
Luel embraced both of them, shielding their bodies as the three of them knelt on the ground.
Their ears rang painfully, and their minds swam in a daze as a thick cloud of dust swallowed their vision.
None of them could tell where the gymnasium was.
None of them could even see where the undead were.
Then suddenly—ROAR!
Through the dust cloud, an undead male student appeared right in front of Luel.
But before it could bite him—BAM!
A wooden sword crushed the undead's head, killing it instantly.
"Get up, you idiot bastard," said by the dumb bastard—or at least, that's what Luel preferred to call Kurizu.
ROAR—BAM!
More undead rushed toward Luel as the dust cloud slowly cleared, and more of his friends arrived to rescue them.
"Do you need us to carry Kasumi and Yhuna for you, Luel?" Hanae asked cheerfully right after smashing another undead's head with her wooden katana.
"We can carry you too if you can't stand," Kanae added, maintaining her calm and composed demeanor despite the undead rushing toward them.
"Thanks for the offer, but I can carry both of them."
Despite his ears still ringing and his mind spinning, Luel stood up and walked it off while carrying Kasumi and Yhuna over his shoulders.
"We got them, Mr. Nacht!" Kurizu shouted, calling to Nacht, who was still leading an undead horde away from the others.
"Get everyone to the gymnasium!" Nacht shouted back, instructing not only Kurizu's group but also the other fourth-year students who had come from the gymnasium to rescue those on the track field.
***
Inside the gymnasium, Luel saw more than a hundred surviving students ranging from third year to fourth year.
He also saw corpses lying around—not exactly students anymore, but what used to be students.
Regardless, Luel couldn't find the person he was hoping to see.
He gently put Kasumi and Yhuna down, letting them recover from their dizziness as they sat on the floor, embracing each other.
Luel then walked over to Kurizu, Hanae, and Kanae.
"Where is Mizuru?"