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Chapter 33: We're Saved Now
Damn it!
How did this happen?!
Why is this happening, and why didn't I get any advance warning?!
That damn old man! I did exactly what he asked! I made sure that guy's daughter was held back a year! How could he just abandon me like this?!
Koichi Shido was practically suffocating under the weight of his own panic and rage.
Just moments ago, he had watched a student get grabbed by a zombie and eaten alive, torn apart like a piece of rare steak.
It was the closest he had ever come to death.
He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his heart hammer wildly against his ribs. The sheer terror gripping his soul nearly shattered his sanity.
But he forced himself to swallow his fear. He wanted to live. He had to live to achieve his ambitions.
His immediate priority was figuring out how to use the terrified people around him as tools for his own survival. Only by using them could he increase his chances of making it out alive.
Having figured out his angle, Shido pushed up his black-rimmed glasses.
He clapped his hands loudly, instantly drawing the attention of the panicked students who had fled into the room with him.
Waiting until all eyes were on him, Shido spoke, his voice projecting calm authority. "Everyone, please listen to me. I am Koichi Shido, a teacher here at Fujimi Academy. I know you are all confused and terrified by what is happening in our school right now."
"But you do not need to worry. I am here. As long as you are willing to trust me and follow my lead, I promise I will guide you all out of this nightmare alive."
A heavy, absolute silence fell over the room as his words hung in the air.
The students looked at each other in uncertainty. No one dared to speak. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Finally, a student who had always admired Shido broke the silence.
"Thank God! It's Mr. Shido! We're saved now!"
That single shout was the spark that ignited the powder keg. Suddenly, a chorus of voices erupted, all pledging their blind faith in the teacher.
"I can't believe Mr. Shido is here! This is amazing! I'll follow you, Mr. Shido!"
"I trust you too, Mr. Shido!"
"Me too!"
Watching the students eagerly fall in line, Shido smiled inwardly, deeply satisfied.
It seemed all his superficial posturing and fake kindness at Fujimi Academy was paying off. Just a few comforting words, and these naive children were ready to follow him into hell.
What a bunch of adorably stupid pawns.
With these meat shields at his disposal, his chances of escaping had just skyrocketed.
Shido held up his hands, gesturing for the students to quiet down. "Excellent. Since you have placed your trust in me, I swear I will not let you down."
"Now, listen closely. I have a plan. I need everyone to grab a chair. When I give the signal, we will charge down the hallway and make a break for the main gate."
"If we encounter any of those flesh-eating monsters on the way, use the chairs to push them back and keep them at bay."
"Believe in me. As long as we stand united, nothing can defeat us. We will make it out of here safely!"
Realistically, Shido's plan was mediocre at best, a desperate gamble thrown together in the heat of the moment. But to a group of terrified teenagers desperate for a leader, it sounded like a stroke of tactical genius.
They eagerly agreed.
Seeing his plan accepted, Shido quickly began arranging the formation.
He placed the strongest, most athletic boys at the front of the vanguard. The slightly weaker boys flanked the sides. The girls—and naturally, Shido himself—were positioned safely in the center and rear of the formation.
Aside from a few quiet murmurs of dissent, most of the students accepted the arrangement as perfectly logical.
The breakout began.
Initially, the narrow hallways worked to their advantage. They only encountered a few scattered zombies, which the vanguard easily shoved aside. They made it out of the school building relatively unscathed.
Along the way, other fleeing students saw their organized group and blindly joined the formation, swelling their ranks.
This massive influx of survivors boosted the group's confidence tremendously, cementing Shido's status as their savior.
But as they burst out onto the open sports field, everything fell apart.
The sheer size and noise of their massive group attracted the attention of a massive horde of zombies.
"S-So many! They're catching up!"
Panic ripped through the ranks as the students saw the tidal wave of rotting corpses sprinting toward them. The tightly knit formation began to dissolve.
"Don't panic! Hold the line! If we stay together, we survive!"
Shido desperately shouted, trying to maintain his grip on his human shields.
But in the face of imminent, gruesome death, very few people can remain rational.
Especially a makeshift mob of teenagers held together by a thin veneer of trust.
The formation shattered.
With the school gate in sight, the students at the back shoved their way forward, trampling the people in front of them. The students on the flanks threw away their defensive chairs to run faster, abandoning their posts to save themselves.
Shido didn't need to be a genius to realize his meat shields were gone. It was every man for himself now.
However, because he had positioned himself in the safest spot, he had conserved far more energy than those in the vanguard. His chances of outrunning the horde were still higher than most.
But just as he prepared to sprint for the gate, something yanked his leg, nearly causing him to faceplant into the dirt.
Shido whipped his head around, his eyes wide with a murderous fury so intense it practically radiated through his glasses.
"Mr. Shido! Please, help me! Don't leave me behind!"
A student had tripped and sprained his ankle in the chaos. In his desperation, he had lunged out and grabbed the ankle of the man he trusted most: Koichi Shido.
Seeing that the boy was human and not a zombie, Shido's furious expression vanished instantly. It was replaced by a warm, angelic, and utterly fake smile.
"Of course, my boy. Don't worry, your teacher would never abandon you. Just let go of my leg, and I'll help you up. We'll leave together."
"Oh, thank—ACK!"
The boy's face lit up with overwhelming gratitude, tears of relief streaming down his face as he let go of Shido's leg, fully prepared to praise his savior.
The moment the boy released his grip, Shido viciously kicked him squarely in the face.
The brutal impact sent a shockwave of agony through the boy's skull. His vision went black, and he let out a choked cry before instantly losing consciousness.
Until his dying breath, the boy would never understand why the teacher he trusted so deeply had betrayed him.
Shido spat on the unconscious boy, his face twisting into a sneer of pure disdain. "Trash should know its place. If you're useless to me, then do me a favor and die!"
What Shido failed to realize—and wouldn't have cared about even if he did—was that the boy he had just knocked out to serve as zombie bait was the exact same student who had first cheered for him back in the classroom.
"I knew it! That bastard Shido is a disgusting, repulsive piece of trash!"
Standing by the window of the infirmary, Rei Miyamoto had a perfect, bird's-eye view of Shido's betrayal. She cursed under her breath, her fists clenched in anger.
"Is that Koichi Shido? The guy responsible for making you repeat a year?"
Suyan stepped up close behind her, glancing out the window at Shido, who was rapidly closing the distance to the school gates.
"Yeah."
Feeling Suyan's warm breath ghosting over the back of her neck, Rei felt her earlobes burn. Her mind began to race, a flutter of anticipation rising in her chest.
If only his lips were just a little bit closer...
Blushing furiously, she nodded her head, offering a quiet confirmation.
"Do you hate him?"
Suyan reached out, casually taking Rei's hand in his, his expression utterly serene. "How about I kill him for you?"
Kill Shido?
Rei blinked, stunned.
Suyan sounded so nonchalant, so casual, that for a second, she genuinely thought she had misheard him.
It sounded less like he was offering to murder her worst enemy and more like he was asking her what she wanted for dinner.
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