"Finally back on our side, Hero?" Sydney grinned at .
"Oh, Sydney, you’re alive," I muttered. The words ca out rougher than I’d intended, betraying just how worried I’d actually been about their her fate.
"Of course I am," Sydney scoffed. "My dying day has already been chosen, and it’s not today, and certainly not by the hands of so brain-dead walking corpses."
I couldn’t help but smile. "Sohow I missed your very weird sense of humor and ridiculously high opinion of yourself," I replied, feeling so of the tension finally leaving my shoulders.
Sydney smirked. "I missed you too, Ryan."
Before I could process what was happening, she suddenly grasped the front of my shirt with both hands, pulling closer. The intensity in her eyes caught completely off guard.
"W-Wait," I stamred, my cheeks imdiately flushing red as I watched her eyes flutter closed and her face move closer to mine.
Almost instinctively, I found myself closing my eyes as well, my pulse quickening with anticipation and nervousness. But instead of the soft warmth of lips I was half-expecting, half-dreading, I felt the gentle pressure of a single finger against my mouth.
When I opened my eyes, Sydney was grinning at with that mischievous expression I knew all too well – the one that usually ant I’d fallen for one of her elaborate pranks.
I should have seen it coming from a mile away.
"You’re annoying," I grumbled. My face was still burning with embarrassnt, and I was acutely aware of how many people might have witnessed that little display.
"Did you want that kiss that much?" Sydney asked, batting her eyelashes with exaggerated innocence, though her grin was anything but innocent.
In the old world, I might have stamred and deflected. But sothing about surviving multiple near-death experiences had apparently given a bit more courage.
"If I said yes, would you have given it to ?" I asked back.
Sydney’s eyebrows shot up, and for once, she looked genuinely taken aback. "Wow, looks like our Hero grew so backbone during that short absence," she said, and I could hear the impressed tone in her voice. "I have to admit, that’s kind of attractive."
"Stop calling Hero already," I protested, though the complaint had beco almost automatic at this point.
"But you are a Hero," Sydney insisted. "I was genuinely shocked watching you save Rachel so bravely back there. So much courage, so much... manliness." She sighed dramatically, placing a hand over her heart in mock swooning. "Holy gods, it was like watching so kind of action movie."
The praise made uncomfortable in ways I couldn’t quite articulate. I’d done what I had to do, what anyone would have done in that situation I think.
"Um, guys, have you finished with your little romantic cody mont?"
The dry voice cut through our banter like a bucket of cold water. I turned to see Rebecca standing nearby, her arms crossed.
Looking around properly for the first ti since being pulled into the library, I realized we were surrounded by a couple dozen people who had been staring at us with expressions ranging from bewildernt to barely concealed annoyance.
Oh crap. Heat rushed to my face again as the full extent of our public display hit .
I scrambled to my feet imdiately, extending a hand to help Sydney up as well. She took it with a grace that suggested she was far less embarrassed by the attention than I was.
An awkward silence settled over the group like a heavy blanket then.
"Ryan..."
The soft voice made turn around, and I saw Rachel approaching. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears, and there was sothing fragile in her expression.
She reached and wrapped her arms around in a gentle hug that was so different from Sydney’s bold grabbing.
"I... I’m sorry," she whispered against my shoulder. "It’s my fault. I was so scared that I was...caught off guard."
She felt guilty it seems.
"I’m fine, don’t worry," I said softly, trying to inject as much reassurance into my voice as possible. "And I did what I wanted to do. You aren’t at fault for anything." I pulled back slightly so I could look her in the eyes. "Let’s just say it’s a little payback for what I did to you earlier, okay?"
I was referring obviously to the fact that I threatened her to have sex. But instead of the relief I’d expected to see in her expression, Rachel’s face turned bright red, and she quickly stepped back from our embrace.
I hadn’t expected such a reaction. She averted her flushed face imdiately, suddenly finding the floor incredibly fascinating.
Did she actually feel... conscious of ? The thought sent a strange flutter through my stomach that I wasn’t quite ready to analyze.
"Catch him."
Before I could react, I felt strong hands grab both of my arms, restraining with surprising force.
"What the hell?" I demanded, struggling against the grip as I looked up to see who had given the order.
Standing before was a blonde-haired young man who looked like he’d stepped out of a prep school catalog. Everything about him scread privilege – from his perfectly styled hair that sohow remained immaculate despite the apocalypse, to his expensive-looking clothes that were far too clean for soone who’d been surviving in a zombie-infested school. His cold blue eyes looked down at with the kind of disdain usually reserved for sothing unpleasant on the bottom of one’s shoe.
"We have to make sure you aren’t infected," he said.
"He’s not infected, Tobias," Alisha spoke up stepping forward for .
Tobias turned his cold gaze on her, and I could see Elena bristling at his dismissive expression. "Both of you will also need to be checked," he said.
"Do we look infected, you idiot?" Elena glared at him with the kind of fury that would have made lesser n step back. Her protective instincts toward her sister were clearly kicking into overdrive.
"I don’t trust anyone," Tobias replied with the kind of casual arrogance that made my teeth grind. "In tis like these, paranoia keeps people alive."
I’d had enough of his condescending attitude. With a sharp jerk, I shook off the two guys who were restraining , my annoyance finally overriding my surprise.
"Get off ," I said, eting Tobias’s gaze directly. There was sothing about his entitled deanor that rubbed the wrong way – the assumption that he had the right to order everyone around just because he apparently ca from money.
I looked at him steadily, not backing down despite the clear animosity in his expression. "I’m not infected. You can check if you want, but don’t treat like a criminal."
Without waiting for his response, I walked away from the confrontation. Elena and Alisha followed suit, both of them shooting dark looks at Tobias as they passed.
The "examination" that followed was awkward as hell, conducted in a cramped space between two tall bookshelves that provided minimal privacy. I had to remove my shirt while two clearly uncomfortable guys checked over for bite marks or scratches. The whole process felt degrading and unnecessary, but I understood the paranoia that drove it. In a world where one infected person could doom an entire group, caution wasn’t just smart – it was survival.
The guys conducting the examination seed as awkward about the process as I felt, clearly wishing they were anywhere else but trying to do their due diligence. They were thorough but respectful, and I could tell they were just following orders rather than acting out of personal animosity.
When the humiliating inspection was finally over, I pulled my shirt back on and rejoined the main group. The library was larger than I’d expected, with high ceilings and rows of bookshelves that created natural divisions in the space. It would have been a peaceful place in normal tis – the kind of quiet sanctuary where students ca to study or escape the social pressures of high school life.
Now it served as a fortress against the walking dead.
Looking around at the assembled survivors, I could see there were indeed a lot of students from Lexington Charter. The Lexington students had a different aura about them – there was sothing in their posture and the way they carried themselves that spoke of privilege and private school refinent. But underneath that polished exterior, I could see the sa fear and nervousness that gripped everyone thrown into this zombie apocalypse. Terror was a great equalizer, it seed.
Money and breeding didn’t an much when flesh-eating monsters were trying to break down your door.
Alisha and Elena had integrated themselves with one part of the group, speaking in low, intense voices about sothing that looked important. Probably sharing information about the layout of the building or the number of infected they’d encountered.
Sydney, Rachel, and Rebecca had ford their own small cluster a bit away from the main Lexington group, but there was soone else with them – a figure I didn’t recognize who was sitting with his head in his hands, shoulders shaking like a leaf in a storm.
I made my way over to join them.
"Who is that?" I asked quietly, nodding toward the trembling young man who looked to be about Rebecca’s age. Sothing about his posture spoke of deep trauma, the kind of shell shock that ca from witnessing things no teenager should ever have to see.
Rebecca’s expression imdiately grew somber, and I noticed for the first ti that her eyes were red and swollen from crying. "Jason Dean," she said softly. "He’s my classmate. The only one from our class who survived..."
I looked at Rebecca more carefully, seeing the grief etched in every line of her face. She’d lost friends here – people she’d known, cared about it seed.
Jason hadn’t looked up once since I’d approached, and I could see his hands trembling even though they were clasped tightly together. Whatever he’d been through, whatever he’d seen happen to his classmates, it had left deep scars that would probably never fully heal.
"Are you guys alright?" I asked again, making sure to look each of them in the eye. After everything I had been through, I’d learned not to take anyone’s wellbeing for granted.
"We are," Sydney nodded. "It was touch and go for a bit, but we managed to get inside the library before any of those things could catch us." She glanced toward the barricaded door, where we could still occasionally hear the dull thuds of infected bodies pressing against the barriers.
"That’s good," I said, feeling a small asure of relief. "But now what do we do? We can’t stay here forever."
We were here for a reason – to look for communication devices from Lexington Charter. It was a private school for the elite, the kind of place where wealthy parents sent their children expecting the very best of everything. Surely a place like that would have so kind of high-tech equipnt that could reach the outside world?
"We need to check the administration building if we want any hope of contacting soone," Rebecca said. "That’s where all the serious communication equipnt would be housed."
"Where is that exactly?" I asked, moving closer to get a better sense of our options.
"Right there," Rebecca said, pointing through one of the library’s tall windows toward a smaller, more compact building across the courtyard. The structure looked official and important, with clean lines and newer construction that suggested it had been built or renovated recently.
But as my gaze followed her pointing finger, it inevitably dropped to ground level. The courtyard between the buildings was crawling with infected – dozens of them wandering aimlessly, their shambling forms creating a deadly obstacle course that would be impossible to navigate on foot.
"There’s no way we can get outside and cross that yard to reach the building," Sydney said, crossing her arms as she studied the scene below.
She was absolutely right. Even with my Ti Freeze ability, the sheer number of infected down there made a ground-level approach suicide. Ten seconds of stopped ti wouldn’t be nearly enough to cross that distance and deal with that many threats.
"That’s exactly why I was thinking we might have to go by the roof," Rebecca said, pointing upward through the window. "Look up there."
Following her gesture, I could see that the two buildings were indeed close to each other at roof level. There was a gap between them, but it wasn’t impossibly wide. Still, it would require a running jump across empty air with certain death waiting below if anyone missed.
"The rooftop approach might actually be our safest option," Rebecca continued, her voice growing more confident as she explained her reasoning. "Plus, the director’s office is on the highest floor, so we’d save ti by starting from the top and working our way down if needed."
"Sounds like a plan," Sydney nodded, though I could see the tension in her shoulders as she contemplated the jump.
It wasn’t like anyone could pull off a jump like that.
"W...wait, what plan exactly?" Rachel’s voice cracked with panic as she processed what we were discussing. "You’re talking about jumping between buildings? And we don’t even know how many of those things might be inside the administration building!"
The fear in her voice was raw and imdiate. S
"We can’t just wait here forever, big sister," Rebecca said.
"But wasn’t that the original plan?" Rachel asked desperately, grasping for any alternative to the dangerous sche we were contemplating. "To wait for soone – soone to co pick us up?"
Rebecca’s expression darkened, and I saw her jaw tighten with what looked like old anger and disappointnt. "I don’t believe Dad really cares enough about us to co pick us up, big sister," she said, crossing her arms in a gesture that was both defensive and defiant.
"Rebecca..." Rachel didn’t know what to say.
I was curious about what was the problem with their father but not now.
I turned to Sydney, who had been watching the exchange with interest.
"Did you talk with the Lexington group about any of this?" I asked quietly.
"Not yet," Sydney admitted, glancing over at where the other survivors were gathered in heated discussion. "But I’m pretty sure they haven’t even considered doing sothing this crazy. It’s basically a death wish, you know. Not everyone is as completely insane as you are, Ryan."
"In what world am I insane?" I asked, genuinely taken aback by her characterization.
Sydney looked at with a mixture of exasperation and sothing that might have been admiration. "You move and act like you don’t fear death at all. I an, it’s kind of sexy in a terrifying way, but I’m seriously worried that you’re going to get yourself killed one of these days."
Her words made pause. Was that really how I appeared to others? I supposed from an outside perspective, my actions might seem reckless or suicidal. But I had advantages they didn’t know about – my Ti Freeze ability gave options that others simply didn’t have.
"You want to volunteer to go check out that building first, don’t you?" Sydney asked, seeing right through .
She was absolutely right. I had been planning to offer to scout ahead, confident in my abilities and unwilling to ask others to take risks I wouldn’t take myself.
Sydney sighed deeply, a sound filled with resignation and worry. "Of course you do. I should have seen that coming from a mile away." She shook her head. "Look, if you’re determined to do this suicidal mission, at least let’s talk it over with the group first. You can’t go alone – that’s non-negotiable."
I nodded. She was right that I couldn’t handle this completely on my own, no matter what abilities I might have.
Together, Sydney and I made our way over to where the Lexington Charter students were gathered in intense discussion. As we approached, I could see they were deep in so kind of debate. The tension in the group was obvious even from a distance.
I wasn’t sure what the appropriate way to interrupt them was, so I turned toward Alisha, who was sitting quietly apart from the main group. Unlike her sister Elena, who seed to be in the thick of whatever argunt was taking place, Alisha appeared lost in her own thoughts.
"Alisha," I called out to her.
The mont I spoke her na, Alisha turned toward , and sohow that simple action seed to capture the attention of everyone else in the vicinity as well. The conversations died down as curious eyes turned our way. Was it really that surprising that I was addressing her directly?
"Yes?" Alisha asked, rising carefully to her feet despite her injured ankle.
"We’ve been discussing an idea," I began. "We want to get inside the director’s office in the administration building and use his communication equipnt. I understand he has sothing capable of reaching networks far beyond what normal equipnt could manage, and so ans to contact ergency services?"
Alisha nodded slowly, her expression growing thoughtful. "Yes, that’s correct. Lexington Charter was actually a military school during the Cold War – it was used as a testing and training facility. The director does indeed have specialized equipnt, including short-wave radios that I’ve seen myself. Besides that, he maintains connections with military personnel, so I assu he has reliable ans to contact people in positions of authority."
Well just by seeing the status of students he had, I guess he had to have every ans to help them in case the worst happens.
Alisha paused, looking at my face carefully as if trying to gauge whether I understood the full implications of what I was suggesting. "But..."
I t her gaze directly, wanting her to see that I was completely serious about this. "I’m planning on getting inside that building to contact anyone who might be able to help us get out of this situation."
Everyone around fell speechless at my words.
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