My Sniper System in a Zombie Apocalypse World-Chapter 54: The Principal’s Smile

Meanwhile, in one of the fifth-floor classrooms where the students hid, silence hung heavy in the air. Outside, the roars of the horde echoed faintly, growing weaker with each passing second.

Thud... thud... thud. The pile of chairs and tables they had stacked against the door suddenly started shuddering.

"Hey... hey, do you hear that? The door..." One of the male students whispered.

THUD.

"Eeep!" Several students let out small yelps, their fear breaking through as the sound of pounding grew louder.

One by one, the students stiffened,

"There... there’s something behind the door," someone muttered.

"H-how could that be? We’ve stayed hidden and silent the whole time!" A female student stammered, clutching the desk in front of her.

"Someone must have made a noise... and attracted it."

"Jiyun, I saw you a while ago... standing up, moving strangely," another whispered, pointing nervously.

"What? Why me?" Jiyun’s voice shook.

"Don’t deny it, I..."

"All of you stop arguing!" Their homeroom teacher’s voice cut sharply through the tension.

"Miss Elaine..."

"The infected is already here," Elaine said, taking a shaky breath, trying to calm herself. "There’s no point blaming each other. Hae-in, gather everyone. We’ll pile up more chairs and hold it as best we can."

The students moved at once, working together as they dragged chairs and tables toward the door. Hands trembled as they piled everything higher, pressing their weight against it.

Then... 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

THUD. THUD. THUD.

The impact grew stronger with each hit. The wooden door groaned, cracks spreading across its surface.

CRACK.

A sharp snap rang out and a hand punched through the wood, fingers twitching as it groped around. Slowly, the hand reached inside and fumbled for the lock.

Click.

The door creaked open just enough for a face to appear.

A man peeked through the broken door, his lips stretched into a twisted smile. His eyes were completely black, empty and cold.

"I-It’s the principal..." one of the students whispered in disbelief.

"He’s infected..." Na-rin muttered, her voice flat but tense.

The principal’s smile vanished. In the next moment, he slammed his body against the door.

THUD.

Wood shattered. The door broke apart piece by piece as he forced his way in.

"No... no... no..." Some students broke down, tears streaming as the opening grew wider.

"Miss Elaine, what do we do?" Hae-in cried desperately, her voice shaking.

Elaine stood frozen for a heartbeat, watching the infected principal tear through the door. Then she clenched her fists and spoke. "Everyone, prepare to run. We’ll escape through the exit door."

"But if we go out, there will be more infected." a male student whispered in fear.

"Miss Elaine," Hae-in said quickly, her eyes fixed on the principal. "What if we take him down? He’s only one. There are many of us."

Elaine hesitated. The principal growled and smashed another piece of the door aside. Then her eyes hardened. "...Alright. Everyone, grab anything you can use as a weapon. We’ll work together."

The students scrambled, grabbing anything they could, chairs, sticks, even rulers. Some of the males stood at the front, holding chairs and blunt objects like shields and weapons, but their hands shook uncontrollably.

At that moment...

BAM.

The door exploded inward. The principal barreled through, ignoring the barricade entirely. Splinters flew everywhere as he stepped into the room, grinning with teeth stained dark red.

"Attack!" Elaine shouted, swinging a chair with all her strength. The other students followed, rushing forward in a wave of desperate courage.

The principal barely reacted. He swayed Elaine aside with a single arm, sending her crashing into the wall. In the same motion, he lunged at one of the male students, his teeth tearing through the boy’s flesh.

The boy screamed in horrifying agony, freezing the others in place with terror.

Panic erupted. Formation collapsed instantly. One of the males spun around and ran for the exit door. Some of the girls stumbled after him, leaving a trail of chaos behind.

"No, don’t leave..." Hae-in cried in panic.

The principal didn’t pause. He grabbed into another student, blood spraying as the student screamed. Elaine pushed herself up, eyes burning with determination to protect her students. She charged again, smashing a chair against him. Hae-in, Na-rin, and six other students joined her, while the rest had already fled.

The students slammed their chairs and swung whatever they could, knocking the principal to the ground. But he quickly rose as if nothing had happened, his black eyes gleaming with sadistic delight. Before they could react, he lunged forward and bit into one of the girls, the sound of tearing flesh echoing through the room.

Then, one of the males took a step forward as he screamed and tackled the principal, holding him down with every ounce of strength he had.

"Everyone! Get out of here now!" he yelled, his voice cracking as the principal bit into his neck.

Elaine’s legs shook, but she forced herself up. "Go! Run!" she shouted, dragging the others toward the exit door.

They ran, leaving behind the dying student’s screams and the horrific sounds of the infected principal feasting.

They ran down the hallway, desperately searching for an escape. Na-rin, keeping pace with the others, froze for a moment, noticing the scattered corpses of dead infected lying on the floor. Hae-in yanked her along without a word, forcing her to keep moving.

Turning a sharp corner, the girls let out a startled yelp.

A slightly tall man stood there in complete calm, a rifle resting in his hands, his back to them. Beneath his feet lay a pile of dead infected, their bodies twitching even in death.

Suddenly, a roar erupted from behind. They turned just in time to see the principal and the infected students rushing toward them, moving with terrifying speed.

"Let’s g..." Elaine barely had time to speak before Jaxon appeared from the side, his rifle raised.

Two precise shots silently rang out. Heads exploded into bits before anyone could blink. One bullet, two kills. The bodies twitched for a moment before collapsing to the floor.

Jaxon lowered his rifle and looked at the group of students and their teacher, who stared at him wide-eyed and frozen.

’Survivors?’ he thought. For a moment, he couldn’t believe it. Everything here had seemed like nothing but death.