"Will we find what we're looking for?"

...

The air was stuffy. It's as if the world was turning upside down with her head. But, one thought surely stayed in her mind.

"I need to get out of here."

The covered gymnasium was filled with evacuated students. It was pathetic, she thought. She could almost imagine a bloodbath taking place. What was the use of evacuating people in one closed space if the disease can spread as fast as one bite? But as much as she wanted to save that much people, she knew she can't. The adults won't believe her instructions. They needed to get out of the school and go to a much safer place than a building that already had Them in it.

"Diana. We have to go. Get Sofie." she gripped her friend's wrist and started walking out of the line they were instructed to make along with their classmates. Diana held Sofie's hand too.

"Wait. Where are we going?" Diana had mid-length brown hair up to under her shoulders and a small body frame. Sofie had brunette hair as well, but hers was longer and she was taller and more, stockier than Diana.

"We need to get out of here."

There was someone speaking on stage, explaining things that they knew that were happening. They were wrong on most parts; especially the 'Stay calm, we have god on our side.'

First. Stay calm has no effect. You need to defend yourself, not just stand still and panic. Then, she was no atheist, but this time, when you get bitten, god doesn't save you. Your soul gets eaten by the disease and your body becomes something else. So it's just the same.

They reached near the school's inner gate. There was a guard, of course, and other school faculty members rushing out of the gate with their bags and sweaty faces. The school bell rang, out of all things. She and her friends looked at the gymnasium once again. And the screen behind the speaker showed one teacher transforming. Unfortunately, into one of Them.

"It's starting." she told them, her long black hair swaying as she turned her view towards the gate.

"Let's go. Don't look back." she pulled Diana as Sofie followed them.

"What about—"

"Your life, or theirs?" Miaka looked at Diana, her eyes still. The screams started rising and painful, desperate moans were heard.

"If they have strategy, they'll manage to get out." Miaka started walking again.

"If you don't want to come, I'm not forcing you to."

Several students ran past them, running for their lives despite their tiredness. Gray and wrinkled bodies seemed to slowly follow them. Their presence easily recognizable as it owned a blood-like scent. Their likely eyes were goggled out, more blood seeping out from their mouths where their slightly sharper teeth resided. Their clothes were torned, and their bloodied hands limply swaying at their sides. It was Them. They need to hurry.

"Let's go." Sofie told her. Diana was left with no other choice but to follow her friend instead. She and Sofie caught up with Miaka and started running as well. They had no weapon, for sure. So they don't know how to deal with these "things". They used to be human, Diana knew their familiar faces. But now, they weren't anymore.

No other choice but to abandon them.

Miaka dashed out of the gate, where she was surprisingly caught with a dozen of Them, and a few live ones getting bitten. The sight of this caused Sofie to shriek a little, but Miaka stuffed the handkerchief she was holding to Sofie's mouth.

"Don't make any kind of noise." Miaka instructed them, making sure they absorbed what she said. It would be useful.

"What are they—"

"Questions later." Miaka slowly observed her surroundings. Much to her surprise, there was an opened motorcycle on the other side. There was blood on the side, so much probably, someone attempted to ride his motorcycle but got dragged by Them, leaving the keys on the motorcycle. A motorcycle is good. Yes, it makes noise but you move as well. This may be their ticket outside the outer gate. Looking at the group of zombies in front of them, she said,

"When I give you the signal, run as fast as you can past Them, and hop in the motorcycle over there." Miaka pointed out.

She watched Them slowly walk towards no where as she got hold of the tin can that she was kicking earlier. She threw it on one post away from their direction as it made a banging noise. The zombies got attracted, and like a magnet to another, they successfully went to the other side.

"Now!" Miaka signaled as she, Diana and Sofie sprinted to the other side, some zombies turning their heads to Miaka's own noise. Miaka sat on the front while Diana on the middle and Sofie on the last. She let the engine roar and rode it towards the Parking Lot. There will be a ton of zombies there too.

"This is illegal." Sofie commented.

"People won't notice it anyway." Miaka chuckled, the view of the approaching zombies made her eyes sting a little. She swiftly rode past them, making turns near the ground here and there.

Miaka gave one more sigh as she gazed at her surroundings. The school she grew up in was in flames, other students she cared about were turned into one of Them and she could only bring two of them with here. It was heart sinking-never to save the others. But she can't do it. This was fate, and she has to accept it. She accelerated out of the school.

"Were you bitten?"

"No."

"Me too."

"Good." Miaka's face relaxed. The sun was setting. She can see the sky turning dark as the clouds suddenly closed in. It was a hot afternoon, and it seemed that it's going to rain.

"Where are we going?" Diana asked, her arms around Miaka's stomach. She seemed to be terrified, and worried about her family. But they couldn't risk going that far just to check up on them. They need to find things to defend them first, rather than to go there unprepared.

"Just rest." was all Miaka could say.

It was the beginning of the end, the disease outbreak at their school was just the trigger. Nobody knew where the person who spread it came from, or to what kind of disease it was. They just knew they needed to find a way to survive, that they needed to get past the night and see the next sunrise. That they needed to live.

Miaka heard a quiet yawn escaping from Sofie's lips as they rode past the swaying trees and to the main road, the transparent wind caressing her long hair. The sky turned gloom.

It was going to be a long day ahead.

Author's Note: So, what do you think? If I receive just one review, I'll post up the next chapter. See ya~ (^-^)/