Jimin and Taehyung turned to each other in horror when the cracking was shortly followed by the sound of the glass completely shattering. Jimin glanced up to see one of the infected clambering over the railing, and tackled Taehyung out of the way as it plummeted to the floor right by them. It tried to pounce on them, but Jimin managed to roll over in time and kick it away with both legs. Taehyung hurriedly stood up and pulled Jimin to his feet before shoving the latter behind him. He swiped an empty glass bottle off a nearby tabletop and smashed it into the head of another which had tumbled down the stairs and lunged at them.

As Taehyung stabbed the same one in the face with the jagged rim of the broken bottle, a third leaped at him, only to get impaled through the eye by a cue stick Jimin had gotten off the wall. The rest were rapidly swarming down to the lower level of the lounge, and Jimin yanked the stick out of the head of the now-still infected before running after Taehyung, who was bolting to the doors. Taehyung reached the doors and held one open for Jimin to get out before swinging it shut against the advancing horde. Jimin slid the cue stick through the handles of the doors to hold them close and they both sped down the hallway, hearing that the glass behind them was already beginning to break.

They were not free to simply leave the building just yet. The two levels of the student lounge were located on the second and third levels of the building, which meant that they still had to find a safe way down to the first. However, they could worry about that later, for the dreaded sound of shattering glass reached their ears just as they went around the next corner. The swarm had gotten out and was after them again. Right in front of them was the entrance to the indoor sports hall. They attempted to enter it upon reaching the doors, only to find them locked, to their utter dismay.

Jimin quickly noticed that the lockers which were lining one side of the hallway were jutting out from the wall, and darted into the small space between the sports hall entrance and where the lockers ended while pulling Taehyung with him. The two could hear the growls and erratic footsteps of the infected getting louder. They peered around the locker nearest to them to see that the horde had spread out, and that a few were approaching their hiding spot. The boys knew that they were practically trapped, and fought to remain calm as they raced against time to figure a way out of their current situation.

There was a stairwell diagonally opposite from them, but they were going to be chased if they crossed the hallway to get to it, and they did not know what they would run into at the bottom of the stairs. Taehyung then felt something unusual as his hand brushed against the side of his backpack, and pulled out a dart that had been stuck in it. He must have fallen on it earlier at the student lounge. He looked around the locker back at the stairwell, and this time, something caught his eye. An open soda can rested on the railing just before it sloped to follow the stairs down.

An idea clicked in his head. There was a chance that he could create a diversion so that they both could escape. He nudged his friend, holding up the dart and then gesturing to the can on the railing. Picking up on what Taehyung planned to do, Jimin frantically shook his head, fearing that it could make things worse and expose them. However, figuring that they were going to be in trouble either way, Taehyung aimed and threw the dart at the can despite his companion’s protest.

He hoped that the can was empty, which it fortunately was. It clattered loudly down the stairs, causing the infected along the hallway to veer their heads towards the source of the sound. The boys rolled as far back as they could into their hiding spot as the horde suddenly rushed down the stairs, passing the area right by them. Once the infected were gone, they stumbled out of their little recess in a slight daze at what had just happened.

Jimin started laughing softly in both disbelief and relief. “Did that actually just work? Tae, you’re insane!”

Taehyung was about to reply, when the menacing noises of approaching infected were heard again, this time coming from the high windows above the row of lockers. The two looked up to see a couple of the savage creatures clawing their way through the windows from the sports hall and over the lockers, likely lured out by the earlier commotion. It was definitely a good thing that they could not get in there earlier on after all.

They were on the move just as the couple of infected hit the ground, narrowly avoiding getting trapped again. They took off straight down the hallway towards the other end with the two infected close behind them. Up ahead was a small balcony that could be shut off from the inside of the building with a sliding door. Without thinking further, the boys stepped out onto the balcony and slid the door shut in their attackers’ faces. It then took a few seconds for them to realize that they had, once again, trapped themselves.

Jimin slapped himself in the forehead. “Well, that was stupid.”

“It’s not as if we had the time to think about it,” Taehyung pointed out, before letting out a long, deep sigh of frustration. “What now?”

“I don’t know!” Jimin groaned in defeat, sliding down the railing into a sitting position. “Tae?”

“Hmm?”

“Could you shake me again?”

“What?”

“Shake me awake, like you did earlier. All this can’t be real, right? This has to be some sort of nightmare.”

Taehyung nodded, sharing his friend’s sentiments. “I wish, but…”

He trailed off, curious when he noticed the two infected which had been scratching at the transparent door peel away and speed back down the hallway. He also heard what sounded like continuous thumping, muffled through the door. Looking ahead, he caught sight of a male silhouette with a baseball bat in each hand. The figure was repeatedly hitting the wall along the hallway with one of them as he confidently walked forward, having an obvious intention to draw the savage creatures to himself.

“Jimin! Are you seeing this?” Taehyung asked in surprise. “If you want to talk about insane, it’s whoever that is.”

Now safe, the boys slid the door back open and re-entered the hallway to get a better view of what was playing out in front of them. The silhouette waited until the infected were close enough, and then with a powerful swing of each arm, consecutively smacked them in their faces, the bone-shattering noise from each hit propagating down the hallway. The figure did not give the creatures any chances to recover, continuing to ferociously and rapidly bludgeon them with full force until they were both sprawled motionless on the ground.

The mystery individual stood still for a moment, breathing heavily from the activity. Jimin and Taehyung approached him, wanting to find out the identity of whomever had just solved their problem for them. The figure turned to them and stepped in front of the next window, allowing the moonlight shining through to reveal a blood-splattered face with a familiar bunny-like smile.