Apocalypse: Apparently, I Can See Zombies

Chapter 36- An Elaborate Hoax

"Please, let me in!"

*Rattle*

*Rattle*

The girl, with tears streaming down her face, cried out once more while slamming her hand against the locked gate.

Jin-woo remained silent, just standing there while watching her.

Suddenly someone from the crowd yelled.

"What are you doing?! Why aren't you letting her in?!"

Jin-woo turned around and saw a male student pushing his way towards the front of the crowd.

"Ho-jin!"

The girl outside yelled when she saw the boy.

"Soo-ha, I'm coming!"

The boy, who was named Ho-jin, had his eyes turned red and he charged towards the gate.

"Stop!"

Jin-woo immediately stepped in front of the boy blocking his path. The boy's eyes seemed to turn even redder, and he roared.

"MOVE!"

The boy grabbed Jin-woo's collar, and a struggle ensued as he tried to get past Jin-woo.

"There are three more tennis courts she can go to, stop being an idiot and calm down!"

"I said move!"

The boy completely ignored Jin-woo's reasoning and swung at him. Jin-woo easily dodged the fist, and using the boy's momentum he pulled him forward and wrapped a hand around his neck to restrain him.

"Ho-jin!"

The girl from outside watched as this happened with a worried expression on her face.

"Let go! Let me go!"

Ho-jin twisted his body trying to get out of Jin-woo's grasp.

"Damn it, just calm down. Like I said she can go to another tennis court."

"I don't care about that, I want to get out, let me out!"

"Jin! Come on man, don't be stupid."

"Yeah man, something is going on and it isn't safe to go outside."

Two boys hurriedly stepped out of the crowd. Jin-woo initially thought they were talking to him, but realized they were likely friends of Ho-jin.

As the two boys stepped out of the crowd, they glanced at the girl outside and the wound on her hand that she was holding. The last thing they wanted was for her to come in, regardless of if that wound wasn't like they suspected. The crowd of students all felt the same, which was why they didn't speak up for Jin-woo to let her in.

Tears appeared at the corner of Ho-jin's eyes, and he calmed down before saying.

"I don't care, just let me go. If you don't want us to stay here, we'll go to another tennis court."

Upon hearing that, Jin-woo glanced at the west wing of the high school. The girl was still being eaten by the boy, and as for the two boys who had been holding down the female student who fell through the window, one had made it back unharmed and was currently off to one side of the tennis court curled up while watching the other boy being eaten by the female student.

At any moment those zombies were going to look up to find a bunch of food all gathered together in one place.

Jin-woo hesitated for a moment, but then let go of Ho-jin.

Ho-jin after being let go, hurriedly rushed to open the gate. He bent down to check on his girlfriend's hand, but she kept the wound hidden.

"Soo-ha, let me see."

Ho-jin said frantically as he pulled her hand away. When the wound was revealed Soo-ha immediately began crying.

As his girlfriend's sobs entered his ears, Ho-jin silently looked at the wound on her hand.

It was a bite wound.

Even though two layers of clothes were covering her hand, the force of the bite had pierced them and sank into her flesh.

*Clang*

Ho-jin heard a sound and he turned around to see that Jin-woo had closed the gate. His heart sank slightly and his gaze roamed around his classmates who were silently observing him as if they were waiting for something to happen.

For his death?

Suddenly, he felt his girlfriend grab his blazer and say through her sobs.

"Ho-jin, I'm sorry."

Ho-jin turned around, and immediately he saw faint black lines on his girlfriend's face. His body froze for a second, but he clenched his fist before he suddenly smiled slightly and said.

"It's okay, come on, let's go to another tennis court."

"I-I can't feel my legs. Ho-jin just-"

"It's okay, I can just carry you."

After saying that Ho-jin wrapped his hands around his girlfriend and scooped her up. He then made his way along the fence to the next tennis court.

Soo-ha bit her lip, and tears ran down her face incessantly. She was lying when she said she couldn't walk.

"Ho-jin, I'm sorry. You don't have to come with me, go back to the others."

Ho-jin stayed silent as he continued to walk, however, tears slowly formed in his eyes before rolling down his cheeks.

The tears landed on Soo-ha, and she looked up. Seeing her boyfriend crying she couldn't help but cry more herself.

Ho-jin was looking straight ahead as he walked, so he wasn't able to see that the black lines on her face had become more pronounced. But he seemed to know intuitively as more tears formed in his eyes and rolled down.

Jin-woo and the other students watched as Ho-jin carried Soo-ha to the tennis court next to theirs. He sat down with her in his lap and closed his eyes.

The students couldn't help but have a mix of emotions rise in their hearts when they saw this. It was still somewhat hard to grasp that what they'd witnessed so far was real. Maybe this was some elaborate hoax by some big media company, like a semi-reality TV series where students were pranked by having a zombie virus outbreak happen at their school.

Perhaps that's why they were so conveniently left here by Teacher Park, and a student just so happened to fall out of the west wing window where they got a clear view of it. Maybe the teachers and the entire school were in on it and that's why they didn't see them even though it was lunch break.

More than a few students had these thoughts swirling in their minds right now, and some were even so convinced of them that they started smiling while looking around trying to find the hidden cameras used in this prank.

Jin-woo!

He was acting way too strangely before. He must have been in on it since everything started only after he came back. He was the one saying something bad was going to happen if they went out, so that was a dead giveaway for them to figure it out!

Some students walked up to Jin-woo about to confront him, but two things happened next that completely crushed these students' disillusioned thoughts.

The first was Soo-ha. She suddenly started to shake violently while being gripped in Ho-jin's arms.

The second was a soft but distinctive thud. This thud sounded like it came from a human body falling to the ground from a high altitude. But after the first thud, there was a second, then a third, then a fourth.

All the students turned to the broken window of the west wing to shockingly see one body after another falling through it and landing on the ground.

Those were zombies, and it wasn't just a few.

***

Important announcement in author's notes please read.