Chapter 45: Midnight Murder

"Did the zombies break through this floor?" Yukino Yukinoshita cautiously crept forward, her mind racing. Just as she was about to peek around the corner, a dark figure suddenly appeared in front of the door. Her face went pale, and her heart skipped two beats like she'd just seen a ghost. In her panic, she swung her wooden stick at the figure without thinking. But surprisingly, there was no cracking sound of a skull being hit. Instead, the stick was caught firmly by a pair of large hands. Yukino was shocked. Zombies can grab sticks now? When she finally focused, she blurted out, "Sosuke? Why is it you?" "Shh! Shh!" Sosuke Kitahara's heart pounded as he quickly covered her mouth, pulling her inside and frantically shushing her. Realizing what had just happened, Yukino's face flushed with embarrassment, and she quickly nodded. When he finally removed his hand, Yukino took a few deep breaths, then whispered, "What was that noise outside? Was it zombies?" "Probably, but the sound didn't come from our area. It came from the other group's side." Sosuke lowered his voice. "Zombies over there?" Yukino frowned. "I thought we cleared this floor. Could some have slipped through?" "Before you all went to sleep, I double-checked everything. This floor's elevators require special access to open. We also blocked the elevator doors with sofas, and the emergency exits are chained shut. Without keys, no one can open them." Sosuke glared at her. "There are only two possibilities: someone let zombies in from downstairs, or one of their people turned." "What?" Yukino instinctively covered her mouth in disbelief, but quickly realized Sosuke wouldn't joke about something like this. She lowered her voice again, "Would anyone really let zombies in on purpose? There's no escape route." "Unless they have the elevator key." "You think the secretary has it?" "I hope it's the second case. But don't forget, that secretary she's the company president's assistant. She might have an access card." "But she was fine earlier. Why would someone suddenly turn? Didn't they insist on checking us for bites? Wouldn't they have checked themselves?" "Shh! Look over there!" Sosuke gently pulled Yukino to the other side, and she pressed herself against the door, cautiously peeking outside. 'Now of all times, they're making out? Didn't they hear the noise?' Yukino frowned in disbelief. Not far away, two figures were passionately kissing in the corridor. From their silhouettes, one of them was the secretary, now straddling another woman in a business suit who leaned casually against the wall as they kissed deeply. "Sosuke, should we go remind them?" Yukino poked him in frustration, but Sosuke slowly shook his head. The two women were completely engrossed, their desperate kissing sounds echoing down the hall. The secretary seemed to want to melt into the other woman's body. Suddenly. A pool of blood started to slowly spread behind the woman in the business suit. As Yukino watched in horror, the blood flowed faster, staining the white wall behind her red. The secretary suddenly jerked her head back, tearing a chunk of flesh from the woman's face. Blood splattered everywhere. "Mmm..." Yukino covered her mouth, frozen in shock, her stomach twisting violently. The secretary chewed and swallowed the flesh greedily, her mouth dripping with blood. "Urgh..." Yukino's stomach rebelled, and her suppressed gagging sound instantly caught the zombie's attention. The secretary-zombie abandoned her victim, slowly rising and lunging toward them. Before the zombie could take more than two steps, a nearby door suddenly swung open. A sharp wooden stick jabbed out from inside, driving straight into the back of the secretary's head. "Splurch!" The sound was like slicing open an overripe watermelon. The secretary-zombie collapsed to the ground, her dull gray eyes still staring at them. "Get in, quick!" Haruno Yukinoshita urgently waved from the doorway. Yukino dashed inside, where Utaha Kasumigaoka stood by the door with her bat, nodding at Yukino before anxiously calling to Sosuke, "Sosuke, hurry up! What are you still doing over there?" The secretary's skull had been pierced cleanly, her brains spilling out in a grotesque mess. But Sosuke bent down, waving at them, "Just a minute." He carefully examined the body, flipping it over and checking under the collar and along the limbs. With a disappointed look, he quietly returned to the room. Utaha immediately asked, "Did you find anything?" "No wounds on the body." Sosuke's expression was grave as he swept his gaze over the three girls, then locked eyes with Haruno. "Aside from the stab you gave her, I didn't find a single injury." "You mean..." Haruno's heart sank. "There were strangulation marks on her neck. Someone killed her on purpose and let her turn." "But she wasn't bitten!" Haruno was more shocked by this revelation. "Does that mean...?" "Anyone who dies will turn." Sosuke nodded. "Being bitten just speeds things up. I don't know why, but just remember this." "But why would someone kill her?" "Maybe they had bad intentions. Maybe they wanted to silence her." "Or maybe there's another reason," Sosuke added. He hadn't found a keycard on the secretary, but the killer might have taken it already. Perhaps the killer planned to use the president's elevator or wanted to get rid of someone under the cover of night by turning the secretary into a zombie. Either way, the person who uses that elevator next will be the prime suspect. Going downstairs? Unlikely. That would be suicide unless you had first-tier physical ability and combat skills like Sosuke. Going up? That's the smart play. After all, Toji had previously bragged that a helicopter would come for him. Looks like the killer pinned their hopes on that helicopter. Sosuke gripped his katana tightly. Looks like from now on, his enemies wouldn't just be the zombies. "Ahh!" "Help! There are zombies!" Suddenly, terrified screams erupted from the other end of the corridor, followed by chaotic shouts. The once-quiet hallway was instantly thrown into complete turmoil. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh, you like the story? Wow, who knew. Go ahead, drop a review and throw some power stones maybe I'll be motivated to keep going. The story's already ahead on Patron. Go there if you want to catch up faster! [email protected]/_theon Change @ to "a"