It doesn't take a genius to know that something is definitely wrong with the teachers. For one thing, they aren't in their dorms, and it's three a.m.

For another, they're meandering around aimlessly, like lost souls. I would have thought they have become zombies but they don't walk with lurches and moan about brains. And their skin aren't decayed or anything, they just look normal.

Besides the fact that they're meandering around aimlessly, of course. The closest conclusion I can come to is sleepwalking.

Crazy. Why would they be sleepwalking? And why would they be sleepwalking as a group?

And then one of them, Mr. Kurihara the Basic Combat teacher, sees me. I'm not sure if he actually "sees" since though his eyes are open they seem empty, soulless, but he most definitely has noticed me.

Because he makes a beeline for me, and the others follow.

I do the most sensible thing anyone would do in this situation. I turn on my heels and run.

I don't know if they want to hurt me or are just simply following me, but I do know that if it's the former I'll be kind of screwed because Mr. Kurihawa is huge and beefy and throws punches like a pro wrestler.

Damn!

I sprint towards the upperclassman dorm. I don't really know any of the senpai since we don't usually mingle between years, but surely they will help when they see the crazy herd trailing behind me. If I can get to the safety behind one of the dorm room doors, probably they'll be able to help me figure something out.

But the second I see the upperclassmen's dorm building I know that this won't work out, because the upperclassmen are all wandering aimlessly outside their rooms as well.

And now they're all after me too.

I turn on my heels again and run. I'm not a good runner, not very durable, not very fast. That's Shun's job; he's always been the fastest in any of my classes. He's not especially good at any other sports, but when it comes to running he's a pro. When we had schoolwide relay races, he was always our hero.

Me, I'm just average. Somewhere in the middle, boring as ever. Luckily the teachers and upperclassmen all seem too disoriented to be running at full speed, or else I would be fucked.

I run, I run like no tomorrow and I can barely breathe right and I try to calm myself down but it's hard to calm down when you seem to be the only person who is sane in the whole school and your classmates are not waking up and your teachers and other students are chasing you like zombies who aren't moaning about brains.

I don't know if they're chasing me with the intention to hurt me, but I certainly don't want to linger long enough to find out. And then I hear grunting and see Mr. Kurihara holding up a taser. An upperclassman behind him raises a hatchet.

Well, now I know.

I can't think straight anymore. The wind whips at my hair and my feet grate on the insides of the sneakers because I didn't bother to put on socks. Breathing gets harder and I try to force my brain to work, to try to come to a logical conclusion.

The offices, I think. The offices have phones. Where I can call someone. The police or something. The offices it is.

The closest building now, I realize, is the main research building. Which is good because it's got offices in it-Mrs. Sato's, at least. It is also good because it's not an open building like every other one. If I go in and lock the big door the others won't be able to follow; the windows don't even open.

I glance behind me, at the group that seems to be advancing by the minute. My loyal fans. Haha.

I force myself to run faster, run harder, to propel the useless sticks that are my legs to pump quicker. I nearly trip on the stairs that lead to the big door of the main research building, but I manage to half-crawl half-stumble inside nevertheless. I slam the door, click the lock in, and slide down against the wall onto the floor, panting. I can no longer see or hear the sleepwalking crowd. All is left now is my own heart hammering in my chest, and the soft whirring of machinery in the building.

I used to find the sounds of the machines scary, but now it's decidedly preferable to the alternative. I sneak a peek out of one of the windows (while feeling ever-so-grateful that they're made of sturdy glass and are too small and too high for the teachers and senpai to come through) and see that the group has rallied outside and seems to be at a loss what to do next.

I focus on calming my breathing down, giving myself orders: Mrs. Sato's office, second floor. I drag my dead tired feet upstairs, following the dim lights of the refrigerators to the door with the sign Sato Kumiko. Underneath the sign is a card, reading KNOCK, KNOCK! in childish handwriting. It looks kind of creepy in this light, the same way children's laughter in the dark are basically perfect horror movie material, but I just assume that it's done by Mrs. Sato's kids or something and don't try to look at it longer than I should.

The office is thankfully not locked. I dart in, praising the heavens as I see the phone sitting on the desk, and grab at the receiver-

The line is dead.

No.

I bury my face in my hands. What now? Perhaps all the other phones are dead too?

I try them out for good measure. There are a couple other offices on the second floor, but they are either locked or have no phones or the lines don't work.

I have no intention of going back down to face the horde, so I sluggishly pull myself up to the third floor. Where the comatose teacher is. Where Shun is.

Shun. I don't really want to see him. It will just break my heart and break my brain and break my everything. But I also really want to see him. Like, seeing him in his tortured state sucks, but a familiar face will be at least a comforting thing in this hopeless, insane shit I'm in.

So I walk to the room where Shun is. The screams come before I even reach it, and it hurts to listen. The room isn't locked and I walk in, hesitantly. It's curiously big, lined with all sorts of machines with wires and tubes and monitors and screens and unidentifiable gadgets, and I feel all out of my element as I stand in there, watching painfully as my crush for many years suffer and scream his heart out.

I walk to Shun's side. Even though I'm not exactly in a great situation right now I still notice first thing how battered and exhausted he looks. His forehead glistens with sweat and his brow is knitted so tightly his whole face is crinkled. I want more than anything to comfort him, to make it not hurt, to make it okay.

"Hey," I say, even though I know that my voice won't reach him. "Hey, I'm right here, it's all right, everything's gonna be all right..."

And then I fall to my knees and begin to cry because that's a lie, nothing is all right, I'm not even sure if the sun will go on shining tomorrow, or if I will be alive and awake to see it.

Shun is struggling violently with his bonds now. Seeing him twisting and writhing like that gives me heartache and hearing him shouting and gasping out words that are intelligible because of the gag feels worse than being shot repeatedly by an arrow in the chest and I can't take it anymore and dash out of the room.

I am barely out the door when I hear it. The tapping.

I turn back slowly, not quite believing my ears. Shun has stopped writhing and screaming suddenly and is just tapping at the side of the bed he is tied on.

A calming, comforting rhythm, like a beacon of light in all the darkness in this crazy world.

It's a good thing the code is so ingrained in my head that I am able to decipher it despite being nervous and scared out of my wits and unable to focus and count.

U-N-H-O-O-K M-E

I stare, not quite believing what I hear, less the fact that Shun is asking me to unhook him than the fact that he's even able to tap out a coherent code in this state. But perhaps the code is as ingrained in his head as it is in mine so he doesn't need to be completely conscious to use it.

U-N-H-O-O-K M-E N-O-W

"B-but, won't you die? Mrs. Sato said your soul-" I begin timidly, wondering if talking would even work and if I should tap the wall to respond instead, but Shun's tapping cuts me halfway through my sentence.

U-N-H-O-O-K M-E N-O-W T-O-M-O-M-I T-H-E-R-E-S N-O T-I-M-E

"Will you be okay?" I whimper, wiping a tear hastily away from my face.

T-R-U-S-T M-E

I'm too easily convinced, I think. I hate it when people tell me to trust them, because I lose all presence of mind and immediately begin to trust them naively, blindly. Especially if it's Shun.

As if I've ever not trusted you, I whisper in my head, and set down to work on the binds.