The four practically stumbled into the nearest teacher's office. Sam, the last one in, slammed the heavy wooden door shut behind him and quickly twisted the lock, leaning back against the panel, gasping for breath. The office was a mess – desks and chairs overturned, papers scattered everywhere, clear evidence that the earlier chaos had reached here too.

  “Jason! What the hell is going on?!” John strode quickly to the officer who had led them in, now leaning heavily against the wall, breathing hard.

  “I… I came out to see if there was any backup…” Jason looked up, his face slick with sweat and exhaustion, eyes bloodshot. “You guys are… a little late. We already evacuated most of the kids, but there are still over thirty… trapped in the gym. Two teachers are with them, along with Martin and Laura.”

  He caught his breath and continued rapidly, “There aren't many school buses downtown to begin with. We used every van we could find, even an armored bank truck, still wasn't enough! Every time we sent a vehicle out, officers had to go along to protect the kids, we just didn't have the manpower! Pretty much every working vehicle outside has already left… It’s just a few of us left here, waiting… waiting for backup.”

  Jason’s tone darkened. “David and Kevin were here too… but one of the bus drivers said he used to drive trucks, knew a logistics depot nearby where he might get a semi-truck, big enough to take all the remaining kids in one go. David and Kevin escorted him there… Haven’t heard anything back since…”

  He looked up sharply, his face etched with anxiety. “The situation at the gym is bad now! It’s surrounded by those monsters! I don’t know how long that side door, the one secured only with a chain, will hold! And we have no idea when the officers who escorted the kids out or SWAT will be back! I climbed out a second-floor window to get here, almost got grabbed… Point is, the people in the gym are in serious danger right now!”

  “So what do we do now?” Miller asked anxiously, his gaze sweeping the office’s only window overlooking the outside. “Without backup, just the few of us… there’s no way we can get over thirty kids out safely!”

  Sam also moved to the window, carefully peeking through a slit in the blinds. The scene outside made his scalp tingle – the shambling figures on the street seemed to have multiplied, drawn by the scent of fresh meat perhaps, converging aimlessly but increasingly towards the school.

  “There has to be a way, stay calm!” John tried to maintain control, though his own voice held a barely perceptible tension. He looked at Jason. “Are there any large SUVs or vans around the school or nearby? Even if it’s crowded, ten kids per vehicle, three or four would be enough!”

  “Any car that could drive was already taken!” Jason’s voice was filled with helplessness. “The two teachers left inside don’t have licenses! The teachers who could drive left earlier in their own cars with students, following the first police escort! Right now, in the parking lot, besides that old school bus that ran out of gas long ago, there’s just a bunch of bicycles!”

  Miller persisted, “What about backup?! The military should have the situation under control soon, right? We could hold out here, draw their fire, buy some time!”

  “I don’t know!” Jason sounded agitated, almost arguing futilely. “They only left a few rifles and shotguns in the gym, barely any ammo! Even if we saved it, it wouldn't be enough to headshot every monster at the door! The radio’s dead, we can’t reach command, we don’t know what’s happening outside! Maybe… maybe no backup is coming, especially after the gym door breaks down!” He sounded increasingly defeated, leaning his hands on a desk for support.

  A suffocating silence filled the office. John and Miller’s faces were grim. Just then, Sam, who had been silently observing the ‘scenery’ outside the window, suddenly spoke up. He pointed towards an area just outside the school fence, an empty lot surrounded by a waist-high wooden barrier: “Hey, over there… isn’t that a construction site?”

  Jason followed his finger, answering listlessly, “Yeah, probably… I think they were going to build a new community center there. There are some excavators and bulldozers parked there, but you can’t transport people in those.”

  “Excavators and bulldozers won’t work…” Sam rubbed his chin, but his eyes lit up. “But a construction site… they ought to have dump trucks for hauling rocks, right?”

  “Dump trucks?” Jason paused. “I think… yeah, there might be one or two parked over there. But those things have open beds, no roof. Too dangerous for kids, those monsters could just climb right in…”

  “Who said anything about putting kids in the bed?” Sam interrupted, asking with an air of obviousness, “Those things are huge, plenty of horsepower—why can’t we use one as a tow truck, pull that old school bus out?”

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  The office fell silent instantly. Jason and Miller stared, seemingly stunned by the simple, brutal, yet potentially viable idea. John also paused, then a mixture of surprise and desperate hope flashed in his eyes. He looked sharply at Sam and nodded firmly.

  “Good idea, partner! We happen to have a tow rope in the back of our cruiser.”

  “Wait a minute,” Miller suddenly raised a practical concern. “The tow rope in the patrol car… isn’t that designed for towing small cars? Can it really handle something as heavy as a school bus? Don’t want the rope snapping halfway through.”

  “No time to worry about that now!” John cut off his doubts, his tone resolute. “The kids in the gym could be in danger any second, we have to move now! Even if the rope isn’t ideal, we have to try!”

  “But… what about those things at the gym entrance?” Jason brought up the worrying issue again. “It’s swarming with zombies out there. How do we even get near the school bus, let alone hook up the truck?”

  “I’ll draw them off!” Miller volunteered almost immediately, taking the most dangerous role. “I’ll take your patrol car, make some noise, pull their attention from the entrance and the parking lot! You guys—” He looked at John, Sam, and Jason, “—use the chance to get the truck from the construction site, bring it to the parking lot, hook up the bus, then head for the gym! Move fast!”

  “Okay! That’s the plan!” John didn’t hesitate. “Everyone, get ready!”

  The plan was set instantly. Miller quickly unlocked the office door, then kicked it open without hesitation—he’d noticed a few shambling figures lingering outside earlier, likely drawn by their voices. As soon as the door flew open, several zombies snarled and lunged in!

  “Covering fire!” John yelled. The three officers (Sam, John, Jason) immediately formed a crossfire, unleashing a barrage at the doorway threat! Gunshots roared deafeningly in the narrow hallway, bullets accurately tearing through unrotted flesh, blowing the heads apart of the first few zombies.

  System Notification: Zombie Kill x2 Confirmed. Hope Points +10. Quest "Zombie Killer" Progress: 4/100.

  Damn it, felt like I hit more than two… this system counting is stingy as hell! Sam grumbled internally while following the others out of the office.

  The four quickly navigated the blood-and-corpse-strewn hallway, burst out of the main school entrance, and immediately split up: Miller and Jason sprinted towards the parked patrol car outside, ready to draw fire and retrieve the tow rope; while Sam stuck close to John, running hard towards the fenced-off construction site.

  “Huff… haah… huff…” John, clearly in his forties, hadn’t sprinted like this in a long time. His stamina was failing. He gasped heavily for air, hands on his knees, struggling to vault over the waist-high wooden fence. Sam followed close behind, vaulting over easily, but even though he was younger, his body—more accustomed to weightlifting than cardio—was protesting now too, his chest burning, breath coming in ragged gasps.

  They didn’t hesitate, immediately sprinting towards the conspicuous yellow dump truck at the edge of the construction site. Near the truck, two figures in stained work clothes and hard hats were wandering aimlessly. They turned their heads slowly, vacant eyes locking onto the approaching fresh meat. “Dying on the job, then having to ‘work overtime’ in your uniform after death… truly one of the shittiest ways to go.” The absurd thought flashed through Sam’s mind.

  As they closed the distance, before the zombie workers could fully react, John and Sam raised their pistols simultaneously. Several muffled shots echoed clearly across the empty site. The bullets found their marks in the heads, and the two shambling figures crumpled to the ground.

  System Notification: Zombie Kill x1 Confirmed. Hope Points +5. Quest "Zombie Killer" Progress: 5/100.

  Sam glanced quickly at the notification, no time to ponder, following John as he pulled open the door of the dump truck—luckily unlocked, with the keys still in the ignition—and jumped in. The engine roared to life with a guttural growl. John wrestled with the steering wheel, maneuvering the massive vehicle clumsily but forcefully out of the construction site fence, heading around towards the school’s rear parking lot.

  The parking lot was a scene of desolation. Apart from the lone, peeling yellow school bus in the corner and scattered bicycles, it was empty, save for a few zombies wandering aimlessly.

  Just then, a police car, windshield spiderwebbed with cracks and body smeared with blood, sped past the edge of the parking lot. Miller, behind the wheel, deliberately slowed down, immediately drawing a small horde of zombies trailing behind him like a grotesque tail. He expertly steered the car, leading the pack of mobile trouble away from the school bus.

  “Now!” Jason’s figure emerged from behind a corner wall, waving frantically at John and Sam.

  John drove the dump truck over quickly, the huge vehicle stopping almost touching the rear of the school bus. The three worked fast. Jason retrieved the tow rope from the back of the patrol car, while John jumped down to help secure one end to the dump truck’s rear tow hook. Sam went around to the front of the school bus, confirmed the connection point, and together he and John securely fastened the other end.

  “The door!” John yelled. Jason quickly ran to the school bus passenger door, found the red emergency knob, and gave it a hard turn. With a soft click, the door lock released. He pulled the folding doors outward.

  “Done! Let’s go!” John jumped back into the dump truck’s cab.

  The engine roared again. The heavy dump truck began to move, the taut tow rope groaning under the strain with a teeth-grinding metallic screech, dragging the equally heavy old school bus slowly but determinedly towards the gymnasium…