IZSTASL Chapter 3

The remaining zombies in the hallway rushed at us, but Yoon Si-chan barely slowed down, smashing heads and kicking guts as he cleared the way.

The way he moved—effortless, precise—made me wonder what the hell this guy had been doing all his life.

At the top of the stairs, a cluster of zombies had gathered, huddled around something.

Judging by the crunching sounds, they were feasting on a corpse.

The stench of blood was even stronger than before, so bad I had to fight back my gag reflex.

Yoon Si-chan came to a halt for a brief moment, then turned back to face me.

Behind us, the zombies Yoon Si-chan had smacked around were sluggishly trailing after us.

“We’re so fucking screwed!”

“Shut the fuck up. Stop yelling.”

“No, seriously, what the fuck do we do—”

I didn’t have a weapon.

At this rate, the only possible ending was Yoon Si-chan throwing me to the zombies as bait.

I had to turn the tables before I ended up as the sacrifice.

I edged away slightly, racking my brain for a way to use him as bait instead.

But before I could act, Yoon Si-chan suddenly lifted his bat high and started slamming it against the floor like a maniac.

“The fuck are you doing, psycho?!”

This bastard, who just told me to shut up, was drawing all the attention now.

The zombies at the top of the stairs let out sickening, guttural groans and twisted their heads toward us.

Yoon Si-chan banged the bat against the ground even louder, locking eyes with them.

Like a horde of rabid animals, the zombies lost their shit and started stampeding down the stairs.

My instincts screamed at me to back away, but before I could react, Yoon Si-chan grabbed me by the collar.

Fuck. This is it. I’m done.

I was a goddamn idiot for even thinking he had some other plan besides using me as bait.

I struggled, thrashing to break free, bracing myself to be shoved down the stairs—

But instead, my body was flung sideways.

I slammed face-first into the floor of the hallway, pain bursting through my skull.

For a second, everything spun.

The zombies’ heads snapped in my direction, and they immediately veered right, rushing toward the railing to chase me down.

“Are you fucking insane?! You son of a—fuck, Yoon Si-chan!”

We’re so fucked.

I couldn’t think of anything but curses.

Still disoriented, I tried to push myself up, but before I could fully stand, Yoon Si-chan smashed his bat against the floor right next to my leg.

Clang. Clang.

The sound echoed over and over.

“I’m not feeding you to them, so shut the fuck up and stay still.”

“What the fuck! Over there—ah, shit!”

I was about to yell, Look, the zombies are coming, you idiot! when one of the bastards suddenly lunged straight at me.

I curled up instinctively, screaming, bracing myself for the sheer agony about to hit me—cursing Yoon Si-chan in my head as my last thought.

Clang.

A sharp metallic crack rang out.

Yoon Si-chan had swung his bat mid-air, smashing the zombie’s skull before it could reach me.

He was already looking up the stairs, barely even acknowledging what he’d done.

The zombie right behind the one he had hit tripped over the falling corpse and tumbled backward.

The others, tangled up in their own flailing limbs, collapsed like dominoes.

The zombies groaned, writhing in a heap near the right-side railing as they tried to get back up.

Yoon Si-chan, completely unfazed, casually turned them into a whack-a-mole game—slamming his bat down on every head that popped up.

Since they were all piled up on the right side, it looked like sticking to the left railing would be our best bet to get past them.

Yoon Si-chan climbed up, smashing the faces of any zombies that managed to lift their heads.

Halfway up, he turned back and looked down at me—still lying on the floor.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“This motherfucker… holy shit, he’s actually insane…”

I groaned, finally pushing myself up, legs trembling violently as I forced them to move.

The tangled mass of zombies below twitched grotesquely, a writhing pile of rotting flesh.

As I climbed the stairs, I nearly stepped on a corpse—its face and upper torso almost entirely torn apart.

The eyes were gone, ripped clean from their sockets, and beneath the collarbone, half-mangled flesh still dangled, barely holding together.

Yoon Si-chan carefully studied the corpse as he stepped over it. I squinted, trying to avoid the disgusting sight, and stepped on its leg as I passed. Sticking close to the wall, he moved forward slowly—then suddenly stopped without warning.

“Ah, fuck, what—”

I smacked straight into the back of his neck.

Scowling, I was about to mutter a complaint when Yoon Si-chan suddenly turned around and clamped a hand over my mouth.

The overwhelming stench of blood hit me instantly. His grip was so strong it felt like he was about to crush my jaw. I couldn’t even let out a muffled ugh. My cheek throbbed painfully under his iron grip.

Without loosening his hold, he dragged me forward, stopping just before the corpse. Then, raising a single finger in front of my face, he silently gestured for me to stay quiet.

There must’ve been a zombie close by.

Thinking back, the zombies had ignored Yoon Si-chan earlier and gone straight for me. Maybe they were practically blind. They only reacted to sound.

I grimaced, nodding frantically in understanding. But why the fuck did he have to use a hand covered in blood to shut me up? Made me want to kill him.

Finally, Yoon Si-chan let go, practically throwing my face aside, then crouched down and started rifling through the dead guy’s pockets.

What the hell did he expect to find, dumbass?

I glanced at the corpse again—only to instantly regret it. The sight made my stomach churn, so I averted my eyes to the floor.

Near the corpse’s arm, a name tag had fallen.

Lee Kyung-bin.

My eyes widened slightly at the familiar name.

One of the guys I used to hang out with—smoking, playing games at the PC bang. We had been pretty close until he picked a fight with me, claiming my way of talking pissed him off.

I hadn’t expected this corpse to be him, but instead of shock, I felt… oddly satisfied.

That rich little trust-fund brat, who always had that smug grin on his face, was dead, and I was still alive. It was almost exhilarating.

The father who only knew how to beat me. The teachers who looked at me like I was a worthless piece of trash. The landlord who went crazy demanding rent after my dad bailed on us.

They were all probably eaten alive by now.

The thought nearly made me laugh.

Meanwhile, Yoon Si-chan had finished going through Lee Kyung-bin’s pockets and was now messing with his entire outfit.

I wished—God, I wished—that Yoon Si-chan was fucking dirt poor. That he was a total beggar. That he had never even had a home. That he was an orphan.

I had no idea why, but watching his annoyingly perfect face—even with blood splattered on it—made me wish that more than anything.

Like a total scavenger, he kept searching through the corpse’s clothes until he finally pulled something out from the fleece pocket.

A lighter.

I had no idea what he planned to do with it, but he gave a slight nod toward the hallway, his voice low.

“Let’s go.”

“Keep your fucking mouth shut until I tell you otherwise.”

His tone was beyond irritating. I wanted to snap back, throw some kind of insult his way, but in the end, I just nodded. If it weren’t for Yoon Si-chan, I’d still be trapped in that damn classroom.

He leaned against the wall, still holding the lighter. I peeked out slightly and spotted the broadcasting room at the very end of the hallway.

The problem?

The place was crawling with zombies.

The opposite hallway wasn’t any better. It was the senior classrooms’ corridor, and from Class 4’s back door onward, zombies were packed together, filling the space.

I had no idea what the hell his plan was to get into the broadcasting room, but it wasn’t like I had any other options.

The slow-moving zombies that had been tailing us from the lower floors had finally started climbing the stairs.

Then, out of nowhere, Yoon Si-chan suddenly made a throwing motion with the lighter before swinging his arm and actually hurling it at the window.

A sharp clink rang out.

That was it.

All it did was put a tiny crack in the glass.

Well, obviously. The damn thing barely weighed anything.

Did he fucking lose his mind? That was his plan?

I heard him click his tongue in irritation.

And in that instant—

The zombies in both hallways suddenly turned and bolted toward the cracked window.

We were even more fucked now, dumbass!

The slight moment of relief I’d felt before vanished. My entire body tensed up again.

As Yoon Si-chan watched the zombies rush toward the window, he quickly swung his bat and smashed the glass completely.

But it was too late.

Too many zombies had already locked onto him instead.

Instead of the distraction he was hoping for, the bastards were now sprinting straight at him.

Judging by his slight hesitation, he had expected them to tumble out the window instead.

Seeing him actually look a little thrown off was kind of funny, but still—

We were fucked.

Completely, utterly fucked.

The only answer now was to leave him for dead and bolt upstairs.

At that moment, Yoon Si-chan suddenly spun around—

And hurled his bat toward the upper floor.

Crazy bastard. He just threw away his only weapon.

The metal bat clattered loudly as it rolled across the narrow landing between the stairs.

The constant noise immediately caught the attention of the zombies coming from the senior hallway, making them change direction and rush upstairs.

A few from the broadcasting room’s side also turned toward the stairs, but the rest?

They were still charging straight at us.

He’s definitely gonna use me as bait again.

Or maybe this time, he’d just sacrifice me altogether.

I quickly tried to distance myself from him, but before I could—

Yoon Si-chan grabbed Lee Kyung-bin’s stiffened corpse by the legs and lifted it up horizontally.

What the actual fuck. This guy is creatively insane.

“Hold this.”

His voice was slightly urgent, but his face remained completely calm.

I hesitated, but quickly grabbed the upper half of the corpse, supporting it. The half-mangled flesh below the collarbone sagged as I did.

Fucking gross.

Yoon Si-chan used the corpse as a shield, blocking the lunging zombies while kicking them square in the gut.

I followed suit, ramming Kyung-bin’s head into the zombies’ faces and stomping at their chests and crotches.

Every time a zombie’s disgusting face popped up over the corpse’s head, I wanted to scream, but I bit my lip and held it in.