Ethan stepped out of the makeshift dorm room they'd claimed for rest and immediately started raiding the others one by one.

He'd always been curious about what Patterson Hall looked like. Back when life was normal, he'd wanted to check it out, but never got the chance.

Who would've thought the end of the world would finally get him inside Patterson Hall?

He'd assumed it would be cleaner, more put-together than Bates West.

Yeah, no. He'd been way too optimistic.

Patterson was just as trashed—maybe worse. Could've been the zombies, sure. But the sheer number of bras and panties scattered across the floor? That was something else. The styles alone were enough to make his eyebrows climb. Were girls always this... bold?

Ethan gave a helpless chuckle as he stared at the chaos, then sighed and got back to work. No matter how many thongs and lace bras fluttered around, he still had to scavenge for food.

After a solid half hour of digging through drawers, closets, and under beds, he came up empty. Not even a stale granola bar.

Which, honestly, wasn't surprising. Any dorm with food left would've been picked clean days ago.

He hit room after room, same story every time. Plenty of random junk—he even found a lone birth control pill—but not a single edible thing.

With a frustrated sigh, Ethan leaned against a doorframe. At this rate, they really might go to bed hungry tonight.

He finished sweeping the fourth floor with nothing to show for it, then headed up to the fifth. Same methodical search, same disappointing results. The only thing he managed to find was a pack of gum, and that was only because he used his ability to spot it tucked deep in a jacket pocket.

"Jesus," he muttered. "Did someone vacuum this place with a black hole?"

He climbed to the sixth floor, ready to rinse and repeat, when something unusual caught his eye—a door that was actually locked from the inside.

Curious, Ethan activated True Sight and peered through.

Inside were four girls, each gripping a steel pipe, eyes locked on the door with tense, wary expressions. They must've heard his footsteps.

The pipes were stained with blood—clearly, they'd fought off zombies before.

Their room was surprisingly tidy compared to the rest, and more importantly, stacked with snacks on the beds. If he had to guess, these four were the reason the rest of the building was picked clean.

That settled it—no point going up to the seventh floor or higher. If there'd been anything left, these girls would've already grabbed it.

Ethan didn't approach the door. No need. Just knowing where the food was stashed was enough.

They'd eaten earlier, and with their current stamina, skipping dinner wouldn't kill them. If they still hadn't figured out a way to escape by tomorrow, then maybe he'd come back and "borrow" a little something.

He memorized the room number, then turned and headed back downstairs.

Inside the locked room, the girls exhaled in unison as the footsteps faded.

"Not a zombie?"

"Doesn't sound like it."

"Then a person? But no one else is supposed to be in this building."

"Could it be those people we saw earlier downstairs?"

"No way. There's no chance they're still alive."

"Don't be so sure. If they managed to break into the dorm with hundreds of zombies on their tail, surviving wouldn't be that shocking."

"Oh god. What if it is them?"

"Then we're screwed. If it's really them, and they want to rape you, you better just lie back and spread your legs. We wouldn't even have the strength to fight back."

"..."

"I'm not joking. With no laws left, anything can happen."

"Okay, but... he didn't come in. Maybe he didn't notice us?"

"Every other door on this floor is wide open. Ours is the only one locked up tight. You really think he didn't notice?"

"Uh... then why'd he leave?"

"No idea. But just in case, hide the food. All of it."

"Got it."

"Grace, how the hell are they so strong?"

"If I had to guess, they're probably Tier 2 Awakened. Just like the authorities warned us about."

"Tier 2?!"

"Yeah. No one else could survive that kind of zombie swarm."

"Damn. I can't believe our school already has three Tier 2s. And those idiots from the Taekwondo club on the campus subreddit keep bragging they're the strongest team on campus. If they ran into those three, they'd get wiped in seconds."

"Just remember—if they come back, don't fight. Survival comes first."

"Right."

Ethan made his way back to the fourth-floor dorm. Inside, Henry was still out cold, sprawled on the mattress like a ragdoll. Chris sat cross-legged on the bed, scrolling through his phone, while Pumpkin was curled up at the foot, snoring softly.

"Ethan, any luck?" Chris looked up the moment he walked in.

"Sort of," Ethan said, wiping down the barbell bar he'd been using as a weapon. "There's a room on the sixth floor—four girls holed up in there. They've got food. If we get desperate, we might be able to borrow some."

Chris snorted and rolled his eyes. "In this apocalypse? Who the hell's gonna lend food?"

"I've got a feeling they might," Ethan said, tone casual.

Chris paused, then nodded slowly. "Yeah... you might be right."

"Anyway, let's get some rest. We've got a rooftop stargazing session tonight, remember?"

"Right."

"Oh, by the way," Chris added, "the authorities just dropped a new post online—some kind of classification system for zombies and Awakened humans."

Ethan perked up. "Yeah? How's it work?"

"Pretty much what you guessed. They're using a tier system—Tier 1, Tier 2, and so on—for both zombies and humans."

"So far, it's mostly Tier 1 and Tier 2 zombies. No confirmed Tier 3s yet."

Chris scrolled through his phone, reading off the details. "According to the post, Tier 1 zombies have strength in the 200 to 400-pound range. Tier 2s are between 600 and 1,000. No data yet on Tier 3s."

Ethan frowned. "So the authorities already have people at peak Tier 2 strength?"

"Definitely. We're out here swinging metal bars. They've got machine guns and rocket launchers. Not exactly a fair fight."

"True. They've got the firepower advantage, no question."

Chris nodded. "The forums are flooded with posts about crystal cores now. Tons of people are using them to power up—but even more are dying trying."

"Figures," Ethan said with a sigh. "Feels like this whole apocalypse is one big purge. No telling how many of us will make it out the other side."

"Yeah."

Chris hesitated, then added, "Oh, and the campus subreddit's blowing up too. We're kind of... trending."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Judging by your face, I'm guessing it's not the good kind of trending?"

Chris gave a dry laugh. "Not even close. Some of those assholes from earlier started spreading rumors—said we killed someone to steal a crystal core. Now the whole campus net is calling for our heads."

Ethan's expression darkened. "Should've finished the job when we had the chance."

"They didn't post our names," Chris said, "but they described what we looked like. And then that self-righteous prick from our class—you know the one—decided to play moral hero and outed us."

Ethan stared at him for a beat. "...Figures."

"He's always had it out for us."

"Let it go," Ethan said, voice low. "Let them talk. They haven't seen what the world's really like yet. Once they do, they'll realize just how gentle we've been."

...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.