***Nadia’s PoV in case you guys need this kind of information***

“Mathew…” Nadia muttered under her nose.

She sat down directly on the ground, right on the edge of the broken floor. Her eyes were directed straight down towards the hole that replaced the once-grand staircase of the school’s compound.

‘Just where the hell are you?’ the girl thought, pulling her knees closer towards her chin and then wrapping her hands around her legs.

It’s been only about two hours since Mathew decided to jump down. Even a little less since the outer chunk of the floor collapsed, bringing down all of the police officers but two.

“This is outrageous!”

The commotion took place just to Nadia’s back. A bunch of students from the group Mathew saved were now arguing with the two remaining policemen.

“This isn’t the world from yesterday anymore!” One of the students shouted, heavily gesticulating with his hands. “Police is no more, the military is no more!” he claimed, only to end up with his hand pointing at the older of the two policemen. “In other words, what makes you think you can tell us what to do?!”

‘This fucking idiot,’ Nadia thought, squinting her eyes as she took a glance at the situation.

“How about this?” the policeman didn’t bother arguing with the group. He simply pulled out his gun and retracted its safety. Yet, even though his threat was obvious, he notably didn’t point the gun up, keeping its muzzled aimed at the ground instead.

“How dare you!” Another student joined in, the policeman’s action turning into the water for the man’s mill. “Threatening students with a gun?! Do you really think you can…”

“Yes,” the policeman answered, raising the gun and pointing it at the troublemaker. “I have a gun,” the officer stated as if pointing the weapon at the group wasn’t enough to nail the point. “And what are you going to do about it?”

Like a wave, the group of students backed off, not expecting the policeman to be so forward with his threats.

‘This is bad,’ Nadia thought, bitting down on her lips.

She then stood up and circled around the uppermost floor of the school, trying to keep as much distance from the commotion as she could.

“A small reminder,” one of the saved girls spoke out while hanging on the arm of the burly student that kept at the back of the group. “When Mathew went to fight zombies, he didn’t bring any guns with him,” the girl pointed out with a smirk.

‘Who gave you the right to utter his name?!’ Nadia screamed out in her thoughts, clenching her hands into fists.

The feeling of powerlessness surged through her soul, filling the girl’s mind with sour thoughts.

Nadia was always athletic. From the times of her childhood when she turned a local acrobatic park into her own playground, through the primary and grade school when she excelled in various sports clubs. She even managed to reach a black belt in a well-known martial art, even if she always considered it to be just a fluke.

‘All of that won’t help me in a crowd’s brawl,’ Nadia thought, her teeth threatening to crack if she were to tighten her jaw any further.

“Ah…” Nadia suddenly moaned when her vision blurred.

The girl momentarily lost her sense of self, her blurry vision then turning into the red world she saw before.

A world where she could see everyone’s heart beating, everyone’s blood flowing. A world of no obstacles and complex problems.

“Are you alright?” Nadia heard a voice above her.

‘Huh?’ the girl struggled on her feet. She then shook her head and blinked her eyes, only to realize she somehow ended up on the floor. Only thanks to her outstretched hands did she manage to keep her head from hitting the ground.

“Girl, are you okay?!” the voice from above turned strange.

‘Who?’ Nadia raised her eyes only to see that both of her visions now merged.

The crimson world from before now seemingly faded. All its wonders were still there… just that Nadia had to specifically focus on those peculiarities to notice them.

“I think?” Nadia replied, slowly gathering herself up from the floor. Yet, when she looked up to see the owner of the voice, her entire body froze.

‘The other policeman?’ she thought, instantly turning her eyes towards the man’s partner.

“You won’t scare us!” the turmoil in the middle of the floor continued.

Nadia turned her eyes, already knowing by heart what would happen, even before it would happen.

The older policeman aimed his gun at the students in the front. Yet, with his partner helping Nadia up, there was no one to watch his back.

“DIE!”

BANG!

The law enforcement officer likely developed his sixth sense to its limits… Or he simply paid attention to all the noises and clues of the situation he was in.

The second the idiotic student shouted and then swung his improvised weapon, the policeman bent his knees, twisting his waist as he intentionally fell on his bottom.

BANG!

The powerful noise of the nearby shoot filled the open space of the floor.

‘FUCK!’ Nadia nearly screamed out when the loud noise seemingly threatened to split her head open.

The unlucky student never finished his swing. At first, he simply froze in place. Then, the metal pipe fell out of his hand, only for the man to follow it right after. By the time his head struck the floor, the student was already dead.

“STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” The policeman paid no attention to the corpse. He swung his torso back only to pull the gun closer towards his chest.

Rather than going for the cinematic long-hold with his hands stretched out, he opted for a more efficient and maneuverable stance.

“Drop down or drop dead!” the policeman who helped Nadia before joined the fray, pulling his gun out and aiming it at the group.

‘So that’s why he came to me,’ Nadia noticed when she realized just how smart the law enforcement officers’ position was.

By staying together, they would be susceptible to a rush attack. A charge heated enough for the group not to stop even if one or two shots were fired would be enough to discount the advantage of firearms of the policemen.

Yet, by splitting apart, leaving the more experienced soldier close to the danger while putting the other one a bit away, with a better angle over the entire group…

Now, the students had no physical ways of subduing both of the officers at once. Since they numbered around twenty, there was a huge chance both the policemen had just enough ammo in their guns to kill them all before reloading!

And in this new situation, despite one of the students dying, the rest quickly fell to the ground.

‘Right,’ Nadia released the air from her lungs, only now realizing that she held her breath back. ‘They are only students, not zombies nor veterans,’ she thought, her body relaxing a bit.

Yet, there was one thing that kept the girl worried, despite the situation quickly de-escalating.

Now that everyone’s blood was pumping under the kick of adrenaline…

Nadia could feel a strange lust for that rushing blood as if an ancient, innate hunger awoke inside her!