Chapter 1: It All Starts from the School Building
1222 Words
Monday, 3:45 p.m., the sun hung high in the sky.
At Qingsong University, in Zhixing Building.
It was the long break between two afternoon classes, and the entire teaching building buzzed with hurried students, clutching their books and water bottles as they rushed to their next class or scrambled from their dorms.
“I should’ve brought my bag down with me. The constant roadwork outside the school has killed the signal.” Chen Zixuan clung to Li Changqing’s arm, squinting up at the crimson “Fourth Floor” sign on the stairwell. She then glanced down at her phone, the crystal pendant dangling off it, staring at the signal bar that displayed nothing but an exclamation mark.
“Think of it as exercise. I told you, you could’ve waited downstairs with Xuewen and the others, I’d have brought your bag myself.” Li Changqing shifted the transparent plastic bag on her shoulder, filled with colored paper, balloons, rolls of tape, and two pairs of scissors. As they climbed to the sixth-floor computer lab, the number of students around them gradually dwindled.
“How could I let you come up alone? Of course, I’m coming with you...” Chen Zixuan, clinging to Li Changqing’s arm, was about to playfully pout when—
Thud!
“Hey, are you—”
“Student, are you alright?”
“Someone’s down!”
Li Changqing, a step away from the fourth-floor landing, stopped abruptly. Her ponytail swung against her cheek as she turned, just in time to see a black backpack slide off the shoulder of a tall, sturdy male student, who collapsed face-first onto the stairwell, convulsing. His water bottle shattered and tumbled down the steps with a clatter.
“Changqing, did someone faint?” Chen Zixuan tugged at her arm, confused, but Li Changqing was already moving toward the growing crowd.
“Make way, make way!” she shouted, pushing through. “I’ve been trained in first aid. Give me space! Someone call emergency services.”
The boy’s figure was already obscured by shadows as Li Changqing knelt beside him. Instead of immediately turning him over, she gently patted his face.
“Hey, can you still speak?”
“Do you have any awareness left?”
A few taller male students raised their phones toward the hallway’s exit.
“There’s still no signal. Anyone get through?”
“No, nothing!”
“It's been two hours without any service! What kind of lousy school is this? Who’s responsible if someone dies?”
Chen Zixuan began to descend the stairs slowly. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something dark fall past the window outside the stairwell.
What?
She froze. Then, a dull thud echoed through the corridor, causing everyone to instinctively look up.
The sound was like a heavy bag of books being thrown from the sixth floor.
Was that... a person?
Chen Zixuan was dumbfounded, lost for a second in the swirling winds of panic. Her gaze fell through the gap in the stairs, where she saw the panicked crowd below scattering like ants. A cacophony of footsteps buzzed around her like a swarm of angry bees.
No, no, that was definitely a person. They even waved at me! “Someone jumped! Someone just jumped!” Chen Zixuan gasped, covering her mouth in shock, pointing at the window as her knees nearly buckled. Her scream snapped Li Changqing back to reality. The boy lying on the ground, his face down, had turned a deathly pale, with a faint tinge of blue creeping up his neck. As she leaned closer, she noticed his veins bulging grotesquely, pulsing as if they were about to burst. Blood-tinged foam began to drip from his mouth.
Am I actually describing a vein as pulsing?
A chill ran down Li Changqing’s spine. She watched, horrified, as the boy’s eyes rolled back in his head, slowly turning toward her. Suddenly, something cold dripped onto her face. She wiped it away with a trembling hand—it was bright red.
Li Changqing looked up and saw several students who had been standing around the boy now bleeding from their noses.
“Why am I bleeding?”
“Me too... is it just the heat?”
Thud!
Before anyone could finish their thought, another student, wearing a floral shirt, collapsed face-first onto the ground. The air seemed to freeze for a second. Li Changqing’s gaze flicked downward, catching a glimpse of a woman... was she kissing? No, she was gnawing at a male student’s neck, right where his carotid artery should be.
“Ugh... ugh...”
A few agonized groans broke the silence. Li Changqing turned her head. The boy in the black jacket, who had just been unconscious, was now reaching out toward her, his fingers contorting unnaturally. His dull, grayish eyes locked onto hers, radiating a menacing, icy malice.
For a brief second, they stared at each other.
Primal instinct kicked in. Li Changqing recognized the danger in his gaze. Above the chaotic shuffle of feet, she finally heard voices, distinct and terrifying.
“Run! They’re biting people!”
“Don’t bite me! Please, don’t!”
“Are you all dogs?!”
The panicked footsteps were accompanied by screams as a group of students, both men and women, barreled down the stairs, nearly knocking Chen Zixuan off balance.
Li Changqing’s face was pale, her body drenched in cold sweat. She pressed her hands against the ground and practically leapt to her feet.
Something was changing in these collapsed students—something dangerous. She grabbed Chen Zixuan by the arm and turned, her pupils reflecting the twisted forms of those who had fallen, now standing with dislocated joints. Her once calm, soothing voice cracked with terror, rising into a sharp cry.
“Run!”
The plastic bag in her hand whipped through the air, slapping the black-jacketed boy across the face. He didn’t flinch, but twisted his neck slightly, as if to speak, only to groan:
“Hunger...”
In a flash, Li Changqing was already dragging the stunned, speechless Chen Zixuan up the stairs. The red-painted “Fourth Floor” sign flashed before her eyes.
“Ah!”
“Get away!”
“What’s happening?!”
“Help!”
The stairwell was filled with screams. Li Changqing, still gripping Chen Zixuan, shouted to the students rushing down, “There’s danger downstairs! People are attacking others!”
But no one listened. Like animals fleeing from a predator, they continued to stampede downwards in a mad rush.
Screams of agony echoed through the building. Li Changqing, panting heavily, kicked aside scattered blue backpacks, books, and water bottles strewn across the fifth-floor hallway. The corridors, too, were now overrun with frenzied students, chasing and biting each other.
Blood seeped from the stairwell, staining a spilled cup of sticky-sweet glutinous rice milk tea.
“Ah!”
“Don’t bite me! Please, don’t!”
On the fifth-floor landing, a senior girl in a pink dress, her long hair disheveled, dangled a silver earring that shook violently as a crazed classmate grabbed her shoulder. Her bloodstained face twisted in despair as she reached out toward Li Changqing, her slender wrist adorned with a black hair tie.
“Save... me... please...”
Li Changqing, horrified by the macabre scene, nearly missed a step and tumbled forward.
- Writer
