Starter Scrolls: by Nick Venom (best ereader for graphic novels txt) 📖

ducking behind cars whenever seeing zombies. There weren’t many, but he had no confidence in a fight. Instead, he wanted to fight only when necessary.

He observed the zombies during his walk---which took more than five minutes---noticing differences compared to his picture of the undead. They acted differently, some not paying attention to any sounds while others were hypersensitive. They moved in hordes but moved strategically. Once they believed that there was no more prey, they left and searched for new clumps of prey, leaving behind zombies to patrol their old feasting grounds. It was strangely beautiful.

Then it wasn’t.

As Rin came upon the school, he found a gruesome sight. Four police cars were stationed outside of the school, blood covering them. The corpses of officers could be identified through their attire. Light blue shirts and tan khakis mixed with the corpses of citizens. Rin approached the corpses, keeping an eye on the zombies nearby. He heard the growls and snarls of zombies, but they appeared to be inside the school.

Rin crouched down to inspect the officers’ corpses, noticing that they had been eviscerated, their blood puddling around them. The corpses had been disgraced by the zombies, feces resting on their faces and piss mixing with the blood. It was a disgraceful sight to officers trying to protect the school of children.

“Help!” He heard a high-pitch voice shout. He picked his head up, surveying his surroundings. He was slightly shocked by hearing a human voice, expecting only the undead to be roaming freely.

He saw a girl his age with blonde hair and ghost-white skin, wearing their high school uniform of a tee shirt and trousers, running towards him. The school didn’t want them to be wearing restrictive clothing, but also not wear inappropriate clothing, agreeing on a middle-area with the parent council.

The girl was running at her maximum speed towards Rin. Behind her were three quick zombies that ran faster than Rin expected. He brandished the M1911, waving the girl to move off towards the side. She sidestepped to her left, continuing to sprint towards him.

Rin closed one eye as the other tried to focus into the small back and front sights, peering at the quick zombies. He grabbed the gun with both hands, steadying it. 

He laid his finger in front of the trigger, his eyes preparing the bullet. With his eye trained on the closest zombie, he slowed his breathing and closed his other eye as he took the shot. He opened both eyes, amazed to see the bullet hitting the zombie, in the gut. Rin was aiming for the head, missing it by leagues. Even so, he still managed to hit the zombie at a considerable distance.

The zombie collapsed to the ground, still alive but wounded. The other two zombies breezed past the collapsed one, continuing the chase.

Rin pointed the M1911 at the second one, slowing his breathing while lining up the shot. When confident that it’ll hit, he released the bullet, closing both eyes. When he opened it, the zombie was dead, a surprising headshot.

The last zombie trudged forward, decreasing the distance between the girl and it. Rin lined up the shot, carefully tracking it. He pressed the trigger, the kickback hurting his shoulder a bit. The bullet fell short, nicking the zombie’s foot. It continued trudging forward, nearly reaching the girl. 

“Damn it!” Rin shouts to himself, tracking the third zombie again. He slowed his breathing, carefully monitoring the zombie. He led the bullet, pointing it at the girl instead of the zombie. He waited a few moments, the zombie nearing the girl, before pressing the trigger. The bullet flew out of the chamber, striking the zombie in the neck. The zombie collapsed, hitting the ground head first as the girl fled to Rin, arriving at his side. 

“Are you okay?” He asked the girl. She nodded, trembling. “What’s your name?”

“A… Ashley.” She whispered, her voice wavering. “P-Please help me,” She had blood staining her shirt.

“Did they…” He was afraid of saying it. “Did they bite you?”

Ashley shook her head, her cheeks flushed. Rin slowly moved his hand to her forehead, checking her temperature. She didn’t appear to have a fever. “Okay, you should be fine. However, if you have a fever or are vomiting blood, tell me.” He instructed her,

She nodded her head, her body still trembling.

“I’m going inside the school, will you follow me?” He asked.

She shook her head. “Monsters are inside. They’ve trapped the others in the gym. It’s suicide to go inside.” She told him.

“My friend is inside. I have to go in and save her. At the very least, I should…” His voice trailed off as he looked at the school. It was shaped in a rectangle with one inverted corner. The main entrance was placed in the inverted corner, overlooking the crossroads.

“Your friend could be dead al-” She began. Rin glared at her, cutting her off.

“I’ll deal with my business, you do the same for yours.” He told her coldly, taking a step forward towards the school. Ashley lingered behind him, debating on whether or not she should follow Rin or venture on her own. 

Rin approached the front door, peering into the pixilated window. Bullets had nearly shattered the windows. He did his best to see inside the school, seeing blood staining the hallways. Blood was everywhere and a few zombies doused themselves in it. There wasn’t a large horde waiting for Rin, but a few stragglers.

“I’m coming with you,” Ashley told him, crouching down aside an officer’s corpse. She grabbed a pistol and stood up, pointing the pistol at the ground. She fiddled with the gun, not realizing one of her fingers was resting on the trigger. A bullet was discharged, denting the ground and bouncing up. She stumbled backward, escaping the bouncing bullet’s attack range.

Rin turned around, his eyes furrowed and lips pointed downward. “What are you doing? Hand that over!” He whisper-shouted. She sheepishly handed the gun over to him. He stashed it in his bag before handing Ashley the hammer. He took the screwdriver for himself.

“Keep close to me, don’t stray away. Use the hammer when I tell you to - or when your life’s in danger.” He told her. She nodded, following Rin as he opened the unlocked door and stepped inside. 

The two crept inside, carefully tiptoeing further into the room. Rin stuck close to the wall, on the left of the entrance, and peered down a hallway that ran through the entire length of the rectangular building. The long hallway proved to be filled with threats as a small horde festered in there.

“We’re not going into that hallway, get ready to sprint over,” Rin told Ashley. She nodded. Rin looked at the area five feet away from him. The hallway entrance was on his left then there was a wall that housed a small aquarium and a painting of a general from the American Revolution, then ten feet ahead of it and four feet to its right was the entrance to the second hallway.

“3… 2… 1… Go!” He whispered, sprinting towards the wall. He stopped once his body was out of sight from the horde. Ashley immediately followed him, barely escaping the sight of one curious zombie. The zombie looked up, staring at the entrance of the hallway, before looking back down and chewing on something that Rin couldn’t identify. It has to be a corpse, right? It can’t be like… zombie food?

Rin looked away from the hallway looking at Ashley, who stood in front of him. He took the lead, carefully moving towards the second hallway that stretched the width of the school, ending at a black door---which led to the outside---and a staircase that brought students to their second-floor classes.

He peered down the hallway, finding one zombie munching on a corpse. Aside from the lone zombie, it was empty.

Rin adjusted his view on the zombie, noticing an eye peering at him. It was the eye of the human that was being feasted on, looking pitifully at Rin.

“What’s wrong?” Ashley whispered, peering over his shoulder at the horrific sight. Her eyes widened, taking in the sight of the corpse and the single eyeball staring at them.

She turned around, retching. She had no fluids to spare for vomit.

“Shhh, stop.” He whispered, keeping his eyes on the zombie in front of him. It stopped mid-chew, looking up. It turned his head slowly, staring creepily at Rin. Chills ran through his body, shaking him.

Ashley finished retching, turning her head to face the zombie. It had noticed the both of them, slowly rising. However, it idled in one spot, its jaw dislocating. It let out a loud shriek before stopping then shrieking again. It repeated the process of letting out a few-second shriek before silencing itself then letting out the same shriek again.

Rin stumbled backward, gripping the M1911 tightly. He turned around, hearing a stampede of feet trudging towards him from the hallway he passed by. He turned towards Ashley, who shared a frightened look with him.

He quickly walked over to the first hallway, peering down it and confirming his fears. The zombies had heard the zombie, which Rin quickly dubbed as a Siren, and was now trudging towards them.

“We need to go!” Rin shouted, turning towards the front doors. The Siren had attracted zombies from outside, banging on the front doors. They were now surrounded.

Ashley brandished the screwdriver, her hand trembling. She was too afraid to kill any of them.

Rin, on the other hand, scanned his surroundings for a way out. It was either through the Siren, versus the hordes on his left and the horde behind him. The only safe way was through the Siren.

“Let’s go!” He shouted, brandishing the M1911 and pointing it at the Siren. He didn't hold it with both hands, the gun swerving. He couldn’t get an accurate shot on the zombie but was closing the distance between it and him. He fired off a bullet, nicking the zombie’s stomach and hitting the wall behind the monster. The next bullet he fired was a dud, Rin’s unsteady arm throwing off his arm. 

He steadied his arm with his other hand, the screwdriver in his left hand acting as support. Rin closed both eyes as he pressed the trigger, opening it to see that the bullet missed by a longshot. Rin pressed the trigger again but shot blanks. The M1911 pistol carried only seven bullets in a magazine - and he was out.

Without the time to reload, Rin threw the M1911 at Ashley, who caught it easily, before charging towards the zombie. He sprinted into the zombie, throwing the screwdriver into the zombie’s head. By mere luck, he managed to pierce the zombie instead of missing and being chomped on. It roared in pain---Pain?---before falling on its back. 

“Find an empty classroom. They’re going to collapse on us, we need a secure place to stay at!” He shouted, disregarding his earlier attempts of being silent. Ashley nodded, trying the nearest classroom door and finding it unlocked. She walked in, scanning the surroundings before motioning Rin in. He nodded but didn’t move an inch. He needed to deal with a threat before they threw themselves into the classroom. He ripped the screwdriver out of the Siren’s head, raising it into the hair. He hurled it towards the Siren’s temple, keeping his eyes open long enough to assist it downward. The screwdriver pierced the temple, causing the zombie to go limp. It was dead.

“They’re coming in!” Ashley shrieked. Rin picked up his gaze, focusing it on the zombies entering the hallway. He turned towards the screwdriver, trying to rip it out of the zombie’s skull, but something had wedged itself too deep. He gave up on it, diving into the open classroom before Ashley shut it closed, locking the door. 

Both teens collapsed to the door with the threat not looming over them. For the moment, at least, they were safe. For now.

Rin and Ashley moved away from the door to prevent the zombies from seeing them, stacking desks and chairs