Chapter 437 The Dean’s Rounds
The pounding footsteps came first.
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Barrett turned just in time to see a male zombie tearing down the corridor in a shredded basketball jersey.
Half his chest was gone, a jagged hole where ribs stuck out like broken pickets. The skin had healed over in a hard, dark scab, but every stride yanked it open again. Bone scraped against what was left of his chest muscle, grinding the flesh raw.
Thick ck veins crawled over his skin like dead ivy. His run was all wrong–wild, jerky, but somehow fast enough to close the distance in seconds.
“Rraghhh!”
<i>Wham</i><i>! </i>
A baseball bat cracked against the side of his skull, dropping him to the floor. Before he could twitch, three more bats came down in a frenzy of swings.
Heidi and two other girls clung to their bats, peeking from behind the boys.
Barrett stepped in with the boys, swinging until their arms felt like lead.
<i>This </i>is <i>ridiculous</i>. His teeth clenched with every blow. <i>Theresa </i><i>takes </i><i>them </i><i>out </i>with <i>one </i><i>hit</i><i>, </i>like it’s <i>nothing</i>. <i>Why </i><i>the </i><i>hell </i><i>is </i><i>this </i><i>zombie’s </i><i>skull </i><i>made </i><i>of </i><i>concrete</i>?
<i>The </i><i>bone </i><i>refuses </i><i>to </i><i>break</i>. <i>The </i><i>skin </i><i>is </i><i>tougher </i><i>than </i><i>leather</i>.
Are <i>we </i><i>fighting </i><i>the </i><i>same </i><i>kind </i><i>she </i><i>is</i><i>? </i><i>Or </i><i>are </i><i>ours </i><i>just </i><i>the </i><i>reject </i><i>batch </i><i>that </i>won’t <i>die</i>?
After what felt like forever, the male zombie finally stopped moving. Blood and brain matter painted the floor. Barrett crouched down, prying a gleamstone from the wreck of its head.
When he looked up, Theresa had already cleared the whole floor and was halfway to the stairs.
“Hustle! Stay on her!” he snapped, and the group scrambled to keep up.
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Chapter 437 The Dean’s Rounds
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On the fourth floor, Theresa slowed.
This was the sophomore level, and every ssroom they passed was crammed wall–to–wall with zombie students.
Her brow furrowed. Last time she was here, this floor had been empty–only the senior–year students upstairs were infected.
She tried one door.
<i>Click</i><i>. </i>
Locked.
Another one. Locked again.
Someone had sealed them in.
Her
gaze slid to Barrett. “This is your handiwork?”
“Me? Hell no,” he panted. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
Theresa’s eyes stayed on the lock. <i>Zombies </i><i>that </i><i>open </i><i>doors </i><i>are </i><i>rare</i><i>. </i><i>Zombies </i><i>that </i><i>lock </i><i>them</i>? Never <i>seen </i><i>it</i>.
<i>If </i><i>high</i><i>–</i><i>level </i><i>zombies </i><i>can </i><i>do </i><i>this</i><i>… </i><i>that’s </i><i>going </i><i>to </i><i>be </i><i>a </i><i>problem</i><i>. </i>
She was still turning it over in her head when the bell rang again.
“It’sing,” Barrett warned, voice low.
Theresa followed his eyes to the third floor below.
The setting sun poured in from the left, bathing the open corridor in gold, and there he was.
A hulking male zombie in a gray Polo Shirt limped away from the office building. One step was almost effortless, while the next was forceful. His bald head glistened in the light, surrounded by a ragged ring of wiry curls. Behind his thick, broken sses, his swollen eyes bulged like those of a toad.
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10:55 Sat, 23 Augu
Chapter 437 The Dean’s Rounds
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His body was mostly intact, except for the right leg. From the knee down, there was nothing but bone, gnawed jagged and ckened like dried ham.
Barrett’s mouth tightened. “That was our dean of discipline before he turned. Every afternoon, he ‘checks‘ the teaching block.”
The zombie dean’s milky eyes lifted. He had sensed them.
A low, rasping chuckle scraped out of his throat, almost like metal dragging on
stone.
That dead grin stretched wider, excitement twisting his face. He lunged forward, bone leg shing like a weapon with every step.
“He’s dangerous, we-” Barrett started.
Theresa didn’t wait for the rest. She was already hauling her crew down the stairs, straight toward him.
Barrett stared after her for half a beat.
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