Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Clearing the Second Building
After entering the second floor of the second building on campus, Zane was not entirely surprised to find more Walkers waiting for him and the girls. Why was this the case? In fact, Zane honestly thought it was a miracle that the noise from the shop classes had not aggro’d these monsters.

Zane was emotionless as he gripped his club in both hands as if it were a baseball bat before swinging it like a designated hitter straight at the skull of the first walker who pounced at him. A normal baseball bat in and off itself was more than capable of caving in the skull of a human being. Or, in this case, a walking corpse.

But these bats were even more brutal as they were fire hardened and coated in steel bands at the top. The Walker’s hand was practically smashed into bits in a frightening display of violence. Yet Zane did not have time to rest, because immediately afterward another walker charged at him, closing the distance in a second.

Realizing that he was in a difficult situation, Zane wrapped the club around the creature’s neck for control, and quickly grappled it to the floor with a sweep, where he then caved in its skull with a solid strike.

Elena was already accustomed to fighting with sticks, but they usually took the form of a sword rather than a club. Still, she had experience fighting either in judo competitions or kendo competitions. And because of this she quickly joined in to assist Zane, taking a front line position as she wielded the club with expert efficiency, smashing skulls part left and right.

The only member of the trio who hesitated to engage in violence was Olivia, who trembled with her club in her hands, not knowing what to do. While Zane was dead inside, and could not care in the slightest about doing something like killing. And Elena was accustomed to fighting already and had entered a state of fight or flight. Olivia was a different matter.

She had never once encountered a violent situation, and to see herself suddenly forced to swing a bat at what used to be her students, or at least students at the school she taught at. It was a terrifying thing for her to do.

Her body was telling her to run away to safety, but where exactly was safe in this world now that the apocalypse had begun? It wasn’t until Zane shouted her name in a monotone voice did the young woman snap out of her terror.

“Olivia! Don’t just stand there… Start swinging!”

This was probably the first time the teacher had heard Zane raise his voice in the last four years she had known him. And though his voice was as emotionless as ever, the fact that he shouted meant he desperately needed her help. Thus, the mature silver haired beauty took a deep breath before charging at one of the Walkers, which was attempting to attack Zane from the side.

She swung the bat with absolutely no technique and bonked the creature on the head. While it didn’t outright split the skull open, the attack did successfully manage to knock the creature to the ground. Where Olivia finished off with tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

By the time Olivia had finished hitting the undead monstrosity in the skull, Zane and Elena had finished off the others that were an immediate threat to them. Leaving Olivia to stare at the coagulated blood which coated her club and her hands with trembling vision.

There were tears falling from the teacher’s blue eyes as she gazed at her own gruesome handiwork. This was the first time she ever had to kill anything before, and it was a truly dreadful feeling to know that she had just “murdered” a student.

Zane, however, scoffed as he gazed upon the distraught appearance of his former homeroom teacher, before outright mocking her for her weakness.

“What are you crying about? They were already dead. If you continue with that attitude, you won’t survive for much longer…”

Elena was outraged by Zane’s utter lack of humanity, and immediately chastised him in between consoling Olivia with a hug.

“It’s going to be alright Miss Bennett… Everything will be fine… Zane! How can you be so cruel! It’s obvious that Miss Bennett hasn’t ever been involved with such violence before! Can’t you see she’s shaken up?”

Zane was just about to mock Elena for consoling a lost cause when Olivia interrupted him. The mature silver haired beauty wiped the tears from her eyes, before wearing a stern expression on her face, all the while pushing Elena aside.

“It’s fine, Zane is right… I don’t have the luxury to be so weak, nobody does. Such a thing will only get you killed. Oh, and by the way Elena, I’m no longer your homeroom teacher so you don’t have to call me Miss Bennett anymore, just call me Olivia…”

After saying this, Olivia picked up the club, which had slipped from her trembling fingers, and walked over to Zane’s side. There was a look of fierce determination on her pretty face, almost as if she had come to some kind of conclusion thanks to Zane’s harsh words. She then stuck very closely to Zane as she said the words, which shocked Elena, who was watching from afar.

“I will do whatever it takes to survive! But… I can’t do it on my own… Won’t you take pity on me and keep me by your side?”

Zane looked at his former homeroom teacher with a curious expression. Though his dark eyes were as dull and expressionless as ever, there was a hint of complication in them. He had until recently decided to walk this path alone. After all, if he was on his own, then the dead would pose no threat to him.

There was just one problem with this line of thinking. The most dangerous beings in this world weren’t the hordes of walking dead, but those living beings who managed to survive in this apocalyptic wasteland. This was made evident to him by the encounter with Ryan and his gang earlier.

If those fools were bold enough to try to rob him, then who’s to say that everyone else he encountered wouldn’t do the same? It was with this in mind that Zane decided he needed allies in this cruel world. And by the looks of it, neither Olivia nor Elena had cause to betray him.

Olivia took Zane’s silence as a sign that he was rejecting her, and thus she had a downcast expression as she tried to think how to entice the young man into accepting her as a companion.

While Zane continued to debate internally, the mature beauty grabbed hold of his hands, pleading with him, and even offering something she had never thought of doing before in exchange for his protection and guidance.

“Please Zane… I’ll do anything… I mean anything! Just protect me!”

Zane scoffed at the mature beauty, who had quite literally just offered her body to him in exchange for his protection. But rather than take advantage of this situation, he instead simply reached into his pocket and pulled out two small blood crystals, one of which he presented to his former homeroom teacher.

“I have more important things to worry about right now. If you really want to stay by my side, eat this, and maybe I can keep you as a pack mule.”