The fear on Gaurav's face twisted into something darker—anger. Not the kind that shouts or cries, but the sharp, burning kind that can make someone do something reckless.
"I'm going," he growled, already pushing himself off the floor. "I'm not leaving my sister in there."
Before he could take a single step, Aditya grabbed his collar and shoved him back. "You think you're the only one who cares?" His voice was cold but not emotionless. "We all want to save her. And not just her—the others too."
Gaurav lunged toward him, ready to turn this into a full-on fight. I stepped in fast, grabbing Aditya's wrist and pulling him back.
"That's enough!" I snapped. "We will save them—but not like this. Charging in blind will get them killed. And us too."
Jay stepped forward, trying to defuse the tension. "Right now, the safest place for them is exactly where they are. If they've locked themselves inside the classroom—and they probably have—they've bought us time."
"Yeah," Amrit added. "I'll head to the roof. Check zombie movement. See how much time we actually have."
Without another word, he disappeared up the stairs.
Aditya went to prepare... something. He didn't say what, but we all trusted he knew what he was doing.
That left me, Jay, and Gaurav. We sat down on the edge of a bunk bed in the dim hostel hallway. Gaurav was still seething, fists clenched, jaw locked tight. Like a time bomb ticking steadily under pressure.
I knew we didn't have time to waste. I looked at Jay. "Let's just focus on the rescue. What do we have? What can we do?"
I offered the only idea that came to mind. "We split into two teams. One stays here and protects the students we've already rescued. The other goes after the girls."
It wasn't genius. It was survival instinct. But Jay's eyes flickered with something sharper—he had a plan. A real one.
But he seemed to be waiting.
I caught on quickly and called for Aditya and Amrit to come back down.
Once everyone was seated around the dim common room table, Jay finally laid it out.
"Gaurav. Aditya. You two stay here," he said, voice clear and calm. "The younger students are panicking. If something goes wrong here, we lose everything. Samarth, Amrit, and I will go get the girls."
Gaurav's expression hardened again, but before he could object, Jay raised a hand.
"Before you argue—this isn't open for debate. Any changes to the plan, any additions or removals from the team, and it won't work. This only succeeds with exactly three of us going."
Then he turned to me.
"But the final call is yours, Samarth."
That confused me for a second. If there was to be no objection, then what kind of final decision did I even have?
Before I could ask, Jay moved on.
"We'll use the control room. If we can get there, we can play a pre-recorded sound clip on the loudspeakers near the sports field. The moment the speakers turn on, the zombies should get distracted and head that way, leaving the classroom side relatively clear."
"Why only three people?" Aditya asked, finally speaking up.
Jay answered smoothly. "The more people we take, the more human scent we carry. The greater the chance of attracting zombies. A small team makes less noise, moves faster, and has less risk of detection."
It makes sense.
I looked toward Aditya again. "What about weapons? If we had guns, this would be a hundred times easier."
"They're in the generator room," he said. "Way too far. We won't make it there and back in time."
He disappeared into his room and returned a few minutes later, dragging a bundle of bent metal rods. He dropped them on the floor with a clank.
"Broke these off the bedframes. They're light enough to swing, strong enough to break bones."
I picked one up. Not ideal—but it would work.
And when it came to rescuing them… it had to.