Red Winter - /Haikyuu/

10. From the Other Side

Blood.

There was so much blood. And so much screaming. Daichi held the locker room door shut as best as he could, even with the mass of growling creatures outside banging with all their might.

"We need something to barricade it!" Tsukishima spoke through clenched teeth, and it was the loudest Daichi had ever heard him talk.

"I-I can't see anything we can use." Yachi cried, hiccuping a little as she sobbed in fright.

"God damn it, someone help me keep this door shut!" Daichi growled, and a timid Kinoshita stepped up to the job. The door knob turned over and over as the creatures tried to open it. How did those fumbling things know how to open a door? Nonetheless, they couldn't get inside, unless they kept banging on it. How many of them were there? Dozens?

"We need to get our of here! Before they break in and eat us like they ate that boy out there." A girl Daichi didn't recognize spoke up.

"Isn't there another exit here? Somewhere?" A boy said, frantically searching for another door, one that wasn't getting destroyed by cannibal creatures.

"I'll go look around for one." Tsukishima volunteered, disappearing behind a row of lockers. Kinoshita yelped as the door cracked open slightly, fingers reaching through the crack. Daichi quickly slammed his entire body weight into it, a cracking sound filling the air as the fingers got crushed. Kinoshita grimaced, and Daichi held back the urge to vomit. "I found an emergency exit!" Daichi barely heard Tsukishima's yelling. His body was going numb with all the force he was using.

"Go! Everyone, go! We'll be right there!" Kinoshita cried out, and the other students began pouring out of the locker room.

"Kinoshita, I need you to go first. Okay?" Daichi spoke quickly, the words sliding out of his mouth. Kinoshita simply nodded, face full of uneasiness. The boy ran towards the exit, leaving Daichi alone. Or so he thought.

"Daichi, I-I've got a knife! I can help!" Yachi's terrified voice almost made him lose his concentration.

"Yachi?! What are you doing? Get out of here!" Daichi yelled, but she shook her head.

"No, you don't understand. I can help." She insisted, and Daichi felt his shoulders drop with an invisible weight. "I'm not just going to leave you here."

"On the count of three, I am going to let go of the door. Make sure you run for your life." He spoke so seriously that the young girl jumped, looking around anxiously.

"Okay." Yachi agreed.

"1..." The air felt stagnant. "2..." He held his breath. "...3!" The two teens made a dash for the exit, running out of the locker room without second thoughts. Daichi slammed the exit door shut in the face of one of the creatures, breathing so heavily he was afraid his lungs would stop working. To his dismay, the only people left outside was a random girl, Tsukishima, and Kinoshita.

"The others all ran off." Tsukishima explained in a calm tone, arms crossed as he nonchalantly leaned against a wall as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"I thought I said we should stick together." Daichi muttered, and a pang of fear resonated in his heart. The rest of the team, what happened to them? They could be dead in a ditch somewhere... Or infected... Or worse, eaten alive. Daichi tried to push the image of his teammates being gutted from his mind. "Why did you three stay, then?"

"I was too scared to run.." The girl said.

"I didn't want to leave you." Kinoshita said.

"I didn't want to be stuck with a bunch of scaredy cats who won't do anything to defend themselves. And I need to find Yamaguchi." Tsukishima said.