𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄: 𝐒𝟏 - Chapter 3: We Have to Kill Him

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Dhammawitaya School – 8:53 a.m.

The air stank of blood and sweat and fear. Not the usual fear of tests or teachers. This was animal fear. Primal. The kind that vibrated in the bones and made your stomach churn.

Jet wiped blood from his cheek. It wasn’t his. Yet.

Across the AV room, Tae was kneeling beside a body. One of the younger students. Bitten. Unconscious. Still warm.

Not moving. Not dead.

But not… alive either.

“He’s turning,” Jet said, voice low.

Tae looked up, eyes wide. “No. Not yet.”

“Look at the veins.”

Black. Webbed. Creeping like poison under the skin.

“We don’t know for sure,” Tae whispered.

Jet crouched beside him. “Tae…”

“He was in my science group. He’s never even been in a fight.”

Jet’s hand found Tae’s wrist. Squeezed gently. “I know. But if we wait too long…”

The boy twitched.

Tae flinched.

Jet pulled his knife slowly from his belt.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

But when he stood over the boy, his fingers didn’t move. The blade trembled in his hand.

“Shit,” Jet muttered. “I—can’t.”

Tae stood. Took the knife.

Didn’t say a word.

And ended it in one clean motion.

---

9:02 a.m.

Mew was covered in blood.

Not hers.

Not all of it, anyway.

The underclassman boy was sobbing in the corner, rocking back and forth.

The infected girl lay twisted on the floor, blade still in her throat.

Mew sat down slowly, her hands shaking. Her body ached. Her soul felt hollow.

The boy whispered, “You killed her.”

“She was already gone.”

“She was my sister.”

Mew closed her eyes. “Then I saved what was left of her.”

---

Down the hall, Rin and Sol moved quietly. Stealth mode.

They’d seen too much already. Students ripped apart. A teacher jumping out a window. A girl dragging her own intestines across the stairwell, still trying to bite someone.

Sol’s legs were weak. But he kept walking.

Rin stopped him by the chemistry room.

“I think someone’s inside.”

“How do you know?”

“I heard breathing.”

“Could be a survivor.”

“Could be worse.”

Sol stepped forward.

Rin grabbed his wrist. “Wait. Let me go first.”

Sol froze, surprised at the gesture. “Since when do you care?”

“I don’t,” Rin said. “I just know you’d get killed trying to help someone.”

He pushed the door open slowly.

Inside: a boy. Sitting on the counter. Drawing.

Black marker. Blood on his fingers.

Eli Thawin.

He looked up. Smiled. “You made it.”

Sol blinked. “Eli? What are you doing here?”

“Waiting.”

“For what?”

Eli tilted his head.

Then he turned the sketchpad toward them.

It showed Sol and Rin. Standing in this very room.

Behind them, drawn in jagged lines—a zombie’s shadow.

Suddenly, the air changed.

Rin turned—

Just in time to slam the door shut as an infected student lunged from the hallway.

They heard it slam into the door. Over and over.

Rin locked it. Stepped back.

Eli didn’t flinch. “You were supposed to come. I drew this three days ago.”

Sol stared. “How could you know?”

“I see things,” Eli said simply.

Sol noticed the bandage on Eli’s neck. “Are you hurt?”

Eli smiled. “Not really.”

“You’re bitten.”

“I’m fine.”

Rin was silent. But his hand was on the knife again.

---

9:16 a.m.

Jet and Tae found their way to the rooftop.

Bodies. Blood. Silence.

Jet sat down hard, arms resting on his knees.

“Can I be honest?” he asked.

Tae looked at him, wary. “Yeah.”

“I’m scared as hell.”

“I know.”

“You’re the only reason I haven’t lost it.”

Tae lowered his gaze. “You’re the only reason I’m still alive.”

They sat in silence.

Then Jet added, quietly, “If I get bitten…”

“Don’t.”

“I mean it.”

“Don’t say it.”

“I need to know you’ll end it.”

Tae looked at him, eyes glassy. “I already did it once today.”

Jet reached over and brushed a smudge of blood from Tae’s cheek.

“Don’t let me become one of them.”

Tae swallowed. Nodded.

Then they heard footsteps.

Too fast. Too loud.

They turned.

And saw Tinn Kavee.

Blood on his shirt. Bite on his arm.

Smiling.

Alive.

Or… something close to it.

“You left me behind,” he said softly.

Jet stood. “Tinn? You’re—”

Tinn grinned. “Better than ever.”

---

9:24 a.m.

In the science room, Rin still hadn’t taken his eyes off Eli.

“You’re not normal,” Rin said coldly.

“No one in this school is anymore,” Eli replied.

Sol stepped closer. “What do you see, Eli? In your drawings?”

“Death,” Eli whispered.

Then, quietly, “But not yours.”

He looked at Sol. “You don’t die here.”

Rin snorted. “Good for him.”

Eli looked at Rin next.

“But you do.”

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