DEGREES OF DEATH

Part 10 – The Uninvited Guest

DEGREES OF DEATH

Daniel froze as he saw the red stain slowly spreading across the gray fabric of Satria’s hoodie. Without looking away, Daniel extended his left arm, signaling firmly for Xavier and the others to back away at once. The atmosphere in the room turned ice cold.

“What is that?” Daniel asked. His voice was low, but razor sharp.

Satria flinched, his eyes darting nervously to his arm. “No … it’s just a scratch from earlier,” he replied, trying to cover the stain with his other hand.

“Take off your jacket. Now.” Daniel ordered flatly. There was no room for negotiation in his tone.

Satria stepped back, a small, strained laugh escaping his pale lips. “It’s … it’s just from a wire fence when I was running. I swear, Niel, just a fence scratch. Not from them.”

Daniel did not budge. Instead, he stepped forward, closing the distance while staying poised to strike. His eyes locked onto Satria’s with an intimidating intensity.

“Take it off, or I throw you outside right now.” Daniel barked. His voice rose an octave, echoing through the silent room and tightening the tension even further. Daniel knew that in situations like this, even the smallest hesitation could end with all of them dead.

“Daniel, watch your mouth. He’s our friend, he needs help.” Alex shouted, trying to intervene. Daniel did not even turn his head. Alex’s voice meant nothing to him in that moment.

Satria pulled back his sleeve with stiff movements. There, just above his elbow, was a long, deep claw mark. The wound looked unnatural, its edges already bruised blue and swollen, showing clear signs of rapid change.

“Are you seriously calling that a normal wound?” Chania whispered grimly.

“It’s just an infection. Please, don’t do this. I’m still human.” Satria shouted. His voice was hoarse and rough, desperation cutting sharply through every word. He looked at Daniel, searching for mercy, but found only eyes as cold as ice.

Daniel showed no emotion. His arm remained outstretched, blocking anyone from stepping closer. To him, Satria was no longer a friend in need of help, but a threat that had to be removed before it was too late.

“Niel … look at his eyes,” Xavier whispered.

Satria’s eyes, once brown, were beginning to turn cloudy white. His pupils dilated, the whites reddening.

“Step back. That scratch has been there for a while. He just…” Daniel stopped mid-sentence and retreated several steps.

“I’m … hungry … please .…” Satria muttered.

Daniel locked his gaze on Satria as the man began to lose control. When thick red fluid suddenly burst from Satria’s nose and his body arched backward at an unnatural angle, his spine jutting grotesquely, Daniel did not look away.

CRACK.

The sound of his spine snapping filled the room. Satria lifted his head, and he was no longer Satria. He lunged at Daniel with terrifying speed.

“Grab a chair, now!” Daniel shouted.

Daniel and Xavier did not try to strike him directly, afraid of coming into contact with his blood. They each grabbed a nearby chair. Moving in sync, they used the chairs as both shields and battering rams.

The chairs slammed into Satria’s chest. Daniel and Xavier pushed with all their strength, forcing the creature backward toward the rear window of the classroom, its glass already partially shattered.

“One … two … push!”

“GRRRRRAAAA!”

Satria clawed at the wooden chair, trying to reach Daniel’s face.

With one final explosive shove, Daniel and Xavier rammed the chairs into Satria’s body right in front of the window. Satria was forced backward, lost his balance, and fell through the window frame.

“AAARRRGGHH!”

The scream cut off abruptly as his body hit the asphalt below. Daniel immediately leaned out to look down. Satria lay motionless, and within seconds, dozens of zombies that had been gathered below swarmed his fallen body.

Daniel let out a rough breath, closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. His gaze was sharp, leaving no room for grief. He wiped the red splatter from his cheek with the back of his hand and looked at each of his friends, who were still frozen in place.

“He … he almost bit us,” Chania whispered, staring blankly at the window.

“Not almost,” Daniel replied quietly but firmly. “I knew it. He stopped being human long before that.”

The classroom fell into a heavy silence. One by one, their breaths became the only sounds in the cramped space, along with the rain that had begun to fall again outside, slapping against the remaining glass.

Chania stayed silent for a moment, as if processing Daniel’s words. “Bites or old scratches,” she said softly. “That means the timing’s different. Some turn fast, others wait until their immune system gives out.”

Daniel exhaled harshly. His gaze shifted from the barricaded door to the small ventilation opening above. “From now on, anyone who gets injured, no matter how small, reports it,” he said, his tone allowing no argument. “No secrets. One lie can get us all killed.”

The others nodded quietly. Silence returned as they moved back to their positions. Daniel dragged a chair over to the rear window and sat down, letting the increasingly harsh sunlight warm his skin. His tightly bandaged right hand throbbed, sending steady waves of pain up to his shoulder.

“Still hurts?”

Daniel turned slightly as Chania approached. He narrowed his eyes against the glare, then let out a short breath. “Still does. Don’t worry, it’s nothing,” he replied curtly, the way he always did when he refused to appear weak.

“I have painkillers and water. Take them first,” Chania said, offering him a tablet and a bottle of mineral water. “You’ve been working nonstop since morning. Carrying heavy bags, even fighting that thing alone. This might help ease the pain, at least for today.”

Daniel fell silent. He did not take it right away, instead frowning at the pill before looking into Chania’s eyes. “Where did you get this? Our supplies are limited.”

“I found it in a first aid kit last night. Looks like someone left it behind and didn’t have time to bring it. Lucky timing, right?” Chania gave a faint smile.

Daniel paused, staring at the pill in his palm before finally swallowing it in one gulp. “Thanks,” he murmured. His voice was still flat, but his gaze softened slightly when he looked at Chania.

“So … are we just going to stay here until someone comes to help us?” Alex asked suddenly. His voice broke the silence after he had spent so long curled up wordlessly in the corner.

Daniel turned, fixing Alex with a cold stare that immediately sobered the room. “No. We can’t rely on help that may never come,” Daniel said firmly. “The plan is to get out of this campus. We need to find a signal and figure out what’s really happening out there.”

“You think there’s still signal?” Alex asked again, doubt heavy in his voice.

Daniel leaned back against the chair, his eyes locked on the sky beyond the window. “Here it’s probably completely dead because of local interference or collapsed towers. But if we move farther out, away from the center of the crowd on this campus, there’s a good chance some networks are still working. We need information before deciding our next move.”

“Daniel’s right. We need to move. We’ll take whatever food we have left,” Chania agreed, her voice steadier now.

“But Niel … please think about it again.” Kimberly cut in. Her voice was small, nearly swallowed by the fear that still clung to her. “We should just wait here until someone rescues us. Out there … they’re everywhere. Here we have walls. We have a locked door.”

Daniel slowly turned to face Kimberly. His expression was not angry, but hollow, the look of someone who had already accepted a bitter reality she had not yet faced.

“These walls won’t feed us, Kim. And that door…” Daniel paused, his eyes shifting to the barricaded classroom door. “That door only buys time until they realize we’re in here.”

Just as Daniel finished speaking, a loud impact came from the rear window. A man appeared, climbing up from the floor below with unnatural agility before jumping into the room.

Daniel sprang to his feet, his brow furrowing in alert readiness as the others recoiled, their faces drained of color. It was Vincent.

His presence made the room feel more suffocating than the threats outside. Memories of Vincent’s dark past, rumors of lives lost because of him, immediately resurfaced. His clothes were disheveled, stained with patches of dried blood. There were no open wounds on his body, only a split, bleeding corner of his mouth.

A crooked, unsettling smile spread across Vincent’s face as he swept his gaze over their frightened expressions.

“Why are you all staring at me like that, huh?” Vincent asked dismissively, his tone casual despite the chaos.

While the others watched him with suspicion, Daniel remained unmoved. He was not intimidated. His eyes stayed cold as they assessed Vincent, deciding whether the man was an ally they had no choice but to accept, or a new parasite that needed to be eliminated.

“You’d better find somewhere else, Vin.” Daniel said flatly, without any preamble.