A month ago, the old world had ended. In Brooklyn, the zombie corruption was mild, as several people had risen to take down the zombies. However, a greater problem arose barely a week after the apocalypse started.

Mutated beasts and insects began to appear, slaughtering any human that dared to come out in the open. The beasts were cunning and ferocious unlike the zombies that could be fooled.

Hence, survivors could only lock themselves in and stay as silent as possible.

In eastern Williamsburg which was close to the East River, there was a combined school campus that served as a small camp for the teachers and students in the school.

In the beginning, there were braver students and teachers that had stepped up to kill zombies, hence becoming evolvers. However, when the mutated beasts emerged, most of them were killed and served as nourishment for the beasts.

In the end, the teachers could only gather the remaining students and lock themselves in the school’s boarding hostel while zombies and mutated beasts roamed the campus.

Although they had been locked indoors for over three weeks, they were still surviving since they had supplies from the school cafeteria to feed them.

Today, however...

"Teacher Quinn, I can’t stand it anymore. My stomach hurts."

A blonde, high school girl complained to her teacher as she clutched her stomach, grimacing.

The man who was being referred to as Teacher Quinn shook his head and said, "You know it too, Diana. There is no food left. We’ve given the last biscuits to your juniors in the elementary."

Hearing this, Diana burst into tears again and walked away, returning to meet her friends.

Quinn’s gaze followed her, and he felt a pang of pity in his heart. Before the apocalypse, Diana was a brilliant student from an ordinary background. He had been so impressed by the girl, that he was willing to help her secure a scholarship to one of the major universities

Unfortunately, his plans were cut short when the apocalypse started. Now, the brilliant girl had already become a starving mess that was struggling to survive.

It wasn’t her alone, as every single student in the hostel was starving. It was almost two full days since they hadn’t eaten now, and even the young ones were starting to starve.

Hearing a set of footsteps approaching him, Quinn raised his head and saw another teacher coming towards him. She was his crush whom he was planning to court and marry if possible.

But as expected, the plans were thrown out the window since the apocalypse started.

"Miss Clarice, do you need something?" He asked.

The red-haired woman observed his pale face, then sighed.

"We’re running low on water. Soon, we won’t even have water to drink, and the hunger will escalate."

Quinn’s expression dimmed, "I was already expecting that, but not this early, fuck."

He removed his glasses and massaged his eyelids.

"I guess we have no choice but to venture out, then."

Hearing this, Clarice’s eyes widened, "Are you for real? You know there are zombies roaming around the school buildings and those mutated animals too."

Quinn shrugged weakly and replied, "Of course, I do. It’s just that we have no other choice. Unless we’re willing to start eating each other, then we have no choice but to scavenge."

Clarice fell silent, unsure of what to say. In the end, she gave up the idea of arguing.

"Then... who will want to go?" She asked, her shoulders trembling. "Almost everyone saw Teacher Richard and the other final year boy get torn apart. Will anyone even be willing to step out?"

Quinn smiled faintly and pushed himself off the wall, "You’ll see."

He went to the area where the students were, then announced that he needed volunteers who would follow him to go check the cafeteria for more food

At first, no one volunteered, but when he said that only those who volunteered would be allowed to eat their fill, about ten students came out, including Diana.

Quinn equipped everyone with basic weapons like baseball bats, sharp knives, and machetes.

He was armed with a sword, as he was a Level 6 evolver who had killed quite a number of zombies before they were forced to lock themselves up in the hostel.

Now haunted by hunger, the group of students and teacher carefully came out of the hostel to scavenge for food.

Naturally, their target was the school cafeteria, which they stealthily headed to while avoiding attracting the attention of zombies.

Everything had been going smoothly. Everyone knew that even the slightest sound could attract zombies. Unfortunately, some things were simply unavoidable.

As they rounded a corner, Quin came face to face with a zombie.

He instantly panicked, but his reaction was quick. Before the zombie could scratch him or bite him, he had already beheaded it.

[You have slain a Level 5 Normal Zombie! +2 Strength points gained!]

Before he could inwardly rejoice about his kill, he realized that the little noise he had made while killing the zombie already attracted more.

His expression hardened, and he turned to the students.

"Go! Go! Go! Head to the cafeteria as fast as you can. If any zombie comes close, whack it to death!"

The girls in the group released frightened squeals but still complied and ran. Quinn stayed at the rear, cutting down any zombies that got too close.

A few mature boys at the front also took down zombies while making their quick escape. However, it was futile. Soon, they were surrounded and forced to face up to twenty zombies.

Quinn did his best to keep everyone under his protection, but he wasn’t omnipotent. As they struggled against the zombies, the girls’ frightened screams only attracted more.

’Dammit! Why the fuck are you bitches screaming? If you can’t fight, shut the fuck up!’

He cursed internally as he cut off the head of another zombie. That was when a blur of brown fur caught his attention.

A mutated dog rushed past the zombies and targeted one of his students—Diana.

His eyes widened in shock as he watched the beast pin her down and open its maw to bite her neck.

Before it could, another blur of black fur shot over and slammed into the mutated dog, sending it rolling meters away.

Quinn’s eyes widened, as he realized that black-furred creature was actually a mutated cat.

’A good mutated beast?’

He couldn’t understand why a mutated beast would protect a human. Before his confusion could grow and cost him his life, he heard human voices as a group rushed over.

"Little West, kill that dog!"