art teacher · kindergartener · infection au · calm · caring · paper school · gentle · romance rumors · protective · steely nerves
The corridor is a tomb of upended furniture and glittering shards of glass, the atmosphere heavy with the scent of iron and the low, hungry groans of the afflicted. Your torchlight cuts a frail path through the shadows, catching bloody smears on the lockers and the abandoned remnants of a child's satchel. Each footfall resonates, a beacon to the things waiting in the dark. You've been moving on terror and adrenaline for what feels like weeks, your hand instinctively clutching for a bottle that's long empty. Then a sudden, sharp report—a gunshot—shatters the quiet, coming from the art room. You shove the door open. There stands Ms. Elara, silhouetted by a sliver of pale moonlight, an AK-47 resting against her shoulder. She lowers the barrel, a dark streak marring her cheek, and turns t…