Nisha walked out of her house, making her way towards her school. Her school wasn't far from her house, just a 5 minute's walk, so she preferred walking or cycling. Today, she decided to walk.

On her way out of her neighborhood, she glimpsed at her reflection in the glass of a shop. She saw herself wearing her school uniform, her long black hair braided in two and her brown eyes looking back at her.

Entering her school, she greeted the security guard at the gate of the school.

Walking into her class, she greeted her classmates and went to her seat. Sitting on her seat, she plopped her bag on the ground beside her table.

Nisha looked up to see her best friend, Sara, making her way towards Nisha's seat. Sara was a little shorter than Nisha with shoulder-length dark brown hair.

"Helloooo, good morning" Sara greeted cheerfully as usual.

"Good morning to you too!" Nisha smiled at her friend's cheery mood.

"Did you watch that new zombie apocalypse movie I told you about?" Sara questioned.

"I was doing so just yesterday, instead of studying for the Physics test" Nisha answered sheepishly.

"Of course, you did" Sara laughed fondly at her friend's antics "but I know you are gonna ace the test"

"We'll see about that" Nisha just grinned.

Just then the school bell rang, and everybody rushed to their seats, Sara took her seat beside Nisha. The teacher arrived soon and reminded everyone about the test.

The Physics period passed with students grumbling about how hard the test is but as Sara predicted Nisha aced the test.

Next was PE period, the teacher took everyone to the playground behind the school. Some students wanted to play basketball whereas others wanted to play something new and Nisha and Sara were one of those. So those who wanted to play basketball went to the basketball court that was on the edge of the ground.

The others started thinking of some games and Nisha suggested playing "Humans vs. Zombies". The students didn't know what it was so they asked Nisha about how it was played. With Sara's help, Nisha explained that the game started with any one person becoming a zombie and he/she would chase the others, who are Humans, and if the Zombie catches or touches a Human, the Human becomes a Zombie, and the cycle repeats.

"But there is a twist, the 'Zombie' has to walk or run around slowly and limp too, making noises and acting like a real zombie" Nisha added, air quoting the word Zombie.

"That sounds fun and interesting" commented Shiya, one of Nisha's friends.

"Should I become the Zombie for the first round, it will give you all a demo on how to play" Nisha volunteered and others agreed.

"Then let the apocalypse begin!" exclaimed Sara.

The game started and the students ran away from Nisha and got ready to run if she came in their direction.

Nisha started limping slowly in the direction of those closest to her and tried to make zombie-like noises but failed miserably, she also had her hands hanging limply in front of her for effect.

"RAWRRR!" she roared jokingly, making everyone laugh.

As Nisha neared Sara, Sara exclaimed dramatically "Help! This zombie is gonna eat me", giggling as Nisha caught her and she became a Zombie too.

As they continued playing, they suddenly heard a scream making everyone freeze in their place. The scream had come from the School Building. Nisha looked around for the teacher but remembered he had gone to the school office for some work.

"W-what was that?" Kenny asked, her face pale. She wasn't the only one; others were shocked and frightened too.

"Someone might've seen a cockroach and freaked out, nothing to worry about," Nisha said nervously, trying to calm everyone but the distant and less frequent screams and shrieks did nothing to help.

"Should we go check?" Ruchi suggested.

It's not like they could have done anything else, and even if they wanted to go out of the school, they would've had to go through the school building. The kids who were playing in the basketball court had joined them as they heard the noises too.

They decided to go to the school building and see what was going on but some wanted to stay. So, the group of about fifteen students slowly made their way toward the school building, with Nisha and Sara leading.

As they reached the door, Nisha opened the door hesitantly and everybody slowly trickled in.

The corridor they were in was empty but they heard noises from the adjacent one.

Many students were ill because of the flu outbreak in school that occurred recently, so the school was relatively empty.

The students walked towards the noise and saw a shocking sight, there was a figure lying on the floor on the far side of the corridor, shaking. Nisha, being the natural leader she was, decided to take lead and check what it was.

She approached the figure hesitatingly but gasped at the revelation. There, lying on the floor was a boy about Nisha's age, in school uniform. Blood was oozing from his arm and he was twitching vigorously, making noises that sounded like a howl of pain. The boy was lying on his stomach, so his face wasn't visible. As she neared him, she saw that on his arm was a bite wound, which looked like some vicious animal had bitten him.

She looked back to see the others standing at a distance, close enough to see the boy and the blood surrounding his arm. She beckoned them forward. But only a few daring ones made their way forward.

As Ruchi saw the scene closely, she shrieked and stumbled back.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the boy lying on the floor started getting up, his moments sluggish and slow.

He stood up to his full height, leaning slightly to his side. However, now that his face was visible, the sight in front of Nisha drained the blood out of her face. The boy's skin had become bluish, the nerves on his face clearly visible and his mouth curled up in a snarl.

The boy made his way towards their group, causing everyone to step back, everyone except Nisha. She was too shocked to move. She felt someone tugging on her from behind, but she still didn't move.

Suddenly the boy ran forward, and before Nisha could react, pounced on her. She screamed, "AAAHHHHHHHHH!!"

Nisha sat up in her bed with a cold sweat. She opened her eyes wide and realized that it was just a dream, a horrible dream.