There was a crash that rang throughout the academy as Raul, Chase, and Ardwen crashed into the cafeteria. They hastily scrambled around, grabbing every chair and table they could and throwing it against every door they could until they had blockaded the room. The three stood panting in the middle of the cafeteria. They had just run through the majority of the school, gathering more and more zombie students behind them as the horde grew.

"This is madness," Ardwen sighed, leaning against a pillar. His hair was damp with sweat and hung in front of his eyes. "We can't run from them forever."

"No, not since we trapped ourselves in here," Chase added sarcastically. One of the doors hissed as it slid open with a cluster of students standing outside, staring through the gaps in between chairs and tables. "We can't run at all anymore."

"We could fight," Ardwen muttered, half hoping nobody would hear it and agree, but not wanting to look weak. Raul trembled a little at the mentioning of going near the zombies.

"Oh right, we can't fight them because we're hanging out with a chicken who will pass out if we get too close to them." Chase threw up his hands in frustration. Normally he would be the first one into a fight but the restrictions he was given were killing him on the inside. A spark shot out off his body, fading on the ground as it fizzled out.

"So then what do we do now?" Ardwen slid down the pillar until he was sitting, folding his legs up and holding them tight to his body with his arms.

"We sit and we wait and we die," Chase snapped back.

"They don't kill us, they just put us in a resonance state. I'm pretty certain we won't die, but we'll just wander around the school looking for others to put into resonance states." A chair fell down, rattling onto the ground, its sound bouncing around the largely empty room. A student's arm punched through the new space, wiggling around as it searched for the desired chi or a way to get closer to it.

"I'm sick of this resonance state crap. Resonance this, resonance that, let's just cut it out and call them zombies." There was a banging at the blockade that shut up Chase's rage quite quickly, leaving him standing in the room with Raul and Ardwen at his feet.

"Fine, zombies, call them what you like," Ardwen muttered. "I'm getting sick of these attacks on the academy. We can't even use our Goliaths!" Ardwen turned to Raul, who would normally be quite useful and skilled in such a situation with his ninja training but was currently curled up in a ball on the floor. "And we have to babysit too."

There was a rattling above all of them as one of the air vents grates shook a little. The grate popped off and fell to the floor, followed by Nami and Gretta. The two of them gently landed on their feet, with a rope trailing behind them back into the hole in the ceiling. "You two using that for an escape?" Ardwen said without surprise at the appearance of the girls. In response, Nami tugged on the rope and yanked Rick through the hole, letting the man's face smash straight into the ground. He had already appeared to be knocked out before the impact anyways so he didn't make a sound.

"He's in a Resonance state too." Nami threw her thumb over her shoulder to indicate Rick's state.

"Zombie," Chase corrected. "He's a zombie now. They're all zombies. Looks like everyone in the school is at our door." Chase nodded towards the blockade, which continued to be rattled and broken down.

"So no camp-out?" Nami pouted, much to everyone's shock. "Fine, ok I was kidding. So then what do we do now hmm? Sit and wait until your chairs and tables fall down? Or do we beat up our fellow students?"

"You don't seem to have any problems beating up Rick." Ardwen laughed a bit before a seething glare quieted him.

"She has a point though," Chase murmured, thinking a bit. "These are classmates, fellow students..."

"You look like you are actually processing information Chase," Ardwen exclaimed. "That's wonderful!"

"Well ruling the student body is my speciality!" Chase oozed confidence, completely missing the sarcasm he had just had directed at him. "If they're all just my peers then I'm naturally superior to them, even when zombified." As Chase spoke the rest of the group flipped through a dictionary to check if zombified had become a word. "So our safest bet is to simply continue running through the school instead of staying here."

The rest of the group gasped in shock at Chase's stupidity. "We're going to just run through the school?" Ardwen asked.

"Yes."

"Through the doors?"

"Yes."

"The ones we barricaded?"

"Yes."

"With all the zombies behind all of them?"

"Yes."

"Well I give up." Ardwen threw his hands into the air and sauntered away. "Can't figure his plan out for the life of me. Guy's just gone crazy I assume."

* * * * *

"How is this even working?" Ardwen shouted as the five students ran through the halls, pushing a cafeteria table in front of them as they bashed through hordes of zombie students. The zombies were thrown aside, smacking into walls as echoes of "chi" chants drowned out all sound.

"Where do we go though?" Chase yelled his question as he kicked a leg out, knocking aside a student. "We can't exactly run out into space."

"And we can't kill them!" Nami added. The table burst through the back of the swarm, flying ahead due to the sudden lack of resistance. The group of survivors stumbled forward, losing their plough and then jumping it a few steps later. "Hey wait...where's Riya?"

"And let Saint Enia find passage for her soul," Chase said, completing a common prayer.

"She wouldn't be dead!" Nami screeched in shock. "Just in a coma right?"

"Well you could turn around and ask the horde." Chase snickered to himself a bit before being tackled by Nami, sending the two rolling against the wall of the hallway. "Well now you've gone and done it," he sighed.

"I couldn't help myself," came a giggling reply before they were overtaken by zombies, disappearing into the mass of bodies, clutching one another in a loving embrace.

"Man, some couples I just do not understand." Ardwen shook his head at the nonsense he had just witnessed.

"Wait a minute!" Gretta dug her heels in, coming to a sliding halt, grabbing Ardwen's attention. "Are you saying that you wouldn't give me a loving embrace in the face of imminent death?" Gretta pouted, hands on hips as she stood firmly entrenched in the hall, forcing Ardwen to stop too.

"We're not going to die! Why does everyone keep saying that? We just enter into a Resonance state and that's it!" Gretta didn't move, her lip trembling and her eyes filling with tears. Ardwen let out a sigh and walked over to her, the zombies rapidly approaching. "Yes, I would come and embrace you....always." Ardwen smiled softly as the two were swept away amidst hundreds of bodies.

Only Raul was left now, sprinting for his life, fuelled by fear above all else. Ever since he was a little boy and had snuck into that movie had he retained this fear that one day the zombies really would rise up and come to life. All those years of ridicule, of holding it inside. Well look now! Who would have the last laugh?

Raul felt a bit empty as these thoughts ran through his head. He would have the last laugh, literally, because he was the only one left. It was nice to be right but why be right about something so negative, so awful? Raul snapped his head back in front of him, regaining his focus just as Riya stepped out of her room, a giant bag strapped to her back and filled to the brim with camping supplies. The two collided and sent the backpack flying away, crashing onto the ground and exploding in a shower of blankets and snack foods.

The two students lay on the ground, stars spinning around their heads. Raul was too paralyzed with terror to move and Riya was paralyzed from the impact, leaving them both at the mercy of the encroaching mass.

"Riya," Raul whispered.

"Yes?"

"It was a good life we lived together." Then the zombies were upon them.

* * * * *

Porter's eyes felt like they were sealed shut with glue. Opening them was a monumental effort that felt as if he was breaking stone. Finally he managed to regain his vision, slowly sitting up from the ground. His head was pounding with the beat of his heart, a pulse that resonated throughout his body. He had to place his hands on his temples to keep his head from dropping back down and to try and stifle the pain.

"What on earth happened?" he groaned. His body felt battered and bruised, like he had been falling all over the place or been beaten up by Chase. He checked himself and found some light purple bruises beginning to form on his arms and legs. While it wasn't unusual for him to have mystery injuries on himself, this seemed a little much.

He looked around himself, finding he was in the middle of the cafeteria. It was tough to recognize at first because almost all the chairs and tables were scattered and pushed up against the doors; all save for one open door. Nearby, Rick was bound and gagged and was wriggling around like a worm, his bulging arms trying to grab Porter's attention. The teenager chose to ignore Rick in this case, since that seemed like the least of his worries. Rick was normally pretty weird anyways.

"Glad to see you're awake," Nami snapped from behind Porter. The student spun around to find the Crisis Rescue Unit, plus Gretta, angrily glaring at him. Behind them was Ochenkov, his eyes ablaze with fury. Mr. Shotuku stepped out from the crowd too, his wrinkled face tightened with rage.

"Uh...hi everybody." Porter gave out a sheepish wave, wincing at the pain that shot through his bruised muscles. "What's going on?"

Ardwen held out a broom and dropped it in front of Porter. "We're on clean-up. I told you people it wouldn't kill us," Ardwen muttered after.

"Yes," Shotuku cut in. "It seems I found a table in front of my office and this cafeteria is a mess. I expect my spotless academy back by the end of the day."

"But I...didn't even do anything!" Porter pleaded.

"Oh yes you did," Shotuku said over his shoulder as he walked away. "I'm holding you and your friends responsible for this situation. And if there are any complaints you may address them to Mr. Ochenkov. I'm sure he can give a further explanation."

Ochenkov roared and grabbed Porter's head with just one hand, lifting the student off the floor with ease. "Further explanation!" he shouted, sending chills down Porter's spine before Ochenkov threw the youth over his shoulder and carried him out the door.

"But I didn't ask for further explanation! Let me go you lug! No, no, not a room with Ochenkov. Please Mr. Shotuku, please, bring back the slippers! I'll take the slippers. Anything but one of Ochenkov's classes!"

A/N: Terrifying but not deadly it seems. The punishment might be worse than the zombies in this case. But at least we can get back to normal at the academy!