Back on Earth and even here on Planet 9, I made a mistake, a terrible mistake that for as long as I would live, I did not want to repeat again. I had to step out of my fairy tale ideal and jump right into the real world outside, where my naïve wishes only ended up hurting me and those who cared about me.

As soon as I woke up, I went to the bathroom and took a shower. Water and electricity were still running in this place. A good sign which told us that the underground infrastructure of pipes, cables, and maintenance systems was still up and running.

The Resonance High School was quiet after the bloody battle in the Atrium. It was as if none of the survivors wanted to even so much as dare to peek out of their hiding holes and look at us. As my gaze fell down on the bodies of the dead, I realized that there was no way for there to be any innocents left in this place. Each and every one of them had gotten a taste for human meat, they ate their fellow students or teachers, they were no different than the monsters walking outside of this place, hunting for survivors.

Nataly didn’t go chasing after the ones who fled from the scene, she stayed behind and began to check the bodies for supplies.

“They have no credit cards on them!” she grumbled in frustration as she kicked one of the bodies in the side.

When we stepped into the Atrium, it felt empty, devoid of all life, but Xerya’s scans that appeared on my retina showed that there were human lifeforms all around us. For the sake of keeping up appearances, we pretended not to see and not to know.

“This place looks empty.” Nataly played along as she gave a kick to a cardboard box near the fountain in the middle.

“This is unexpected... We were told that this was a camp of survivors, right?” I asked her, pretending to be a fool.

The world went to Hell... and with it... so did human laws and decency.

When the outbreak started, we were all just a bunch of senior year High School students. Our main worry was to get back home, drop off our stuff and then head out to play. I was thinking about getting my first cyber implant and even a flyer. My dad promised me one, but that day, when we left home, we never expected even in a million years that for some of us it would be the last time we would see our families alive and well.

The whole school was a mess. The windows at the ground floor were barricaded with school desks and other pieces of furniture, most likely nailed or glued to the walls with something. There were traces of blood all over the place: on the walls, on the windows, on the ground and even on the trees that were planted in the courtyard.

Despite all of this, I could still remember like it was yesterday the peaceful times when everyone looked forward to their promising future on this planet. During class time, the neighborhood cat sometimes came around and napped near the gate. During breaks, the students were laughing innocently in their own little groups gathered around the benches. On the other side, in the grass, there was always a group of kids playing ball, while not far from them, near the big tall tree, the robot enthusiasts could usually be found discussing ideas and plans focused around their hobby. Up on the rooftop was usually a place where those in the third years would always gather to eat lunch.

The closer we got to the High School, the fewer Nano-Z we encountered on our way. There were many signs of survivors roaming around, barricaded windows and doors, unique symbols that only they understood, camping site remains and even signs of fierce battles. Nataly found it interesting that the survivors were already developing their own codes to talk to one another and recalled that the same thing happened on Planet 6 during the terrible blackout periods. On the other hand, Xerya didn’t see the use in these strange methods of communicating when the internet was still up and running. She considered that simple pings and tags on a local map was enough for every survivor to know what they were up against when visiting this area.

The Resonance High School was located at about 3.4 kilometers from where we found Zuiza and Yumino. The road there was clogged up with cars and busses that were tipped over or left abandoned after the outbreak picked up the pace. The shops and apartment buildings were broken into and teeming with Nano-Z, however, the overall numbers were far too small in comparison to what should have been in this area.

“There are just three of them in that shop... and four over there.” Nataly noticed.

“Yeah... And if you count the ones on the street from here to the next intersection, there are less than 20...” I said.

After listening to their story, I wanted to have a private talk with Nataly and Xerya. Both Yumino and Zuiza were currently in a terrible shape, and I could not even begin to imagine what the two must have gone through during all of these weeks, especially when you consider the fact that they were forced to trade away the life of their former classmate as a slave to be eaten away like a roasted pig on a Christmas morning.

It was terrible and disturbing on so many levels.

We left the lair of the Mutated Nano-Z and then headed straight back to our base. The two teenagers remained quiet while they were following us and took quick glances at me and Xerya. They were dirty and skinny, showing signs of malnourishment and weakness. Although they once were the stars of the tennis club, they were now far from that image of a role model athlete student, which was, honestly, unexpected given how in this chaotic age, physical prowess increased your chances of survival.