Chapter 70 Norbert’s ghost discovery

“And they all…” Daniel muttered under his nose as his knees smashed into a couple of two zombies. His body then turned on his heel. “will turn to dust,” he sang in a silent voice, leaning his entire body forward only to throw a fist at the head of a relatively distant zombie.

Daniel’s song finished. And so did the wave of the zombies that they attracted with all the noises they had made before.

“That was pretty scary,” Norbert commented as he rested his hands on his knees while heavily breathing. He then shook his head and raised his eyes at his colleague. “Still, do you think there is any chance to find some food in this place?”

This was a surprisingly important question. Because after all the zombies would be finally put to rest, daily human needs would still remain.

And in a world where all the logistical chains were broken, procuring food would turn into the same kind of challenge as it used to be before farming allowed humanity to turn into proper civilization!

“There is a merchant at the top floor of the school,” Daniel pointed out, only to smash the head of the nearest fallen zombie. He then leaned down and pushed his hand into the mushy brain matter scattered by his foot, only to pick up a small, shining stone hidden in it. “If we gather enough stones, we should be able to access its wares,” he added, raising his eyes up to the ceiling of the corridor.

‘Still, that doesn’t mean reaching the top floor will be easy, not after we blew up all the stairs leading there,’ Daniel thought, only to shake his head and keep his worries to himself.

“What are we waiting for, then?” Norbert asked only to pat himself on the stomach. “We won’t be able to fight for long if we don’t eat,” he added, raising his eyes on his companion.

“That’s true,” Daniel agreed, only to turn around and look to the other side of the corridor, one that led back to the central point of the entire building. “The question is, should we try looking for other survivors first?”

“There is no point,” Norbert replied as he hung his head low. “What do you think I did first when I noticed this new ability of mine?” he asked, only to shake his head. “We are the last ones standing. That is, from those who fell down,” he quickly added. “There is a chance that those who stood back are still alive.”

Not all the policemen joined in the firing squad that supported Mathew’s efforts. As such, some of them could still be alive and waiting for them to hopefully return to the top floor of the school.

“With how he pressed everyone to go to the top floor, that young lad should still be there,” Daniel thought out loud, only to clasp his lips together as he turned them into a straight, thin line. “If he survived the collapse of the floor, that is,” he added in a lower voice.

“Anyway,” Daniel turned his face back to his colleague. “We won’t achieve anything by just standing here. Our best bet is to find others for now, so let’s climb instead of wasting time here,” he decided before pushing forward.

“There are close to no zombies left on the upper floor,” Norbert reported as soon as they started to move.

“Wait, you can reach that far with that ghost of yours?” Daniel asked, his eyebrows skyrocketing up on his forehead.

“Yeah,” Norbert replied. Yet, when he looked at Daniel’s face and noticed the hopeful expression behind his eyes, all the younger of the officers could do was shake his head. “Sorry, but I can’t any further. This ghost of mine can only move through open spaces, so in order to check the upper floor, I need to move it through the staircase. And currently, that’s the limit of how far I can push it out,” he explained.

“Figures,” Daniel commented, shaking his head as he dropped the genius idea that his colleague just proved to be impossible. Yet, before his negative thoughts could get to him, he turned his eyes back to his colleague.

“You say that you can only push this ghost of yours through open spaces and for a limited distance away from you, right?” he reiterated what Norbert said before just to make sure he wasn’t mistaken about any of the parts.

“That’s right,” Norber nodded his head, only to then trip on one of the zombie’s corpses. He took a moment to regain his stability before picking up his explanation again. “This is the only reason why I could move it through the rubble. Ultimately, it’s full of gaps,” he explained, only for a powerful shudder to shake his body. “If not for how small the gap needs to be for my ghost to move through it…”

The younger of the officers didn’t finish his sentence. He turned silent instead and locked his eyes on the staircase several meters away.

“If that’s the case, then all we need to do is to get closer to the upper floors and the staircase in general, right?” Daniel suggested as a smile appeared on his lips. “In this way, we will be able to know what’s going on on the top floor without taking the risk of somehow reaching it!”

Daniel’s face filled with color as he could push away one of his greatest worries.

With no stairs left for them to climb to the last floor, they would have to somehow scale the walls to reach it. And if they were to go for such an extra effort only to learn that everyone on the top floor had already died or turned into zombies…

“Wait,” Norbert suddenly called out. “I can already see it!” he announced. Yet, rather than stopping, he hurried his steps, eager to get closer to the stairs and, as such, see deeper into the top floor…

But he never reached the bottom of the staircase. After making only a few steps, he suddenly fell to his knees and started throwing up.

“Those fucking bastards…” Norbert managed to utter before his eyes moved up, showing the whites below, only to then fall down right into the pool of acid he just vomited out.