“Here,” Daniel stepped forward while taking his shirt off. He then threw it to the one particular young man that was responsible for both him and all the other police officers being in the school in the first place.
“Thanks,” Mathew nodded his head in gratitude as he caught the shirt in the air. Instead of putting it on, though, he tore a small part of the material away only to wrap it around his hips.
“I gave it to you so you can wear it,” Daniel commented when he saw Mathew’s actions. “Why are you destroying it?” he asked, seemingly unfazed by the situation around them.
“Because there are others that need something to wear more than I do,” Mathew replied.
‘I wonder why am I not feeling embarrassed in the slightest,’ he thought, perfectly aware of how poor job did his makeshift loincloth do to cover his genitals.
‘Normally, I would be too shy to go shirtless, so why am I calm right now?’ Mathew asked himself as he moved over to the next girl bound by the wall. He then tore what was left of the shirt in half before throwing one part of it at the girl.
“T-thanks…” the girl muttered, quickly grabbing the cloth and covering her charms with it. Yet, even though it was now obvious that Mathew wasn’t here to do her harm, she still couldn’t find the courage to even look at his face.
‘So much pain,’ Mathew thought as he caught a glimpse of the girl’s pupils. He then moved his eyes away, unwilling to make the girl any less comfortable than she already was.
“Now then,” Mathew muttered as he moved up and stood up straight, only to send a cold gaze at the remaining members of the privileged group. “Do I really need to spell out what you should do right now?”
Mathew’s tone was cold, devoid of any emotion. One had to look him directly in the eyes to see the distant echo of a fury that raged on in his soul.
“On it,” the remaining girl of the group said before standing up and quickly pulling her own clothes off. Left in nothing but her undies, she then brought her hand up with her freshly taken-off clothes in it.
“Why are you giving them to me?” Mathew asked while raising his right eyebrow and closing his arms over his chest. “Do I look like I’m some sort of fetishist to enjoy your just worn clothes?”
The throat of the girl moved as she swallowed a gulp of saliva. Her hand trembled as she lowered her head.
“I understand; I’m sorry,” she said before moving to the side and kneeling by the next victim of this locally formed society, helping her fellow girl to dress up.
‘We will need to bring those girls down to the showers,’ Mathew thought as his eyes passed by the sorry sight.
“Mathy…” a weak voice suddenly reached Mathew’s eyes.
‘Huh?’ He shook before turning his head all around. And then, his eyes locked on the girl on the far end of the wall.
There was a pool of some filthy liquid right below her crotch, showcasing just how hard the students Mathew saved went on her.
“Cass?” Mathew asked while squinting his eyes, only for his eyelids to suddenly skyrocket up on his face. “What in all hells,” the young man muttered as he took a step towards the girl.
Cassandra was a transfer student that joined Mathew’s class a year prior.
Back when she joined his class, her exotic, brown beauty made her extremely popular. Yet, what was a positive attribute back before the apocalypse started was also likely the source of the torture she went through.
“What’s wrong?” Mathew asked as he took a knee by the girl. He then quickly turned his head around, only to grit his teeth when he noticed that save for that one girl, the men of the privileged group still remained clothed.
“There are others…” Cassandra uttered in a weak voice. She was so exhausted that she couldn’t even try to cover herself, left slumped on the ground with her hands pulled up by her bounds and legs open wide.
“You!” the older of the police officers noticed Mathew’s earlier glance and now moved up closer to trash the formerly privileged group. “Why the hell are you still wearing clothes?!”
Maybe it was the policeman’s voice, maybe it was the look behind his eyes. Or maybe it was the gun pointed at the guys’ heads that made them finally burst into action and start stripping.
“What was it?” Mathew moved to the side of the girl before leaning his ear over her mouth.
“They locked a lot of people in the room…” Cassandra whispered, only to start coughing hard a moment later. Yet, before she could successfully clear her throat, she forcefully restrained the convulsions of her body. “It’s in the back…” she added before her eyes rolled to the back as she lost consciousness.
“You,” Mathew raised up to his knees only to grab a set of clothes that the younger of the officers kicked towards him. He then looked toward the negotiator that he met at the very beginning of the apocalypse. “Since you found a way to access this floor, I need you to go back to the bottom floor,” he instructed.
“I think I’m much more needed here,” Daniel replied, squinting his eyes.
After what he saw on the topmost floor of the school, it was pretty natural for him to have issues trusting a random student.
Even if that random student gave him no reason whatsoever to doubt his intentions.
“I need you to go to the shower area. The rest of my group should be out there,” Mathew informed before turning his head to the other police officer. “Can you go check the room to the back of the corridor?”
Norbert looked at Mathew’s blank face. The two of them then entered a short period of contesting each other stares.
A single moment passed.
“Sure thing,” Norbert said before turning around to hide the dark expression that appeared on his face.
‘There has to be something wrong with that place for that guy to act like that,’ the policeman thought before shaking his head and moving away.
“One question before I go,” Daniel stepped up as he cast a look at Mathew’s face. “Wouldn’t it be easier if you went to fetch the rest of your group?” he asked before crossing his arms on his chest. “And how can I know that you simply don’t want to take over the leading role in this rotten place?”
Mathew raised his eyes and looked at the policeman.
‘Is he for real?’ he thought, his face reflecting just how weirded out he was by the accusations.
Mathew then shook his head before bitting down on his lips. Yet, rather than answering the negotiator’s allegations, he simply turned on the spot and walked towards a nearby piece of a broken wall.
“I’m strong,” Mathew announced while raising the concrete-covered metal club in his hand. “Stronger than you, that’s for sure,” he added as he looked the older of the policemen in the eye.
Once again, a contest of stares ensued. And then, for seemingly no reason, Mathew smiled.
He stood just a few steps away from the group of the formerly privileged. And Mathew wasn’t willing to let go of this opportunity.
The young man then raised his arm with his makeshift club… Only to swing it down. Yet, rather than stopping his hand once it reached the bottommost point of the swing, Mathew turned around on his heel only to continue the swing upwards.
And it also just so happened that the path of Mathew’s extended swing ended up crossing the crotch of a nearby student.
SMACK!
“That landed nicely” was the first thing that went through Matthew’s mind as he watched the student slowly collapse. His knees buckled as the pain overwhelmed his mind.
“…” the guy opened his mouth wide despite not uttering a single sound. And then, the center of the weight of his body shifted, making him fall down on his face.
Yet, before that could even happen, his cheeks suddenly bloated up, only for a surge of filth to spew out from his mouth, right as the former student crashed his face into the hard floor.
“For the awful stuff you did, this seems like a fitting end,” Mathew muttered, staring coldly at the twitching body of the rapist.
For a moment, the young man allowed one of the injured bastards to writhe in agony. Yet, when silent screams started to come out of the man’s throat, he swung his hand up only to bring his makeshift weapon down on the man’s head, ending his torture.
“And I hope this is enough proof that I’m not like them,” Mathew said as he turned his eyes back to the policeman.
A contest of stares ensued for the third time in the recent past… Only for Daniel to end up giving up.
The officer raised his hands, admitting his defeat, before turning around. Yet, before he could enter the shaft he used to climb to the topmost floor, he turned his head to the back and looked at Mathew for one last time.
“Before I go, I need to ask one thing,” Daniel said.
“Over here!” a new voice suddenly entered the fray, making both Mathew and Daniel freeze. “There is some kind of shaft here!”