Guided by Jason's directions, the heavy dump truck, towing the school bus, approached the gymnasium.
Soon, the somewhat dilapidated side entrance of the gym came into view.
Sam saw Miller driving the battered police car, dancing on a knife's edge, circling the gym's perimeter at a speed that almost let the zombies touch it, provocatively slow.
A large pack of snarling zombies trailed behind the car.
Miller repeatedly swerved dangerously close to the monsters, trying to draw all their attention.
Still, a dozen or so zombies ignored the police car's lure, stubbornly gathered near the gym's side door, relentlessly pounding on the wooden door that looked like it was barely held shut by something behind it, as if they could smell the more enticing 'fresh meat' inside.
Seeing John, Sam, and Jason's 'tow truck convoy' about to arrive at the entrance, with those dozen zombies still blocking the path, Miller's eyes hardened with resolve inside the police car.
He gritted his teeth, yanked the steering wheel hard towards the gymnasium wall, and floored the accelerator.
The battered police car, like an enraged bull, let out a final screeching cry and charged along the gym's outer wall in an almost suicidal manner.
The zombies in its path had no time to react before being sent flying or crushed under the heavy vehicle.
Foul blood, shredded flesh, and torn fabric instantly smeared the front of the car and the windshield.
Nearly all the zombies at the door were run down.
The tires quickly became clogged with viscous gore, spinning uselessly with a sickening whine.
Just before the police car completely lost momentum and was about to be swarmed by the converging zombies, Miller slammed on the horn, letting out one last piercing blast.
Then, he threw open the door and launched himself out like an arrow.
He landed barely an arm's length away from the nearest zombies.
Like sharks smelling blood, the monsters immediately turned and lunged.
Miller didn't even have time to steady himself before breaking into the fastest sprint of his life, his Glock barking continuously, dropping the closest zombies with headshots, tearing a fleeting gap in the closing circle of monsters.
Without looking back, he burst through the encirclement, yelling at the top of his lungs, drawing almost every remaining mobile zombie around the gym towards him as he ran for his life away from the school bus and the dump truck...
John would not waste the precious opportunity Miller had bought with his life.
He stomped on the gas, driving the heavy dump truck, towing the swaying school bus, right up to the gym's side door.
"Jason!" John yelled, carefully maneuvering the vehicles while giving orders. "Go knock on the door, get the people inside ready to move! Sam! You cover the perimeter, any zombie approaches, headshot. I'll back you up once the truck's parked. Move! Move! Move!"
Before the words were fully out, Sam and Jason had already jumped out.
Jason sprinted to the side door, now stained dark red and stuck with bits of gore, and pounded on the thick wood with his gun butt, yelling as quietly as possible while ensuring those inside could hear, "Open up! We're here for the kids! Open the door!"
Immediately, sounds of heavy objects being moved and furniture scraping against the floor came from inside.
A moment later, the clatter of a heavy chain being unfastened and hitting the ground echoed, followed by the door being pulled open a crack from within.
Peeking out was a panting, sweating, overweight police officer, tightly gripping a pump-action shotgun, muzzle pointed warily outwards.
Behind him stood a middle-aged, brown-haired female officer, equally tense but with determined eyes, a rifle slung over her back.
Further back, in the dim light of the gymnasium, twenty to thirty children huddled together, mostly around eleven or twelve years old – the younger ones had indeed been evacuated first – their faces streaked with tears and fear.
Under the calming efforts of two young teachers, one male and one female, most kids were trying hard to stay quiet, only suppressed sobs occasionally breaking the silence.
"Is… Is David back? Did they find the truck?" the brown-haired female officer, Laura, asked urgently.
"No! It's other backup! No time to explain!" Jason cut her off rapidly. "We brought the old school bus with a tow truck! Quick! Get the kids onto the bus immediately!"
No more orders were needed.
Laura and the heavier officer – Martin – understood instantly.
They quickly moved to flank the doorway, raising their weapons, forming an invisible corridor of fire with Jason to cover the inside of the gym.
The two teachers immediately started organizing the children, "Quickly! Kids, line up! Follow your teacher! Get on the bus quickly! Don't push! Don't shove!"
They soothed and guided the terrified children as they rushed out of the gym in a surprisingly orderly fashion towards the school bus, whose door Jason had just pulled open.
Miller's diversion had been highly successful.
There were indeed few zombies near the gym entrance now, only a handful attracted by the noise from afar, shambling closer.
System Notification: Zombie Kill x2 Confirmed. Hope Points +10. Quest "Zombie Killer" Progress: 7/100.
Sam calmly raised his rifle, taking precise shots, dropping the two zombies leading the charge with headshots.
Meanwhile, John had parked the dump truck and jumped down to join the defensive line, his Glock also accurately taking down three or four monsters trying to get close.
Just as more zombies started converging from further away, their numbers increasing, and the last of the children scrambled onto the bus, the deafening BOOM! BOOM! of a shotgun and the sharp rat-tat-tat! of an assault rifle suddenly erupted.
Laura and Martin, confirming the children were safely aboard, immediately joined the fight.
The heads of the foremost zombies exploded like watermelons hit with a sledgehammer or were shredded by rifle rounds, collapsing instantly.
The firepower was instantly and massively reinforced.
"Catch!" In the midst of the firefight, Officer Laura suddenly unslung the heavy assault rifle from her back and tossed it towards Sam.
She instantly drew her sidearm and continued firing precise shots at the approaching zombies.
Almost simultaneously, the heavy-set officer, Martin, tossed his shotgun to John.
"Partner! You get on the bus, protect the kids! I'll drive the tow truck!" John caught the shotgun, yelled, and without hesitation, turned and sprinted towards the dump truck's cab – Jason had already positioned the truck and bus perfectly at the gym entrance.
Laura and Martin provided covering fire, slowly backing up while continuously firing their pistols, shell casings clinking on the ground.
Sam awkwardly caught the rifle – it felt heavy and unfamiliar compared to his usual hunting rifle or pistol.
But there was no time to hesitate.
Relying on basic shooting instincts, he quickly shouldered the weapon and squeezed the trigger at two zombies just rounding the corner.
The rifle's recoil was much stronger than his handgun, but the bullets still found their mark.
System Notification: Zombie Kill x2 Confirmed. Hope Points +10. Quest "Zombie Killer" Progress: 9/100.
Confirming the immediate threat was neutralized, Sam immediately turned and sprinted onto the now-open school bus steps.
As soon as his foot hit the top step, Officer Laura followed close behind, slamming the heavy door shut and securing the lock.
In the very next second, BANG! A heavy thud reverberated as a pursuing zombie slammed its head against the door.
The force of the impact shook the entire bus.
Inside, the children, who had just started to calm down, erupted into terrified screams and cries once more.
The shrill cries pierced Sam's ears like countless needles, causing a wave of irritation and a headache – he was never good at handling this kind of high-decibel chaos.
He instinctively covered his ears, trying to block out some of the noise.
Inside the bus, the two young teachers were doing their best to soothe the children, while Martin and Laura immediately turned around, using calm voices and gestures to try and settle the kids down.
"Take these!" Officer Laura pulled two heavy rifle magazines from her tactical vest and shoved them into Sam's hands. "Hope we don't need them next."
Nearby, the heavy-set officer, Martin, picked up the other rifle that had been placed on the bus earlier, checked it expertly, then looked at Sam with a tired smile.
"I remember you. New guy, Sam, right?"
"Ah… yeah. Sorry, bit of a shock today, forgot the names of the other colleagues," Sam explained awkwardly.
"No worries, name's Martin." Martin let out a long breath, wiping sweat from his brow. "Jesus Christ, today's been a nightmare… Really hope we get out of this hellhole soon."
"First day on the job and you run into this, rookie. Talk about a 'unique' onboarding experience." Laura forced a weary smile and offered Sam her hand. "I'm Laura. Good to… well, meet you again under these circumstances."
"Just lucky, I guess," Sam managed a half-smirk towards the kids, replying to Laura in a joking tone. "When this is over, I can put this on my resume – 'Served as temporary protagonist during zombie crisis, extensive field experience.' Maybe I can even get a role in Hollywood."
The dump truck, towing the school bus, drove surprisingly steadily.
Inside the bus, the children's crying gradually subsided, replaced by suppressed, intermittent sobs.
Their earlier fear seemed to be replaced by a temporary sense of security and curiosity towards Sam, this tall, strong young police officer.
A little boy sitting next to Sam mustered his courage and looked up, asking, "Mr. Police Officer… you're really amazing, killing so many… monsters."
"Yeah," Sam replied distractedly, his eyes still warily scanning the rapidly passing streetscape outside the window.
"Hey, don't be so cold," Officer Laura gently nudged his arm, gesturing towards the surrounding children. "Talk to the kids a bit. Looks clear outside for now, the tow truck's moving steadily. At this rate, we'll be out of the city soon."
She added in a lower voice, "Look how they're looking at you, like you're Superman or something."
The little boy apparently took Laura's words as encouragement and leaned closer again, his eyes shining brightly as he looked up and down Sam's rifle and his police uniform, now stained with a bit of dark red zombie blood, his tone filled with undisguised admiration.
"Mr. Police Officer, how many of those monsters outside did you kill exactly?"
"About… eleven, I guess," Sam reported a number.
The system had only counted nine, but in his mind, he felt he'd taken down eleven, so eleven it was.
"Wow—! Eleven!" The number ignited the atmosphere inside the bus like a fuse.
A chorus of gasps and questions erupted instantly.
"Really? Eleven monsters?" "You're so cool!" "Can you come to my house for dinner? My mom makes really good stew!" "When those monsters die, do the other monsters eat them?" "Are you the strongest police officer here?" …
The cacophony of childish voices blended together.
Although it still gave Sam a bit of a headache, for some reason, this feeling of being noticed, being 'admired'… actually felt pretty good.
"It's Miller!" Suddenly, Officer Martin, who had been keeping watch at the rear, pointed towards an intersection up ahead on the side and shouted.
Everyone immediately looked in that direction—several dozen meters away, Miller was desperately clinging to the middle section of a streetlight pole.
Below the pole, a dense mass of at least twenty or thirty zombies swarmed, all craning their necks upwards, reaching with decaying arms, throats emitting greedy and furious snarls as they clawed and slammed against the metal pole.
John and Jason, driving the tow truck, immediately spotted the danger.
John twisted the steering wheel slightly, the dump truck roaring as it changed direction, its massive tires mercilessly crushing several zombies in its path, forcing a way through towards the streetlight.
When they were just a few meters away, John executed a simple turn, precisely swinging the truck bed directly beneath the streetlight pole.
"Jump!" John roared.
Miller, on the pole, didn't hesitate for a second.
Timing it perfectly, he leaped.
He landed heavily on the edge of the dump truck bed, rolling expertly to absorb most of the impact, landing steadily in the bed filled with gravel and sand.
At the same time, several zombies that had reacted quickly were already snarling and trying to climb onto the side of the truck bed.
John and Jason had already opened their doors, one on each side.
John fired his shotgun while Jason used his pistol, accurately blowing the heads off the zombies trying to climb aboard.
Miller quickly scrambled up from the truck bed, vaulted over the partition behind the cab.
Jason reached out, grabbed his arm, and helped pull him into the truck cab, slamming the door shut heavily.
The entire rescue was incredibly dangerous, yet executed with seamless coordination.
"Thank god!" Inside the school bus, Martin and Laura, who could only watch helplessly, both let out sighs of relief simultaneously.
The dump truck, towing the school bus, clumsily shook off the last few pursuing zombies.
But just as everyone thought they were temporarily safe, John's urgent and angry shout suddenly came from the truck cab: "Damn it! The road ahead is blocked!"
"What?!" Sam immediately leaned towards the front window of the bus to look ahead.
Several dozen meters further down the street, a huge semi-trailer truck was jackknifed almost horizontally across the road, completely blocking the entire street after crashing into trees on the sidewalk.
The truck's cab windshield was completely shattered, empty inside except for splattered bloodstains.
And just in front of the truck, a police car was parked at the side of the road, its door severely damaged, a horrifyingly large hole gaping in its side window…
"That's… that's David and Kevin's car!" Laura gasped in horror. "And that truck… that must be the one the driver went to get! What the hell happened here?!"
"Partner! Cover me!" John didn't hesitate for a second, shoving his door open and jumping out. "I'll move that truck!"
He drew his pistol and sprinted towards the semi-truck's cab, using the wreckage for cover.
Miller followed close behind, shotgun raised defensively.
"I'll help too!" Martin said, also pushing open his door.
Sam tightened his grip on the rifle—the heavy weapon did give him a sense of security now—and jumped out after them.
John scrambled agilely up into the truck's cab.
Luckily, the keys were still in the ignition.
He quickly turned the key, and the truck's engine rumbled to life with a deep, powerful sound.
He shifted into reverse.
The heavy front end of the truck began to slowly back up.
After just a few maneuvers, the obstructing trailer was moved enough to clear a path wide enough for the dump truck and school bus to pass.
Although a few scattered zombies emerged from the surrounding building shadows, under the suppressing fire from Miller's shotgun and Martin and Sam's weapons, they couldn't get close and were quickly dealt with.
[Looks like… that wasn't so hard after all. Didn't even trigger a system mission…] Sam felt slightly relieved as he watched the road clear.
Seeing the damaged police car and truck wreck earlier had given him a very bad feeling, but now it seemed… they got through okay?
However, the thought had barely settled—
System Mission Issued: Kill the Aberration "Spider" Mission Reward: +600 Hope Points, Temporary Exchange Access (Low Tier)
[Mutated zombie? Spider?] Sam's heart clenched violently.
Almost in the same instant, a sharp sound tore through the air above, like fabric ripping.
He snapped his head up—
He saw an indescribable 'thing' moving with anti-gravity agility, leaping at high speed between the walls of the multi-story buildings lining the street.
Its form was vaguely humanoid, but its limbs were completely mutated, sprouting multiple blade-like appendages, transforming into long, slender legs like a spider's, tipped with sharp points glinting with metallic coldness.
Its naked skin was a sickly, deathly pale white.
As it paused mid-leap, turning its blood-red maw—which seemed ripped open to its ears and filled with sharp teeth—towards Sam and the others on the street below, a high-pitched shriek erupted from its throat, filled with a mixture of extreme excitement and cruel predatory hunger.
It had spotted its prey.
It was coming.