Narrator: "The first day was panic. The second… was purpose. That's when we realized — this wasn't a random disaster. This was war. And we had to pick a side."
The rain hadn't let up since last night. It felt like even the sky was mourning. The school, usually loud with laughter and chaos, was now just a skeleton of itself — creaks in the ceiling, whispered conversations, footsteps that tried not to echo.
The day passed in fragments. Some of us argued. Some sat in silence. Some just waited. Barely anyone slept.
By evening, we'd moved into the science lab — not because it was the safest place, but because it had only one door we could barricade. Plus, there were a few old buns left in the biology drawer. Not fresh, but food was food.
We were adapting. Fast.
Kartik and I went through our supplies under the dim light of half-dead torchlights. A few crushed water bottles. Three granola bars. A lab knife with a chipped edge. Some rods from the physics lab.
Isha was off to the side, scribbling silently on a scrap of paper. She hadn't said a word all day.
Ananya stood by the window, arms crossed, eyes on the outside world. The schoolyard looked normal — like nothing had changed. The swings moved a little in the wind. The basketball court lay untouched. But we knew the truth. The danger wasn't gone. It was closer than ever. Some of it might even still be inside.
Dev paced back and forth, rubbing his temples like he was trying to squeeze the fear out.
Dev: "We're stuck. No signal, no power... and zombies. Real zombies."
Sana: "They're not zombies. They're... sick people."
Tanya didn't look up. Her voice cut through like a blade.
Tanya: "No. They're gone. My uncle told me — this virus wipes the brain in minutes. They're not people anymore."
We all looked at her. Even Isha's pencil froze.
Kartik: "Wait… what are you saying?"
Tanya stood, face half-shadowed by the dying lights.
Tanya: "My uncle's Colonel Rathore. Indian Military Intelligence. A month ago, he told us there was a lab near the border. Something leaked. Something bad. A mutated virus. They tried to contain it. They failed."
No one moved. No one spoke. She continued.
Tanya: "He said… 'If it all starts falling apart, don't wait for backup. Find a group. Stick together. Trust no one outside the circle.'"
Shivam: "So they knew this could happen?"
Tanya: "Not this exactly... but something like it. Yeah."
The weight of her words pressed down on all of us. No one was coming to help. The world wasn't going back to normal. And deep down… we already knew that.
Then Kartik stepped forward, picked up a piece of chalk, and without a word, drew a rough circle on the ground.
Kartik: "No more freaking out. No more hoping someone saves us. We save each other. We're not just classmates now."
He stood in the center.
Kartik: "If you step into this circle, it's a pact. No betrayal. No selfishness. We act like one."
We looked at each other. No teachers. No adults. Just us. And this chalk ring on a cold lab floor.
One by one, we stepped in.
Kartik. Me. Shivam. Lucky. Suraj. Dev. Tanya. Ayesha. Ananya. Isha. Sana. Nisha. Manish.
Ayush (Narration):"That was the moment we stopped being a group of scared kids. That was when we became The Bunker Squad. Our pact wasn't made with rules. It was made with survival."
We hadn't really slept the night before — nerves, fear, adrenaline. But now, we had a reason to try. A rhythm. A system.
We made a rough duty list:
• Kartik and I: watch shifts
•Tanya and Shivam: map possible exits
• Isha: sketch the layout from memory
• Sana and Nisha: track food and water
• Everyone else: cleaning, prepping, staying alert
It was crude. But it was something.
We tried sleeping in turns. Ayesha curled near the lab table, hockey stick next to her. Suraj leaned against a cabinet, half-awake. I sat near the entrance with a notebook, keeping watch.
Isha was still sketching. Still silent. I leaned over.
Ayush: "What're you drawing?"
Isha: "I saw it in a dream. But it felt... real."
The page showed a symbol. A circle with jagged edges, like glass shattered outwards. And something sharp, claw-like, cutting through it.
Tanya came over, froze when she saw it.
Tanya (tense): "That symbol… I saw it once. In a file my uncle sent. It's classified. You're not supposed to know it."
I looked at Isha. She wasn't faking. She couldn't be.
But before I could ask anything else, a hand tapped my shoulder.
Ananya.
Ananya (softly): "We need to talk. Just the two of us."
My chest tightened for a second. But before I could move —
CRASH!
A loud bang rang out. Then a sharp clang. Something metal falling.
Nisha: "That came from the chem lab, didn't it?!"
Lucky ran to the door's small window and peeked.
Lucky (whispers): "Three of them. Infected. Inside the building."
The fear came back — sharp and fast.
Kartik: "Grab your stuff. We're falling back to the AV room. It's got iron shutters."
Ayush (Narration):"That was our first real move — coordinated, instinctive. No grownups. No backup. Just us."
The hallway was soaked and pitch-black. A pipe was leaking somewhere, adding to the tension.
We moved slow. Careful.
Ayesha held her hockey stick tight, like a weapon. Dev gripped a fire extinguisher. I stayed close to Ananya.
And then it happened.
A girl — or what used to be one — jumped out of the locker room. Blood-soaked. Twitching. Screaming.
Sana: "AHHHHH—!!"
Kartik pulled her back just in time.
Shivam didn't think — he swung.
BAM.One down.
We ran. Straight into the AV room. Slammed the shutters shut. Locked everything.
It was quiet. Safer.
While the others caught their breath, I dug around the drawers and found an empty notebook. The pages were untouched.
I sat under the dim red light and started writing.
Page 1 – Day 1 Notes:
•13 of us. 6 girls, 7 boys.
•No one hurt yet.
•Isha's symbol = military connection?
•Tanya's intel confirmed.
•Ananya asked for a private talk. •I'm recording everything — for clarity, for memory, for hope.•
What We Did That Day:
• Morning: barricaded cafeteria
• Afternoon: cleaned lab, rationed food, fixed flashlight batteries
•Evening: held meeting, made the pact
•Night: survived an attack, secured AV room
•Sleep: 2-hour rotating shifts
•Mood: still scared, but something stronger was growing — trust
End Quote:
"The world didn't collapse all at once. It cracked slowly — under pressure, under fear, under lies. Only the ones who noticed early… stood a chance." — Ayush