novelraw Chapter 37 37: I’m going alone
Chapter 37 37: I’m going alone
The gym fell silent for a moment, like someone had turned every conversation down at once.
At first it was only a sound, long, rough scraping, something heavy dragged across the floor. Then heads started lifting, people turning toward the café entrance in slow, uncertain waves.
Leon stepped in at an unhurried pace, hauling a makeshift "load" behind him, several thick layers of fabric torn from the café's back area, bundled into a crude sled. On top lay ten dead zombie bodies, tangled together in a chaotic mass of limbs, gray skin, and clotted blood.
The fabric hissed against the polished court, leaving wet streaks in its wake. The smell hit hard enough that a few people covered their mouths on instinct, and others turned away, swallowing back bile.
Some stared at Leon with pure terror. Some with disbelief, like their brains were trying to catch up to what their eyes were reporting. A few didn't move at all, frozen, staring at the corpses like they'd stopped processing reality entirely.
Leon didn't acknowledge any of it.
He walked straight to the heavy metal doors leading outside, where a young student was standing watch, both hands locked around the crossbar like it was the only thing keeping the world from pouring in.
"Open it," Leon said calmly, not raising his voice.
The boy looked at him with wide eyes, then at the pile of bodies, then back at the door.
"I…I can't," he stammered. "There are… there are zombies out there. They keep slamming the doors."
Leon nodded like he'd just heard something obvious.
"Sure. I'll handle it," he said. Then he jerked his thumb back toward the improvised sled. "I've got to take this trash out anyway before it starts rotting. The café already had too many."
The word "trash" made a few people in the background suck in a sharp breath.
The student at the door looked like he wanted to argue, but his thoughts weren't forming fast enough. Finally, hands visibly shaking, he pulled the barricade aside and cracked the door open.
As if invited, two zombies lunged inside with guttural snarls and outstretched arms.
Someone screamed.
Leon disappeared.
There was no dramatic pause, no flourish. One instant he was by the door, the next his shape flickered, and then both zombies were dropping to the floor with dull thumps, headless.
For a full second, nobody moved.
Leon wrapped extra layers of fabric around his forearms like improvised gloves, bent down, grabbed the first corpse through the cloth, and tossed it onto the pile like a sandbag. He did the same with the second, then dragged the whole load back out and vanished beyond the door.
People watched in absolute silence.
A moment later the doors opened again. Leon returned, wiped his hands on the cloth still around his arms, and nodded at the stunned student.
"You can close it now."
The boy did it immediately, like a machine.
Only then did the hall start breathing again, like everyone had been holding their lungs hostage until permission was granted. A nervous whisper rolled through the crowd. Someone laughed, too sharp and too fast. Someone else sank to the floor like their legs had finally remembered fatigue.
Leon turned as if to head back to the café…
And someone hurried up to him.
A girl with short, pale-blonde hair that barely reached her jawline grabbed his sleeve. She had a sweet, almost childish face that contrasted sharply with a very full figure that still pulled attention even in a room like this.
"Hey!" she blurted, breathless. "What…what did you do?"
Leon looked at her like the question itself was strange.
"I took the corpses out," he answered without hesitation. "Didn't want them rotting in the café later."
Patrycja narrowed her eyes, clearly trying to match his tone to what he'd just said. Then she shook her head like she'd decided there was no point analyzing him.
"Okay… never mind." She spoke quickly, switching tracks. "Listen. Some of the professors, Natalia, Adam, and Marek are trying to decide what we do next. They want you there too. Now."
Leon's brow twitched. In that moment, he would've preferred to sit down, drink water, and spend five minutes pretending the world wasn't ending.
But after a short pause, he exhaled and nodded.
"Fine," he said. "Lead the way."
He followed her, leaving behind a hall full of people watching his back with a mix of fear, awe, and something that looked uncomfortably close to reverence.
Elena saw it with her own eyes, and clenched her fists tighter. Her gaze sharpened as she stared at the young man's retreating figure.
***
Leon reached the meeting point a few minutes later, passing into one of the side rooms that had been turned into a makeshift coordination area. A long "table" had been assembled from pushed-together benches and salvaged countertops, and several people were already gathered around it.
Natalia was there, leaning against the table with her arms crossed. Adam had just set his bow against the wall. Marek sat casually on a bench with his massive hammer braced against his leg. Professor Kowalczyk stood nearby, fifty-something, graying hair, a worn face that looked like it had aged ten years in a day.
Two female lecturers were there as well, one small and bespectacled, the other noticeably younger, hands clasped so tightly her knuckles were pale.
When Leon entered, the conversation stopped almost instantly.
All eyes turned to him at once, each one different. Open gratitude. Careful curiosity. Cool distance. Like some of them still couldn't decide whether what they'd witnessed earlier was a reason to feel safer… or more afraid.
Patrycja circled the table and sat off to the side, quickly fixing her short hair out of habit. Marek lifted his head and grinned.
"Well, you showed up," he said. "Good."
Leon gave him a brief nod and leaned back against the wall instead of sitting, like he preferred to see everyone at once.
Natalia cleared her throat. Seeing that everyone she considered "capable of action" was present, she went straight to business.
"The entire gym has been checked," she said in a calm, practical tone. "Corridors, storage rooms, pools, equipment areas. No zombies. No active threats. The doors are secured. For now, this is the safest place we have."
A few people visibly sagged with relief.
Natalia opened her mouth to continue…
But Leon spoke first.
"As far as sleeping goes," he said evenly, "I'm staying in the café. That's my spot."
Several heads snapped toward him. Marek raised an eyebrow. Adam looked mildly startled. Natalia lifted her gaze, irritation flaring at being interrupted.
"Excuse me?" she said coldly.
Leon shrugged.
"I'm not sleeping in one open space with over a hundred dirty, sweating, panicking people who can't control themselves." His voice stayed dry and matter-of-fact. "The café is secure, cleared, and my stuff is there."
For a moment Natalia looked like she wanted to respond.
But instead she turned away and continued as if he hadn't spoken.
Strangely, no one protested. No one even tried. The image of Leon dragging corpses out and clearing rooms alone had done its work.
"Next issue: food and medicine," Natalia continued. "We need to secure both as soon as possible."
"There are supplies in the café," Leon cut in. "Enough for a day. Maybe two if we don't waste."
"During the sweep we found some things in vending machines and the small campus shops," Adam added. "Not much, but it's something."
Marek snorted.
"We're not dying of hunger today. That's for sure."
The conversation drifted to communication.
One of the lecturers admitted she'd tried to contact her family, no signal. The other nodded. Professor Kowalczyk just shook his head.
Leon felt a tight, unpleasant twist in his stomach. If the network was down, his plan to call his family had just shattered.
Natalia continued.
"I want to form task teams. One goes to the dorms for clothes, and checks if anyone else needs help. Another tries the university clinic or the pharmacy near campus. We take medicine, bandages, anything we can get."
"Even if more people join us, food should last a day or two," Adam said. "In that time, the army or police should start an operation."
A few people exhaled with obvious relief.
Leon didn't.
Natalia didn't either. Her face stayed neutral, like she treated Adam's words as reassurance for the room, not a plan to bet lives on.
"If nobody objects," she said after a moment, "we'll start dividing people into teams. We need to do it smartly, minimize unnecessary losses…"
"Wait," Leon interrupted.
Natalia's jaw tightened. She looked at him sharply.
"What."
"I'm going alone," Leon said evenly. "I'm not joining any team."