Knock. Knock.

  "Enter."

  The moment I stepped into the classroom, the teacher’s gaze locked onto mine, sharp and unimpressed. His voice cut through the air like a blade.

  "Everyone’s been here for ten minutes, waiting for you to grace us with your presence."

  "I’m sorry, it’s my fau—"

  Before I could even finish my excuse—

  "It’s my fault." Khaled spoke up, his tone steady. "I got caught up talking to some people on the way."

  The teacher’s eyes flicked between us, then sighed. "Next time you’re late, you’ll be working an extra hour. Now sit down."

  As I made my way to my seat, I heard soft giggles from behind. I turned my head slightly to see Zoe sitting beside Jade, smirking as if this was all a joke to her.

  She’s enjoying this way too much. It’s pissing me off.

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  At the front of the class, the teacher grabbed a piece of chalk and began sketching something on the board. The rough outlines of long-limbed, emaciated humanoid figures took shape.

  "Today, we’ll discuss why you should never be outside after dark. Nightfall brings out human infected that are far more dangerous than the ones roaming in the daytime."

  Jade raised her hand, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. "Are they really that dangerous? From your drawings, they look pretty fragile."

  The teacher smiled slightly, as if expecting the question. "Good observation. At first glance, they do appear weaker than the standard infected. But let me ask you something—would you rather deal with a slow, stumbling infected during the day or one that can sprint, climb, and summon others the moment it spots you? Add to that enhanced hearing and the fact that you’d be fumbling around in the pitch-black night… What does that mean for you?"

  Jade hesitated, then answered, "A worse field of vision."

  The teacher nodded approvingly. "Exactly. And this is just one type of infected human you might encounter at night. So far, we’ve identified three, but we believe there are more. This one—" he tapped the board, emphasizing the eerie figure, "—is called a Climber. As the name suggests, it’s highly mobile."

  (A fast infected that can climb and call for backup… If we ever run into one, what are we supposed to do? We’d be screwed.)

  Nash clenched his fists at the thought.

  "So what you’re saying," Zoe interjected, crossing her arms, "is that if we run into one, we’re just dead? That’s the lesson here?"

  The teacher shook his head. "Not necessarily. If you aren’t spotted first, staying silent is your best defense. Luckily for us, Climbers have terrible eyesight."

  He turned back to the class, his gaze suddenly sharp. "And speaking of terrible eyesight—Rob, the board is in front of you, not outside the window! If you ever find yourself out there at night, you’ll be praying you remember what I’m teaching right now."

  Rob flinched. "S-sorry…"

  ---

  (Nash’s thoughts)

  Rob… the new guy. He showed up at the fortress a few days ago, completely battered and alone. Despite sharing a room with Khaled and me, we’ve barely talked. The longest conversation we had was when he gave me his broken walkie-talkie, saying it was useless to him. I fixed it three days ago, still surprised I managed to get it working. I tried to give it back, but he just shook his head and said it was mine now. Like he didn’t need it anymore…

  ---

  Suddenly, the classroom alarm blared.

  Wuuuuuu.

  Jade’s head snapped up. "The scouting team is back!"

  Another siren followed. Wuuuuu.

  Aria, sitting next to me, whispered under her breath, "Please don’t ring a third time…"

  Wuuuuuuu.