Beyond the Horizon(An apocalypse novel)

Chapter 27: New rules

"Please..."

His words grew inaudible after that, yet his lips still mumbled, his eyes remaining solely on Brandon.

Then he stopped.

The room remained silent, leaving the heater and the storm to fill the void. Brandon broke it, stretching his hand towards Kyle’s body.

"Kyle..."

Mr. Morgan gently placed a hand on his shoulder, patting it. Brandon lowered his arm and his head, saying nothing.

The vice-principal looked at him once more before moving past him, kneeling before Kyle. He held the boy’s wrist, then let out a long sigh.

That much was indicative of his fate, yet the man still spoke.

"He’s dead."

That was it.

Brandon still kept his head down, saying nothing. What was there to say, after all?

Mr. Morgan had warned them all of the dangers of going out, yet they followed him anyway. Was the blame to fall on the vice-principal for not being adamant enough? On Brandon for inspiring the boy to follow? Or on himself for choosing to go in the first place?

None of it mattered, because he was dead now.

At least, that was how Miles saw it.

He wondered what would have happened if he’d dragged the boy back in earlier—a train of thought he very quickly suppressed.

He’d been far too busy dealing with the ghoul in the hallway. The moment he was done with it, he’d dragged them all back.

It was all he could do at the time.

In the end, Kyle was dead now. There was little point in placing blame when it wouldn’t change that fact.

Instead, his mind moved to the next, inevitable thought.

’Sooner or later, he’s going to rise again.’

It had been the case with that girl from earlier. There was no reason to doubt that it’d happen again.

’Still...’

He glanced at Brandon. The boy had raised his head a bit, staring at Kyle’s corpse before him. His face remained blank, lost in his own thoughts.

Then he blinked, grabbing his shirt and violently rubbing his eyes.

Before either Mr. Morgan or Mrs. Kathy could reach out to him, he’d already turned to face Grimm.

The boy in question held his gun tightly while staring at Kyle’s corpse, a conflicted look on his face. Brandon let out a scowl.

"I bet you’re happy now."

Grimm turned his gaze to him, a confused and wary look in his eyes. He didn’t reply.

Brandon pressed on, his glare fully on the boy and the gun in his hand.

"Too bad the cold did him in before you could, right?"

Grimm finally replied, his tone dark.

"What do you even mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean! Why else would you bring a gun to school?"

Brandon didn’t back down, staring him dead in the eye.

"I-I wasn’t going to use it."

Grimm broke contact first, his gaze diverting to the ground.

"You don’t even believe yourself."

"I wasn’t going to use it."

Grimm finally pushed back, more force behind his tone. He gripped his gun tighter. Brandon merely glanced at the gun before letting out a bitter laugh.

"It’s not too late, you know. Someone has to take care of him before he turns, right?"

Grimm remained silent.

"I bet that’s what you’ve been thinking, you sick fu—"

"I said I wasn’t going to use it!"

Grimm cut him off, pulling his gun closer to himself. He stared wildly at Brandon, just short of aiming at the boy.

Brandon stopped at that, then covered his face with a hand.

"Just shoot him, why don’t you?"

Grimm fell silent again, his gaze turning to his gun, then to the boy and the corpse. Brandon brought his hands down, eyes red now.

His voice cracked.

"Shoot him."

"No."

Grimm’s reply was quiet, almost to himself.

Brandon didn’t relent, speaking even louder this time, showing more cracks in his voice.

"Shoot him!"

"No!"

He took a step forward. Grimm shifted his gun.

"I said—"

Before the situation could deteriorate any further, Mr. Morgan stepped between them. He snatched Grimm’s rifle out of his shocked hands.

Then he took aim at Kyle’s head, and fired.

The shot rang through the enclosed gym.

Kyle slid from his sitting position onto the ground, blood trailing down the wall behind him as more leaked out of the wound on his head.

Grimm was the first to break the silence after the shot, an almost feral panic in his voice.

"Give me the gun!"

He jumped, ready to tackle the vice-principal. Yet before he could even reach the man, Mr. Morgan did something almost unthinkable.

He handed him the gun back.

’What?’

Miles almost couldn’t believe the sight, double-checking if he still had [Delusion] active. He did not, as he processed it.

Even Grimm looked shocked at the gesture. Only for a moment, though, as he snatched the gun back before the man could change his mind.

"Grimm..."

Mr. Morgan began, still staring at Kyle’s body.

"I gave that back to you because I want to trust you."

He turned to look the boy in the eye.

"If things ever go back to normal, I’d probably have to expel you. But these clearly aren’t normal times. Regardless of what your original intentions with that gun were... if you’d wanted us dead, you’ve had many chances to kill us. Yet you haven’t."

He looked back at the corpse again.

"Back when we were in that dead end, you didn’t back down or turn tail. Because of that, Grimm, I am willing to trust you. The question is..."

Mr. Morgan looked back to him.

"Are you willing to trust me?"

Before the boy could reply, Mr. Morgan turned to face Brandon.

"Kyle’s dead, Brandon. Blaming anyone, much less yourself, is pointless now. So is taking out your anger and grief on someone else."

Brandon remained silent, clenching his fists tightly. Then he shouted shakily,

"Fuck this!"

Before stomping out of the crowd, heading towards an empty corner of the gym. Grimm also took it as a chance to slip out, too.

Mr. Morgan made no effort to stop them. He seemed lost in his own thoughts, looking at Kyle’s corpse, then at his hands, before sighing.

The school intercom suddenly crackled to life again, instantly freezing the atmosphere in the room. A calm voice emanated from the speakers.

"Well, well. It’s gotten a bit rowdy since I left, hasn’t it?"

It was the principal.