The World Cataclysm - Chapter 87: Self-Defence Classes

Leaving the dean’s room, Dave decided to heed the dean’s advice and familiarise himself with this place. He didn’t have enough time to look at everything when he walked with Professor Dylan. According to the map, this place was an underground complex that covered most of the university grounds. Its corridors were much more spacious than those of region C.

‘Hmm…This underground complex has a residential area, a cafeteria, storeroom, several large halls, Professor’s lab area, toilets and even long pathways that lead to the surface. It’s difficult to believe that I never heard about them in my past life.’ Dave thought inwardly as he glanced at people passing next to him.

Well, nothing changed after he entered the dean’s room. There were still some male students who were transporting boxes and bags somewhere, some students were reading books, while some of them were playing cards. Truthfully, Dave could hardly believe that each of them had killed a zombie before. Actually, he was very interested in those self-defence classes Dean Siphon had mentioned to him.

But before that, Dave decided to visit their cafeteria…

…

Following the map given to him by a dean, Dave finally found a cafeteria. He guessed it was built here to cater for the needs of researchers down here. Judging by its look, it was an ordinary cafeteria with square tables in it. When he entered it, it was bustling with people.

It wasn’t hard to find a food distribution spot since it was further forward of him and a lot of people stood there in one line. Curiously glancing at passing students, Dave positioned himself at the end of the line.

Observing the students standing in front of him, Dave imitated them and grabbed a tray lying on his right. Having nothing to do, Dave perked his ears and eavesdropped on the talking in front of him.

…

“Hey, are you going to the self-defence classes after this?” The male student asked his friend.

“It’s not up to me to decide. Our dean made it clear that attending them is mandatory for us. I don’t want to be left without food for today.” His friend said in a grumbling manner.

“Right, up to now, I never thought our dean was that scary. Remember how she said that we’re now in wartime and we need to learn how to take care of our lives. At first, I thought she was just pressuring us, but she truly seems to be trying to integrate military standards into us.” The same male student said in a low tone.

“Remember how she demonstrated killing a zombie for the first time. She did it without a change in her facial expression. Then, she expected us to do the same thing as her.” His friend said in awe.

…

‘The dean seems to be respected among the people down here.’ Dave thought as he overheard their conversation. He guessed Dean Siphon started with the demonstration that zombies weren’t to be feared. He had done a similar thing to Rebecca and Rachel, though he had gone a little bit further than just a simple demonstration back there.

Glancing further ahead, Dave noticed that everyone got a bowl of soup from the woman responsible for food distribution. At the first glance, it was just a simple soup made by boiling some vegetables in hot water. On top of the bowl of soup, there also was a piece of bread and a cup of tea. Well, it seemed that people down here were doing fine in terms of food. At least, no one was starving here.

Patiently waiting for his turn, Dave had gotten his own share of food and walked towards the closest table. On his way, he noticed that there were people who had a second dish on their tray. On top of it, they had meat in both of their dishes.

Taking his seat, Dave asked the man next to him, “Hello there. Do you know why the food given to them is different from ours?”

Oddly glancing at him, the man still responded to his question, “Is this your first day here? Everybody knows that people, who kill zombies on the surface, are treated differently than others. Our dean made it clear that such people should be treated correspondingly.”

“Hmm…interesting,” Dave mumbled slightly as he understood that Dean Siphon used food as an incentive to motivate people to join the ranks of fighters. Actually, he was also thinking about implementing such a system into their dormitory. He was thinking of doing it after Luther and others joined them, otherwise it would have turned into a mess. Such a system was unnecessary before since their numbers hardly reached 20 people when they pulled over people from the supermarket.

Then, without any words, Dave quickly gobbled down his food. Although the soup wasn’t rich in taste and had only vegetables in it, it wasn’t something to complain about. Furthermore, there wasn’t any rule that he can’t eat his own food nor can someone prohibit him from eating it since it was him who obtained it.

Hence, Dave opened his backpack and took out several cans of food. As he took out food from his backpack, he immediately sensed intense stares from his surroundings. However, unperturbed by the stares, he quickly finished off the cans as he stood up and headed to the next destination.

…

“If you ever go against a zombie, remember don’t panic. Only by keeping your calm, you can evaluate the situation and make cool-headed decisions.” A burly man said in a calm tone. “It isn’t hard to predict their movement when you’re calm. An average man can easily take down one zombie if he knows what to do.”

In front of him, more than twenty people sat on the floor and listened to his instructions. Although not all of them were engaged in his words, most of them listened attentively to him since they clearly understood that it may save their lives.

“When you see a zombie and it rushes at you, of course, you might act up to your creativity. However, I recommend you to trip it to the ground. Normally, it’s very easy to catch them off their balance, no need for profound knowledge for it. Just don’t panic. First, you need to get rid of your fear of zombies.” As an example, the burly man showed it on the male student next to him.

He gave more instructions for several minutes and then, he headed to one of the doors. A short while later, a group of students dragged some bags to the spot where an instructor was standing before. From the growls, it was obvious what was in the bags.

As the last bag was put to the ground, a burly instructor coughed to attract the attention of students and said, “As I said before, first of all, you need to get rid of the fear of zombies. Therefore, come here and kill these limbless zombies.”

At his words, the students hesitated a bit yet still approached the bags. They thought it was worth a look. As the instructor carefully unzipped the bag, the face of a zombie was revealed to students. It had blood stains near its mouth and a chunk of flesh was torn from its right cheek.

“Don’t be scared of it. It can’t harm you. Now, I want the bravest one to step out of the group and kill it with this pipe.” The instructor said as he showed a pipe in his hands.

“…” No one decided to volunteer as they cautiously glanced at each other. It seemed like everyone was nudging each other to be first, yet no one was brave enough to step out.

Sighing, the instructor said more harshly, “You should have more courage if you want to survive. No one cares when a dog dies in the neighbourhood. Treat it more like an animal, it’s not a human anymore, so there’s no room for hesitation.”

Finally, after his words, someone decided to volunteer as he stepped out of the group. He grabbed a pipe from the instructor’s hands and hit a zombie with it. Hitting it once, the student became braver and hit it for the second time. Then, a third time. He kept hitting it with a metal pipe until he crushed its skull bone.

Patting the student on his shoulder, the instructor said encouragingly, “See, no need to be scared. Let’s move to the next one. However, not all of you can kill a zombie today since I have only 10 of them. Others may learn from observing everything from sideways.”

After the first volunteer, most of the students became a bit braver as more students started to volunteer themselves. One by one, they quickly finished off all the bags.

…

‘So this is how they teach self-defence to students here.’ Dave thought as he observed everything from sideways. He had come here right after the cafeteria. It seemed that they purely concentrated on fighting a zombie in those self-defence classes rather than on actual self-defence. Well, the dean seemed to be taking a much milder approach to teaching self-defence to students.