Chapter 11: Breaking in

Will was walking through the streets, limping hard. He was panting and his body was sweating all over. He felt like fainting from exhaustion at any time, however, he focused his attention, pushing himself to keep doing one step after another.

He was running since he departed from Sarah and Owen. His legs were now shaking as the muscles already reached their limits.

It has been some time since Will didn't practice physical activity constantly and his pauses for smoking were becoming more frequent as well. Recently, he was even starting to cough at random times all of a sudden, which concerned him about the state of his lungs.

'Well, anyway, if this is really an Apocalypse, and I don't have any doubt that it is, I won't be able to find a cigarette pack so often, so I will be ok… There is no better time to stop smoking than in a critical situation when you need your lungs, hehe.' His mind was a bit dizzy because of the previous huge effort he needed to put into that sprint to the university, so he was thinking in nonsensical things at times.

Will was starting to wonder if he was going in the right direction. The University never seemed to be so distant (maybe because he never needed to cross the entire city and pass for a chaotic scenario while going there). He even tried to take a shortcut, but it ended up taking too much time.

'Maybe if it was not for my messed knee, I could have had arrived there earlier!' He gritted his teeth as hard as he could, to the point where his jaw seemed to be about to break.

While he was running through the city, a couple of buildings in a street he was passing for were hit by a strong wind gust that even launched some people meters away. The wreckage flew everywhere and a rock managed to strike Will right on his knee.

'That was a hell of a luck!' He thought, mocking himself. 'Changing a bit the story, I can finally say that I took an arrow to the knee in a fierce battle!'

That part of the city where he was passing by seemed to be less dangerous than the others. The catastrophe reached that place, but probably hours ago, so the buildings were already all fallen to the ground. Even the flames were extinguishing. The University was near the center of the capital. The calamity seemed to start there.

After some time, he finally saw the huge campus of the University and could sigh in relief. He supported his tired body in a red bus that was in front of the Campus gate, taking deep breathes.

'No! Don't be relieved now! You still need to see if your students are okay.' He prompted himself, ignoring the pain in his knee. Will walked hastily to the entrance of the main building.

The campus itself was very harmed. It was even difficult to walk in that cracked ground while deviating from some huge pieces of concrete in the way. However, nothing was compared to the main building, which was completely collapsed at that point. It was the definition of ruins.

'No… All this effort for… For nothing?' The professor stopped to walk immediately, losing his hope.

The university's roof was destroyed, the east walls were leaning to the side and soon would fall. Instead of screams of agony or fear, just silence could be heard inside there.

Will approached that building, kneeling in front of the entrance door, which was closed. His knee hurt like hell, but he didn't care.

He hit the ground with his fists, crying and shouting for any God who could hear and pity him.

"DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL!" His voice echoed, crossing that silent place and then vanishing. No God heard him... But someone else did.

"M-Mr. Will!?" A voice came from the other side of the door, making Will get back to reality, his frustration vanishing and giving place to joy and hope filling his heart.

He raised from the ground at once, trying to sprint towards the entrance, but falling on all fours again due to his achy knee. Will desperately crawled towards there, just stopping when his ear was against that huge entrance, that was covered with numerous rocks.

"I… I am hearing you!" He shouted, his heart beating so fast that it seemed to be nearly going out of his throat.

The response came in no time and it left him relieved.

"W-We are here!" A young man cried out.

"There is no way for us to get out!" Another woman shouted with him.

"Please, help!"

Together with them, lots of other students started to scream as well, calling their professor. Some of them probably weren't even from his sociology class, but he couldn't care less.

"I will find a way! Don't worry, your professor will find a way!"

He finally could be able to get up from the ground, looking restlessly to all sides and trying to find something that would help him to break in into that entrance.

Nonetheless, no matter how much he searched through the Campus, he couldn't think of anything.

'Please, they are so close! They are really, really close so… do something! Think of a crazy plan or whatever!'

He was feeling cornered there, walking randomly in the Campus, going everywhere, yet finding nothing but more useless wreckage or scholar stuff spread on the ground.

Feeling anger because of how worthless he was feeling, he rubbed his face, looking up to the crimson sky. His eyes were still trying to get used to that color and he didn't know even if they could get used to it someday.

'Damn! I hate this color…' Then, that sky remembered him of something.

A grin appeared on his face as he started to walk hurriedly to the gate of the Campus. He was going faster now since he found a piece of wood to serve as a walking cane and help him with the issue on his knee.

Rapidly, he exited the Campus, looking to the street and seeing that red bus he had supported himself on before.

'I never was so glad before for having slacked once in my life!' He laughed, feeling the will to run towards that bus, but not having the energy nor the conditions to do so.

Once he got there, he saw that it was closed, and the keys weren't anywhere to be seen.

'The owner might be dead by now or in another corner of the capital since this thing is abandoned. If that's the case, I will be taking it without guilt!'

Will broke the glass and jumped through it, getting cut in some parts in the process.

He sat on the driver's seat.

'Ok, all those years being a delinquent and stealing my father's car must serve for something right now. Let's see if I remember how to do hot-wire!'

It didn't last too long for him to get through it and turn on the bus.

'It's a bit different to do it on a bus, but there is no problem in the end!'

The engine was working just well and the vehicle didn't seem to be too harmed, so it should do. He drove that bus on his way to the Campus of the University. As it was already a mess, he didn't care if the bus destroyed a thing or two there.

Will quickly maneuvered the vehicle and positioned its front pointing to the entrance of the university. He got out of it, heading to the entrance of the university and shouting to the students:

"Get out from the entrance, please! Go as distant as you can, and don't stay in front of it, understood!?"

He concentrated, trying to hear what was going on inside there. None of the students answered him, but he heard rapid steps on the other side.

'Great!' He smiled, running again to the bus, getting ready on the driver's seat and holding firmly the steering wheel.

'It's time to do something crazy. Let's go! They are your students. If you lose them, you are not a cool professor anymore but a shrimp lost in the sea! Go ahead. Go ahead!"

As he pressed his foot deeply on the accelerator, he felt his heart burning in flames, the time seemed to pass a bit slower each second. His body was in a feverish state.

He closed his eyes in the last second, getting ready for the impact.

'I hope that this shit has airbags!'

The bus struck the rocks at a high speed. The impact sent them inside the university, liberating the passage.

All the front of the vehicle was dented. The impact had messed with it all.

Will discovered painfully that the bus didn't have airbags by hitting his face against the steering wheel and losing consciousness for a while.