Everly poked her head out through the door crack, cautiously peering outside.
The cockroach swarm was coming from the cafeteria’s main entrance; near the back door, she didn’t see any—at least not yet. But time was running out, because she could already hear screaming from the cafeteria hall.
If these were the usual thumb-sized cockroaches, the cafeteria door—reinforced with tape and wooden planks—might have held. But these fist-sized monsters could even scratch the glass, so there was no way the cafeteria’s defenses would withstand them!
Her expression darkened. If she could, of course she would try to save everyone, but she was far too weak. Just keeping herself safe would take everything she had… She silently hoped that James’s “protagonist aura” would protect her—wait, he should be the protagonist, right?
Everly quickly glanced at James’s face behind her. Seeing it, she relaxed and turned back, exhaling slowly.
He should be the protagonist. No doubt about it… Even if Lewis had no fame when he made this film, just looking at that face, he had to be the lead. And James—well, Lewis—this James was some graduate student in insect systematics. Generally, in disaster films, the protagonist’s profession is somewhat connected to the disaster, so they can figure out how to respond and ultimately solve it. By that logic, James had to be the protagonist, and his girlfriend Diana was the heroine.
In horror films, sticking close to the main characters usually meant surviving until the end.
Remembering this rule she had read countless times in horror movie summaries, Everly resolved to cling to the leads from now on.
She pushed open the metal door and went out first, then turned to the two behind her and made a gesture for them to follow.
The lead couple exchanged a glance and stepped out of the metal door, one after the other.
“Where’s your car?” Everly asked.
“Car?”
Everly blinked in surprise. “You don’t have a car?”
In movies, the leads always use a car to escape…
James scratched his head. “Gas is too expensive. I borrowed someone else’s ride to get to this town.”
Everly looked at Diana. She did have a car, but today it was driven by her mayor dad—her own car wasn’t here.
“…Useless adults,” Everly muttered to herself, forcing down the urge to complain. She looked around and spotted a small truck parked nearby for transporting kitchen waste. Turning to James, she said, “Go find a rock.”
“Huh?”
“A rock that can break the window of that truck.” Everly had no time to explain. She pointed to the truck and started walking toward it.
James mumbled in confusion, “Shouldn’t we be running instead? Why smash a truck window?”
“James!” Diana glared at him and pointed to the truck bed. There were several black rubber coveralls left there for transporting the kitchen waste. Diana guessed Everly intended to use one to protect herself from cockroach bites.
“Oh… okay, she’s right. Those cockroaches can really do damage. If you accidentally crush one, it sprays corrosive acid—so it’s smart to find something to protect yourself.” James muttered as he went to the nearby lawn, picked up a huge landscaping rock, and carried it over.
“Break it open,” Everly said, pointing at the window next to the driver’s seat.
At this point, James had given up resisting. He had the two women step back, raised the rock high, and slammed it against the truck window several times. A large hole appeared in the glass. He reached through, unlocked the door from the inside, and opened it.
After opening the truck door, James was about to reach for the coverall draped over the passenger seat when Everly suddenly grabbed him and pulled him back.
“Wait!”
She crouched down and leaned under the steering wheel, searching for a moment before pulling out a tangled mess of wires. With surprising skill, she found two exposed wire ends and touched them together.
“Rrrrrr—” The engine roared to life, the headlights flickered on, and the previously dead truck started successfully.
“Everly… this, this…” Diana was completely dumbfounded.
“Get in, close the door, we’re leaving—now!”
Everly’s peripheral vision caught the fist-sized cockroaches skirting around the cafeteria and approaching fast from the side. She didn’t have time to explain anything further. She shifted toward the passenger seat, leaving enough room, and urged the two adults to get in.
Once all three were inside, James closed the door, turned the wheel, pressed the gas, and the truck surged away from the cafeteria.
“Hey, I’ve got to say, I underestimated you before. That was impressive!” James said, driving down the deserted school road, giving Everly a thumbs-up.
Everly chuckled softly and focused on putting on her rubber coverall.
The wire-touching ignition trick was something she had learned from watching Old John repair cars.
In some American crime and action shows she had seen in her past life, there were often scenes like this: the protagonist hotwires a car by touching two wires under the steering column, starts the engine, and escapes. Influenced by those shows, Everly had begged to learn the trick the moment she saw Old John demonstrate it.
Seriously, it was just so cool!
But after learning it, she realized that only old cars could actually be hotwired. Most new cars produced in recent years came with second-generation electronic anti-theft systems. Even if you found the right wires, without the key, the starter would just spin uselessly—the engine wouldn’t fire at all.
It was clear that, as time went on, this skill of hers would eventually become obsolete along with old cars.
Everly ignored James, and he didn’t get upset. Instead, he started chatting with Diana again: “I don’t know the way. Can you make sure this road goes to the desert?”
Diana was surprised. “The desert? Why? There’s nothing there, and once you go deep, it’s easy to get lost… Why not just leave town and head to Micano City for help?”
Everly also wondered about that and quietly perked up her ears.
“Leave the town? No, no, no—that’s absolutely not an option. Like I said, these cockroaches are starving. Their diet is very different from ordinary cockroaches—they don’t care about sugar or carbs. What they crave is flesh. When the swarm first attacked, many townspeople tried to escape by car. But that just caused a chain of accidents. From the central square to Route 387, the roads were completely clogged.”
“The more cars got stuck, the more the hungry cockroaches were drawn to them. Some people tried to escape the vehicles to avoid being bitten—but there were too many cockroaches. Most couldn’t get far before being caught. The rest stayed inside, doors and windows locked tight, hoping the cockroaches would eventually leave. But they were doomed to be disappointed. The cockroaches’ appetite was endless, and their sharp mandibles meant it was only a matter of time before they chewed through the car and got inside… I imagine that area has already turned into a literal hell on Earth.”
“We could take a detour,” Everly interjected.
James glanced at her and snorted. “Yes, we could go through the wilderness—but only if we had a high-performance off-road vehicle. This old wreck of a car? You know how rough the roads are out there. If it breaks down halfway, we’d just end up as lunch for the cockroaches.”
“Oh God…” Diana’s lips trembled, and her eyes shimmered with tears. “But my… my father…”
“I don’t know… I’m sorry, Diana,” James said. “The moment I realized something was wrong, I ran straight to the school to find you. I didn’t notice where your father went.” Seeing Diana was about to cry, he hurriedly added, “But he’s been with the pest control team. Cockroaches hate the smell of their chemicals, so as long as he doesn’t wander off, he should be fine.”
“Oh, James…” Diana rested her head on his shoulder.
Although the moment was sweet, Everly had to note: in a life-or-death situation, flirting was not a good habit.
At that moment, the truck smashed through the school’s back gate and rolled onto the street. Diana jolted, accidentally bumping her head against James’s shoulder. Her nose immediately turned bright red.
See? This was exactly why this wasn’t the time for romance… Everly lifted her eyes innocently toward the window.
The street outside was eerily quiet. Not a single person in sight. A car sat crooked in the middle of the road, its surface, the pavement, and windows smeared with blood. Occasionally, flattened cockroaches—coated in yellowish-white goo—lay scattered across the ground.
A few fist-sized reddish-brown cockroaches hunched over the blood, feeding. At the sound of the truck engine, they twitched their antennae and, spiny legs moving like thorns, scuttled en masse toward the vehicle.
Fortunately, the school was located on the southern side of town, quite a distance from Route 387, so the roads weren’t too congested. Even if some people had been bitten and bled at the start, by the time they realized what was happening, they either drove away or hid inside nearby buildings, doors and windows tightly shut.
As the truck drove along, they didn’t see any dead bodies. A few second-story windows had curtains that twitched slightly, peeking out through narrow gaps.
There were still quite a few survivors in this neighborhood.
“What I said earlier in the cafeteria was true,” James explained. “These cockroaches have heat-sensing organs. They can detect living creatures nearby. Crowds don’t make you safer—they actually attract more cockroaches. That’s why I told the students to scatter. It reduces the attraction for the swarm…”
“Then why did the cockroaches suddenly attack people? The principal said there was a problem with the pest control outside—what exactly happened?” Everly asked.
“Well… I don’t have the lab equipment to give a precise answer. I can only tell you what I suspect…”
James drove on, narrating what had happened to him that morning.