DEGREES OF DEATH

15. PLUNGE INTO THE LABYRINTH OF BOOKS

The concrete canopy had become a stage for death. Three Listener-phase mutants surrounded Daniel and Alex from three sides. The heavy rain washed over their pale skin, making their dead muscles pulse aggressively. Their white eyes stared hungrily, their jaws twitching with a wet, clicking sound.

"Niel… what do we do, Niel?" Alex whispered, his voice trembling violently. He gripped his baseball bat so tightly his knuckles turned white. "There's no way we can fight three at once."

Daniel didn't answer. His mind was racing, scanning every corner, every crack, searching for even the most impossible escape route. His eyes darted downward, to the campus grounds now filling with dozens of mutants drawn by the sounds of their fight. Jumping down was suicide.

Above, on the third-floor balcony, Chania, Bianca, and Kimberly could only watch in horror. The jacket-rope they had made was too short to reach Daniel and Alex.

"What do we do?!" Kimberly shrieked, tugging on Bianca's sleeve. "They're going to die!"

Bianca gritted her teeth. Her hand flew to the quiver on her back. Empty. Her last arrow had been used on the mutant on the ladder. She cursed under her breath, punching the balcony railing in frustration.

Down below, the three mutants didn't wait any longer. They charged forward simultaneously from three different directions, an encirclement tactic that showed a terrifying level of predatory intelligence.

"Lex! Back to back! Don't give them a blind spot!" Daniel roared.

Daniel and Alex immediately pressed their backs together. Daniel faced two of the mutants, while Alex faced the largest one.

The first mutant lunged at Daniel. He ducked, letting the creature leap over him, then quickly spun and slammed his wooden beam into the back of the mutant's knee. CRACK! The creature's leg snapped. It collapsed to the ground.

On the other side, Alex screamed at the top of his lungs while swinging his bat wildly at the large mutant in front of him. His swing missed, but the scream was enough to make the mutant hesitate for a moment.

The second mutant that Daniel had dodged had already turned and was charging again. This time, Daniel couldn't get out of the way. He crossed his wooden beam in front of his chest to block the attack. Sharp claws scraped against the teakwood, pushing Daniel back until his back hit the canopy's guardrail.

Behind him, the wet asphalt chasm yawned.

"Argh!" Daniel groaned, holding back the weight of the mutant with his single left arm. His bicep felt like it was about to tear.

Seeing Daniel cornered, Alex was filled with a desperate adrenaline. He ignored the large mutant in front of him, spun around, and slammed his bat into the head of the mutant pinning Daniel.

BAM!

The blow worked. The mutant staggered back off Daniel. But Alex had made a fatal mistake. He had turned his back on his own opponent.

The large mutant Alex had ignored lunged onto his back, sinking its teeth deep into his shoulder.

"AAAAKKHH!" Alex screamed in agony, dropping his bat.

Daniel, now free, saw the scene with wide eyes. Not again, his mind screamed. He wouldn't let another friend die in front of him.

While the large mutant was busy chewing on Alex's shoulder, Daniel shot forward. He didn't aim for the head. He aimed for the legs. He repeatedly slammed his wooden beam into the mutant's ankles until they were crushed. The creature lost its footing and fell to its knees, but its bite didn't release from Alex's shoulder.

"Hold on, Lex!"

Daniel threw his wooden beam aside. With his left hand, he grabbed the mutant's filthy hair, yanked its head back, and then repeatedly slammed his elbow into the creature's temple. Thud! Thud! Thud!

The bite finally released. Daniel kicked the mutant away from Alex. Alex collapsed to a sitting position, clutching his bloody shoulder, his face ashen.

Two mutants were now down, one with a broken leg. But they weren't dead. And the bite on Alex's shoulder was a time bomb that had just been armed.

"Niel..." Alex whimpered, staring at his wound in horror. "I… I'm bitten."

Daniel looked at the wound. It was deep and severe. There was no hope. His heart sank, but his face remained as cold as ice. "I know."

Suddenly, from above, came the loud sound of shattering glass.

CRASH!

Everyone, including the injured mutants, looked up.

Bianca, her face a mask of crazed determination, had just smashed the thick glass window of the third-floor connecting bridge with an iron chair from inside.

"Daniel! Alex! Get up here!" Bianca shouted from across the gap. She stood at the edge of the now-glassless bridge, leaving only a steel frame.

"How, Ca?! It's a six-foot jump!" Alex yelled back in despair.

"Jump!" Chania shouted from behind Bianca. "We'll catch you!"

Daniel looked at the distance between the canopy and the edge of the connecting bridge. The horizontal gap was indeed about six feet, but the bridge was slightly lower. A running long jump. It was possible.

The mutant with the broken leg began to crawl toward them.

"Lex, listen to me," Daniel said quickly, his voice serious. "You go first. Run as fast as you can. Don't think, just jump. They'll catch you."

"But… my shoulder, Niel…"

"Fuck your shoulder! It's just dead meat now! Run or I'll kick you off myself!" Daniel yelled.

The fear of Daniel's wrath was greater than his fear of the fall. Alex gritted his teeth and got to his feet. He took a few steps back to get a running start, then sprinted as fast as he could on the slick concrete and leaped.

His body flew through the air, cutting through the curtain of rain. His hands reached forward. Chania and Kimberly stretched their hands out from the bridge.

Slap!

They managed to grab Alex's arms. But the momentum of his jump was too strong. Alex didn't land cleanly on the bridge. His body slammed against the steel frame below before he was roughly pulled up by Chania and Bianca. Alex was safe, sprawled on the bridge floor, groaning in pain.

Now it was Daniel's turn.

The two mutants that had been knocked down were getting back up. They staggered toward Daniel.

Daniel backed up, getting a running start at the far end of the canopy. The storm blinded him. The wind howled from the side.

You can do this, Niel. you have to, he told himself.

He pumped his legs, sprinting across the canopy. He leaped from the very edge of the concrete. His body sailed over the asphalt chasm. The cold air whipped his face.

On the other side, Chania reached for him, her eyes wide with a mixture of hope and fear.

Daniel landed. But not perfectly. The tips of his boots made it to the edge of the bridge, but the wet surface made him slip. His hands managed to grab the steel frame, but half of his body was left dangling outside.

"Niel!" Chania and Bianca immediately grabbed both of his arms.

"Argh!" Daniel groaned as his injured right arm was pulled. But they got him up. He rolled onto the floor of the bridge, panting.

Across the gap, on the canopy they had just left, the two mutants roared in frustration at having lost their prey.

"We made it..." Xavier whispered, having already reached the bridge.

The connecting bridge linked the law faculty building to the main library. They ran across, leaving behind the faculty building that had now become a den of hell.

They reached the end of the bridge, which connected to a third-floor emergency door of the library. Daniel kicked the door open. Darkness. Silence. The smell of old, damp books greeted them.

"Inside. Quick. Barricade the door," Daniel commanded hoarsely.

The six of them entered the library and immediately jammed the emergency door with a heavy steel bookshelf.

Finally, safe. At least for now.

Xavier turned on the small flashlight on his keychain. Its dim light swept around them. They were in a narrow corridor flanked by bookshelves that towered up to the dark ceiling. The aisles between the shelves looked like an endless labyrinth.

"We'll rest here for a bit," Daniel said, leaning weakly against a bookshelf. He looked at Alex, who was sitting on the floor, clutching his shoulder, which was still bleeding.

"Niel…" Alex called out softly, tears beginning to stream down his face. "What do I do now?"

Daniel looked at the deep, darkening bite wound on Alex's shoulder. He knew there was no cure. No hope. "I'm sorry, Lex."

"No… it can't be…" Alex sobbed. "There has to be a way, right? We can cut off his arm or something?"

Before Daniel could answer, a small, hoarse laugh echoed from the end of the dark corridor.

Everyone froze. Their hearts, which had just begun to calm, started pounding again. It wasn't a normal human laugh. It was too thin, too insane.

Xavier aimed his flashlight toward the source of the sound. The beam cut through the darkness, illuminating the end of the aisle about sixty feet away.

There, stood a thin man. He was wearing a neat shirt, like a library staff member, but it was covered in dried bloodstains. He was holding a box cutter in his hand. His face was pale, but his eyes… his eyes radiated pure madness.

"You're all so loud," the man hissed, a wide grin spreading across his face, revealing his blackened gums. "Disturbing my reading time."

The man raised his left hand. In it, he held a thick, leather-bound book.

When Xavier's flashlight hit the book, Daniel's eyes widened. It wasn't an ordinary book. Its cover was made of crudely stitched human skin.

"Welcome to my library," the madman continued. He licked his dry lips. "You've come at a perfect time. I was just looking for material for my new book cover."

Suddenly, from behind the bookshelves all around the third floor, came the sound of footsteps. Not a shuffling, but an orderly, rhythmic stepping.

One by one, dozens of figures emerged from the darkness of the book-filled aisles. They were students who had been trapped in the library. But they were different. Their eyes were empty, their mouths stitched shut with thick black thread. They moved like puppets, surrounding Daniel's group from all directions.

The madman had created his own little cult in this labyrinth of books. And they had just walked into his nest.