DEGREES OF DEATH

3. Don't Look Back

 

“Daniel, behind you!” Chania’s piercing shriek sliced through the air.

Daniel’s instincts reacted faster than his brain. Without looking, he dropped to one knee on the blood-slicked tile. A split second later, a pale hand with long, black nails swiped through the air, missing the back of his neck by inches. The rush of wind from the attack felt cold against his skin.

Before the lunging creature could correct its stance, a long shadow flashed from Daniel’s left.

THWACK!

A thick wooden broom handle slammed hard against the creature’s jaw. It sounded like a dry tree branch being snapped in half. The creature was flung sideways, its head cracking against the leg of a cafeteria table.

Bianca stood there, breathing heavily, both hands gripping the broom handle. Her face was ashen, her eyes wide, but there was a wild glint in them. “Die, you son of a bitch!” she cursed, her voice trembling.

“Nice one, Ca!” Daniel yelled. He shot back to his feet and darted to the round table where Xavier was still huddled, shaking.

Daniel grabbed the back of Xavier’s t-shirt and yanked him roughly to his feet. “Get up, you idiot! You want to die under there?!”

“There are so many, Niel! So many!” Xavier rambled in panic. His eyes darted toward the kitchen hallway, where dozens of feral figures were beginning to crawl and run toward them. But his hands still clutched the backpack containing his gaming laptop against his chest.

“Ditch that damn bag, Vier! You can’t run carrying that weight!” Bianca yelled from behind him, preparing to swing her broom at another approaching mutant.

“No way! I haven’t even paid it off yet, Ca! This is my life!” Xavier shot back hysterically. Instead, he fumbled for something on the messy cafeteria table and snatched up a wide, metal food tray. “I’ll use this as a shield!”

“Whatever, you psycho! Head for the kitchen! We’ll break through the back service door!” Daniel commanded. “Chania, you stay in the middle! Bianca, you’re behind me. Run, now!”

The four of them charged forward, pushing through the chaos. The floor leading to the kitchen was treacherous, coated in a disgusting mix of spilled soup, cooking oil, and fresh blood. The smell was nauseating, a combination of rotting meat and pungent garlic.

Just as Daniel kicked open the swinging kitchen door, a large shadow blocked the doorway.

It was the cafeteria cook. His white apron was now a dark maroon. His lower jaw was gone, leaving only a lolling tongue dangling among severed tendons. The cook let out a hoarse growl, sniffing the air for the scent of their sweat.

“I got this!”

Unexpectedly, Xavier, who had been crying in fear just moments before, suddenly rushed forward. It was either a surge of adrenaline or absolute terror that had snapped his sanity. Squeezing his eyes shut and screaming at the top of his lungs, Xavier swung the wide metal tray with both hands like he was wielding a giant tennis racket.

CLANG!

The sound of metal meeting facial bone echoed off the tiled kitchen walls. Xavier’s blow was so forceful that the cook’s face caved in, sending his large body stumbling backward into a rack of dirty dishes. Plates shattered everywhere.

Daniel’s eyes widened for a second. “You’re crazy, Vier! Keep moving, don’t stop!”

They leaped over the cook’s still-twitching body on the slippery floor, running through the smoke billowing from a stove that had been left on, heading for the back exit. Daniel slammed his shoulder into the metal service door’s push bar.

The door flew open. The night air and heavy rain instantly slapped their faces.

The temperature outside had dropped drastically, but the humidity was incredibly high. The pouring rain blurred their vision. They were now in the massive back parking lot of the campus. But their feet suddenly froze. Their breath caught in their throats.

Under the dim, flickering glow of a mercury vapor lamp, the main campus gate had become a sea of death. A crumpled white sedan was smashed against one of the gate’s concrete pillars, its alarm blaring endlessly.

Wee-woo! Wee-woo! Wee-woo!

The relentless noise had drawn hundreds, maybe thousands of creatures from both inside and outside the campus. They were packed together, climbing the fences, piling on top of each other, completely blocking the only exit from the university. The rainwater soaking their pale skin made their dead muscles twitch, reacting to the absolute humidity. They were moving much faster than before.

“Damn it! The gate is completely blocked,” Xavier whimpered, his metal tray sagging. “We’re trapped, Niel. Where do we go now?!”

“We can’t go through the front! If they hear us, we’re finished!” Bianca whispered in panic, glancing behind them. From the kitchen door they had just exited, the growls of dozens of pursuing creatures grew louder.

Daniel’s gaze swept through the curtain of rain, his mind racing a million miles an hour. Across the wide-open parking lot, about fifty yards away, stood a low building with a tin roof.

“The sports equipment shed,” Daniel pointed with a trembling finger. “We’ll circle around to there. There’s a metal ladder on the side that goes up to a ventilation window.”

Chania’s eyes widened in horror as she stared at the stretch of asphalt that offered no cover at all. “That’s so far, Niel! We’ll have to run in the open. They’ll definitely see us and hear us splashing!”

“You’ve got two choices, Chan. End up as a kebab in the middle of this lot, or become a meal right here in front of this door,” Daniel cut in coldly. The rain soaked his hair and shirt, but his eyes burned with a terrifying resolve.

He grabbed the collar of Xavier’s jacket, then stared intently at the two girls. “Listen to me very carefully. If we want to live, we have to run as fast as we can. Don’t worry about the puddles, don’t worry about the car alarm.”

Daniel took a deep breath, swallowing saliva that felt like sand. “On the count of three, we run. And remember this one rule. Burn it into your brains.” His voice dropped, becoming an absolute threat. “Whoever falls, whoever gets left behind, you don't help them. No one looks back. Got it?!”

Bianca swallowed, her face pale. “Niel, are you serious?”

“DO YOU GET IT?!” Daniel yelled over the roar of the rain.

“Y-yeah, we get it!” Xavier and Chania answered almost in unison.

“One…” Daniel got into a runner’s stance, his calf muscles tensing. His right hand tightened its grip on the blood-stained chair leg.

From the kitchen door behind them, three pale shadows leaped out.

“Two…”

The creatures saw them and let out a ferocious shriek.

“THREE! RUN!”

The four of them shot across the rough asphalt. Their shoes slammed into puddles of rainwater, creating loud splashes that immediately drew the attention of the horde at the main gate.

Dozens of heads at the gate swiveled in unison. They changed direction, abandoning the wailing car, and began sprinting after Daniel’s group with the speed of hunting dogs.

“Faster! Keep running!” Daniel yelled from the back of the line. He glanced over his shoulder. About twenty creatures were now chasing them from two different directions.

Thirty yards to the shed. Twenty. Chania’s breath was starting to catch. Her legs weren’t used to being forced into a dead sprint on slippery asphalt.

Then, disaster struck.

In the dark and pouring rain, the toe of Chania’s sneaker caught on a thick, severed garden light cable lying across the pavement. She lost her balance completely.

Thump!

“AAAH!” Chania screamed as her body slammed violently onto the asphalt. The knee of her jeans ripped instantly.

“Chania!” Bianca shrieked from ahead. Her pace faltered for a second, but she remembered Daniel’s command. Don’t look back. Crying, Bianca forced her legs to keep moving toward the shed’s ladder with Xavier.

Daniel, who was ten paces ahead of Chania, heard her fall. His feet skidded to a halt, his shoes screeching on the wet asphalt.

His brain was screaming at him. His own rule echoed inside his skull. Whoever falls, don't help them. It was the law of survival. If he stopped, he would die with her. His logic commanded his legs to keep running and catch up with Xavier.

But when he turned and saw Chania struggling to get up, her face a mask of tearful terror as she stared at a massive mutant—it looked like the fat campus security guard—barreling toward her just fifteen feet away, Daniel’s empathy rebelled against his logic.

“Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!” Daniel roared.

He broke his own rule. Daniel spun around and sprinted back toward Chania, his feet splashing through the water.

The security guard creature leaped, its fat hands ready to grab Chania’s face. But Daniel got there first. He didn’t waste time trying to stab it. With a final, explosive burst of adrenaline, he swung the wooden chair leg like a bat, smashing it into the creature’s chest mid-air.

CRACK!

The impact stopped the guard’s momentum. The creature stumbled back. Using that one-second opening, Daniel grabbed Chania’s arm, yanking her to her feet with a single, rough pull that nearly popped her shoulder socket.

“RUN! GET UP THE LADDER! NOW!” Daniel yelled, shoving her hard in the back.

Chania ran, limping, toward the sports shed. Xavier and Bianca were already halfway up the metal ladder attached to the tin wall, reaching down with panicked faces.

Daniel positioned himself at the base of the ladder, becoming the last line of defense. He deliberately slammed his wooden club against the shed’s tin wall. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The loud noise successfully drew the horde’s attention to him, buying Chania a few extra seconds to be pulled up by Xavier.

“Niel! Get up here! They’re close!” Bianca screamed from the ledge of the window.

The hungry mob was now less than ten feet away from him. Hundreds of hands reached for him through the rain.

With a desperate leap, Daniel turned and jumped for the first rung of the metal ladder. His fingers gripped the cold, slippery iron, and he hauled himself up with the last of his arm strength. He scrambled up like a terrified monkey.

Just as he reached the third rung, a wet hand shot out and managed to grab the heel of his right shoe.

“Let go, you bastard!” Daniel kicked down at the creature’s face with his left foot, over and over. The black nails scraped against the sole of his shoe before finally letting go after a solid kick to the nose.

Daniel climbed the rest of the way, squeezing his head through the narrow ventilation window frame. Xavier and Bianca pulled on his shirt from inside. Before he was all the way in, Daniel kicked at the top of the emergency ladder. The rusty ladder broke free from its hooks and fell with a crash, landing on the crowd of monsters below.

THUD!

Daniel landed knees-first on a pile of thick, dusty gym mats. He rolled over, gasping for air like an asthma attack victim. His lungs refused to work properly.

The shed was pitch black. There wasn't a single sliver of light except from the small window they had just entered. The musty smell of old rubber, years of dust, and stale sweat filled the air, a stark contrast to the smell of blood and rain outside.

From beyond the shed’s tin walls, the sound of thousands of nails scratching and wild growls created a symphony from hell. But inside, it was silent. Too silent.

Xavier, Chania, and Bianca were about to collapse to the floor in relief. The tension in their muscles finally began to ease.

But that relief only lasted for two seconds.

From the darkest corner of the vast shed, a scraping sound emerged.

Scrrrape… scrrrape…

It sounded like a heavy metal pipe being dragged slowly across the dusty concrete floor.

Daniel, still lying on the mat, froze instantly. His grip on the wooden chair leg tightened again. His heart, which had just started to calm down, began to pound at a painful speed.

In the thick darkness, a heavy breath could be heard. Someone or something was standing there. Watching them.