DEGREES OF DEATH

Chapter 8: The Silent Corridor

 

The mechanical click bounced wildly against the walls of the outer corridor.

Daniel froze, holding his breath. He pressed his ear flat against the wood. Ten seconds bled into the darkness without a response from the hallway. No abnormal footsteps echoed. The auditory creatures outside had failed to register the tiny trigger.

Daniel pushed the classroom door open slowly, the metal hinges letting out a faint whine.

The second-floor air rushed in immediately, sweeping across their faces. The temperature outside the classroom was significantly colder, driven by the night wind howling through shattered windows. The sharp, metallic stench of rust mixed with dense ammonia assaulted their nostrils. The odor of death was so thick it felt as though it coated the roofs of their mouths.

Bianca clamped her hands over her mouth and nose, her stomach churning violently against the nausea.

Daniel turned his head, locking eyes with the remaining members of his team.

"Take off your shoes," Daniel whispered, his voice carrying no decibels at all. "Leave them here."

Xavier frowned, replying in an equally muted whisper. "The floor out there is covered in shattered glass, Daniel. Going barefoot is suicide."

"The rubber soles will create mechanical waves against the tile," Daniel explained, kneeling down slowly to unlace his sneakers. "Bare skin absorbs the vibration of our strides. Absolute silence takes priority."

Xavier didn't argue further. He bent down to remove his boots, while Chania and Bianca followed the command without a word.

"Trace my steps precisely," Daniel said, standing back up and raising his bladed spear level with his chest. "Do not choose your own path. Understood?"

The three of them nodded in unison through the dark.

Daniel stepped out from the sanctuary of classroom 3-A. His bare feet made contact with the tiled surface of the corridor.

A cold, wet sensation immediately traveled up from the soles of his feet. The floor was no longer slick with dust; the tiles were coated in fresh blood that had begun to coagulate. The viscous fluid acted like a sickening adhesive. Every time Daniel lifted a foot, a faint, sticky sound pulled against the floor.

Daniel sharpened his tactical instincts. Visibility was at twenty percent. The moonlight was weak. Potential threat vectors loomed from the blind spots of both the northern and southern ends of the hall.

He raised his left hand into the air, clenching his fist. It was their emergency visual cue to halt.

The team stopped instantly.

Daniel narrowed his eyes, cutting through the corridor's gloom. The state of the hallway was far more horrific than it had been during the day. Long smears of blood painted the white university walls. The elongated drag marks on the floor indicated the monsters had taken the corpses down to their nest on the lower floors.

Nothing remained but torn backpacks, ruined textbooks, and dark pools of blood collecting in the dips of the floor.

Daniel lowered his fist and gestured forward with his index finger. The command to advance.

They began their march through the corridor of death.

Xavier brought up the rear, covering the blind spot behind them, while Chania guided Bianca right in the center of the formation. They crept forward like shadows detached from reality.

The night air blew through the shattered windows. A faint drizzle began to tap against the building's corrugated metal roof. The rain was a tactical blessing; the sound of nature provided a natural audio distortion that masked the sticky cadence of their bare feet.

They arrived at the central bend.

This was the location where Becca had met her end. A massive pool of blood covered the entire width of the tiled hallway, mixed with thousands of sharp glass fragments. Becca's body was gone. The creature in the flannel shirt had undoubtedly dragged her away.

Daniel paused, his jaw tightening as he stared at the pool. His humanity revolted against the remains of the slaughter, but his rational mind crushed the emotion instantly.

He had no time to grieve. He had three lives to deliver from this building alive.

Daniel turned back. He pointed to his own eyes with his index and middle fingers, then pointed down toward the floor.

Watch my feet. Copy my movements.

Daniel moved in a zig-zag pattern, his bare feet picking out the clean spaces of tile between the heavy glass shards. His calf muscles flexed to maintain his balance, ensuring he wouldn't slip on the thickening blood.

Chania followed closely, placing her bare feet precisely where Daniel had just stepped.

Bianca moved with a violent tremor, her concentration broken by the terror flooding her brain. On her third step, the tip of her right foot hovered directly over a long, upright shard of glass. If she put her weight down, the glass would pierce through the flesh of her foot to the bone.

Daniel’s left hand shot down at maximum speed.

He gripped Bianca’s ankle firmly in mid-air.

Bianca flinched, her eyes widening as she caught her breath.

Daniel forced her ankle five centimeters to the right, placing her foot on a clean patch of tile. He looked up, locking eyes with her to deliver a silent warning.

Bianca gave a pale nod, biting her lower lip until it nearly bled to keep her panic at bay.

They successfully crossed the critical zone. The southern end of the corridor was now clearly visible ahead, leading to the main stairwell entrance. They needed to descend those stairs to reach the first-floor balcony, which connected directly to the juice stand containing Xavier's phone.

Exactly five meters before the stairwell door, a short hallway branched off to the right. It was the student restroom area.

Daniel raised his clenched fist again. The formation halted entirely.

The door to the women’s restroom stood wide open, swallowed by absolute darkness. The weak moonlight failed to penetrate the interior. No footsteps echoed; no growls vibrated. The space appeared completely vacant.

Yet Daniel’s predatory instincts screamed a high-level danger alert. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Absolute blind spots always concealed threats invisible to the naked eye.

Daniel gripped his wooden spear tighter, preparing to signal the team to accelerate past the doorway.

A wet sound suddenly ripped through the quiet of the corridor.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

It sounded like wet meat striking a damp tiled surface repeatedly, moving out from the depths of the women's restroom at an unnatural speed.

Xavier raised the metal chair leg, preparing to strike. Chania pulled Bianca back a full step by the shoulder.

From the frame of the restroom door, a dark silhouette scrambled out into the main hallway.

The creature did not walk on two legs. Its spine was bent at an extreme angle, pressed close to the floor. It hunted on all fours, moving with the rapid agility of a deformed spider. Its backbone protruded sharply through its torn, blood-soaked white shirt.