The tonfa slipped from my fingers with a wet clang. God, it was bloody and useless now.
My breath came in ragged gasps as that broken thing collapsed at my feet twitching once, twice, then nothing.
Silence.
I staggered back, eyes wide. My heart pounded so loud I couldn't hear anything else.
But I wasn't alone.
A sob broke through Mrs. Yamamoto, crumpled behind an overturned desk. Her pristine blouse was soaked red. She clutched her chest with shallow breathing, her eyes locked on the thing I'd just killed like it might get back up.
Mr. Ishikawa was worse. His body slumped near the wall with a jagged piece of rebar sticking out of his abdomen. Blood pooled beneath him.
"No, no, no..." I whispered, stumbling toward him. "Mr. Ishikawa, please—"
He blinked once. A shallow breath escaped his lips. His hand moved slightly pointing something up.
"R-Roof…" he choked. "Signal…"
Then his hand slumped down, his eyes lost the light, as he wasn't moving anymore. His gone as I said to myself.
Another scream echoed down the hallway. Not from anyone I knew. It was a guttural scream.
I turned back to Mrs. Yamamoto, but she was clutching her chest, murmuring prayers. She wouldn't move no matter what I do.
"I'll come back," I whispered, though I wasn't sure she heard me. "Just… stay quiet. Don't open the door."
I opened the security closet and grabbed the emergency flare beacon.
My legs trembled as I left the council chamber. I didn't look back.
The hallway stretched both ways like a tunnel to hell. Lights flickered overhead, throwing sick shadows on the blood-slicked floor. The emergency alarms had died hours ago. Now there was just that pulsing, mechanical hum of systems barely hanging on.
I stepped over torn backpacks. Cellphones trampled. Glasses crushed under bloody shoes and bloody handprint smeared across the lockers.
Every step echoed louder than the last. The institute, my school had become a living hell. The marble floors didn't gleam anymore. Everything reeked of blood and death.
My heart screamed at me to hide and wait for any rescue. But my trembling legs carried me forward.
Then I heard a scream close to my position. But I ignored it and kept moving forward clenching my fist to continue.
"Keep moving," I told myself.
I forced my legs forward, scanning the shadows that seemed to breathe and shift. The stairwell to the roof was 3 levels up, it's 5 level floors I have still a long way to go.
The intercom crackled overhead static, then silence. But then there's a distorted voice that sounds so wrong.
"All students... please remain... in designated safe... zones..."
The announcement cut off mid-sentence. What came next might've been laughter, or just screaming. I couldn't tell anymore.
Glass crunched under my feet. The trophy case had exploded outward, awards and photos scattered everywhere.
I stepped over the broken glass and froze.
I heard a loud breathing noise getting closer.
A Wet, labored breathing from somewhere ahead. Behind the water fountain. In the shadows.
"Turn around. Go back and find another way," I murmured, trying to step back slowly.
But there was no other way. The main stairwell had collapsed, I'd seen the concrete debris from the window. The elevator shaft was a no-no there's no power and electricity. This is it. The only path to the rooftop.
I crept forward cautiously. As I got closer the breathing got louder.
"Hello?" I whispered, hating how small my voice sounded. "Is someone there? Are you hurt?"
The breathing stopped.
Silence pressed against my eardrums, thick and suffocating. Even the building's hum seemed to hold its breath.
Then, from the darkness behind the fountain, came a sound that froze my blood.
"Help me..."
A teacher's voice, but sounds wrong. The words cam pa pe thick with fluid, like someone talking through a mouthful of blood.
"Help... me..."
I took a step back. Then another.
"Who's there?" I called out, but my voice cracked. "Show yourself!"
A wet sliding sound. Like something being dragged across tile.
Then I saw it.
A hand. Pale and way too long, with fingers bent in directions fingers shouldn't bend. It gripped the fountain's edge, pulling something into the moon light.
'Run.' That's all I could think.
But I couldn't move. I could only watch as the thing pulled itself into my view.
It had been human a moments ago. I could see what was left of a suit jacket, torn and soaked with black ichor. Its face was ruined with hanging flesh and exposed bone.
".. why are you... leaving....?"
The voice bubbled up from deep in its throat, words formed by a mouth without lips. Its jaw hung at an impossible angle, showing rows of teeth that had grown sharp.
It pulled itself upright. Its spine curved in ways that would've killed anyone normal, vertebrae pushing against skin. One arm was longer than the other, ending in claws that scraped sparks from the marble.
But it was fast. So much faster than the thing in the council chamber.
"Come here... President... I have something to... show you..."
It lunged.
I threw myself sideways, hitting the floor hard as razor-sharp claws whistled through the air where my head had been.
The creature landed with a wet slap, then immediately pivoted toward me with inhuman flexibility. Its broken jaw stretched into what might've been a smile.
"Running is... impolite..."
I scrambled to my feet, sneakers slipping on bloody marble. The hallway stretched ahead it's long and dark as I tried to run away.
Behind me, I heard claws scraping stones is getting closer.
I ran.
The creature's laughter followed me down the hall. It was playing with me. I knew it could've caught me already if it wanted.
It was savoring this moment.
The stairwell entrance appeared ahead with heavy security doors propped open by a fire extinguisher. I could see the steps beyond, leading up to the roof, where I can only send help.
Something slammed into my back.