Thud.
"Stay back, you damn thing!" Johanne roared, suddenly appearing behind them. And he didn't even hesitate. He threw himself bodily at the creature's midsection, his shoulder slamming into the dense, smoky mass with a desperate grunt. The impact, fueled by sheer adrenaline, was just enough. It broke the monster's iron grip on Ophelia, sending her spinning across the hall where she slammed hard into the cold steel of the lockers, the sound echoing like a gunshot.
"NO! JOHANNE!" she screamed, sliding down the metal doors, the wind knocked from her chest. Dev froze, half-turned, his eyes wide and helpless.
The monster barely registered the impact. It recovered instantly, its form solidifying just enough to exert force. It grabbed Johanne by the throat with a hand made of shadow and bone, lifting him effortlessly a foot off the ground. Johanne thrashed, his feet kicking uselessly in the air, his face turning a dark crimson.
The featureless head of the beast tilted slightly, then its face began to split open but not horizontally like a human mouth, but vertically, tearing apart the darkness like a zipper being violently pulled.
"Ophelia run! Save yourself—" Johanne choked out, his eyes, wide and filled with a final, desperate plea, meeting Ophelia's across the agonizing space between them.
The monster's maw revealed row upon row of needle-like, translucent teeth, impossibly sharp and glittering in the faint light. It didn't bite, not in the traditional sense but straight up shoved the boy. It violently forced Johanne's head into the void of its mouth, and the thick, wet sound of tearing muscle and splintering bone silenced his final, heroic cry completely.
The scream was trapped in her throat, a raw, choking sound that never escaped. "NO—NO!!" Ophelia's fingers, slick with sweat and soot, dug into the cold, dusty ceramic floor, desperately seeking hope. She tried to stand, but her muscles felt like wet rags, refusing to obey the frantic electrical signals from her brain to run. She just needed to wake up. This had to be a nightmare.
A hand clamped down on her shoulder, yanking her sideways. "FÜCK, FÜCK, FÜCK IT! THIS IS A FÜCKING NIGHTMARE— Lia! We have to go! NOW!" Dev's voice was a ragged, high-pitched shriek, hysteria clinging to the edges of every word. He didn't wait for her to respond. He dove, grabbed her under the arms, and hauled her upright with a sudden lift that rattled her bones.
They were running again. Dev was in the lead now, a desperate, driving force. His grip on her left wrist was bruisingly tight, cutting off circulation, but she didn't care.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Ophelia sobbed, the tears scalding tracks down her dust-smeared cheeks and blurring the dark, echoing corridor. "Leave me alone, Dev. Just run! I can't... I killed him. Johanne is dead because of me."
"Don't you dare say that!" Dev shouted back over his shoulder, his own tears streaming, instantly evaporating in the thick, dry air. "Don't you let Johanne's sacrifice go to waste! He bought us time— we should use it! Shut up and run, Ophelia!"
The floor tilted and swam before her eyes. The sheer, overwhelming guilt was heavier than her body. "My legs... they're just too weak right now!" She stumbled, pulling uselessly at her arm, trying to tear free of his relentless force. "Just leave! I'm begging you, please! I don't deserve to be alive!"
Ophelia stopped. One foot dragged, then the other. The inertia of her sudden halt snapped her wrist painfully, but she didn't care. She sank to her knees again, the finality of the decision sickeningly sweet. She dropped her head, ready to close her eyes, ready to accept the tearing teeth, ready to join Johanne in the quiet darkness.
A moment stretched, elastic and silent. She expected the crushing weight, the searing pain. Instead, she felt nothing but the violent shift of the air and the ground vibrating under her knees as something enormous stormed past her. It was followed instantly by a sound. A sickening, wet, punching impact that hit the air behind her like a breaking dam.
Ophelia's breath hitched. She spun around, terror lending her movement. Dev was there. The creature— a hulking, distorted shadow of muscle and bone, had finally caught up. But instead of taking her, the monster had impaled Dev. A long, smoky black claw, razor-sharp and impossibly long, protruded gruesomely from his stomach, having pierced him clean through, and was now lifting him effortlessly into the air.
Dev's hands flew up, grasping weakly at the black spike. He coughed, a terrible, wet sound, and a fountain of scarlet blood spattered his chin and stained the creature's claw. He looked directly at Ophelia, his body convulsing in agony, but his eyes were wide and startlingly clear, focused only on her.
"Lia..." he croaked, the sound thin, reedy, the light already draining from his face. "I'll... I'll follow Johanne. Please. S-save yours-self... Run." He said and as he forced a smile, as if to assure Ophelia that everything that happened wasn't her fault but a part of their decision— their choice.
The scream that tore from Ophelia's chest this time was primal, a sound of pure, unadulterated loss and rage. It was animalistic, a loud tribute to the two souls she had just lost. The crushing weight of her grief ignited into a fire that burned away every last trace of fear. She scrambled to her feet, not running away, but toward a solution. She dashed to the nearest classroom door that was marked with chipped, faded yellow paint, she and pounded on the steel frame, a desperate, furious plea.
The air in the hallway was thick with the stench of ozone and freshly spilled iron. Ophelia hammered on the door, her fist bruising against the cool surface of the reinforced glass.
"SOMEONE! Please! For goodness sake, open the door!" Her voice cracked, a desperate shriek that barely carried through the thick barrier.
Inside the classroom, the remaining students were huddled like terrified field mice, trembling hands clutched cell phones, faces were pale masks of shock. They stared at her, their eyes wide, then, one by one, they averted their gaze. They had sealed the door, and they wouldn't risk opening it. The message was clear—You are outside the perimeter. We can't help you, you are the bait.
A sob tore itself from her chest. She turned back to the monster looming over her. It was a shifting mass of muscle and darkness, slick with gore, its movements too deliberate, too focused. It held Dev by the ankle, his body limp and unmoving, trailing blood across the tile.
Ophelia rushed forward, fueled by a terrifying, animalistic courage. She seized the creature's scaled forearm, the one clamping Dev, and her hands slipping on the wet skin.
"Let him go!" she pleaded, the words tumbling out as weak, useless prayers. "Please! You've already taken so much! Look at me! Stop!"
The monster didn't acknowledge the touch. It didn't pause. It merely twitched its limb, a movement no more effortful than flicking a speck of dust from its armor. The force of the blow was immense that it flung Ophelia across the hallway, her head slamming against the concrete wall.
She was dazed as she saw the colossal mouth, lined with jagged, crystalline teeth, descend toward Dev's unconscious form. She was irrelevant. Her presence was nothing.
Run, Ophelia. Run. Now. Dev's voice, clear and sharp as it had been moments ago, echoed in the silent, bleeding chamber of her mind.
She looked at the chaos, the overturned lockers, the blood splatters painting the walls, the vacant, staring eyes of Johanne just meters away. If she stayed, she died, and their sacrifice would be swallowed whole, serving no purpose.
With a ragged, throat-tearing gasp, she forced her trembling legs beneath her. She spun on her heel and fled, the sound of tearing flesh echoing behind her like the final, damning judgment.
"I'm sorry," she whispered into the empty air, the words catching on the tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry, Dev."
She didn't stop until she found a forgotten faculty restroom down a rarely-used service corridor. She threw herself inside, the lock clicking with a flimsy, pathetic sound. She scrambled into the farthest stall, locking that too, and curled her body tightly atop the toilet seat, pressing her face into her knees, trying to become utterly small and silent.
BAM! CLANG. BAM!
The heavy, unmistakable sound of something massive hitting the restroom door ripped through the silence. Ophelia clamped both hands over her mouth, biting down hard on her lower lip until the metallic tang of her own blood filled her mouth, overriding the urge to scream. The tears leaked from her squeezed eyes, hot trails down her cheeks, but she made no sound.
If only I hadn't looked down from the balcony. If only I wasn't filled with fear. If only I was just as brave as them... The repetition of self-loathing was a counterpoint to the relentless, shattering blows outside.
The banging continued for an eternity that stretched and warped time. Then, just as suddenly, it ceased. Silence returned, heavy and oppressive, a shroud of dread woven with the faint drips of water from a leaky faucet.