Chapter 128: The Third Floor.
I sprinted down the stairs, boots slamming the metal edges in rapid-fire cracks. The corner rushed at me, sharp, concrete biting into my shoulder as I pivoted hard.
Sinn exploded upward past me, face locked in tunnel vision, jaw tight, rifle swinging in a tight arc at his side. Code followed right on his heels, elbows pumping, sweat flinging off his brow in tiny glittering arcs under the thin veil of light.
Both of them in the focused movement of people who had stopped thinking about anything except the next step.
I seized the handrail with both hands. My body dropped, boots lifting clear as I slid fast, the smooth metal burning hot against my palms. Friction heat flared. The world blurred vertical.
Mercury shot past me going up, her dark hair whipping like a banner, strands lashing across her cheek. She didn’t glance my way, eyes fixed on the ascent, shoulders driving forward.
Further down, Sherry and I crossed paths mid-stair. Our shoulders nearly brushed. She skidded to a micro-pause, boots scraping, eyes locking onto mine for a fractured second, trying to read what I was doing.
Her mouth shaped sharp, silent words, What the hell do you think you’re doing, lips pulling back over teeth. The infected moans below rose into a deafening wet chorus, swallowing everything.
"Run," I roared. "I’m coming."
The sound devoured my voice.
I released the rail and dropped the last few steps, landing heavy. Knees flexed. The impact jolted up my spine. I looked down.
Harmione was sprawled on the landing below, one knee buckling as she fought to rise. Her boot soles scraped desperately against the grit-covered floor.
The infected poured up from beneath her, shoulders slamming together, elbows cracking into ribs, fingers clawing at the air in a writhing mass that created its own crushing pressure wave. Jaws snapped open, teeth yellow in the low light.
I launched forward, vaulting straight over her. Air rushed past my face. I landed hard between her and the front wave, boots planting wide, knees bending into a low crouch. The floor vibrated under the approaching stampede.
[LEWD LEVELING SYSTEM]
[Infected in close proximity.]
[Electrical body active. Designated Shield]
Power surged through me. Blue-white electricity erupted across my skin in crackling arcs, dancing over my arms, chest, and thighs, bright enough to cast sharp, flickering shadows against the stairwell walls.
The first infected slammed into me chest-first. Its body locked rigid mid-lunge, muscles seizing violently as the charge ripped through it. Skin blackened instantly along contact points, steam hissing upward in thin white tendrils. It dropped before the motion finished, collapsing like a marionette with cut strings.
"Get up," I barked at Harmione, voice cutting through the chaos. "Now."
Behind me, another heavy discharge cracked the air. I twisted. Sherry was charging down toward us, her borrowed electricity exploding outward in jagged forks. Infected bodies jerked and smoked in clusters, limbs flailing wildly before they crumpled.
Harmione scrambled upright beside me, boots finding purchase. Further back, orange fire bloomed, Harmione’s flames roaring to life, licking across the walls and catching on the fallen. The stairwell filled with the thick, acrid stench of charred meat and burning hair.
I backpedaled upward, facing the threat, palms open. Controlled bursts of charge leapt from my fingers, each one snapping forward with a bright whip-crack, dropping bodies in twitching heaps.
The three of us moved as one brutal machine: Sherry leading the clearance, Harmione burning the stragglers, me covering the rear. Step by step. Level by level. Boots scraping. Electricity humming. Fire roaring.
Then, a new sound from below. Heavier. Wet bodies slamming against doors. Another wave flooding the entrance.
"Back up!" I shouted. "Second floor. Move!"
Sherry spun and surged upward, hair streaked with sweat and ash. Harmione stayed glued to her heels, flames still licking at her fingertips. I retreated last, walking backward, eyes locked on the stairs beneath us.
Anything that showed its face received a fresh arc of lightning, bodies jerking, heads snapping back, limbs collapsing in tangled piles.
We burst onto the second floor landing. May stood exactly where I’d left her, posture coiled, eyes sharp as she scanned the hallway. She had waited. Not a single step further.
"Up!" I commanded, voice raw. "All of you. Now."
May and Harmione took point, feet pounding the next flight. Sherry followed tight. I brought up the rear, the stairwell behind us now alive with fresh moaning and the thunder of countless feet.
The entire building seemed to pulse with the signal, every floor waking at once, walls vibrating with converging hunger.
We ran. Hard. The open sky above calling us forward while the dead surged up from below like a black tide.
I was the last onto the third floor. My boots cleared the final step and hit the open concrete with a solid thud, knees absorbing the drop.
Sinn was already planted five feet ahead, rifle stock tight to his shoulder, barrel angled down the stairwell in a dead-steady line. Code stood beside him, twin blades extended from his fists, curved edges catching the moonlight in cold silver flashes. His posture had shifted: shoulders loose but ready, weight balanced on the balls of his feet like he’d just stepped back into familiar skin.
Sherry and Harmione slid in beside them, breathing ragged. Mercury leaned against the far wall, one palm pressed flat to the cracked plaster, chest heaving as she dragged air through her open mouth.
I didn’t stop. Momentum carried me across the open space, boots scuffing loose grit that scattered in tiny sprays. May moved with me, her footsteps light and precise at my left shoulder.
The room next to where we had taken the infected had a heavy metal door waited on the right wall, thick, industrial gray, rivets like iron teeth, clearly installed long after the rest of the building had begun rotting. It stood out sharp against the peeling decay around it.
"In here!" I shouted, voice bouncing off the walls. "Everyone. Now."
