The pain in my shoulder hadn't faded. It throbbed with every heartbeat, a cruel reminder that I was fragile. Just a scared teenager caught in something far beyond his control, struggling to survive monsters in an empty school.
I lay there on the cold floor, trembling, eyes squeezed shut as her shadow loomed over me. My breath came in quick gasps. The rod lay a few feet away, taunting me. My fingers twitched.
Get up, Ethan. Please, get up.
But my legs wouldn't listen. My shoulder was on fire. I sobbed again, curling tighter, whispering desperate things like prayers, like pleas.
Her footsteps echoed beside me. She wasn't rushing. She never did.
"Why?" I croaked. "Why me?"
She didn't answer. Of course not.
I opened my eyes and stared at the iron rod. It shimmered faintly in the emergency light, like it knew what had to happen. I clenched my jaw.
"I have to survive," I whispered.
I dragged myself toward it with my good arm, each movement wrenching a cry from my throat. My dislocated shoulder pulsed with every motion. I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood.
Fingers outstretched, I grabbed the rod, clutching it tight. The metal was cold and reassuring in a way that felt wrong.
With a guttural cry, I forced myself to stand. My legs wobbled beneath me like they wanted to give in, to let me crumble. But I couldn't. Not now.
Tears streamed down my face. I couldn't stop them. My whole body trembled, and not just from pain—this was horror, thick and suffocating.
She stepped closer, that face still unreadable, still smiling. Her arms hung loosely at her sides.
"No more," I whispered.
I raised the rod with one arm. My whole body protested. I screamed, not at her, but at the pain. At the fear. At the wrongness of all of it.
She lunged.
I swung wildly. She caught my wrist mid-strike and squeezed. I screamed, the bones grinding inside me. My knees buckled. I fell forward into her.
But I didn't drop the rod.
Using the momentum of my fall, I twisted my whole body and shoved with all the strength I had left. The rod met resistance, flesh maybe bone or something solid and slick.
Then it gave way.
The rod pierced through her chest with a sickening, wet crunch.
She froze.
A scream erupted from her, something no human throat could make. It rattled through the walls, through my bones. I clamped my hands over my ears as blood gushed from the wound, splattering across the tiles and my clothes.
She stumbled backward, collapsing in a heap. The scream faded into a wet, gurgling noise before cutting off completely.
Silence returned.
My legs gave out. I dropped to my knees beside her.
So much blood. It spread across the floor like ink, touching my shoes, staining my hands.
My stomach turned.
I barely had time to roll away before vomiting. My body convulsed, retching everything I'd held inside—fear, adrenaline, despair.
The smell of blood hit me all at once, copper and thick. I gagged again, tears pouring down my cheeks.
I backed away, dragging myself across the floor, away from her body, away from the rod still buried in her chest.
"Oh god," I whispered, curling up against the far wall. "Oh god, I killed her. I actually—"
I couldn't finish the sentence.
The silence wasn't comforting. It was loud. Deafening. Every creak of the school felt like a scream waiting to return.
I stared at her unmoving form. The blood kept coming, soaking through the cracked tiles. Her hat had fallen off. Her face was… too smooth. A blank, pale canvas twisted in an eternal smile.
"I didn't want to…"
My voice broke again.
I wasn't a hero. I was a scared kid who stabbed something to stop it from hurting him. My hands were still shaking. I wiped my mouth and looked down at the blood on my fingers. It wasn't all hers.
My shoulder throbbed.
And then, the lights flickered.
I tensed. My breath caught.
"No… no, don't."
The emergency light above buzzed. It blinked once, then again.
I crawled to my feet, wobbling. Staring at her body.
She hadn't moved.
But the lights kept flickering. A soft rumble echoed through the floor.
It's not over.
I turned to run, but my legs barely worked.
Behind me, a low, wet gurgle escaped the corpse.
My eyes widened.
She wasn't gone.
Not yet.