Chapter 3

The heavy double doors of the gymnasium slammed open with a deafening bang.

Every student inside shrieked, jumping back as the three surviving soldiers stumbled into the room. They were a horrifying sight. Their tactical armor was torn, smeared with dark blood, and drenched in rainwater. One of them was dragging his leg, gasping for air through a shattered visor.

Barricade the doors! Now!" the lead soldier screamed, his voice cracking with pure terror as he pointed his rifle back at the hallway.

 "Lock it down! They're inside the building!" As he warned them, everyone could hear the terror in his voice, cracking up.

The gym teacher and a few older students froze in confusion.

"Sir, what's going on? What about the fire?" the teacher asked, stepping forward.

"It's not a fire! It's a slaughter!" the wounded soldier bellowed, collapsing against a stack of gym mats.

"They're eating people out there! Help us move these bleachers, hurry!"Panic instantly roared through the crowd of students. Shrieks and cries echoed off the high ceiling as everyone scrambled away from the doors.

In the middle of the chaos, Lyka, Patricio, and Nicay stood paralyzed. Lyka’s heart hammered against her ribs, her mind flashing back to the shadow she had seen in the alleyway. It was just a cat, a terrifying thought whispered in her mind. There really was something else out there.

"Pat..Patty" Norie spoke, grabbing Patricio’s jacket as she, Charis, and Trixie crowded around them.

"What are they talking about? Who is eating people?" Norie asked anxiously.

Before Patricio could answer, a bloodcurdling scream echoed from the hallway just outside. It was followed by the unmistakable, terrifying sound that Lyka had heard in her nightmares

 click... snap... pop.

Something heavy slammed violently against the outside of the gym doors, making the metal frames shudder.

"Sshh, guys be quiet" the leader of the soldiers murmured.

"Just help us put a barrier" the other soldier said while shaking from fear.

The lead soldier’s warning broke the spell of panic. The gym teacher, snapping into action, pointed toward a massive stack of plastic chairs and folding tables tucked against the wall.

"Everyone! Grab the chairs! Pile them against the doors, now!"

Dozens of students, including Lyka, Patricio, and Nicay, scrambled forward in a frantic rush. Hand after hand piled heavy plastic and metal chairs against the double doors, creating a makeshift barricade.

Just as they finished stacking the last row, the PE teacher stepped back, his hands shaking violently. He tripped over his own whistle lanyard, crashing heavily into the side of the pile.

CLATTER! CLANG!

A stack of three metal chairs slipped and slammed onto the wooden gym floor with a deafening, echoing boom.

The gym went dead silent.

........

Nobody breathed. Outside the door, the mindless groans instantly stopped. A second later, a chorus of sharp clicks... snap... pop sounds erupted in the hallway. They had heard it.

BOOM!

The heavy metal doors shuddered as the Hallows slammed into them from the outside.

"Push! Hold the line!" the lead soldier yelled, rushing forward to throw his body weight against the chairs. Patricio and the gym teacher lunged forward too, digging their sneakers into the polished floorboards. But the force from the other side was monstrous.

The wood groaned. The metal frames bent. Slowly, inch by inch, the Hallows pushed and pushed until the door creaked slightly open. Through the narrow gap, a pale, bloody hand with elongated knuckles clawed wildly at the air, accompanied by a wet, hungry hiss.

"They're here!" Nicay shouted, her voice piercing through the chaos as she grabbed Lyka’s hand.

"We have to move, now!"

The makeshift barricade began to collapse under the pressure. Seeing the doors giving way, the lead soldier grabbed Lyka and Nicay, shoving them toward the back of the gymnasium.

"Fall back! To the stage! Move!"

"I'll hold them" the limp soldier shouted as he raised his rifle to the monsters.

But before he could fire, he was jumped by one of them

"Aghhh" the soldier cried in lain as he was pierced by one of them in the chest.

They sprinted past the panicked crowd toward the school's theater stage at the far end of the gym. Slipping behind the heavy velvet curtains, the lead soldier guided Lyka, Nicay, Patricio, Norie, Charis, and Trixie into the dark backstage area.

They scrambled into a tight, cramped fitting room. The soldier slammed the door shut, sliding the lock into place just as the sound of splintering wood and shattered glass echoed from the main gym floor.

The barricade had failed. Inside the pitch-black fitting room, the only sound was the heavy, terrified breathing of the students and the click of the soldier's rifle as he aimed it at the door.

Inside the suffocating darkness of the fitting room, a horrific sound began to leak through the thin walls. It started with the sound of the gym doors completely splintering off their hinges, followed by a wave of heavy, wet thuds. Then, the screaming began. It wasn't just panicked shouting anymore, it was the sound of pure, agonizing terror.

"Please! No! Get off me!" a student's voice cried out from the main floor, cut short by a sickening crunch.

Through the cracks under the fitting room door, they could hear the chaos clearly. The unknown creatures were tearing through the gym. Faint, muffled crying from students trying to hide under bleachers was quickly met with the terrifying click... snap... pop of shifting bones, followed by silence.

The sounds of tearing flesh and monstrous, wet snarling echoed off the high gym ceiling, turning their school into a slaughterhouse.

Trixie clamped her hands over her ears, burying her face into Charis’s shoulder as she began to sob silently. Charis held her tightly, her own tears streaming down her pale face, while Norie trembled so hard she had to lean against Patricio to stay upright.

Patricio stared at the door, his usual calm demeanor completely shattered, his jaw clenched as he tried to process the horror. Next to him, Nicay’s grip on Lyka’s hand tightened so hard it hurt.

Lyka felt cold sweat dripping down her neck. She pressed her back against the wall of the fitting room, staring blindly into the dark. This can't be real, she thought, her mind racing. Just an hour ago, I was worried about an exam.

Now... everyone is dying. The lead soldier kept his rifle raised, his breathing ragged inside his helmet. He reached up with a bloody glove, tapping his headset as he tried to block out the sounds of the students being killed outside.

"Command, do you copy? This is Bravo Kenan," he whispered into his mic, his voice shaking with a mix of rage and fear.

"The asset broke containment, the unit is wiped out. I am trapped inside the school gym with civilian survivors. Requesting immediate extraction. Over." Only static buzzed in his ear.

Suddenly, the screaming in the main gym began to die down. The loud chaos faded into a heavy, suffocating quiet, replaced by the slow, dragging sound of footsteps moving toward the backstage curtains.

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