"The fire escape," I said, pointing toward the small window at the end of the hall. "The main stairs will be a bottleneck. If people are panicking, they'll be jammed there. And if people are jammed, the monsters will be there too."
Neveah nodded. She looked terrified, but she trusted my logic. "Okay. The fire escape is narrow. We'll have to go one at a time."
We moved to the door. I put my hand on the heavy dresser. "On three, we push. Quietly."
We slid the furniture back. The floor made a tiny creak, and we both froze, holding our breath. Nothing happened. I slowly cracked the door open. The hallway was empty, but I could hear a wet, chewing sound coming from around the corner.
"Don't look," I whispered to Neveah.
We stayed low, crawling almost, toward the window at the end of the hall. I led the way, gripping my thesis book so hard my fingers hurt. Neveah followed right behind me, her hockey stick held ready.
We reached the window. It was old and painted shut. I used the metal corner of my book to chip away at the dried paint, moving as slowly as I could. Finally, with a loud click, the latch turned.
I pushed the window up. The cool morning air hit my face, and for a second, it felt like a normal graduation day. Then I looked down.
The quad below was a nightmare. People in black gowns were running in every direction. The "floating messages" were everywhere, glowing like neon signs in the smoke.
"I'll go first," I said. I climbed out onto the rusted metal grating of the fire escape. It groaned under my weight, a high-pitched sound that felt way too loud.
I reached back and helped Neveah climb out. We began to climb down the zig-zagging stairs. Every step felt like a gamble. My graduation gown kept catching on the metal bolts, making me stumble.
"Viv, look," Neveah whispered, pointing down.
Two floors below us, a man in a janitor's uniform was standing on the landing. He wasn't moving. He was just staring at the brick wall, his head twitching left and right.
[ENEMY DETECTED: LEVEL 2 WALKER]
The blue box hovered over his head. We were trapped. We couldn't go back up, and he was blocking the only way down.
"He hasn't seen us yet," I breathed. "His back is turned."
Neveah gripped her hockey stick. "What do we do? We can't jump from this high."
I looked at the janitor, then at the heavy book in my hand. I needed to use my brain, not just my muscles.
Before I could even lift my book, a loud crack echoed from below us. It sounded like a wooden bat hitting a fastball.
The janitor's head snapped back, and his body slumped over the railing of the fire escape, sliding down the metal stairs like a rag doll. Standing on the landing one level below was a tall teenager in a dirt-stained baseball jersey. He was breathing hard, clutching a dented aluminum bat.
"Nicholas?" Neveah choked out, her voice a mix of terror and pure joy.
The boy looked up. His face was pale and sweaty, but his eyes cleared when he saw her. "Nev! I've been trying to get to your room for ten minutes. The stairs are full of those... things."
"Nicholas, oh my god," Neveah scrambled down the metal steps, nearly tripping over her nursing bag. I followed quickly behind her, keeping my eyes on the fallen janitor to make sure he didn't twitch.
When we reached the landing, Neveah threw her arms around him. Nicholas winced—he looked exhausted—but he held onto her tight. He was younger, maybe eighteen or nineteen, but he was built like an athlete.
[PARTY MEMBER ADDED: NICHOLAS CHAVEZ]
[CLASS: SLUGGER]
[BONUS: +10% KNOCKBACK DAMAGE]
The blue window flickered in my peripheral vision, updating our little group. I looked at Nicholas. "You came from the first floor? How does it look down there?"
Nicholas wiped a smudge of blood off his cheek and leaned on his bat. "It's a mess, Vivienne. The lobby is blocked by a bunch of furniture, and there's a crowd of them banging on the glass doors. I had to climb up the side of the fire escape just to get this far."
He looked at my graduation gown and then at the heavy book in my hand. He let out a dry, nervous laugh. "Is that your thesis? You're gonna hit them with facts and logic?"
"Weight and force, actually," I replied, trying to keep a straight face despite the chaos. "It's got metal corners. It works better than you'd think."
Nicholas nodded, his expression turning serious again. "We can't go down to the ground. The quad is a death trap. But the second floor—the one right below us—has the bridge that connects to the Science Building. If we get across that, we can reach the clinic like you wanted."
I looked down. The second-floor fire escape door was just a few feet away.
"Okay," I said, taking charge. "Nicholas, you've got the most reach with that bat, so you take the lead. Neveah, you stay in the middle. I'll watch our backs."