The engine roared angrily as the driver tried to wrestle the steering wheel back under control.
The vehicle swerved wildly.
Aisha frowned.
"What is that idiot doing?"
The car clipped the curb.
Metal shrieked against concrete.
The vehicle flipped sideways and skidded across the pavement in a violent shower of sparks before slamming straight into a campus transformer.
The impact thundered through the courtyard.
Both women froze.
For a moment the car sat there, tipped onto its side, engine whining weakly.
Oil began dripping from the crushed engine onto the pavement.
Above it, the transformer crackled violently, sparks raining down like electrical fireworks.
Aisha stepped forward without hesitation.
"We have to help him."
Mei Lin grabbed her wrist.
"Wait."
"A person could be trapped!"
"I know," Mei Lin said carefully. "But look."
Inside the wrecked car, the driver's silhouette jerked strangely.
His head slammed against the steering wheel again and again.
Not like someone injured. More like someone… fighting something.
The smell of gasoline spread into the air.
Across the courtyard, Chase Callahan noticed the crash from the café patio.
He stood slowly, coffee halfway to his mouth.
"Well that's not good."
He set the mug down and walked toward the railing.
The car looked wrecked.
The transformer above it sparked violently.
And two students were already walking toward the crash.
"Ah, bugger," he muttered.
Across the road, Aisha moved closer.
"Hello?" she called. "Can you hear me?"
The driver's door suddenly swung open.
The man tumbled out onto the pavement.
For a moment he just lay there.
Then he began crawling.
Toward them.
Aisha slowed.
Something about the way he moved made the back of her neck prickle.
"Sir?" she called cautiously.
The man lifted his head.
His face was smeared with blood.
His mouth hung open slightly.
His eyes looked empty.
Mei Lin whispered quietly.
"This isn't right."
The man suddenly lunged forward.
Aisha reacted instantly.
Her foot shot forward in a sharp front kick that slammed into his stomach.
The impact knocked him back onto the pavement.
"Stay down!" she shouted.
But the man rolled slowly onto his side.
Then began pushing himself upright again.
Mei Lin stared.
People didn't stand up after kicks like that.
The man's torso bent strangely where Aisha had struck him.
Yet he didn't seem to notice.
Behind him, gasoline continued spreading across the pavement.
The sparks from the transformer kept falling.
Chase's eyes widened from across the street.
"Oh you're kidding me."
He cupped his hands and yelled.
"Oi! Move away from the car!"
Aisha turned.
"What?"
"Move, you drongos!"
A spark hit the pavement.
The gasoline ignited instantly.
The explosion hit like a giant hammer.
Fire erupted from the wrecked vehicle as the shockwave blasted across the road.
Aisha and Mei Lin were thrown off their feet.
A second explosion followed as the transformer blew apart in a blinding flash of light.
For several seconds the world was nothing but ringing silence.
Aisha groaned as she pushed herself upright.
Her ears buzzed painfully.
Smoke billowed upward from the burning car.
Mei Lin staggered to her feet beside her.
"You okay?"
"I think so."
Then they heard it.
Groaning.
Low.
"We leg it. Now."
Aisha glanced at the approaching figures.
Too many.
Her instincts made the decision instantly.
"Run!"
All three of them bolted across the campus pathway.
Behind them the burning wreck crackled loudly.
The figures followed.
They didn't run.
They just kept walking.
Relentlessly.
Chase glanced over his shoulder while sprinting.
""Yeah nah," he panted. "Stuff that."
They reached the dorm entrance and burst through the doors.
Aisha slammed them shut behind them.
For a moment the three of them stood in the hallway, breathing hard.
Chase looked through the glass.
Outside, shadowy figures were already gathering near the entrance.
He swallowed slowly.
"Well," he said.
"We're proper screwed."
Corvin was tightening a tiny screw into place when the world outside his window exploded with light.
For a fraction of a second the courtyard looked like midday.
Then the sound hit.
The blast slammed through the dorm building like a giant kicking the walls.
Corvin jumped so hard the screwdriver slipped from his fingers and clattered across the desk.
"What the—"
The lights died instantly.
Everything went black.
For a moment the entire dormitory seemed to hold its breath.
Then the emergency generators kicked in with a low mechanical growl, and dim hallway lights flickered to life.
Corvin stood slowly.
Something about that explosion didn't feel like a simple accident.
He walked to the door and opened it.
Across the hallway another door opened at almost the exact same moment.
Astrid Clairmont stepped out, one hand still holding a medical textbook. Her brow was furrowed and strands of blonde hair had fallen loose from her ponytail.
"You heard that too?" she asked.
Corvin leaned against the doorframe.
"Kind of hard not to."
Astrid glanced down the hallway.
The dorm felt different now.
Too quiet.
Usually someone was talking or laughing somewhere, but the corridor was filled with an uneasy silence.
"What do you think happened?" she asked.
Corvin shrugged.
"Transformer maybe. Sounded electrical."
As if on cue, a distant siren began wailing somewhere beyond campus.
Astrid didn't look reassured.
Before either of them could say anything else, another door down the hallway swung open.
Marco Montelli stumbled out, squinting against the dim lights like someone dragged out of deep sleep.
He rubbed his face with both hands.
"Madonna… what was that?" he groaned.
Corvin gestured vaguely toward the window at the end of the hallway.
"Explosion outside somewhere."
Marco frowned.
"At this hour? Who blows things up at ten at night?"
Astrid folded her arms.
"Apparently someone on our campus."
Marco pulled his phone from his pocket, clearly intending to check the time.
But instead of the clock, his screen filled instantly with notifications.
His expression changed.
"Uh… guys?"
Corvin glanced over.
"What?"
Marco stared at his phone like it had just insulted his mother.
"This… this is weird."
Astrid stepped closer.
"What is it?"
Marco turned the screen toward them.
His social media feeds were moving so fast it was almost impossible to follow.
Videos.
Photos.
Emergency alerts.
Posts repeating the same word over and over.
ATTACKS.
Corvin leaned closer.
One of the videos began playing automatically.
The footage looked shaky, clearly filmed on someone's phone.
Two people were fighting in the middle of a street.
At least that was what it looked like at first.
Then one of them bit the other.
Hard.
The camera shook as the person filming began shouting.
The bitten man collapsed while the attacker continued clawing at him like an animal.
The video cut off.
Astrid frowned deeply.
"That has to be fake."
Marco scrolled again.
Another video.
This one was inside a hospital corridor.
Doctors were trying to restrain a patient thrashing wildly on a bed.
The patient suddenly lunged forward and bit one of the nurses.
Blood sprayed across the camera lens.
Marco's face had gone pale.
"This can't be real."
Corvin grabbed his own phone.
His feed looked exactly the same.
Video after video.
Different cities, Different countries. But always the same thing.
People attacking, People biting.
People refusing to stop even after being beaten or shot.
"What the hell is going on?" Marco whispered.
Astrid looked disturbed now.
Her medical training made it impossible to ignore the details.
"Those people… they're not acting normally."
Corvin walked slowly toward the window at the end of the hall.
Something outside caught his attention.
He pulled the curtain aside.
"What the—"
Astrid and Marco hurried over.
Down in the courtyard chaos was unfolding.
Several students were running across the pavement.
Behind them, a group of figures staggered forward.
One of the runners tripped.
The figures immediately piled on top of him.
Even from three floors up, the violence was obvious.
Someone screamed.
Marco stepped back from the window.
"Nope," he said quickly. "Nope. I don't like that."
Astrid stared down at the scene, her medical instincts trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
But nothing about it made sense.
People weren't trying to help the fallen student.
They were biting him.
Corvin slowly let the curtain fall closed again.
The hallway felt colder now.
Outside, another scream echoed across the campus.
Marco looked between them nervously.
"So… anyone else thinking this might actually be very, very bad?"
The dormitory entrance shook violently.
Aisha leaned her full weight against the door as another heavy thud slammed into it from the outside. The metal handle rattled under the pressure.
"Push the table closer!" she shouted.
Chase grabbed one end of the small lobby table and dragged it across the tile floor. The legs screeched loudly before he shoved it hard against the door.
Mei Lin was already wrapping an extension cord around the handles, pulling the knot tight with quick, practiced movements.
Another impact hit the door.
The glass panel trembled.
Through the narrow window, shadowy figures pressed against the entrance.
Their hands smacked against the glass.
One face slammed forward hard enough to leave a smear of blood.
Chase stared through the pane for half a second.
Then immediately looked away.
"Yeah… nah," he muttered. "That is properly cooked."
Aisha braced the door again as another body crashed against it.
The whole frame creaked.
More shapes were appearing outside now.
Students.
Campus staff.
People from the pathways they had run through.
But they weren't acting like people.
They stumbled toward the entrance with stiff, jerking movements, drawn by something they could not see but clearly sensed.
Noise.
Movement.
Life.
One of them began slamming its head against the glass repeatedly.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
The sound echoed through the lobby like a drumbeat.
Mei Lin stepped back slowly.
"How many?" she asked quietly.
Chase risked another glance through the window.
"Too many."
Aisha pushed harder against the door.
"Help me get the couch!"
The two of them grabbed the worn lobby couch and dragged it across the floor.
Another slam hit the door.
The glass cracked.
A thin spiderweb fracture spread across the surface.
Chase swore under his breath.
"Yeah… that's not holding forever."
They shoved the couch against the entrance, wedging it tightly between the walls.
For a moment the pressure against the door slowed.
But it didn't stop.
The creatures outside kept throwing themselves against it again and again.
Relentless.
Unfeeling.
Aisha stepped back, breathing hard.
"They're not stopping."
Mei Lin shook her head slowly.
"They don't feel pain."
The glass cracked again.
A second fracture split across the window.
Chase wiped sweat from his forehead.
"Right. I'm calling it. That door's cactus."
Aisha glanced at the stairwell.
"If that breaks, they'll flood the lobby."
Mei Lin nodded once.
"Then we move."
Another slam rattled the entire entrance.
The couch shifted slightly.
That decided it.
"Stairs!" Aisha said.
The three of them ran.
The stairwell lights flickered weakly as they climbed.
Their footsteps echoed loudly against the concrete walls.
First floor, Second floor.
None of them spoke.
Behind them, faint banging continued to echo from the lobby.
By the time they reached the third floor, their breathing was ragged.
Aisha pushed the door open carefully.
The hallway beyond was dimly lit.
And three people were standing in the corridor staring at them.
Corvin.
Astrid.
Marco.
For a moment everyone just froze.
Marco blinked.
"You look like you've seen a ghost."
Chase shook his head.
"Mate, I wish it was ghosts."
Aisha walked into the hallway, still breathing hard.
"We need to barricade the stairwell."
Corvin frowned.
"What?"
Mei Lin stepped forward.
"They're coming."
Astrid's eyes widened slightly.
"You mean the people outside?"
"They're not people," Aisha said flatly.
Marco looked from one face to another.
Then toward the stairwell door.
"You are joking, right?"
A distant crash echoed from below.
Then a scream.
Not a confused shout.
A full, terrified scream.
It echoed up the stairwell like a knife slicing through the air.
Everyone in the hallway froze.
The scream cut off abruptly.
Then came a chorus of low groaning sounds drifting upward from the lower floors.
Marco whispered slowly,
"Oh… hell."
Chase rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah. That about sums it up."
Corvin immediately moved.
"Barricade the door."
The group snapped into motion.
Corvin and Aisha dragged a heavy bookshelf from the hallway wall.
Marco grabbed a chair and shoved it under the stairwell handle.
Mei Lin pulled a nearby vending machine slightly sideways with surprising strength.
Astrid quickly pushed a cabinet against the pile.
Within seconds the stairwell entrance was buried under furniture.
Everyone stepped back.
Listening.
For a moment there was nothing.
Then a faint scraping sound came from below.
Something was moving up the stairs.
Slow.
Dragging.
Chase raised a finger to his lips.
Everyone fell silent.
The scraping continued for several seconds.
Then stopped.
No one moved.
The hallway felt suddenly much smaller.
Six people standing in dim emergency lighting, surrounded by barricades.
Outside the windows the campus lights flickered across empty pathways.
Astrid finally spoke in a whisper.
"What is happening?"
No one answered immediately.
Corvin stared toward the barricaded stairwell.
The sounds below had stopped.
But he knew they hadn't left.
"They're everywhere," he said quietly.
Mei Lin looked toward the windows overlooking the courtyard.
In the distance, shapes were already wandering between buildings.
Drawn toward the dorm.
Toward the noise.
Toward them.
Her voice dropped to a quiet conclusion.
"The building is surrounded."