They continued this methodical process, floor after floor, the routine becoming almost comforting in its familiarity, until they reached the last floor, the one they had just entered from.
Rill pressed the button, her brow furrowed in concentration, and stepped back. The ball bounced five times, its metallic thongs echoing through the lower levels, then came to a complete stop.
"..."
"..."
The silence that followed was heavy, pregnant with anticipation. They waited, their senses hyper-alert, for a full minute, then another.
"I guess we're still as lucky as las—" But Max couldn't finish his statement.
A sound, low and guttural, scraped through the oppressive quiet.
"RZRR."
It was a single growl, then there was another, and another, multiplying rapidly.
The sounds seemed to come from every corner, from the shadows between pillars, from unseen crevices in the broken walls.
One became two, two became ten, and they just kept multiplying, a chorus of hungry, bestial roars that vibrated through the very concrete beneath their feet.
They were surrounded.
"Uhm, what are those?" Jax asked, his voice barely a whisper, thick with a terror that mirrored Everyone's.
The growls, raw and primal, seemed to vibrate through the very air, pressing in on them from all sides.
"I don't think you want to find out," Max replied, his hand already on the grip of his rifle, his face grim.
"Maybe they're vegan," Jax muttered again, a nervous, desperate attempt at humor.
"Yeah, I don't think so," Rill replied, her voice tight, already scanning for an escape route, her own weapon glinting in the dim light.
"Upstairs, everyone, now!"
Ashen yelled, his voice cutting through the rising tide of fear.
He didn't wait, dashing towards the crumbling stairwell, his legs pumping upward.
The others followed quickly behind him, a desperate scramble of boots on concrete. They ran, pushed by the multiplying growls that snapped and snarled at their heels, echoing up the empty stairwell.
The sounds seemed to multiply, a chorus of hungry, bestial roars that vibrated through the very concrete beneath their feet.
They burst onto the top floor, lungs burning, and plunged into one of the three open rooms.
Max slammed the heavy, though battered, metal door shut behind them with a clang that resonated through the building.
"Quick, we need to barricade this with something!"
Ashen gasped, already heaving a collapsed office chair towards the door.
The others immediately joined in, a desperate, adrenaline-fueled scramble.
They pushed everything they could find, overturned desks, broken filing cabinets, heavy chunks of fallen ceiling, piling it all against the door with grunts of effort. The barricade was flimsy, but it was all they had, a desperate plea for time.
When they were done, panting and sweating, they all stumbled back, weapons raised, their eyes fixed on the makeshift barrier.
They could hear the sounds now, distinct and chilling, the heavy, non-human footsteps circling outside the door, the wet snuffling, the low, throaty growls that seemed to vibrate through the very floor.
"Do you think it will hold?" Rill asked, her voice strained, her gaze fixed on the trembling door.
"It has to," Ashen replied, the words a desperate prayer.
"Let me try calling in for some backup," Max said, his voice calmer, a veteran's composure returning even in the face of impossible odds.
He reached for the small, battered radio tucked in his pocket and began walking around the room, holding the antenna high, trying to coax a signal from the dead air. "Hello, can anyone hear me? This is Squad Leader Max of Unit 3, requesting immediate backup at the Old City Hall complex. We are pinned down, repeat, pinned down!"
Silence.
Only the static on the radio answered. "Hello? Hello…?"
Max swore under his breath, frustration and despair etching lines around his eyes. "Shit, there must be something blocking the signal from inside," he grumbled, lowering the radio.
"There's no need to panic, guys," Ashen said, forcing a calm he didn't feel. "We just need to stay here long enough for the others to notice we're not back yet and send in the full strike team for support."
"He's right, no need to panic," Max chimed in, echoing Ashen's attempt at reassurance.
"That's only if they don't break down the door and kill us before that happens!" Jax said, his voice high-pitched with fear, his knuckles white around the hilt of his knife.
"Calm down, Jax," Rill tried, her hand reaching out to squeeze his arm. "They haven't showed any signs of attacking the door yet. They're just... circling."
"Yeah, maybe they're not that smart," one of Max's men chimed in, trying to sound brave, though his eyes darted nervously towards the door.
'What do you mean?' Ashen thought back, a fresh wave of dread washing over him.
If even Nexis was worried, something was truly wrong.
Nexis continued, its mental voice oddly contemplative.
'You don't mean...' And as though confirming his thoughts, a new sound cut through the growls and snuffles outside, a distinct, chilling counterpoint.
Footsteps.
Not the heavy, dragging, twisted monstrous footsteps of the mutated beasts.
These were light, measured, and sickeningly human.
"Are you guys getting that?" Jax asked, his voice barely a whisper, his hand clutching his knife even tighter, the sudden silence among the growls more terrifying than the noise.
Every member of the team froze, their hearts dropping, by what they heard next.
Knock. Knock.
A faint, singsong voice, clear and chillingly polite, drifted through the reinforced door, echoing in the suffocating silence of the barricaded room.
"Oh, my! Don't you know it's terribly rude to enter someone's house uninvited, and then not let the real owner in for the party?"