The stairwell was cold. It smelled like wet concrete and rust.
Ren walked in front. He held the bent boning knife tight. His knuckles were white.
Chloe stayed close behind him. She was shivering. She was still in shock from the roof. She kept looking back at the heavy metal door, expecting the crows to bust through.
"How far down?" Ren asked. His voice echoed in the tight space.
"The... the bridge," Chloe stammered. "On the third floor. It connects to the Science Building."
Ren nodded. "Good."
They walked down the concrete steps.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Ren's footsteps were light. Chloe's were clumsy. She tripped on a loose piece of gravel.
"Careful," Ren whispered.
He stopped at the landing for the fourth floor. He looked through the small window in the fire door.
The hallway beyond was dark. But with his new Eagle Eye, Ren could see details he missed before. He saw drag marks on the floor. Thick smears of black blood.
"Something big went through here," Ren muttered.
"Don't open it," Chloe pleaded. She grabbed the back of his shirt.
Ren pulled away. "I'm not."
They kept going down.
They reached the third floor. The door here was different. It was glass.
Beyond it was the Skybridge. It was a long glass tunnel that connected the Student Union to the Science Labs.
Ren pushed the door open.
The wind hit them again. The glass on the bridge was cracked. Some panels were missing entirely. The wind howled through the holes, making a low whistling sound.
"We have to cross this?" Ren asked.
Chloe nodded. She looked terrified. "It's the only way. The ground is... look."
Ren looked down through the floor.
The courtyard below was a swarm. Hundreds of zombies were moving in a tight pack. They were climbing over each other. Trying to get into the buildings.
If they fell, they would be eaten in seconds.
"Stay in the middle," Ren said. "Don't step on the cracks."
He stepped onto the bridge.
The glass creaked under his weight.
Ren paused. He activated Heat Sensing.
The world turned blue.
He scanned the bridge. It was full of debris. Vending machines were tipped over. There were piles of trash.
And there were bodies.
They were wrapped in something white. Like silk. They hung from the ceiling lights. They stuck to the walls.
"Cobwebs," Ren whispered.
He looked closer.
Inside the webs, the bodies were cold. Blue. Dead.
But high up, in the corners of the ceiling, Ren saw heat.
Small, bright red dots. Dozens of them.
They were clustered together. pulsating.
"Spiders," Ren hissed.
"What?" Chloe asked. She couldn't see the heat. She just saw the webs.
"Don't touch the white stuff," Ren warned. "Move fast."
They started walking.
Ren kept his eyes on the ceiling. The red dots weren't moving yet. They were sleeping. Or waiting.
They made it halfway across.
Chloe gasped.
She was looking at a cocoon on the floor. A hand was sticking out. It was wearing a watch.
"That's... that's Professor Miller," she whispered. Tears filled her eyes.
"Don't stop," Ren ordered.
Chloe didn't listen. She took a step toward the body.
Her foot hit a tripwire. A thin strand of silk stretched across the floor.
Snap.
The vibration went up the wall. It hit the ceiling.
The red dots woke up.
They moved instantly. They swarmed down the glass walls like a red waterfall.
"Run!" Ren yelled.
He grabbed Chloe's arm. He pulled her hard.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The spiders dropped. They were the size of dinner plates. Their bodies were hairy and black. Their eyes glowed green.
[Mutated Jumping Spider (Lvl 2)]
One landed on Ren's shoulder.
It bit him.
Ren felt the fangs sink in. It burned.
But then, his Poison Resistance kicked in. The burning stopped. It just felt like a pinch.
Ren grabbed the spider. He crushed it in his hand. Green goo splattered on his shirt.
"Go!" Ren shouted. He shoved Chloe toward the door at the end of the bridge.
More spiders dropped. They were everywhere.
Two of them landed on Chloe's back. She screamed. She flailed her arms.
"Get them off! Get them off!"
Ren spun around.
He used Dash.
He appeared behind her. He swiped the knife.
Slash.
He cut one spider in half.
He punched the other one. His Strength stat was too high for them. The spider exploded into wet chunks.
"Keep running!"
Chloe stumbled to the door. She grabbed the handle.
It was locked.
"It won't open!" she screamed. She rattled the handle. "Ren! It's locked!"
Ren looked back.
The swarm was coming. A carpet of black legs and green eyes.
But that wasn't the worst part.
Something huge was coming down from the ceiling.
It was the mother.
It was the size of a car. Its legs were long and sharp like spears. It had eight eyes. They all looked at Ren.
[Brood Mother (Lvl 5)]
It hissed. It shot a web at Ren.
Ren dodged. The web hit a vending machine. It stuck like glue.
Ren looked at the door. It was reinforced glass.
"Stand back," Ren told Chloe.
He gripped the knife. But the knife was bent. It wouldn't break the glass.
He needed something heavier.
He looked at the vending machine. The one stuck with the web.
"Cover your head," Ren said.
He ran to the machine. He grabbed the bottom.
His muscles bulged. His veins popped.
[Strength Check: 7]
[Success.]
He roared. He lifted the heavy machine.
He threw it.
Not at the spider. At the door.
CRASH.
The vending machine smashed through the glass door. Shards flew everywhere. The lock shattered.
"Inside!" Ren yelled.
Chloe scrambled through the broken door.
Ren turned around.
The Brood Mother was right there. It raised its front legs to stab him.
Ren grinned.
He didn't run.
He jumped.
He landed on the spider's face.
It shrieked. It tried to bite him.
Ren stabbed the bent knife into its biggest eye.
Squelch.
Green blood sprayed him.
The spider thrashed. It bucked like a horse.
Ren held on. He reached into the wound with his bare hand.
"I wonder if you taste like crab," Ren grunted.
He ripped out a chunk of grey brain matter.
He ate it.
Gulp.
[Gluttony Activated.]
[Consumed: Brood Mother Brain.]
The heat hit him instantly. It was powerful.
[Agility +3]
[New Skill: Tremor Sense (Passive)]
[Description: You can feel vibrations through the ground. You cannot be surprised.]
Ren jumped off the dying spider. It curled up into a ball.
The little spiders stopped attacking. Their mother was dead. They were confused.
Ren turned and ran through the broken door.
He grabbed a metal shelf and pulled it across the opening. It wouldn't hold them forever. But it would buy time.
He looked at Chloe.
She was sitting on the floor of the Science Building hallway. She was bleeding from small bites. She looked at him with wide eyes.
"You..." she whispered. "You ate it again."
Ren wiped the green blood from his mouth.
"It needed salt," he said.
He walked over to her. He checked her bites.
"You'll live," he said. "The poison isn't strong."
He looked down the new hallway. It was clean. White tiles. Lab doors.
"The basement," Ren said. "We're close."
He could feel it now. With his new Tremor Sense, he could feel the vibrations in the floor.
He felt the zombies moving downstairs.
He felt the heavy footsteps of something huge in the lobby.
But he also felt something else.
Deep underground. In the basement.
He felt a heartbeat. A slow, steady thrum.
It wasn't human. It wasn't a monster.
It felt like... power.
Ren smiled.
"Let's go," he said. "I think dessert is waiting."