Jungkook charged.

The steel rod slammed into the creature's skull with a sickening crunch. A sound so visceral Soohee felt it in her teeth. The creature dropped flat, limbs splaying like a broken insect.

But it wasn't dead.

Not even close.

It twisted it's head sharply toward Jungkook, too sharply, neck bending until it nearly snapped. Its mouth opened, wider this time, a deep gurgling sound rising from its throat.

Jungkook hit it again.

Taehyung joined and hit it.

Harder.

The rod smashed into its temple, sending its body rolling down one step. The creature clawed at the ground, a scuttling motion as it tried to get upright. Its breath rattled like a broken whistle.

Blood smeared across the stairs.

Taehyung grabbed the knife from Soohee and lunged forward and slashing its arm to stop it from reaching Jungkook. The knife through flesh, too easily. Like its skin was softened, waterlogged.

The creature shrieked.

A high, piercing cry that echoed violently through the stairwell.

It writhed, kicking out with jerking, spasming limbs.

Jungkook didn't give it another chance.

He lifted the rod.

And this time, he didn't swing sideways.

He brought it down vertically with all his strength.

A heavy, decisive blow

The skull fractured beneath the metal, cracking like rotten wood. The creature convulsed once... twice... then collapsed fully, limbs twitching like leftover electrical impulses.

Jungkook staggered backward, breath tearing out of him. Soohee grabbed his arm, steadying him. Taehyung grabbed the wall to keep himself steady.

Namjoon dropped to his knees beside Mira, voice breaking. "Let me see. Let me see the wound."

Mira shook uncomfortably, tears streaking her cheeks. "It hurts, its burning, Namjoon, Soohee, I..."

Soohee dropped beside her, pulling Mira's hands away from her leg.

The bite was brutal.

Deep.

Two rows of jagged punctures torn through skin and muscle, Blood pulsed out in thick, dark waves. The flesh around it already looked inflamed, reddened in a spreading ring.

Soohee felt nausea twist in her gut.

This was no small bite.

The thing had meant to rip her leg open.

Jungkook knelt beside them, chest heaving. "We need to wrap it. Now."

Taehyung looked at Mira, worried, but looked back away, around, guarding the rest of the gang, in case another creature attacked them.

Soohee ripped fabric from her T-shirt sleeve and pressed it firmly over the wound. Mira clenched her teeth so hard Soohee worried they'd crack. Namjoon held her shoulders as she shook violently.

The stairwell suddenly felt colder.

Smaller.

More dangerous than any of them had fully accepted until now.

Namjoon's voice trembled into a whisper. "It was behind us... for how long?" he asked.

Soohee didn't answer.

Because she didn't know.

That creature had been coming up the stairwell in silence.

Waiting.

Watching.

Following their scent or their fear on their warmth, she couldn't tell.

All she knew was, they had passed it.

They had walked right above or below it.

And it had only chosen its moment when they were blind in the dark.

Jungkook stood slowly, the rod dripping dark fluid, knuckles white around the handle.

He stared down at the broken creature.

Then at the void of the stairwell below.

His voice was low, unsteady, but certain.

"We're not walking out of this building the same," he said. "And we're definitely not alone anymore."

Mira groaned in pain. Soohee tightened the makeshift bandage.

Namjoon looked up at Jungkook and Taehyung.

"What now?"

Jungkook took one breath.

Only one.

"We go down another floor." 

His voice was barely human from exhaustion.

"But from now on... no lights. No sound. And no one walks without someone behind them."

Because now they knew something the building had been trying to tell them all along.

The creatures weren't wandering. They were hunting. And they were good at it.

They reached the Ninety-fifth-floor landing in a state that barely resembled survival. 

Their feet dragged more than they stepped, breath coming in shallow bursts, muscles trembling from fear, exhaustion, and the relentless sprint downwards.

Taehyung eased the stairwell door shut behind them, careful not to let it slam, but the moment it clicked, the only sound filling the empty hallway was Mira's strained, uneven gasping.

Her condition had spiraled rapidly since the bite.

The pallor spreading across her skin carried a faint grey tint that shouldn't have been possible.

Sweat clung to her temples despite the cold, her hair matted to her face.

The cloth tied desperately around her leg wound had soaked through completely, the blood turning an unnatural, darkened shade-almost black.

Namjoon lowered her onto a dust-covered seating bench near the abandoned elevator lobby, brushing trembling strands of hair from her face as he whispered, 

"Mira... stay with me, okay? Just breathe."

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