Ethan collapsed without a sound.
For one fractured second, no one understood what had happened. Then Ryan saw the creature above Claire.
It had stopped.
Not backed away. Not hesitated. Stopped.
Its jaws hung open over her throat, strings of saliva suspended between jagged teeth. One claw remained raised above her ribs, close enough to tear through flesh with a single movement. Around them, every other creature had frozen too—twisted bodies locked mid-lunge, hunched silhouettes gone still in the dim, blood-streaked light.
"What the hell—" Ryan breathed.
"Don't just stare!" Julia shouted. "Move!"
The spell broke.
Ryan dropped to the floor and thrust himself toward the gap beneath the barrier, reaching both arms through. "Claire! Give me your hand!"
Claire was already trying. Pain had turned her face white, but she stretched for him anyway, fingers shaking violently as she reached across the concrete. She knew better than to trust this. Whatever had stopped the creatures had not done it for them. It had only given them seconds.
Noah slammed the pry bar back beneath the steel case and drove all his weight onto it. Metal groaned. The case shifted a fraction.
"Again!" Ryan barked.
Noah reset his footing and shoved harder, his whole body shaking with the effort. Julia rushed in beside him without waiting to be told, gripping the edge of the steel case with both hands.
"Lift it!" she yelled. "Come on—lift!"
The case rose just enough.
Ryan lunged farther under the barrier, his shoulder scraping hard against the floor. His fingers brushed Claire's, slipped, then caught her wrist.
"Got you."
Claire gasped as he pulled. Agony shot through her trapped leg so sharply her vision blurred, but she dragged herself forward anyway, clawing at the concrete with her free hand. Noah's arms trembled. Julia's face tightened with strain. The pry bar shrieked against metal.
"Hurry!" Julia cried.
Ryan pulled harder. Claire's boot caught, twisted, then came free all at once. She almost screamed, but Ryan was already hauling her backward across the floor. Noah let the case crash down a heartbeat later, the impact slamming through the room like a gunshot.
Everyone flinched.
The creatures did not move.
That somehow made it worse.
Ryan got one arm around Claire and dragged her farther back. Julia dropped beside them, grabbing Claire under the shoulder and helping to pull her clear. Noah turned instantly toward Ethan, who still lay crumpled on the ground where he had fallen.
"Ryan—help me!"
Ryan released Claire without hesitation and ran to him. Together he and Noah seized Ethan under the arms and dragged him across the concrete. His head lolled uselessly. His boots scraped against the floor.
Claire tried to push herself upright, breath ragged with pain. "Keep moving," she said. "Don't stop—"
No one did.
No one trusted the silence pressing in around them. The room felt stretched too tight, as if all of it—the frozen claws, the hanging jaws, the suspended violence—might snap back into motion at any second.
So they moved faster.
Ryan and Noah half-dragged Ethan by brute force. Julia kept one arm around Claire, almost carrying her as they stumbled backward. Claire bit down on every cry that tried to escape her. She was shaking, barely able to stand, but fear drove her harder than pain.
They did not ask why the creatures had stopped.
They did not waste breath trying to understand.
They only ran on borrowed time.
And then it ended.
The first twitch came from the creature nearest the barrier. A shudder. A jerk of muscle. Then the whole room came alive at once.
The screams started immediately.
What followed happened too quickly for thought and too violently to stop. The creatures fell on them in a rush of claws, teeth, and blood. A cry broke off mid-breath. A body struck the floor. Someone reached for someone else and never made it.
Then the room went still again.
Not with the strained stillness from before.
With death.
The barrier was streaked dark. Blood spread across the concrete in thick, shining pools. Broken bodies lay scattered where hope had failed them.
Only Ethan remained untouched.
He lay on his side where they had dragged him, unconscious, one arm pinned awkwardly beneath him. There was blood on his sleeve, on his shirt, on the floor beneath his cheek—but none of it was his.
One of the creatures turned toward him.
It approached slowly, stepping through the carnage with eerie precision. Fresh blood coated its mouth and lower jaw. Thick strands of it clung between its teeth. Something wet and dark dripped from the pointed ridge of its chin.
It stopped beside Ethan's head.
For a moment, it only stood there.
Then it bent down.
Its face lowered until it hovered inches above him. The smell came first—hot blood, rot, something raw and sour underneath it, like meat left too long in heat. Its breathing was damp and uneven. Ethan did not stir.
The creature opened its mouth slightly.
A bead of blood gathered at one crooked tooth, swelled, and dropped.
It struck Ethan's cheek.
The red line spread slowly across his skin.
Another drop followed, warmer, heavier, landing near the corner of his mouth before sliding toward his jaw.
The creature inhaled.
Long.
Deep.
Deliberate.
Its nostrils flared as it took in his scent. Its ruined face moved closer, almost brushing his skin. It breathed along his cheek, his throat, the line of his hair, as though testing him, recognizing him, or failing to understand what it found.
One claw lowered beside Ethan's head with a soft click against the floor.
Still he did not move.
The creature lingered there for another second—too long, too close—its blood-slick mouth hanging over his face, its breath stirring the damp hair at his temple.
Then, slowly, it lifted its head.
It stared down at him one last time.
And turned away.
Across the room, the others followed without question.
They left Ethan where he lay, alone among the dead.