Even as the evacuation restarted, people wondered out loud what was going on, if the town was alright, if the same monsters were also terrorizing Solace Springs, as if anyone in the restroom even knew what was happening.

Russell had no time to wonder; the song had stopped right behind the door.

“Quiet!” he hissed, shocking everyone back into silence except for the droning of the siren.

An audible sniff blew from under the restroom door.

“Fuck…” Caleb muttered before pushing the rest in line forward “Move, move, move!”

The evacuation devolved into a hushed free-for-all. The few club patrons left and the many employees jostled one another as they scrambled to climb over the jocks. But with his old teammates beginning to tire out, Russell had to haul up those having trouble reaching the top. It got to a point where he was doing most of the work, and he wondered if he should simply start tossing people through the window.

“Hey, geniuses!” Hallie half-shouted over the blaring noise. “Get someone to hold the door!”

Caleb shoved the remaining staff members out of the line. “Go do your job!”

“What? But why us?!” Ponytail asked.

Caleb scoffed. “Because we’re the help strong enough to help lift these people up to the window. And you’re the help who’s not doing a damn thing.”

The woman looked at her colleagues. “But…”

“Stop wasting time and just do it!” one of Caleb’s teammates barked. “You too, pipsqueak.” He grabbed Justin who was trying to cut in line and sent him tripping back toward the entrance of the restroom.

“Justin!” Russell called out, elbowing the asshole who threw his friend to the floor.

Justin had slid across the tiles, shooting past every stall. By the time he came to a stop, Ponytail and two more employees were standing over him, barricading the door. Justin leaned his back against the door frame, embracing his legs, trembling.

“You okay?” Russell knelt in front of him. His breath caught when he sensed the alien heartbeat on the opposite side of the door.

Something knocked against the wood.

The club staff held their breaths. Russell had to give it to them; none of the three ran away screaming.

Ponytail cursed and scurried away from Justin. “Great. He pissed himself!” she exclaimed, only to be shushed by her colleague.

“I…I don’t want to die here,” Justin muttered. Sure enough, a large, wet spot stained his grey trousers. Fright had taken over him, shaking his limbs into uselessness.

“You won’t,” Russell said, ignoring his friend’s accident. He had stayed with Rosalyn a few months at a time. Some nights the kids would wake up crying, roused by a passing nightmare, embarrassed for soiling the mattress they all shared. And he had long grown accustomed to consoling them whenever it happened.

Finding himself in the middle of an actual nightmare, Russell wouldn’t begrudge anyone, not even a grown man, for losing control of their bladder.

“What are you doing, Flynn?” Caleb asked from the other end of the room. “We need your help over here!” Excluding the exhausted jocks, less than a dozen were left lining up to escape.

Russell hauled Justin to his feet, unsure how useful his small friend could be in holding the door. “Try splashing some water onto that.” He hurried back to help with the evacuation—not because he had any desire to, but because they were taking too freakin’ long without him.

“Cal! Go!” a jock said after the last of the club members had crawled out the window.

“Fucking finally,” Caleb grumbled as his friends lifted him up. Russell frowned when one of the two remaining jocks stepped onto his teammate’s hands next.

Russell grabbed the huge guy by his shoulder, holding him in place. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Outside, where else?” his former teammate said as he shrugged Russell off.

“There are still those people at the door,” Russell said in a low voice. “Why don’t we let them climb first?”

The jock scoffed. “Then who’s gonna hold the door? To hell with them.”

Russell seized the guy’s shoulder once again. This time, he exerted his strength. “I said they’re going first.”

The jock—whose name Russell had long forgotten—tried to escape from his hold but couldn’t. The guy’s frown turned into a scowl, and his scowl soon turned into a grimace. Russell amped up the pressure until his old teammate finally relented. “Fuck!” the guy said, gasping in pain. “You guys, get over here!”

“C’mon on!” Russell called out, and Justin immediately ditched his post. He left the club staff behind, scampered through the last two jocks, and flew out the window like a rat on caffeine. Two of the three employees remaining went through in quick succession. The last one said she would man the door until everyone had left.

Russell took his turn afterward when the jock he had manhandled blocked his way.

“Uh-uh,” the guy said, barring him from getting closer. “You’re the only one still strong enough to lift another person alone.” The jock pointed to their last remaining teammate and the girl still at the door. “You’re staying behind.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Russell fixed the large guy with a glare that made him squirm.

“Russell?” Justin whispered above them, his head jutting back inside the restroom.

Russell’s jaw tightened, hating the fact that the guy did make sense. “Fine.”

The jock snorted, trying to look tough, but he stepped on Russell’s and his teammate’s hands in a hurry, not wanting to share Russell’s company a second longer.

Seeing the other jock curl and uncurl his fingers from cramps, Russell let the guy take a break and shifted his attention to Ponytail who remained by the door. “Hey, it’s your—”

The song changed.

The foolish woman had the door cracked open.

Russell’s stomach dropped, his lips parting to shout a warning.

Wind exploded into the restroom, tearing through the door, the woman, and Russell hit the deck before it tore through him as well.

Shielding his arms over his head, he goggled at the spot where he had been standing not a second ago. The destructive gust had scored deep furrows on the wall—and left a splattering of blood.

The last jock didn’t make it.

Russell barely did.

“R-Russell?” Above his sprawled figure, Justin peeked his eyes over the windowsill.

“Yo, what happened?” Caleb poked his head through the window as well. The bloody remains of his teammate snagged his attention. His dark complexion paled as he eyed Russell. “Fucking hell, Flynn! Get out of there!”

The town siren petered out at that moment.

Russell flipped to his stomach and shot to his feet, only to recoil a step back and slip, losing his footing for a moment. His boots smeared blood across the tiles, and he slapped his other hand over his mouth.

[Scaletooth Savage - 8th Shard / Level 3]

In the obliterated doorway, a monster licked something off the floor. The sound of teeth tearing through meat slithered down the length of the room, and for once Russell was thankful for the lack of light. Tonight had been one long, unending nightmare. But some things he would prefer not to see in vivid detail.

Too bad the window was right above his head.

The monster feasting on what could only be human flesh across the restroom was nothing compared to the entrails scattered around his feet.

Two more deaths. Just like that.

He was going to throw up.

“Russell…?” Justin whispered. The guy was calling out from another planet from how far the window was from Russell’s reach.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed from the wall, skidded through the gore, and grabbed the nearest sink before boosting himself up on the counter. The sink was the one closest to the window, but after adding three feet to his height, he ended up adding twice more than that to his distance from the wall—like a morbid question from high school geometry.

A question he couldn’t even answer. Not when the terror addled his mind, petrifying his brain into stone, turning the grey matter into a useless mush.

“C’mon!” Caleb hissed, waving him on.

Russell took another glance at the monster blocking the doorway. With all the blood smeared on its snout, it hadn’t noticed him yet.

It would soon.

The blood on his soles had made the marble surface slippery. But seeing no other way, he took a deep breath, crouched right at the edge of the countertop, and leaped for the window.

His body slammed against the wall, and he fell short of his target.

He didn’t fall short of Caleb’s and Justin’s outstretched arms.

“We got you,” Caleb said, holding Russell by his fingers.

Justin had caught Russell by the end of his flashlight. “It’s…It’s looking right at us!” he whispered, worry and fear clawing at his expression.

Russell glanced over his shoulder. Sure enough, without the blare resounding outside, the monster had noticed his botched attempt at escape.

It “stared” at its next prey dangling on the wall.

“Pull me up!” Russell hissed, flexing his arms, tugging his whole body weight upward, only to fall back down when Justin’s grip slipped on the flashlight.

“Hold on!” Justin cried out. His other hand shot for Russell’s wrist, but his hold on him continued to slip.

“Fuck, you’re heavier than you look!” Caleb said.

“Justin!” Russell’s eyes widened seeing the flashlight slide through his friend’s fingers.

“I’m trying! I’m trying!” Justin gritted his teeth as he pulled with all his might.

A deep growl reverberated in the restroom, across the floor and walls, crawling up Russell’s spine in a shiver.

Justin’s grip slipped further. His frantic gaze alternated between the Russell and the monster behind him. “I…” he choked out, his pupils dilating with fear. “I can’t…”

Russell glimpsed the monster creeping through the doorway before he locked eyes with Justin. He stared at his friend, and his friend stared back at him.

“I’m sorry…” Justin shook his head.

Then he let go.

Russell fell. A panicked scream lodged in his throat. He forgot about his flashlight and hung on to Caleb with both hands.

“Get back here, you coward!” Caleb hissed.

But Justin was long gone. Russell could only hold on for dear life, his mind trying but failing to comprehend his friend’s betrayal.

“This is for saving me back in the lobby, Flynn,” Caleb said through gritted teeth, refusing to let go. “After this, we’re square. You got it?”

Russell couldn’t find his voice, his thoughts a jumbled mess. So he let his survival instincts take the wheel.

He didn’t wait for Caleb to pull him up; his old teammate couldn’t do it even with Justin’s help. With his hands on Caleb’s, Russell curled his tired arms and pulled himself up, inching his chin closer to the exit.

“Wait!” Caleb exclaimed. Russell froze before he glimpsed behind him.

But the monster hadn’t approached any further. Its nostrils flared, its tongue languidly licking its bloody snout.

“There’s…There’s no one else around…” Caleb said, looking over his own shoulder outside the window.

Russell blinked. “What?”

“Will you look at that.” Caleb burst out laughing. “I guess I don’t have to pretend anymore.”

Russell blinked again. The guy wasn’t making sense.

“Ah, man, don’t you get it yet?” Caleb shot him a pitying look. “It was all an act. I was only pretending to be grateful since everyone saw you rescue me.” A smile tugged at his lips. “But now? Now, we’re all alone.”

“What are you…?”

Caleb giggled, his pearly-white smile turning sinister against his dark complexion. “Nice knowing ya.”

Russell’s heart leaped to his throat.

“Don’t—“

Caleb wrenched his hand free.

The window flew away from Russell’s reach.

The ground welcomed him back with a painful crash, his head cracking against the floor.

“Don’t worry,” a voice resonated among the stars filling his vision.

“I’ll make it sound as if you died like a martyr,” the voice continued. Caleb. “Maybe some kind of hero. Or, you know, whatever.” A chuckle. “Like who the fuck would miss you anyway?”

Russell grabbed the back of his head, his sight clearing, and he glared at the empty window that now seemed so far away.

He opened his mouth, wanting to scream, to cry out, to beg, the sudden anguish threatening to overwhelm him.

How could he have forgotten what kind of person Caleb was like? His old teammate had always been fickle, difficult, and a downright bastard, on and off the field. Why had Russell expected the guy to have a change of heart? Because Russell saved his life? Because the world had gone to shit?

He had expected things to be different simply because monsters and magic became real, when he should’ve known the truth.

Some things would never change.

“You know why I’ve always liked you, Flynn?” Caleb suddenly poked his head back inside, and a part of Russell wished to believe he had been mistaken.

He wasn’t.

“Everyone in the team loves to call me stupid.” Caleb pointed a finger down at him. “But you?” He snickered. Grinned from ear to ear. As if the crazy bastard hadn’t just sentenced Russell to die.

“You’ve always been the fool.”