An ear-piercing screeching noise began to join in with the sirens, the sounds gnawing their way into the very recesses of my brain causing me to wince and cover my ears with my hands. After a few seconds the sounds dissipated and the screaming started.

Shelving toppled to the floor around us, sending markers and books cascading everywhere. I could feel debris from the ceiling hitting my arms as I tried to protect my ears and head.

The shaking stopped and I felt shivers run down my spine as I stood upright. Georgie whimpered next to me, getting back to her feet and rubbing the dust off her arms. Releasing the hold on my ears, I put my arms down and stood up, my body beginning to tremble in the process. My fists balled up in an attempt to control it and to calm myself.

“Ariah! Georgie! Are you two okay?” Reese called out above the sounds coming from outside.

“Yes, I think so.” I said shakily. “Are you guys okay too?”

“What the hell is going on?” I heard Roderick say, then I saw him activate his phone. The screen lit up and I could see his and Reese’s worried faces.

Using the torch light on his device, he quickly made his way up the stairs and grabbed the door handle. He yelled out upon touching it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“The door handle is boiling hot!” He said as he shook his hand to try and ease the pain of the burn it had given him. Taking a breath, he carefully reached out and touched the wood of the door. He quickly pulled his hand back again.

“This is crazy! The wood is hot too?!” He stepped back in disbelief and stumbled backwards down a few steps before using the concrete wall to catch himself.

“Huh.” He said as he looked at his hands with interest.

“What is it?” Reese whispered loudly to him.

“The concrete wall is cold.” He replied, turning to study the wall next to him.

The screeching noise started again, this time more intense than before. Outside the sound of people screaming got louder and louder. Roderick raced back down the stairs, taking two at a time and using his torch light, he located Georgie and I. He quickly grabbed our hands and guided us over to where Reese was.

“I think we need to hide.” He said, letting go of us and putting his arm over Reese’s shoulders, hugging her tightly.

Grabbing his phone from his hand, I shone the torch towards the darkness. Looking around I saw a dark corner at the back of the room between some boxes.

“Let’s hide there!” I whispered hoarsely as I pointed to the corner. Everyone moved quickly to the position and huddled down, holding on to each other as we did so. All of us were terrified at the thought of what was unfolding outside of the room.

“What is going on?!” I cried in anguish as I tensed my body in fear and manoeuvred closer to Roderick.

As I finished speaking, the screaming coming from outside stopped and everything went deathly quiet.