Chapter 4: Plan B
I ran up the stairs as fast as I could.
Which sounded significantly cooler in my head.
In reality, by the time I reached the floor the screaming was coming from, I was already questioning my life choices.
"Haa... haa..."
My lungs burned.
My legs hurt.
And I was beginning to understand why people exercised.
The screams grew louder.
I was close.
Very close.
I shoved open the fire-exit door.
BANG!
It slammed against the wall.
And immediately, I understood why someone had been screaming.
The hallway looked like a massacre.
Bodies were scattered everywhere.
Some were slumped against the walls. Others lay motionless across the floor.
One poor bastard looked like he'd lost an argument with a truck.
Blood covered the carpet, the walls, and even parts of the ceiling.
"..."
Well.
That was unpleasant.
At the far end of the hallway, a woman had been backed into a corner.
She was crying, her face twisted in panic as she desperately searched for somewhere to run.
Standing several meters away from her was a giant man wearing a smiling white mask.
He dragged a massive sledgehammer behind him.
The same guy.
The one I'd seen earlier.
The one responsible for the room full of corpses.
The one whose weapon appeared to be permanently covered in blood.
The masked man slowly turned his head toward me.
The woman froze.
Then her eyes widened.
An opportunity.
Without hesitation, she grabbed the nearest object she could reach.
A chair.
Or maybe a small table.
Honestly, I wasn't paying enough attention.
She hurled it.
BANG!
The object smashed against the masked man's shoulder.
It wasn't enough to hurt him, but it distracted him.
That was all she needed.
She ran straight toward me.
"Oh, thank God!"
She practically sprinted across the hallway.
"Help me! Please!"
I glanced past her and noticed something else.
A rope bridge connected this floor to the rooftop of a neighboring building.
My eyes immediately lit up.
An escape route.
Perfect.
Unfortunately...
The masked man was standing directly between us and the bridge.
Then I looked at the woman again.
"...Man."
I frowned.
"She isn't cute at all."
A decision was made.
I immediately turned around and sprinted back into the stairwell.
"WAIT!"
The woman shouted behind me.
"STOP!"
I ignored her.
The bridge was blocked, which left only one option.
Up.
If I could reach the rooftop, maybe there would be another bridge.
Or another building.
Or literally anything that wasn't a giant murderer carrying a sledgehammer.
Behind me, I could hear the woman following.
Still screaming.
Still panicking.
Still somehow keeping up.
Honestly, that was impressive.
We climbed.
One floor.
Then another.
And another.
By the time I reached the top, my legs were threatening to resign.
There it was.
The rooftop access door.
Salvation.
Except...
The moment I saw it, my heart sank.
Steel bars.
Wooden planks.
Metal chains.
All of them had been fastened across the door.
It was completely blocked.
"...You've got to be kidding me."
Whoever had barricaded this thing had been extremely committed.
I grabbed the handle anyway.
Pulled.
Nothing.
I pulled harder.
Still nothing.
Not that I expected a different result, but denial was an important part of the survival process.
Unfortunately, reality remained stubborn.
"Haa... haaa..."
Seconds later, the woman finally caught up.
"I'm trying..."
She bent forward, struggling to breathe.
"I'm trying to tell you..."
She looked moments away from collapsing.
"The rooftop... is blocked!"
I turned toward her.
"Wait. You knew?"
"Why... why do you think I was trying to stop you?!"
"You could've led with that."
"You weren't listening anyway!"
"..."
Before I could respond, heavy footsteps echoed through the stairwell.
Slow.
Heavy.
Getting closer.
I glanced at the woman.
"...Then why did you follow me?"
She looked like she wanted to hit me.
"Because he was chasing us!"
"...Fair."
Actually, that was completely fair.
Another footstep echoed from below.
Closer this time.
The woman pointed down the stairs.
"The bridge earlier."
"What about it?"
"It's the only way out of this building!"
"..."
"What do we do now?!"
Oh.
That was not good.
The bridge was behind the killer.
The rooftop was blocked.
And we were trapped.
Another heavy step sounded below us.
Louder.
The bastard was almost here.
I looked at the barricaded door.
Then at the woman.
Then toward the stairwell.
A large shadow moved across the railings beneath us.
Closer.
Closer.
"...Shit."
I immediately turned and headed down one floor.
"Wait! Where are you going?!"
"We're going down."
"What?!"
I pushed through the next floor's door and quickly scanned the hallway.
Corners.
Blind spots.
Places to hide.
A plan began forming.
Not a good plan.
But a plan.
And right now, that was good enough.
I pointed toward the hallway.
"We're going to ambush him here."
The woman's eyes widened.
"Ambush him?!"
"Yeah."
"Are you crazy?! That guy broke down a door with his bare hands!"
"Well?"
I pointed toward the stairwell.
"Do you have a better idea for getting past him and reaching the bridge?"
"..."
"Can you parkour across the railing or something?"
"..."
"Exactly."
I pointed at myself.
"I can't either."
Another footstep echoed through the stairwell.
Only one floor away.
I pointed toward the opposite end of the hallway.
"Go over there and make some noise."
"What?"
"Get his attention."
Then I pointed toward the corner beside the door.
"I'll hide here and hit him when he looks your way."
She looked ready to argue.
"But—"
THUD.
A heavy footstep sounded directly below us.
We both froze.
THUD.
Closer.
The killer was almost here.
"Shit."
I crouched behind the corner.
"Quick! Go!"
"A-All right!"
For once, she didn't argue.
Probably because neither of us had time.
I tightened my grip around the sharpened metal rod.
My heartbeat hammered against my ribs as the footsteps climbed closer.
Then they stopped directly outside the door.
The woman immediately began making noise.
She shoved papers from a desk, knocked over some boxes, and rattled a metal shelf.
Just enough.
Good.
Very good.
She was surprisingly useful.
The door handle slowly turned.
I tightened my grip.
The door creaked open.
A large hand appeared first.
Then a shoulder.
Then the smiling mask.
The moment his head crossed the doorway—
I moved.
No hesitation.
No warning.
I thrust the sharpened rod straight toward the eyehole.
The perfect ambush.
The perfect strike.
The perfect—
The masked man caught it.
"..."
My brain stopped.
His hand had closed around the rod only inches from his face.
The sharpened tip scraped harmlessly against the mask.
That was all.
The masked man slowly turned toward me.
Still holding the rod.
Still standing.
Still very much alive.
"...Okay."
I immediately released it.
"Plan A failed."
The woman screamed.
The masked man tossed the rod aside and raised his sledgehammer.
Every survival instinct I possessed began screaming at once.
I threw myself backward.
BOOM!
The hammer smashed into the floor.
Concrete cracked beneath the impact, sending fragments flying through the hallway.
"...That's illegal."
The masked man lifted the hammer again.
I reached into my jacket and pulled out the pistol.
The pistol carrying exactly one bullet.
And several unreasonable expectations.
Honestly, this wasn't how I had wanted to use it.
I had imagined something cooler.
Something dramatic.
Something worthy of a protagonist.
Instead, I was panic-drawing a gun because my brilliant ambush had lasted approximately two seconds.
The masked man charged.
Fast.
Far too fast.
For a giant carrying a sledgehammer, he moved with terrifying speed.
I raised the pistol.
Or at least, I tried to.
This was my first time firing a gun.
My hands were shaking.
My heart felt ready to explode.
Everything was terrible.
"OH, COME ON!"
I pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The recoil nearly knocked the gun from my hand.
The instant the shot rang out, the masked man's body twisted aside.
Instinct.
Reflex.
Whatever the hell these things had.
He moved.
The bullet meant for the center of his chest instead struck his shoulder.
Blood sprayed.
The impact jolted him and broke his footing.
His charge faltered.
One step.
Then another.
His massive body tried to correct itself.
Failed.
His momentum sent him crashing sideways.
BOOM!
He slammed shoulder-first into the nearby wall.
The impact echoed through the hallway as dust burst outward.
And more importantly—
The path to the stairwell was open.
"...RUN!"
I didn't wait.
The woman didn't either.
The moment the opening appeared, we both bolted toward the stairs.
Behind us, I could already hear movement.
The masked man wasn't dead.
Hell, he probably wouldn't stay down for long.
But that wasn't my problem anymore.
Our goal had never been to beat him.
It was to get past him.
And somehow...
We had actually managed it.
I took the stairs like a maniac, skipping two steps at a time.
The woman wasn't far behind.
The bridge was only a few floors below.
If we reached it before he recovered—
Maybe.
Just maybe.
We might actually survive this.
End of Chapter 4