The decision had been made without anyone saying the words aloud.
They were going back.
Not because they were retreating.
Because whatever was happening below them had grown beyond the three of them.
Erik was the first to move.
Without another glance toward the lower floors, he turned and started climbing the next flight of stairs with the same steady pace he had maintained since the beginning of the apocalypse. There was no panic in his movements. No wasted energy. Every step carried purpose.
Penelope and Kai followed close behind.
The echoes of their footsteps once again became the only constant sound filling the concrete stairwell.
Only now...
Those footsteps were no longer alone.
Every few moments, another voice drifted upward through the open center of the stairwell.
Sometimes it was a man shouting.
Other times it was a woman calling someone's name.
More than once, Penelope heard a child crying.
