~*𝔸𝕟𝕖𝕦𝕣𝕪𝕤𝕞*~

-Prologue-

BZZZRT

BZZZRT

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I let out a whine at the blare of Maverick's alarm cutting through the peaceful silence of the dorm. "God damn it Maverick, shut off your alarm!" I growled out, chucking my pillow at the clock. Every. Single. Damn. Day. That stupid alarm went off every day simultaneously, always being silenced 5 minutes later. Maverick never even got up when it went off so why have it in the first place... Of course, it didn't shut up when it crashed to the floor, it seemed just to get louder...just to spite me, I swear. 

I pulled my upper half off of the bed, propping myself on one hand and using the other to grab the damn alarm to shut it up. I made a strained noise, slapping the big button on the top of it. I sighed in relief as it shut off, pulling myself back onto the bed. I rolled over, trying to fall back asleep. I tossed and turned a few times, consciousness still very much there. I mumbled slurs of profanity in frustration, tossing the blanket off to the side. 

I pushed myself up with a sigh, scooting off the bed.  I looked over at Maverick's bed, covered in pillows. "Maverick..." I drew out his name, sneaking over to his bed. That douche usually woke up after I would call his name to turn off his alarms...I jumped on the lump under the blanket, sinking right through it. I let out a confused hum, pulling back the covers. No sign of Maverick, just more pillows...Maverick was never up this early...Weird.

I hopped off the bed, grabbing my phone off the side table. I caught a glimpse of the shoe rack near the front door, Maverick's shoes were gone. He must've gone out or something. I turned my phone on with my fingerprint, scrolling through my notifications, full of messages...From Maverick. 

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21 missed calls from Maverick Shane

Maverick Shane 1:21 am

Dude, where are you? we were supposed to evacuate town. 

Maverick Shane 2:01 am

Kade, get out of town. We have to go.

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"What?" I mumbled aloud, hitting the green call button next to his name. Bzz bzz bzz... Fuck. I got sent straight to voice mail. I tried to send him a message, it didn't send. The internet was down or something...I just realized...those messages were sent hours ago, it was 5:26 AM. My stomach dropped as the entire dorm lit up from something outside, followed immediately by a loud boom. The entire dorm shook beneath me, knocking loose items off the side tables and paintings from their hooks. I caught a picture frame just before it shattered, the one of Maverick and I at the beach trip we went on for a field trip. I almost dropped it when another loud boom shook the building...What was happening? 

I ran my fingers through my hair, quickly grabbing my jacket that was balled up at the end of my bed and slipping it on. I looked down at my sweatpants, contemplating changing into jeans...I didn't have time, if Maverick told me to leave town 3 hours ago, most definitely. I rushed over to grab my sneakers, pulling them on quickly. I looked over at my car keys that were in a little jar, those would be helpful...If my car wasn't in the shop getting repaired, that was great...

I gave the dorm one final look before leaving. It was pitch black out here. I pulled out my phone, turning on the flash. I l shined the light left and right, down the halls, it was a mess. There were boxes and miscellaneous items everywhere...It looked like a warzone. I felt shivers run down my spine at the eerie silence. It was unnaturally silent. I just assumed that everyone had left campus. I wandered down the hall, closely listening for anything. All I heard was my steps patting against the wooden floors.

I pushed the buttons to the elevator, nothing. The power was out, hopefully the backup generator would come on soon. I continued down the hallway until I got to the stairwell, pushing open the heavy door. God, even with my light, it was almost pitch black. If I ever regretted living on the 4th floor the most, it would be right now. I jogged down the stairs, free hand on the railing.  I was out of breath by the time I reached the first floor. I bent over, holding my knees as I caught my breath...I really needed to get into shape. 

Once I got my breath back, I creaked open the door to the first floor, slipping through. I walked down the hall carefully, stepping over debris in the hall. Why was the debris so bad? The building was intact so why was it so messed up? I stopped in my tracks when I heard light growling in the lobby. Was it an animal? It couldn't have been...unless maybe someone left the main doors open. I snuck carefully into the lobby, shining my light around. "..Hello?" I mumbled out hesitantly. I prayed that nothing would come out and stab me, it was the average horror movie cliche, the main character calls out to a random noise and a killer pops out and kills them...I really hoped that wasn't the case here.

I approached the sound cautiously, being met with a person! but they were on their knees bent over something... "Hey- are you alright?" I spoke up, tilting my head slightly. They stopped growling, sitting up stiffly. "Hell-" I couldn't even get it out before they..it turned around. I let out a yelp, stumbling backward as I saw its face.  It was all mangled, eyes sunken back and glazed over, skin distorted and face torn open to reveal jagged teeth with what seemed like insides stuck in between them.

That was when I saw what it was bent over. It was a corpse, stomach clawed open. Their face was missing so many chunks that I could barely recognize it was a person...I brought a trembling hand to my mouth, struggling to contain the bile rising in my throat as the smell hit me like a hammer. It smelled like pure death, that thing had ripped them open and pulled out their insides, eating them. I backed off from it, eyes widened in fear and disgust. It let out a guttural snarl, clumsily getting to its feet. I let out a yelp as it came darting at me, rough, blood covered hands grabbing and reaching for me.

I stumbled back, turning toward the lobby entrance. I sprinted for it, desperation in my steps. Whatever that thing was- I didn't want to become its next thing to snack on. I grabbed for the door, yanking it to open it. What I definitely didn't expect was to find it locked. Fuck, the dorm master must've locked it before evacuating. The worst part was that there was no lock to turn other than the one that could only be opened with a key. I just barely ducked under that things arm as it lunged at me, attempting to grab something to defend myself. 

The best I could grab was a broken leg from a chair, turning back towards that thing. I stabbed it in the stomach as it came at me, but it seemed to do absolutely nothing. It tackled me down, growling and leaking saliva on me. I tried pushing it off, but it was too strong and set on trying to rip me apart so it would lunge back before I was even able to get up. I was just barely keeping it from taking a bite out of my arm, I wouldn't be able to keep doing this for long... There was nothing in my reach I could use to kill this thing...It was going to rip me apart and my fate would be just like that corpse's...nothing more than food for this thing.  Was I really going to die..like this?