Finding Humanity

Chapter 6

Run? Why run?

My disconnected mind couldn't process what Nick was saying. We needed to get psycho Mary off of Diana. It didn't matter if there was nothing we could do for her, standing back and watching was wrong.

Then I heard it.

Over the slurping sounds coming from Mary, there was a growl coming from the end of the hall. I finally understood the situation we were in.

Mary wasn't alone.

There were more messed up people coming from the end of the hall, and if we didn't move, we would have to confront them in order to get to the stairs.

"Run," Nick urged again.

This time I moved. I sprinted as fast as I could in my heels past Diana and Mary. The door to the staircase was straight ahead and partly open, seemingly broken in its frame. Nick and Paul were hot on my heels, rushing me to go faster.

They were almost on us as I turned into the doorway. I caught a glimpse of the messed-up people as I fled and despite their bloody appearances, I realized I recognized some of them from around the office.

What the hell happened?

I practically flew down the first flight of stairs, almost missing a few steps in my haste. The third-floor door was shut and faces were at the slit window. I could hear them banging against the door in a frenzy when they saw us.

These people have gone insane.

Throwing myself down the next flight of stairs, I was spurred on faster by the new threat. The second-floor door was wide open, forcing me to slow down to maneuver around it.

Oh my God.

As I passed I could see it was propped open by a body. The person's skull was completely crushed in.

I forced myself not to think about it. Unfortunately, I was so focused on not thinking about it that my heel caught a step wrong. My body fell forward and I went tumbling down the stairs.

All I had time to do was throw my hands up to brace for the fall. The initial hit of my chest on the stairs knocked the wind out of my lungs. I felt my palms scraping against the concrete as I tried to slow my face-first decent. When my body stopped its tumble, every part of me felt bruised.

"Emily! You okay?" Paul yelled from the stairs behind me.

Nick got to me first.

"You okay? Can you move?" Nick had stopped to try and help me up while Paul ran past us to the first-floor door.

"Come on! Let's go!" Paul hurriedly waved us on.

I gave Nick a nod and pushed myself up into a seated position.

"Go. Just go, I'll catch up." I needed a second to get my aching limbs into a standing position.

"What? No. Just come on!" Paul was almost bouncing with urgency.

Nick just looked me in the eyes.

"Go," I urged.

The look on Nick's face was stern, but he gave me a curt nod before getting up and running to the door. Paul gave me a sympathetic look and dashed out with Nick.

I took a deep breath and quickly slipped off my shoes. With two hard hits against the stairs, I managed to break one heel off my shoe and quickly repeated the process with the other. My hands were shaking so badly that as I put my shoes back on, I nearly missed my foot altogether.

The moment they were on, I pulled myself up. I glanced up and gasped. As it turned out, I wasn't the only one who had fallen down the stairs. One of Mary's companions was crawling down the steps behind me.

Nope.

I bolted and was able to run even faster in my makeshift flats. I'd never been a good runner. In fact, my high school gym teacher said I had the worst running stance he'd ever seen and had compared me to a T-Rex. That didn't slow me down. Pure fear was coursing through my veins, pushing me on.

I got through the first-floor door and slammed it shut behind me. I dashed through the lobby that had once looked welcoming, but now looked like a war zone. It wasn't until I exited the building that I realized how screwed I was. My car keys were in my purse, on the sixth floor.

There was no way I could go back in, but I didn't see Nick or Paul anywhere.

"Emily! Over here."

My head snapped to the left and I saw the two guys standing beside an SUV. Paul was waving his arms around trying to get my attention. I thanked my lucky stars before taking off in their direction.

"Get in," Nick ordered.

Only once we were all in the car, I felt I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"We made it." Not even thinking of Diana, I was holding back tears. I was beyond thankful to be out of that building.

That was until I looked out the window.