Dawn Rising

Run or Rot

Their footfalls thundered up the stairs, breath ragged, panic thick in the air.

Shoes on concret. Blood on stairs. Breath burning in lungs.

The moans of the undead echoed behind them like war drums.

Zayden led the charge, Riley right behind, and Jett close. They had no time to watch where they were going they were running for their lives—until—

Crash!

They collided.

Kaia and Theo came down the steps, Kaia raised her weapon a metal ruler, eyes wide with the same exhausted fire.

Both groups froze.

For a single, dangerous second, time held its breath.

Jett had her knife out, Zayden raised his duct-taped broom, and Kaia was already mid-step back, pulling Theo behind her.

“We can’t go down!” Jett barked, her voice all grit and urgency. “We have to go up! Move—”

Kaia squared her stance. “We just ran from a floor filled with them. Unless you’re heading to the goddamn roof—”

“It doesn’t matter!” Jett snapped. “I’m not dying in this stairwell!”

She shoved past.

There was no time to argue. No time to think.

Riley bolted after her Zayden on her tail, and Kaia cursed under her breath before following. Theo hesitated for half a heartbeat, then ran too.

All five ran—up past the second floor, past the door where infected were already pouring in, shrieking and crawling fast.

"f**k!" Jett gasped. "They're fast!"

They hit the fourth-floor landing.

Locked.

Jett rattled the door. “Come on!” She cried.

Zayden didn’t waste a second.

“MOVE!” he shouted

He shoved her forward, shoulder slammed into the next flight of stairs.

Jett stumbled. Zayden didn’t hesitate.

He barreled forward, the weight of adrenaline behind him, and burst through the fifth floor door

barely ahead of the infected swarm.

Zayden went first, threw his body against the door. It groaned open. Jett and Riley barreled in. Kaia pulled Theo through just as Zayden slammed the double doors shut.

SLAM.

They all jumped as the infected hit the door seconds later, howling, screeching.

Zayden found the latches—top, bottom—slid them into place with shaking hands. The metal groaned under the pressure.

Down the hall, Jett and Riley had already reached the other stairwell, sealing that one too.

They all ran—feet thudding on the tile—into the nearest room, a science lab reeking of bleach and dust. They shoved tables, overturned cabinets, and blocked the door.

Outside, thuds and growls echoed down the hall like a grim heartbeat.

They stood in a semicircle, backs to the window, breaths ragged.

No one said anything they just watched and waited to see if the dead would get in.

As the time ticked by slowly.

Like the last days of school. Each one of them waited until the moans died down before uttering a single word.

“Who are you?” Jett asked, not gently pacing. Knife still in hand, she turned on the newcomers. Her chest heaving with every breath.

Kaia’s hands were up, empty. Theo spoke. “That's Kaia. I'm Theo.”

Zayden’s eyes were sharp as he looked between them. “You followed us.”

“We didn’t have a choice,” Theo said, wiping blood—not his—from his sleeve. “We were heading to the entrance. Thought maybe the streets were safer.”

Riley scoffed, slumping against the wall. “There’s no safe. Not anymore.”

Kaia glanced around. “And you are?”

“Jett,” the girl said, still tense. “That’s Zayden. And the one who nearly got us all killed with a phone earlier? That’s Riley.”

Riley glared. “It wasn’t on purpose.”

Theo looked toward the barricaded door. “They won’t stop.”

“Nope,” Zayden muttered dryly.

Kaia crossed her arms. “So what’s the plan?”

"I'm not sure." Jett spoke. "But I'm no longer a fan of stairwells anymore.”

They all laughed.

It was small. Weak. But real.

Then the thudding returned—distant now, but steady.

Zayden looked toward the door. “This floor’s empty. For now. But we can't stay up here forever."

Silence.

Riley sat on a desk and finally said what they were all thinking:

“Let’s figure out how to live through tomorrow.”