The day of the Apocalypse 2
'Isn't that the same thing in the article?'
Eve doubted his eyes.
'Did I hit my head? Is this true?'
The shadowy figure in the building told otherwise.
His grip loosened a bit, reminding him that it was not the time to reevaluate the existence of monsters.
A surge of strength and unfounded satisfaction coursed through his veins as he tried his hardest to pull his entire body on the floor.
He swung his legs, got his right foot on the edge, and pushed with it.
His bones creaked and his muscles strained but he managed to lay on the ground with his back.
Eve took a shaky breath as the pain in his back finally registered in his mind.
'The explosion destroyed the door of the balcony. I was probably hit by the debris and knocked over. This is such a pain.'
His ears still rang, making the very process of thinking slow and sluggish.
'Did I hit my head? Not feeling good.'
Grimacing, he looked to his right and into the building.
'The shadow isn't there anymore. Looks like I was just hallucinating with the brain injury then.
That makes sense. It looks to be a terrorist attack after all.
I need to go down. Can't expect rescue to arrive before there is another explosion.'
He shakily got up and walked into the building again.
'Can't stay long on the balcony for sure… Don't know when it will collapse.'
The sound of sirens reverberated through the air, mixing with the fire, loud crashing, occasional shouts, and screams resulting in a harrowing symphony of distress.
Each step caused him to wince in pain but he did not relent. He stepped into the hallway where he was delivering documents just a few hours ago.
The neatly organized cubicles have all been crushed and destroyed. Thankfully, he did not see any blood or evidence of casualties in this section as all workers went to the cafeteria.
Eve imagined that was where the real carnage was happening there.
'Well said Jonathan. Your advice really helped me out here.'
He inched closer to the emergency stairs as the escalators would be pretty unreliable in this scenario.
He dreaded the thought of walking down 53 floors to get a chance at rescue.
Such a feat would be impossible even if he was in ideal condition for physical activity.
But did he have a choice? Other than jumping off the balcony and giving himself an easier ending, none.
The screams and the sound of destruction sent shivers down his spine as the pain was alleviated.
The thought of losing his life was more than enough to get his fight or flight response activated, causing adrenaline to energize him for the upcoming struggle.
His sight became more steady and his uneven breath found its rhythm.
His pace quickened and he was quickly able to run to the entrance of the stairs.
It was dented outwards and the lock didn't work but that mattered little in a fight for survival.
The adrenaline gave him strength that of a superhuman and he seized it.
He first ran up to the emergency fire closet across the hall and punched the glass to pieces.
Inside were a fire axe, a fire extinguisher, a few flashlights, some first aid, and a crowbar.
He picked up the axe and the crowbar before hesitating and picking up a flashlight.
Without lusting over other tools, he ran back to the dented emergency door which was just a few steps away from his office.
'I can smell the corruption.' He smirked.
'The higher-ups got to have easier access to an emergency exit while the common folk had to run across a hall spanning a hundred meters while being constantly squashed by a thousand other people.
But that doesn't matter though. The whole building is poorly planned. Who the fuck would go down tight stairs along with people from the upper floors and lower floors squish into the mess?
Granted, there are half a dozen emergency stairs like this but they are substandard.
Anyhow, let's open this thing.'
He first held the axe tightly in his hands to the point where his knuckles turned white.
Aiming carefully at the small gap between the door and the lock, he swung the axe.
It carefully slashed at the gap, successfully widening it but not completely destroying the lock.
The lock was the kind that operated by scanning an ID card to open the door but it was destroyed.
Does that mean the door is like an iron wall now? Not really. Some wires need to exist in order for the lock to be connected to the door and supply power to it so it can automatically open the door when needed.
It could be wireless and connected via Bluetooth or something similar. Then, Eve could try cutting off the power supply at the terminal and then try to open it again. The other entrances were too far away and he could only imagine the dangers that lurked in the path.
In rapid succession, Eve slashed the lock. Each hit let out a dull clank sound as the gap slowly grew bigger and wider.
Eve raised the axe above his head and slashed downwards with great force. If the lock still persisted he would swing it with greater velocity.
The shard edge of the axe became blunt as a result of continuous usage but it served its purpose.
With a sharp clank sound, the bent door moved slightly as the lock keeping it together with the wall was destroyed. Now, Eve needed to brute force his way through.
He threw away the axe murmuring something and picked up the crowbar.
He hooked the claw of the crowbar unto the gap on the right side of the door and pried the door open.
The door crumbled like paper, a testament to Eve's stress fueled strength or the laziness behind the manufacturers.
Either way, Eve could now descend the stairs no one ever dared to take.
'On the bright side, I will be descending so it should be plenty easier.' He comforted himself as he saw the bloody stairs shrouded in darkness.
Strong metallic scent hit him like a truck as the gut-wrenching scene of human body parts decorated the cracked stairs.
'Come to think of it, why was the door dented outwards? If the explosion happened on this floor then wouldn't it dent inwards?
And what is this? What kind of weapon does this? If it was a gun then at least the bodies should be mostly intact but it looks like a giant blender gobbled them up.'
Confused, Eve tried to recall ever hearing a gunshot but couldn't find any.
He tried to chalk it up to him being disoriented but the image of the hulking shadow roaming the hall kept coming back to him.
'I get a bad feeling about this.'
With a slight tint of fear in his heart for the first time in his life, he took a step backward.
The scene of the massacre did not scare him. It was a matter of what and who did this.
And whether or not he was bound to meet them.
He took a deep breath as another rush of addictive excitement washed over him.
With the crowbar still tightly held in his hand, he activated the flashlight and took a step towards the stairs.
An enigmatic growl echoed through the darkness as something anticipated its next meal.