Fire

The dreadful creature crawled towards Eve with its many thin limbs.

It was much bigger than the width of the hall and as such, it was practically impossible for it to travel in it due to the resistance.

It was so much bigger than the hall that in fact, some parts of its skin were ripped and the flesh exposed from beneath it got torn after being ground against the tough concrete, endlessly pouring out blood.

The rate at which it traversed toward Eve was painfully slow but it did not mean it made it any less dangerous.

"Come… Come… Come…" Its sole mouth, at least the only mouth Eve could see, murmured.

Its manic eyes, salivating mouth, and flailing limbs were itching to tear him apart, the very same limbs that are responsible to grab onto stuff and pull in order to move this failure of a living organism.

The arms and legs that randomly protruded from it were many in number but weak in strength.

'Even then, it is probably not the best decision to get close to it though.'

Eve took a step back and scaled the stairs again.

'What the hell is that thing? How did it come from here with that size? How the fuck did it go through the door? Is it responsible for this slaughter?

It also talked. Is it also sentient?

Either way, I need to get out of here since I can't go through the stairs now.'

He looked at his crowbar and sighed. When he first acquired it, he had hoped that it could be used as a makeshift weapon to use in self-defense but it seems it was nothing but a wishful dream.

This measly crowbar can't do anything against that behemoth of flesh. It might be able to break a few bones at most but at that point, Eve's fate would be painted in red.

He ran up the stairs and stopped in front of a door.

After witnessing the existence of that being that could only be described as supernatural, his fight or flight response was cracked up to eleven with the immense exhilaration followed suit.

He grabbed hold of the doorknob and turned it, only for the door to stubbornly remain sturdy.

He stabbed the hook of the crowbar into the spine of the door and pushed.

The door creaked and creaked before finally giving up and bending. With his remaining strength, Eve kept pulling until a hole sufficient enough for his size was created.

And what came from the hole was scorching fire threatening to burn him alive.

Toxic smoke found its way to the stairs and Eve took a step back.

'There's fire on this floor? Have to go up a few floors then.'

At that moment, Eve heard a haunting wail behind his back.

The image of the unnatural creature flashed before his eyes and his survival instinct took over.

He jumped from his spot and went through the gap between the door and the wall and into the fire.

The heat enveloped him and a burnt smell conquered his nose.

He covered his face with his bloody jacket and ran.

The flame wrapped around his reliable trusted crowbar, transmitting its heat onto it.

The cold dark metal of the tool changed color and the heat rose exponentially, causing Eve to throw it away in favor of his hands.

He used his newly freed hand to cover his face and charged like a bull.

One critical problem with running blind like this was that he absolutely had no way of knowing the environment and his surroundings but his acute instinct solved it.

One issue of working in a big corporation building with dozens of floors, each wide enough to contain hundreds of people is that you are mostly in your comfort zone. There is almost nobody that ever worked or passed by the entire 70 floors.

Eve was no exception. In fact, he can be said as a type of shut-in as he never left his assigned working space, let alone his floor during working hours.

There was a silver lining to this though. He never left his personal space meaning he is quite familiar with it.

If Eve knew anything about this building was that the architects were lazy. 

They put 5 narrow staircases that are almost impossible to use with a person walking beside oneself, put the higher-ups in more favorable positions in case of an emergency, etc.

Designing a special layout for every floor is nothing but a pipe dream.

Thanks to the fact that the floor he was on was entirely identical to the one he worked on aside from the more damage, he had an innate compass to guide him.

He ran in a straight line almost instinctively, always took the correct turns whenever he faced a wall, and stopped when he felt the searing heat rise.

His skin dried and cracked, blistered and bled yet he gritted his teeth through it no matter how much he wanted to open his mouth and scream.

'I shouldn't have left the stairs!' He would have shed a tear of regret if his eyes weren't dry as sand.

'The thing probably moved towards me a little bit but it could never reach me that fast with that level of speed.

I was just being anxious, fuck.'

Just as it started to seem like he was bound to get cooked alive in this hell, he crashed into a window, shattering it.

He tripped and went through through the gap where the window used to be and fell on the ground

A surprisingly cool air greeted him, causing him to open his sand-like eyes.

'This, this is!'

He had subconsciously run to where his office used to be and managed to get into this floor's manager's room.

'Thank fuck that I crashed into the window and not the overheated concrete wall.' He sighed and took a gulp of fresh air.

His blurry sight had caught the sight of a water dispenser much to his joy.

Eve lifted up the whole 10-liter water tank and poured it directly on himself while keeping his mouth open.

Fresh, cool water breathed life onto his blistered and battered body and refreshed him better than any caffeine could.

He wanted to revel in this small break but it was not the time yet. The window that had been opened became the entrance for toxic gas produced from the fire.

'Now, what do I do?'