The Stairs

The dried blood tainting the stairs had a glue-like adhesive nature, causing his every step to be met with some resistance.

Every step produced a squelching sound, rendering Eve's attempt at a sneaky escape useless much to his dismay.

Despite that, he did not stop descending the grotesque stairs. 

Human blood covered the whole stairs like paint, brutally mauled and mutilated body parts as common as feathers after a swarm of birds rest.

Haunting cracks formed on the steel-reinforced walls and stairs, Making Eve doubt that humans were the cause of this at every turn he made.

Every time he pointed his flashlight towards a specific direction, more cracks and corpses became visible.

He endured through the hellish sight with resolve to live but the smell made him gag now and then.

In a way, he was glad that the power was out.

If the lights were on, he would have had to face the full visage of this unholy carnage, something he was grateful about.

He bore no affection towards these people and he certainly didn't feel sad towards their untimely, gruesome death.

But his sight was limited to the range of his flashlight, blissfully ignorant of the full picture of these stairs.

The previous adrenaline rush would have worn off by now. However, thanks to the limited vision he had, constantly kept him on his guard, triggering his fight or flight response for as long as he needed to get to safety.

The narrow halls of the stairs meant that he could not swing his crowbar but he still stubbornly held onto it. He might need it to pry the exit door open.

On a number of occasions, parts of bodies fell from the low ceiling along with a shower of blood.

Eve had been fortunate enough to move out of those most of the time and had the misfortune to get drenched in blood and intestines.

"*Gags*, ugh. Again?" Eve muttered as he took grasp of the fleshy substance on his hair and threw it away.

He pointed his flashlight upwards and saw many corpses smashed and stuck to the ceiling.

There was barely a 30-centimeter distance between Eve's head and the rest of the corpse that fell on him, causing him to sigh.

"It looks like I won't be able to evade it unless I get lucky." 

He pressed on, more mindful of the state of the corpses on the ceilings now.

If he had deemed them too close to falling on his head, he would use his crowbar to accelerate the process and continue on.

Dozen floors passed and Eve found himself panting.

The adrenaline disappeared as he grew accustomed to the horrific sight, causing his body to ache all over.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and the weight of the crowbar seemed a dozen times its weight.

His walking speed decreased tremendously, and he had to find a spot relatively clean to sit on and rest.

Eve's back screamed in pain once again, causing him to grit his teeth and think.

Pain was Eve's most hated enemy. It was what caused him to retire from the thrill of fights.

He glanced at the door, where the floor number was.

'It's quite hard to differentiate it from the color of the blood but… I think it says floor 32.

What are the chances of me leaving these stairs, going through that door, finding a first aid kit with some painkillers, and returning back here, all without being killed?'

The stairs were soundproof hence he didn't hear any screams, gunshots, or another explosion which added to the hesitation.

In the end, Eve decided to continue after resting for a few minutes.

It was not worth the risk. Eve would take his chances with the stairs as he endured through the pain.

'I hope the back pain doesn't mean anything important is injured.' He thought.

'The fees would be sky high and I don't want to spend my life savings.

No, in fact, it might not be enough. In that case, it is better to die than go into debt.'

Grimacing, he got up and continued walking.

Blood covering his skin dried up, creating a second layer of skin that hindered his movements.

He used the crowbar as a makeshift walking stick in order to not fall on the ground with the spinal pain that got more agonizing every minute.

Another dozen floors later, the smell of something truly horrific hit him like a truck.

The smell was unrecognizable, but it was more than enough for Eve to get the desire to empty his stomach right on the spot.

Without further ado, he ran back up, temporarily forgetting about his back pain.

His eyes watered and he held his bloody shirt in his mouth.

The metallic smell of blood was much better than whatever was down there and he was sure of that.

Nevertheless, the memory of the smell didn't fade away easily despite Eve's best efforts. It left its taste in his mouth.

He took a break again and tried to pull himself together.

He was more than halfway there. Was he going to let some smell get in his way of safety?

Like hell, he would.

He tore his blood-soaked jacket apart and made a makeshift mask.

Eve carefully tied the mask around his face and neck, ensuring it wouldn't wall down during his walks.

He gripped the crowbar again and descended the stairs once more.

His breath was slow and shallow as he didn't want to breathe any more than necessary.

In the face of a challenge, the adrenaline surged through him once again. Enough to alleviate the pain but not give him the satisfaction and exhilaration it usually provided him with.

Eve went down the stairs with great haste, aiming to blitz through the horrid smell as fast as humanly possible.

He skipped a few stairs at a time. There was no risk of slipping since the blood dried up and took a solid form.

With one hand holding his mask tightly on his face, the other holding the crowbar.

He went past the point where he took notice of the smell the first time and went deeper.

The smell became worse and worse but he did not relent.

At a certain point, the steps of the stairs were crushed, making the stairs something like a slope.

Fresh blood moistened the floor. Something Eve didn't notice.

He let go of his mask, held a broken handrail, and turned 180 degrees, catching the sight of a truly bizarre thing.

Something big had plugged the hall, preventing Eve from going down any further.

The thing looked like a giant blob with human skin, arms and legs protruding from random spots, some patches of hair and eyes everywhere.

It caught sight of Eve.

And Eve stared back in disbelief.

With a shriek, it started charging straight at him.