Chapter 26: Lexington Charter: Third Floor

I staggered backward and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath. My arms ached from the struggle, my throat burned where the infected had clawed me, and I could feel warm blood trickling down from several scratches. But we were alive.

All three of us were alive.

“A…Are you okay, Elena?!” Alisha rushed to her sister’s side, her injured ankle forgotten in her desperation. Her hands moved frantically over Elena’s arms and shoulders, searching for any sign of bite marks or scratches that might spell doom.

Elena was still pressed against the desk, her chest rising and falling rapidly as the adrenaline began to fade. She looked down at herself with the same frantic energy, checking every inch of exposed skin with trembling fingers.

“I… I think I’m fine,” she finally managed to say. Her school uniform was torn at the sleeves where the infected had grabbed her, and angry red welts were already forming on her arms, but there were no puncture wounds. No bites. “Nothing… nothing got through.”

Only then did she look over at me, slumped against the wall beneath the shattered window frame. Glass crunched under my body as I shifted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position while my lungs burned with exhaustion.

Alisha immediately turned her attention to me, limping over despite her injured ankle. “A…And you, are you okay?”

I managed a weak nod, though I wasn’t sure how convincing it looked. My breath came in short, ragged gasps that seemed to echo off the classroom walls. Each inhale felt like I was breathing through a straw, and my heart was still hammering against my ribs like it was trying to escape.

The truth was, even though my awakening had made me physically stronger than I’d ever been before, stamina was still an issue. My body had limits, and I was rapidly approaching them. The Time Freeze ability was particularly draining—those ten seconds of absolute power came at a steep cost, leaving me feeling like I’d just run a marathon.

Combined with the adrenaline crash that was now hitting me full force, I probably looked like I was on the verge of collapse. My entire body was drenched in sweat, and I could feel my face alternating between flushed red and pale white as my system tried to regulate itself.

Alisha’s expression grew increasingly worried as she looked at me. “You look like you’re about to have a panic attack,” she said softly, crouching down beside me despite the obvious pain it caused her ankle.

“I… I’m fine,” I mustered out. “Just need… some time to catch my breath.”

The sound of footsteps made me look up. Elena had approached us, tears streaming down her cheeks. Whether they were from fear, relief, guilt, or some combination of all three, I couldn’t tell. But when she spoke, her voice was filled with emotion.

“T… Thank you,” she said. “I know I’ve been horrible to you, and you still… you still saved us.”

Now, I was genuinely glad I’d been able to protect them. The thought of them dying while I was getting out of it alive because I had a super power? It would have haunted me forever.

And I was also glad that I didn’t need to ’cure’ them. If any of them had been bitten, imagine the awkward moment as I asked one of them to have sex with me to save her. The other sister might truly try to kill me.

The fact that we hadn’t needed those desperate measures was a relief I couldn’t fully express.

“Thank you as well,” Alisha added. She was clenching her fists in her lap, probably trying to keep her hands from shaking. “You’re strong. You would have been so much better off without us slowing you down.”

Elena didn’t say anything in response to that observation, but her expression spoke volumes. I could see the guilt written across her features, the knowledge that she and her sister had indeed been a burden in this fight.

“Maybe,” I admitted with brutal honesty, and both sisters immediately averted their gazes. The truth stung, but it needed to be said. “But I haven’t fallen low enough to abandon people to die. Not when I can help.”

If they had been cruel people, if they had been the kind who would leave others behind without a second thought, things might have been different. But they weren’t like that. Elena’s fierce protection of her sister, Alisha’s gentle concern for everyone around her—these were good people caught in an impossible situation.

“That’s… that’s very kind of you,” Alisha said with a small, genuine smile. “It would have been pretty mean to just leave us behind.”

I found myself almost smiling back. “How’s your ankle holding up?” I asked, nodding toward her injured foot.

“Ah…” She winced slightly as she shifted her weight. “It hurts quite a bit. I think I made it worse when I tried to pull away from that thing’s grip. The adrenaline probably kept me from feeling how badly I twisted it.”

That made sense. In the heat of the moment, with an infected’s fingers wrapped around her ankle like a vice, anyone would have yanked away without thinking about the consequences. The fact that she’d managed to stay upright at all was impressive.

“Let me take a look, Alisha,” Elena said, immediately dropping to one knee beside her sister.

Alisha carefully rolled down her knee-high sock, revealing the injured ankle. The skin was already discolored with bruising, swollen but not grotesquely so. It looked painful but not catastrophic—the kind of injury that would heal with time and rest.

Unfortunately, time and rest were luxuries we couldn’t afford.

“You shouldn’t put too much weight on that foot,” I advised, drawing on half-remembered first aid lessons. “If you push it too hard, you could turn a minor sprain into something much worse.”

“W…what should we do then?” Elena asked, and I could hear the panic creeping back into her voice. A injured team member was a liability we could ill afford in our current situation.

“We need to stabilize it,” I said, thinking out loud. “Some kind of support to prevent any sudden movements that might injure it further. We should bandage it snugly—not tight enough to cut off circulation, but enough to give it some structure.”

It wasn’t exactly medical school advice, but it was the best I could offer under the circumstances.

Elena nodded decisively and moved toward the dead infected corpse—specifically, the one I’d decapitated earlier. Without hesitation, she began tearing strips of fabric from its shirt.

Elena worked quickly , wrapping the makeshift bandages around Alisha’s ankle and foot in a pattern that would provide support while still allowing for some flexibility. Her hands were steady despite everything we’d just been through, and I found myself impressed by her composure.

“There,” she said finally, sitting back on her heels. “How does that feel?”

Alisha carefully flexed her foot, testing the range of motion. “Much better, actually. Thank you.” She pulled her sock and shoe back on, the additional padding from the bandages making for a snug but manageable fit.

Elena stood up, brushing dust and debris from her knees.

“What do we do now?” She asked.

“We try again for the stairs to the third floor,” I said. The words came out more confident than I felt. “The Infected that rolled down earlier won’t be any threat for now, so the stairs should be empty and safe.” I turned to Alisha. “How far is the library door from the stairs?”

“Just a dozen meters, but…we had to close and barricade the doors when everything started. Even if we reach them, it might take a minute or more before we could get inside.”

A minute was an eternity when you had hungry Infected potentially lurking around every corner. I cursed under my breath, running my fingers through my hair in frustration. How had I not thought about that obvious detail?

“I just hope Sydney and the others managed to get inside safely,” I muttered, more to myself than to the sisters.

But then I remembered something. “Didn’t you say the third floor was cleared though?”

If the third floor had been cleared, then where had those Infected come from? The ones we’d seen tumbling down the stairs like grotesque bowling pins.

Right after asking though I guessed the answer myself.

“They’re from the fourth floor,” Alisha said. “They likely fell down to the third floor through the stairs and were attracted by all the noise we’ve been making.” She let out a bitter laugh that held no humor. “Sound travels in this place quite easily. ”

I nodded slowly, the logic making perfect sense even as it complicated our situation further. “I see… it was expected, but couldn’t you have also tried to clear the fourth floor? Once that’s done, you’re pretty much safe up there. The Infected have a hell of a hard time climbing stairs – their coordination is shot.”

Alisha’s expression darkened, and I saw Elena reach over to squeeze her sister’s hand supportively.

“We had thought about it,” Alisha began, her voice growing distant as if she were reliving a nightmare. “We had tried and we had failed. Some had been lost and the remaining of us were all terrified, and there seemed to be so many of them up there. Actually, that’s where it all started for us. The fourth floor. That’s where we lost…”

She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence, but I could fill in the blanks. They’d lost close classmates there.

Yeah, actually, their fear was completely understandable. What they managed to do – clearing the entire third floor – that’s actually incredible. Most people wouldn’t have made it past the first classroom.

After discussing our options for a few more minutes, weighing the risks and trying to anticipate what we might encounter, we decided to rest. The adrenaline that had been keeping us going was starting to wear off, leaving behind bone-deep exhaustion and frayed nerves that felt like live wires.

Twenty minutes. That’s what I gave us. Twenty minutes to let our breathing return to normal, to let the trembling in our hands subside, and to mentally prepare for what was likely going to be another life-or-death sprint to safety.

When I felt ready—and without sounding arrogant, my readiness was probably the most crucial factor in our survival – I stood up and tested my grip on my weapon. The knife felt solid in my hand, though I could still feel a slight tremor in my fingers from the aftereffects of using my ability.

“Alright,” I said, my voice cutting through the quiet. “I go first. Alisha, you follow directly behind me, and Elena, you watch our backs.” I looked at each of them in turn, making sure they understood.

Both sisters nodded. They’d armed themselves with broken chair legs that they’d picked up earlier – not ideal weapons once again, but better than nothing.

I took a deep breath. Then I reached for the door handle, my palm slightly damp with sweat despite the cool air.

The door opened with a soft creak that seemed thunderously loud in the oppressive silence. I winced, pausing to listen for any sign that we’d been detected. When no immediate threat presented itself, I stepped out into the hallway, moving with careful steps.

Since we’d entered the first classroom right near the stairwell, it only took a dozen careful steps before we reached our destination. I looked up the stairs, scanning for any sign of movement, any hint of the shambling forms that had been our constant nightmare.

Nothing. The staircase stretched upward into darkness, empty and inviting.

“Nice,” I whispered under my breath, feeling a tiny spark of hope kindle in my chest.

I began the ascent, placing each foot carefully on the steps to minimize noise. Behind me, I could hear Alisha climbing as well, with Elena helping support her injured sister. Alisha’s hand traced along the handrail—not because she couldn’t climb on her own, but because she was being cautious.

The climb felt eternal, each step a potential trigger for disaster. My eyes constantly scanned ahead, looking for any sign of movement, any indication that we weren’t as alone as we hoped.

Eventually, after what felt like an hour but was probably only a minute, we reached the third floor landing. I paused at the top, letting my eyes adjust and scanning the area thoroughly before proceeding.

Alisha moved up beside me and, without speaking, pointed down the hallway toward where the library was located. I could see the door in the distance.

We moved forward carefully.

No Infected in sight as we approached the library door. The absence of immediate threat should have been comforting, but instead, it made me more nervous. I’d been on edge for so long recently that this smooth progress felt wrong.

When we finally reached the library door, Elena stepped forward and knocked gently, trying to keep the sound as quiet as possible while still being audible to anyone inside.

“Hey,” she whispered.

I noticed a corridor extending around the corner that we hadn’t had a chance to check. From that direction, I could hear faint sounds: low growls that could only mean one thing. We weren’t as alone on this floor as we’d hoped.

“Open!” Elena tried again, knocking a bit louder this time, urgency creeping into her voice.

After a moment that stretched like an eternity, a face appeared behind the small circular window in the door. The glass was thick and slightly distorted, but I could make out the features of a young man, probably a student.

“Elena?!” The voice was muffled by the door but filled with disbelief and joy.

“Open quick!” Elena shouted, abandoning all pretense of stealth.

“Y…Yeah! Just a minute!” Came the reply. “Guys, help me! Elena is alive!” The man’s voice carried through the door as he called to others inside.

We could hear the sound of furniture being moved, the scraping and dragging of whatever makeshift barricade they’d constructed. Each second felt precious as the sounds from the corridor seemed to be getting closer.

“Grr!”

“Fuck,” I muttered, spinning around to see three Infected bursting around the corner, as they homed in on us like heat-seeking missiles.

“H…Hurry up!” Elena abandoned any attempt at keeping her voice down, desperation coloring every syllable.

I stepped in front of the sisters. My head was still pounding from using the Time Freeze ability earlier, and the thought of having to use it again so soon made me feel nauseous. But I could see no other option – there was no way I could handle three of them with just physical strength and a knife.

If we’d been near the stairs, I might have been able to push them down and use gravity as a weapon. But we were in the middle of a hallway with nowhere to run and limited room to maneuver.

I raised my improvised spear, and immediately noticed my hand trembling slightly.

I reached over with my free hand and grasped my wrist, forcing it to steady. The physical contact helped, grounding me in the moment and giving me something concrete to focus on.

Fear.

It was always there.

But I’d learned that fear wasn’t necessarily the enemy – it was losing yourself to fear that got you killed. A healthy dose of fear kept you sharp, kept you alive. It was when you stopped being afraid that you made the kinds of mistakes that couldn’t be undone.

Rather than letting the fear paralyze me, I channeled it into action. I reached over and grabbed the broken chair leg from Alisha’s hand with my free hand.

“Sorry,” I muttered to her as I stepped forward to meet the oncoming threat.

The first Infected was faster than the other two, its coordination slightly better preserved. I swung the chair leg with everything I had, putting my full body weight behind the strike. The improvised club connected with a sickening crack, and the creature immediately stumbled and crashed to the ground, its legs giving out from the shock.

Without pausing, I hurled the chair leg at the second Infected like a javelin. It struck the creature square in the forehead with enough force to split the skin and send blood spattering. The impact tilted its head backward violently, but to my dismay, it didn’t fall. It staggered but kept coming, now with blood streaming down its face.

Now I was down to my knife and facing two still-mobile threats. The math wasn’t in my favor.

“Elena, I’m going to need your weapon—” I started to say, reaching behind me without taking my eyes off the approaching Infected.

“Woah!”

Before I could finish my sentence, I felt a strong hand grab my wrist and yank me backward with surprising force. The world spun as I was pulled through the now-open library door, my feet leaving the ground as I stumbled and fell.

I managed to break my fall with my hands, but the momentum carried me forward until I found myself face-to-face with my rescuer, our faces only inches apart. I could smell her shampoo—somehow still carrying the scent of strawberries despite everything we had been through.

“Finally back on our side, Hero?” Sydney grinned at me.

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