“Tell me why we’re still here,” Seungmin said, arms crossed, staring down the dead street.

Changbin kicked an empty can. “Because nothing ever happens in this town.”

“That’s what horror movies say,” Minho replied.

Hyunjin spun a metal pipe in his hand, bored. “Relax. If something jumps out, I hit it.”

Felix laughed. “You say that like you want it to.”

Then the sirens started.

“What the hell?” Jeongin said, checking his phone. “Emergency alert—”

The streetlight above you flickered out.

“Okay,” Minho said flatly. “That’s bad.”

A crash echoed from somewhere close. Glass. Metal. Someone screaming.

Chan’s expression hardened instantly. “Phones away. Eyes up.”

“That’s not normal,” you said.

“No,” Chan replied. “It’s worse.”

Something slimy sprinted across the intersection at the end of the street.

Hyunjin stopped smiling. “That wasn’t human.”

“Run,” Seungmin said.

“No,” Changbin snapped. “We don’t know where.”

Another scream cut off abruptly.

Felix’s voice dropped. “Guys. Behind us.”

You turned.

Limbs jerking, bodies colliding into each other, teeth snapping.

“Move,” Chan ordered. “Now.”

They didn’t form up. They scattered into a rough line, pushing forward because stopping meant dying. Shoes slapped pavement. Breath burned. Sirens drowned everything else.

“Left!” Minho shouted.

“No—right!” Han yelled.

Something tackled Changbin, sending him crashing into a fence.

“BIN!” Jeongin screamed.

Changbin kicked wildly. There was a crack. Something shrieked.

“Get up!” Chan barked.

They dragged Changbin back just as another shape slammed into the fence where he had been.

“You okay?” Felix asked, panicked.

“I will be,” Changbin growled.

Seungmin laughed suddenly. Sharp. Broken. “So this is how it ends.”

“It’s not ending,” Chan said. “It’s starting.”

They reached an intersection and stopped short.

The road ahead was blocked. Cars piled up. Fire burned low and ugly.

Behind you, the sounds were getting closer.

Hyunjin tightened his grip on the pipe. “We fight through.”

Minho shook his head. “We won’t all make it.”

Silence hit hard.

Chan didn’t deny it.

“Choose,” Seungmin said. “Now.”

“MOVE,” Chan shouted.

They split without thinking.

Hyunjin vaulted over a car hood, pipe cracking against metal as something lunged at him from the side. Minho dragged Seungmin behind a bus stop just as glass exploded where his head had been a second earlier.

“THIS WAY!” Han yelled, already sprinting down an alley that smelled like rot.

“Bad idea!” Changbin barked, but he followed anyway, limping hard.

You slammed into a wall, breath knocked out of you.

“Get up,” Felix snapped, yanking you upright before you could argue. “Get UP.”

Something hit the dumpster behind you. The metal caved inward with a scream that was not human.

Jeongin swore. “They’re herding us.”

Seungmin laughed again, too loud. “Great. Predators.”

The alley dead-ended.

Everyone stopped.

“Of course it does,” Minho muttered.

Chan spun, eyes wild, counting. “Windows. Fire escape. NOW.”

Hyunjin was already climbing, shoving the pipe through the ladder rungs to pull himself up faster.

“Help him!” Chan ordered.

Changbin didn’t hesitate. He boosted Jeongin up, then turned just as something barreled out of the dark.

“BIN—!” Han shouted.

Changbin swung.

Bone shattered. Teeth flew. The thing didn’t go down.

“IT DOESN’T CARE,” Changbin yelled, backing up.

Felix grabbed a brick and threw it. It did nothing.

“UP!” Chan roared.

You climbed blindly, hands slipping, someone screaming below you. Something grabbed your ankle—

Minho kicked it off. Hard.

“DO NOT STOP,” he said, voice flat with panic.

You rolled onto the roof just as Hyunjin slammed the ladder upward, cutting off access.

Below you, the alley filled with bodies.

Seungmin wiped blood off his mouth. “We can’t stay.”

Chan nodded once. “No.”

“Where then?” Jeongin demanded.

Chan looked out over the burning town.

“Anywhere that isn’t here.”

A roar rose from below as something began climbing the wall.

Hyunjin lifted the pipe again. “Then we keep moving.”