Prey

"What is that…"

It had taken us five gruelling floors to get this far. Five floors of lucky choices, suffocating silence, and doors we didn't dare open. But now, standing on the sixth floor, it was clear we'd finally run out of luck.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Eun-jin's scream tore through the sixth floor like a gunshot, startling even her own daughter.

Her reaction was completely justified.

The creatures standing just beyond the broken barricade of the sixth floor were straight out of nightmares.

'Ugly rat-shaped demons,' was the way Survival 101 had described them. But that didn't do them justice. These things weren't just rats—they were twisted monstrosities.

Standing on their hind legs, the leader of the pack easily towered at nearly eight feet. Its front teeth had grown grotesquely long, carving out of its own lower jaw like jagged tusks that had pierced its own skin, smeared with gore and drool. Empty eye sockets sat where eyes should have been, instead filled with jagged, bony protrusions that gleamed like horns under the flickering lights. Their flesh hung off their frames in patches, revealing raw, sinewy muscle writhing beneath.

The air was thick with the putrid stench of rot and decay, as if the creatures carried death itself on their bodies.

And there weren't just one or two of them. It was a pack of ten.

They moved as a unit, noses twitching, their sharp claws scraping against the concrete floor as they sniffed out their prey. The leader let out a low, guttural growl that reverberated through the room like thunder, and the others followed with clicking and hissing sounds that made my skin crawl.

I swallowed hard, my pulse hammering in my ears. Out of all the lesser monsters that could've appeared, it had to be these things. Fast, relentless, and utterly terrifying, these were the creatures responsible for the first two deaths that Ji-hook faced in Survival 101. Heck even then he couldn't beat them.

The only way to survive early on was to avoid them entirely.

But with a pack this large, in such a confined space? Avoidance wasn't going to be easy.

Min-seok bolted first, his shiny shoes clacking against the floor as he sprinted toward the white metal door leading into the sixth-floor lobby. He didn't even look back. 

Fucking coward.

Meanwhile, Jae-hyun froze in place, trembling so hard that Da-on nearly strangled him with how tightly she clung to his neck. Eun-jin stood frozen, her legs shaking violently, her wide eyes fixed on the monsters. She wasn't going anywhere.

"This is going to be impossible," I muttered under my breath, a small, bitter laugh slipping out as my lips twisted into a grin. "I really have cracked, huh? Smiling in the face of death…"

But there was no time to wallow in my insanity. The leader of the pack sniffed the air again, its head jerking toward us.

And then it screeched.

The sound was deafening, a piercing, otherworldly shriek that sent a shiver down my spine and seemed to shake the entire building. The rest of the pack joined in, their bodies trembling with raw aggression.

The leader lunged forward, its massive claws raking against the tiles as the others followed.

I moved—before my mind could catch up.

Grabbing Eun-jin by the arm, I yanked her out of the way just as the leader's claws swiped through the space where her face had been, barely grazing her neck. Her gasp was sharp, her body stiff, but the near-death experience jolted her awake. Without a word, she grabbed Da-on off Jae-hyun's back and hoisted her up.

"Mommy…" Da-on whimpered, burying her face into her mother's neck. "I'm scared…"

"I-It's okay, baby. It's okay," Eun-jin whispered, but her voice trembled so badly that the words felt more like a lie to convince herself.

I barely spared them a glance before my eyes darted toward the white door. Min-seok had reached it, but something told me that the bastard must have locked it too.

Of course he had.

"Shit," I hissed, my mind racing. I couldn't take the others through the barricade—with the way they screamed the rats would tear them apart before they even took two steps. But I couldn't leave them behind, either. I needed them to survive for the team games.

After all a pack that trusts the leader is easier to control. 

The rats growled, their heads snapping toward us as the leader sniffed the air again. Its tusks dripped with saliva as it crouched lower, muscles coiling like springs. They were going to pounce.

'Once they catch your scent, they'll never stop chasing you.' These were the words from survival 101.

I didn't have a choice. 

It was kill or be killed. That's when the emergency axe I had seen on the fourth floor came to my mind. The real reason it was there was to get some unassuming idiot to break the barricade and get devoured by the beast behind. My mind clicked again. This was do-able. Difficult but not impossible.

The leader lunged, its claws scraping against the floor as it closed the distance.

"RUN!" I shouted, grabbing Eun-jin by the wrist and dragging her down the stairs.

The others followed, as I grabbed a frozen Jae-hyun by his arm pulling him along with me stumbling through the stairs but managing to keep up as Da-on clung to her mother like a lifeline.

We flew through the stairs three at a time, my breaths ragged, my heart pounding like a drum. Sixteen steps per flight. Thirty-two per floor. Sixty-four total. I counted them in my head, trying to drown out the sound of the rats barreling after us. Their screeches filled the air, their claws clattering against the stairs.

We hit the fourth floor landing, and I skidded to a stop, yanking open the door to the lobby.

"In here!" I barked, shoving everyone inside before slamming the door shut behind us.

The rats hit the door almost immediately, their bodies slamming into the cold hard metal with enough force to make it groan. Deep dents formed in the surface, the hinges rattling violently.

"This won't hold for long," I muttered, my voice tight with urgency. I turned to Eun-jin. "Open the door to the left staircase, get the axe out of the emergency box and hide behind the door. Do it now."

She nodded, her movements stiff but determined as she carried Da-on toward the opposite door.

I turned to Jae-hyun, who had slumped against the rough grainy wall, his face pale and drenched in sweat.

"I—I wanna go home," he whimpered, his voice barely audible. "Mom… Dad… someone save me…"

My jaw clenched. "Seriously, Jae-hyun? An attack? Now?!" I growled.

He didn't respond, curling into a ball as tears streamed down his face.

"Fuck," I muttered, crouching down and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Hey! Look at me!"

Nothing.

 "Jae-hyun!" I shouted, shaking him. When that didn't work, I slapped him across the face, hard enough to sting my own palm. His eyes finally snapped to mine, wide and tear-filled.

"Listen to me," I said, my voice low and firm. "This isn't like last time. I'm here this time. I won't let anything happen to you. But you have to help me. Do you understand?"

He blinked, his lips trembling, but he nodded faintly.

"Good," I said, helping him to his feet. "Now grab the handle to this door and get ready to open it when I tell you. Then after you open it, close your eyes, count till five in your head and rush straight through into the landing and lock the gate behind you."

"Can you do that?"

His eyes widened, panic flaring up again, but I gripped his arm tightly.

"I trust you, Jae-hyun," I said, staring directly into his eyes. "Our lives depend on you."

He swallowed hard, his body still trembling, but he nodded again, this time more firmly.

The door behind me groaned louder, the dents growing deeper as the rats clawed and slammed against it. Their guttural growls filled the air, mingling with the faint sound of something wet and heavy dragging itself across the floor.

I took a deep breath and ran through the lobby off to the other side, barely managing one last glance back at Jae-hyun. His fingers trembled as they closed around the door handle. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to believe me.

Please, just pull through for me, buddy.

I finally reached the other side as I flung open the door. Eun-jin startled but had the axe ready in her hands, I snatched it from her in a hurry, looking back at Jae-hyun. 

My hand tightened around the axe handle, my palms slick with sweat. I'd planned this out. I knew how this was supposed to go. But standing here, with death just inches away, I realised something terrifying: planning and doing are two completely different things. But at the end of the day. If I don't believe in myself then who will?

"NOW!" I shouted mustering all my confidence, just like Jae-hyun who opened the door, I could see the glinting teeth of the rats shining through the dark even before the gate was completely open. 

This is it. 

Do or die.

[Time left: 29 minutes 51 seconds]