Chapter 5: The Humming Girl
[Win – 12:26 p.m.]
The door creaks open.
I stop breathing.
Palm's nails dig into my wrist.
Lin crouches, knife in hand.
Kao… is standing straight. Her head slightly tilted like she's studying the air.
The room's so silent, I can hear the hum before I see the thing making it.
A girl.
Again.
Long black hair. No shoes.
Uniform stained in dried red.
She hums a children's song — soft, sweet… broken.
Her eyes are wrong.
Too wide. Too glassy.
And she's smiling.
[12:27 p.m.]
The Screamer steps inside.
She doesn't sniff. Doesn't moan.
Just tilts her head side to side — like she's enjoying the silence.
She walks past one of the tables.
Where two students — Benz and Mind — are hiding, fists over their mouths.
She stops.
Right beside them.
My heart stops too.
[12:28 p.m.]
She slowly leans down — and sniffs the air near the edge of the desk.
Benz's foot jerks.
Tiny.
Barely a twitch.
The Screamer's smile splits wider.
And she begins to hum louder.
[12:29 p.m.]
Lin makes a silent call.
Run.
No time to plan.
We flip the shelves and sprint.
Door flings open. Screamer turns and howls — high, long, vibrating.
My eardrums ache.
Zombies start screaming back — from the halls. From the stairwells.
The whole school's waking up.
Palm grabs my arm.
We run.
Kao follows.
Lin pulls the last shelf down.
But when I turn back—
Benz isn't with us.
He tripped.
Mind is screaming. She's trying to drag him—
But the Screamer is already on top of them.
Its head snaps to Mind. Mouth opens wider than possible.
Lin yells:
"WE CAN'T—MOVE!"
We run.
[12:33 p.m.]
We lock ourselves in a janitor closet three floors up.
No one talks.
Mind's scream is still echoing in my skull.
Benz is dead.
And we left him.
[12:35 p.m.]
Palm's face is soaked in tears.
"He was right behind me... I could've grabbed him—"
"No, you couldn't,"
Lin says.
"You would've died."
He looks at her like she's the monster.
Maybe we all are now.
Kao sits down slowly. Her eyes are dry. Too dry.
She says quietly,
"Screamers don't hunt like the others."
"What?" I ask.
"They don't want to kill you right away,"
she says.
"They like to play first."
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