Echoes of the unknown [i]
Chapter 6(i) – Broken Halls and Heavy Eyes
POV: Luke
I walked next to Blair now, down another corridor. The smell of blood and mildew had settled in my nose. I didn't even notice it anymore. Not really.
We passed broken lockers, scattered books, a cracked photo frame with a child's face still inside.
Then we saw it.
A classroom—or what used to be one. Desks overturned, tiny chairs splintered. The whiteboard still had faded letters across it. "Today's Lesson: Teamwork." Irony's a cruel bastard.
There were bodies. Small ones.
Some still moved.
Undead kids.
Blair inhaled sharply.
I stepped forward without thinking. I didn't want her to do it.
But she did.
She moved quick. Clean. Quiet.
We took them down one by one. No hesitation.
But her hands trembled after the last one dropped.
"They were just…" she started. Then stopped. "I mean, they didn't choose this."
"I know," I said. I didn't have anything else. Nothing useful, anyway.
In the next room, we found a mini fridge tipped over behind a desk.
Blair opened it while I kept watch.
"Got some bottled water... a few energy bars," she said. "Not expired."
She smirked like it was gold.
We regrouped minutes later at the hall junction. Everyone had something—bandages, food, half a medkit.
Grey returned, silent as ever. A bloodstain on his shoulder, not his.
He looked at us, then back at the hallway.
"We're not done here," he said quietly.
And I believed him.
Because Lowridge wasn't empty.
It had been waiting.
We moved on.
Blair walked just ahead of me now, silent again. Whatever strength she'd shown back in that classroom, I could see the cracks forming under it. She wasn't the only one.
Scarlett tightened the straps of her bag. Jane kept glancing at the doors we passed, like one might burst open. Jonah walked rear, glancing over his shoulder every few steps. And Grey… Grey was always a few paces ahead, never looking back.
We cleared two more hallways.
Then it happened.
A noise from the left—a door rattling.
Everyone stopped.
Another shuffle. Scraping.
Grey raised a hand.
We fell into line without a word.
He opened the door fast, blade drawn.
Empty.
Just a janitor's closet. Mops. Buckets. Some kind of thick sludge spilled across the floor.
But the sound wasn't our imagination.
It came again.
From above.
We all looked up at the same time.
A ceiling panel shifted. Something was in the vents.
Before anyone could react, it dropped.
Scarlett shrieked. Jonah cursed.
It wasn't undead.
It was a man.
Bloodied. Malnourished. He looked half-insane. His eyes darted to each of us like a cornered animal.
"Don't shoot!" he barked. "Don't—please—"
He collapsed to his knees.
Jane rushed forward instinctively, but Grey caught her wrist mid-step.
"Wait."
I stepped in instead. "Who are you?"
The man coughed, voice gravel. "They… they locked us in. Said it was safe. They lied. We weren't meant to leave."
"Who locked you in?" I asked, already knowing I wouldn't like the answer.
He didn't respond right away.
Instead, he looked at Grey.
Like he recognized him.
Then his eyes moved to Scarlett. "They're watching."
Scarlett stepped back.
"What do you mean?" she asked, voice lower.
But the man just laughed.
Not a real laugh. Not from joy. The kind that rattles out when your brain's too broken to know what else to do.
"They built it here. The first trial… They called it Site Theta." He pointed to the symbol on Grey's jacket—painted onto all our new gear: the triangle and circle. "You think that's just for decoration?"
Grey didn't say anything. But his fingers twitched slightly on his blade.
The man's eyes began to roll back.
Jonah caught him as he collapsed.
"Dead?" Scarlett asked.
Jonah checked. "Alive… barely."
Blair looked at the rest of us. "What the hell is Site Theta?"
Grey finally spoke. "I don't know."
But something in his tone said otherwise.
Something cold. Controlled.
I didn't push. Not yet.
We hoisted the guy up. Jonah carried him like a sack of bones.
"We'll clear the last wing," Grey said. "Then we move."
No one argued.
Because whatever this place was, it had already swallowed too much silence.
And I had a feeling it wasn't done yet.