The screams still echoed behind them as Adam, Clark, and Lana burst through the fire door.
They sprinted down a narrow corridor on the side of the Great Hall, hearts pounding, lungs burning.
The cold night air slammed into them like a wall, but they didn't stop.
They couldn't.
Not when monsters were chasing them.
The green EXIT sign glowed like a beacon of hope ahead—until it didn't.
Just as they neared the emergency exit, a sharp flash of blue-white light exploded behind them.
Then came the shriek.
Clark turned his head instinctively—and froze in horror.
One of the townsfolk, in full festival attire, had stepped on a live wire trailing from the backstage equipment.
His body convulsed violently, sparks flying off him. His eyes bulged. Hair stood straight up. It looked like he was dancing in death.
A grim, jerking puppet.
"RUN!" Adam yelled.
There was no time to help. No time to mourn.
Clark swallowed his guilt, grabbed Lana's hand, and bolted through the door into the night.
But freedom didn't greet them.
A monster did.
Just outside the corridor, crouched near a broken garden statue, was a creature.
At first it looked like a man.
But as it turned its head—its grotesque, blood-smeared head—reality shattered.
Its face was half-eaten, a patchwork of peeling skin and bone. Grayish-white eyes stared blankly. Protruding teeth were stained with dangling, half-chewed viscera.
Fresh blood dripped slowly from its jaw.
It snarled.
And began to move.
At first it stumbled.
Then it started running.
"GO! NOW!" Adam screamed.
He grabbed both of their hands, ignoring the surge of fear clawing at his spine.
The three darted across the yard, dodging fallen crates and tipped-over chairs, making their way toward the back of the Great Hall.
Ahead was a storage yard surrounded by tall chain-link fencing topped with barbed wire.
The gate? Locked tight.
Adam didn't hesitate.
He sprinted toward the fence like a man possessed.
Then he jumped.
For a second, it felt like slow motion. His body arced through the air like a missile. With raw athleticism, he gripped the chain-link and climbed—faster than any normal kid should've been able to.
The barbed wire sliced at him, tore through his jeans, nicked his palms.
But he didn't stop.
He bent the wire with sheer strength, gritting through the pain, and finally flipped over the top.
He landed hard.
His knees buckled on the concrete below.
A shock of pain surged up his legs. For a split second, he thought he might've broken something.
But he forced himself up.
Beyond the fence, rows of orange-lit warehouses stretched across the compound.
"CLARK! JUMP!" he shouted through the fence.
"I can make it," Clark replied, crouching slightly.
But Lana...
She looked up at the barbed wire and shook her head violently. "I… I can't do it!"
"She's gonna slow us down," Adam said flatly. "Leave her."
Clark stared at him, stunned. "What?!"
"She's not family. She's a burden, Clark."
"She's my friend!"
Clark's eyes flared with anger. He took Lana's hand.
"I'm not leaving her."
Adam opened his mouth to argue—but stopped.
He didn't want to lose Clark.
"Fine," he muttered, dropping into a squat.
He stared at the barbed wire again.
Come on… Come on…
Laser Eyes. His father had told him how to control them.
He needed focus. And an emotional trigger.
Something that makes me angry…
He thought about Clark turning his back on him just now. Choosing someone else over his brother.
The spark ignited.
"SSSSSSSSZZZZZ!"
Twin beams of crimson energy shot from Adam's eyes, slicing through the barbed wire like a blowtorch.
Lana's mouth fell open in disbelief.
Clark didn't hesitate. He pulled her through the smoldering gap, and the three of them tumbled into the yard.
They kept running.
Past seven warehouses. Then five more.
Finally, they dove behind a rusted trash bin nestled between two storage units.
Breathless. Sweating. Terrified.
A thick odor of rot and burnt plastic filled their lungs.
Clark's voice trembled. "What were those things?"
"Zombies," Adam whispered, wiping sweat from his forehead. "At least, that's what they looked like. I've seen them in horror movies."
"Zombies aren't real," Clark whispered.
"Neither were aliens, until last year."
Clark fell silent.
Lana curled behind them, trying to make herself disappear.
Adam's voice softened. "Don't worry. Dad's gonna come for us."
"You sure?" Clark asked, shivering slightly.
"Yeah," Adam nodded firmly. "He told me: no matter where I am, if I'm in danger, he'll come."
Clark let out a shaky breath. "Godfather said that too. He'd protect us."
The silence between them settled like a blanket.
Lana bit her hand, trying not to cry.
Cinderella was supposed to become a princess, she thought. Not a monster hiding in the dark.
Would her knight still come?
Then Clark suddenly looked up.
In the distance, beyond the storage yard, fire erupted into the sky.
A boom followed, shaking the ground beneath them. Sheets of metal, fragments of wood, and streamers soared like confetti into the air.
The Great Hall had exploded.
The night sky lit up orange-red like a warzone.
Clark's heart froze. "Adam…"
"What?"
"That zombie earlier… the one that chased us out of the hall…"
Clark swallowed.
"I recognized him."
Adam's eyes widened.
Clark nodded slowly. "It was Uncle Louis. Your dad's cousin. The one whose funeral we went to."
Adam's chest tightened.
That couldn't be right.
Louis was dead.
Wasn't he?
A low growl answered him.
All three of them froze.
It wasn't just any sound.
It was close.
A moist, gurgling rasp, like someone choking on phlegm—coming from the other side of the trash bin.
Then came the footsteps.
"Click. Clack. Click."
Slow. Unsteady. But deliberate.
The stench of death surged with each step.
Adam's fists clenched.
Clark's breath hitched.
Lana didn't move a muscle.
They all pressed against the back of the bin, hoping, praying, they hadn't been spotted.
Clark glanced down.
A broken brick lay near his foot.
He picked it up slowly.
If it comes for us, he thought, I'm not running.
Even if he didn't have powers…
Even if all he had was this half-brick…
He'd fight.
For Adam.
For Lana.
For something more than himself.
The footsteps grew louder.
Then—metal screamed.
A clang, like a sword cleaving through iron, echoed across the yard.
Lana gasp
ed.
A brilliant flash of silver light cut through the darkness.
And then—
Silence.
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