Chapter 54 – Reunion
The heavy door creaked as it was shoved aside, the sound echoing harshly in the gymnasium's hollow corridors. A man stumbled out, his chest heaving as if every breath carried years of suffocating tension. His eyes darted wildly, glassy with disbelief, until they locked onto Jack and Evelyn.
"I… I can't believe it! I really can't believe it! People survived!" His voice cracked, rising almost to a manic pitch. Hope and desperation poured out of him in equal measure. He lurched forward toward them, arms half-extended as though to grasp their shoulders, but both Jack and Evelyn instinctively stepped back.
Neither of them wanted to risk contact. Who knew what this man had endured? What filth clung to him—fear, madness, or worse?
