The infected poured into the street like a flood of nightmares. Their pale faces twisted, their mouths open in endless hunger. The cousins pressed back against the barricade, desperation in their eyes.
"There's no way through!" Zak cried, panic rising.
"Climb!" Anas shouted, already scrambling up the twisted metal.
Nabil fired his stolen rifle wildly into the crowd, each shot tearing into the closest bodies. For every one that fell, three more pushed forward.
Soufiane grabbed Zak's arm, shoving him upward. "Move! Don't think—just climb!"
Zak obeyed, clumsy but quick, fear giving him strength. Anas reached down from the top, pulling him up.
Nabil's rifle clicked empty. "Shit!" He swung it like a club, cracking skulls, blood spraying his clothes.
"Go!" Soufiane yelled. He covered Nabil, slashing with the fishing knife, the blade catching on bone, slipping in blood. A hand clawed at his shoulder, teeth snapping inches from his neck. He shoved the creature back and scrambled upward.
Nabil cursed but followed, his boots slipping on blood-slick metal. Together, they hauled themselves over the barricade just as the first infected slammed against it from below.
They dropped onto the other side, landing hard in the dust. The street here was empty, eerily silent compared to the chaos they had left.
Soufiane bent over, gasping for breath. His arms were shaking, his shirt torn. He wiped his blade clean on the ground and looked back.
Through the cracks in the barricade, dozens of pale eyes glowed in the firelight. The horde pressed against the metal, shrieking, but for now the barrier held.
"For now," Anas muttered grimly.
Soufiane looked toward the horizon, where the faintest light of dawn touched the Atlantic sky. Somewhere beyond that burning skyline, beyond the death of Casablanca, lay a chance—a boat, a path, a reunion with Younes, Zahira, and maybe even his parents.
But here, in this broken city, dawn felt like the beginning of hell.
Soufiane glanced one last time at his cousins, Anas, Zak, and Nabil, who had accompanied him this far, sharing fears and fleeting laughs despite the chaos surrounding them. Their faces still held a fragile hope that somehow, things could be alright. But he knew the path he had to take could not include them.
"Listen… I have to continue alone, or with a smaller group," Soufiane said, his voice calm but firm, eyes fixed on the boat hidden among the wreckage. "There are priorities I cannot delay… people I need to find."