The second floor was right there—safety, maybe answers, maybe her.
Liam ran up the stairs fast, heart beating hard, frost breaking under his feet. The stairwell was loud with heavy breathing and running steps, but behind them—those sounds got covered by the ugly screams of frostborn. Too close. Too many.
"Move!" he yelled, not looking back.
They all rushed into the hall like water spilling out—Liam, Mark, Elise, Riley, Ilsa, Jason, Tina, Amar, Ron. The cold hit harder here, but it wasn't the cold that made Liam stop.
It was the quiet.
And then the shuffling.
And the groaning.
So many of them.
Frostborn filled the hall like a slow wave—some leaning against lockers, others walking between broken desks and icy chairs. Some stood really still, their heads moving toward sounds. And others... crouched down low, like they were waiting.
"Shit," Mark said quietly, stepping next to him.
Liam looked down the hall. Every few steps, another frozen body moved—or started to.
