Chapter 107: Together

Chapter 107: Chapter 107: Together

The decision had been made without anyone saying the words aloud.

They were going back.

Not because they were retreating.

Because whatever was happening below them had grown beyond the three of them.

Erik was the first to move.

Without another glance toward the lower floors, he turned and started climbing the next flight of stairs with the same steady pace he had maintained since the beginning of the apocalypse. There was no panic in his movements. No wasted energy. Every step carried purpose.

Penelope and Kai followed close behind.

The echoes of their footsteps once again became the only constant sound filling the concrete stairwell.

Only now...

Those footsteps were no longer alone.

Every few moments, another voice drifted upward through the open center of the stairwell.

Sometimes it was a man shouting.

Other times it was a woman calling someone’s name.

More than once, Penelope heard a child crying.

The voices overlapped until it became impossible to separate one from another.

She had never realized how many people lived inside the condominium.

Until now.

The building that had felt almost abandoned during the previous two days suddenly sounded occupied again.

Not with conversation.

With fear.

Penelope rested one hand lightly against the smooth steel railing as they climbed another flight of stairs. The metal felt cool beneath her fingertips, a sharp contrast to the warmth beginning to settle throughout the building. She hadn’t noticed it earlier while descending.

Now...

The air felt different.

Not unbearably hot.

Just...

Warmer.

Almost stuffy.

She frowned briefly before dismissing the thought.

There were more important things demanding her attention.

Another apartment door slammed somewhere below.

The heavy impact echoed through the stairwell before being followed by hurried footsteps racing across one of the lower hallways.

Kai looked down through the open center of the stairwell.

"They’re all coming out at once."

Erik nodded.

"They’ve waited as long as they could."

Penelope looked toward him.

"You think that’s what this is?"

Erik didn’t answer immediately.

He climbed another few steps before speaking.

"For two days they stayed inside their homes."

His voice remained calm.

Measured.

"They’ve been waiting for someone to tell them it’s safe."

He looked down through the center of the stairwell.

"No one came."

Silence settled over the three of them.

None of them needed Erik to explain any further.

The police never arrived.

The military never arrived.

No emergency broadcasts had interrupted the silence.

No helicopters had circled overhead announcing evacuation routes.

Nothing.

People had spent two days clinging to hope.

Today...

That hope had begun to disappear.

Kai slowly shook his head.

"My note wasn’t going to fix that."

Penelope looked toward him.

"It might’ve helped."

Kai gave a quiet, almost embarrassed laugh.

"I still can’t believe you remembered the first line."

She smiled softly.

"It was hard to forget."

"It was memorable."

"It was ridiculous."

"It was both."

For the briefest moment...

The weight pressing against all three of them lifted.

Just enough for Kai to recognize the familiar warmth behind Penelope’s smile.

Then another scream echoed through the building.

Longer this time.

Closer.

The smile disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Kai tightened his grip around the handle of the fire axe.

"I really hope somebody listened."

"I think they did," Penelope replied quietly.

Kai glanced toward her.

"What makes you say that?"

She thought back to Emma’s apartment.

To Isabella Reyes.

To the locked bathroom door.

"I think..."

She paused, choosing her words carefully.

"...when people are scared enough, they look for anything that tells them what to do."

Kai didn’t answer.

He simply nodded once.

He understood.

His note had never been about making jokes.

It had been about giving frightened people something they desperately needed.

Direction.

The black plaque mounted beside the next landing came into view.

21

Their pace naturally slowed as they reached the reinforced security door separating the condominium’s upper penthouses from the regular residential floors below.

Only two days earlier...

That doorway hadn’t existed.

It had been nothing more than an open passage connecting the stairwell to the upper floors.

Now, a thick steel security door stood firmly anchored within the concrete frame.

Its matte-black surface showed faint discoloration along the edges where Kai’s flames had welded the reinforced hinges directly into the heavy steel frame. Ben had reshaped the surrounding concrete until the doorway fit the new barrier as though it had always belonged there, while Killian had used his atom manipulation to strengthen every bolt, hinge, and locking mechanism beyond what ordinary steel should have been capable of enduring.

Powering the entire system was a compact electronic lock mounted beside the frame.

A small green indicator light continued glowing steadily.

Erik’s lightning had charged the system the day they installed it, leaving enough energy for the electronic lock to continue functioning without relying on the condominium’s electrical grid.

Beneath the keycard reader...

A traditional key cylinder had been built into the lock itself.

It had been Killian’s suggestion.

"If the electronics ever fail," he’d said while tightening the final bolt into place, "we’re not locking ourselves out of our own home."

No one had argued.

Penelope reached into the pocket of her cardigan and retrieved one of the black keycards she’d programmed after they finished installing the security door.

She stepped forward and pressed it against the reader.

A soft electronic chime echoed through the stairwell.

Beep.

The indicator light changed from red to green.

A muted mechanical click followed as the reinforced locking pins retracted inside the door.

Penelope wrapped her fingers around the handle and slowly pulled it open.

Even now, the door barely made a sound.

Kai couldn’t help smiling as they stepped through.

"I still think this is one of our better ideas."

Ben had originally joked that they were building their own fortress.

Looking back...

Maybe they had.

Erik waited until everyone had crossed the threshold before pulling the heavy door closed behind them.

The lock engaged automatically with a reassuring metallic clunk.

For the first time since the screams had begun echoing through the building...

Penelope felt herself breathe a little easier.

Not because they were safe.

But because the people waiting beyond this door...

Were family.

Kai looked toward Erik.

"We split up?"

Erik nodded immediately.

"You get Killian."

His eyes shifted toward Penelope.

"We’ll get Ben."

There was no hesitation.

No discussion.

Each of them already knew where they needed to be.

Penelope gave a quick nod before taking the stairs two at a time.

The twenty-fifth floor was only a short climb above them.

Behind her, Erik and Kai turned toward the twenty-fourth floor corridor.

Neither group looked back.

Every second suddenly felt important.