Part 2The Beast in Room 601

My legs gave out. I stumbled, barely catching myself on the bed frame.

The blood had pooled all the way under my bunk.

My heart was hammering against my ribs like it wanted to break out. I swallowed hard, dry and painful. To confirm what my brain refused to process, I stumbled toward the bodies and checked for breath.

Nothing.

Up close, the horror was worse.

Their clothes were shredded by what looked like massive claws. Their bodies were covered in deep gouges. And their throats... chunks of flesh had been torn right out.

I scrambled backward, crab-walking until I hit the wall, paralyzed.

My stomach lurched. I dry heaved, nothing coming up but bile.

The RA finally snapped out of her trance, grabbing my shoulder.

"Lily! There are five of you in this suite. Where are the other two?

"Are they okay?"

Her question hit me like a slap. Right. Where were the other two?

"Quick, help me look! Maybe they're hiding!"

I nodded, taking a shaky breath.

I checked the bunks. I pulled back the curtain on Bed 1. My roommate Sarah was curled up under the duvet, her back to me.

Terrified she was dead too, I climbed up to shake her.

The moment I touched her, her body flopped over, limp. Her throat was gone. The mattress was a sponge of blood.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

I recoiled, falling backward off the ladder and hitting the floor hard.

At the same time, the RA found the fourth body.

On the ground outside.

She had fallen from our sixth-floor window. Smashed on the pavement below.

I didn't even feel the pain in my twisted ankle. My mind was snapping.

All I could think was: I spent the entire night sleeping in a room with four corpses.

And those wounds... they looked like they’d been mauled by a wild animal.

I clutched my head. It was splitting, a migraine drilling behind my eyes.

I hadn't even processed the fear yet.

Then, the sirens started wailing downstairs.