Streets of the Dead

They’re moving faster now.

Jason’s heart pounding with every step, every breath. He kept glancing behind him, expecting to see glowing eyes in the dark.

They’re reaching a rusted metal door at the end of the corridor. Mia testing the handle.. it barely budging.

“Help me,” she mutters.

Jason stepps forward, gripping the metal with her. Together, they forcing it open.

It groans loudly.. but gave way.

Mia slips through first, raises her gun. Jason pushes Ryan in next, then follows.. just as he heard a sudden screech behind them.

The lizard attacks.

Jason barely had time to turn before it lunges from the darkness.

Mia fires.

The bullet struck its jaw.. but it barely slows down.

Jason shoves the door shut.

The lizard slamming into the metal.

Jason and Mia threw their weight against it, the impact rattling their bones. The lizard snarls, clawing at the other side.

Then.. silence.

Jason’s breath is ragging. He steps back, pulse thundering.

Ryan’s face is pale. “Did it leave?”

Jason isn’t sure.

Mia’s grip on her gun is tight. “We’re not staying to find out.”

Jason turns, finally taking in where they have end up.

A stairwell. Rusted. Old. But leading up.

Jason’s chest tightens.

Maybe.. just maybe.. they had found a way out.

The stairwell stretchs upward into darkness, rusty metal steps groaning under their weight as Jason and the others climbing. Each step echoing in the tight space, the air thick with damp rot and decay. The walls are lined with corroded pipes, some dripping water, others coating in grime.

Jason’s hands clenching into fists. His legs burning, exhaustion creeping in, but he couldn’t stop. None of them could.

Behind him, Ryan moving slower, his breaths coming in short gasps. Jason glancing back. His little brother’s face is pale, sweat dripping down his forehead. He is scared.

Jason reaching out, gripping Ryan’s arm. “Almost there,” he whispers.

Ryan swallowing hard and nodding.

Mia, just ahead, raising a hand, signaling for them to pause. Jason froze, every muscle tensing.

She is listening.

For a moment, there is only silence.. except for their breathing. Then Jason heard it too.

A faint, distant sound. Scraping.

Jason’s stomach twisting.

Something is moving below them.

Mia gesturing sharply. Faster.

They push on, climbing quicker now. Every step felt like it took an eternity, the air growing staler the higher they went.

Then.. a sound from above.

Jason’s head snaps upward. The stairwell ends at a heavy metal hatch.

Mia tries the handle. It didn’t budge.

“Locked,” she mutters.

Jason’s pulse spiking.

From below, the scraping grew louder.

They are trapped.

⸻

Jason shoving past Mia, pressing his shoulder against the metal hatch. “Help me.”

Mia and Ryan moving beside him, throwing their weight against it. The hatch groaning, but didn’t give.

Jason clenching his jaw. Think. Think.

Then Ryan gasp.

Jason barely had time to react before Ryan stumbles backward.

Something yanking him.

Jason grabs him just in time.

Ryan screaming. A claw hand reaches through a gap in the stairwell.. sharp, scaly fingers wrapping around his ankle.

Jason pulling.

Mia firing.

The shot echoing in the stairwell. The claw hand jerk back, releasing Ryan. He scrambling away, panting, eyes wild with fear.

Jason whirling back to the hatch.

No time.

With a roar of effort, he slams his shoulder against it one last time.

The metal gave way.

Light pouring through the opening.. dim, murky daylight.

Jason didn’t think. He grabs Ryan, shoving him up first. Ryan claws his way through, gasping.

Mia went next.

Jason took one last look below.. just as something starts climbing the stairs.

He didn’t wait. He hurls himself through the hatch.

The second he was through, he grabs the metal door and slam it shut.

Then silence.

Jason sat there, chest heaving, every nerve on edge.

They had made it.

But where are they?

⸻

Jason forcing himself to his feet, taking in their surroundings. They stood in what used to be a parking garage. The concrete ceiling is cracked, and the dim light filtering through the gaps showing abandoned, dust-covering cars.

The city loomed beyond the open entrance, quiet. Too quiet.

Ryan wiping sweat from his face. “We’re back above ground.”

Mia reloading her gun, her expression grim. “That’s the good news.”

Jason swallowing. “What’s the bad?”

Mia nodding toward the garage entrance.

Jason following her gaze.. and his stomach dropping.

The city is ruined.

Buildings has collapsed, fires still smoldering in the distance. Cars are overturned, some crushed beyond recognition. The streets are coated in debris.. shattered glass, broken pavement, and dark streaks of blood.

And worst of all?

It is empty.

No people. No voices. No sign of survivors.

Just silence.

Ryan shifting uncomfortably. “Where is everyone?”

Jason had no answer.

Mia exhaling. “We can’t stay here. If the lizards have taken over the underground, they’ll be moving through the streets too.”

Jason nodding. She is right. They had to move.

But as they stepping out of the garage and into the ruined city, Jason couldn’t shake the feeling that something is watching them.

Because the streets may have been empty.

But that didn’t mean they were alone.

The city is dead.

Jason stepping onto the cracked pavement, his boots crunching over shattered glass and broken concrete. The once-bustling metropolis lay in ruins.. storefronts collapsed, traffic lights bent at unnatural angles, cars flipped onto their roofs like discarded toys. Fires still smolderedin the distance, sending thin plumes of black smoke into the gray sky.

But what disturbing Jason the most is the silence.

No sirens. No shouting. No hum of distant engines.

Nothing.

Ryan shifting beside him, hugging himself. “Where is everyone?”

Jason didn’t answer. He didn’t know.

Mia is already scanning the surroundings, gun raised, her posture tense. “Stay close,” she said. “If we can find supplies, we take them. But we don’t linger.”

Jason nodding. It is a simple plan. Survive. Keep moving. But it didn’t make the weight in his chest any lighter.

The last time they had been above ground, the city had been a war zone. Helicopters filling the sky, soldiers been deploying, people had been screaming, running, dying.

Now? It is like the city has simply… emptied itself out.

Like the people had either fled.

Or been erased.

⸻

They move carefully through the streets, avoiding open spaces, sticking to cover.

Jason kept Ryan between him and Mia, one hand resting on the knife at his belt. His gun is gone.. lost in the tunnels. He hates that. Hates how vulnerable it made him feel.

Mia leads the way, stopping every now and then to peer into abandoned stores. Most has been looted, their shelves ransacked. But they didn’t need much.

“Food. Water. Medical supplies,” Mia whispers as they slipping into what used to be a pharmacy.

The interior is dark, the ceiling cracked where a chunk of the second floor had collapsed. Shelves are overturned, pills and bandages scattered across the floor. But Jason could still see things left behind.

He grabs a half-empty bottle of painkillers, stuffing it into his bag. Mia found some bandages. Ryan searching in a broken fridge, pulling out a few bottled waters.

It isn’t much. But it is something.

Then.. a noise.

Jason froze.

A low, wet clicking sound echoing from outside the store.

Mia heard it too. She snaps up, gun ready.

Jason barely had time to react before something massive moving past the store’s front window.

A lizard.

But not just any lizard.

This one is different.

⸻

Jason held his breath, heart hammering in his chest. The creature moving slowly, its elongating form slithering through the wreckage outside. Its scales are dark, almost black, blending into the shadows.

It is bigger than the others.

And its eyes..

They aren’t just scanning the environment.

They are looking. Hunting.

Jason’s fingers tightening around his knife.

Mia is already backing away, motioning for them to stay low.

Ryan is frozen, gripping a bottle of water so tightly Jason thought it might break.

The lizard stops.

Right outside the store.

Its nostrils flares.

Jason’s blood ran cold. It is sniffing.

It knew something was here.

⸻

Jason barely breathing. He didn’t move. Didn’t make a sound.

Mia’s grip on her gun is steady, her finger hovering over the trigger. But Jason knew what she is thinking.

If she fires, it would hear. The others would hear.

Ryan is shaking. He is going to panic.

Jason couldn’t let that happen.

Very, very slowly, he reachs out, resting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. A silent signal.

Ryan’s breath hitching, but he understood. He clenched his jaw, shutting his eyes, willing himself to stay still.

The lizard is moving closer.

Jason felt his pulse in his ears, pounding like a war drum.

Then..

A distant sound.

A metallic clang, somewhere down the street.

The lizard’s head snaps toward it.

For a moment, it pauses.

Then it turnes away.

And left.

Jason waiting, counting to ten in his head before he let out a slow, controlled breath.

Ryan nearly collapsing, gasping for air.

Mia lowering her gun, exhaling through her nose. “That wasn’t like the others.”

Jason swallowing, trying to slow his racing heart. “It was… hunting.”

Mia nodding grimly. “Yeah. And it almost found us.”

Jason looking toward the shattered storefront. The city stretched out beyond it.. a labyrinth of destruction.

The lizards are still here.

And now, they aren’t just monsters.

They are predators.

And the survivors?

They are the prey.