Episode 8 — Stay Quiet…Stay Alive

The hours dragged like slow poison.

Outside, the air was thick with screaming. Not the sharp, movie-style screams people imagine when they think of fear—but raw, hopeless, throat-shredding sounds. Animal sounds. Human sounds. Flesh tearing. Bones breaking. Wet, gloppy noises that didn’t belong in a world of humans.

Night fell slow and heavy, like wet fabric smothering the world outside.

Outside the library, they were scattered like leftover debris from a storm. Curled behind desks, tucked under tables, huddled near shelves like kids hiding from imaginary monsters—except this time the monsters were real. The emergency lights had burned down to a weak, orange afterglow that clung stubbornly to the walls like ghosts too afraid to leave.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn't hide or run any longer.

Inside the library, Sasha and the others were stuck in the darkness, the cries from those outside was drowning. The only real light came from the faint orange spill of a streetlamp outside—filtered through the high, rectangular window near the ceiling.

Michael sat cross-legged by the door, gripping one of the heavy oak chair legs like a weapon. His knuckles stayed white the whole time. He kept his eyes fixed on the entrance like he expected it to burst open any second.

Tania sat with her back against the far bookshelf, biting at her thumbnail like it owed her money. Every so often she muttered curses under her breath. Nothing coherent. Just static frustration barely held together.

Anya was curled in the back corner, hoodie pulled over her head, trembling under the fabric. Every time she let out a shaky breath she tried to smother the sound with her sleeve.

Sasha sat cross-legged near the back, still reading. Like she was at home on a rainy Sunday afternoon, instead of sitting in a death trap. The book in her hands: Not Dead Yet by Caethe. Her thumb marked the page, her eyes flicking lazily down each line, though her fingers twitched at every creak of the building.

Jasmine paced. Up and down. Up and down. Like a caged animal. Every few laps, she’d pause by the door, press her ear against it… hold her breath… then keep pacing again.

Outside the school...

The Suits multiplied.

What had been four… then eight… was now close to twenty.

They stood like mannequins dumped on the street. Some pressed right up against the school’s outer walls. A few paced like dogs outside the gym and the main school entrance. Scythes dripping with blood in their hands.

And at least one… stood right outside the library door.

Its head tilted at odd angles. Limbs hanging loose. Like it could smell them through the wood.

But it didn’t come in.

At one point—an hour after sunset—Michael whispered, “It’s like they’re waiting for something.”

No one answered him.

They all knew he was right.

Somewhere around 9 PM…

A scream sliced through the night.

It didn’t sound far.
Somewhere in the school. Maybe two halls over.
A girl’s voice. High-pitched. Choked off mid-sentence. Followed by a wet, muffled gurgle. Then… something heavy dragging across tile.

Jasmine squeezed her eyes shut, covering her ears.

Anya whimpered under her hoodie.

Tania flinched hard and muttered, “Shut up… shut up… shut up,” like she was trying to erase the sounds with her own voice.

Michael said nothing. Just pressed harder against the doorframe.

Sasha… for the first time that night… stopped reading. She stared up at the ceiling like she expected blood to start dripping down through the tiles.

More time passed.

No one kept track anymore.

The fear started eating at their edges.

Tania finally cracked first.

“I’m not doing this. I’m not just sitting here like we’re waiting to die,” she said, voice shaking but low.

Michael glared at her sharply. “Keep your voice down.”

“For what?!” she snapped. “They already know we’re here. One of them’s practically breathing on the other side of the damn door.”

Sasha didn’t even look up from her book. “You think screaming’s gonna help? Be my guest. Go out there. See how long you last.”

“I didn’t say that,” Tania hissed. “I just... I hate this. I hate sitting still. I hate… feeling like ….prey.”

Jasmine stopped pacing long enough to say, soft but bitter: “We all feel that way.”

There was a pause.

Michael could feel it. The fear thickening between them like fog. Turning them all against each other.

As the only guy there, he felt it was his responsibility to be the voice of reason otherwise all hell would break loose.

He dragged himself to his feet.

“We’re all freaking out, okay?” His voice was rough. Dry. But steady enough to hold their attention. “So let’s… I don’t know. Talk about something else. Keep our minds straight.”

“Like what?” Anya sniffed from under her hoodie.

“Literally anything but sitting here waiting for something to break through that door.”

No one answered right away.

Then Sasha spoke, finally closing her book.

“We talk about the worst fear we’ve ever had.”

They all turned.

“What?” Tania blinked.

Sasha shrugged stiffly. “Fear’s already here. Might as well drag it out and look it in the face.”

There was a beat.

Then, quietly, Michael spoke first:

“When I was nine… I got lost in the woods behind my house.”

They all looked at him.

“It was fall. Leaves were everywhere. I wandered too far chasing my dog. Next thing I knew… no trail. No landmarks. I was out there for like… fourteen hours. By the time night hit, I couldn’t see five feet in front of me. Every stick snap sounded like something following me. Every time the wind moved, I thought… something was breathing down my neck.”

Anya peeked out from her hoodie. “…What did you do?”

Michael gave a bitter little smile. “Ran. Full speed. Didn’t stop till I smashed headfirst into Mr. Kawasaki’s fence and cracked two ribs.”

“His most priced fence? I bet he wasn’t happy about that.” Tania contributed smiling a little.

Michael gave a bitter smile. “Yeah…No. He made me repaint the fence every morning for a month.”

That… weirdly… earned a few tired smiles.

Maybe it was something about Michael, the seemingly bravest of them admitting a moment of weakness. Or maybe it was that they hadn’t heard screams in a while. Whatever it was…
The air in the room shifted.
Loosened… just a little.

Anya spoke next,

“When I was little… I thought there were people living under my bed,” she said with a shaky laugh. “Like… actual people. I used to sleep with my feet pulled up so nothing could grab them.”

“Oh my god… dude, same,” Tania said, laughing for real this time. “I used to wake up at like… two in the morning… and swear something was reaching for my ankle.”

Anya grinned weakly and pulled her knees tighter.

Jasmine stayed quiet at first.

But eventually…

“I used to be scared of deep water,” she murmured. “Not drowning… just… what’s underneath. The dark parts. The stuff that’s quiet and waiting… right below the surface.”

Her eyes flicked toward the door, then the window.

“…Kinda feels like that now.”

“Jesus, Jas… read the room,” Tania said, smirking.

“What?” Jasmine shrugged with mock offense. “You wanted fears. I’m giving fears.”

Now… all eyes turned to Sasha.

“What about you?” Jasmine asked, sitting down cross-legged.

Sasha flipped her book closed and stared at her lap for a long time.

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “I guess… I never really had big fears growing up. Dad …didn’t really let me go outside much. No woods or sleepovers. No…nothing, really.”

“Really?” Anya asked, eyebrows raised. “Nothing at all?”

“There’s gotta be something, Sasha,” Tania said, scooting a little closer. “Something small. Or weird. Just think.”

Sasha exhaled. Looked at the ceiling.

“…There’s one thing.”

Everyone waited.

She swallowed, pressing her palm flat to the floor like she needed to anchor herself.

“Sometimes I get these dreams,” she said, voice quieter now. “Not like normal bad dreams. More like…the Lucid kind. Like…I can’t even tell when I’m awake or dreaming.”

She closed her eyes, like saying it out loud made it worse.

“There’s a little girl in them. About six or seven. Long black hair. Skin like wax paper. She doesn’t blink. She just… smiles. Not a happy smile. More like… like the suits. Like she knows something I don’t.”

Sasha opened her eyes again.

“And in those dreams…I’m paralyzed. Every time. Can’t move. Can’t scream. I just lie there while she gets closer… and closer… until her face is right next to mine. And I swear I can feel her breathing. Then she…takes my arm and hands me a knife. And…that’s it.”

No one spoke.

Even Tania had gone pale.

“…Yup,” Tania said finally, letting out a nervous breath. “You were right. Pretty much nothing else to be scared of after that.”

For a beat… dead silence.

Then… out of nowhere… Anya burst out laughing.

It was the thin, cracked kind of laughter that happens when you’re way too close to breaking.

Tania looked at her, blinked—then started laughing too.

Before long…
All of them were laughing.

It was loud. Stupid. Ugly.

Their voices rose above the walls for the first time in hours.

By 11:46 PM…

After long hours of sitting, standing, pacing, reading, laughing and storytelling, everyone was beat. Michael came up with an idea to divide the group into shifts. Two people awake at all times, watching the door.

Jasmine and Sasha took the first shift.

Tania and Anya curled up together near the back, sharing a thin school blanket they found in the lost and found box. Michael sat with his back against the wall, drifting between sleep and hyper-alert half-dreams.

Sometime past midnight Sasha went to the window and watched the street.

One Suit still stood by the street. It looked at her tilting its head.

She flinched, jerked back, and hurried to sit down again—book open, hands trembling just slightly now.

By 3 AM…

Jasmine dozed off mid-watch, only waking when Sasha gently nudged her shoulder.

“Hey,” Sasha whispered. “Your turn to rest.”

Jasmine blinked, confused, then nodded.

As she settled near the bookshelf, she heard Sasha quietly humming under her breath.

Just a tune. Soft. Almost like a lullaby.

Jasmine drifted into sleep with that sound in her ears.

Outside…
The street was full of bodies now.
Some still twitching.
Some already cold.