They quickly ran uphill without looking back once, and the whole stairwell felt like it was turning into a trap with every step they took. The zombies below were still climbing after them, not fast in the normal sense, but fast enough when they were packed together like that and using their hands, feet, shoulders, and even each other to get higher. The scene was ugly and almost unreal, the kind of thing that should have looked impossible if someone saw it in a normal world, but right now it was just their reality, and Bai Li had no time to be shocked by it. She had already seen enough death today to stop counting it as anything special. Her breathing stayed even as she moved, but her eyes were sharp, always checking ahead, always checking behind, because one bad step here would not just hurt, it would end everything. The file scene from the stairwell already showed how dangerous this climb was, and it only got worse from there. Yan Cijin kept close behind her, one hand on the railing, the kukri held tightly in the other, her face calm in a way that looked almost strange under this kind of pressure. She was still getting used to the rhythm of running while being chased, but she wasn’t freezing anymore. That alone made Bai Li feel a little better, even if she didn’t say it. The zombies on the seventh floor were already crowded behind them, and the ones below kept pushing upward without caring that some were slipping and falling. More than once, Bai Li had to snap her body around, kick at a face, and then turn back forward again before her own balance got ruined by the narrow iron steps. The open stairwell made everything feel worse. There was no wall on one side, only open gaps, and the air below looked too far down, like one slip would drag them straight into death. Bai Li’s right hand stayed clamped on the railing while her left held the Tang sword, her arm swinging in short brutal motions whenever a zombie got close enough. The blade was still absurdly good, slicing cleanly through rotten flesh and weak joints, but the problem wasn’t the zombies one by one. The problem was the crowding. They were already on the seventh floor, maybe pushing toward the eighth, and she could feel the market pulling at the world around them like an invisible magnet. The system had said it clearly before. The interdimensional market would attract nearby beings, and the closer they got, the worse the pressure would become. Bai Li could already feel it in the way more and more zombies kept turning toward the same direction, as if something above was calling them. The idea made her stomach sink a little. The building was thirteen floors high, and the rooftop was still far above them. If they got trapped here between the middle floors, they would be done for. She bit down on the worry, forced her chest to stay steady, and kept climbing, because panic would do nothing except waste time.

On the next landing, a pair of zombies came at them from above, and Bai Li had to choose in a split second between keeping her balance and dealing with them. One of them looked like a man in a security guard uniform, his badge half hanging off and his face dark with blood, while the other was a woman with a hospital ID still dangling from her neck, her jaw hanging in a way that made the whole thing look even more wrong. Bai Li struck first, taking the guard zombie across the shoulder with a hard slash that threw it sideways into the railing. At the same time she kicked the woman straight in the throat, not enough to break through fully, but enough to send her stumbling back and buying a second of breathing room. Yan Cijin moved better now than before too. She wasn’t flashy, she wasn’t trying to show off, but she was learning. When a zombie came close enough for her to reach, she snapped the kukri up and brought it down at the side of its neck, not as clean as Bai Li’s strike, but direct enough to matter. Blood sprayed across her sleeve and wrist, and for just a second she looked down at it, then back up at the stairs, her expression unchanged. Bai Li saw that and almost wanted to say something, but there was no room for that now. Another wave came from behind, and this one was worse because the zombies had finally started piling together in a way that made them more dangerous than usual. They were stacking on top of each other, hands clawing at the iron gaps, some climbing on the backs of others, faces twisting in ugly ways, their mouths opening and closing like broken dolls. It would have been almost funny in another situation, because they really did move like a nightmare version of a wind up toy, but there was nothing funny about it now. Bai Li could feel the sweat gathering on her palms, and the railing under her right hand felt too thin, too narrow, too easy to lose. The steps were old, the iron rusted and creaking, and every time they landed too hard it sounded like the structure itself was begging them to stop. But they couldn’t stop. Not even for a second. She glanced over her shoulder, saw Yan Cijin still with her, and that strange small sense of responsibility she kept trying not to name tightened in her chest. She didn’t know why she cared this much, not after seeing her only a few times, but right now that thought was less important than keeping both of them alive.

By the time they pushed toward the ninth floor, the number behind them had only grown worse. Zombies were still pouring up the stairs in a messy wave, and the worst part was that they didn’t seem to care when one of them fell. They just climbed over it. A few got stuck in the open iron bars and dangled there for a moment, but even that didn’t stop the others. One climbed on top of another like a pile of broken bodies, using the height to reach the next step. Bai Li’s jaw tightened when she saw it, because now the stairwell wasn’t just a route, it was a funnel, and they were being pushed higher into it with every move. She gritted her teeth, kept going, and at one point turned so fast that her hair brushed across her cheek as she slashed at a zombie trying to grab Yan Cijin’s ankle. The blade caught the side of its face and sent it tumbling down two steps, but it didn’t stop the crowd for long. Bai Li finally realized something that made her expression turn more serious than before. They were not only being chased. They were being driven upward. The market’s pull was getting stronger. The zombies weren’t just reacting to their scent anymore, they were reacting to the thing above, the same thing that had lured them all into this direction in the first place. That meant the rooftops would be crowded too. She had guessed as much, but guessing and actually seeing it were two different things. A few seconds later, a male zombie in a torn white coat lunged up from behind a cluster of others and managed to grab Bai Li’s right leg for half a second. That half second was enough to make the world tilt. Her body lurched sideways, and for one moment the open gap beside the stairwell looked terrifyingly close. She tightened her grip on the railing with both hands and kicked downward with her free leg, slamming the zombie in the face so hard that its head hit the iron step and bounced. Yan Cijin reacted immediately, stepping in without being told, and used the kukri to stab downward into the zombie’s shoulder so Bai Li could pull herself free. It was not a perfect kill, but it was enough. Bai Li looked at her for a fraction of a second, surprised again by how quickly she was adapting. Then she heard more movement above. Not just one or two. A whole cluster. Something was waiting higher up. That made her heart pound harder, but not from fear alone. It was the pressure of knowing there was no easy route anymore. They could either push through or die here. There was no middle path.

The tenth floor landing finally came into view, and Bai Li nearly cursed when she saw the way the zombies had spread out above them. It was even worse there. Several had already gathered near the upper railing, and some were dragging themselves across the steps from the side, blocking parts of the path like living barricades. One of them had on a faded hospital security uniform, another was still in surgical scrubs with one sleeve ripped off, and another looked like a patient who had somehow lost all sense of direction and still kept climbing by instinct. Bai Li didn’t waste time thinking too much. She shifted her weight forward, took the Tang sword in both hands, and moved with a hard burst of force that sliced through the closest zombie’s neck and shoulder line in one brutal diagonal. It fell sideways, taking another with it. Then she kicked the second one directly into the railing, using the metal edge to throw it off balance before finishing it with a short downward slash. Yan Cijin stayed right behind her, close enough to hear her breathing now, and when a zombie came in from the left side she actually did what Bai Li had told her. She didn’t freeze. She didn’t step back. She brought the kukri around and cut across its throat with a motion that was still a little rough, but direct and committed. Blood sprayed across her hand and wrist, and this time she didn’t seem startled by it at all. Bai Li saw that, and the sight made something small and complicated twist inside her chest. It was not just approval. It was something closer to relief. She had been worried Yan Cijin might freeze at the wrong time, might hesitate again, but now she was actually fighting. Not perfectly, not like a soldier, but enough. Enough to survive. Enough to keep up. And that mattered.

Still, they were not safe. The stairwell kept shaking under the rush of bodies, and when Bai Li looked down through the iron gaps she saw the zombies lower down still climbing, still using each other like a ladder. A few had already reached the eighth and ninth floor landings, and the sound of their bodies bumping against the metal made the whole structure feel more unstable than before. The market’s pull was probably still rising too, and she knew that if they delayed much longer, the rooftop would become the worst place yet. She said nothing, just pulled Yan Cijin forward again and kept climbing. Her palms were sweaty now, and the Tang sword felt heavier than before, but that was only because she had been fighting nonstop for too long. Her body was starting to reach the edge, but the edge was exactly where she always had to stand in this world. Yan Cijin stayed with her without complaint, her own breathing a little rough now, but her eyes still calm. They reached the eleventh floor, then the twelfth, and the air seemed to change slightly the higher they got, as if something above was calling harder now. Bai Li could almost feel it under her skin. The market was close. Very close. And so was the rooftop door. She took one last glance at Yan Cijin, saw the blood on her hands, the focused look in her eyes, and that strange steady expression again.

.

.

. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

To be continued.