Lower Level Steps Concealment

The narrow space beneath the stone steps offers scant shelter, the concrete floor cold and damp against the child’s knees. Above, the treads cast jagged shadows over her huddled form, the gaps between them admitting only slivers of emergency light that shift with every trembling breath. The air stagnates with the scent of aged earth and rust from pipework running along the risers, their groans audible beneath the distant thud of the dragon’s approach. The stone arches close overhead, amplifying the child’s heartbeat until the creature’s sonic pulse rattles the stairs and dust falls in crumbs around her trembling fingers.