The second floor of the office building quickly filled up as well. Eucali and the children were squeezed into a corner, and through the window, she could see the bend in the street below.
"Close the door!" someone in the crowd shouted. "Don't let anyone else in the corridor squeeze in! Why not go up to the third floor? It's empty up there!"
"But that's the top floor!" someone outside braced against the door with all their strength. "It's safer to stay in the middle—"
"Go check the other rooms! We really can't fit anyone else in here! It's packed!"
With a click, the door to the corridor was locked.
Everyone in the room let out a breath, but the lighting grew even dimmer.
The gunfire continued, and quite a few people were still fleeing through the streets. They probably had not yet heard the broadcast and had received no evacuation instructions at all. People in the buildings on both sides pushed open their windows and repeatedly shouted down at those below, "Stop running around! Get somewhere high! Go inside a building!"
For a moment, Eucali realized where the voice she had heard earlier had come from. Thinking of so many strangers caring for one another, she could not help rising onto her tiptoes, wanting to see how the fleeing people were doing. But someone forcefully shoved her then, pushing her even closer to the window.
"Eucali!" Hazel noticed her movement. "Don't get so close to the window!"
"...I, I was just... Please make way—" Eucali tried to move back, but the person blocking her deliberately straightened their back and refused to let her pass. Seeing this, several people who had originally been standing by the window immediately stepped forward, pushed aside Eucali's shoulders, and swiftly took her place.
In