Chapter Thirty One
My feet pounded against the hard floor. At the end of the row, I flung myself around the corner. The sounds of pursuit were close behind me but I was maintaining my lead.
I ran so fast that I was afraid I would fall. After several more rows of consoles, the room changed. Instead of long rows there were round columns, the consoles still dimly illuminated by the blue LEDs. The columns were big, each about two metres in diameter and spaced unevenly which created a maze of paths and a chance for me to escape.
I shot through the first gap and twisted between column after column, changing my route to make it harder for the Creepers to follow my trail.
The sounds of pursuit slowed and I chanced a look over my shoulder. I'd lost them. The thumping of my footsteps was suddenly an alarm announcing my position and I swung around another console before pulling up short and pressing my back to it.
I drew in a ragged breath and tried to stay calm. I forced my breathing to slow and closed my eyes, listening.
Nothing, nothing, nothing, slap. Just faintly, so faint I wasn't sure I'd heard it at all but then, slap slap.
I opened my eyes and glanced around the edge of the console. The noise sounded like it had come from that way so I shifted carefully away and moved to hide behind another.
My heart thudded unevenly as I crept across the floor, placing the rubber soles of my boots with care so as not to make a noise.
Slap slap slap. One of them was moving quickly between the columns, trying to find me.
I came to the wall at the back of the room. It was so dim away from the red lighting that I only knew the wall was there by running my hand along it.
I pressed myself against the cool stone and squinted back towards the consoles. Slap slap. A shadow shifted across some of the flashing LEDs and a rustling broke the silence. Slowly, I started moving along the wall, my fingers trembled as they traced the smooth stone behind my back.
"Find a mole without a soul!" A gravelly voice called out from the darkness. The sound was so unexpected that I jumped, banging into the wall behind me. My boot made a squealing sound as it twisted against the floor.
I didn't wait to find out if they had heard me. I moved quickly, letting my fingertips guide the way.
A chorus of laughter broke out from several locations within the consoles that stood between me and the way out. And I just knew, I was going to die.
The sound echoed back and forth in the open space and I took the opportunity to run faster. Suddenly my fingers weren't brushing along the wall anymore but had flung out into an open space. I skidded to a halt and moved towards the gap.
The space was less than a metre wide and only half a metre deep. At the back were pipes that ran up towards the ceiling. I forced my way in and pressed my back to the left hand side of the crevice, my feet against the right side.
The laughter continued as I shimmied my way up through the gap. My head connected painfully with the ceiling and I gasped in shock before I could stop myself.
"Dig him out from in his hole!" the croaky voice said in a twisted, singsong voice.
I held my breath. Three of them appeared below my hiding place. They gathered together and the laughter stopped. My legs trembled as I held them wedged against the wall to stop myself from falling.
From my vantage point I could only see the tops of their heads which were covered in lank, greasy hair. I braced myself and pulled a knife into my grasp. They moved strangely, crouching towards the ground with their arms swaying from side to side and their hands curled into claws.
One of them very slowly raised his head. It took a lifetime for his gaze to reach mine and when it did a huge grin crept across his face.
"Hello friend," he purred in a way that was anything but friendly.
My breath caught in my throat and I did the only thing that made any possible sense.
I twisted my body and kicked out against the rear wall as I flung myself towards him. A scream of rage left my lips as I flew down in a dive with the knife held before me. The Creeper's eyes widened in shock but he didn't have time to react before we collided.
We tumbled to the ground. I felt the knife dig into his arm as he yelled out and I was thrown aside. He screamed and screamed, a haunting sound that filled the space around us and made my ears ache. I scrambled to my feet, the bloodied knife held out in front of me as the two remaining Creepers assessed me.
I placed my feet, put my back to the wall and moved. I don't know if it was survival instinct or stupidity but something took over and I felt my lip curl. I flung my knife and the Creeper standing on the right fell backwards, the hilt protruding from his chest.
The other Creeper rushed me. My fingers scrambled at my belt for more knives as I stumbled back.
I felt my hair shift as something flew past my face and a glint of silver caught my eye. The Creeper crumpled to the ground with a screech. The final Creeper, still clutching his bleeding arm and screaming, turned and fled into the darkness.
Coal stood behind me with another knife drawn.
"You okay?" he asked and I nodded mutely. "Alicia? Laurie?" He shouted for them as he started running back to the rows of computer consoles, I followed quickly.
"We're here." Alicia flew from the end of a row several columns away from us, Laurie hard on her heals.
"We have to get back to the elevator shaft. Now," Coal said as we ran to meet up with them.
"It's the only way in, it could be overrun," Alicia replied, holding her machete ready.
"It's the only way out too, we have to try."