Free Web NovelChapter 159: Chapter 159 - Hunted
They pushed through another door and stepped into a massive chamber.
The turbine room.
Metal catwalks ran along both sides of a huge cylindrical structure in the center. Thick pipes stretched overhead. High windows near the ceiling let in pale light, dust drifting through the beams. The space felt open. Exposed.
Their footsteps clanged against the grated floor.
The echo carried too far.
Even their careful steps rang through the turbine room, metal answering back in sharp notes that refused to die.
"Quiet," Malcolm said low. "It hunts by sound."
Iyisha nodded.
Marybeth was beside her, breathing fast. Too fast.
"Relax," Iyisha whispered, forcing her own voice steady. "Maybe it can’t find us in here."
Malcolm shook his head.
"It won’t stop until it kills us," he said.
They moved along the catwalk slowly, boots placed with care.
Then it came.
A high pitched cry tore across the air.
It didn’t echo from inside the room.
It came from outside.
The sound scraped along the outer walls, circling the building. Something ran across the roof above them. Steel groaned faintly under shifting weight.
Iyisha’s stomach dropped.
The cry came again.
Closer.
Her eyes lifted toward the high windows lining the upper wall.
A shadow streaked past the glass.
Fast.
Another scrape. Claws against metal.
Marybeth gripped her sleeve.
The shadow paused above one of the windows.
For a split second everything held still.
Then the glass burst inward.
She saw it then.
Pale limbs stretched low against the metal framework near the ceiling. It moved fast, but controlled. Crawling on all fours along the structure like it belonged there.
The hunter.
Her chest tightened.
It stopped for a second, head turning sharply.
It saw them.
"Run," Malcolm said.
She ran.
Her boots slammed against the catwalk, metal ringing with every step. The echo exploded through the room. Too loud. It made everything worse.
Behind them, something landed on the roof of the turbine housing with a heavy metallic thud.
Marybeth shrieked.
"Why the fuck did it follow?" Iyisha gasped.
"Go!" Malcolm shouted, rounding the curve of the cylindrical structure. "Keep moving!"
Another howl ripped through the chamber.
Glass shattered above them.
One of the high windows exploded inward as the hunter dropped lower, claws scraping against steel.
Iyisha ran harder, lungs burning, heart hammering as the sound of it chasing echoed around them.
Marybeth suddenly shrieked.
Her foot slipped on the grated walkway and she stumbled hard, falling face first onto the catwalk. The sound of her body hitting metal rang through the chamber.
Iyisha stopped and turned.
The hunter dropped from the broken window and landed on the upper beam, then lowered itself onto the catwalk with a fluid, animal movement. Pale limbs stretched forward as it crawled straight toward Marybeth.
"Malcolm—"
Malcolm shoved Iyisha forward.
"Run!" he snapped.
Behind them, Marybeth screamed.
"Help!"
Iyisha turned just as the hunter’s claw came down where Marybeth’s head had been.
Metal screeched.
Marybeth twisted at the last second, rolling hard to the side. The claw slammed into the grated walkway instead of flesh.
She didn’t hesitate.
She threw herself over the edge.
Her body disappeared from view and a heavy thud echoed from the lower level.
Iyisha’s body moved to follow.
Almost.
Malcolm grabbed her arm and pushed her again.
"Go!"
Her teeth gritted together so hard her jaw ached.
She ran.
Behind her, she heard the hunter leap down after Marybeth. Metal screamed as something landed below.
Iyisha didn’t look back again.
She almost sobbed in relief when they reached the door at the end of the catwalk.
Malcolm yanked it open and pulled her inside.
He reached to slam it shut.
"Wait," Iyisha whispered sharply.
She turned back toward the turbine room.
No more screaming.
No crashing metal.
Just faint clicking sounds echoing in the distance. Sharp. Searching.
Her chest tightened.
Malcolm eased the door closed slowly instead of slamming it. The latch settled with a muted click.
They crouched low against the wall.
"It hunts by sound," he said quietly. "But it’s blind."
Iyisha swallowed.
"Marybeth knows that," he added. "She’s safe."
Iyisha pressed her lips together.
She nodded once, forcing herself to steady.
"What do we do?" she asked.
Malcolm checked the hallway ahead, then looked back at her.
"We trap it," he said. "Or we bait it."
"It uses the clicks to echo locate you," Malcolm muttered. "So don’t move. Not even an inch. If it locks on, it’ll come straight."
Iyisha nodded once.
They crouched low.
The room was small and sealed. A decontamination chamber. Drains cut into the floor. Thick rubber seals around the inner door. Metal lockers lined one wall, several hazmat suits hanging inside, stiff and yellowed with age. A cracked mirror was bolted above a narrow sink.
Her flashlight shifted.
The beam landed in the corner.
A bloater.
It was fused into the wall, flesh swollen and layered over itself like it grew there. Black veins webbed across stretched skin. Parts of it pulsed faintly. The smell was overwhelming. Rot layered on top of something chemical.
She forced herself not to gag.
Outside was worse.
Outside was death.
"So what were we going to do?" she asked, dragging her eyes away from the bloater in the corner.
The air felt thick in her lungs.
"It echolocates," she said quietly. "It locks on to sound so we need a bait," she finished.
The word settled heavy in the room.
Shit.
Malcolm looked at her.
He drew in a slow breath.
Her chest tightened.
She went still.
Was she the bait?
Cold moved through her arms and down her spine.
She waited for him to say it.
"I need you to hide," he said.
She stiffened.
"What?"
Her voice barely came out.
Bait was one thing.
But him telling her to hide—
"I can’t let you—" she started.
"Hide," he repeated, low and firm. "It’ll be easier if I do it alone."
Her mouth closed.
It hurt.
Not because she was scared.
But because he was right.
