With a deep breath, he headed for the door.
Twelve: Fight
“What do you mean?” Alan asked.
“I mean we attack first,” Amber said. “We make a hole in the wall on our terms—where we want it. When they try to come through, we take them out.”
“Sounds risky,” Liz said.
“Riskier than waiting for them to come to us? What if they open two or three holes at the same time? We won’t be able to fight off that many. If we open one hole, they try to come through and we get them. If they hang back, we toss more seeds in there and give them something to do. We might be able to do that long enough to buy enough time to make it until dawn.”
“Okay,” Alan said. “I buy it. I vote yes.”
“Unanimous,” Liz said.
“Good,” Amber said. “How about here, between the toilet and the sink? One of you can stand on the edge of the tub and shine the light down. I spear anything that tries to come through.”
“Perfect,” Alan said.
“How do we make the hole?” Liz asked.
“It’s just drywall and some insulation,” Alan said. “We should be able to knock a hole in it pretty easily. Hold this.”
He gave the flashlight to Liz and then he positioned himself in front of the wall and grabbed the sink for stability. Amber moved to his side with both hands wrapped around her wooden spear.
“Ready?” Alan asked, raising his foot.
Liz nodded.
Amber nodded.
Alan kicked out with his heel, driving a deep divot into the wall. The paper surface of the wall was torn with his second kick. A crack formed in the drywall near the studs on either side of his kicks. Alan lifted his foot for a third blow and he was interrupted.
In the other room, glass shattered.
Amber reached the doorway first. In the light of the flickering candle, she could see that the curtains were billowing. Liz arrived a moment later and aimed the flashlight at the floor. Amber saw at least three of the monsters on the floor. Their long fingers were working fast to pick up chunks of glass and the seeds that Amber had scattered.
“I’ll go to the right and shine the light,” Liz was saying as she maneuvered around Amber.
“It doesn’t matter,” Amber said, advancing with her stake. “I can see them.”
She thrust downwards as soon as she was close enough. Liz moved the light and the creature dodged to the side. Amber couldn’t adjust her aim in time—the thrust missed the monster completely and it skittered to the side. Another one emerged from behind the curtain and took its place. Their talons moved so fast, they looked like little crabs, picking over a carcass.
The creature that Amber had tried to kill climbed up on top of one of the chairs. She made the mistake of looking directly at it as she jabbed with her stake again. The eyes—glowing with a light that somehow looked infinitely far away—stole the life from her. Her arm never completed the motion.
A crash from behind her shook the floor.
The beam of the flashlight jerked and the monster glanced away for a moment. The spell was broken but Amber didn’t regain her senses fast enough to act. A hand closed on her shirt and dragged her backwards. As Amber stumbled back and tried to catch her balance, she finally snapped from her trance and spun away from the thing.
She could feel it chasing after her. Her skin tingled as it got closer.
Alan had tipped the bureau and lifted it enough to open the door a foot or so. He was pushing against the wall and holding the door open as the bureau tried to push it back shut. Liz slipped through the gap he created and reached back to pull Amber through.
Alan came through last as Amber spun and readied herself for attack. She pointed her stake at the gap. The bureau forced the door shut again and Alan just got his fingers through before they were crushed.
“This way,” Liz said, pointing her light.
Alan was still stumbling, so Amber grabbed his arm to stabilize him and pull him in the right direction.
Liz ran down the hall towards the elevator.
The door of one of the rooms opened inwards and Amber didn’t even think. Before she could see what was lurking in the darkness, she stabbed her stake through and jerked it back out. Whatever was hidden in the shadows burst out with a scream and the door slammed shut again.
Liz found the door to the stairwell.
She pushed it inwards and shined her light quickly around the space before waving them through. Amber led the way, thrusting her stake into every shadow and finding no resistance.
Alan came through last, forcing the door shut and bracing his shoulder against it. He put his ear to the metal and then shook his head.
“I don’t know. I can’t tell if they’re following.”
“Now where?” Liz asked. She wiped her forehead with hand as she caught her breath. “Another room? Lobby?”
“Where wouldn’t they go?” Amber asked.
“Someplace bright,” Alan said.
“That’s out,” Liz said.
Amber snapped her fingers. “Pantry. They must have rice, beans, maybe all kinds of different seeds and stuff. That’s the only thing that definitely works.”
“Does it?” Liz asked. “One of them crawled right over a floor littered with glass, sunflower seeds, and cashews, and it hypnotized you.”
“Really?” Amber asked. Even as she asked the question, the memory came back to her. It had been pushed to the back of her head. Even the thought of it was a little fuzzy, like it had happened to someone else or in a dream.
“When she attacked it,” Alan said. “Maybe if she didn’t…”
“It would have stuck to counting, or organizing,” Liz finished. She sighed. “This is ridiculous. I can’t believe we’re debating about…”
A thump from the other side of the door interrupted her thought.
The three of them ran.
# # #
Ricky made his way through the dining room. All the
