“I need you to trust me,” she hissed to Dorran.
He gave her a crooked smile. “I always have.”
“When I say go, unlock that door and open it.”
Clare left him beside the occupied room and jogged along the hallway. Ezra must have already searched the space; doors stood open, exposing sterile meeting rooms and abandoned lecture halls. Inside the second conference room, she found a fire extinguisher half-hidden behind a dead potted fern. She wrenched it out of its holder and removed its safety pin as she returned to the hallway.
Dorran waited beside the door. Clare paused behind him to listen. The footsteps were drawing closer. Close enough, she thought. She nodded to Dorran. He nodded back, turned the lock, and pulled open the door.
Chapter Fifty-Six
A hulking, misshapen creature spilled into the hallway. Drooping, pendulous flaps of skin pooled over each other, swinging as the hollow turned towards Clare. She had just enough time to see its beady eyes flash red in the exit light, then she pulled on the extinguisher’s handle.
White foam exploded across the creature. It bellowed, a deep, reverberating tone that shook the air around them. Clare moved a step nearer, the extinguisher shuddering in her hands, and the hollow’s howl intensified as it retreated.
Clare knew the monster had spent most of a month in isolation, and she’d hoped the sudden stimulus would be too much for it to cope with. Her gamble paid off. The hollow staggered towards the stairs, and Clare followed it. As they neared the top step, Clare lifted the extinguisher and slammed its base into the hollow’s chest.
The creature howled as it fell down the stairs. Horrible crackling noises rose as its fragile bones broke. Clare stepped back, breathing more heavily than she’d expected, and stopped at Dorran’s side.
A surprised cry rose from Ezra. Clare closed her eyes, half of her praying the strategy would work, the other half dreading it. A gunshot echoed from the landing below, followed by a second. Clare waited. She was greeted by silence.
One bullet to kill Peter. Two bullets chasing us out of the lab. Another two to kill the hollow. He should have one left.
“Up,” Clare whispered, dropping the fire extinguisher. “We need to find another hollow.”
Dorran followed her onto the stairs. New noises rose from the lower floor, and Ezra was swearing. The hollow had upset him. Good.
Her legs burned, and her chest ached where she’d been hit, but Clare didn’t slow down. The hollow hadn’t stalled Ezra for long. They stopped at the fifteenth floor, and Clare slunk forward, listening. She couldn’t find any red tape on the doors. The floor was silent.
Dorran gave her a short nod, his hair shining in the red light, and they turned back to the stairs. Clare could no longer hear Ezra’s footsteps below them. That worried her.
They took the next two flights in long strides. The stairs ended in a narrow foyer with windows on either side. Harsh lightning illuminated the room in sporadic, painful flashes. A single door stood in front of Clare. It looked familiar. She turned and saw a solid wall where the stairs were supposed to continue. They had reached the highest floor.
She pressed a hand over her mouth as she tried to swallow the overwhelming sense of panic. They were cornered. There was nowhere to hide on the highest level, and no hollows; just the maintenance room. They would be sitting ducks.
“Back down,” she hissed. She didn’t know if they had time to make it to the floor below before Ezra caught up to them or what they would do once they reached it. She just knew that they needed to keep moving.
She fought to keep her footsteps light so she would hear Ezra’s approach before he was on them. As they neared the landing, she pressed her shoulder against the wall and leaned forward to glimpse around the corner. There was no sign of Ezra, either on the stairs or in the hallway. The level was suspiciously quiet.
Maybe he realised we were trapped. Maybe he’s hiding around a corner, waiting for our inevitable retreat. A point-blank shot.
He had only one bullet left, though. He couldn’t hit both of them. Clare put her hand against Dorran’s chest, pushing him back behind herself as she slunk around the corner. The next flight of stairs was empty. She moved silently, holding her breath, straining to hear any human noises: the rustle of a jacket, the squeak of a shoe, or a breath. The storm continued to rage around them, drowning out any of the subtler noises.
“Clare.” Dorran’s hand fell on her shoulder, halting her. “I hear something.”
She frowned, listening. She could hear the storm. She could hear creaks as the wind’s pressure made the metal tower sway. She could hear drumming rain. “What is it?”
He leaned close, his breathless voice in her ear. “Mechanical, I think. It blends into the thunder, but it is something different.”
Clare took another step. She was nearly at the carpet. A faint light blinked at the other end of the hall. She hadn’t seen that light before, and it took her a second to realise where it came from.
He brought the elevators back online.
Ezra had realised they could outmatch him in speed, so he’d taken away that advantage. But it gave Clare an opportunity. She grabbed Dorran’s arm. “We need to shut off the power. Quickly!”
He turned back towards the stairs, Clare following closely behind. She could make out the mechanical noises of the elevator gears turning as it drew closer. They skidded around the corner and onto the highest floor. The door to the maintenance room was locked, but it was only made of wood. Dorran lifted his foot and kicked. The wood cracked as it splintered, and when he kicked it again, the door burst inwards, the lock surrounded by a halo of broken wood.
“Get the lights.” He was already fumbling for the lids on the generator.
Clare felt for
