They’re Molotov cocktails.Fire bombs.
He catches my wide eyes and gives me a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Alvin. Those bottles are a last resort. I’d love nothing more than to burn the whole place to the ground, but we’re just here to get the girl out. Still, if we need to make a hasty exit, they’ll come in handy.”
I nod. It makes sense. But if I’d forgotten that a Monster Hunter’s whole purpose is to kill all monsters (like yours truly), I’m remembering it now. Because, you know, I wasn’t freaking out quite enough already.
I look over at Collin, who is frowning over at the backpack. That’s concerning.
“Uh, anything else he brought I should worry about?” I duck my chin in toward my chest and lower my voice as much as possible.
He startles, then quickly pulls himself together, flashing a grin. “Oh! No. Sorry. It’s not that.” His eyes shoot up to the trap door. “It’s just, now that we’re closer, I think there’s… something up there. On that floor.”
“You mean something likedeadly vampires?” I’m so keyed up, my whisper comes out a lot more hostile than I intend.
His grin becomes sheepish. “No, no, no. No vampires. The room above is totally deserted. I’m sure of it. It’s actually more of a… feeling, I suppose.” He shakes his head,like he’s brushing aside cobwebs, frustrated with himself. “Sorry, Alvin. Don’t mind me. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
Uh-huh.
I want to keep pushing Collin, but Rafa is finished arranging his gear and has noticed something’s up.
“What’s going on, Alvin?”
“The spirits sense something up there that they are beingannoyinglyvague about.” I shoot Collin a look. “But they say the room is clear. No vamps.”
“You think it’s something we should worry about?”
Yeah! Probably! Maybe.
“The spirits say no.”
Rafa shrugs. “All right. There’s risk no matter what, and we’re losing daylight. We’ll do this careful and by the numbers. Just keep me posted if you get anything more.”
“I will,” I say and throw Collin another look, on the off chance he’s suddenly decided to be alittlemore forthcoming. But he just smiles back open-mouthed like a freaking Golden Retriever and gives me a thumbs up.
Rafa is already up the ladder and opening the hatch. Neither he nor Emma has time for me to play Twenty Questions, and he’s right, this was never going to be a slam dunk.
So I roll my eyes and climb up after him, feeling like that stupid character in a horror movie who ignores some blatantly obvious warning.
You know, just before he gets stabbed in the face with an ice pick.
23
The red beamof Rafa’s tactical flashlight slices through the darkness as I wrestle my short arms and legs up the final rungs of the ladder. I’m not sure what I expected to find up here—a medieval torture rack? a wall of scalpels?— but the small room is full of neatly stacked cartons, most resting on the shelves of industrial wire racks lining the walls. Big box store labels suggest that a lot of what’s here is pretty ordinary. Things like trash bags and disposable cups. But there are also razor blades and a whole lot of first aid stuff. So still plenty terrifying.
The trapdoor itself is tucked behind one of two large concrete columns. Clearly designed to be hidden, the space is too small and awkward to stack any boxes. The door’s top is covered in fabric and the “handle” is merely a small cut-out section on the edge of the steel hatch underneath. Once I close it and smooth the cloth, the seam smoothly blends into the drab carpet tile floor. The dust puffing up from the edges suggests it hasn’t been touched for a while.
I glance over at Collin to see if he’s reacting weird to anything else now that we’re up here, but he’s looking calm and confident. One of his green VR arrows is pointing at the only door into the room. It’s closed.
“No vampires are in the hallway, Alvin,” he says. “You lads are good.”
“Not even veryquietvampires?” I push, under my breath.
He grins. “No. At this distance, you’d smell them straight away.”
Well, that’s new information. I give the air a tentative sniff, but all I smell is cardboard and some kind of citrus cleaner. For better or worse, looks like I just need to trust him.
I step within whispering distance of Rafa. “The spirits say the hallway is also clear.”
He nods, raises his flashlight to eye level, and smoothly opens the door into the hall. The hinges make no noise, which is a bit of luck. He glides out, crouched down like a SWAT officer. He clearly knows what he’s doing here. As for me, my main goal is to not trip over my own feet as I follow a few steps behind him.
