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I stopped abruptly. Through the noise of the fighting in the corridor, and the whine of the laser and bubbling of melting metal came another sound. A soft skittering against metal. It sounded for all the world like little hairy feet brushing across the surface of the door. A chili ran down my spine, and the sensation that we were no longer alone had my breath lodging somewhere in my throat.
Because that sound was coming from above us, from the ceiling itself rather than the door. I looked up. Infrared revealed absolutely nothing. Not on the ceiling, not in the hollows beyond it. Yet those sounds were drawing closer.
My heart raced so fast it felt as if it were going to tear out of my chest. I switched to normal vision, scanning the white expanse, wondering what the hell was going on. There was nothing there, nothing to be seen, yet the certainty that something was there, that it was almost on us, was growing like a cancer deep inside.
"What's wrong?"
The sudden question made me jump. I met Misha's gaze. "Something is in the ceiling."
"The ceiling is not designed to hold a great deal of weight." He looked up regardless, his expression edging toward concern for the first time.
"Whatever's coming at us hasn't got a great deal of weight." I jumped to one side as the laser broke through the door. A deadly red beam shot across the room, smashing into the pillar where I'd been minutes before, boiling the concrete in the few seconds it was on. Then light blinked out, leaving only the glowing edges of melted metal as evidence of its presence. Silence had fallen in the corridor. Whether that meant the Fravardin had won out or been defeated, I couldn't say. But I had a horrible suspicion it was the latter rather than the former.
"Given up," Misha said.
"I doubt it." The skittering drew closer, becoming hundreds of steps rather than just a few. Fear curled through me. My gaze rose to the ceiling again. What the hell could it possibly be? It sounded for all the world like spiders...
Oh, fuck.
Kade had mentioned spiders. Spiders that were invisible to infrared and able to squeeze through the smallest of holes. Holes like the one in the door. Or those in the air-conditioning vents.
Even as fear crystallized, moisture began to drip from the grate of the vent directly above me.
"Misha," I yelled, stepping aside and taking aim with the laser. "Look up. Your master has sent his spiders."
He swore, a sound lost to the sudden hum of the laser as I pressed the trigger. The cold beam bit through the semidarkness, hitting the gathering moisture square in the center. The grate began to melt, and steam boiled, filling the room with the thick scent of burning flesh. Something squealed, a high-pitched, unearthly sound no human would have caught. Then the vent cover came down, and with it a flood of water. Water that hit the carpet but didn't splatter, not even against my legs, though I stood barely two feet away. Horror crawled across my skin as the water began to separate, forming mounds that grew, took on shape, developed legs and heads and beady little eyes and sharp, razorlike teeth.
My fingers clenched reflexively on the trigger, and the laser's bright light shot out again. But the spiders that were as clear as water were also faster than fear.
They scattered. A good half dozen came directly at me, and I pressed the laser's trigger, burning carpet and spiders alike as I swept the beam back and forth.
Something bit my calf, and I yelped. Swinging around, I swiped the spider eating my flesh with the butt of the runt rifle, then speared it with the laser, killing it. More came. I kept my finger on the laser's trigger, almost choking in the steam that was beginning to fill the room. Still they came, a river that seemed endless. The laser grew hot in my hand, and the power light was flashing, warning that the energy cell was near depletion. I swore, and began to clear a path toward the armory. And saw Misha surrounded by a flood of the creatures and barely holding his own.
We couldn't beat them. I knew that then. Our only chance lay in escape - and in hoping that something worse wasn't out on the street, waiting for us.
I ran through the space I'd cleared, then leapt onto the desk, and toward the weapons. Felt sting after sting on my back as creatures leapt aboard and began to munch. Pain bloomed as moisture began to trickle down my spine. I dropped the runt rifle and the spent laser, replacing them with two more lasers. Swinging around, I thrust back against the wall as hard as I could. Something popped, and moisture splattered to my feet. I hit it with both lasers, then fanned the beams across the floor as more of the creatures came at me.
"Misha," I said, without looking up, "we need to get the hell out of here. Where's the escape hatch?"
"Press the green button - top right-hand - " His words ended in a grunt.
I glanced up to see one of the spiders on his face and red moisture beginning to drip from his chin.
Dear God... I jumped across the mass of flowing creatures, squashing several of them under my shoes as I landed. After nicking the lasers around us in a circle and momentarily forcing the mass back, I grabbed the thing from his face, noting even as I tossed it away that it somehow seemed smaller. I barely had time to take in the mess that had been made of Misha's face - the half-chewed lips, mutilated nose, and scoured cheeks, before they were on us again.
I swung round, felt Misha hit my back, smashing the creatures attached to my flesh even as I killed those closest to our feet. And though the mass was half its original size, it was still too many for the two of us. We had to get out of here.
"Get to that release," Misha said, sweeping his lasers to the left and right, catching those creatures I missed. Orange light began to flash across the shadows, a counterpoint of warmth against the cold light of the lasers. Misha's weapons were nearing the end.
"And hurry," he added.
Like I was going to stroll. I glanced at the button, and from the corner of my eyes saw the liquid gleam of a creature coming at my face. Laser light speared the darkness from behind, so it was steam that crashed against my skin rather than spider. A shudder ran through me anyway, and I had to fight to hold back the scream that surged up my throat.
Swallowing heavily, I leapt forward, smacking my hand against the button so hard that the force of the blow reverberated up my arm. Nothing happened. No answering whine, no dark hole of safety. Nothing.
"The lever," Misha said. "Near the rifles. And toss me some lasers."
I grabbed two and threw them his way. He cast his own aside and caught them deftly, but in the brief pause of the changeover, two creatures hit him, one on the chest, the other on his thigh. My curse got lost in his, and I lasered the others that tried to attack him while he pulled the things from his flesh. Then I grabbed the lever and pulled with all my might. Half the armory slid to one side, revealing not only the darkness of a corridor, but a large blue thing with suckered fingers that were clenched into fist and flying my way.
