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Vespyr stepped forward, her gaze ahead. “Okay, well, there’s usually a way out in a labyrinth, right?”
“A maze. A labyrinth only leads to the center.”
Tipping her head back, she ran a hand down her face. “Why do I get the feeling the center of this place is really bad?”
Running my hand over the wall’s surface one more time, I turned around to face the dark corridor ahead. “Assuming this isn’t just a dream, this wall isn’t going to open. So, we might as well move forward.”
On a weary groan, she yanked a knife from a holster at her hip. “Weapon check.”
I stared down at the dagger still clutched in my palm and held it up. “Check?”
“Jesus, anything we encounter here is going to have to be fought close up. That sucks,” she said, shoving her blade back in its holder. “Any practice using that blade?”
“A little. Jericho gave me a lesson.”
Her brows winged up to a look of concern. “One?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Let’s keep it simple, then. If anything comes at us, I’ll do the fighting, and you watch my back. Got it?”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
“’Kay. Let’s get this bitch over with. I drank about a gallon of water before bed, and I’m going to have to piss soon. Not sure I trust the bathrooms here.” She stepped ahead of me, her blade leading the way, and after shooting one more glance toward the blank, gray wall behind us, I followed after her, nabbing a lantern from its bracket on the way.
* * *
The wall through which we’d walked had long disappeared into the shadows behind us, as we kept on through the labyrinth, and I held the lantern up over my shoulder to find an empty corridor.
“There’s a room ahead,” Vespyr said, nodding toward a door on the right side of the hallway. “Osiris says we should check it out.”
“Osiris? He just decided to show up?”
“Well, yeah. He usually does when I’m in trouble.”
“Wonderful.”
A screeching echoed from behind, the shrill sound sending a chill down the back of my neck, and both of us came to a halt. It reminded me of a cat being tortured, high-pitched and threatening at the same time.
I spun around, holding up the lantern, though the light only stretched so far. It shook as it dangled from my trembling hands. “What the hell was that?” I asked, staring off toward the shadows.
“I’m not really sure I want to know.”
Another screeching sound, louder than the first, reverberated around us.
On a strangled breath, I swung the lantern toward the door we’d reached. Room 137. “I say we head for the room,” I whispered, and at a glimpse of Vespyr’s wide eyes, I slowly turned back toward the shadowy corridor.
My heart caught in my throat, as I watched one dark limb step into the halo of light. Another limb followed the first, and then a skull. The figure that emerged reminded me of a long-decayed corpse. It lifted its head to show two, blood red eyes fixed on the two of us. Its jaw unhinged to a horrifically wide gape, and the screeching sound echoed again.
All at the same time, the two of us spun around and dashed toward the door and the creature sprung forward, bounding toward us on all fours. I grabbed hold of the door’s handle.
“Open the door!” Vespyr screamed beside me.
A quick sideways glance showed the creature mere yards from us.
I pressed the lock and slammed my shoulder into it. The door swung open, and we toppled inside, the concrete floor crashing into my hip and sending a shattering pain to my abdomen.
“Ah!” I cried out, as the lantern tumbled out of my grip, and I twisted to see Vespyr scramble to slam the door shut. A hardthunkknocked her back a step, the creature’s hand sliding in through the crack in the door, and she pulled her blade. Without a hint of hesitation, she stabbed the creature’s long, bony hand, sounding off another of those godawful screeches, and it retracted its limb. A streak of blood, so dark it looked black, stained the wall.
