Chapter 231: Chapter 231 - Danger
Iyisha moved to the window and crouched just enough to peek outside. She knew she can’t see anything but god damn if she can just sit around the place. In the least, she should try to assess the perimeter.
She kept her body low while the pistol stayed raised in both hands. Her grip shook and she tried to steady it by force. She listened first.
Nothing.
No scrape. No breath.
She leaned a little more and looked across to the building in front. There are hundreds of undead outside but nothing out of ordinary. Some have become stationed; some are walking in small steps.
If there’s a hunter hunting them down, the helicopter that transported them might have drew them here.
It’s a big possibility they didn’t consider.
Then out of the window in the building in front flashed a white on the roof. Directly in front of her.
Her breath caught.
A crack cut through the silence.
She froze.
Something hard is hitting the concrete. Is it a hunter trying to force inside? They closed the rooftop door because of fear of people from the lab and now it might have been the smartest thing they’ve done for now.
"Is there—"
Iyisha lifted her hand without looking, stopping Marybeth mid word.
Her heart slammed hard, too loud, filling her ears as she forced herself to look down the side of the building.
And saw it.
A white body clung to the wall just below the roof, limbs spread wide, claws buried into the concrete. It moved sideways in short, sharp pulls.
Crack.
Another limb climbed.
Crack.
Closer.
Her body locked in place, breath caught halfway in her chest as her eyes stayed glued to it. The pistol trembled in her hands but she didn’t raise it. She didn’t step back.
She just stared.
It closed the distance too fast. Her mind screamed to move but her body didn’t follow. Not a step. Not even a shift.
Crack.
Her feet locked in place.
The sound came right beside the window.
Her breath stopped.
A thin, gangly arm shot out and slammed into the glass. It burst open in a sharp crack.
She didn’t flinch.
Glass tore across her cheek, skin splitting, but she held her ground.
The hunter screeched as it caught the sound. Its arms shot inside. Iyisha’s breath broke into short bursts as the same grayish white skin with black veins entered her sight.
The arms were thin, almost just bone and skin, but her eyes locked on the fingers as they stretched and shifted into claws. They looked like exposed bone tipped with something dark.
It clung to the frame and pushed in, breaking more of the glass.
Then in a blink it was there, perched on the sill in front of her.
Smaller. Thinner than the one in Ohio.
Still the same.
The skin on its face was pulled tight over the skull. Its eyes, dull gray, faced her.
Iyisha froze.
Her breathing stopped.
She knew it couldn’t see.
It didn’t matter.
They were too close. One move and it would reach her again.
One cut and she would go through it all again.
Her fingers tightened around the pistol but she didn’t raise it.
What happens if it infects her again? Would she turn? Would her body fight it?
The hunter opened its mouth. A sharp click snapped from it as its head tilted, listening.
Silence pressed in.
Even the wind through the broken window sounded loud.
It stepped down from the sill, almost silent except for the faint crack of glass under its weight, then let out a sharp screech that made Iyisha flinch as it hit the floor. It dropped to all fours and moved forward in a low crawl, smooth and controlled, like it owned the space.
It passed her, going around her.
Iyisha stayed where she was, her body locked in place, the pistol frozen in her hands as the creature moved inches away from her. She could feel the heat off it. Close enough to touch. Close enough to die.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The sound scraped through her skull.
She wanted to turn. To check Marybeth. To check Lance.
She couldn’t.
Her breath stayed trapped in her chest as she prayed no one made a sound. Not in the other rooms. Not anywhere.
A door opened somewhere down the hall.
Her heart slammed so hard it hurt.
The hunter screeched and lunged toward it, its body snapping against the wall as it turned, claws dragging as it redirected in a blur of white.
Iyisha sucked in air the second it left her space, her chest finally moving again as she fought to stay quiet.
It was going toward the others.
She already told them what to do. Stay still, stay silent if they want to live. It’s up to them.
Still—
She turned.
Marybeth was bent over Lance, covering him, her cross clutched tight in her hand.
Marybeth looked up and to her hands gripping the pistol.
Iyisha lifted the pistol slightly.
The only weapon they had.
The only thing between them and that thing.
Iyisha gave a small nod.
She forced herself forward, each step slow and careful as she moved toward the door. No screams came from the other side. The only sound she heard are the muffled thud of its feet in the hallway.
She slipped into the hallway.
The hunter stood in front of a closed door, its body angled toward it, head tilting in small, sharp movements as it listened.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Iyisha’s grip tightened as she recognized the room.
The women from TAL.
Then the hunter screeched and slammed its claws into the wood, the impact cracking through the door as it struck again and again, each hit harder than the last.
Iyisha raised the pistol with both shaking hands, trying to line up a shot, but there was no clean angle, nothing that wouldn’t risk her.
The hunter didn’t stop.
On the next strike, the door gave.
It burst open.
Iyisha’s chest tightened.
The hunter slipped inside.
Shit.
Her pulse spiked as she took a step forward, the pistol lifting higher despite the tremor in her hands.
She had to move now.
She had to decide.
Can she kill it before it kills them?
