Chapter 232: Chapter 232 - Shoot It
Iyisha held her breath as the hunter leaned over the painting, its face inches from the canvas. Its head jerked in sharp, mechanical twitches while it clicked fast, wet, and relentless. The sounds ricocheted through the narrow hallway like living things, mapping every inch of the object.
Each echo brushed across her skin, cold and intimate.
It looked up and twitched its head as it moved forward.
She could feel the creature reading the walls, the floorboards, the dust floating in the stale air, and the trembling outline of her body pressed against the plaster. Her pistol trembled in both hands, fingers slowly going numb around the grip.
One shift. One careless breath. That was all it would take.
The hunter lifted its pale, elongated head and scuttled farther down the corridor on all fours, still clicking, still painting the darkness with sound. Its long limbs moved with eerie, spider like precision.
Move, she screamed at herself. Do something. Anything.
But her legs refused. Her chest burned as she forced each breath into a thin, silent thread. Sweat stung her eyes.
Then a soft thud from the room to her in front.
The hunter froze. A heartbeat of terrible silence.
It screeched, an ear splitting, metallic shriek, then slammed its head against the wall with a sickening crack. Plaster dust drifted down. The creature clicked once at the closed door, rapid and hungry, as if tasting what waited behind it.
Iyisha’s heart hammered so violently she was sure the sound alone would betray her.
It headbutted the door again and again. Wood splintered. The hunter rammed harder faster until the door crashed to the floor in a loud clatter. It stepped inside.
Iyisha prayed the people in that room would not move. Not breathe. Not make a single sound.
As soon as the hunter vanished from sight she backed away on shaking legs. She should charge in there right now. She should raise the pistol and empty it into that monstrosity before it found them.
That was what a protector did.
That was what they expected from her.
They had looked at her with desperate hope in their eyes. Yet here she was retreating like a coward while they faced hell.
What could she even do? The pistol felt like a toy in her hands. She had seen what the hunter could do. One bullet would not stop it. Two would not stop it. She would only announce their location and get everyone killed.
Her trembling legs stepped backward carefully across the carpet. Guilt clawed at her throat. She was choosing her own survival over theirs. She was no hero. She was just a scared girl pretending to be strong.
The clicking in that room grew louder faster more frantic.
Iyisha reached the door of their own room. Marybeth was frantically wiping a towel across Lance. She looked up her eyes wide and terrified. Iyisha’s heart stopped.
If Lance had a seizure, it would be fine as long as the hunter stayed in the other room. Okay. Yes. They were safe for now.
But she stood frozen in the hallway because she knew one wrong step and someone would die. Part of her wanted to run in and fight.
Then Lance moaned. A low helpless sound that sliced through the silence.
His body began seizing, jerking violently on the floor.
Iyisha’s blood turned to ice. The moan echoed down the hallway like a beacon. Marybeth slapped her hand desperately over his mouth but it was too late. The sound had already escaped.
The hunter in the other room screeched. A raw, deafening rage that shook the walls. It was coming.
Iyisha whipped her head toward the open doorway and raised the pistol with both shaking hands. The hunter exploded out of the room and charged straight at them on all fours, claws screeching across the floor.
She fired. The first shot struck it dead in the head. The creature staggered for one terrible heartbeat and clawed at the gaping hole in its skull. Black fluid sprayed.
Iyisha kept shooting. She pumped the rest of the magazine into its chest where she hoped the heart was. The hunter screeched louder and never slowed. It kept coming straight for her.
She could not retreat into the room. She could not trap them all inside with it. Iyisha ran backward toward the stair door.
"Come on!" she shouted as she reached it. Her fingers fumbled until the lock clicked open. The staircase beyond was blocked at the bottom. She slammed the door behind her and pressed herself flat against the cabinet that sealed the way down. She stopped breathing entirely.
The hunter screeched as it entered the stairwell. Its clicking flooded the space.
Then the low moaning of the undead drifted up from below. The sound pulled its attention.
The hunter leaped over her hiding place.
Thank God for the undead. She crouched down trying to calm herself.
She heard its claws swing and sink into flesh. Wet ripping noises echoed up the stairs. Her eyes stayed locked on the door that led back to the hallway.
Is Lance still seizing? Is Marybeth still fighting to keep him quiet? She did not know. She could not know.
The hunter suddenly stopped. It had realized it was tearing apart dead things, not living ones. A heavy silence fell from the creature while the undead kept groaning below.
That silence terrified her more than any scream.
The bullets did nothing. She knew it. Malcolm had said only a shotgun at close range could crush its heart. These small rounds were useless.
It climbed again. The clicking of its claws on the cement stairs grew sharper.
Iyisha snatched the broken handlebar from the floor beside the cabinet. If it went back now while Lance was still seizing, those two will die. She could not let that happen.
The clicking grew louder. She threw the handlebar down the stairwell. It clattered against the wall then tumbled down to the next flight with a loud echoing crash.
The hunter screeched and immediately descended after the sound.
Iyisha dragged in a staggered breath. Yes. She could keep it busy here. Keep it away from them.
She grabbed another splintered piece of wood and hurled it. It landed only a meter below her with a sharp clack. The hunter screeched and twisted toward the noise.
She snatched one more piece, cocked her arm, and threw.
She froze mid-motion.
The creature whipped its head upward. Its clicking grew faster, sharper, probing the air like invisible needles. It had heard the sound, yet it ignored the distraction completely.
Instead it climbed onto the railing.
Fuck. It was coming back.
The hunter leapt across the empty gap with terrifying grace. Its claws slammed into the railing right in front of her and hung there for one sickening second, body suspended over the drop. Then it crawled slowly back onto the landing, limbs unfolding with spiderlike precision.
Its sightless eyes locked directly on her.
God. She was going to die.
