Chapter Thirty Two
We chose another row at random and pounded along it as fast as we could. The others flicked off their torches to help keep our position hidden. The dim red lights drew us forward and I spared a glance behind me. There were two shapes moving in the darkness to our rear, visible only as they passed in front of the flickering blue LEDs.
"Hurry," I panted, pushing my legs as fast as they would go.
We skidded out into the red-lit room, our shoes slid on the black, tiled floor. A long limbed Creeper lurched out of the shadows towards us. Coal didn't hesitate, his knife flew straight, knocking the Creeper to the ground without a sound.
We sped on, only sparing a glance to make sure it wasn't getting back up again. The twists and turns in the room seemed endless. Something moved by one of the consoles but Alicia spun, her machete flying in her hand as I tore past. Nothing pursued us as we hit the elevator.
Coal jammed his knives back into his belt and braced himself against the elevator wall, making a cup with his hands in front of him. Alicia didn't slow her pace at all, she jumped, her boot landing in Coal's grasp and he accelerated her momentum up through the hatch in the elevator's ceiling so that she practically flew out of view.
"Laurie!" Coal bellowed as she hesitated a moment before following Alicia up and out of the hatch.
I was ready and as soon as she disappeared I ran to jump up too, my eyes holding Coal's gaze for a second before I was flung into the air after the others.
Alicia was waiting to pull me out of the way on top of the elevator and she flung herself down to lean back through the hatch as I saw Coal take a running jump to follow us. Alicia grabbed his arms and heaved to get him through.
Coal yelled as a Creeper grabbed hold of him from below and Alicia screamed in defiance, jamming her heels into the lip around the hatch and pulling with all of her strength. A muffled grunt told us that Coal had kicked the Creeper off and Alicia yanked him up on top of the elevator beside us. Laurie had her guns drawn and she pointed them down the hole but the Creepers backed out of view.
"We still shouldn't take shots if we can avoid it. If there are any more of them upstairs they'll come running at the sound," Coal advised as he inspected his leg where the Creeper had grabbed him. "The mongrel bit me."
"Really?" Alicia looked shocked.
"They're like rabid animals," Laurie said, shaking her head whilst maintaining her aim down the hatch.
"We have to keep going," Coal replied, yanking his trouser leg back down over the bloody wound.
"This says there's an emergency exit at the top of the elevator shaft," Alicia said, pointing at a sign on the wall next to the access ladder.
A keening screech echoed down to us from one of the corridors above.
"I think they know we're here," I whispered.
"Get up the ladder." Coal gave me a shove towards Alicia and took over Laurie's position, aiming his assault rifle down the hatch.
Alicia started climbing, her machete holstered on her hip again. Laurie went next and I watched as they moved nimbly up and up, rung after rung. I hesitated a few moments and glanced back to see how Coal was doing. He gave me a reassuring nod and I started my assent.
The ladder ran parallel to the doors on each floor. Some stood open while a few were firmly shut. The first was closed and Alicia and Laurie powered past it. I looked down to see Coal take a running jump onto the ladder and start hauling himself up behind us.
He was closing the distance between us fast and I doubled my efforts at speed. I was staring intently at the rungs in front of me so I didn't realise Laurie had stopped until my head collided with her boot. I slipped and almost lost my footing.
"Why have we stopped?" I hissed.
"Alicia says the next door's open. She thinks there's something up there," Laurie whispered back.
I ventured a look down and saw that three Creepers were already in pursuit, scrabbling at the base of the ladder and shoving each other aside in an attempt to be the first up. Their fighting had helped us to gain a better lead but it wouldn't last if we didn't get moving.
Alicia was leaning up to look over the edge of the doorway. She moved carefully up the ladder to the side of the opening, motioning us to stay back.
The Creepers had sorted out an order and had begun climbing the ladder below us. Alicia hooked her right arm through the side of the ladder and threw her weight towards the gap in the wall, reaching out with her other hand.
She jammed her boot against the wall and flung herself backwards, still maintaining her hold on the ladder. Her free hand twisted into the fabric of a Creeper's filthy tunic and she hurled him out into the shaft. He screamed, his arms cartwheeling madly in mid air, as he plunged downwards past us.
Alicia was already moving and Coal caught up to me as we pushed onwards. I tried to ignore the echoing thump that the Creeper's body made as it hit the bottom and his screams were abruptly cut off.
I reached up again only to grasp at air as my hand failed to catch the next rung. I peered up to find it was missing. We had reached the point where the rung had broken earlier and there was a double width gap left in its place.
I climbed higher, reached again for the next metal handhold and heaved myself past the opening. The broken metal snagged my trousers as I climbed by, scratching into the skin on my thigh. I bit back a curse and kept moving.
My arms were aching as we passed the door leading back to the corridor where we had first entered the shaft. We had climbed five floors and the view below us was dizzying. I glanced into the corridor and spotted a large group of the Creepers prowling in the dark passage.
Below, the Creepers on the ladder were gaining on us as we pushed upwards and passed the next floor of the bunker. There were just two more floors to go and I could see the outline of a round hatch, with a big wheel to open it, looming above our heads.
The ladder gave a shuddering groan and we froze momentarily before increasing our speed again. Alicia reached the hatch and was trying to force the wheel to turn while Laurie held her in place so that she didn't fall. I clung to the metal rungs and waited. Adrenalin pounded through my veins.
I glanced down to see the Creepers rapidly closing the gap between us.
The ladder shuddered and groaned again, lurching backwards as some of the bolts holding it to the wall gave way. The wheel on the hatch started to turn under Alicia's efforts.
The ladder snapped apart above my hands, my section dropped again and I was flung backwards. I screamed and hooked my arms around the ladder even though I knew it wouldn't save me. I scrunched my eyes shut and clung on with all my strength.
Coal released the ladder below my feet and I opened my eyes, terrified that I would see him falling to his death. For a moment I couldn't see him at all and then I felt his hand close on my ankle as the ladder shuddered again, swinging me further out and away from the wall. Coal stood on the top floor of the bunker, his eyes locked onto mine.
There was a clang as Alicia finally got the iron wheel on the hatch to finish turning and it fell open. A weak beam of dim sunlight lit the shaft. I looked up towards the possibility of escape but the ladder was peeling free of the wall and there was no way I would make it.
The section above me started to shift too, the masonry crumbling around the bolts as Laurie screamed.
"Trust me, let go," Coal said, his hand stretched out to me.
I reached towards him, my hand shaking as I let go of the freezing cold metal. Our hands connected and he yanked me down into the top floor of the bunker just as the ladder gave way completely. I fell on top of him and scrambled back to my feet, desperate to see what had happened to Alicia and Laurie.
A terrible cacophony of screams was cut short as the Creepers on the ladder plunged to their deaths.
Chained - Everything you know is a lie... Page 32
