*-*-*-*
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” Cloe mumbled incoherently to herself as she blindly grabbed hold of another doorknob, tried to turn it only to be met with resistance. “Shit!” she groaned, dropping her hand away from the door and returning to her mad dash down the long hallway while the sounds of gunshots, fighting and screams of pain echoed throughout the long hallway, letting her know that the battle was still on.
Somehow she resisted the urge to look over her shoulder to see if the double doors were still standing, knowing instinctively that if she did that, it would be all over. So instead, she continued running down the long hallway, blindly testing doors every ten feet and wondering when her newfound abilities would kick in. Because right now as she ran down the hallway, telling herself that this didn’t make her a coward, she couldn’t help but feel that the ability to move her ass like the Road Runner would really come in handy at a moment like this.
“MINE!” came the monstrous roar just as she moved to test another door.
Deciding that perhaps putting a little more space between her and the blood thirsty bastard behind her was in order, she quickly changed plans from hiding under a bed to finding a stairway. Reasoning that there had to be a set of stairs at the end of the hall, she moved her ass and released a high-pitched scream, that she was going to pretend never happened, just as double doors burst open behind her.
“Oh, the hell with this,” she groaned, knowing that she didn’t have a chance in hell of outrunning him down a clear path. So, she went back to plan A and grabbed the handle of the next door that she came across.
Hands shaking violently to match her nerves, she grabbed hold of the doorknob of a gray door, not caring where it led and twisted it as hard as she could and kept going until it fell off with a loud snap and the door swung open just as another roar sounded behind her. Swallowing hard, she risked one look over her shoulder and wished that she hadn’t.
There he was, covered in blood and looking every ounce the monster that she’d originally thought him to be. He wasn’t running after her, she realized, which should have given her a little comfort, but instead it only scared the shit out of her even more. The way those red eyes locked on her as he moved at a predatory gait as he stalked her said it all.
Sooner or later he would have her.
It was only a matter of time.
*-*-*-*
“Any casualties?” she heard Ephraim ask as she stood there, frozen in fear as she watched Christofer make his way to her, his intent clear.
“No,” Chris groaned, “we just got our asses handed to us.”
It was then that she realized that she could hear the sounds and conversations from the lobby and nearly sagged with relief. She opened her mouth to ask for help, but Chris’ next words stopped her.
“We can’t leave her to handle him,” he said, sounding like he was in a great deal of pain. “He’ll tear her apart.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Ephraim said, sounding winded. “But you’re not going. Keep your ass here.”
“I’m fine,” she heard Chris grit out.
“You won’t survive another round with him.”
“I said I’m fine!”
“You can barely walk, ass**le,” Caine snapped.
“We need to seal the corridor off and I’m not doing it with her still in there!” Chris shouted, sounding truly worried for her. In that instant he’d earned her forgiveness and respect. She also knew that she couldn’t risk any of them coming to her rescue.
Closing her eyes in resignation. “I’ve got this. Don’t worry, guys. Just….just have some extra blood ready afterwards,” she said, knowing that she was going to need it.
She didn’t wait around to make sure that they’d heard her since she needed to move her ass and quickly. So, she opened her eyes, turned around and swore as she found herself facing another long hallway. The only difference between this hallway and the one that she was escaping was the scent of chlorine and the sharp white tiles that lined the walls and floor.
An idea came to her, one that she prayed would work. It was something that she remembered from her early days in the Girl Scouts. Even though she knew that it probably wouldn’t help, she slammed the door shut behind her, hoping the scent of chlorine would confuse him. She ran down the corridor, ignoring the doors that didn’t look promising and followed the heavy scent of chlorine and the sounds of what she hoped was a filter.
“MINE!”
“Oh, shit!” she squeaked, wondering how she’d got herself into this.
Oh, that’s right, she’d gone psycho on him first and payback was a bitch.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” she said, risking a look back and finding the hallway behind her still empty.
Another idea came to her, one that she hoped would confuse him and give her a chance to test out one of the new skills that Christofer promised that she could do now. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure that she would be able to pull it off or that it would work, but she was definitely willing to try it if it meant saving her throat from another shredding.
With that in mind, she grabbed the next doorknob that she came across, twisted the knob until it broke off, shoved the door open, tore her shirt off and threw it inside and ran. A few seconds later she was doing the same thing with one of her shoes and kept doing it until she found herself in just her panties and in front of a double door that clearly led to the pool.
She yanked the door open, praying that the pool was empty and ran inside. When she spotted the large Olympic size pool, she spared a second to make sure that she was alone. A few seconds later she was running straight for the pool and diving in, praying that her old Troop leader was right about water hiding scents otherwise she was going to be sending the old bitch a strongly worded letter after this.
Chapter 41
“Lying bastard,” she sputtered as she came to the surface and grabbed blindly for the edge of the pool.
When Christofer had explained that she didn’t really need to breathe, he’d forgotten to mention that she could still drown. That tidbit of information would have come in handy, especially before she’d tried to hide from him at the bottom of an Olympic sized pool. If she’d known just how painful it was to hold your breath for, she looked at her watch, five minutes, she would have come up with a plan B. Now she needed to-
Scream her head off as she was suddenly grabbed by the arms and abruptly pulled out of the pool.