Reaper Kissed

30. Conquering Fear

It was Lauren's head and naked torso but with six giant scuttling legs, armoured like a crab's, ending in hooks that latched onto the ceiling. Lauren's face was vacant, her eyes filmy like a fish's. Her jaw had broken completely away, leaving the skin a mess of torn flesh crusted with blood. Her head twitched side to side and she started to make an eerie clicking noise. Chloe gasped as four fangs protruded from Lauren's mouth, flexing menacingly.

Chloe's chest heaved up and down as she struggled to breathe, panic clenching around her throat.

"Ryder," Chloe's voice came out as a strangled whisper, "wake up!" She aimed her gun at the Lauren-monster, her hands trembling. "P-please..." She stared up at the friend, her mouth going dry with fear.

Lauren scurried toward her, dust and plaster raining down as her hooks tore at the ceiling. The sound of breaking glass from above made Lauren stop and turn sharply, investigating the source of the sound with jerky head movements. Chloe didn't hesitate. Ducking down, she rolled across the floor – keeping out of Lauren's reach and narrowly making it to exit. She scrambled to her feet, pulling herself using the door frame, and broke into a sprint down the corridor.

Chloe skidded on the floor as she turned abruptly to bolt into the gent's toilets. She pulled the door shut behind her, gripping onto the door handle – her ear against the grain. She listened hard. The lights flickered overhead before spluttering out once more. A heavy silence followed and Chloe realised that the generators had stopped. Power had been shut off to Gemini.

              Chloe was breathing heavily. She let go of the handle and leant back against the door. Yanking off her hood, she found it easier to breathe without the heavy material covering her mouth. She flung the mask aside, putting her hand over her chest in an attempt to quiet her thudding heart. If your times up, it's up. With this, only half, reassuring thought – she reopened the door.

Ducking her head through the doorway, Chloe looked up and down corridor. No sign of Lauren. Keeping low, Chloe hurried down the tiled flooring, her gaze scanning the ceiling. Large chunks of plaster were missing and blood smears skirted around the light fittings. A rattling breath from up ahead made Chloe quickly duck into an interrogation room. She got under the narrow central table just as the door was thrust off its hinges.

The hefty door smacked against the table, causing the wood to tremble. Chloe had her knees pulled up tightly to her chest, in an attempt to make herself as small as possible. She held incredibly still. Listening with every highly-strung fibre of her being, Chloe heard Lauren scuttle into the room. The two-way glass trembled as Lauren clacked across the ceiling, breathing in deeply. Chloe clasped a hand over her mouth.

Lauren's fangs clicked, tasting the air. The ground trembled as she landed suddenly on the floor. Chloe's eyes widened in fear, her face only inches from one of Lauren's legs. This close, Chloe saw the tiny hairs – like cactus spines- covering the crustaceous extremities. Lauren's hooks struck into the ground, screeching piercingly as they sliced through the tiles. The legs started moving, creeping slowly, breaking up the ground in a semi-circle around Chloe.

Lauren breathed in another deep rasping breath and Chloe had to repress the urge to gag. The air around her was turning foul, putrid with the stench of death that clung to Lauren's monstrous mouth. Chloe's eyes watered but she gritted her teeth, forcing herself not to make a sound. Panic... familiar – an old friend she'd never quite shaken since Irrenhaus - rose to the surface.