I n f i n i t u m

Chapter Seven

Given the advantage, my eyes wildly looked for an exit and spotted an air duct not too far away. If I was fast enough, I would be able to peel it away and climb through the ventilation shaft.

I bolted across the distance and immediately wheeled one of the operating tables below my escape route, quickly jumping on top of it once it was in position. The table quaked underneath my weight, but I ignored the trembling and began to open the vent with the scissors. The man screamed from behind me and I bit down on my tongue to keep myself from screaming right back in terror.

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

The metal finally gave way and I flung it at the approaching man before jumping up and heaving myself into the shaft. The sound of scraping sounded and I whirled around on my hands and knees before jolting forward to stab at the man. A horrible scream pierced my eardrums as the scissors struck where his right eye would have been. The feeling of the metal being forced into broken tissue sickened me greatly, but I pushed through the nausea that materialized and quickly crawled away from the opening, my mind in a frenzy.

I couldn't even entertain the question of why a man was eating another human being.

Continuing the rest of the way to the end of the stretch of the ventilation shaft, I crawled upon an opening that lead into what I assumed was an open hallway, and jumped when a scream echoed from right below. A second later, a female cadet ran into view, brandishing an iron pipe and keeping a hand on her bleeding shoulder. She threw a terrified look behind her.

Just ignore her, I thought, every man for himself right?

I intended to continue crawling, but then the girl released a desperate plea for help, halting my movements entirely. I cringed at the loud yell, knowing very well that it had probably attracted more of those things. I held my breath and listened closely. The sound of rushing footsteps seemed far away; there was enough time to help her up.

Acting fast, I peeled away the vent, the noise drawing the girl's attention.

"Quick!" I hissed, "Give me your hand and I'll try to pull you up!"

She complied without argument and with a grunt, I managed to pull her into the vent before any of those things could appear. I backed up, giving her some room. Now that she was closer, I didn't recognize her as someone I knew or have seen around HQ. She looked young, probably close to my age.

I eyed her bleeding shoulder, "Is that bad?"

The girl nodded with a wince, "One of them got me good with its nails."

She got scratched, I immediately thought back to the note left by the nurse. A bite or scratch from any one of them would turn someone, and anxious, I assessed the girl before me.

"Seems like we both came late to the party, huh?"

She couldn't have been anymore right. I tried not to stare too hard at her bleeding shoulder, but it was becoming hard not to when I noticed that the blood came out a lot darker than normal.

"I haven't seen anyone at all," she said, "just dead bodies. This floor and all the way up are pretty much a graveyard crawling with those things. I think our best bet would be the hangar."

The hangar was thirty-two floors down from our floor and I was in no way, shape, or form ready for another confrontation with any of those things. I glanced at the scissors left dejected by my knees and quickly picked it up.

"Do you know if the elevators are still working?" I questioned.

Taking the stairs probably would have been the better option, but I didn't want to get stuck in a stairwell with a horde of those things.