The creature stalked through the hallways of the facility and sniffed at each and every intersection. It could still smell its prey and it was fresh. But there was no other sign of it. No sightings and no evidence that they were even here. The creature pawed at the newest scent in frustration and cried quietly.
It turned down the darkened hallway and sniffed the floor. The prey had been here, and recently. But it had come from this direction; it hadnt gone this way. It stopped and turned, sniffing the floor and trying to find those little distinctions that indicated a fresher scent. Right at the edge of its senses, almost not there at all, it found them. It locked on to the new scent and bounded away down the empty corridor. This time, for sure, it would find them.
Eric hurriedly pushed Greta down the hallway towards the warehouse with his one good arm. They should be safe there for now, but not forever. With any luck, the others would already be there. He only hoped that everyone had got the message and was either there, or somewhere else that was safe. Further back in his mind, he hoped that Terri was where she was meant to be and hadnt fucked off like she had last time. Her and Ike were key to this plan and if they didnt, or couldnt, do their parts, it was likely this thing, whatever it was, would kill them all.
High above the facility, Malcolm hovered in place. He couldnt see anything that was going on inside, but from here he had the best view of the surrounding desert. He would be able to tell which way anyone was coming from if that creature were to find any of them.
So far, though, the desert was empty. Whoever it was that sent the creature, and he still believed it to be a state actor, and not the same people responsible for Micah’s disappearance, had not followed it up with anything else. Either they believed it to be enough to take care of all of the assorted descendants who lived here, or they had other plans. Both scenarios troubled him. Back then, back during the fighting, he had seen a similar scenario. It hadnt ended well for anyone then either.
This time, though, he was part of the hunted, and he trusted the plan. Like Eric, somewhere below, he was concerned about Terri and Ike, but he had faith that those two would shine in their moment.
Terri eyeballed Ike as the younger man situated himself in the blind the two of them had hastily built at the end of the corridor. They were across the facility from everyone else and they were just about ready to enact the plan. The only thing that could go wrong now was that creature, whatever it was, would pick up the wrong scent and go after Eric and Greta. She tried not to think of that as she tightened her overalls around her waist and started the climb up to the platform where Ike was waiting. As usual he was looking down at her with a strange look. Had it been anyone else, she might have thought he was checking her out, but his eyes werent focused and he was frowning. Not the usual look she got.
“Here,” he said, suddenly, and lowered his hand for her. She rolled her eyes and took it, feeling an unexpected amount of strength as he pulled her up so she could grab onto the lip of the platform and pull herself up the rest of the way.
“Thanks,” she said, and surprisingly found herself meaning it. She shuffled around in the limited space and peered back down the corridor. The only light was from the intersection a hundred yards or so back down. There was no noise. No shadows. Nothing. Wherever that thing was, it wasnt as close behind them as she thought.
“You ready?” Ike asked. His voice was the usual monotone. Whatever he had lost when his sister disappeared was still gone.
“I am,” Terri said, pulling her hair away from her face and tying it up loosely behind her. “Are you?”
He looked at his hands for a moment and then back down the hallway. “Yeah,” he said. The monotone was still there, but there was a determination behind it. It wasnt as strong as Terri would have liked, considering the circumstances, but she would take it if it meant he was going to do what he needed. “Yeah, Im ready.”
“Youve done this without your sister around, right?” she asked cautiously. The last time anyone had mentioned Micah to his face had ended up almost being caught in his power.
But he nodded. “Yeah, when Eric and Mal were teaching me, she was never around. They worried about that too,” a small smile flicked across his face. She wondered what that meant but decided not to press the issue and just nodded.
“Good,” she said. “Just dont get me caught in your thing.”
“Dont worry,” he reassured her for the fifth or sixth time. “They taught me pretty well.”
She rolled her eyes, but in the darkness he didnt see it, and lay on her belly, her head at the edge of the platform and, like the young man beside her, waited for their moment.
The warehouse was big enough for several large trucks to pull in all at once and everyone who had been at the facility when the creature had broken in was huddled together in the middle. Anyone who had any kind of offensive descendant ability circled the group, keeping an eye on any entrances.
A door slid open high above them, and everyone immediately swung around to see what it was. All of the descendants who were on the outside the group prepared themselves to attack, but relaxed when Greta’s chair appeared followed by Eric who stopped to seal the door behind them.
The two older descendants looked down at the group and smiled. It looked like everyone had made it.
“Good,” Eric said, when the headcount was confirmed. “Anything else to report?” he asked the few older descendants who had taken charge.
“Jake was saying something,” one of them, a woman Terris age said. Her tone was dismissive, but she knew she had to report anything to Eric.
“Let me deal with that,” Eric said, thanking her again and heading off to find Jake among the crowd.
“Eric,” Jake said gleefully as he saw him looking. “Grandma says she found something.”
“Well,” Eric said, “dont keep me in suspense. What is it?”
“I dont know what it means,” Jake started.
“Thats ok,” Eric replied. “Maybe I do.”
“Oh, yeah,” Jake said happily. “Grandma says that there is another place like this, not far from here. She found it because someone died there and since were so close, she was able to … see it? I dont know what she means by that.”
“She was saying it in a way you could understand,” Eric said. “So you could tell me.”
“Shes so nice,” Jake beamed.
“Shes wonderful,” Eric agreed. “When you speak to her next, thank her for all of us. Shes given us great news.” Eric turned to walk away, but suddenly thought of something and turned back to the young man. “And, Jake, if she says anything else about this other facility, you come and tell me straight away, ok? Wake me up if you have to. I want to know as soon as possible, ok?”
“Ok!” the young teenager said happily and went back to the crowd in the middle of the warehouse.
Eric strolled around, making sure no one else had anything to report and then went and relayed what Jake had said to Greta and the others who were with her.
“Another place like this?” Greta said. “That doesnt sound great.”
“Thats what Im thinking too,” Eric said. “What are the odds that that place is where the creature came from and where theyre keeping Micah.”
“We dont know anything,” Greta warned. “It could be a coincidence. It could be something else.”
“The fact that someone died there and recently is what interests me,” Eric said. “Theres nothing out here in the desert. So this other facility is close by, which means its not an official state-sponsored thing, its staffed and potentially has patients.”
“You sure about that?” Greta asked slowly.
“This place,” he waved his arm around him. “It was clearly set up for medical purposes. Remember what we agreed to never speak about around the kids? But they abandoned it for who knows what reasons. If this other place is just another one like this, then they are set up for medical stuff too. Patients.”
“Or experiments,” the young woman who had told Eric about Jakes message said, rubbing a small scar on her neck.
“Or experiments,” Eric agreed darkly. “Which means that if that is where theyre keeping Micah, if they are responsible, we need to move fast.”
“We cant do shit while that thing is hunting us,” the young woman said, clenching her fist.
“Terri and Ike will take care of that,” Eric said. “But if thats the place this creature came from, and we dont know that for sure,” he added quickly seeing Greta open her mouth to interrupt. “Then we kill two birds by getting in there and getting Micah out.”
“Im still worried,” Greta said. “Why hasnt she used her powers to get out of there?”
“They have ways to suppress them,” the other woman said. “Theyre not perfect, but they work.”
“She might also be hampered by her distance from Ike,” Eric said. “We should have been training her too. Im kicking myself for that.”
“Dont,” Greta warned. “We’ve been through this so many times.”
“I know.”
“Ok,” Greta said, moving the subject away from Eric. “Lets wait and see what happens with Terri and Ike and go from there.”
Terri tapped Ike on the shoulder and motioned for him to listen. Sure enough, nearby, they could hear the tell tale tapping of that things claws on the tiled floor of this part of the facility. It was moving slowly, deliberately. Almost like it knew its prey was nearby and trapped and it could take them with ease.
In the blind the two descendants waited, ready at a moments notice to carry out their part of the plan. As one, they shuffled back into the darkness and waited for the creature to turn the corner.
It was the same as the other one, like a sleek, grey leopard. Its head was too big for its body and its fangs dripped with the acidic saliva. Its tail, spiked and covered in thorns, swung lazily behind it as it turned and headed down the corridor where Terri and Ike waited. It sniffed the floor and immediately looked up at the blind where the two of them were hidden.
“Ready?” Terri whispered, her hands in the position she needed them to be in.
Ike breathed out slowly, his eyes open and locked on the creature. “Ready,” he said. His voice was that other monotone now, the monotone that spoke of his power, building and ready to use.
“Three,” Terri said as the creature took a tentative step forward. “Two,” the creature set back on its haunches and sniffed the air. “One,” the creature leapt. “Now,” Terri shouted.
Ike unleashed his descendant ability and the creature stopped in mid air. Ike could feel the bubble pulling at him, but he held it in place and nodded, unable to speak.
Beside him, Terri let her own power escape, a blinding beam of yellow-orange light, that rushed out from her hands and slammed directly into the creature as Ike let his own power drop. He, and only he, felt the world shudder as those few seconds caught back up.
He breathed hard as the smouldering remains of the creature fell to the floor and the unused portion of Terris power blew through the roof, narrowly missing Malcolm, still high above them.