PART THREE The Digs

CHAPTER 14

Two outlines scuttled out from a doorway and slowly crept toward the ambient light that was barely on in front of them. Hanna and Dimitri struggled down the hallway, slowly making their way back to the elevator. A buzzing sound came from the overhead fluorescents. They had been on for years but somehow managed to hang on for a few more moments, lighting the space with a dim flicker that only seemed to accentuate the hallway’s never-ending creepiness.

Those lights last forever, she thought. She was thankful they did.

A layer of dust hung in the room without a place to go. It was a remnant of Russell’s escape earlier on. There was no airflow, and it felt as if they were going deeper into the abyss. Dimitri fell to his knee. He was really starting to dip in strength. His body was soaked with sweat. His face was bluish and pale but felt hot like fire. He broke his fall on a wooden crate that was stacked with withering cardboard boxes. There were extra lighting tubes for the ceiling, but only a few were left.

Hanna attempted to help Dimitri’s heavy body from the floor. However, gravity did not want to cooperate. On the first attempt, the man slid right through Hanna’s skinny arms and back to the dusty floor. She moved behind him and lifted him back up from behind. The duo slid across the floor for a few minutes before Dimitri was able to stabilize and stand upright. The effort took its toll on Hanna. She leaned down to catch her breath.

A heavy door swung open. Hanna and Dimitri exited into another dark, cavernous space. It felt familiar. It was an area Hanna had been before. This was where they had left her last time. She knew the layout better than Dimitri did, and she slowly pushed ahead of him.

Only the two separate flashlights they wielded illuminated the space. Dimitri still wore his head lamp. He needed his hands free. With his condition quickly deteriorating, he lumbered through the space, grabbing hold of and leaning against anything he could find for support.

Hanna stepped through the room and shone her flashlight to the floor. What the hell is that? There was a puddle of fresh blood. Maybe it was Russell’s or Gail’s. She couldn’t help but feel the guilt of knowing more than they did and withholding so much. Maybe I could have told them earlier.

She grabbed Dimitri’s arm and helped him take a seat on a three-foot-tall concrete traffic wall that was used to protect a large water filtration tank. He sighed for a moment, wiping the sweat and grit from his face. His pale skin was hard to ignore, and it seemed to glow in the darkness. He laughed, coughed heavily, and looked out toward something with irony. A few feet away was yet another hallway, which led to the freight elevator. It never ends.

But they were almost there. Despite the man’s levity, Hanna was less relieved. Something was terribly off about the place, and the looming presence of other beings seemed to hang over them. We have to keep moving, she concluded. She read their surroundings quickly and shoved Dimitri’s shoulder. He took a heavy breath and muscled back to his tired legs. The duo pressed slowly on toward the hallway.

Dimitri stuck his head out from a doorway and looked left and then right. He shuffled out to the large elevator and sat down on the floor near the call panel. Hanna stepped behind him and raised her wrench in the defensive position. She kept a lookout with a watchful scowl. Dimitri placed the screwdriver tip under the lip of the panel and paused. He needed a hammer. He looked back at Hanna’s wrench. He snapped his fingers for the tool.

Is he crazy? she thought. That will make a ton of noise. Hanna didn’t want him to have the wrench, but she gave it to him with reluctant urgency.

Dimitri placed the wrench to the butt of the screwdriver and mimicked a few taps before swinging back and hitting it with force. The sound shotgunned across the area, ripping through the endless domicile like a submarine alarm. The echoing effects were damning, and Hanna cringed. She cowered as the last bit of sound faded away.

Dimitri raised the wrench for a second attempt. He looked back at her with a shrug. What else could he do?

Hanna shook her head, but it was too late. Dimitri took another swing, sending the tip of the screwdriver deep underneath the panel lip. His trick had worked, and now he had the leverage to peel the control cover from the wall. He quickly tossed the wrench back to the floor, creating another clamor. Hanna scurried to retrieve it to keep it from clanking around and tumbling across the cold concrete. She leaped back and returned to her defensive mode.

The first series of wires started to reveal themselves as Dimitri torqued his tool deeper underneath the panel cover. From what he could see, a green-and-red wire was clamped to a small plastic box directly underneath the back side of the top button. His grimy fingers were too fat to reach it. He needed to peel the cover off even more.

His struggle continued as Hanna was distracted by a sound that seemed to breathe out from an open doorway a few yards away. The sound resembled footsteps cautiously stopping a few flights up. She angled back to Dimitri. He was unaware and was still working on the cover. Hanna slowly pivoted back toward the door. Her eyes were radiating with anxiety. Could that be Gail? Russell? Despite the little voice in her head telling her to stay put, logic was no match for curiosity.

The door led to another set of steps. A narrow emergency exit. It most likely descended from the top office levels. However, it didn’t look familiar. Hanna crossed into the threshold of the doorway and looked inside, shining her flashlight up toward the second flight. This place was a maze. Where the hell do these lead? The aluminum railings were blanketed in a thick layer of cobwebs. This place hadn’t been accessed for some time. Hanna could only see up to the second landing. She slowly stepped into the stairwell and looked up. Her flashlight found nothing. It was just another dark shaft leading up about three stories.

“Russell? Gail?” she whispered.

The place was silent. She looked back toward the doorway and backed up in order to exit. Another sound reverberated down toward her from above, causing her to stop. She looked up. It sounded like a door slamming a few flights up. She lifted her wrench and readied for the attack. She leaned in toward the railing to get a better look upward. Stillness. Nothing was there. She glanced back to the doorway. It was not that hard of an escape. She would just go to the next landing.

As Hanna’s foot hit the first step, she glanced down. Her courage — or perhaps stupidity — surprised her. She grimaced. However, something kept her focused on the landing above her. If she could just get to that landing, she should be able to see all the way up. She was only looking at three stories’ worth of steps. Each movement ascending the staircase rattled the old metal railings like tin cans. It was almost impossible to be stealthy. Hanna had ventured to the first landing of the staircase before the next series of steps came into view. She stopped and scanned the darkness with her flashlight. She sighed with relief. She seemed to be alone. Just old creaks, she rationalized. Or maybe I’m just losing it.

Hanna slowly spun around to make her descent back toward the exit when a figure emerged from over her shoulders. She froze. It was on the landing above her and loomed out of the darkness like a ghost, staring through the black air with its elongated eyes. Then there was the distinct sound of a wheeze. It was as if someone was breathing through stuffy nostrils. Then there was the smell. It had the aroma of a fish tank. It was difficult to ignore, but Hanna knew she had to move slowly. She glanced up despite her better judgment. It was the same creature from earlier in the hallway. It didn’t seem to be in a hurry. It stood stoically, waiting for her to move, calculating, and sizing her up like a lion did to its prey. Hanna tripped backward, nearly taking a tumble down the steps. Her hand caught the railing with the wrench. She kicked out of the stagger and regained her balance. In a blur, she leaped across the second banister and landed on the set of stairs below. The creature jumped forward, scaling the railing within a second. It seemed to float down toward her as she crossed through the exit into the hallway.

Dimitri’s attention was shattered by Hanna’s call for help. He looked back toward the doorway as she slid out from the stairwell and slammed the door behind her. As the door sealed, an enormous force pelted into it from the other side. The creature put up a persistent effort to push through. The door creaked open and slammed shut over and over as Hanna fought the pressure. She shouted, “Dimitri!”

Dimitri gave a quick look in Hanna’s direction before returning to his work. Getting the panel off the wall was more important. With a flick of the screwdriver, he quickly ripped the panel from the wall, exposing a jungle of wires. Blue, green, and copper wires led to the back side of the panel. They snaked up into three different button housings. Despite the dated outside appearance, the back side of the call panel was a mixture of new and old. Several modern electrical components seemed to try desperately to tie the old system into the new guts. The wires were corroded with time, but the circuit boards were a recent addition. The old wires snaked through a small plastic box before they returned back into the wall. That’s the override, Dimitri thought, and he yanked the wires out, stripping them down to the copper. He paused for a moment as a bead of sweat rolled across his nose and dropped to the floor below. He knew what he needed to do, but his attention was being pulled.

“I can’t hold this door!” Hanna shouted.

The creature’s horrid face peered through the crack in the door as it opened and closed with the struggle. It was trying to get its hands inside the crack. Hanna groaned with the determination of an athlete as she pushed the door back to a close, nearly smashing the creature’s gangly fingers.

Dimitri began jamming wires underneath the ground plate of the lower button. The sound of servos kicking into action followed. Something was happening inside the shaft. Dimitri’s exhausted face mustered one last painful smirk. I got you, you bastard. Despite all his suffering, his determination had paid off.

Hanna’s feet started to slide back across the dusty concrete. The door was getting heavier, and it seemed as though there was more pressure from the other side. Perhaps the creature had assistance now. She was losing balance fast. She grabbed the door handle, trying to keep the latch bolt from turning out of the faceplate.

Dimitri twisted his final wire around into a small copper washer that penetrated out from underneath the bottom button of the panel. He then screwed down a bolt with his fingers, locking the wire underneath the washer. He flipped the panel over and started jamming the mushroom-shaped button.

The large freight elevator doors kicked into life with a rickety vibrating sensation, slowly revealing a two-hundred-square-foot freight elevator. The walls and ceiling were lined with a series of thin dark-blue metal panels. A yellow-and-black-striped bumper guard ran along the bottom third of the wall. Scuffs and dents were visible all along its edges.

Dimitri stood up and looked over at Hanna. She was less than ten feet away and struggling with the door. I have a clean shot, he thought. There was nothing in his escape path.

“Dimitri, I’m losing my balance!” Hanna cried out.

He glanced back at Hanna struggling. She was afraid, and his body trembled with indecision. Then a gentle voice in his mind whispered, You can’t leave her.

Maybe it was empathy. Maybe guilt. Whatever it was, it was calling to him to act. To redeem himself from his past. In a blur, he scooped the panel from the floor and ripped it from the wires. He threw the panel into the darkness and ran toward Hanna with what little strength he had left. He slid up next to her and retrieved the other screwdriver from his pocket. With one stroke, he knifed the screwdriver into the doorjamb, wedging it closed via the friction of the two surfaces. He flashed a look toward Hanna. “We move on three. One…two…three!” said Dimitri.

Hanna and Dimitri shoved away from the door as fast as they could and ran toward the open elevator. As the duo raced from the scene, the door blasted open, shooting the screwdriver out like an arrow. Dimitri slid onto the elevator floor underneath the interior control panel. He reached up and shoved in the bottom button. Hanna backed herself into the corner as the large, heavy doors dropped downward. In the hallway, several unsightly creatures piled out of the stairwell and scurried toward the elevator like cockroaches. Hanna gasped as the rickety doors closed in the nick of time. She slid to her ass as the elevator jolted violently into action, dropping with a free-falling sensation.

CHAPTER 15

There was a long moment of equilibrium, which dominated the elevator’s painfully slow descent into the unknown. Although, the sound of servos and machinery was a welcome experience. It was the first sign of freedom they had experienced in a long time. Dimitri looked toward Hanna. She nodded with gratitude. The horror of the laboratory and Pierce seemed to be a distant nightmare, shedding its weight slowly with the passing of time. He had saved her life, and thanks to him, she was on her way to see her daughter again.

It took an eternity for the elevator to drop ten stories into the belly of the facility. We’re almost there, Dimitri thought, and he attempted to sit up from the rusted diamond-plated floor. They had about four more stories to go.

The freight elevator rocked to a halt. It was as if the world stopped spinning and the oxygen was blasted into outer space. How short-lived their moment of rejoicing was. Hanna looked around in a daze. By the look on Dimitri’s face, something was horribly wrong. He glanced toward the ceiling. Two enclosed fluorescent lights were beating out their last pulses of life.

Dimitri painfully slid back to the buttons and gave the bottom button a few more shoves. The box jolted back into action and rocked up and down like a nauseating roller coaster ride.

“What’s happening?” Hanna gasped as the two fluorescent lights flickered out.

The room was solid black. Hanna quickly fumbled for her flashlight. She seemed to have rolled on top of it when she dropped to the floor. A twitch of clothing rubbing against itself could be heard from across the room.

“Dimitri?” she called out.

Her voice echoed through the small metal box and faded away. There was no reply. With the click of a button, she fired up her flashlight and shone it across the elevator, spotlighting Dimitri through a beam of lingering dust particles. He was curled up in the corner. His trembling body looked as though he had been smashed into the floor by a giant. Hanna reached up and grabbed the bumper guard. She peeled herself from the ridged floor. “Dimitri, talk to me.”

He was nonresponsive. His body was in apparent shock. Hanna reached down and placed her hand over his shoulder. He felt like a fire pit. His T-shirt was sweltering and soaking wet. Steam pulsated from his body into the air. She looked around desperately. She shone her light up to the control panel and stepped over Dimitri’s buckled body to press the button that had his bloody thumbprint pasted across the surface.

A loud impact from outside the door startled Hanna back across the room. It was the sound of clamoring tools and the unsettling groan of bending metal. Hanna’s flashlight canvassed the door. The clamor could only mean one thing. They were trying to get in.

“Come on.” Hanna’s voice trailed off as she shone her light back down to the floor.

She narrowed her eyes with a confused scowl. Dimitri was gone.

“Dimitri!”

She pivoted backward and shone her light to the back of the elevator. There was no trace of the Russian in that direction. Was she going crazy? As her thoughts rolled around her head, she caught something from the corner of her eye.

“Dimitri!” she cried out again, and she spun her body in the direction of the movement.

In a blur, Hanna felt the sensation of impact against her body. She tumbled back into the metal wall with a thunderous crash. The impact knocked the heavy wrench and flashlight from her hands. Her face was still pinned downward. She could feel the body heat. As she shook her head from the tackle, she glanced up. To her horror, it was Dimitri. He had her pinned against the wall with his forearm. His blaring LED head lamp obscured her vision.

“What are you doing?” she screamed out.

She shoved back and attempted to slide across the wall. Dimitri’s face dipped into view. He wasn’t himself. Veins and sores erupted from his skin. He looked like a burn victim. But something was much more troubling. His eyes were midnight black, glazed over and pulsating as if they were popping from his skull. His body was transforming before her. He was hanging on. Agonizing. His grasp was desperate and pleading.

Hanna struggled to find the words. A scream was all she could muster. She then slid her back across the metallic wall and settled into the corner of the metal box, using the bumper guard for upright support.

“Help me!” he pleaded pathetically.

Hanna tried to break free, but he had a heavy grip. His weight started to pull them toward the floor. The force of gravity slowly took over as the two bodies slid down the wall. Hanna quickly rolled her hips to the side and lowered to a knee. Dimitri’s balance started to waver. She then shifted her weight, causing him to release her. This freed his hands. He stumbled back into the wall. Hanna leaped forward, almost diving over the top of the man as he fell. She landed face first and took in a mouthful of dust. Dimitri rallied. This time, he attacked her with much more aggression. He shoved off the wall and dived on top of her like a football player going for a fumble.

Hanna’s attention drifted across the floor. The wrench was just a few stretches away and looked more like a life preserver. She only needed a foot more. She stretched out across the floor on her stomach. Her fingers were only inches from the tool, but she needed it quickly. Dimitri continued his aggression, mounting her backside like a rabid dog. His hands slowly wrapped around her neck and gripped her throat like a handlebar. She gasped for air as his fingers tightened with the impact. The pressure was suffocating. His hands were collapsing her air passage with each movement, slowly squeezing out her consciousness. She reached out again for the tool. She only had one last attempt. Her index finger slowly caressed the handle of the wrench. Her fingernail clawed at the trim along the handle. Inch by inch, the tool slowly moved closer into her palm. However, her vision started to blur. Her head was rushing with blood. Her face began to puff up with asphyxiation. Dimitri continued his kung fu hold on her throat.

“Don’t leave me!” he shouted.

The victorious feeling of the wrench filled Hanna’s sweaty palm. She twisted her torso back and swung the wrench with her right arm. She used all the strength she could mount. The flat side of the heavy tool slammed into the temple of Dimitri’s head. Despite being only a modest swing, the impact was enough to topple the man over and make him release his stranglehold. Hanna reacted quickly and jumped to her feet. She cocked the tool back like a tennis player waiting for a chip shot. Dimitri’s body slowly pulled itself from the floor. A steady stream of thick blood poured from his hairline across the side of his unshaven face. Hanna waited patiently. Perhaps he’d come to his senses. Perhaps the impact of her wrench was enough to jar him back into some level of consciousness. Dear God, don’t make me do this.

The man stood up from the floor and glared at her with a raging black look.

“Dimitri, stop this.”

Despite her pleading words, Dimitri’s head lowered for the attack. He lunged toward her through the sour darkness for a second attempt.

Hanna took another swing, this time sending a terrific blow to the left side of the man’s dazed face. His fractured head whiplashed backward. His body crumpled back to the floor in less than a second. Hanna dropped to a knee and began bludgeoning the man. With each blow, Dimitri’s body fluttered into a stillness. As the last impact of the wrench ripped from the back of the man’s bloodied skull, his body toppled over to its final resting position.

Hanna fell back. She was spattered with blood, and she collapsed with exhaustion. She slid to her ass and pushed away from the carnage as quickly as she could. The room was dark, but she could see the outline of her handiwork. All that seemed to remain of the Russian was a pile of clothing and mangled bone and flesh. She had surprised herself, but she had done what she needed to. She understood that and felt little remorse. Perhaps Pierce had been correct when he attacked Dimitri the first time. It was clear there was no coming back.

Hanna caught her breath and looked above her head. The control panel was waiting to be pushed. She lifted her shaky hand and shoved in the bottom button. The elevator began shaking back to life, lowering a few more stories deeper until she felt the thrill of completion. The room landed into its final stop, rocking to a soft stillness. Light started to flood in from the outside hallway as the metal doors separated and opened. The light spilled across the messy floor, revealing the carnage before her. Hanna looked around. Dimitri’s second screwdriver was a few feet away. She picked up the tool and stuffed it in her pocket before grabbing her wrench and flashlight. She cautiously gazed out into the brightness. Her eyes adjusted to the light. A long tunnel stared back at her. My God. Where the hell do I go?

CHAPTER 16

It was the belly of the facility. It was long, drawn out, irrationally large, and unintentionally like a maze. Hanna took two steps out from two concrete pillars that separated the large elevator area like a fireplace mantel. She couldn’t help but feel exhausted noticing the sight before her. This goddamned place! It was an elaborate concrete tunnel system that seemed to go on for miles. This new place had a cared-for quality about it. It was clean and fully operational, unlike its rusty predecessor upstairs. Its walls looked like newly poured concrete. The lighting fixtures overhead were modern and fresh. They obnoxiously flooded the environment with blinding light. The corridors were large enough to drive a semi through. They were possibly large enough to store aircraft.

At first glance, Hanna knew what she was looking at. Dimitri and Pierce had referred to this place as the digs, but she had suspected it to be a covert place known to her people as QR-7.

Used to link various military infrastructures throughout the United States, QR-7 was a transportation system. It was ideal for moving troops and sensitive equipment safely underground without detection from the Soviets or the public. The system traveled miles underneath major cities and small towns and connected bases from the Eastern Seaboard to California. Its construction started after World War II, and it was the most expensive construction project the world had ever undertaken. It was one of the military’s most coveted secrets.

Hanna had to keep moving. She gravitated toward an open area that forked out into several different tunnels. She turned her flashlight off. There was no need for it anymore. The surroundings were blindingly bright and empty. Not a sign of life for miles. Hanna stood in the center of the tunnel intersection contemplating her direction. Which way to Richmond, Virginia? she thought with a humorous sniffle, struggling to keep her emotions light.

Every direction looked the same, but making a decision was important. Any decision. Time felt as if it was running out.

Five minutes had passed. Hanna had walked for almost a quarter mile. A split in the tunnel was slowly coming into view. Ahead of her was what looked like a machine room. Large turbines hummed steadily as a small series of pumps lifted up and down in a synchronized effort to create a rhythmic hydraulic beat. Hanna picked up the pace, closing the distance between her and the machine room within seconds. There had to be a way out somewhere nearby. Then she remembered the breakout shafts Dimitri had mentioned earlier. Where the hell are they? Hanna lifted her wrench and slowly stepped toward the threshold of the room. She gazed in and skimmed over the area. A long set of metal stairs twisted up the concrete wall about eight or nine stories before taking a sharp turn into a square section of the ceiling. Across the room, Hanna noticed more tunnels. She couldn’t decide if she should go up or continue on.

Hanna stepped behind two large hydraulic pumps as they whooshed back and forth. She took cover to investigate the room further. She glanced at the machines with indifference. They might as well have been the undercarriage of a rocket ship. Mechanics escaped her. Their purpose was obviously important, but for what was the question. All she knew was that the pungent smell of the axle grease was damn near unbearable. She cloaked her nose with the bend of her arm and dashed toward the staircase like a juggernaut. At the base of the stairwell, she stopped and looked straight up. Eight stories looked like a bargain. She started her ascent up to the first landing with ease.

A sound stopped her in her tracks. It was the spine-chilling cackle of a metal grate lifting up and slamming down with the force of a footstep. She flashed a look back, praying the clamor had something to do with the machinery.

The decision to look back was a mistake. Standing below her, at the base of the stairwell, were four creatures. Perhaps dozens more lurked in the shadows all around her. The blood in her head started to rush down. A sense of light-headedness almost caused her to fall. Don’t react too quickly. She tried to coach herself as she lifted her wrench in defense mode. If they wanted to hurt me, they would have done it already.

Hanna’s free hand caught hold of the wobbly aluminum railing as she planted her right foot onto the next step above. She slowly shifted her weight to avoid a sharp and sudden escape. Ease into it, she repeated to herself, but her actions weren’t fooling any of them.

Out of the pack, one particular creature seemed to be in charge. It was bigger than the others, and it scowled through the darkness with simmering suspicion. Despite the immense, crippling fear that locked her bones solid, Hanna couldn’t help staring into the creature’s long black eyes. The sight of an extraterrestrial this close was an out-of-body moment and certainly extraordinary. Maybe I can communicate, the logical side of her mind thought. They’re intelligent after all, right? It was worth a try.

“I just want to go home,” she pleaded from her dry, cracked lips. “Please. I mean you no harm.”

The long block of silence that followed was less than encouraging. She somehow suspected they understood her, but they remained silent and sized up her next move. She was trapped. They had the upper hand and in no way needed to overreact.

“What do you want from me?” she shouted with the last bit of emotional resilience.

The lead creature stepped past the other two and stopped a foot below her.

“What? What do you want?” cried Hanna.

The creature’s brow lowered as it growled something that could only be construed as aggressive. Its blackened gums flared, exposing yellowed, razor-sharp teeth. It hunched down, readying itself to pop forward with the attack.

Hanna stumbled back, supporting her weight alongside the railing. She glanced up toward the ceiling. The staircase vanished up into the next floor. She turned away to make her escape, leaping up to the next step with the speed and gracefulness of a ballerina. But as her body spun to a stop, she found herself face-to-face with yet another creature. Without a second’s warning, the monster shoved her backward toward the lower landing. Hanna immediately lost balance, tripping over her feet and tumbling backward. The room spun out of control. She reached out to grab the railing, but she missed. Her skinny body toppled and went into a violent roll down the flight of steps. She crashed to a stop into the concrete wall below. Her head slammed into the floor like a wrecking ball. Her vision sputtered out to blackness as the sounds of the facility were replaced with a familiar setting.

The rain hit the windshield in an orchestrated fashion against the constant drumming of the wipers. The comfort of new-car smell and expensive coffee lingered. A luxury sedan with leather seats. Hanna was fixed on the road ahead, trying to steer her way through the wet and soggy roads of Arlington, Virginia. Her hair was fixed. Her makeup was perfect. She looked the part of a stylish government warrior on her way to the office. The road seemed to represent miles of guilt as the sedan crossed through the open lanes of Courthouse and turned left into Arlington toward the nation’s capital. Hanna’s face was stoic, contemplative, and troubled. She dreaded her destination.

“Mamma, how long are you going to be gone?” a gentle voice spoke from the back seat, yanking Hanna from her tormented state.

She looked in the rearview mirror and spotted the little girl. She was barely three years and clearly her daughter. The little girl sat up in her car seat, struggling to comprehend the situation.

“I don’t know, honey,” Hanna replied gently.

The response was of little satisfaction to the child. She grimaced and looked out the window, trying to find the words to respond in her own way.

Hanna looked back, acknowledging the little girl’s trouble with a guilty sigh.

An approaching traffic light flashed yellow and then red. A barrage of brake lights beamed through the spotted windshield, flooding crimson across the dashboard. Hanna pressed on the brake pedal, sending the car into a subtle stop.

“Where you going this time, Mamma?” said the girl with an uptick of emotion.

Hanna turned to look back at the child. She had only been home for five days before she received the call to leave again. She missed her daughter so much, and work had become an excuse for her guilt. But not this time. Hanna stared off for a moment. Determination and defiance poured across her face. She locked eyes with the sweet little child and spoke words she wished she had said sooner. “Home. We’re going home,” she replied.

A smile started to crack across the child’s face. Hanna reached back and gently touched the little girl’s hand before turning back to the dashboard. She quickly popped the car into gear and readied herself for a U-turn.

“I won’t leave you again.”

The light turned green. Hanna slowly accelerated forward.

The sound of screeching tires shook her attention. In a flash, a large truck slammed into the driver’s-side door. The window exploded into pebbles; metal twisted, and airbags went off. The car spun in a circle, melting the tires down to the rims. Hanna bounced around her seat like a rag doll. Then everything went silent.

CHAPTER 17

Hanna’s eyes fluttered open with the return of turbines and machinery. Her vision slowly adjusted to the brightness of the fluorescent lights of a tunnel. She was back. Her body jolted as something tugged her. Her hair mopped across the dusty concrete with the motion of being dragged. She lifted her head up. One of the creatures had her by the leg and was dragging her down the hallway.

She immediately kicked, but the creature had an amazing grip. She struggled to break free by twisting to her side. The creature fought back and shoved her to the floor. Hanna felt something rub against her hip bone; it was the screwdriver. In a blur, she quickly produced the tool with her shaky right hand and took a hefty swipe at the creature’s forearm. The first impact was a slice that dug about an inch into the creature’s leathery skin. The creature growled in what sounded more like aggravation than pain. Hanna pulled the tool back and stabbed downward, this time lodging it into the creature’s thigh region. The creature doubled over, and Hanna quickly squirmed away and jumped to her feet. She blasted down the hallway back toward the machine room with the staircase.

Hanna hurtled up the staircase with a few large steps, ascending to the second landing in a matter of seconds. Behind her, the creature was just starting to rally from her attack. It lumbered down the short corridor into the pump room and toward Hanna’s location.

It only took Hanna a minute and a half to climb all fifteen stories of the long stairwell. As she reached the top, she looked around pitifully. It was another concrete room. No doors. No windows. A seemingly dead end for her escape. She glanced down the staircase to see the creature slowly rising from the lower level. Hanna turned back across the room and looked around wildly. She then focused on a distant wall across the room; there was a small air vent. A sliced beam of daylight seeped out from inside.

Hanna dashed toward the wall, stabbing her screwdriver into the surface of the vent upon arrival. The sounds of footsteps were getting closer. She knew she only had a matter of seconds to remove the vent cover. She dug the screwdriver under the lip and chiseled away at the rusty bolt holding it to the concrete. With the twist of the handle, she managed to snap the cover from the wall and tossed it to the floor behind her. On the other side was a vertical shaft. The old breakouts. She stuck her head through a nest of spider webs. An opening at the top seemed to lead outside. An old wooden utility ladder was her only option for reaching it. The climb was another eighty feet.

Hanna tossed the screwdriver aside, rolled into the dark space, and quickly started to make her climb. As her foot hit the first step, the ladder shook with the ravages of time. A thick curtain of dust and dirt showered down from above. Oh my God. This ladder is going to disintegrate! Despite the safety concern, it was her only option. She gritted her teeth and started the slow and cautious climb upward. The brightness from the sunlight above was the only thing she focused on. I’m almost there. You can do this!

The creature arrived moments after Hanna had reached the halfway point. It quickly went after her, flying up the wooden scaffolding in a matter of seconds. The sudden movement added more instability to the old wooden ladder, sending it into a violent swaying motion. Hanna reached toward the wall for support as she looked down at the ferocious creature climbing toward her with rage. The ladder started to twist and pop from the weathered concrete fastener that had held it to the wall for decades. The only thing keeping it from collapsing was a handful of bolts at the top near the exit.

Hanna refocused on the sunlight above and moved up a few more steps. The creature gained quickly, grabbing her foot and pulling her down a few feet. She hung on desperately as the ladder started to separate from the wall. The ladder fell back into the other wall, pinning Hanna underneath. The creature fell a few feet but reclaimed its position quickly. Hanna crawled out from under the ladder and fought desperately to gain more ground. The creature reached up and grabbed her ankle. Hanna looked down. The creature was within striking distance. She raised her left foot and kicked down on the creature’s face, this time stunning it. She twisted her ankle from its grasp and hurled upward to the sunlight. The creature shook off its daze and pursued her, sending the ladder into another spin.

Hanna had barely reached the ledge when the left side of the ladder separated from itself. The wood slowly broke into slivers and collapsed downward toward the creature. Hanna quickly hoisted her body onto the ledge as the structure crumpled. The creature glared upward as gravity took control; its body dropped along with the debris and crashed down four stories into a plume of dust. Hanna rolled over to her back and sighed heavily.

Something was strange about how she felt at that moment. As thankful and relieved as she was, she couldn’t help dwelling on the four others she had left behind. Her survival seemed to make little sense, considering she had been the outsider. Hanna mustered up her remaining strength and reached toward a slotted metal grate that looked out toward the blue sky. It was a beautiful, bright summer day.

The sun cascaded against a long, jagged line of purple mountains. The vast desert landscape seemed like a different planet. A steady breeze wove through the coves and hummocks of the terrain. There was no sign of life other than the cacti and towering Joshua trees that dwelt in the region.

The ground began to separate. Vegetation and dry foliage began to slide forward against the horizon. It appeared as if the earth was folding in on itself. She heard the sounds of metal and locks snapping open. The large metal grate lifted upward and crashed topside down. Hanna painfully ascended from a hole as the bright sun spilled across her tired and disheveled face. She rolled onto her back and stared at the sun. It was hard to contain her emotion at the sight of the deep-blue desert sky. It was the first time she had allowed herself to cry. But her moment of release was short-lived. Off in the distance, the sound of a motor vehicle raced toward her.

Alongside a long, dusty road, Hanna climbed up for a better look. Less than a mile away, several vehicles raced toward her. They kicked up a tornado of dust behind them. Within seconds, the unmarked trucks and SUVs cautiously rolled up and began slowing down. Before the tires had the chance to stop, a dozen heavily armed military police officers piled out from the vehicles and surrounded Hanna at gunpoint. The sky came alive with the arrival of a Pave Hawk helicopter. Hanna looked up as it hovered overhead, stirring up the desert floor with a tornado of dust.

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