Spores by Ian Woodhead Page A

it still purring.
    The boy licked his lips then wiped his hand across his chin, removing a dribble of bright pink glutinous fluid. Miles didn’t even want to imagine where that stuff had come from.
    “There’s a fire exit down by the children’s books. Take the stairs to the roof. It’s how I got in here before mother managed to trap me.” He brushed his hand across the thing’s scales then bent down and lifted the other one onto the table.
    “I’ll keep my mother’s sentinels secured whilst you make your escape. Please hurry though, if these do catch you, I’m afraid we’ll be meeting again.” Alistair smiled. “The next time though, this one will be feeding me with you.”
    Miles, nodded and hurried over.
    “Wait a minute!” shouted Alistair, “You still haven’t passed me that book.”
    Miles scooted back, grabbed the hardback and placed it on the table before running toward the Children’s section.
    Chapter Ten
     
     
    There is was again! She stopped crawling, sat back on her knees and placed her ear against the cold metal wall. Amber could definitely hear something scraping; the noise was audible even over the constant hum of the generators.
    It reminded her of a swarm of insects, thousands of legs crawling across the floor at high speed. Amber shivered, probably not the best of comparisons to use in her current situation. She noticed a small grille set into the floor, a bit further along the ventilation shaft. Amber slowly crawled towards it, hoping to God that the images flowing through her head were totally off course.
    Amber silently groaned as she stared through one of the narrow gaps. Her imagination was wrong, this was even worse. Hundreds of cat-sized creatures hurtled along the corridor below her. Each one was subtly different from its neighbour. It was like a sea of multicoloured death flowing across the carpet. She silently crawled over the grille, thanking the Gods that she remembered just how large these shafts were and trying not to imagine what would have happened to her if she’d stayed down there.
    Amber pulled herself along, heading for the three-way junction, further down the shaft. She hoped the shaft leading up would eventually take her to the departure lounge and freedom.
    “Please, let it be so,” she murmured.
    As Amber approached the junction, she discovered that her plans to reach the surface had effectively been scuppered. The two shafts leading off were half the diameter. Her world had just collapsed.
    “Oh, this is so fucking unfair. I’m not that thin. Haven’t you put me through enough shit today, fate?”
    Amber assessed her options, not that she had a vast amount to choose from. She definitely couldn’t go back the way she came, those things would still be in there. She closed her eyes, remembering her frantic climb up through that hole. When she dropped out of the hole and spilled onto a soft, blue carpet, Amber had actually thought she was in the clear until she saw the state of the corridor. Dozens of similar sized holes honeycombed the walls. It didn’t take her long to realise that if she didn’t get out of here, she’d be dead. Amber got to her knees and peered down the hole she’d just climbed up, the creature wasn’t there. That didn’t make sense, Amber was sure that it was right behind her.
    There were two doors at either side of the corridor.
    “Where am I now?” this was another part of the complex that she hadn’t been to before. Just how large was this place? One thing was certain, wherever she was now; they had more money to splash out on a more expensive decorator. Carpeting down, framed prints of landscapes hung from the wall, even oak wood-effect doors. Amber hadn’t seen this anywhere else in the Institute.
    It looked rather homely, well, it would have done before the creatures hadn’t swiss-cheesed the walls.
    Amber ran to the nearest door. Predictably enough, the bloody door was locked. She sighed and ran in the opposite direction.