As she attempted not to stumble over chunks of fallen masonry, she heard the unmistakable sound of the creatures sliding along the tunnels, she glanced behind and saw two heads poking through a couple of tunnel mouths, beside that locked door.
She put on an extra burst of speed, relieved to see the other door standing wide open. Amber raced forward, desperate to get away from those monsters.
“Oh, Jesus!” she cried, as she entered the darkened room. The place resembled an abattoir. There were bits of bodies, in various stages of decomposition, arranged in neat piles across the floor.
Those things were following her in here, she could hear their progress as they slid along the carpet. She’d stumbled into another of their larders. What the hell was she going to do now? There didn’t appear to be any way out, until she spotted the metal grille hanging down, held onto the wall by a single screw. Beyond the grille was a ventilation shaft, large enough for her to climb into.
She crawled past the two smaller shafts. Amber gave them both the middle finger then cursed the builders for making her journey so damn hard. It seemed ironic that she’d discovered more of this building’s hidden places in the last few hours than in all the time she’d spent exploring.
As Amber moved slowly forward, she wondered who the unfortunate souls in the plush area of the Institute were. At first, she thought that they were bits of bodies the creatures had found and just deposited them there. But it seemed more likely that those people were down there all along.
People with money and power perhaps? The local movers and shakers. Amber got the impression that she’d just stumbled into what was left of the new headquarters of the new government for the north of England. Odd that, considering that’s what Amber thought they were trying to achieve.
If that renegade army hadn’t turned up and if those people hadn’t been killed by the tunnel monsters, would that crowd of high flyers have stomped up into the upper levels in a few weeks time?
Hello, riff-raff. You’ve done a splendid job in getting things back up and running. Now we’re in charge. Was she being too cynical?
“Not cynical enough,” she muttered.
From what she’d witnessed, the sudden death of everyone over the age of forty hadn’t exactly brought the younger generation together in harmony. Amber froze as an inhuman shriek echoed down the maintenance shaft. Was one of those things in here with her?
Oh, Jesus. She strained her eyes, trying to see anything moving further down the shaft. This was just terrific, even if there was something there, it’s not as if she could outrun it, Amber couldn’t even turn around.
She took a couple of cautious steps; there was something ahead, an orange glow, but she didn’t think that it was anything malevolent. Not unless the monsters now had glowing eyes.
Encouraged by the fact that the blood-freezing scream hadn’t been repeated, she carried on crawling through the shaft. Amber quickened her pace; the urge to get out of here became ever more urgent.
That glow gained in intensity; she almost whooped with joy when it turned out to be an access panel, large enough to allow her to escape.
“Calm down, lass.” She muttered.
She wasn’t going anywhere if it was locked, considering the shaft narrowed a few metres past that panel.
Amber resisted the urge to wrench open the panel, at least for the moment, she wanted to see what was down there first. She peered through the slats, seeing nobody down there moving about, not that this piece of information was all that surprising. Amber gazed down into a laboratory but had no idea which one, the Institute had several. She wasn’t used to looking at the Institute from this perspective.
She didn’t even know which floor this was. Crawling through all those shafts had buggered up her sense of direction.
“Like it really bloody matters, lass?”
She pushed her fingers through the
She put on an extra burst of speed, relieved to see the other door standing wide open. Amber raced forward, desperate to get away from those monsters.
“Oh, Jesus!” she cried, as she entered the darkened room. The place resembled an abattoir. There were bits of bodies, in various stages of decomposition, arranged in neat piles across the floor.
Those things were following her in here, she could hear their progress as they slid along the carpet. She’d stumbled into another of their larders. What the hell was she going to do now? There didn’t appear to be any way out, until she spotted the metal grille hanging down, held onto the wall by a single screw. Beyond the grille was a ventilation shaft, large enough for her to climb into.
She crawled past the two smaller shafts. Amber gave them both the middle finger then cursed the builders for making her journey so damn hard. It seemed ironic that she’d discovered more of this building’s hidden places in the last few hours than in all the time she’d spent exploring.
As Amber moved slowly forward, she wondered who the unfortunate souls in the plush area of the Institute were. At first, she thought that they were bits of bodies the creatures had found and just deposited them there. But it seemed more likely that those people were down there all along.
People with money and power perhaps? The local movers and shakers. Amber got the impression that she’d just stumbled into what was left of the new headquarters of the new government for the north of England. Odd that, considering that’s what Amber thought they were trying to achieve.
If that renegade army hadn’t turned up and if those people hadn’t been killed by the tunnel monsters, would that crowd of high flyers have stomped up into the upper levels in a few weeks time?
Hello, riff-raff. You’ve done a splendid job in getting things back up and running. Now we’re in charge. Was she being too cynical?
“Not cynical enough,” she muttered.
From what she’d witnessed, the sudden death of everyone over the age of forty hadn’t exactly brought the younger generation together in harmony. Amber froze as an inhuman shriek echoed down the maintenance shaft. Was one of those things in here with her?
Oh, Jesus. She strained her eyes, trying to see anything moving further down the shaft. This was just terrific, even if there was something there, it’s not as if she could outrun it, Amber couldn’t even turn around.
She took a couple of cautious steps; there was something ahead, an orange glow, but she didn’t think that it was anything malevolent. Not unless the monsters now had glowing eyes.
Encouraged by the fact that the blood-freezing scream hadn’t been repeated, she carried on crawling through the shaft. Amber quickened her pace; the urge to get out of here became ever more urgent.
That glow gained in intensity; she almost whooped with joy when it turned out to be an access panel, large enough to allow her to escape.
“Calm down, lass.” She muttered.
She wasn’t going anywhere if it was locked, considering the shaft narrowed a few metres past that panel.
Amber resisted the urge to wrench open the panel, at least for the moment, she wanted to see what was down there first. She peered through the slats, seeing nobody down there moving about, not that this piece of information was all that surprising. Amber gazed down into a laboratory but had no idea which one, the Institute had several. She wasn’t used to looking at the Institute from this perspective.
She didn’t even know which floor this was. Crawling through all those shafts had buggered up her sense of direction.
“Like it really bloody matters, lass?”
She pushed her fingers through the
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