Belize

Chapter Twenty-One

They scrambled back into the room, but there was nowhere to run. The room was a dead end. There was nothing they could stop the creature with, there wasn’t even anything to hide behind. The door was a useless chunk of broken plastic. Serena was on the ground, sobbing to herself. Marco had discarded his empty rifle and drawn his pistol, as if it would do any good.

“The ceiling!” Shen ordered, pointing up. “The maintenance shafts! Now! It’s our only chance!”

Instantly, Marco leaped up onto a lab table in the corner of the room and swatted aside the ceiling tiles. Billy ran over to Serena and pulled her up, even as she struggled away from him, slapping at him futilely and crying. He dragged her over to Marco, who grabbed her and forcibly hauled her up onto the table. He put his hands under her arms and raised her up so she could climb up above the ceiling panels, like she had done before.

“Get in there!” he yelled at her. “Go!”

She obediently crawled up, and Marco jumped up after her, pulling himself up with his arms and shuffling his way into the narrow space. Billy jumped onto the table and held out his hand for Rebecca.

Shen stood near the table, ready to go, but Njabulo was in the middle of the room. He watched Rebecca climb up into the ceiling and then clenched his fists and faced the doorway.

“Njabulo!” Shen shouted, “Come on!”

He just shook his head. “Not enough time. You go.”

The insect creature flashed into the doorway and Njabulo leaped right at it, grabbing one of its thrashing claws and shouldering it back into the hallway. The creature screamed and Njabulo screamed right back as they collapsed to the ground together. In seconds, his battle cry became a scream of terror as the monster’s claws began slashing into his body.

“Njabulo!” Shen screamed in shock.

Billy didn’t wait, he jumped up and pulled himself into the crawlspace. In front of him, he could see Rebecca’s feet as they disappeared into a dark tunnel ahead. He crawled forward unsteadily across the ceiling tiles, careful not to put his hands or feet directly on them, and found the entrance panel to the maintenance duct. It was pitch black inside, but in the darkness he could hear Rebecca and the others

Shen jumped up and grabbed the support braces for the ceiling tiles. The entire ceiling creaked and sagged under their combined weights. Billy shifted his body sideways and reached out his hand.

“I got you, come on!”

Shen grabbed his hand and Billy pulled him up. Below them, they heard the insect creature howl victoriously and smash its way into the room.

“Too late!” Shen said, letting go. “Just get out of here!”

“You can make it!” Billy said.

Suddenly, Shen’s head jerked backward as one of the insect’s jagged claws ripped out the front of his chest, impaling him. Blood spurted from his mouth and gushed from his shredded guts. He stared at Billy with wide eyes and then the creature yanked him down, bringing the entire ceiling structure down with him. With a groan of metal and shattering concrete, the support braces ripped out of the upper ceiling and the entire structure collapsed in a thundering roar, filling the room with a choking cloud of dust and debris.

“Billy!” Rebecca screamed from inside the shaft. “Billy, my God!”

By some miracle, Billy had one hand on the edge of the entrance panel when the ceiling came down, and it saved his life. He grabbed it and hung there for just a moment before reaching up and grabbing with his other hand, his legs dangling precariously below him. Below, the insect creature was scrambling and thrashing underneath the collapsed ceiling, shattering the tiles and trying to break loose. Billy risked a single glance down and then pulled with all his might. It had been awhile since he did any pull-ups, but the surge of adrenaline gave him the strength to lift himself up.

He snatched at another handhold and then Rebecca was above him, her face smeared with dust. She grabbed his arm. “Don’t let go!”

There wasn’t enough room for two people to fit through the entrance panel, so Rebecca had to back away to give Billy space to get inside. She reached out and tugged at his shirt, trying to get a grip to help pull him, but all she did was get in his way. Behind her, Marco and Serena could do nothing but watch, but it was so dark that they couldn’t even do that. Finally, Billy managed to get both his arms inside the shaft, and was able to drag himself all the way inside. He grabbed the panel cover and swung it closed as the monster below them kept screaming its fury. They could still hear it as it smashed through the wrecked lab room, but there was no way the creature could reach them now. They were safe, at least for the moment.

He rolled onto his back and just panted for breath. Rebecca held his face and kissed him. “Oh, God, Billy, are you okay? Please be okay. I was so scared ...”

“I’m fine,” he croaked. “Shen and Njabulo, they … they didn’t make it. I’m sorry, Marco.”

“Yeah,” he heard Marco mutter. “Yeah, I know.”

“Njabulo sacrificed himself to give us more time. Shen almost made it, but ...”

“They died saving us, man,” Marco said, sounding miserable. “But if we don’t get out of this place, their sacrifice ain’t gonna mean a damn thing.”

“How much time do you think we have?” Rebecca asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Ten minutes, maybe fifteen. Maybe one.”

Marco shuffled forward. Billy couldn’t actually see him in the complete darkness of the maintenance duct, but he got the sense he was moving farther down.

“Hey, lady,” Marco said. “I mean, Serena. Listen, this is life or death now, okay? You have to lead us out of here, and you gotta do it now.”

“What?” Serena whimpered. “I … I can’t.”

Rebecca crawled closer to them and Billy followed behind her. “Serena,” Rebecca said. “I know you’re scared, but you can do this. You know the way out, remember? You were taking us to the elevator when we got attacked.”

“But I don’t … I don’t know what direction ...”

Marco said insistently, “Yes, you do! You just gotta figure out what way we’re facing now, and take us where we need to go!”

“Marco,” Rebecca said. “You have to calm down. You’re scaring her.”

There was a brief, tense moment of silence, and then Marco let out a short breath and said, “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just ...”

“I know,” Rebecca said. “Believe me, I know.”

Helpfully, Billy said, “It’s all right. Right now, we’re facing in the same direction that we were going when we went down the hall from that bathroom. We turned left at the split, remember? And this room was on the left side of the hall, so ...”

“Yes,” Rebecca said, “I think you’re right.”

It took a minute for everyone to orient themselves, but they all agreed with Billy. The maintenance shaft they were in went in the same direction as the previous hallway. In fact, if Billy’s spatial awareness was right, if they turned around and went the other way, the shaft probably went directly above that hallway. In his experience, most people didn’t have an innate sense of direction, especially when they were indoors. And in a maze-like laboratory like this, it would be incredibly easy to get turned around and head off in the wrong direction. But Billy was certain that he was right.

Serena was still scared, but she finally said, “Okay, so … so that means we have to go .. left from here. Because we went left in the hallway.”

Marco did his best to be calm, and said, “Yes, and then what way?”

“There was another hall and we turned … right. And then at the end of that hall were the molecular bio labs, I think. And there was a break room down the hall from there, and that’s where I normally took my lunch. I think … I think I can do this. I know the way to go.”

“Okay, then,” Marco said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

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