Chapter 20 Survival
SURVIVAL
RAE
Islumped against the side of Maya’s car, glancing around the covered upper level of the parking garage. Few cars remained on this level at this hour.
Shane organized a staff dinner with Diane after work, using Grandma’s death as an excuse to “bring us together.” On the surface, it sounded thoughtful, but both Maya and I knew he just wanted to impress Diane in case I reported his creepy behavior.
When he cornered me outside the restaurant bathroom to suggest I come over to his place so he could “comfort” me, I realized I wasn’t overthinking it. I reminded him he was my boss and that I intended to keep things professional. He assured me he wanted nothing more than to “support” me.
Maya tossed her purse onto the passenger seat. “You sure you don’t want me to give you a ride?”
“I’ll be fine. I think I wanna be alone right now, anyway.”
I needed space to get my head together, but the excuse also hid the four men at my house from Maya. She’d seen two already, but she didn’t know our connection. As far as she knew, they came from out of town for Grandma’s funeral.
I didn’t give her the same excuses I gave Mr. Stevenson. I refused to keep piling on lies. I hated dishonesty, but sometimes it simplified life.
“I wouldn’t stay or anything,” she said, climbing into her car and rolling down the window to peer up at me. “Just figured it’d be better than the bus.”
I appreciated the space to grieve, but eventually we’d return to normal. If I started bailing on movie night… I sighed. I didn’t want to worry her.
“I could use the fresh air and the walk.” The bus stop wasn’t far from the parking garage, and the breeze felt nice tonight. Checking the time on my phone, I said, “I’m gonna get going. I don’t know when the next bus comes through. I don’t wanna miss this one.”
“Call me if you need me.”
I smiled and waved as Maya backed out of the parking space, turning toward the ramp leading to the lower floors.
Opening my texts, I sent a message to the guys.
Rae:
On my way home.
I’d texted the group chat Zeke created to tell them to eat dinner without me. He asked where I’d be, but I didn’t tell them.
It wasn’t like they knew anything about this area, anyway. My work was easy to find, but the restaurant Shane chose wasn’t near the mall, and the garage wasn’t connected.
Tucking my phone into my purse, I looped the strap across my chest and crossed the dimly lit upper floor.
I’d worn a garnet miniskirt with black tights, so the cool night air felt nice against my legs. The breeze moved through the open space, the only other sound besides my boots thumping against the concrete.
I tried to ignore the unease prodding at the back of my mind as I headed for the elevator on the far side of the lot. Even a car horn from the lot below, cutting through the eerie silence, didn’t shake the tension coiling in me.
Passing the next ramp leading down, I heard it. A soft clicking sound followed by a low, guttural growl lifted the hair on the back of my neck and stopped me cold.
While I couldn’t see them, I knew infernals had found me.
My pulse kicked up as I tightened my grip on my purse strap.
I knew they were there watching me. I didn’t know if they were the same ones from Grandma’s funeral or a different kind lurking in the shadows of parked cars.
I hated fearing them. After so many years, I’d grown used to their presence, convincing myself they weren’t even real. But after the funeral, I knew I couldn’t act blasé about it anymore.
I took a steadying breath.
If I ran now, I knew they’d chase me. The way they’d interacted with me at the funeral proved I was no longer safe as a mere observer of their kind.
When the sound of screeching metal broke the silence ahead of me, I flinched, but didn’t move.
I wouldn’t react.
I couldn’t react.
I needed to get home to the guys.
I took a slow, deliberate step forward, knowing I couldn’t risk the elevator—not with an infernal waiting to ambush me. Judging by the sounds, whatever lurked ahead possessed claws sharp enough to slice me in half.
I needed to take the ramp to the level below. If I found other humans, maybe the infernals wouldn’t touch me. I’d never worried my everyday movements might put me in danger before.
I never thought they’d harm me. For almost twenty years, they hadn’t.
When they killed my parents, I didn’t think they wanted me. Maybe they couldn’t find me in the crawlspace. I’d passed out and woke only to the sound of the police calling my name.
Another growl—closer now—ripped me back from my memories.
I forced myself to continue walking, turning onto the ramp.
Each footstep echoed loudly. My combat boots might help me run, but every heavy step gave my location away.
Rounding the corner to the next level down, I looked around for any sign of life. Nothing. The space was emptier than the upper floor. Broken overhead lights cast deep shadows where infernals could hide.
I started across the parking lot as the clicks and growls rose again from all sides. I needed to pretend I didn’t hear them. If they knew, I’d never make it to the elevator, much less make it out of the garage alive.
Feminine hums reached my ears as a tall woman stepped around a car parked between me and the elevator. Her short blonde bob caught the flickering fluorescent light overhead. When she caught sight of me, she smiled, lifting a hand in greeting.
Intense relief hit me, threatening to buckle my knees.
I wasn’t alone.
I could make it to the elevator.
My breath quavered as I exhaled, lifting a shaky hand. I steeled my spine and walked toward her, determined to reach the elevator before she got in her car and left.
As I drew closer, she turned to face me again.
Something wasn’t right.
Her face looked doll-like and milky white. Her rounded blue eyes appeared too innocent and wide for an adult. When I tilted my head, puzzled by the childlike mismatch, she lifted her hand again, fingers wiggling in another playful wave.
Then it happened.
In a voice that rang all around me, she said, “Ananeva.” The word vibrated through my ribcage and the concrete.
She paused, and the fingers of her raised hand twitched unnaturally. Before I could react, her face flickered—glitching like an image failing to refresh.
Her doll-like features contorted, stretching and twisting before melting. Her nose shriveled, leaving two holes surrounded by rotting flesh. Her baby-blue eyes darkened into empty pits of endless black.
In the moment it took me to blink, she appeared normal again, smiling with childlike innocence as if nothing had happened.
I stumbled back and froze, my breath catching when I noticed the shadows near her move.
From beneath her parked car, two figures moved into view.
One slithered across the concrete on its belly, secreting a tar-like substance that matched the color of its charred skin.
Its bones and organs pressed against skin so thin it looked ready to rip from the friction against the ground.
The other crawled on all fours, spine arched high, neck twisted at an unnatural angle.
Matted clumps of hair dangled from thin strands clinging to its bald head.
Its flesh mottled with blackened patches and dried blood.
The stench of burned flesh and decay churned my stomach.
A third infernal crawled out from beneath the car and joined them.
It hunched forward, its elongated limbs dragging on the ground like a small ape.
Two rows of small horns protruded from mottled green-and-yellow skin, running from its forehead over its bald head and disappearing into a spine of sharp spikes down its back.
Their mouths reminded me of the delemora at Grandma’s funeral.
Too wide to be natural, with lips torn and stretched, splitting their faces open.
When they looked at me, I saw awareness in their large eyes—saw pain and anger.
Their unnatural smiles made me question whether they were born that way or forced to smile through mutilation.
I shuddered, pushing the thought from my mind. I needed to think about survival. Only one looked capable of chasing me, but I put nothing past these creatures.
The woman tilted her head back and screeched, the sound like knives driving into my skull.
I pivoted and ran.
Desperation surged through me as I sprinted across the parking lot, away from the elevator’s safety. If more infernals waited above, I couldn’t backtrack. My heart hammered in my chest as I raced across the nearly empty space. I only needed to make it to the ramp on the other side of the lot.
I’d almost reached it when I skidded to a halt, my blood turning to ice—three more infernals blocked the only escape route.
Two stood tall, their gaunt bodies a patchwork of leathery skin and gaping wounds. I gagged as the stench of bubbling pus oozing from the shoddy stitch-work reached me.
They were missing the lower halves of their faces.
Jagged upper teeth curled around a long tongue that writhed as if it had a life of its own, dangling with no lower jaw to contain it.
Without a nose, the tongue seemed to scent the air for the creature.
When the ochre substance coating their tongues dripped to the ground, hissing and bubbling on the concrete, I knew I couldn’t let them near me.
The third figure stepped forward between them, lifting its head. Only a hollow cavity filled with rows of small, wiggling tentacles made up the area where its face should be.
Before I could back away, the one on the left lunged, lightning fast, swiping at me.
I cried out as claws ripped through my tights, scoring my thigh. Searing pain flooded my system, and panic threatened to render me useless as warm blood trickled down my leg. When the right one shifted, I refused to give it the opportunity to strike me, too.
I turned to run, only to choke back a sob at what waited ahead.
It wasn’t the woman. Nor was it the three broken infernals that came at her call. Dozens of twisted, broken, and twitching infernals materialized out of the darkness.
I covered my ears against the rising cacophony of gnashing teeth, growls, squawks, and screeches. I couldn’t handle it. This was unlike anything I’d seen before.
When I heard the woman’s voice again, I ran.
What else could I do?
I ran despite the pain in my leg threatening to bring me down. I ran despite the fear flooding my veins. I ran for my life. I wasn’t ready to die.
Across the parking lot, through shadows I’d avoided before, another ramp led down. It was my only hope.
I glanced over my shoulder.
Nothing.
But I heard them. The sounds of their skittering limbs against the concrete, their claws raking the dividing walls, and the gurgled sounds of faceless infernals echoed all around me.
They’d blended into the shadows again. Hunting me.
I couldn’t stop.
My wounded leg screamed for mercy as I slammed into a pillar when I looked back.
Don’t stop.
“Ananeva,” the voice called again. The sound curled around me.
I didn’t know what the word meant. Was it my name in their language? A command? Whatever the meaning, I didn’t want it aimed at me.
Just a little more…
When four horned figures cloaked in shadows stepped into my path, blocking my only escape, I screamed in frustration, stumbling when pain shot through my leg.
Not yet.
I needed to hide.
I needed to live for Grandma. She believed in me.
My eyes darted around, fear tightening my throat, making it hard to breathe. I almost collapsed in relief when my gaze locked on a recessed stairwell behind a row of bins against the wall. The stairs likely led to a maintenance or security room where I could hide and call for help.
Without giving the creatures in front of me time to close in, I pivoted and limped toward the bins, forcing my injured leg to move. I hobbled down the few stairs to the door and tried to open it. Locked. The lights were off inside—no one could let me in.
I slumped against the door.
Now that I’d stopped, I didn’t know if I could move again. I’d run on sheer adrenaline, and now the pain surged through my leg, overwhelming me.
Pained screeches echoed far too close.
I spotted a gap between the bins and wall, just big enough to fit in if I curled in on myself. Pushing myself one last time, I crawled up the stairs and slipped behind the bins, wedging myself between the cold concrete and their heavy protection.