The cool, dark ride down through the elevator shaft ended in a squeal of hydraulic brakes and then silence, as the engines shut down and trapped them somewhere in the seemingly endless tunnel.
"Claire? What..."
Claire held a finger to her lips, hushing Sherry and heard what sounded like an alarm from some- where outside, a repeating, muffled bleat of honking noise. There seemed to be talking, too, but Claire could only make out the faintest mumble.
"Come on, sweetie, I think the ride's over. Let's see where we ended up, okay? And stay close."
They moved out of the transport room and onto the platform, the distant sounds not so distant any-more and there was light, coming from somewhere behind the lift. Claire took Sherry's hand as they walked quickly around, not wanting to worry the girl but feeling pretty sure that it was an alarm they were hearing. There was definitely someone speaking over the rhythmic squeals, too, and Claire wanted to know what they were saying. The lift had stopped only a few feet down from some kind of a service tunnel, the light she'd seen coming from a caged bulb that hung down from the tunnel's ceiling. There wasn't a door, but there was a decent-sized crawl space at the end of the short passage; it would have to do.
It's either that or climb back to the surface, probably only a mile or so up...
Not a chance. Claire boosted Sherry up and then climbed after her, moving to the front and then crouch-walking to the dark hole. The bleating sound got louder the closer she got to the crawl space, the mumble transforming into a woman's voice. She strained to hear the words, hoping that she'd catch "elevator malfunction" and "temporary", but she still couldn't make it out. They'd have to abandon the lift and hope that they were leaving it for something better. Claire swiveled around, sighing. "Looks like crawl
time for me and thee, kiddo. I'll go first, and then..."
SLAM! Sherry shrieked as something landed on the roof of the transport behind them, crashing through the top in a thundering clap of rending metal. Claire grabbed her, pulling her close, her breath caught in her throat...... and a hand, two hands appeared through the hole in the roof. Two thick arms, clad in shadow...... and the gleaming white of Mr. X's enormous skull rose up from the destroyed lift, like a dead moon on a starless night. Claire turned and pushed Sherry toward the dark- ness of the crawl space, her heart hammering, her body suddenly slick with sweat.
"Go! Go, I'm right behind you!"
Sherry disappeared into the curving black, darting out of sight like a frightened mouse, and Claire didn't look back, was too scared shitless to look back as she followed Sherry into the hole, their relentless stalker surely climbing through the shattered elevator to continue his determined and unfathomable hunt. Ada had heard pieces of Annette's screaming rant from the shadows of the catwalk hub, where the three metal spans joined. She'd forced herself not to rush to Leon's aid, promising herself that if she heard shots, she'd reconsider...... but then the laboratory facility had been vio- lently shaken, and the bland voice of the recording started its loop.
Shit!
Ada staggered to her feet, furious at the woman scientist, a part of her aching for Leon, knowing what this meant. Annette had triggered the fail-safe, which meant they probably had less than ten minutes to get the hell out of Dodge...
... and Leon doesn't know the way.
No, not important. If she was going to collect the sample, which Annette surely had on her, she needed to do it now. Leon wasn't her problem, he'd never been her problem, and she couldn't quit now, not after the hell she'd been through to get Trent's pre- cious virus. Ada took a single step away from the main fuse panel that connected the three catwalks and heard the pounding footsteps coming toward her, footsteps too heavy to be Annette's. She slid back into the shadows and around to the span that led west, press-ing herself against the hub's frame. A second later, Leon went running past, probably back to where he thought she'd be waiting for him.
Ada took a deep breath, blowing it out as she swept Leon from her mind, and hurried across the southern bridge to find Annette.
Ada was gone.
"...has been activated. This auto-destruct sequence..." "Shut up, shut up..." Leon hissed, standing help-lessly in the middle of the room, his stomach knotted, his hands balled into fists. When she'd heard the alarm, she must have pan- icked and run. She was probably stumbling through the giant facility, lost and dazed, maybe looking for him as that infernally calm voice repeated, as the sirens blared and rang.
The transport lift!
Leon turned and ran back through the door and saw that it was gone, a large empty hole a few feet deep where it had been. He'd been too intent on getting to Ada, he hadn't even noticed that it wasn't there anymore...
... we have to find that tunnel, we have to! Without the lift, we're trapped here!
With a silent howl of frustration, Leon turned and ran back toward the catwalks, praying that he would find her before it was too late.
The crawl space ended abruptly, stopping over at least a seven-foot drop to an empty tunnel. Her ears ringing, her mouth dry as dust, Sherry grabbed the edges of the square hole, closed her eyes, and jumped. She swung out over the hall and let go as soon as she was straight up and down, landing crooked and falling as her right leg crumpled. It hurt, but she hardly felt it, scrambling on hands and knees to get out of the way, staring up at the hole...... and there was Claire, her head coming out, her wide, worried eyes taking in that she was okay, that the hall was empty and safe... except that there were bells ringing and a woman on an intercom was talking, and Mr. X was coming. Claire stretched her arm down as far as she could with the gun. "Sherry, I need you to hold this, I can't turn around."
Sherry stood and reached up, grabbing the barrel, amazed at how heavy the gun was as Claire let go. "Don't point it at anything," Claire breathed, and then she actually dove out of the hole, curling her body and landing on her shoulder, her head tucked in tight. She did a half-somersault and then her legs banged into the concrete wall.
Before Sherry could even ask if she was all right, Claire was on her feet, taking the gun and pointing to the door at the end of the hall. "Run!" she said, and started to run herself, one hand pushing on Sherry's back as they sprinted for the door, as the intercom voice told them to get out, told them that a self-destruct sequence had been activated...... and behind them, a sound of crashing metal tore through the blaring noise of the sirens, and Sherry ran faster, terrified.