himself had driven right under on his way in. A snake of illumination led straight to his car, the lights near the entrance ramp beginning to dim even now as they sensed no further movement. The rest of the lot outside that ghostly line of light was wreathed in shadows, and if Ross stood still too long, he would find himself in pitch-black darkness in a minute or two.
There could be anyone out there. Unseen. Watching me—
His skin prickled.
Except that if there were somebody moving in the darkness, they would set off the lights.
And who the fuck would want to sit down here and watch you, anyhow? Fred Darnell? Some secret admirer?
You ain’t that pretty, Carney.
Ross grinned to himself. He was being stupid; panicking for no reason. If there were some assailant out there in the gloom, the lights would flick on the moment they moved. The darkness wasn’t his enemy, it was his ally; it existed because he was alone.
The strange clicking noise?
It was nothing.
Ross marched to the double-doors which opened into the stairwell, and threw them wide open. A head-height bulb on the wall to his right pinged on to welcome him, flooding his immediate vicinity with cold, sterile light. The stairs wound up through three flights toward the ground level, itself currently lost in thick shadows.
Ross started to climb. The lights above would flare to life as he neared them.
CLICK .
He froze with his left foot between stairs, unbalanced.
Holy shit .
The clicking noise was loud in here, and somehow purposeful. It wasn’t muffled; didn’t sound like it emanated from the walls. Not structural, not mechanical. Whatever it was, it skittered. It responded .
There’s something in here with me .
The thought erupted into Ross’ mind, singular and massive, like a voice bellowing directly into his ear, and he felt a cold bead of sweat pop on his forehead. He didn’t think to examine the fact that in his mind, the who in the shadows had become the it in the shadows.
He glanced up, through the winding steps which would take him past the next two sublevels. It was full-dark up there, but had he just seen movement? Some solid shadow moving in the gloom?
How could that be? Unless whatever is up there is clinging to the damn ceiling, the motion sensors should pick up—
The thought froze in his head.
CRASH.
Another noise. One that made all doubts collapse and the hair on Ross’ neck stand up.
Glass smashing.
He heard shards of it raining lightly down the stairwell, tinkling on the bare concrete steps; playing a dreadful melody that made his throat constrict.
Whatever was up there had just taken out the lights on one of the levels above. A distant part of Ross’ brain shrieked at him to move, to turn and flee back toward his car, but his muscles refused to cooperate.
It can move freely now—
Click, click, click, CRASH.
Another light broken.
It’s coming down. Coming straight for me—
Click, click, click.
—and I won’t even be able to see it until it’s right on top of—
Click, click,clickclickCLICKCLICK —
Ross finally lost his balance, beginning to tumble backward a fraction of a second before something large and heavy hit him like a train, knocking him back down toward the pool of light at the bottom of the stairs. He hit the concrete floor, and two things happened simultaneously: a spear of pain lanced into his lower back at the impact, and the sound of glass smashing repeated once more as the thing in the stairwell took out the remaining light, plunging the space into bottomless darkness.
Despite the searing pain, Ross knew instinctively that the darkness was worse than the fall. What it meant .
Laying on his back, trying to draw in a breath which felt like a hot knife in his throat, Ross felt rather than saw something huge looming over him; some enormous presence. When he opened his eyes at last, his curiosity briefly overcoming his fear, he saw that there was some light in the stairwell after all.
A faint
There could be anyone out there. Unseen. Watching me—
His skin prickled.
Except that if there were somebody moving in the darkness, they would set off the lights.
And who the fuck would want to sit down here and watch you, anyhow? Fred Darnell? Some secret admirer?
You ain’t that pretty, Carney.
Ross grinned to himself. He was being stupid; panicking for no reason. If there were some assailant out there in the gloom, the lights would flick on the moment they moved. The darkness wasn’t his enemy, it was his ally; it existed because he was alone.
The strange clicking noise?
It was nothing.
Ross marched to the double-doors which opened into the stairwell, and threw them wide open. A head-height bulb on the wall to his right pinged on to welcome him, flooding his immediate vicinity with cold, sterile light. The stairs wound up through three flights toward the ground level, itself currently lost in thick shadows.
Ross started to climb. The lights above would flare to life as he neared them.
CLICK .
He froze with his left foot between stairs, unbalanced.
Holy shit .
The clicking noise was loud in here, and somehow purposeful. It wasn’t muffled; didn’t sound like it emanated from the walls. Not structural, not mechanical. Whatever it was, it skittered. It responded .
There’s something in here with me .
The thought erupted into Ross’ mind, singular and massive, like a voice bellowing directly into his ear, and he felt a cold bead of sweat pop on his forehead. He didn’t think to examine the fact that in his mind, the who in the shadows had become the it in the shadows.
He glanced up, through the winding steps which would take him past the next two sublevels. It was full-dark up there, but had he just seen movement? Some solid shadow moving in the gloom?
How could that be? Unless whatever is up there is clinging to the damn ceiling, the motion sensors should pick up—
The thought froze in his head.
CRASH.
Another noise. One that made all doubts collapse and the hair on Ross’ neck stand up.
Glass smashing.
He heard shards of it raining lightly down the stairwell, tinkling on the bare concrete steps; playing a dreadful melody that made his throat constrict.
Whatever was up there had just taken out the lights on one of the levels above. A distant part of Ross’ brain shrieked at him to move, to turn and flee back toward his car, but his muscles refused to cooperate.
It can move freely now—
Click, click, click, CRASH.
Another light broken.
It’s coming down. Coming straight for me—
Click, click, click.
—and I won’t even be able to see it until it’s right on top of—
Click, click,clickclickCLICKCLICK —
Ross finally lost his balance, beginning to tumble backward a fraction of a second before something large and heavy hit him like a train, knocking him back down toward the pool of light at the bottom of the stairs. He hit the concrete floor, and two things happened simultaneously: a spear of pain lanced into his lower back at the impact, and the sound of glass smashing repeated once more as the thing in the stairwell took out the remaining light, plunging the space into bottomless darkness.
Despite the searing pain, Ross knew instinctively that the darkness was worse than the fall. What it meant .
Laying on his back, trying to draw in a breath which felt like a hot knife in his throat, Ross felt rather than saw something huge looming over him; some enormous presence. When he opened his eyes at last, his curiosity briefly overcoming his fear, he saw that there was some light in the stairwell after all.
A faint
Similar Books
The Billionaires Hired Baby Mother: When the wife and surrogate are two different people
BWWM Club, Tyra Small
