Reid doesn’t stop, doesn’t think.
Reid runs.
It seems like he’s caught the hunter by surprise. It doesn’t move for a tense heartbeat, giving Reid the chance to gain more distance. But he knows he has no chance of outrunning it, none at all, not when it has only a little more ground to cover than he does.
That fact doesn’t stop him from running. He sees the hunter move at last out of the corner of his eye even through his absolute focus is on the gaping elevator door. His feet make almost no sound on the hard-packed dirt floor, lungs heaving for one more ounce of air. His body feels like it’s flying he’s moving so fast, pouring every ounce of energy he has into that race to safety.
It’s right there, the elevator. Reid reaches out with his fingertips, so close he can feel the humming vibration of the electric motor, see clearly the desperate faces of his friends. Reid is amazed. He’s going to make it. How, he has no idea, but in that last second before the hunter catches him he knows it’s true. His heart leaps as he does, straight for the opening.
Only to have the cage door slammed in his face. Reid skids to a halt but is too late, too committed to the lunge, his whole body slamming against the wire mesh, rebounding from the impact. Marcus spares an instant to meet Reid’s eyes before backing away and punching the up button. Reid can hear Milo screaming, Cole’s desperate shrieks as both of them dive for the door, but there is nothing they can do. The cage is rising and the door is jammed shut.
Reid is so shocked to be left behind he almost forgets the reason he was running in the first place. He hears a spit of hissing laughter behind him and spins to faces the hunter. It has come to a halt not far away, a giant grin on its face, horrible teeth showing. Its silver eyes flicker upward at the retreating, screaming kids before fixing on him again. This time when it laughs, Reid’s anger breaks through his rigid fear. It’s laughing at him. Because his friends left him behind.
Reid backs into the gap the rising cage leaves behind and risks a look up. Milo and Cole are still calling his name, the other kids sobbing, while Marcus simply stares down through the slats with no expression on his face.
One shot. The hunter’s laughter fades but its smile remains. It moves slowly forward, the arrogant strut of a hunting cat, knowing it has Reid, that he is trapped. And he is, he knows it, but only if he misses. And he doesn’t intend to miss.
Just as the cage passes out of his reach, Reid leaps up and hooks his hands in the bottom grate. The elevator sways, kids shrieking in fear as the mechanism groans. Reid pulls his legs up as the hunter realizes his intentions. It snarls and comes for him. Reid hooks his sneakers around the edge of the elevator, clinging with his hands and feet, pressing his body against the bottom of the grate, hoping it is enough.
It has to be enough. It can’t end like this, betrayed by Marcus, with Cole’s face only inches away, Milo’s tears dripping onto Reid’s cheek. Their fingers wriggle through the slats, grip his while Reid hears the grunt of the hunter as it leaps for him.
The claws pass beneath him and all he feels is the rush of air.
His hands are on fire, his body quitting on him even as he begs it not to. Reid looks down, sees he is finally out of reach and lets his legs drop. He groans softly to himself, begging his fingers to hold while he stares down into the receding silver eyes below.
“Hang on.” Cole sobs above him, fingers pressing to Reid’s. “We’re almost there, don’t let go.”
Reid pants in short gasps of air, doing his best but knowing he won’t last. He looks up, wishes he hadn’t as two desperate pairs of eyes gaze down at him.
“We’re so close,” Milo whispers. “Dude, hold on, okay? Hold on.”
“What do we do at the top?” Cole spins on Milo. “How do we get him up?”
“I don’t know!” Milo snaps back. “You’re the freaking genius!”
Reid’s gaze shifts, meets Marcus’s as the two argue and Reid’s hands tell him to quit. He knows if it weren’t for those dark eyes challenging him from above, Reid would let them.
Something dark eases past the rising cage. Reid’s eyes flash to it and relief is almost too much.
“Shut up,” he gasps at the arguing boys. “I have an idea.”
It’s an opening, rapidly retreating. Reid takes the one shot he has and jumps.
He has a terrified moment where he thinks he’s over shot the mark even while he is landing on his chest with a whoosh of air onto a skinny ledge, a tunnel leading away from it deeper into the dark.
Reid’s hands scream in agony and he rocks there a moment, clutching them to his chest and sobbing for air.
“Reid!” Cole shouts down as the elevator continues to rise.
“Send it back down when you’re off.” Reid leans out and looks up, panting, in pain but alive and very grateful. “I’ll jump on top.”
He sees Cole’s thumbs up and tearful smile and then the elevator is too high for him to make out anything else.
Reid crouches on the ledge and lets his hands recover. He examines the bite the creature left behind, just happy there is no sign of infection, though he has no idea why not. The other, the broken hand, is a throbbing mess. Reid pulls out the knife he found and cuts a strip from his pant leg, using it to wrap the broken bones as tightly as he can. He pauses as he hears the elevator come to a halt, the vibrating cables on the far side of the tunnel shuddering and falling still. The whine of the electric motor cycles off at the same time, leaving Reid in the quiet.
Reid considers the cables as he uses his teeth and wounded hand to wrap the broken one, doing only a fair job of it. But he is sure his hands won’t last on the thin and harsh wire, let alone the slippery links of chain. Not to mention they are on the other side of the shaft. He could probably leap that far, it’s not too long a jump, but even if is lucky enough to catch them and hold himself up, and then climb them, he’s left with the same problem as before, with no way of accessing the exit.
All thoughts of taking action leave him as he tries to tighten the bandage. He is panting and sweating from the pain by the time he’s done but his hand is at least supported.
Reid listens, waiting for the sound of the motor. It’s been a while since he heard it come to a halt but only now notices. At the same time he feels a breeze against his back and his panic rises like a wave.
A black tunnel. The creatures. He spins as best he can on the narrow ledge and looks inside. It’s completely dark, the light from the shaft barely reaching inside at all. He holds his breath, ears wide open, heart pounding so loudly he worries he won’t hear a thing.
But he does. A soft rustle, a breath of air. The click of stone on stone.
The creatures are coming.
Reid looks up, desperate but the elevator is nowhere to be seen, lost in the dark above. He hesitates, not sure what to do. They won’t leave him down here. They can’t. The cold and blank look in Marcus’s eyes makes his panic worse.
What if Marcus convinces them he’s dead already? Or not worth the effort? Worse, what if they are under attack themselves and can’t help him? Scenarios, each worst than the last, spin through his mind, squeezing the breath from his lungs, panic his only companion.
He hears voices then, faint and above him, shouting, screaming, sobbing. They must be under attack.
Reid is on his own. But not alone.
From the darkness, the skittering gets louder. The creatures are coming to get him.
***