Chapter 14 · Untitled Chapter

"Run!"

Vera grabbed my sleeve, and we tore through the basement as the entire nest came alive behind us.

The bugs didn't circle this time. They didn't test our defenses or pick us off one by one. They came as a single shrieking mass, crystal limbs scraping concrete and metal.

"Left!" Alpha snapped in my ear. "Stairwell. Thirty meters."

I yanked Vera left. A bug dropped from the ceiling where her head had been. My right arm swung back and crushed it against the wall.

Crystal shards sprayed across my jacket.

"What the hell is happening?" Vera shouted.

"They've changed. Keep moving."

"That's not an answer!"

"It's the only one I've got!"

The stairwell door appeared ahead. Locked.

I hit it with my metal fist. The handle broke. I hit it again, and the frame folded inward.

"Go!"

Vera shoved through first. I followed and drove my arm into the warped frame until the door jammed behind us.

The bugs struck it a second later.

The metal buckled with a deep bang.

"Up!" I yelled.

Vera ran. Her shoes slapped against the concrete stairs while the door behind us groaned under the pressure.

"Iris!" Her voice shook.