Chapter 28 · The Purge Bell Rings

The thing hits Voss before I can yell a warning.

One second he's raising his rifle. Next he's on the ground, something the size of a dog on his chest. Except dogs don't have skin like burnt paper stretched over bones. Dogs don't have mouths that unhinge sideways.

Kai's already firing. Muzzle flash lights up the whole hallway for a split second—six more of those things crawling on the walls. The gunshot echoes like thunder and the creature on Voss shrieks, this wet tearing sound that makes my teeth ache.

"Move!" Rachel grabs my arm, hauls me backward. "They're Hollow Eights. You can't burn them—they eat light."

My hand's already glowing. Can't help it. Every instinct screams push the light out, flood the hallway, make them back off.

Rachel slams her palm over my wrist. The glow dies.

"I said don't." Her voice is flat. The way people sound right before they shoot you. "You light up in here, you'll draw every single one in a half-mile radius. That what you want?"

Voss rolls, throws the thing off. His shoulder's bleeding through his jacket. Kai fires again—one of the wall-crawlers drops, twitching.