16. Teamwork

Despite having spent the majority of my time working in the research facility’s laboratories, I had never kidded myself that the rest of the building wasn’t equally as impressive. Heck, Dr Hacohen’s office had been evidence of that much, being that I had lived in it for a couple of days. Even so, as the door swung open into the security centre, it was enough to have my breath hitching in my throat. The lights were down, the large room illuminated by a wall of curved screens, and in the gloom I spotted a desk on its side, a few rotating chairs and half a dozen computers. With all of the screens combined we got a comprehensive layout of the facility, above and below ground. My legs moved without my permission, such was my interest, and I was past Blake before I knew what was happening.

Harry glanced over to look at me, fire extinguisher held at shoulder height. “What are you–”

He barely got the words out before something collided with him, tackling him to the ground. A rough snarl bubbled through the air; I thought I heard myself swearing but it was drowned out by the creature’s attack on Harry.

I didn’t think I could do much to help with my head pounding and vision blurring at the edges but, with a cursory glance at Blake to find him glassy eyed and agape, I found myself with little other choices. Harry was cursing and clubbing at the hostile with the fire extinguisher, though his bad wrist prevented him from getting any leverage on the thing.

“Hold on!” I called, tottering into the security suite as quickly as I could and frantically trying to free the letter opener from my belt. Harry gritted his teeth and struggled to throw the creature off.

“No problem,” I heard him grate over the gurgles and filthy nails trying for his throat. “I’ll just hang out here ’til you’re ready.”

Berating myself for my uselessless, I finally got the weapon in my hands and darted forward to help. Unfortunately I forgot about my tumble down the stairs not an hour prior and the result was something like a sack of potatoes coming to the aid of an octopus. I barely remember falling on top of Harry and hostile both, fireworks going off behind my eyes, but Harry’s grunt of surprise at least told me he was still breathing. Other than that, nothing.

The stink of putrid flesh filled my nostrils. I awoke on the floor of the security suite. Harry stood over me with a bottle of water, flicking a few drops into my face while his injured arm was cradled against his chest. “Good. You’re alive,” he said.

I wiped at my face. “What happened?”

He nodded to my left. Slowly turning my head, I made out the prone figure of a hostile with a letter opener driven through its ear. My eyes widened. “Did I do that?”

Harry’s laughter was surprising in its unexpectedness. “No. But you dropped that thing when you fell. I managed to get hold of it.” He held out a hand to get me on my feet, which I took gratefully.

“Any help from Blake?” I croaked, taking the bottle from him to gulp down some water.

“No,” he replied. “Coward even closed the door to stop from having to look at what was happening.”

“Great,” I mumbled, making my careful way over the door of the security suite. “Hey, Blake!” I called. “It’s all safe now.” I reached for the door handle. It wouldn’t budge.