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The creature that pulled itself up and out of the rubble was like nothing Rebecca had ever seen before It stood up near the top of the debris pile, raised its ar her a clear look at it, o dry, her palo to the bathroom

It was humanoid Human, almost, in that it had the facial features of a lowed so pale, its hairless skin, its body, a luminous near-white No th of his arer on the right hand than on the left The thick ropes of its veins were visible through its skin; e shoulders, across its massive chest Clusters of blood-red sores were liberally scattered over its three-meter tall body, anda bleeding, flesh-and-bone grin, which it turned to Rebecca now, snicking its talons as though greatly anticipating their rin see, a harsh rasping sound, could actually see the pu heart, only partly shielded by its ribcage

Barely aware that she&039;d raised the shotgun, Rebecca fired

The blast peppered its chest with black, sudden ribbons of blood sliding down its body, and it threw back its huge, bald head and screa There was e, more fury than pain, and Rebecca suddenly understood that she wasn&039;t going to survive very raceful leap, thefrom the pile of shattered rock, hit the floor not four round treainst the concrete as it drew itself up, its gray,the shot-gun, her entire body shaking as she tried to airin It stepped closer, came between her and the elevator--just as she heard the elevator car slide to a stop, heard the door unlatch

The creature took another step At least it&039;s slow; if I can lure it away, then run back--

Another step, and she could hear and see a crack appear in the pavement beneath its thick black toe-nails She then the distance between the, fast, a blur as it dropped one arh for her to see a reflection of her own movement as she dove out of the way She did a shoulder roll, clutching the shotgun to her chest, coe, sweeping run Sparks flew up from the wall next to the elevator, a control panel ripped apart--

--and behind her, lights flashed, an alarm sounded--and a massive metal door between her and the platfor down It would cut the room in half--and trap her with the freakish monster

She ran, determined to be on the other side of that door It was heavy and dropping fast, a thick slab of metal--surely impenetrable to the creature She cleared it easily, turned to watch, running backward Thebeneath the lowering panel She felt her heart ha out across her body; if she ended up on the sa, it was all over

She waited, the creaturetoward her slowly, surely--and as the bottom of the door reached the level of her head, she ran back to the other side, having to duck herself, praying that the thing would end up trapped

It started to follow again, crouching, raising its claws over its head as it moved under the door She felt a flash of hope, that the door would crush it-- and then she heard rooves into the lowering panel She watched in horror, in amazeh for it to get underneath Then it was through, and the door settled to the floor with a resounding clang

Her every instinct was telling her to run, to get away--but there was nowhere to go With that door coer than her studio apartet inside that elevator It was her only chance

She broke for it, grabbed the handle to the door, started to slide it open--and heard the , heard the pound of its heavy feet, the crack of cement as it thundered toward her

Shit! She didn&039;t even turn, instinctively knowing that there wasn&039;t time She dropped instead, fell to her knees and scra down, hacking into the elevator door, piercing the here she&039;d been standing only a second before

She stuain, took a step It was as focused, as relentless as so ar to toss a ball, perhaps, and took a second ruht it, probably couldn&039;t kill it hat she had left: her only hope was to trick it so even as she put it into action The creature was too big, it couldn&039;t easily stop once it started to run; if she got it ht have ti, as far froet in the small space

Another step The talons snicked It took all of her will not to break and run She kept the shotgun pointed at the creature, readied herself to dive for the elevator as soon as it picked up speed