Page 22

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“What the fuck?” Finn whispered, straining for a hint of light in the absolute darkness. His handgun was already in his hand, training taking over where vision failed. Rose was right. All the power in the room was down. But, those things in the jar. They were dead, right?

“Finn?” A thread of fear disturbed her voice.

Rose. His primary priority.

“I’m right here.”

Her hand latched onto his with surprising strength, a faint tremble her only giveaway.

Night vision goggles. Where were the damn night vision goggles when you needed them?

He blinked hard, but it made no difference. Buried this deep inside the Earth, the dark was absolute.

His mind scrambled through the possibilities. A simple power failure? Or something far worse?

Focus. Prioritize. Solve the immediate problem.

“Stay calm.” He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’m going to let go now to grab my flashlight.” He released her hand, his fingers seeking the contours of the tactical light clipped to his vest.

Glass shattered.

“Finn—”

Her sudden lunge caught him off guard. The flashlight slipped from his grasp and hit the floor with a clatter.

“Shit.” He dropped to a crouch and with his hand, swept a searching arc on the floor, trying not to think about what might now be on the floor with him.

A dull scrape sounded from the far side of the room, like metal claws dragging across stone. His hand stilled on the flashlight.

Rose dropped beside him.

Her vise-like grip moved to his bicep.

He palmed her hand for a second, then flicked on his flashlight, the beam slicing through the darkness.

Rose’s face was ashen in the wash of his light, perspiration dotting her forehead. She jabbed toward the counter with a shaky finger, to the darkness underneath.

Finn swept his light over the far wall, confirming his fear. A shattered glass container lay on the floor, yellow liquid congealing in a viscous puddle.

He adjusted his stance, rising slowly, guiding Rose with him, positioning himself between her and whatever lurked beneath the counter. “What say we get the hell out of here?”

Her grip on his arm loosened slightly, but didn’t break. “Lead the way,” she whispered.

Finn retreated one pace. Two.

His flashlight beam caught the electronic lock’s sleek panel. Crap. The display was dark, lifeless.

No power. No exit.

He rattled the handle anyway but the door remained stubbornly shut .

He tapped his earpiece, his light trained on the dark sliver under the counter. “This is Finn. Anyone copy?”

Nothing. Just dead air.

Movement.

Finn stepped in front of Rose, bumping up against a lab stool in the oppressive darkness.

A dark shadow skittered out from under the counter, launching upward.

His heart lurched as he raised his gun instinctively. He fired twice, the muzzle flashes briefly carving a jagged nightmare into sharp relief.

He stepped back, his heel catching on a stool, throwing him off balance. His hand hit a counter and the gun flew from his grip. It skidded away from him as he hit the ground with a thud that knocked the air from his lungs.

Rose screamed. “Finn!”

He scrambled to his feet and snatched the stool, swinging it in a desperate arc. Metal legs met carapace with a deafening crack, sending the creature flying off course. It hit the ground with a harsh, chitinous crunch, pincers snapping furiously.

A scorpion. Massive, grotesque. Ripples of silver luminescence pulsed down its spine like a heartbeat.

Finn brought the stool down with all he had, smashing it against the creature’s armored back.

The stool bounced like it had hit solid rock. The scorpion barely flinched. Its barbed tail lashed upward, missing his wrist by inches.

The creature swerved, bolting toward Rose, venomous tail arched high, poised to strike.

“ Rose. Back!”

He hurled the stool. It slammed into the scorpion, sending it careening against the far wall. The impact cracked tiles, but the creature recovered instantly, legs scrabbling as it vanished under the counter.

He unslung his pulse rifle. His hands were steady, his breathing anything but.

The scorpion exploded from the shadows, glowing silver, its jagged movements painting fractured light across the walls. It zigzagged toward him with impossible speed.

He fired. The pulse seared past, scorching the floor.

Fuck, it’s fast.

The second shot ricocheted off a counter.

The third found its mark, hitting dead center.

The pulse of energy rippled across the creature’s curved exoskeleton, its luminescence flaring to a blinding silver.

A piercing whine filled the lab, drilling into Finn’s skull and making his teeth ache.

The scorpion convulsed violently, yet it kept coming with jerky, relentless steps.

“Goddammit!” Finn unleashed another barrage. Blue streaks illuminated the lab like a strobe, as it staggered forward.

A sharp hiss stung his hearing.

Rose.

With a guttural cry fueled by terror, she unloaded a fire extinguisher in a dense blast of carbon dioxide.

The chemical fog enveloped the scorpion in a suffocating mist, clinging to its limbs and joints in a frost-coated haze. Its luminescence stuttered and dimmed, legs spasming sluggishly.

“Now!” Rose screamed, her voice raw.

Finn didn’t hesitate. He aimed at the scorpion’s frozen center and squeezed the trigger.

The shot hit like a thunderclap, the pulse energy exploding through its brittle form. Silver light erupted, filling the lab in a blinding flash.

The scorpion convulsed one final time, its body spasming violently. With a sickening, wet crack, it split apart. Fragments of carapace shattered outward, spraying across the lab.

Finn winced as pieces spattered his arms and face.

What the absolute fuck.

The shrill whine faded, leaving only the sound of his ragged breathing and the faint hiss of the extinguisher.

Rose slumped against him, panting, her grip on the extinguisher loose.

Cold sweat slicked the base of his spine as Finn swept the room with his pulse rifle, scanning the dark corners. Too fucking close.

“Rose. You okay?”

“I think so.” Her voice wavered, and the extinguisher slipped from her hands, hitting the floor with a metallic clang.

“—fucking chairborne rangers in the OSC, sending us down here blind. They fucking knew this place was FUBAR. Bad voodoo going on here, I’m telling you?—“

Finn flinched as Luca’s voice burst through the comms, a flood of profanity cutting through the quiet like shrapnel.

The lights flared back on, flooding the lab with brilliant white. Finn blinked hard against the sudden glare. One by one, the computers hummed to life, their coolant fans filling the room with a soft, mechanical purr.

For a moment, it felt surreal. If not for the splattered guts of the scorpion splashed across the floor—he might’ve doubted it had happened at all.

He nudged the broken carapace with his boot, the sticky mess smearing across the floor. “What the hell just happened?”