A loud banging noise echoed out from the stairwell, and he guessed that their pursuer had just burst through the door to the floor above and would be upon them within a moment. He slammed the security door shut and hoped that it had some sort of automatic locking mechanism.
“This way!” Ling said.
A large hatch resembling that of a bank vault loomed ahead. He could hear the thing coming down the stairs, but he didn’t risk looking back.
Ling ran forward in front of him down the long concrete tunnel. She glanced back over her shoulder and lost her balance. She stumbled forward and slid to the ground.
Knight scooped her up as he passed, carrying her the rest of the way. They reached the hatch, and he slid inside, dropping the children to a white tile floor.
His eyes shot back to the wall next to the hatch, searching for some mechanism to close the massive steel door. He found a red button along the right edge of the opening and pressed it. The sound of grinding gears gave him some solace, but the closing mechanism hadn’t been designed for speed.
He heard the security door burst inward. The resistant material the door was made from provided little protection against a force that could break it free from its frame.
The creature’s size was substantial enough that it could barely fit its bulk into the large tunnel. Knight still couldn’t catch a clear view of the thing. As it moved forward, it smashed into the lights hanging from above, shattering each with the impact. The scene before him looked as if the darkness was stalking in on them, destroying all light in its path.
He took aim with the M4 and unleashed a barrage of 5.56 ammo into the beast, but it didn’t even slow from the bullet strikes. He knew that every round had struck its target, but the thing kept coming.
The door continued to grind shut, but it wouldn’t be closed before the creature was on top of them.
Knight’s mind fought for a solution.
The M4 had a mounted grenade launcher that would surely slow the beast’s progression, but the resulting explosion would also be likely to seal the passageway and trap them inside the shelter like a tomb.
But then, he caught sight of a fire extinguisher mounted along one side of the tunnel. He took aim at the extinguisher and waited for the right moment as the beast approached.
He forced his thundering heart to calm and released his breath as he sighted in on his target. He would only get one chance at this, and if he missed, they would all be dead.
Just before the massive shadow overtook the extinguisher, he squeezed back on the trigger. The M4 barked fire and propelled a line of hot metal toward the red extinguisher.
As the bullets struck, the compressed contents of the device broke free. White foam exploded outward, covering the beast. The massive shape shrieked and swiped at its face. It stumbled forward and to the side, and slammed its head against the wall.
Within a couple of seconds, it was back on its feet and charging forward.
But the distraction had bought them enough time.
The hatch swung shut and sealed with the sucking sound of pressurization just as the beast closed in. He could hear the creature roaring from the other side. The hatch shook, and dust rained from the ceiling as the monster tried to tear its way inside.
After a moment, the scraping and banging noises ceased, and both sides of the hatch were completely silent.
Knight released a long breath and turned back to the frightened faces of the children. “Everyone okay?”
The two children just stared wide-eyed at the hatch without acknowledging him. He couldn’t see any blood and all of their limbs were intact. He wasn’t a shrink; if they made it through this alive, the therapists could deal with shock. He had to contend with more important matters.
He glanced around the space behind the children, but it was obscured by darkness. He scanned the side wall of the bunker and reached out to flick a switch. Overhead fluorescent lighting hummed to life with a hiss and snap.
He stepped forward and surveyed the inside of the bunker.
“This isn’t a bomb shelter,” he said.
8.
At least forty flat panel monitors populated the wall in front of Knight. A long gray Formica desktop in front of the monitors contained five workstations, each with a black leather rolling desk chair, a transparent keyboard dotted with Chinese lettering and a trackpad. Knight reached out and pressed a random key at one of the stations. The forty monitors instantly blinked to life. Images of the city rotating from different angles and orientations filled the screens. From the camera views, he guessed that some were mounted on buildings and some were roadway cameras stationed on traffic signals.
“What is all this?” Ling said. “It’s like looking through God’s eyes.”
Knight found the comparison somewhat frightening, considering the amount of power the operators of this system held. “It’s some of type of urban video monitoring system. I’ve heard of several systems like this being implemented back in the United States. They’re used to monitor traffic patterns, track criminals for the police, monitor for crimes in progress. That kind of thing.”
“Is that where you’re from? America?”