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Chapter 4. Bower ran like his ass was on fire. He'd never moved so fast in his life. The thought of something inhuman biting into his flesh, clawing him to death and then eating him was enough to ignite his adrenaline and spiraled him into a new
level of hauling ass.

Whatever his pursuers were, they were closing in on him.

Although he couldn't see down the main corridor when he reached it. he could hear at least one of the things further down. Bower turned the corner, spied the light stick he had dropped earlier and sprinted full bore at the bay doorway.
Before slipping inside, he kicked the bright stick further down the passage as hard as he could. He didn't slow down and charged towards the tall storage units. He leaped as high as he could onto the top level bin and fought his way inside it closing the door behind him.

As an extra precaution, Bower climbed up through the open bin and into the ventilation shaft sliding behind some of the thick wiring. He embraced the darkness and the narrowness of the
shaft, although it had nearly served as his coffin minutes beforehand.

Cooper's body slowly slid down out of the hatch and into the storage bin below with a dull thud.

Bower prayed the thump wasn't loud enough for the beasts to hear. They were still screaming and from the sound of it, they were further down the hall where his light stick had came to rest.

Sweat poured out of him. This was a fear that he had never experienced before. His whole body was shaking with terror. What the hell were these monsters? The woman was fierce, but she had been so scared of whatever
these things were, they had to be dangerous.

Let me fall down another shaft, God. I'd even be willing to starve to death in here. Anything. Just please don't let these things get me.

Silence.

Bower's breathing sounded thunderous in the quiet space. He clasped a hand over his nose and mouth trying to slow his respiration. He closed his eyes.

Tat, tat, tat, tat, tat.

The vibration of the sound traveled through the room and into the shaft around him bouncing and reverberating off everything. Echolocation? Were they using sound to track him?

More silence.

Bower desperately searched the archives of his memory for what steps he had taken when he barreled through the room. Before the leap and scramble into the storage bin, he tried to remember if he had dropped anything or left behind anything that could give away his hiding spot.

Bower could hear them moving outside the locker maybe nine feet below him. It was impossible to tell how many there were but even one was too many. His mind was going wild with erratic thoughts, what the hell sort of animal used echolocation besides bats? They ate dead corpses, Christ! The bleats, growls and shrieks that the creatures were uttering were so inhuman that he feared the Elysium had been boarded by a hostile alien race.

Loud deep groans, guttural grunts and exciting shrieks filled the small storage room. Bower clapped his hands over his ears. This awful array of bestial noises was no doubt unlike the sounds that
emanated from hell.

The darkness could be carved with a
knife it was so thick and Bower wondered how they were moving around so quietly. A scuff here, a soft swish there was all he could detect. Then he heard sniffing: rapid inhalations through the nose like a bloodhound on the trail of an escapee. He squeezed his eyes shut again, praying they would not catch his scent.

Bower remembered the two latched
doors that separated him from the monsters: the storage bin door and the maintenance hatch door at his feet. He recalled pulling the locker door shut behind him. He remembered climbing through the hatch door and into his current spot. After that, Cooper's body had fallen down through the open hatch and into the bin underneath. Open hatch, OPEN hatch. The hatch was open.