Chapter 7
"LOOK OVER THERE! More are coming out of the gap!" A man's shrill scream cut through the stunned silence, his finger jabbing toward the distant maw in the spike structure.
Every head snapped toward the gap. A fresh wave of icy terror washed over the crowd. Dozens of dog-like monsters, their oily black skins glistening in the twilight, poured onto the ruined parking lot.
Their single yellow eyes burned with mindless hunger. They didn't stalk; they scrambled forward in a chaotic, frenzied mass, claws scraping furiously on broken concrete, their guttural snarls merging into a terrifying, high-pitched chorus that echoed off the mall walls.
"AAAAAHHH!!!" The scream ripped from hundreds of throats all at once. Panic exploded. People shoved and stumbled, a tidal wave of bodies surging toward the exits at the far end of the mall.
Near the entrance Elias had defended, Ben and another guard acted fast. Grunting with effort, they dragged a heavy metal security gate across the opening. The metal shrieked against the tracks.
Ben fumbled with a thick metal chain, his fingers were trembling, and the cold links clinking loudly. He looped it through the gate and a reinforced handle on the wall, snapping a heavy padlock shut just as the first monsters slammed into the barrier from outside.
THUD!
The gate shuddered violently under the impact, the sound like a battering ram hitting steel. Dark claws scrabbled frantically through the gaps.
Customers nearer the mall's other exits – one leading to a side street, another to a delivery bay – wrenched the doors open and spilled out into the deepening darkness.
Most of the crowd that had been near those points vanished outside, their frantic footsteps fading.
Seeing the main entrance gate buckle under another monstrous impact, Elias knew that the possibility of it wouldn't hold. The guards' pale faces told the same story.
Adrenaline surged, cold and electric. "Run to the other exit!" he yelled, his voice hoarse. Elias left the gun on the table.
He spun and joined the desperate people flooding deeper into the mall.
He ran so fast that his lungs were starting to burn, sweat stinging his eyes and plastering his shirt to his back. People jostled him, elbows digging, panicked cries ringing in his ears.
He passed the bewildered individuals standing frozen in place, staring blankly at the chaos, seemingly unaware of the horror outside.
Others, caught by the wave of fleeing bodies, simply ran with the crowd, their faces masks of confusion, but instinct screaming to move.
The thunderous impacts against the main entrance and the rising snarls of the monsters spurred even the most oblivious into terrified motion.
Elias burst into the wide concourse near the opposite entrance, gasping. Relief flickered – the exit doors were just ahead. Then suddenly he saw them. Through the glass, silhouetted against the twilight, he saw them.
Dozens of the black shapes, moving with terrifying speed, were already surrounding the building. They were converging on this exit.
He skidded to a halt. They were too fast. Far too fast.
Two guards near this exit reacted with a desperate speed. They slammed the heavy glass doors shut just as the first monsters reached the threshold outside.
WHAM!
The doors vibrated. The guards threw their weight against them, bracing, as another guard frantically looped a heavy chain through the door handles.
The padlock snapped shut with a final, metallic click. Outside, frustrated shrieks erupted, claws screeching against the reinforced glass. Dark shapes pressed against the entrance, their yellow eyes blazing. The guards quickly use heavy objects as a barricade.
If Elias had been seconds faster, he might have been outside when they locked it. Outside with them. He saw the proof just beyond the glass: a man who'd made it out but stumbled while running.
The monsters were on him. A choked scream was cut short. He'd been inches from having the same fate.
He leaned against a cold pillar and looked around. He wasn't alone. Dozens of customers – maybe hundreds – were still trapped inside.
They huddled in store entrances, crouched behind planters, their faces pale, eyes wide with shock. Whimpers and stifled sobs filled the air.
The mall, a hulking three-story fortress of concrete and steel, suddenly felt like both a prison and a sanctuary. Its thick walls and reinforced entrances had held against the monsters' initial assault.
At each of the three main entrances, guards leaned against the chained doors or dragged heavy benches and planters to bolster the barricades, their breath coming in ragged gasps.
The thunderous impacts against the doors lessened, replaced by frustrated snarls and the sound of claws scraping on concrete outside. They were trapped. But for now, the monsters were locked out.