Chapter 25 - Callahan

Run.

E leanor stood firm at the bottom of the steps, refusing to move.

"Come again?"

"There's something living on that floor." She hissed. "I can hear it, swimming around. Can't you smell it?"

I leaned down and sniffed. My good mood fell. It did smell fishy. My hands went to her hips protectively.

"Yes, but look, the floor isn't flooded. Maybe it's just a tank or something." She still didn't move, so I shifted and gently pushed past her. "I'll go first, and tell you if it's safe." She let me pass, and cautiously I dropped my boot to the ground floor. I peered in and froze.

"What? What is it, Daddy?" she asked, her voice frantic.

I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I stared at the large tank. Green algae covered the entirety of the glass. It was at least six feet by twenty, covering the length of the room. You couldn't see what was inside, but I didn't need to see through the glass. The gray fin bobbing slowly up and down from it was enough.

"Daddy? Daddy, please tell me what's going on!" Eleanor screeched. The fish began to stir.

"Eleanor shut up," I said through gritted teeth. "Please, stop making noise."

She let out a small squeak but nothing more. The fish swam lazily in its container. How long had it been trapped here?

Eleanor slowly stepped down, meeting me in the center of the room.

The shadow in the water stopped moving.

Alarm bells began to scream off inside my brain, and I tried my hardest to steady my breathing but was finding it nearly impossible. I'd trained for a lot of things. How to drop-kick a creepie, or shoot a crawlie from 50 feet away, but I was never taught anything about beasts in the water. Slowly, I reached for my gun. I didn't want to make a sound.

Suddenly, a slithering sound sprang up from the murky water, and a tentacle the same color as the fin appeared and waved around.

"What the fu--" I started but my voice was cut off by the tentacle shooting out, striking feet away from me. Eleanor screamed and suddenly one tentacle turned into eight giant, giant suction covered tentacles that rose up and then dipped back down, pushing up a beast, unlike something I'd never seen or heard before.A crudely created hybrid.

You could see the badly sewn stitches from where someone, or maybe a team, had connected the tentacles to a shark's torso.

Why?

It roared and I grabbed Eleanor and sprinted to the other door across the room.

Eleanor screamed as we ran. I dragged her along, even with my PARA suit still on and my luggage on my back, I was faster than her. There was a squelching sound and another roar came with a loud crash. I turned my head back just in time to see the beast burst out of the tank and begin to chase us like an animal on all... eights.

I pushed my legs to go faster, my lungs screamed and my muscles burned, but I'd be damned if I died this way. I wasn't getting eaten, and I'd made a promise. A vow. I wasn't going to let her get hurt or be left alone. As if hearing my thoughts, she stumbled, tumbling over her feet. I pulled her back up in an instant, but we lost seconds and the beast gained on us. This wasn't going to work.I grabbed her and tossed her over my shoulder. It was easier than pulling her along. I sprinted down the halls, looking for a safe place, but this floor seemed to have no doors. Just halls. The beast roared as it slammed into tables and crashed against the walls. The sickeningly wet sound of the suckers connecting with the floor and walls echoed throughout the space.

I held Eleanor, my hand between her thighs. She clutched me tightly, trying to hold back her screams. Suddenly, my hand felt wet and I realized that in her terror, she'd pissed herself. She began to sob, and exclaim that it was catching up to us. I realized while I hadn't intended, I was losing speed. There had to be someplace I could hide.

Just then, I saw a fork in the hall. The right was lit up, the left was dark.

"Left or right?" I screamed. Eleanor couldn't see what I was coming up to.

"Left!" She answered and I ducked down the left hall, plunging us into darkness. But, before we were enveloped in black, I saw a door. I slowed, despite knowing how close the beast was, and when I reached the door I tugged on the handle and with extreme relief, it opened. I threw us inside and shut the door, just as the beast rammed into it.

I dropped her to the floor and looked around the room; it was a daycare. There were cribs, highchairs, and baby swings. Boxes of toys were pushed along the wall and framed photos of letters and baby animals hung above them. I grabbed a chair and slid it under the door handle. The beast pushed against it over and over, trying to get it to budge, but thankfully, it held tight.

I turned back to Eleanor. She was pressed against the far wall, her hands covering her ears as she sobbed. I'd never seen her like this. This wasn't the Eleanor I knew and hated. No, she was just a girl, scared for her life.

I wanted to take her into my arms and comfort her, rock her into calm, and pepper kisses all over her face, smoothing away the tears, but there wasn't time for that. We needed to move. I looked around the room, and saw a door that was covered by a toy box. Praying it wasn't a closet, I pushed the box aside and was relieved to find another hall. I went back for Eleanor and we shut the door behind us.

"If we move fast, we can find someplace to hide," I urged her to keep moving.

She stumbled a lot in the dim light, but we continued taking every door we could find until finally we found an area that appeared to be their general population housing. I locked every door we went through, just in case, but we hadn't heard the monster in quite some time. He was either stuck in that dark hall or he'd given up and returned to his tank.

We went through apartment after apartment until we found one that wasn't run down and didn't smell foul. It was an open concept, with the bedroom area just to the left of the living room and small kitchen. Eleanor was still shaking as I directed her to the couch.

"It's alright. We're safe. It can't get to us here."

I wasn't entirely confident, but I forced myself to stay steady in my tone as I attempted to soothe her. She shook her head, her brown eyes glazed over.

"No we're not. We don't know what else is out there," she said.

She was right. According to our briefing folder, there were 12 floors to this bunker, and we'd only made it about halfway. We were supposed to explore every single one. Who knew what else was lurking around? What if that Frankenstein shark was just the start of a menagerie of hybrid monsters?

"We'll plan better. This will be our headquarters for now, and we'll only go out in small spurts, and--" I tried to wrap my head around everything, but it was all useless. We'd be lucky if we survived these three days. I dropped to my knees and crawled to her. Her face was puffy and red, her hair wild, and her dress in tatters. I ran my thumb across her scraped knee, smearing the blood. She winced but didn't push me away.

"Daddy," she started.

"Yes, Eleanor?" I looked up at her. She'd stopped crying. Her face was completely devoid of emotion. It was as if she'd come to realize something far beyond my scope. She shook her head.

"Even if we do survive the next three days, there's only one set of stairs per floor. How do we get back up to the surface?"