Chapter 65: "HELP! HELP ME!"

"NO!"

He fired at the tentacle until his weapon clicked empty. Before he could reload, a second strand wrapped around his chest and lifted him away.

He screamed and kicked, dropping his empty rifle.

"HELP! HELP ME!"

Nobody could reach him.

The injured man on the floor watched the tentacle carry his rescuer toward the growth. His face went pale as he realized what was coming.

"No... no, no, no..."

The tentacle released the guard above the tangled roots.

His body struck the mass with a sickening crunch before several smaller strands wrapped around him and pulled him inside.

His scream lasted only a few seconds.

The injured man began sobbing.

"Please," he whispered. "Please, I don’t want to die."

The root around his ankle tightened.

He screamed as it dragged him backward, his hands scraping uselessly against the floor. He tried to grab the edge of a broken concrete slab, but his fingers slipped away.

The old man fired again and again, but the distance had become too great. Other tentacles blocked his path, and one struck the floor near his feet, forcing him to jump aside.

The injured man’s cries grew louder as he disappeared beneath the growth.

Then they stopped.

Zarek watched the scene without looking away from the creature for long.

The monster was faster than its size suggested, and the tentacles attacked from multiple directions. Shooting them caused damage, but the strands kept moving. Even when one weakened, another replaced it.

The men had come prepared with firearms and discipline. Against ordinary human enemies, that combination would have been enough.

Here, it was barely keeping them alive.

A tentacle shot toward Zarek’s head.

He leaned aside. The strand passed close enough to stir his hair before smashing into the wall behind him.

Concrete cracked.

Zarek stepped away from the returning tentacle, his eyes following its movement.

He wasn’t interested in saving the men. Their deaths meant nothing to him, and rushing into the middle of the attack would only give the monster another body to tear apart.

But he was beginning to understand the scale of the problem.

This thing was not going to die simply because someone emptied a magazine into it.

Across the corridor, the old man shouted for the survivors to fall back.

The remaining guards tried to obey, firing while retreating toward the entrance. Their formation had collapsed, and several had lost their weapons.

One man was limping, another held a bloodied hand against his face, and a third kept glancing over his shoulder as though expecting a tentacle to emerge from the wall.

The monster raised its head, its ruined jaw stretching wide.

"GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Its deafening roar shook the corridor. The remaining men screamed and scrambled toward the entrance as every tentacle surged after them.

The old man grabbed the fallen guard and hauled him upright.

"RUN!"

They rushed toward the entrance as the creature’s furious roar echoed behind them.

And the corridor swallowed the sound of another man begging for his life.

The old man shoved the last surviving guard through the entrance.

"Keep moving! Don’t stop until you reach the stairs!"

The guard stumbled around the corner and vanished from sight. Only then did the old man turn back.

He had brought an armed team to the fortieth floor, confident that their weapons and experience would be enough to deal with whatever they found.

Now most of his men were dead, and the few who had escaped would carry the memory of this place with them.

He could still hear their final cries.

He forced the thoughts aside and looked down the corridor.

Zarek remained near the monster, watching its movements with unsettling concentration. The creature’s exposed chest rose and fell beneath the roots, while its tentacles shifted restlessly around the walls.

"You’re not retreating?" the old man called.

Zarek glanced at him. "Do you see a safe way out?"

The old man looked toward the entrance. Roots had already spread across the floor, and a thick tentacle lay across the passage they had used to enter.

Getting through would mean turning their backs on the creature and hoping it didn’t catch them first.

He tightened his grip on his weapon.

"Then stop wasting time," Zarek said.

A tentacle whipped toward them before the old man could answer.

They separated. The thick strand crashed between them, smashing a section of concrete and sending fragments across the corridor. Zarek moved clear without losing his footing, while the old man ducked behind a root protruding from the wall.

"Watch the smaller ones!" he shouted. "They’re coming out of the walls!"

Zarek had already spotted one creeping toward his ankle. He stamped on it before it could coil around his leg. The root burst beneath his boot, releasing a splash of dark fluid. Its broken end writhed against the floor for several seconds before going still.

The creature’s head jerked toward him.

"GRRRAAAAAAAAH!"

The roar erupted from its throat, deep and ragged, with a harsh, almost human shriek buried beneath it. Its jaw stretched wide enough to expose the broken teeth lining its mouth.

The roots running down its neck tightened, and several tentacles thrashed against the walls.

The old man felt the vibration in his chest.

He had heard the monster scream before, but this was different. The sound seemed to come from somewhere deep inside its enormous body, a furious bellow that shook loose dust from the ceiling.

The tentacles accelerated.

"Behind you!" the old man shouted.

He fired three shots at the strand sweeping toward Zarek’s back. The bullets tore into its surface, forcing it to veer away just before it could strike. Zarek turned, caught sight of the damaged tentacle, and stepped clear.

He gave the old man a brief look.

"Useful."

"Save your comments for when we’re alive."

The old man fired at another tentacle descending from above, then threw himself sideways as it slammed into the floor. The impact cracked the concrete beneath him.

He rolled over one shoulder and rose with a grimace, pain spreading through his right arm.

Zarek, meanwhile, had moved closer to the creature.

He waited for a thick tentacle to swing toward him, stepped inside its arc, and drove his fist into its side.

The impact split its dark outer layer. The strand recoiled, spraying fluid across the floor, but Zarek kept his balance. His knuckles remained unbroken.

His new strength was enough to damage the creature, but a single strike wouldn’t bring it down. He needed to reach the body itself.

A furious shriek burst from the monster’s mouth.

"AAAAARRRRGH!"

Its upper body convulsed, dragging against the roots embedded in its abdomen. The tentacle Zarek had damaged twisted away, but another came hurtling from the side.

He moved too late.