Creepers

"That's what happened to this hotel. Exponential attacks," the voice said. "By the way, you sound cold."

Balenger did indeed feel cold, shivering in the frigid water.

"You'll soon have muscle cramps. You won't be able to defend yourself."

"You've got the same problem."

"No," the voice said. "I'm high and dry."

"Hey! Ro

"What possible deal could you make?"

"I can't hear you!" Tod yelled. "I don't have a walkie-talkie!"

Good, make Ro

"You don't have anything to bargain with!" Ro

Now the voice seemed to come from a different location. Again, the chaos of noises in the lobby made it difficult for Balenger to judge where Ro

"Sure, I do. I'll help you get the others. If I do that, will you let me go?" Tod yelled. "You don't need to be afraid of me."

"I'm afraid of no one."

"I'm not a threat. All I want is to get out of here. I don't have a reason to go to the cops. Not with these coins."

"Ah, yes, the coins."

Balenger's legs were numb. He wondered if he'd be able to move when the time came.

"If I help you get them, do we have a deal?" Tod asked.

"Help is always welcome."

"But do we have a damned deal?"

"I can always use a friend."

What the hell is Tod up to? Balenger wondered. He watched Tod pull something from the water: a long railing that floated by.

"Get ready!" Tod shouted. "Here they come!"

In dismay, Balenger watched Tod poke the railing at the tangle of furniture he, Amanda, and Vi

He aimed.

In response, Tod let go of the railing and splashed through the water, taking cover behind a section of stairs jammed against the pillar. Abruptly, something leapt from the wreckage and made him scream. It struck his head, wrapping around his face, claws raking his cheeks and neck. White. With three hind legs. The cat. As blood spurted from his neck, Tod stumbled blindly in the water. Weighed by the coins, desperate to pull the animal from his face, he staggered from the pillar, wailing.

His chest erupted from a shotgun blast. The coins in his pockets provided so much resistance that instead of jerking backward, Tod sank to his knees. He toppled sideways, his face disappearing. In the swirl, the cat surfaced.

Balenger heard wood scraping. The chair Tod had pushed broke free. The table came with it, releasing other debris. All of it swept around the pillar. Balenger holstered his gun. When he turned to help Amanda keep a grip on Vi

He had the sense of cascading down stairs, of streaming along a corridor, of speeding through parted doors. He grabbed for something, anything, to stop him, but all his fingers clutched was a chunk of wood. Fighting to the surface again, he saw Amanda and Vi

The current tugged him through an open door. He slammed against a gigantic metal storage tank. The utility room.

He strained to breathe. "Amanda!"

"Here!"

The flood was above his waist. Shivering violently, he swam toward her. "Vi

Facedown, Vi

Something in his mind seemed to tilt. He feared he had gone insane.

"Need to get out, or we'll drown." Amanda's voice quavered.

Balenger couldn't bring himself to tell her that even if they managed to fight their way back up to the lobby, their chilled muscles would render them helpless in the water, unable to prevent Ro

For a dismaying instant, Amanda's lovely cheeks and blond hair made him think he was looking at…

"Diane?"

"What did you call me?"

He took her arm and worked to guide her and Vi

Cold. So cold.

Balenger's hands felt stiff.

The water rose to his sternum.

Finally found her. Can't let her die. Damn it, how do we get out? If that bastard hadn't welded the door shut…

Letting the current pull him from the tank, he waded toward the door. The welds, he thought. Maybe they're not strong. Maybe I can use the crowbar to break them.

With all this water pushing against the door? Tons of it? Even if the door wasn't welded shut, I could never get it open.

Welds. Something jogged his memory. Something important that he couldn't quite identify. Something…

Balenger remembered that when Ro

He almost shouted with hope as he straightened, but there was a lot he had to do before hope was justified. The water was almost above the pipe across the door. There was a gap behind the pipe. He pulled the crowbar from his knapsack and jammed the sharp end into the gap. He braced the crowbar vertically, its hook at the top of the door.

Again, he groped in the water. Groaning from the weight, he lifted the tank and used its straps to attach it to the crowbar, suspending it above the water. He took the plastic explosive from the knapsack and wedged it between the tank and the door. He yanked the roll of duct tape from his knapsack and secured the tank's rod so the nozzle was pointed at the middle of the tank. Next, he taped the lever on the rod's handle in the open position. Gas escaped. When he clicked the tank's igniter, the torch flamed, burning into the tank.

The water pushed at him as he fought to return to Amanda and Vi

"Close your eyes! Cover your ears!" he shouted.

Amanda didn't hesitate.

"Vi

Stupefied by his pain, the morphine, and the cold, Vi

Balenger did the same. The water was at his chest. The torch, he thought. How long will it take to burn into the tank? One, two, three, four. It should have exploded by now. Seven, eight, nine. Did the tank fall into the water? Did the water rise high enough to put out the torch? Thirteen, fourteen.

The world became loud and bright. Even with his eyes closed and his hands over his ears, Balenger felt deafened and blinded. A force lifted him at the same time it seemed to suck the life from him. Weightless, he couldn't breathe. He dropped, pressure squeezing him. Up and down, right and left, these suddenly no longer had meaning. As chaos propelled him, he struck something, gasped, inhaled water, and continued speeding forward.