“That is not the wind.” Yuri leaned in to Dimitri’s ear and hissed at him as quietly as he could manage.
Although Yuri was quiet when he spoke, the sounds from upstairs changed the very second the words left his mouth. The slow scraping became louder and more frenzied, and was accompanied by more sounds of crackling, like a combination between leaves crunching and the arc of electricity. The sound continued to circle above the boys as they stood frozen in fear, Yuri still holding onto Dimitri’s coat.
Dimitri looked at Yuri in panic as the sound began to change. Instead of staying in one location as it had, it began to move outward, sounding as though its source could be moving closer to the stairwell that led to the basement. The pair waved their flashlights about the room wildly, striving to be quiet at the same time as they searched for an exit from the building.
Yuri pointed out into the hall and motioned for Dimitri to follow him. The room they were in had no other way out, and Yuri didn’t want to get trapped in the room if the source of the sounds upstairs decided to join them in the basement. Although the boys stepped lightly through the room, they could hear the noise from upstairs growingly increasingly agitated. When they reached the door, though, all hell broke loose.
Dimitri’s shoulder brushed the door to the room they were in as they exited, causing its hinges to give off a loud squeal. Instantly the noise from upstairs changed from a soft scratching to a harried scrabbling combined with the sounds of thumping. Yuri shoved Dimitri forward, nearly knocking him down. “Get moving now!” Yuri hissed again at Dimitri, glancing behind him at the stairs they had descended a short time ago.
Dimitri held his light in front of him as he ran, trying to find another stairwell or other avenue of escape. The noise from upstairs began to recede behind them as they ran away from the stairs, then it grew stronger and louder. Panicked, the cousins turned a blind corner in the hallway, realizing that whatever was making the sound was now down in the basement and likely hot in pursuit of them.
At the end of the hall, Yuri spotted an object that made his heart leap. A janitorial closet was positioned in the hallway, with its door wide open. Just inside the closet the beams of their flashlights reflected off a piece of glass high on the far wall of the closet.
“Window!” Yuri half shouted at Dimitri as they ran, struggling to stay ahead of the thing behind them. Dimitri was first in the closet, followed close by Yuri who slammed the door to the closet shut, wincing as it bounced back open, the handle and lock having broken off long ago.
“Hurry up!” Yuri shone his light out of the janitorial closet and back down the long hall. A dark shape charged along, running past the branch that the boys had taken. Behind him, Dimitri had finally gotten the window open and shouldered boxes in front of it, building a makeshift staircase to get up to the window.
“Okay, let’s go!” Dimitri shouted down at Yuri from the top of the boxes, his body already halfway out the window.
Yuri grabbed Dimitri’s outstretched hand and began to descend the stairway of boxes. He couldn’t resist one last look behind him as he climbed, and directed his light back down the hallway. The dark shape reappeared at the end of the hall, half hidden by the partially closed janitorial close door. It was a large, black shape, as wide as it was tall, with no definable form. Although the thing was just as dark as the basement they were in, Yuri could sense its shape, feeling adrenaline coarse through his veins as fear gripped his heart.
Spurred on by the sight, Yuri squirmed through the window, digging his fingers into the dirt and grass that were just outside. Dimitri grabbed Yuri’s arm and hauled him up. The boys stumbled as they began to run, trying to get as far away from the clinic as possible.
Chapter Ten
When Lucas’s boot first made a squishing sound, he didn’t think much of it. Only after he had trouble moving his foot did he look down to see what was keeping it in place. In the darkness, he had trouble making it out, so he pulled out a small flashlight from his vest pocket and turned on the red filter, shining a pale red light down on the ground.
The red light reflected and shimmered off the surface of the substance that surrounded his boot. It was only a few inches high, but it was like glue and kept his foot still, preventing him from moving.
“What the hell…” Lucas mumbled to himself, then he keyed his microphone.
“I’ve got something back here.”
Up ahead, Iosif stopped and turned around. Lucas waved him back, then crouched down, looking around to make sure that he was safe as he examined the substance around his boot.
“Report.” Iosif stood just a few feet away, scanning the area around them.
“Something’s got my boot. I can barely budge it.”
Iosif pointed his rifle down at Lucas’s boot, viewing it through his infrared scope. He bent down, examining the substance under the red light, then pulled out a knife from his belt.
“Hold still.” Iosif stuck the knife into the substance, which showed no reaction as he cut through it. The knife passed through cleanly, making a clear incision around the edge of Lucas’s boot as Iosif cut him loose. Once he finished cutting, he pulled the knife out of the substance and stood up.
“Okay, pull hard, quickly.”
Lucas braced himself on his left leg and jerked his right leg back and up. With a loud snap, his boot came free and he started to tumble backward. Iosif reached out and grabbed his arm, keeping him from falling.
“What the hell is that?” Lucas shook his boot as he spoke, trying to remove the remnants of the substance from it without success. Iosif was once again on a knee, examining the substance up close, lost in thought.
“Shit, not this stuff again.” Iosif spoke to himself, not keying the microphone, though the soldiers were close enough to each other that Lucas could still make out what he said through their masks.
“What do you mean? This isn’t like anything I’ve seen before.” Lucas leaned down to get a closer look. While the substance had sounded like a liquid or gel when he stepped in it, Lucas could see that it was now completely solid. The substance was opaque in color, with a slight white and grey tint to it.
Iosif looked up at Lucas, meeting his gaze for a moment without speaking. He reached into his vest pocket, pulled out a small object and then pressed it into Lucas’s hand.
“I need you to hold on to this for me. I’ll take it back once we finish our sweep.”
Lucas looked down at the small notebook in his hand in confusion. He started to open it when Iosif shook his head. “No. Just keep it in your pocket for me.”
Lucas nodded slowly and stuffed the notebook into the front of his vest, unsure what to make of his partner’s behavior. Iosif stood and continued moving down the road, scanning the area as he had before. “Stay alert. It looks like this wild goose chase is turning into a real hunt.”
Lucas moved forward, hanging behind Iosif as they advanced through the city as he tried to put the notebook out of his mind. “Sir, what were you talking about with that stuff?”
Iosif kept moving, not replying for a moment. Finally, Lucas heard the hiss of an open communication line. Iosif had depressed the button for his microphone, but was hesitating to speak. “I can’t say anything about it, I’m sorry. I want to, but I can’t.”
Operational security was crucial for soldiers and Lucas understood this well. Although he was technically the same rank as Iosif, he still fell into the habit of calling him “sir” and looking up to him as his superior. If Iosif knew anything, Lucas trusted him enough to speak up if it was serious. Until then, he decided, he’d just keep his mouth shut about it and try to push the questions from his mind.