“Get her out of here,” Chris yelled over his shoulder.

“They’re not really going to shoot him, are they?” she asked numbly, swallowing nervously as she watched the men and women forming a line.

“It won’t kill him,” Danni explained, pausing to watch as Caine moved over to the elevator doors and placed his hand over the small key that would unlock the elevator doors and allow them to open.

“Why can’t they leave him in there until he passes out or the bloodlust passes?” she asked, desperate to find another way to handle this. She didn’t want him shot or hurt in any way.

“Because there’s no guarantee that he won’t find a way out of there and if he does…….,” Danni started to explain as she was once again pulling her towards a set of double doors only to let her words trail off meaningfully.

Not that Cloe needed her to explain. She didn’t. She’d been on the receiving end of the last time Christofer went into bloodlust and really didn’t need a refresher course on the subject. She wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but it still didn’t make her feel right about this.

“Isn’t there anything that we can do?” she asked, running what little information she knew about their kind through her head, trying to figure out a way to knock Christofer out of this without having to shoot him or risk anyone else getting hurt.

“Blood and time,” Danni answered absently as she suddenly shoved Cloe behind her and pulled out her gun.

“Okay, so why don’t we try that?” she suggested, sighing in relief. “We could drop a cooler full of bagged blood through the opening in the elevator and-”

“Not going to work,” Danni said, using her body to push Cloe back against the wall.

“Why not?” she asked as the first tendrils of panic shot through her as her body registered the fact that someone had her cornered. Apparently she still had a problem with space, she thought numbly as her heart pounded against her chest and her breaths came out choppy.

She didn’t have a problem when Christofer invaded her space, but for everyone else? Yeah, it was definitely a problem, she thought as her vision went red.

“Oh…….shit,” Danni groaned, sniffing the air and shooting her a look over her shoulder before her attention shot back to the elevator.

“What?” she demanded, hyperventilating just a tad bit as she tried desperately to step away, but her trembling legs wouldn’t work for her.

“You’re giving off a shit load of fear,” Danni said in an accusing tone.

“If that’s a problem for you then get the hell out of my space!” she snapped defensively, barely noticing when Danni stepped away from her.

“Yeah,” Danni said, cocking her gun. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

“What are you……..oh, shit…….”

“You could say that again,” Danni said, just as the elevator doors exploded.

“No,” Cloe said, shaking her head as she moved away from the other woman, “I think I’ll just run instead.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Danni agreed as reached behind her, pressed her thumb to a scanner, opened one of the double doors, grabbed Cloe by the arm and shoved her into what turned out to be a very long hallway.

*-*-*-*

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” Cloe mumbled incoherently to herself as she blindly grabbed hold of another doorknob, tried to turn it only to be met with resistance. “Shit!” she groaned, dropping her hand away from the door and returning to her mad dash down the long hallway while the sounds of gunshots, fighting and screams of pain echoed throughout the long hallway, letting her know that the battle was still on.

Somehow she resisted the urge to look over her shoulder to see if the double doors were still standing, knowing instinctively that if she did that, it would be all over. So instead, she continued running down the long hallway, blindly testing doors every ten feet and wondering when her newfound abilities would kick in. Because right now as she ran down the hallway, telling herself that this didn’t make her a coward, she couldn’t help but feel that the ability to move her ass like the Road Runner would really come in handy at a moment like this.

“MINE!” came the monstrous roar just as she moved to test another door.

Deciding that perhaps putting a little more space between her and the blood thirsty bastard behind her was in order, she quickly changed plans from hiding under a bed to finding a stairway. Reasoning that there had to be a set of stairs at the end of the hall, she moved her ass and released a high-pitched scream, that she was going to pretend never happened, just as double doors burst open behind her.

“Oh, the hell with this,” she groaned, knowing that she didn’t have a chance in hell of outrunning him down a clear path. So, she went back to plan A and grabbed the handle of the next door that she came across.

Hands shaking violently to match her nerves, she grabbed hold of the doorknob of a gray door, not caring where it led and twisted it as hard as she could and kept going until it fell off with a loud snap and the door swung open just as another roar sounded behind her. Swallowing hard, she risked one look over her shoulder and wished that she hadn’t.

There he was, covered in blood and looking every ounce the monster that she’d originally thought him to be. He wasn’t running after her, she realized, which should have given her a little comfort, but instead it only scared the shit out of her even more. The way those red eyes locked on her as he moved at a predatory gait as he stalked her said it all.

Sooner or later he would have her.

It was only a matter of time.

*-*-*-*

“Any casualties?” she heard Ephraim ask as she stood there, frozen in fear as she watched Christofer make his way to her, his intent clear.

“No,” Chris groaned, “we just got our asses handed to us.”

It was then that she realized that she could hear the sounds and conversations from the lobby and nearly sagged with relief. She opened her mouth to ask for help, but Chris’ next words stopped her.

“We can’t leave her to handle him,” he said, sounding like he was in a great deal of pain. “He’ll tear her apart.”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Ephraim said, sounding winded. “But you’re not going. Keep your ass here.”

“I’m fine,” she heard Chris grit out.

“You won’t survive another round with him.”

“I said I’m fine!”

“You can barely walk, ass**le,” Caine snapped.

“We need to seal the corridor off and I’m not doing it with her still in there!” Chris shouted, sounding truly worried for her. In that instant he’d earned her forgiveness and respect. She also knew that she couldn’t risk any of them coming to her rescue.

Closing her eyes in resignation. “I’ve got this. Don’t worry, guys. Just….just have some extra blood ready afterwards,” she said, knowing that she was going to need it.

She didn’t wait around to make sure that they’d heard her since she needed to move her ass and quickly. So, she opened her eyes, turned around and swore as she found herself facing another long hallway. The only difference between this hallway and the one that she was escaping was the scent of chlorine and the sharp white tiles that lined the walls and floor.