Creepers

34

"Noooooo!"

Plummeting, Rick disappeared into the darkness. His wail faded.

Silence.

A muted crash echoed from far below. The echo died.

Balenger's heart seemed to stop. He felt suspended in the space between pulses. He couldn't move.

The stillness was broken by JD, who peered down toward the lobby six levels below. "What do you know? I can see a little pinpoint of light glowing down there. His headlamp survived the crash."

"What's the old joke?" Tod said. "The fall isn't what kills you. It's landing."

"Well, Sweets, I guess it'll be me making music with you now," Mack said.

Cora slid to the floor. Her lips moved in a murmur. "No."

Balenger could barely hear her. In the beam from his headlamp, he noted how frantic her eyes were.

"No," she whispered.

Her eyes bulged. The tendons in her neck stood out like ropes. Her shriek filled the sixth level, stronger than the wind that whistled through the gaps in the skylight a level above.

"NO."

"All right, all right, okay, we get the idea!" Tod aimed his flashlight straight into her eyes. "You miss him! Get used to it and shut up, or you'll go over the railing next!"

"Not until I'm done with her," Mack said.

"NO!"

"Somebody shut her up," Tod warned. "I'm not kidding. If she doesn't stop-"

Balenger went over to where she slumped on the floor. "Cora."

She kept screaming.

"Cora." He put his taped hands on her left shoulder. "Stop."

"NO!"

"Cora." Balenger nudged her. "Stop right now."

Tears streamed down her face. As she wailed, snot dripped from her nose. Saliva leaked from her open mouth.

"Cora." Balenger managed to grasp her arm. He shook her, shook harder. Her body was like a rag doll's. Her head flopped forward and back. He slapped her, and abruptly, she became silent.

Her cheek was red. She looked stunned. Her eyes remained wide, but she hardly blinked, just sank back against a wall and whimpered.

"You didn't need to hit her so hard," Vinnie said bitterly.

"It shut her up, didn't it?" Tod said. "I swear, she was going over the railing."

The professor lay on the floor, horrified.

Mack tapped the crowbar across one of his hands. "So now you know what'll happen if you try to use this against us. Get that door open."

He set the crowbar on the floor and backed away.

Balenger tried to control his emotions. His hands trembled when he picked up the crowbar and wedged it into the doorframe. He braced himself and tugged. Wood splintered.

"No," the professor moaned. "We don't destroy the past."

"Just steal from it. Right, Pops?" JD asked.

"Vinnie, give me some help," Balenger said.

In shock, Vinnie joined him. He put his hands next to Balenger's, who felt them tremble just as his did. The two of them yanked. Crack. Splinter.

Crack. The wood broke almost as loudly as a gunshot. Balenger's ears rang as the door flew open. Darkness beckoned.

"Put down the crowbar and step away from it," Tod warned.

Balenger did what he was told. He watched Mack retrieve the crowbar and return it to his knapsack.

"Now let's find the vault," Tod said.

Balenger and Vinnie lifted the professor to his good leg.

"Cora." Vinnie's voice was unsteady. "We need to go."

But Cora didn't move. She just remained slumped against the wall. Her head was down. The beam from her lamp illuminated her knees. It bobbed as her chest and shoulders heaved with quiet sobs.

"I'll get her inside," Mack said. He pulled her up. With an arm around her waist, close to a breast, he walked toward the open door.

"Don't touch me." She struggled.

As Mack forced her into the darkness, Balenger shouted, "The floor!"

"What?"

"You need to test the floor first! Some of the rooms have rotten wood! That's what happened to the staircase!"

Mack lurched back.

"The three of you go first," JD said.

"Yeah, if it's rotten, the fat old guy'll drop through," Tod said.

They shuffled over. Weighed down by the professor, Balenger put a shoe across the threshold and pressed down. The wood felt secure. He applied more weight and still detected no weakness.

"Ready?" he asked Vinnie.

"Why not?" Vinnie's voice quavered. "The way this is going, if we don't get killed one way, it'll soon happen another."