Zahra’s side suddenly exploded in pain, and she was forced to slow as a result. She tried keeping up, but the Damned were everywhere, and the sounds of their scraping, sliding bodies as they moved — as well as the gunshots from her group — made it too hard to hear anything else.
She tried calling out, but it was too late. A group of Damned moved in front of her.
She was cut off and separated from the group now, and only then did Rabia and Ali notice, stopping and turning to find Zahra.
They shot two of the Damned creeping toward her before they were waved off. “Don’t!” Zahra shouted. “Conserve your ammo! I’ll find another way!”
There were already two dozen Damned between her and the group, with more joining the ranks every second.
She got backed up to one of the buildings. She unclipped her grappling hook and gave the head some slack, then twirled it at her side. Luckily, her shoulder had loosened up a touch since her fall into the man-killer pit. She kept it close to her body. It took very little energy to get it going, but sustaining the high speed would eventually become a problem.
It wasn’t intended to be used this way, but it was the best idea she had.
A woman broke away from the group, moving faster than the others. Zahra pivoted and released the hook. Fifteen feet later, it connected with her face, and she crumbled in on herself.
Zahra didn’t hang around to celebrate the victory. She turned and ducked into the structure, flicking on her flashlight as soon as she entered. A single Damned was indoors. She paid the man no attention. Zahra found what she was looking for.
A crude set of stairs led Zahra up to a low-ceilinged, loft-like, second level. She reached the lone window and leaned outside. Directly below her perch was the road. Three Damned slipped inside. They’d soon trap her here unless she figured something else out.
Zahra brought in her hook and cord and climbed halfway out of the narrow rectangular window, and noticed that the roof was only a few feet above her head. With no other option, she stepped onto the knee-high sill and reached up and out. Her fingertips just barely found the edge of the building.
Zahra slipped her other shoulder out and snagged the roof’s edge with her other hand. She kicked away from the opening and planted her feet on the rough stone façade. Her fingers protested the coarseness. One of the digits split and bled.
A hand swiped at her leg. Zahra looked between her legs and saw that one of the Damned had made it up to her in record time. She repositioned her feet and pulled with all her might. Her upper body climbed high enough to get an arm over the edge. She flexed the muscles around her armpit and in her shoulder to keep herself in place while she readjusted her grip. Then, she slid over and onto the roof and rolled onto her back, gasping for air.
She held up her raw and bleeding hands. Zahra tried to find a clean place to wipe them off but failed.
Gunshots rang out in the distance. Zahra was confident that none of the Damned could reach her here — she hadn’t seen them climb, and the stairs would force them to come at her one by one — but the others weren’t as protected. She rolled onto her belly and pushed herself onto her knees. The effort stung her hands. She paid the discomfort little attention and tried to locate the source of the gunfire.
More shots echoed around the cavern, but these had originated from near the Anubian monument. The base of it was only a couple of streets over. Baahir, Rabia, and Ali had either run into another collection of Damned, or they were fighting something else.
He had successfully evaded Anubis’ test subjects so far, but only by running for his life. Khaliq couldn’t count the times he had almost died, cut off and surrounded. By sheer luck, he had stumbled into the shadows, hidden, and figured something out about the creatures. The shambling creatures couldn’t see well in the dark.
His hands shook uncontrollably.
He was curious how they communicated, or if they did at all. He could see zero evidence of any vocalization, or even hand signals, yet they seemed to move as one. Khaliq had heard of the “hive-mind” theory, where a group of individuals could operate through a shared consciousness. Until a day ago, Khaliq would have thought that to be preposterous. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
