Snow was clinging to the ceiling of the tunnel above them. His head hung upside down, swinging and bobbing like a toy on a broken spring, jaws snapping open and shut as he tensed to launch at them. The mask of humanity, once convincing enough, now felt like something projected on him by a low-watt projector bulb, an illusion that would vanish with the flick of a switch, leaving only some unimaginably black armature of horror. Mike thought of what the book had shown him—the book he’d come to realize had been the thing’s portal for entering this world.

If he’s not human, what is he? What is it?

Yet he knew. Perhaps not a name, but the name would be the least of it. From outside our world, Dr. Walker had brought forth something both playful and toxic—playful until it started losing, the way it had up on the sixth floor. After that its anger would be as lethal as it was limitless.

A sudden unsteadiness in the floor itself plunged Mike sideways and pitched him facedown on the concrete. Crawling backward, he felt the foot of an elephant step on his back, slamming his chest to the ground hard enough to crack his ribs against his sternum. Hot salt trickled through his nose and mouth, warping his vision.

A voice from above said: “They’re mine.”

As he raised his head, Mike realized he was still looking at Snow dangling from the pipe above him. Who was on his back?

Then some animal part of him realized it, had maybe already realized it, even before he saw Snow was still hanging from the pipe.

Calhoun.

Twisting around as far as he could, Mike saw Walker, Sarah, and Eli hovering in his peripheral vision. They were staring at the thing that stood between his shoulder blades. To Mike, their eyes looked uniformly whited-out with an expression of surprise so broad and bold it was almost comical.

Snow sprung from the ceiling pipe, shooting toward him, and Mike felt the weight of the thing on his back vanish as quickly as it had appeared. All five of his senses died without a flicker. From behind him he heard a crash followed by a muffled, meaty slam. There was a hoarse scream and then a gasp.

Pause…

And his vision came back in screens of phosphorescent dots.

Sarah, Eli, Walker, and Jolie were gone.