Through the crack, I could see there was nothing but a blank shaft in front of me. I’d stopped between floors. Now I was really angry. “Oh, come on!” I angled my little light up through the crack and could see what I thought was the doors of the next floor just over the roof. “Nothing can ever be simple.”

I smashed the plastic roof sheeting out of the way. There was an access panel in the top of the car. It might have been locked, but I swung the kukri so hard that when the hatch broke open I didn’t notice. We heavyset guys aren’t known for our vertical leap, but I used the handrail as a step, and after a couple of tries caught the lip of the roof, and, grunting and swearing, pulled myself through.

“Stupid dead guys. Never easy…Bitch bitch bitch. Find her. Whatever. Get me a friggin’ address, asshole.”

The elevator shaft stretched impenetrable black above. My little light only made a dent in it. The cables were greasy and rang with a strange pitch as I bumped them and they bumped each other. The doors for the lobby began at about the height of my waist. I wedged in my kukri and started pushing them apart.

The metal was icy to the touch. Clang. Jerking my head up, I stared into the darkness. Something had moved up there. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The rhythmic pings of the elevator cables changed and they began to jiggle violently. Clang. Clang. Drops of cold water fell out of the black to splatter me and my surroundings like a sluggish rain.

I could either bring Abomination around and turn on the big light to see what was descending, or I could get these doors open and get out of here right the hell now. There wasn’t a lot of room to maneuver or defend myself, so prying took top priority. I poked my knife through the crack and threw my weight against the kukri’s hilt. The doors began to slide. The shaft doors didn’t seem nearly as hard to move.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Screeeeech.

It was getting closer. There were new sounds, small tings of impact, and the raspy scrape as something pushed against the walls of the shaft. A fat blob of cold water struck my head and rolled down my cheek. Instinct made me look up. Something blacker than the darkness of the shaft moved, glistening, above.