Satisfied that the creatures were gone, he slowly shifted his body, and risked wiggling his hand free to scratch his dry skin. Instant relief washed over him, but it only lasted a moment. In the distance a hissing sound broke through the silence.

He froze and forced his eye against the keyhole. The noise faded away. Were they back? Had they somehow picked up his scent?

Several minutes passed before the sound returned. It was not the same high-frequency pitch from before. It was something different—something more animalistic.

He blinked rapidly, trying to pick up signs of life through the darkness, but it was futile. Even the emergency lights had been cut.

Panic gripped him. Suddenly he felt completely alone. Was he the only one of his team left? Had the spiders killed Saafi, Holly, Timothy, and Owen?

His stomach lurched at the thought. He blinked again, straining to see into the darkness. For several minutes he sat in the cramped closet, his lungs filling with the stench of chemicals. Just when he thought the sound was gone, it erupted again, even louder than before.

Screech!

Emanuel tasted bile in the back of his throat. Never in his entire life had he been so sick with fear.

The sound grew louder. It didn’t sound like the spiders. There was no scratching this time.

A faint blue glow illuminated the glass door separating the chamber from the cleansing rooms, about fifty meters from his hiding spot. He narrowed his eyes to focus on the glass, stilling his breath.

Inside the chamber something was moving—something big.

With every passing second the blue glow grew brighter and the sound amplified. Suddenly, a new noise rang out, followed by a loud bang.

Pressed against the glass was a face, devoid of humanity. A tongue exploded out of the creature’s mouth and began licking the door violently, leaving slimy trails of blue goo against the glass.

Emanuel wanted to pull away, terrified the thing might be able to sense him, but a combination of curiosity and fear kept him glued to the sight. He still couldn’t see anything but its face. The rest of the chamber had filled with a white mist that rose beneath the creature, camouflaging its body.

And then the face retreated and disappeared into the mist. The creature’s glow pulsated within the chamber, turning the white mist blue, beautiful yet terrifying.

Crack!

The piercing sound forced Emanuel against the back of the small storage area. His chest heaved and his heart raced within the confines of his rib cage. He began to panic, unable to get control of his labored breathing.