She didn’t think her team was enjoying it as much as she was, though. The breathing coming through her headset sounded ragged and stressed, and they were having trouble keeping up with her pace. Mitzi slowed down so they wouldn’t be separated.

“You’re doing good,” Nic said. “All of the heat signals are converging on the rec room. I can’t promise there won’t be Cymics when you get back into the hallway, but at least they won’t be human. Bear left a little.”

Mitzi altered her direction, dropping to her knees to get under a series of cables that had been bolted to the ceiling. The surface changed from poly-zincrom interspaced with metal bars to metal sheets, and she had to slow to a snail’s pace to keep the noise down. Every time her suit touched the metal, it set up a dull, echoing clang.

“Tell me we’re close,” she said through gritted teeth, inching forward.

“You’re still a little way from the stairwell, but feel free to drop down any time. You’re right above a hallway.”

“Thank goodness.” Mitzi halted, unzipped her utility bag, and grabbed the screwdriver inside, then she felt around until she found the edges of one of the metal sheets and unscrewed the bolts holding it down.

She pulled it aside. The hallway below glowed green in the night vision, but she couldn’t see any suspicious shapes. Mitzi eased her legs over the edge while Skye held her hands and lowered her to the ground as quietly as possible. She then reached up and helped her four teammates down.

The hallway was completely still and dark. Open doors and empty passageways created pockets of darkness every ten feet, and the hair on the back of Mitzi’s neck prickled as she beckoned for her team to follow her.

It was an absolute maze, Mitzi realised as Nic directed them when to turn. There were small plaques at each corner, giving the name and compass direction of their pathways. If the section went for as far as it seemed to, Mitzi might have spent the entire day meandering through it and still missed large areas.

“Take the next right, and you should see the stairwell,” Nic said.

Mitzi squinted around the corner and, to her relief, saw the indistinct ridges that marked the stairwell leading upwards. Inky black filled the passageway down. She approached the opening and hesitated on the top step, holding her breath to listen. A dull drip echoed off the concrete walls.

“Brilliant.”

The Cymics must be getting halfway down the stairs, between floors, and breaking through the walls to get to the water pipes. If we’re lucky, the ones that used to live here will have gone to wait outside the rec room.

Mitzi began moving down the stairs, every nerve in her body alert for signs of movement in the grainy green below. Their suits made dull thuds on the worn concrete stairs, but she hoped the parasites were too far away to hear or see.