Chapter 27

Grace led the way back to Jamil, Lourdes following closely behind with the flashlight illuminating the shadowy, dilapidated remains of the corridor. Grace could practically sense Lourdes' heartbeat racing as the doctor-in-training vigorously wheeled an old gurney out of the way and all but leapt over some smashed light bulbs to get to Jamil as quickly as she could. Grace glanced behind her quickly to check that Matt and Anne were still behind them, when she heard a deep, gruff voice echoing down the hallway.

"Move back!" it warned in a low, guttural sound that reminded Grace more of a demon than a human. "Move back!"

Lourdes gasped as they neared the source of the voice.

"Jamil! Oh, God, no."

The girl shot towards him, ducking under the frayed wires hanging from the ceiling and dropping beside him. Right where Grace left him, hanging onto the door handle. Only Lourdes' flashlight revealed the true extent of his injuries.

The poor engineer looked like a zombie, stained with blood, his clothes torn and scratched. He was leaning against the door, his right arm holding it closed with his last bit of strength. His head was down, resting limply on his chest and his whole body was shaking. Grace held Matt back and tried to turn him so he wouldn't see, but he was getting too strong for her now. He wrestled out of her arms easily, his expression mirroring just how she felt.

Anne knelt in front of Jamil, examining him, undeterred by the clots of blood dripping from around his mouth. "Jamil, do you know where you are?"

Jamil struggled to look up at her, seemingly fixed in that uncomfortable position, but he managed to nod.

"Alright, we're going to have to move you so we can get a better look at you, Jamil," the doctor explained as he and Lourdes attempted to readjust him.

Jamil, still frozen in his position, made a noise that sounded like a muffled scream. Grace noted that his head was rocking side-to-side as if communicating his disapproval - and she knew why.

"Wait!" she jumped towards them, stopping them.

The girls impatiently stared at her, confused. "What?"

"The creatures that did this to him. They're inside."

"What? What did this to him?" demanded Lourdes with her arms still half-around Jamil.

"It's hard to explain…but they dug through the wall. Jamil was holding them off."

"I can hear them."

Grace turned to see Matt had his ear to the door and his rifle poised, causing Grace to yell at him to get back.

"Take care of Jamil," she told them. "I'll make sure they don't get through."

Grace pulled the door firmly shut, Matt with his rifle ready whilst Anne and Lourdes pulled Jamil away and laid him flat on the floor.

"These creatures," Anne started as she studied the marks on Jamil's face, "how many of them were there? Did they make these marks on his face?"

"Yeah. There were dozens, they were crawling all over him. We managed to fight them off but Jamil went through the wringer with them."

"He's having trouble breathing. We need to bring him upstairs where we can help him." Anne got to her feet and ran back towards where the discarded gurney had been.

"Just try to relax," Lourdes told him, rubbing his chest and giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "We've got you."

Jamil shuddered violently despite her comforting touches. "I…love you," he said in between pained gasps and splutters.

Grace watched Lourdes caress Jamil's bloodied face. She leaned over him, speaking softly to him.

"I love you, too. Te quiero mucho. We'll get you out of here. Just hang on, okay?"

Grace tried to look away, focusing instead on keeping the door closed. The scratching was getting louder – they had to hurry.

Anne rushed over with a backboard and placed it beside Jamil. "This should help us get him upstairs." The girls began to roll Jamil onto the board and tie the straps around him.

"No," Jamil croaked. "Go, go go."

"No, I'm not leaving you!" Lourdes snapped, clicking the straps into place.

"This is weird," Matt's small voice said beside Grace. She hadn't even noticed he'd been inspecting the door.

"What is it?"

"These holes weren't here before."

Grace bent over to see two small holes had appeared in the metal door just above her knee-level. How had she not noticed? She immediately pushed Matt away and glanced around her. "Uh, we're out of time! Anne? We need to - agh!"

She looked over just in time to see Jamil's eyes roll back and two spidery legs burst out of his bloodied mouth, spreading his lips to an unnatural width. Lourdes and Anne screamed, leaping to their feet. Jamil's head rolled around for a few seconds as the creature crawled out of his mouth, followed by another, and another.

"He's full of them!" Anne shrieked, watching with horror as the insect-like organisms creeped across his chest towards them.

Grace couldn't tear her eyes away. "They used him as a Trojan Horse," she muttered, in shock as she watched her friend helplessly vomit up critter after critter, convulsing and stretching out his body until all the life had drained out of him.

"Grace, let's go!" Anne yelled at her. "Matt, go! Come on!"

Grace snapped out of her shock, realising the floor was filling up with the blood-thirsty creepy crawlies. She hastily followed Matt as Anne pulled Lourdes away from Jamil. Lourdes' cries of protests carried down the hallway until they stumbled into a nearby lab, slamming the door shut and falling against it with exasperation.

"Those things eat through metal?" Matt whimpered against the door.

"So can rats," Anne mumbled, spinning around with her flashlight as her eyes scanned the lab for a way out.

"There's nothing we can do," sobbed Lourdes, leaning against the door which Grace could hear was already covered in crawlies from the other side. "They're gonna eat us from the inside out just like Jamil!"

"That's not true!" Anne snapped, still searching the room frantically. "We're getting out of here, and I don't want to hear anything different!"

Grace knew that Doctor Glass had admirable strength, but her willingness and ability to not lose hope or focus after witnessing what they had just witnessed was nothing short of heroic. Even the adrenaline wasn't enough to kick start Grace's brain into survival mode. She just kept picturing Jamil's mouth split open like bark. He was really gone, just like that. And poor Lourdes, sobbing beside her. She was torn between giving the girl a hug and helping Anne find a way out.

"I told you! Look!"

The doctor pointed and ran to the other side of the room to a small vent in the wall.

"We can't get through that!" Lourdes said hopelessly as Anne attempted to pry it open.

Grace hated to add to the negativity, but Lourdes had a point. "She's right. None of us can fit through there."

"I can."

The three women turned to look over at Matt, who was glancing nervously between them all.

"He would fit," Anne said, glancing at Grace to gauge her reaction. "Just."

Grace closed her eyes, fighting the instinct to outright deny Matt's help. She had gone through this many times before. She had done it with Hal, then with Ben, and now Matt. They all wanted to fight, to help, to risk their lives, and they were right - she wasn't Rebecca, or Tom. By now, she knew she couldn't control any of them. Not even little Matt. If she could, she'd take Matt's place in a heartbeat and squeeze through that vent herself, but they all knew only he could do this.

Matt took her hand, expecting her to argue. "It's the only way, Grace. I've got this."

His youthful face conveyed a certainty she hadn't seen before. He was still scared, she sensed it, but he was sure he wanted to do this.

She nodded, releasing a small, shaky sigh. "Okay. Be careful."

She knew she would regret it, but it was either this or sit and wait to die like Jamil. The engineer had died to protect them and they couldn't take that lightly. He'd given them a chance. Now they had to fight the rest of the way.

Anne lifted the vent cover from the wall, revealing the dark claustrophobic passageway.

"If he can get out that way, those things can get in," Lourdes pointed out cynically. "There could be hundreds in there."

"Don't remind me," Grace muttered.

Matt frowned at them. "It's our only chance," he admitted.

"Okay, Matt. Tell anybody you find that we're trapped in the blood lab, okay?" Anne instructed him, still catching her breath.

"In the blood lab," he repeated. "Got it."

He gave Grace his rifle and she pulled him into a tight hug, planting a kiss on his curly head. "Be brave. I love you."

"Don't worry," he smiled up at her. "I'll bring back help."

Her heart missed a beat as she watched him crawl into the vent, a paradoxical mix of pride and absolute terror running through her as Anne secured the cover back on the wall and Matt's small frame disappeared from view.

"He'll be okay," Anne squeezed her shoulder, forcing a reassuring smile which wasn't all that convincing. "He'll be back."

"You don't know that," Lourdes mumbled, finding a spot on the floor and hugging her knees to her chest.

Anne looked at her with dismay. "Lourdes."

"It's okay," Grace said understandingly. "What can I do to help?"

Anne looked around the room, her gaze passing over empty vials, microscopes and other lab equipment which were proving to be useless in that moment - until she spotted a cart in the corner of the room. "Check those oxygen cylinders, see if you can find one with something in it."

Grace nodded and began checking over the pile of cylinders, but Lourdes remained seated, an incredulous look on her face.

"Why?"

"We need to think about what we're gonna do if those things get in here," Anne explained impatiently.

"That's easy," scoffed Lourdes. "Die!"

"Lourdes!"

"Hey," Grace said softly, sensing the doctor's annoyance. Lourdes' unusual pessimism was being a hindrance, but she was struck with grief. Grace knew what that was like. "Lourdes, I'm so sorry about Jamil. I know how it feels. You're angry. Everything feels hopeless. But you need to pull yourself together, okay?"

Lourdes looked away from her, shaking her head. "That's rich."

"What?"

"You were with him," Lourdes said coldly. "When those things attacked. Yet you're fine. Jamil's dead and you haven't got a scratch on you. How is that?"

Grace put down the cylinder she was holding. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means maybe what everyone says about you is true," Lourdes spat. "You're bugged just like your dad was. Maybe you are being controlled by them."

Grace's mouth hung open. Out of all the rumours going around about her, she hadn't expected Lourdes to be one of the people who would believe them. Letting Jamil die? What kind of monster did she think she was?

"Alright, that's enough. We can't afford to fall apart right now!" Anne intervened. "Grace is right. You need to pull it together, Lourdes." She knelt opposite the young medic, shining the flashlight in her eyes. The dazzling effect seemed to wake her up a bit. "We need you. We're gonna get out of this but it's gonna take all of us. Now help Grace find an oxygen cylinder with pressure still in it!"

Lourdes blinked, narrowing her eyes at Anne before giving in and joining Grace by the cylinders. Grace could hardly look at her. She knew she was distraught, angry. She had said plenty of cruel things herself out of grief and anger, but she thought Lourdes was her friend. She couldn't possibly think she'd let Jamil die.

Grace had had a lot of doubts about herself lately, but what happened with Jamil…she tried to help him, she really did. She would know if she was being controlled to hurt her friends, wouldn't she?

Wouldn't she?