The upstairs was so quiet it felt like an alternate dimension and at first I thought there was no way the creature could be up there.
We ran through several empty, open corridors, hearing nothing but the sound of our own uneven breath or feet against the ground.
When we reached the end of the hallway and slowed to an eventual stop, we both turned back and looked at each other.
'Okay,' he said, as he tried to catch his breath, 'where the hell is it?'
He was answered not a moment later when suddenly there was an ear-splitting shriek somewhere behind us and we set off towards it.
I got to the room first, barging in the through the doors to what looked like a conference room to find the creature reared up on her hind legs, mouth open, teeth bared to a cleaner, and without thinking I ran at her and tackled her out of the way. I told her to stay down and crawl back under the table in the furthest corner of the room just as Nick finally made it through the door.
'Nick, shoot it!' I called, looking around for some other exit and quickly realising I only had one real choice.
Nick threw a chair, hitting the creature on the back of the head and using the distraction I grabbed a chair of my own and launched it into the window. It shattered. The glass sprinkled down like rain drops.
'Hey!' I grabbed a hold of the fireman's hose from the wall and wrapped it around my wrist, 'come on then!'
The creature came towards me. I retreated back out the window onto the balcony, keeping my eyes locked firmly on the Pristichampsus. I felt behind me for the ledge then climbed up.
I waited; I knew I needed to, to take it over with me. So at the last second, as it sprung forward off his back legs, front claws extended, I jumped back.
The hose started to unravel, I started to fall quickly and from over my head the creature careered past me, plummeting down before it landed on the deck below. I barely had time to notice, the wheel at the other end of the hose clanged; I'd ran out of rope, and I was tugged suddenly back towards the window, so I straightened my legs as I hit the glass and it smashed on impact. I swung through it into the safety of a room on the floor below.
My entrance had somewhat startled captain Becker.
In all honesty he probably almost shot me, because his own creature search had been taking place on the floor below us, and I seriously doubted he was expecting anyone to smash through the window.
I landed somewhat awkwardly on my feet, balance almost tipping me over, but I caught myself, quickly tugging my arm out the loop of hose and let it go.
'Oh, hi,' I said as I pulled a shard of glass out my hair. He saw it was me. He snapped his gun down and sighed.
'What the hell was that?!' Jensen's voice brought my attention back to the window, and I turned, jogging quickly back towards it so that I could lean out and shout down to him.
'Sorry! That was– my bad.'
He stared up at me in complex bewilderment but didn't get the opportunity to respond because a moment later Nick appeared on the balcony on the floor above, he threw his hands down against the ledge and leaned right over to try and catch sight of me.
'You alright Nick,' I asked, giving him a casual thumbs-up.
The relief made him crumple completely.
On the plaza below, the creature rolled over onto its front, pushing herself up on shaky legs, and started back towards the river.
'Um… what do I do?' Jensen yelled out questioningly.
Nobody responded.
Nobody had time.
The creature was too fast so he just got out its way, making for the cover of a couple of upturned tables..
'It's going back to the river,' I called down in explanation, 'It wants to go home. So, let's let it.'
I came through the door behind the guards, and though seriously disadvantaged by my height, I could just about make out Connor standing directly in front of the creature from the spaces between everyone's shoulders.
'Connor,' Nick called out to him, 'get out of the way!'
He had nowhere to go. He looked around, eyes falling on the chain that was suspended from a hook on the ceiling beside him before he grabbed a hold of it and used it to pull himself up against a tall stack of crates.
'Guys,' he returned from somewhere above our heads, 'can we please just get it that way, back through the anomaly.
The Captain moved forward, I heard his gun cocking before Nick reached out, put his hand against it, and tried to push it down.
'Don't shoot it,' he said
'It's my job to keep you alive,' Captain Becker responded.
'It's been injured,' I said, 'probably in the fall, look.' One of its legs was curled up towards its body- perhaps a break in either the tibia or the fibula. 'It just wants to go home.'
'I don't know if I can hold on, Cutter,' Connor called down to us.
'Any ideas?' Nick asked.
'It's seen people before,' I said, 'if the Egyptians carved its face into their stones, it must be used to people. That's why it didn't attack us before.'
Doctor Page caught my eye as she started to nod in agreement. 'It's used to being treated a certain way. We've got to bow.'
'What?' Nick returned.
'No, she's right,' I said.
'She is used to being treated like a god,' she added.
'Hmm, creature like this…' I agreed, 'devourer of the dead… she would have been feared.'
'They would have bowed,' Doctor Page explained. 'As a sign of respect.'
'If it doesn't think we're a threat, it might not attack,' I finished.
'Might?' Nick repeated incredulously.
'Nick...'
'Okay,' he finally rescinded. 'Get down. Everyone. Get down on the floor.'
I pressed my knees into the concrete and waited. The creature crept closer towards us, a trail of blood spurting from its back leg, and it sniffed, intrigued but uninterested, before it turned away, hauled itself up over the crates at the foot of the Sun Cage and slipped into the anomaly. And no sooner had it disappeared, the anomaly pulsated and closed behind it.
And I exhaled slowly. '… I never thought that would work,' I said.
Beside me, Doctor Page turned her head and caught my eye. She laughed.