Ben Hammott - Siberia

At first, Alexei was confused by the terrified expression that appeared on Svetlana’s face. When she raised an arm and pointed behind him, a bad feeling edged with fear washed over him. He spun and froze in terror when he came face-to-face with the black substance hanging from the ceiling like an oily bat with wings extended. Its eyes radiated a menace he had never experienced before. Piss dribbled down his wobbling legs when the Black moved its wings towards him. Instinctively he stuck out his hands to hold them back and screamed. It was like touching liquid fire. His vision was smothered with excruciating, burning pain when the creature released its grip on the ceiling and wrapped its black wings around him in an embrace of agony and death.

Svetlana had never known such fear. Though her senses screamed at her to flee, terror rooted her to the spot and forced her to witness the dreadful event framed in the vent opening. The greasy, viscous, flat snake-like head that grew from the creature and stretched towards the opening, wavered when it changed to mimic Alexei’s features. When the black lips opened and screeched, Svetlana pushed herself away. When her shoulder knocked against the extinguisher, she reached back and dragged it onto her stomach. She aimed the nozzle at the creature and pressed the trigger. A whoosh of cold CO 2condensing in the air shot past her feet and sprayed Alexei’s Black-mimicked face in white frost.

EV1L dodged back from the freezing blast and fell to the floor, taking the body of the human it was still absorbing with it. The frozen part of its body writhed to be free of the cold, white covering until the crystalized residue fell away. Eyes formed and stared at the vent it heard the human female escaping through. It had forgotten how devious these humans were. But the memories were returning with its strength; they had almost killed it once. It wouldn’t let them do so again. It slithered off the partly digested human, stretched up and poured into the vent.

Pushing the extinguisher in front of her, Svetlana slithered through the duct. She should have listened to her senses and never entered the vent that might end up becoming her coffin if there was anything left of her after the creature had finished feeding. She shivered at the thought. Alexei’s pain-wracked screams had indicated it would be an excruciating death. Though shocked and saddened by her friend’s death, it wasn’t the time to grieve. Her one thought was to escape the same fate.

Though her worries were many and she barely held panic at bay, her major concern was the duct would narrow, trapping her. She couldn’t go back. When she reached an intersection that led left, right and straight on, she turned her head and shone the flashlight behind. Her worst fear was realized. The Black was in the vent and flowing towards her like an oil slick. Creepily, it made no sound. Even creepier was the single eye protruding from it on a thin stalk that looked at her. She needed to slow it down. Arriving at a crossroads of options, she slithered into the right turning she believed headed towards the storage rooms on this level and quickly squirmed backwards into the left tunnel. She had to hurry before the silent menace was upon her. With the nozzle aimed at the slithering monstrosity, she sprayed a twenty-second burst. As the cloud of freezing vapor whooshed along the duct, Svetlana shot along the right-hand passage.

Sensing the cold creeping through the metal, EV1L halted and abruptly backed up in a wave that tumbled back on itself until the frigid air had dissipated. Though the degree of coldness wasn’t enough to cause its demise, it did bring unwelcome pain. It observed the white coating of frost on the vent sides until it had faded and then shot forward. The human female would not escape its wrath so easily.

Breathing heavily from the effort of moving through the constricted passage, Svetlana turned a corner. The surge of hope she experienced at the sight of the grill along the passage waned when something thumped into the side of the duct near the intersection behind her. The light she aimed at the sound picked out the Black mass filling the void. A long snouted face belonging to some alien beast she found difficult to comprehend, formed and spread jaws wide to reveal sharp ebony teeth. Moving too fast to waste time bringing the unwieldly extinguisher to bear, she rushed for the grill. It was her only hope. As soon as she arrived, she dropped the flashlight, gripped the grill and pushed. It didn’t budge. A harder shove produced the same result. When she noticed the sharp tips of the four screws protruding through the corners of the frame, she realized escape wouldn’t be so easy.

Her gaze shot back along the duct on hearing the slithering grow nearer. It seemed the creature had abandoned stealth in its rush to reach her. Caught in the flashlight’s glow, the creature appeared out the turning she had recently vacated. It smashed into the side wall in its haste to reach her. The long snout forced into the mass on contact, appeared out the side facing her and snarled. It would be on her within seconds. She grabbed the extinguisher and smashed it into the grill; it buckled, freeing one corner. The second hit sent it clattering into the room. She dropped the extinguisher into the room, grabbed the flashlight and dived through the opening.

A tentacle stretched from the mass. The claw that formed grabbed at the human’s leg but swiped only air. Without stopping, EV1L followed the human through the opening.

Svetlana rolled when her hands touched the cardboard boxes stacked against the wall and groaned when her back struck the floor hard. Using her momentum and ignoring the pain as best she could, she jumped to her feet. The flashlight picked out the maze formed of Stalinist-era document boxes, shelf units and cupboards. On hearing the creature crash into the boxes behind her, she dashed along the tight passage between the plethora of stored secrets detailing the cruel acts of Russia’s long dead paranoid and power-mad dictator.

EV1L formed into a vicious four-legged beast it had absorbed long ago and bounded after its victim.

Confident her reward for negotiating the maze successfully would be the exit door she could rush through and slam shut behind her, trapping the creature in the room, Svetlana dodged left and right as she raced to escape it. Though puzzled by what was making them, she knew the Black was responsible for the pounding footsteps chasing her. If she survived, she would have gained some knowledge about the creature; it had the ability to change its form. The way it had mimicked Alexei’s face was staggering.

The wall of boxes ahead of her exploded, toppling the shelf unit opposite. Svetlana glimpsed a movement of Black amongst the cardboard mountain, a claw searching for stability to pull its body free ripped cardboard and shredded secrets. With her way blocked and no wish to backtrack and re-enter the air duct, Svetlana rushed up the tilted shelf unit, scrambled over the top of a wide, wooden cupboard and dropped to the floor. Her flashlight picked out a door a short distance away. Praying it wasn’t locked, she sprinted for it, grabbed the handle and turned. The door opened inwards, spilling light from the corridor into the gloomy room. A shriek behind spun her head. The Black-formed beast leapt from the top of the cupboard. Svetlana rushed through the doorway and slammed the door shut. It juddered when the creature struck it. The door held. She almost cried. She had done it. She was safe.

At the sound of scratching on the door, she turned to face the small glass panel set in the door. The creature’s evil gaze stared at her. An evil grimace formed and faded when the Black changed, causing Svetlana to gasp at a copy of her own face staring back at her. Her eyes shot to the door handle when it moved. She staggered back when the door opened. An exact, but Black, copy of herself stepped into the doorway. It was like she was staring into an evil, malevolent mirror. She threw the flashlight at it, turned and ran.