QUEEN'S BURROW: PART 2

Lamont's entire body feels rigid, this creature looks like she crawled out of his most chaotic nightmares. Like a demon harassing humans, she gripped the floor, claws piercing the marble floor, and jump!

Up

Instincts took over. He didn't try the follow and comprehend the how in this fucking situation. He just knew he need to dive forward. Now!

So he did, throwing his entire body forward. He fell hard, but stood back up quickly and rain down the stairs. Hard scrapping sounds and pieces of floor remnants spraying everywhere signal clearly how his body would look, and more importantly fell.

Like a madman he jumped down flights, gripping the railing and turning fast. His breath was quick, mind in a flurry.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck fuck! Go faster!' His mind shouted as he heard a crash. The crawler, as he called her, quite literally crawled everywhere, came skittering down. He saw it leaped from one side to the other.

He brought his gun up and aimed for her body. Two shots are released and the effects are barely noticeable. She screamed yet no blood dripped, or a fisted-sized hole to show her mangle insides. The creature was unharmed.

"What the fuck!"

Panic laced his words. It's bad enough the crawler is hunting him, but her body, exposed meat, and bones can take these rounds with no damage to her.

She makes another leap, this time stopping in front of him. He stops and so did she. The crawler, stared, well that how he took it. She has no eyes, or may as well be hidden beneath all the brain matter. She gave off a growl and raises a hand.

Lamont didn't wait for what she did next. Adrenaline is coursing through his veins, and he used it. He quickly raises his gun up and shot the rest of his bullets at her head. She howls in pain, the bullets still didn't draw blood but the blunt trauma to her brain caused her to grip it. He turned to his side and leap across. He landed perfectly on the steps and sprinted down to the floor level.

Lamont feels like shit. All this running, jumping, and crashing is ruffing up his body. He knows if he slowed down before he found that car, the injuries and mental strain would due him in for the crawler to finish him.

So he ran, refilling the gun with the last of his bullets. His eyes are alert for any incoming zombies or more monsters like the crawler. He didn't see any but he does find some very handy thing for his situation.

"Grenades!" It wasn't a lot, just two but it is more than welcome for his situation. Laying on a dead guard's vest pushed up against the door to the parking garage. He dived to him, pulling them off and pushing the door open.

He turns around and sees her zooming down the hallway with freighting speed. Her face is angry, presenting a pulled-backed mouth filled with sharp rows of teeth wanting to chomp down on his flesh..

Lamont immediately pulled the pin on the shrapnel grenade. He pulls back his hand and chucks it down the hall, closes the door, and runs to the police car.

He turned around and again pointed the gun waiting for the loud boom to sound off.

A second later it did. Now Lamont has heard a lot of grenade explosions before. Watching war/urban movies and playing video games will expose you to that. Even live demonstrations in informal programs. The difference was that was from areas far away from him. Recorded to lower the intensity for the public. This was close, too close he fears.

It was LOUD.

He didn't see the explosion, thankfully but the **** pushes him against the car, forcing his vision above and taking the wind out of his lungs. Felt like a shopping cart filled with bricks hit him. He unfortunately was locked up for a minute and that was a terrifying moment for him.

Since that thing found him, it has been nothing but nonstop motion. Now that he's on the ground his thoughts crashed into him, the only motion left to him for the moment.

'Holy shit, what if that blast alert other zombies! Or things like the crawler! What if it survived!' He gritted his teeth the block out the pain radiating everywhere.

'If that damn thing didn't die, I'm fucked. Come on I got to move. So close to freedom out of this hell-hole.' He rolls on his chest and slowly pushed himself up. Limbs felt like hot flares and grew hotter the more he push. He leaned himself against the car door, breathing heavy and looking to the caved into the hallway.

The door is buried under piles of concrete and rebar. The entrance to the stairs is caved in.

'It is dead.'

'It has to be dead.'

He repeats those thoughts in his mind, and stood up, grasp the pistol, flashlight, and flashbang. He pulled out the keys and inserted them in the door.

It clicked open and he step inside, moving to the left. In the driver's seat he lays down and lets his body resist.

He felt so tired, his throat is dry, his skin pulsing, and his mind drained.

'It is just for a moment. Just a second of relief, that all I ask.'

None of that was afforded to him.

To his left like a buried mummy, the rubble shifted and a red-clawed hand burst through.

Lamont's body locked up, at this point, he couldn't take it anymore. The damn demon didn't quit. Another claw burst through and pushed herself out of the rubble, dropping to the floor with the grace of a panther.

'Not even a fucking scratch to show my efforts.' He chuckles bitterly. Dreadfully he was right, no bruises, or bleeding, even her brain was okay.

He wills whatever strength was left in his body to put in the key and start the car. He pulls up his gun and aimed at the thing.

She wasn't to his right anymore.

A loud bellow alerts him to the thing in front of the car. It sits there, deadly still but staring straight at him. He aims the gun straight at her screaming for her to die.

She smiles, sharping her teeth which are dripping with saliva as she licks her teeth.

He fires off his shots. She in turn does something he never expected.

She fires her tongue, piercing the car windshield, shattering the protective glass, and burrowing itself into the seat where his left shoulder is. Or rather was as his reflexes kicked in and moved to the right. His jacket was caught but that barely registers. The key was in, and the car flared to life. He set the police car to move forward and presses down on the gas pedal with wild abandon. The car speed to the crawler, ready to create roadkill and flatten the damn thing. She shoots her tongue again and bumps his right shoulder. A purple bruise forms. She leaps and hops onto the hood. Lamont aims the pistol up and fires everything he has, turning the car to exit the garage. He aims to scrape the crawler by driving under the low tunnel.

The crawler cleaves her claws in the hood, penetrating the metal and clipping his back, drawing blood. He bit back a scream and fires a few more rounds before the gun click empty. He is officially out of ammo.

It didn't matter to him. even as her claws grip the sides of the roof and pulls back, ripping the roof off. He drove to the exit, to freedom. He flung his empty pistol at her mouth. He ducks under a swing, ripping more into his back but not killing him. He leans back as her tongue zipped past his neck in-between his feet and busted the break pedal.

The car had no means to stop itself now.

Just when they were nearing the crawler made another move, showing off her intelligence. She unleashed her tongue again, this time slower as wrapped around the steering wheel his Lamont hands still on it as she steer it away from the exit and to a support column.

She dropped down, body spread at the seat next to him and the back, mouth screeching wide open, arms ready to slash him. He quickly pulled his left hand out, grabbed the flashbang. The crawler seeing this went to chop his wrist off. He twisted his hands, back and forth, down and under. The car is almost at the column. After another near chomp, he stuffed it in her mouth and unlocked his side of the door, rolling out. The crawler screamed, unable to untangle her tongue and bracing itself for an explosion.

Pain once again roared to life in his body. His eardrums nearly burst from the loud sounds. He once again was **** to wait as his body tries to recover the strength to move.

He just wanted to leave. Never in his life had he imagined being in this situation. It was too much, he felt like crying and curling into a ball.

A minute passed before he could get up again. His balance felt off, the ground felt tilted and wobbly.

"Effects from the blast." He fell again, heartbeats banging in his ears. He balled his fist and pushes off the ground again.

Fortunately, his eyes were closed and his body pointed away from the explosion.

He didn't dare look back, just stagger his way forward. His attention was once again to the exit. Just a walk down this ramp and he be outside.

Questions once again arose to his fragile mental state.

'What if they're zombies down there? More of that crawler? Maybe some human would confuse me for a zombie and shoot me. I walk and act like one due to getting my shit pushed in. I got no weapons.'

It doesn't matter. He just wants to escape.

Lamont arrives at the top of the ramp, looks down seeing the outside. A street with nobody around.

He walks down.

Pain once again shoots through his body. Something pierces his back and shoot through to under his ribcage. He looks down to see a thick pink tongue. Before he could attempt to remove the appalling thing or curse at the relentless demon spawn. He heard her jump down. shout a war cry and slashed his back.

He instantly crumbled, tumbling all the way down, each turn bruising his body more and more until he came to a stop at the exit. He couldn't move. The energy sapped out of him and his will withering. All he could do was look. He is faced up and can see the sky. It is dark with a few stars shone here and there. The moon is full. The area he is at didn't have any fires, but broken windows.

It was desolate and lonely like he is now. As his vision turned black and his senses dulls he took solace in one thing.

He would never see this crawler again. His time on this planet has passed.

The last thing he heard was the sounds of claws scraping the ceiling and thump to his right before he knew no more.