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.‘Three, two, one, GO!’Adnan and Radar each push the unlocking bar on their doors, Heather rushing through between them.‘Now fucking close it again,’ growls Jason, grabbing one of the net-stands.Adnan and Radar grip the handles above the unlocking bars and pull the doors back into place.Heather runs towards the barn, shouting to get the demons’ attention.One of them is already looking her way, having heard the doors opening.The others immediately turn away from Cameron.There is no question but that Gillian and Jason were right.All that remains to be resolved is whether Heather could make the risk worth it.The first demon begins marching towards her, the other two taking up flanking positions.Smart tactics if she was carrying anything other than a gun.She steadies herself, holds it at waist height and pulls the trigger.Heather is immediately knocked backwards by the recoil, losing grip on the gun as she falls.The demon flinches in fright and surprise, but is otherwise unscathed.She scrambles to her feet and picks up the weapon again, this time holding the stock against her shoulder and bracing herself for the kick.She pulls the trigger.Nothing happens.The demon resumes its approach.She pulls the trigger again: no resistance; it’s just sliding freely back and forth.Then she remembers: pump to reload.She pumps the slide.The action is stiffer than she anticipates, and it takes a second attempt, by which time the demon is yards away, its fellows also closing in.She feels the trigger lock forward, knows the shell is primed.She blasts again.Once more the demon flinches; once more the sound and the flash are the only things to impact.‘Oh Jesus fucking Christ.’She pumps it again, by which time the demon is now running towards her.The gun reports once more, but in this instance not even the bang halts the demon’s charge.A second later it is upon her, the last thing she sees a gnarled claw sweeping towards her face.‘What the fuck?’ asks Radar.Adnan just keeps staring through the window, watching as Heather is dragged by her feet towards the barn.Her arms start to thrash.She’s coming around, dazed but not unconscious.They’re going to nail her up now too.Jason lifts the second net-stand and prepares to thread it between the handles, content that the ill-advised rescue mission is over.Adnan puts a hand on one of the metal shafts and prevents its progress.‘Open it again.’‘Are you suicidal?’‘They left the gun.They don’t know what it is.I can get it.’‘They left it because it’s no threat,’ Jason argues, almost yelling.‘Jesus Christ, were you not watching? Guns don’t fucking work on them.What the fuck is that all about? How can that be?’‘Because they’re not of this world,’ says Gillian.Sendak is opening drawers and slapping knives and cleavers down on an island worktop in the centre of the kitchen.The toppled fridge is doing its job, but the door frame is already giving warning that it will eventually come away from the wall.He tucks a knife into his belt and picks up his baseball bat again in one fist.‘Arm yourselves with anything you can carry.If you can’t find something that stabs or slashes, just grab something you can hit the fuckers with, long as it won’t slow you down.’‘How about a rolled-up dish-towel?’ asks Beansy.‘My mammy always said you could take somebody’s eye out with one of them.’Sendak sighs, trades a look with Kane.Kane can tell they’re both grateful for anything that might lift morale.‘Well, there’s a Cuisinart too,’ Sendak tells him.‘You think you could get one of them to stick its hand in there out of curiosity?’‘Maybe just stick with a meat cleaver,’ Beansy replies.‘Yeah.That’d be my call too.’Sendak moves to the door, beckoning Kane forward with him.Kane lifts a long, metal-handled kitchen knife and does as he is bid.‘Gonna check the coast is clear.Need you standing by to close this thing again if there’s any surprises in store.’‘You got it.’Sendak turns the handle and pulls the door ajar, Kane resting a foot against it, ready to drive it home if required.Sendak sticks his head out and looks left and right down the corridor.‘We’re good to go,’ he reports, pulling the door all the way open.‘Here’s how it’s gonna be.You go first, I’ll be holding the rear.You take a right out of the door, first left, then it’s a straight run to the games hall.You don’t stop, you don’t look back, no matter what you hear behind you.Your job is to get the folks in there to open the doors at the other end and be ready to close them again once everybody is through.’‘You go first’ to run the demon-infested gauntlet doesn’t sound like the best offer Kane ever heard, but he wouldn’t trade it for what Sendak’s dealt himself: closest to any pursuers, able to move at no greater pace than the slowest of the group.Yeah, he’d settle for ‘you go first’.‘Any questions?’ Sendak asks him.‘Just one,’ he replies.‘What is it you’re not telling us? There’s something you know, isn’t there.Or at least suspect.’Sendak acknowledges the question with a look that gives nothing away.‘The compass going crazy out on the hike.Everybody’s watches stopping.It’s all connect—’Kane is cut off as an arm appears above him, snatches the knife from his hand and drives it into his throat.He staggers backwards into the kitchen, blood spraying the walls as it jets from the wound.Sendak hurls a blade towards the attacker, suspended from the corridor ceiling, staring upside down at what it has wrought.It dodges, leaping to cling to the wall as the knife embeds itself to the hilt in the roof tiles.It keeps its eyes on Sendak throughout, then sets itself to spring.He kicks the door closed a fraction of a second before the creature slams into the wood, then slides the island unit in front.Blake is cradling Kane’s head as blood continues to gush from his neck [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]