Anna scanned the now unrecognisable atrium, searching for Julia. An exploding flurry of motion from behind one of the security desks on the far side of the foyer gave her away. Sawyer was at Julia’s side, firing as they ran through an open fire exit. A dark, stocky man with ink patterns swirling down his arms ran past broken windows outside, heading away from the building. Blake was nowhere to be seen.

“Out of here NOW.”

She turned as Garrick’s voice penetrated the void of silence lingering in her head after the blast. He reached for her hand while pressing his free palm to his ear. Blood smeared his jaw. His hand closed over hers like a vice and pulled her to the back of the room. The doorway where Julia had exited with Sawyer was already filling with Scutters.

Across the floor space, two Chittrix appeared in the ruined main entrance. Larger than usual, one was mottled grey instead of the usual black. The other was like a wasp, with yellow striped markings.

Anna lifted her pulse rifle to take aim, but Garrick was dragging her in the other direction even as she twisted in his grip. His strength was unrelenting, and her feet skidded helplessly on the floor despite her resistance.

Garrick swore and yanked her hand. “What the hell are you trying to do?”

She gestured at the unusual Chittrix, but the words wouldn’t come out. The two Chittrix hesitated at the doorway, their heads bent together in agitation for a few moments before they retreated.

“What’s going on? They saw us. Did you see them?” she finally babbled.

Garrick ignored her, dragging her relentlessly to the rear of the huge foyer.

All the windows of the atrium had blown out, freeing up more access points for the living carpet of Scutters seething outside of the building. They crawled over the jagged lips of broken glass, an unstoppable living stream. The air was shadowy with the angry buzz of Chittrix wings.

To her left was an access door that led underground. Before the invasion, it had been used by cleaners and service personnel to access the lower areas of the building. It was their only chance. They were surrounded by hell on earth.

We’re going to die if we stay here.

Anna tugged his hand sideways.

“This way.”

He hesitated for only a moment, and then he followed her, wading through brittle, amputated Scutter limbs to reach the access door. Anna hit it first, hands sticky with fear. The damn handle refused to budge under pressure from her fingers.

It’s locked, stupid she chastised herself. Key, where’s the key? She turned and fumbled at the neckline of Garrick’s body armour, pulling hard to free the security key he’d tucked under his clothes earlier. Her fingers grazed against the skin on his chest. It was electric-hot under her fingertips, and he flinched as she touched him.

What?

She turned and ran the card through the reader, muttering a prayer. A green light blinked under the blast debris on the wall to her right. The door mechanism unlocked with a gentle vibration under her fingertips, and the handle finally turned. She practically fell through the doorway in desperation. Garrick was right behind her and slammed the door shut before she had a chance to inspect what was behind them. The door locked the minute the mechanisms touched base again.

There was a crunching thump as something threw itself against the other side, forcing tiny puffs of white dust from the wall. Anna backed away, waiting for the entire thing to disintegrate in a shower of plaster, but it was holding. For now, anyway.

“Down. We need to go down,” she shouted over the noise of bodies attacking the door and frustrated screeching.

He hesitated. “We’ve just come up, and it was jumping with Scutters below.”

She shook her head and pointed at the stairs. “This is the service access. It’s different to the primary lab areas. There’s a floor under the weapons labs that can only be accessed from this stairwell. That floor has an access tunnel leading to the air base above ground a few miles away. Government officials often visited the labs without drawing any attention. It’s an escape route. Trust me.”

Garrick took one last glance at the door that was still taking a pounding behind them. Time was running out. He nodded abruptly and smacked the machete against the palm of his hand.

“Stay close, and do as I tell you.”

Anna bit her tongue. She’d sort him out later if they survived.