Unless . . .
Unless the runner did not need to pant, did not need to breathe.
Benny suddenly realized that the others were too far ahead, which meant that the meager spill of light from Joe’s flashlight was sending almost no reflected illumination this far back.
And something was coming.
Something was running toward him.
Silent.
Fast.
And he couldn’t see it.
78
BENNY HAD TWO SECONDS TO decide.
Stand and fight in almost total darkness or . . .
He turned and ran.
He ran as fast as he had ever run before. He ran so fast that all he could hear was the harsh grating of his own breath in his ears. That sound blocked out the noise of whatever pursued him, which meant that almost at once he lost any sense of how close it was.
He ran and ran.
Up ahead Joe Ledger turned a corner and took his light with him.
The corridor became completely black.
Benny thought he could hear a sound behind him.
Not the rhythmic panting of another runner, but the low, continuous moan of something so hungry that it would run and run forever until it caught its prey and dragged it down.
“Joe!” Benny yelled.
He wanted to yell more, he wanted to yell for light, but he saved his breath for running.
And then there it was.
A splash of light so bright that it blinded him. He recoiled from it, throwing up an arm to block it.
Suddenly something slammed into him from behind.
The impact sent him crashing painfully into the wall. The sword fell from his hands and clattered to the ground. The air left Benny’s chest with a whoosh, and cold fingers clawed at his shirt and neck and tried to hook into the corners of his mouth.
The image of the tiny white worms in the black muck filled his brain as immediately and intensely as a grenade exploding. It galvanized Benny into action.
He spun along the wall until the zombie that clung to him was caught between him and the unyielding stone, then he planted a foot and kicked himself forward halfway to the opposite wall, then kicked out again, braced his foot on that wall, and thrust backward with all his strength. The ping-pong action sent Benny and his attacker crunching backward once more, but this time the impact was many times harder. The creature lost its grip and collapsed to the floor.
Joe’s light was getting closer, and everyone was yelling and running toward him.
The zom—a man dressed as an American Nation soldier—came off the ground at him, snarling and biting the air.
Benny kicked him in the chest and knocked him once more into the wall.
And then with a snarl of fury Grimm crashed into the zom. They fell sideways, and Benny ducked backward away from the wet pieces of things that flew and splatted against the wall.