as his white Mercedes Benz. Now, he was glad he had the phone right
here because he could use it to call for help.
But there was no dial tone.
In the dark he rattled the disconnect lever, trying to command service.
The line had been cut.
The unknown things in the bedroom continued to scratch and pry and pound
on the door.
Vince looked up at the only window. It was much too small to provide an
escape route. The glass was opaque, admitting almost no light at all.
They won’t be able to get through the door, he told himself desperately.
They’ll eventually get tired of trying, and they’ll go away. Sure they
will. Of course.
A metallic screech and clank startled him. The noise came from within
the bathroom. From this side of the door.
He got up, stood with his hands fisted at his sides, tense, looking left
and right into the deep gloom.
A metal object of some kind crashed to the tile floor, and Vince jumped
and cried out in surprise.
The doorknob. Oh, Jesus. They had somehow dislodged the knob and the
lock!
He threw himself at the door, determined to hold it shut, but he found
it was still secure; the knob was still in place; the lock was firmly
engaged. With shaking hands, he groped frantically in the darkness,
searching for the hinges, but they were also in place and undamaged.
Then what had clattered to the floor?
Panting, he turned around, putting his back to the door, and he blinked
at the featureless black room, trying to make sense of what he’d heard.
He sensed that he was no longer safely alone in the bathroom. A
many-legged quiver of fear slithered up his back.
The grille that covered the outlet from the heating duct-that was what
had fallen to the floor.
He turned, looked up at the wall above the door. Two radiant silver
eyes glared at him from the duct opening.
That was all he could see of the creature. Eyes without any division
between whites and irises and pupils. Eyes that shimmered and flickered
as if they were composed of fire. Eyes without any trace of mercy.
A rat?
No. A rat couldn’t have dislodged the grille. Besides, rats had red
eyes-didn’t they?
It hissed at him.
“No, ” Vince said softly.
There was nowhere to run.
The thing launched itself out of the wall, sailing down at him. It
struck his face. Claws pierced his cheeks, sank all the way through,
into his mouth, scraped and dug at his teeth and gums. The pain was
instant and intense.
He gagged and nearly vomited in terror and revulsion, but he knew he
would strangle on his own vomit, so he choked it down.
Fangs tore at his scalp.
He lumbered backward, flailing at the darkness. The edge of the sink
slammed painfully into the small of his back, but it was nothing
compared to the white-hot blaze of pain that consumed his face.
This couldn’t be happening. But it was. He hadn’t just stepped into
the Twilight Zone; he had taken a giant leap into Hell.
His scream was muffled by the unnameable thing that clung to his head,
and he couldn’t get his breath. He grabbed hold of the beast. It was
cold and greasy, like some denizen of the sea that had risen up from
watery depths. He pried it off his face and held it at arm’s length. It
screeched and hissed and chattered wordlessly, wriggled and twisted,
writhed and jerked, bit his hand, but he held onto it, afraid to let go,
afraid that it would fly straight back at him and go for his throat or
for his eyes this time.
What was it? Where did it come from?
Part of him wanted to see it, had to see it, needed to know what in
God’s name it was. But another part of him, sensing the extreme
monstrousness of it, was grateful for darkness.
Something bit his left ankle.
Something else started climbing his right leg, ripping his trousers as
it went.
Other creatures had come out of the wall duct. As blood ran down his