But…
No matter how good, plans don't matter in an apocalypse.
The noise below slowly started to thin out.
The screams became fewer and fewer and not long after, there was nothing but silence again.
Just a heavy thud once in a while… like something dragging across the floor.
I counted in my head.
Ten seconds.
Thirty.
One minute.
Still nothing.
"It stopped," Sarah whispered inside my mind.
Her telepathic voice was clearer than any real sound. There was no echo or delay, just a direct thought from her mind to mine. If normal talking was like shouting across a room, this was like sitting inside the same skull.
"Yeah," I replied mentally. "Which means it finished."
Saying it felt wrong... Finished.
It sounds like they were tasks, like they were nothing even though most of the colleagues I know down there are probably dead
A soft metallic clang echoed from below.
Then- A door burst open somewhere down there.
And I felt it... Not heard but felt as a vibration through the stairwell.
"It's moving," I said in her mind, "Up."
We didn't waste time as we slipped out of the conference room and headed for the emergency stairs again while being careful not to run.
Running makes noise and noise invites death so I gently pushed the stairwell door open making sure to make no sound as we climbed up, one floor at a time.
Then two and then three as we continued to climb. Each time we paused at the landing and listened, it was right behind us.
My heart was beating so loudly that I was scared it would echo.
Just like that, halfway up to the next floor-
BOOM.
The stairwell door below us slammed open so hard it bounced off the wall.
Sarah froze when she heard the thud as I too gulped down but didn't dare turn around.
Turning makes you hesitate... and path ahead is the path that leads to survival.
"Keep climbing," I ordered her through telepathy as heavy footsteps entered the stairwell.
They were not frantic or even rushing. They were coming behind us with measured steps. It wasn't climbing fast... But it was climbing very steadily, maintaining just the right gap between us.
Like it knew we were somewhere above. How does it know? Can it hear us? Or worse... Can it smell us?
It's a dog so it's a given it has a good nose, if it's following is through smell, then we are a goner, because I have nothing to cover up our smell right now, noise can be concealed but not smell.
"Three-floor gap wasn't enough," Sarah's voice trembled in my head.
"Don't think. If you have time to think, then move fast.. just keep moving." I said as we reached the next floor and slipped out quietly, closing the door without letting it slam.
The hallway here was darker than the previous one. Almost no emergency lights.
Good, darkness helps if you know it's coming.
We moved deeper into the office area instead of staying near the stairwell as the footsteps below continued.
Metal stairs vibrating faintly and then they stopped right below our floor. There was complete silence after that as my throat felt dry.
With the speed it can move, it can reach us, far more quickly before we even have the chance for make a run to next floor but...
The footsteps didn't continue, making us even more nervous as why they didn't rush up behind us?
Why they didn't explode through the door but instead... We heard them turn around.
Claws scraping lightly against metal and what followed was the sound of descent.
Yes... It was going down.
For a few seconds, neither of us moved thinking that maybe it was baiting us, as if pretending to pure us out as we stood there, backs against the cubicle wall, barely breathing.
The metallic echoes grew fainter and fainter as the monster decended lower and lower.
Until they disappeared completely.
Silence swallowed the stairwell again.
"It… left?" Sarah asked inside my mind, disbelief mixing with relief.
I didn't answer immediately. I walked quietly toward the hallway corner and listened.
There was nothing I could hear though, no vibration or a growl. As if there is nothing behind those doors which is entirely possible.
"It went back down," I finally said as we both just stood there, confused yet relieved.
However, even though we both were happy that it left, there was also some suspicious as to, "Why?" she asked as I shook my head slightly.
"Either it lost our scent… or something else caught its attention." I said, making a guess as I dropped my shoulders, even though either option made me comfortable but relief is relief.
"Then we move," I said and continued, "If it's distracted, this is our chance."
We need to make as large of a gap as possible, there is no 1 second we can waste here as we then walked quickly, but carefully, deeper into the floor.
The darkness helped but the absence of people helped even more. Empty offices meant fewer unpredictable variables.
As we crossed the central workspace, I kept my telepathy lightly connected to Sarah. It was easier now. Less strain. Almost natural. Like keeping a call open in the background.
I tested my telekinesis again while walking.
A pen lifyed and then a file folder, I was getting a hang of it and could now lift two items at once, not heavier than a kilogram though.
My head pulsed slightly whenever I do for long or on more than one item but it was manageable.
I was improving and that's what matters the most, the feeling of slowly improving was truly wonderful.
It was slow yes but it definitely was there and just as I was being happy about it, things suddenly changed.
The temperature dropped a few degree and there was a slight cold in the air.
It wasn't dramatic or loud, it was just there and it just felt… wrong.
Like the air became thicker and someone was watching us from afar. Sarah felt it too with her instincts sharper than a human as her body went into alert instantly.
"Adrian…" she said as I nods, "I know."
There was no sound, that was the problem even though we felt a presence, no footsteps, growl or vibration... Nothing and yet, every instinct in my body screamed...
Something is here.
We stopped moving right there, the hallway ahead was dark, illuminated only by faint emergency lighting from far behind us.
Then I saw it.
At first, I thought it was a shadow stretching across the floor only to later realise that it was far too large and solid to be just a shadow.
And then, it moved suddenly as out from between two cubicle rows. It was silent and graceful as I finally got a good look at it, finally realising that it was...
A cat.
But not a normal one... Far from it, it was a cat the size of a lion.
Its body was long and muscular, covered in pitch-black fur that seemed to swallow the little light that existed. Its tail swayed slowly behind it, controlled and relaxed.
It's eyes were golden, as it looked at us with a predatory gaze, they were not glowing but still stood out in that darkness.
It didn't look mutated like the dog.
It looked... refined as if the evolution chose it carefully. Are other animals got evolution like high humans too? Because if that's the case, this cat... It will be explainable because no way is this thing a monster.
Sarah's breathing grew uneven as she looked at that cat, "That's not a normal monster," she whispered in my mind.
"No," I replied to her as the massive black cat stepped fully into the hallway.
Its paws made no sound against the tiles despite its size as it lowered its head slightly and sniffed the air.
Then it looked directly at us as if it was waiting for us to arrive and that's when it clicked for me, the dog went back down because of this.
A predator recognizes a superior predator and leaves. The basics of the wild, evolution just made those rules even more... clear?
The cat took one slow step forward with such confidence like the entire building belonged to it.
Sarah's wings twitched slightly, her whole instinct were screaming for her to flee as if it was in her blood, telling her that the one in front of her was her natural predator.
"Don't run," I told her as stopped, "Why?" she asked.
"Because it wants us to."
The cat's tail flicked once. Clearly it was amused. It understands our thoughts and that was the most terrifying part.
It wasn't acting on instinct, it was capable of being able to hide and keep observing her target for a while.
And what makes it even more dangerous was the playful nature of a cat.
The distance between us was about fifteen meters Nd if it's after or equal in speed with that dog, it could close that in one second.
My telekinesis wouldn't stop something that size so we were pretty much done for.
The cat opened its mouth slightly.
Not a roar.
Not a hiss.
A soft...
"Meow."
The sound echoed unnaturally in the empty office.
It was Playful.
It was Mocking.
Then its body lowered into a crouch.
Muscles tightening.
Not rushed.
Just prepared.
The dog was a monster.
But this… This was something far worse.