Chapter 41

With the slightest of ease Lynnette pushed open a door and let herself inside another vacant
apartment. She then shut the door as gently as she could behind her before limping over to the first
window that she could spot within the room.Outside it was pitch black. Only the bright full moon could
provide the adequate lighting she required in order to see. Lynnette could tell that they were facing
west because Downtown always led out of the city.

She could still hear the beast rummage and growl about the apartment they had just escaped. What
furniture and appliances that were still left inside the room were by then being destroyed by the thing's
blind and furious attempts to search for its nourishment.Still, Lynnette made sure to not only keep
Isaiah's mouth covered but also her own in the hopes that the beast would somehow, someway move
on. But even she at that point in their madness knew better.

With her face pointed outside the window, Lynnette thought to herself, "I wonder what time it is. We
couldn't have been inside this place that long."She then gazed down at the dark ground. "If that really
was the fuzz that showed up, then where in fuck is their backup?" She asked herself while grinding her
teeth back and forth.

Lynnette pulled away from the window and inhaled more thick smoke that seemed to be seeping its
way down onto their floor. She then took Isaiah, looked the boy deep in his eyes and grunted softly, "If
your fucking father isn't in hell already, I'm gonna make sure he will be when I see his black ass next
time."

Isaiah only smiled back at his mother while wiping his bleary eyes. Lynnette did all she could to keep
from crying out loud for the boy's well-being. He was tired and in the beginning stages of becoming
fussy, something that neither of them really could afford right then.

"Just hang on, sweetie, God will get us out of here." She whispered into his ear.



All of the sudden, the loudest crashing noise erupted from outside the door. For a moment it sounded
as if the ceiling were caving in. Just before Lynnette could take one step forward the roars of the beast
from out in the hallway blared out.

"Doggy," Isaiah shouted. "Shh, boy," Lynnette covered his mouth.

Lynnette stood, shook and listened as the creature stomped about outside. But soon she realized that
something was off kilter. First off, it possessed a keen sense of smell, it knew exactly where they were,
which was exactly why it sounded as though it were outside the door. And second, there was smoke
filtering in through the bottom of the door; thick, black smoke that was filling the room rapidly.

Lynnette placed Isaiah down onto the floor and carefully crept towards the door. She just had to
examine with her own misty eyes just what was taking place on the other side. With her right hand she
touched the knob to notice it scolding hot. Quickly she withdrew and stood back for a minute.

"If I remember correctly, all three of these buildings had elevators." She thought. "I probably missed this
floor's altogether."

Covering her mouth and nose from the smoke Lynnette once more grabbed the knob and twisted
before flinging the door wide open to find not only a wall of flames before her, but also half of the ceiling
lying on the floor and the beast lurking about beyond the flames.

Lynnette's very first instinct was to scream and slam the door shut, but instead she paused and looked.
Between both her and the beast was about six or more feet, all of which had them both separated by
the blaze.

The creature stood up on its two legs and roared while swiping at the flames in a furious manner trying
to get at her.

"Fire, mommy," Isaiah squealed from behind.



The beast only roared all the louder at the sound of the child, but it was just as helpless as its human
counterparts.

"Now I can scream as loud as I want to, motherfucker!" Lynnette bawled her lungs out before slamming
the door shut and coughing.

Dragging herself over to the window Lynnette peered outside and looked down. It was a long way to
the ground, jumping from a great distance wouldn't have been wise...but then again.

"I...I think I saw the elevator out there." Lynnette said to Isaiah as she began searching all over the
living room, the kitchen and eventually the one bedroom to find a dingy, white blanket lying on the floor
right next to a dead rat.

She swiped the thing from off the floor and made her way into the tiny bathroom where she opened the
toilet seat and reached inside. The second her hand connected with scant traces of something wet she
quickly dipped the blanket inside in an attempt to dampen the cloth as much as possible. It wasn't
much, but what she managed to get would have to do. The blanket by then had the stifling stench of
age old, stale urine.

Lynnette hobbled back to where Isaiah was seated on the floor before she gathered the boy and
wrapped both herself and him inside the rancid blanket.

She could hear the flames outside the door crackle and spurt with such intensity that for all she knew
the entire floor could have been swallowed up by fire.

"Okay, baby, just hold on to me and don't let go." Lynnette said into Isaiah's ear. "We're gonna have to
be brave and make a run for it. It may hurt...but at least we'll be one step closer to getting out."

She couldn't see the boy's face due to it being covered in the filthy blanket, but she could definitely feel
him gripping her t-shirt which let her know that he was still coherent.



Making sure the wet portion of the blanket was to the front of them Lynnette twisted the scorching hot
knob and opened the door to see even more flames in front of her. She tried her best to see just where
the beast was, but with all the flames it was hard to pinpoint its whereabouts.

Rather than stand and wait for her blanket to dry, Lynnette braced herself and darted past the fire. The
woman yelled out in agony as she passed along the flames before making it through the clear.

Just before she reached the steps Lynnette took the steaming blanket and tossed it to the floor before
looking back at the fire. A great portion of the sixth floor had succumbed to the blaze. The elevator
shaft that she needed was partially blocked by portions of the collapsed ceiling. Isaiah coughed and
hacked so much that he began losing his breath.

"Hang on, sweetheart! We'll be outta here soon!" Lynnette panicked before hearing something from
behind her scratch and move about.

At first she figured it was the other part of the ceiling about to give way, but as she looked back there
was still one apartment door open. Out the door appeared the beast that was growling and gnashing its
fangs back and forth.

The woman had seen enough. Without hesitation Lynnette took off in the opposite direction towards the
opened elevator shaft with the beast racing in behind.

Lynnette struggled to climb past and over parts of ceiling and crumbled walls in an effort to at least get
inside the shaft. She managed to wedge her way in between the broken wood and cement before
falling about twelve feet down onto the top of the stalled elevator.

Lynnette cried out in pain before looking up to see the creature looking down at both her and Isaiah
roaring and howling like an enraged animal. It was shoving debris out of its way in order to squeeze
itself into the shaft.



Picking both her and her son up, Lynnette frantically threw open the elevator's top hatch before jumping
inside. The car toppled and teetered from side to side as if the cable that was holding it could snap at
any time. Isaiah was a bawling mess, and she herself was racked in pain, and still it never once
crossed Lynnette's mind to ponder her next move as she stood up and tried to open the elevator's
doors.

The poison that had inflicted her earlier was still having its laborious effects. Her legs were feeble and
wobbly, her eyesight was dim and her arms still felt as if they were chained to the floor, and yet, with
her child wailing out in pain and a demon on their tails, the woman had not one notion of slowing down.

Lynnette could hear the beast above her as well as the wreckage that it was throwing down onto the
car itself causing it to waver even more. With her miniscule strength the woman took her two hands
and tried to pry open the elevator door. With every roar Lynnette fought all the harder until the door
ever so gradually parted revealing that the car was stuck between two floors with only three feet of
space to the floor above.

"Isaiah, get up!" She screamed at the boy who was still lying on the floor crying. "I said get up, Isaiah!"

Lynnette used her back and two feet to keep the doors open while Isaiah rolled over and got up only to
be snatched by the arm by his mother. Lynnette then simply hoisted the child up onto the floor above
them.

Then, just like that, the beast landed on top of the elevator car. Lynnette could both hear and feel the
car's cable begin to give way. She looked up to see the beast's snout protruding through the top hatch
of the car.The young woman glanced up at the floor where Isaiah landed and made the leap of faith
herself. She jumped and climbed to the ledge before the door behind her quickly slammed shut.

Lynnette then listened as the beast somehow managed to fall into the car. It ferociously pounded on
the closed door while roaring. Lynnette picked Isaiah up from off the floor before she slowly backed



away. She could hear the already frayed and weak cable that was holding the elevator twinge and
snap.

The steel car banged against the stone of the corridor it was inside of before the cable itself finally
snapped sending the car crashing down.It took no more than seven seconds before it finally hit the
bottom most floor of the building.

The loud collision sounded like tons of steel being crushed at a junkyard. Lynnette snuck over to the
stairwell and peeked down to see the beast that was supposedly guarding the first floor clamor and
skulk about wondering just what on earth had just taken place. The thing meandered in and out of the
lobby area like a crazed and confused animal.

With Isaiah's mouth muzzled Lynnette watched and waited. There wasn't a single fiber in her body that
didn't want to make a daring escape past the creature during its rampaging tirade. But the woman
thought and kept thinking. She and her son were trapped inside a burning house of horrors; freedom
had to come at a high ransom.

"Mommy, I went potty." Isaiah whimpered into his mother's chest.

Dragging back down the hallway, Lynnette muttered, "So did I, baby... so did I."


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