“What happened?” Violet asked.
There was no response. Then the man screamed. His scream was shortly cut off. Then silence.
“Be ready to fire.” Violet said. The soldiers formed a circle around her. “Shoot anything coming at us. Something’s definitely wrong here. Don’t take any risks. Assume we have no allies here.”
The lights died. They could hear something moving around in the darkness. Like something slithering across the floor. Something possibly reptilian. Which wouldn’t be much of a surprise at this point. Violet didn’t know if that was something she could experience anymore. If God had descended from the heavens to slap her she would have considered it well within the parameters of her new normal. One of the soldiers opened fire. Then another. And another one. Something hissed a
