Chapter 9 - The Screams in the Dark
The liquid itself didn't hit her eyes, but the concentrated cloud of chloramine gas erupted directly into her nostrils, face, and mouth.
Valentina let out a horrific, blood-curdling shriek as the caustic gas hit her airways. She dropped the heavy brass poker with a loud crash, her hands instantly flying to her face, her throat, her eyes.
"My eyes! My throat!" she screamed, stumbling backward blindly into a rack of copper pans, sending them crashing to the floor in a deafening metallic avalanche. "You bastard! What did you do to me?!"
She collapsed onto her knees, coughing violently, gasping for air that felt like liquid fire in her lungs. Tears streamed down her swollen face, washing away her dark eye makeup in thick black tracks as she clawed helplessly at her own neck.
Julian didn't hesitate. He grabbed the heavy brass poker from the floor, turned on his heel, and sprinted through the service door into the dark, narrow hallway that led down to the basement.
As he reached the heavy reinforced door at the top of the basement stairs, he heard a low, ominous sound vibrating through the floorboards.
THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...
Deep in the sub-basement, the backup generator had begun to overload. The smell of burning rubber and ozone began to filter up through the ventilation ducts. The fire had started.
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Julian threw open the basement door and slammed it behind him, plunging down the concrete steps into the damp, cold darkness below.
"Lily!" he shouted, his voice echoing off the foundation walls. "Lily, I'm coming!"
