The seven who remained stood rooted where they were.
Predator's eyes burned through the dark—two pinpoints of ghostly light suspended above the server aisles.
No sound came from him. Not a single step. Only the weight of his presence pressed in on the room, heavy and suffocating.
For a second, they didn't move.
Then it broke.
Two of them—the drive handlers from before—snapped. They shoved their coworkers aside, stumbled over cables, and bolted toward the nearest lightless corridor.
"Help!! Somebody—help!!"
The cry barely left his throat.
schlck!!
A wet, cutting sound tore through the dark. Tendrils, unseen but fast, lashed out from nowhere—coiling around both his legs. There was a brief pause. Then a crunch—both bones snapped outward.
The man hit the floor screaming, dragging himself through the dark, hands slipping on his own blood.
The rest froze where they stood, eyes darting toward the sound but seeing nothing but shifting shadow.
