A disgusting stench filled the room.  Lucas covered his mouth and looked away. 

A black insect like monstrosity climbed out of the mouth, about the size of a cat, but with weird coil-like mandibles instead of a face. 

“Jesus Christ! What is that?!” Mike shouted.

“RUN!” Jeff cried out. They ran down the stairs, except for Mike, whose foot still hurt. When he tried to run, the insect cat thing wrapped the mandibles around his leg. He let out a scream and fell to the floor/

Jeff turned around to help him, but Lucas and Rick continued running down the staircase.

Rick pushed Lucas out of the way and took the lead.

Up ahead, they heard Jeff scream for a few moments before going eerily silent. 

They continued running. The numbers on the wall told them what floor they were on.

Third floor.

Second floor.

First floor.

Rick pulled open the door. Lucas tried to get by him, but he pushed Lucas away.

“FUCK YOU, YOU MADE ALL MY FRIENDS DIE!” He shouted, before slamming the door.

Lucas tried opening the door, but Rick was holding it shut on the other side.

The cat insect hybrid landed at the bottom of the staircase, a few feet away from Lucas.

“Oh shit!” He shouted. It jumped at him. He dodged it and ran down the last flight of stairs, into the basement. The little monster was right behind him again. 

He opened the door and ran into the basement, which was actually an underground parking lot. 

Lucas slammed the door behind him. The insect cat thing became caught in the door. It shrieked as he crushed it.

It tried to wrap its mandibles around his leg, but he moved his foot away. They wriggled around like snakes, unable to reach him. 

Lucas curb stomped its neck, open the door slightly, and then kicked it back into the stairwell, this time slamming the door properly.

He took a deep breathe and slid down against the door to the floor. He looked around the underground parking lot. There were only a few cars. It seemed quite abandoned, just like the rest of the apartment.

The coast was clear, for now. Temporary safety.

The adrenaline rush quickly went away, and the need for food kicked in. His stomach ached from not eating for a long time. 

He picked up a small pebble beside him and threw it. The rock made an echo through the parking lot as it bounced away. 

He checked his cell phone again. Zero Bars. Still no service.

He wondered what happened to the others. Did Rick make it anywhere?

Lucas sort of hoped he didn’t. He knew that on one hand, it was wrong for him to want someone to be dead, but on the other hand ,Rick had been a complete asshole. But all his friends and band mates had just possibly died. 

That’s probably pretty rough to deal with. And he had gotten out of the apartment on the ground floor. So if he went outside, he would be completely exposed to whatever that monster was.

Even if he stayed inside the lobby, he still probably be completely visible to the monster. 

At least down here, Lucas was temporarily safe.