Last Hope, Book One: Onslaught by Drew Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

front door, slowly tracing the course of the green emergency lights. He knelt down by her red dress to retrieve the suite’s key-card. He handed it to her and she tucked it into her pants pocket.
    Next, Budd picked up his rucksack and slung it over his shoulder. He gripped the door handle. “Ready?” he asked.
    “Yes.”
    Budd turned the handle and tugged the door inwards, revealing the pitch-black corridor outside. The darkness was tangible, appearing to have enough substance for him to be able to reach out and touch it. The windowless hallway was absent of natural light and the emergency lights did little to help. The line of green bulbs continued out of the room, down the center of the corridor, vanishing as they rounded the left-hand corner that led back to the elevators. Although they guided the way, the bulbs were not bright enough to offer any useful illumination and merely formed a pale green glow that tracked across the floor. Whether the lighting was poorly designed, or it simply lacked the correct amount of power to work as it was supposed to, Budd couldn’t tell, but as he stepped forward, glancing uselessly left and right, he felt as though he was blind.
    From out in the corridor came a sound that halted Budd in his tracks. He turned towards what he thought was the source: around the corner and off towards the elevators. While he replayed the sound in his mind, trying to establish what it had been, the same noise came again. He was sure that it had a metallic ring to it, but there was no clink of metal on metal.
    It was more of a thud.
    “Back up, princess. Is there a flashlight in the suite, maybe some candles?”
    “None I have seen.”
    “Is it worth a second look?”
    “No, Monsieur Ashby, I am certain.”
    Budd grimaced. With his right hand he reached back for Juliette. He felt her delicate fingers wrap around his own. “Don’t let go,” he whispered, unsure why his voice had lowered in volume. It had been a subconscious decision.
    Juliette nodded, her white teeth showing faintly in the gloom as she smiled half-heartedly.
    Budd started into the corridor, following the green emergency lights. In the distance, the thud sounded again. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the faint glow beneath the carpet, but he still struggled to see more than the vague outline of the walls and floor. Each step he took was filled with caution and, after a while, he realized that he was holding his breath.
    He exhaled gently.
    The thud sounded again. Budd estimated that it was taking place at intervals of about five or six seconds. He took another few steps.
    The thud struck out once more.
    “What is it?” Juliette asked, tightening her grip on his hand.
    “I don’t know.”
    After a few more paces, the thud repeated.
    Step by step, they approached the left-hand turn in the corridor. They continued towards it, staying close to the inside wall.
    Budd peered around the corner in the hope of seeing something.
    The thud rang out.
    There was a narrow strip of light, perhaps six inches wide and seven feet tall, 200 feet or so further along the corridor. As he watched, the bright light started to expand in width. It flooded out into the corridor, illuminating the floor and the opposite wall. The gap continued to widen, spreading sideways until it spanned six feet. At that point it started to shrink, contracting much quicker than it had grown. When it reached six inches, where it had begun, the thud sounded out.
    Budd’s throat went dry and his body tensed up. There was something trapped between the elevator doors, something that wouldn’t let them close. It looked like a person’s head.
    The doors began to open.
     
    You might be wondering why I’m so quiet at the moment. Well, I couldn’t get my head around what was happening then, and, to be honest, I still can’t think of much to say…
     
    “Stay here, sugar,” Budd said to Juliette, who was still behind him and could not see the body. He tried to let go of her