I spun and ran.
“SLOANE!”
My voice tore through the aquarium, bouncing off glassand concrete.
I sprinted down the hallway toward the director’s office.
“SLOANE!”
They already stood in the doorway when I rounded the corner—all three of them, alert, reading the panic on my face before I said a word.
“What’s wrong?” Jeff asked immediately. His hand already moved toward the shotgun leaning against the wall behind him.
I skidded to a stop.
“They’re inside.”
The words landed like a grenade.
“What?” Ethan said.
“Parking garage. Chain broke. At least five in the building.”
As if answering, a low, guttural moan drifted up from the lower levels, distant but closer with every second.
Jeff’s eyes went wide.
“Jesus…”
I moved into the hallway that overlooked the main floor.
More of them now, shuffling through the entrance in a slow, steady stream.
Seven…Eight… more behind them, shapes moving in the dark of the garage corridor.
How the hell had so many gathered out there?
My brain raced.
If they had reached the spiral ramps, we’d have nowhere to go. We couldn’t fight that many in tight corridors—not with one shotgun and bare hands. We needed somewhere they couldn’t reach. Somewhere defensible. Somewhere—
My eyes locked onto the main tank.
“Sloane!”
“What?!”
“Get them in the tank!”
Her face went blank.
“What?!”
I pointed at the massive central aquarium—the towering column of water that ran from the bottom level up through the spiral walkways.
“Get inside the tank! Now!”
She stared at me as if I’d lost my mind.