Supernatural Fresh Meat - By Alice Henderson Page 0,78
for the employee door, wrenching it open.
He was halfway down the cement stairs when a massive shockwave hit the building. He slammed against the far side of the stairwell, then lost his footing and stumbled, grabbing the railing as he went. He caught himself before he hit the bottom. The whole building started shaking and heaving as if someone had tossed it into a washing machine. Dean held on to the metal railing. Bricks came loose, raining down on him, and he heard the shrieking of massive beams breaking up above his head. Then the ceiling collapsed. Dean pitched forward, his head hitting a pile of dusty bricks. He could hear other people screaming as the floor beneath him buckled upward, and then the wall closed in on him, crushing the full weight of the ceiling into his back, compressing him. He felt the air squeeze out of his lungs and his grasping fingers found a rough wooden beam that had fallen in front of him.
The roar became deafening. Every jostle and upward thrust of the building sent debris slamming into Dean’s body. He couldn’t get a breath. He could hear a woman screaming about her leg somewhere close by, and a man’s voice pleading with the avalanche to stop.
But it thundered on, taking over Dean’s entire world, suffocating him.
FORTY-EIGHT
Straining under the massive downward pull, Sam extracted his fingers and tried to find a lower spot to move to. He felt along the rock, finding a crack to wedge them in about a foot down. Then he let his body ease downward, his right foot feeling for a toehold. He scraped his boot along the rough granite, finding a tiny lip of rock. He tested his weight on it, and it held. Then he moved his left foot down, trying not to let the agonizing weight pulling at his back yank him too far. He felt a small protuberance of rock and rested his left foot on it. It held too. He carefully dislodged the axe, aimed for a crevice to the right of his chest, and drove the toothed side in. He tugged on it, and it remained embedded.
More dirt and tiny rocks spilled down over him. The female vampire’s boot couldn’t reach him now. She cursed.
“Pull me up!” she yelled. “He’s too low.”
Little victories, Sam thought. He clung to the rock face, feeling his strength drain away by the minute, his arms and legs starting to shake with muscle fatigue.
The ridiculous position they hung in now meant that neither Sam nor Bobby could fight, just make tiny defensive moves. And Sam knew he couldn’t hold on forever. The vampires knew that, too. They hovered at the top of the ridge, staring down and grinning. Maybe they wouldn’t have to climb down and finish off Sam at all.
Sam decided to climb up, taking a route to his left that wouldn’t allow the vampires to lower themselves down and kick him off. If they did attempt to reach him, they’d be in the same clinging-to-the-rock situation Sam was, and he guessed they wouldn’t risk it. This way they wouldn’t be able to attack him until he reached the top.
He moved his left hand out of its crevice and felt around for another handhold. When he found one, he followed suit with his feet. Then he heaved himself upward, pulling Bobby’s dead weight. His finger bones felt like they might snap, but he held on. He swung the ice axe out and in, biting into a fresh nook in the rock. He continued to drag himself upward, finding handholds and toeholds where he could, swinging the ice axe, wedging it in tightly enough to support both him and Bobby.
Bobby had grown quiet. Sam put all his concentration into pulling them up the cliff face, one little step at a time, one handhold after another handhold. The wind howled around him, though at least he was a little sheltered on this side of the rock. He worked his way steadily upward, thinking each time he’d see the top of the ridge, only to be confronted with more rock face.
Then, with the next heave upward, he reached it. He could see clear over the ridge to the clouds filling the valley on the other side.
A blinding kick to his face snapped his head back. Bright stars flashed as blood spilled from his nose and filled his mouth. Sam reached up with his left hand, trying to grab the vampire’s leg and fling her