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Evil-GG’s breathing slows, his fake hysteria of before has all but left him.

Johnson stretches his arms and when I catch his eye he immediately looks down to his feet. I follow his gaze. Half hidden in a small recess behind his skinny calves is a mini fire
extinguisher.

‘You’re quiet,’ Billie tells Evil-GG.

‘Wouldn’t you be?’ he responds. But the lightness of his voice has gone.

‘Yeah, sorry. It’s just we’ve seen so much,’ she says. ‘I’m becoming immune. Is that the right word? Immune? Is it? Moth? What’s the word I’m
thinking of?’

But the Moth has fallen silent as well and his eyes are fixed on a spot about a metre away from his eye level.

I follow his stricken gaze and realise that he has spotted Evil-GG’s talons sliding out.

‘Moth?’ presses Billie. ‘Is it immune?’

The Moth’s eyes leave the talons and rise the length of Evil-GG’s body until they meet Evil-GG’s. The moment plays out in a thousand reflections as Evil-GG straightens a
little, and I instinctively take a step away from him, which isn’t easy in a confined space.

‘Oh, no,’ moans the Moth.

‘Oh, yessy yes,’ says Evil-GG.

Johnson is tensing as Evil-GG shakes off the last of his fake panic and horror with a little wave of his taloned fingers.

‘Guess who?’

Billie realises a second later than the Moth does. ‘Oh my God.’

‘I should be an actor. That was Oscar-winning,’ boasts Evil-GG.

The lift soars past floor thirty-six.

‘So glad I’ve got you all gathered here,’ says Evil-GG who suddenly slams the STOP button and the lift lurches to a shuddering halt.

‘How? I mean – how?’ Billie backs away until she is pressed up against one of the mirrors.

‘I knew my clone would come here. It’s exactly where I’d go. Isn’t it lush?’

We’re all backing away from Evil-GG now. But in the small space of the lift, there’s no real place to back away to.

‘Five stars! Did you read the brochure? They clean your room three times a day.’

I look to Johnson as we fan apart as best we can from Evil-GG. We have no weapons, no Ape, nothing.

‘Three times a day, Moth. In they come, in they clean, in they come again. What’s not to love?’

Billie is already folding in on herself, sinking to her knees. ‘I can’t do this any more. I can’t,’ she whimpers.

Evil-GG looks at her with a gentle pity. ‘Imagine being locked in this little cell with me. And I’m the worst of the lot,’ he tells her. ‘I am. I’m just plain
wicked.’

The Moth reverses his wheelchair and inadvertently runs over my foot. ‘Moth!’

The movement takes Evil-GG’s attention and Johnson makes his move. He grabs up the mini fire extinguisher and swings it as hard as he can at Evil-GG.

Evil-GG isn’t expecting it and the blow sends him crashing to the floor.

‘Out! Out now!’ Johnson screams and I jab the OPEN button and the lift jolts upwards towards the next floor.

Evil-GG is already shaking off the blow as Johnson hits him again, harder than before.

The lift glides to a stop at floor thirty-eight and the doors start to open. Evil-GG springs to his feet and we see his talons unsheathe fully from his fingers. These look more deadly than the
others. Sharper, honed to the finest sharpest points. He waggles them at us.

‘I spend hours on my nails.’ He moves and positions himself between us and the corridor outside the lift. ‘I think this is your stop,’ he grins as he rises to his full
height. ‘Well, in a manner of speaking.’

Johnson swings again with the fire extinguisher, but Evil-GG is ready this time and with unbelievable speed he catches the fire extinguisher and rips it out of Johnson’s hand. He tosses it
behind his shoulder and it bounces down the landing. ‘And I thought we were all becoming such friends.’ Evil-GG licks his lips. ‘Now who wants to die first and who wants to watch?
Shall we have a vote? Shall we? Hands up who wants to die first?’

Out of the corner of my eye I see the Moth slam his wheelchair into drive and whirr forward. It’s not fast, but he doesn’t have far to go as he barrels straight into Evil-GG.
‘How about you?’ he screams.

Evil-GG is so busy lording it over us that he isn’t prepared for the Moth’s attack. He sticks out a hand, but the Moth rams him, ploughing him straight out of the lift.

‘GO!’ the Moth screams and it takes me half a second to process what he means. I slam the DOWN button and the doors start to close.

Evil-GG swipes the Moth clean out of his wheelchair, sending him cartwheeling down the hallway. ‘Oops,’ Evil-GG says, realising that he’s meant to be kidnapping and not killing
the Moth. ‘Got a little carried away, but you just wait there, oh Mothman of mine.’

Evil-GG turns and sees the doors closing and leaps faster than anything I have ever seen. But like Moth Two with the train, he arrives a microsecond too late and the doors close before he can
reach us.

We start descending and I’m already trying to calculate how long it will take to reach the bottom floor.

‘Do they go down quicker than they come up?’ I ask Johnson. ‘They should, right?’ I say trying to keep the panic out of my voice. ‘Should be easier and therefore
faster, yeah?’

‘What does it matter – did you see how fast he moved?’ Billie is still on the floor with her knees drawn up. ‘He’ll be down those stairs in seconds. He’ll be
there when the doors open. Then what are we going to do? Go all the way back up again. Then down again. Then up again. That the plan? Up and down, up and down till he’s all worn
out?’

I squat down in front of Billie and take her hands in mine. ‘The plan is to survive.’

‘And we’re doing great with that.’

I glance at Johnson.

‘I want to go home,’ she says. ‘That’s all. I just want to go back home.’ All trace of her earlier, darker side has fled from her. It’s as if her fear has
overpowered her alien – well, to me anyway – traits.

‘And that’s going to happen,’ Johnson tells her. ‘Promise you. But we’ve got to get through this first.’

I glance at the lights moving down through the floor numbers then stand up and hit the button for the thirteenth floor.

‘Rev?’ Johnson senses I’m planning something.

I hit the button for the ninth floor and then the fifth.The lift is already slowing as it reaches the thirteenth floor.

‘OK,’ I whisper, imagining that Evil-GG has amazing hearing as well. ‘We all get out on different floors.’

‘Are you kidding me!?’ Billie wails.

‘Listen to me. If we split up, maybe one or two of us can grab the Moth and escape with him.’

‘No. No way, Rev,’ she says.

The lift stops at floor thirteen.

‘Billie, he’s going to get one of us, but he’s
not
going to get all three,’ I tell her.

Johnson watches the doors silently open. ‘Whoever gets out of here, contact the Ape and then make sure you grab the Moth and get home.’

‘While he’s hunting us down, one of us has to go back up and get Hawkings?’ Billie looks panicked.

‘I’m going to make some noise, see if that distracts him. I’ll keep him occupied as long as I can,’ I tell her.

Johnson looks at me as the doors start to close. I snake out a foot and stop them.‘Rev,’ he says quietly.

‘Yeah?’

‘Don’t get caught.’

‘Don’t intend to.’ But of course I do expect to be hunted down, and we all know that, but it’s the only way some of us will get home.

Johnson grabs me and hugs me as tight as he can and the feeling behind the hug melts whatever indifference I was feeling away completely. Other-Johnson finally evaporates from my insides and I
feel Johnson so acutely it takes all of my willpower to let him go. He looks into my eyes and I think our first kiss is finally coming when he bends down and gives Billie a similar hug. This is
life or death now – there’s just no time for a kiss.

‘Stay safe,’ he says and then darts out of the lift.

‘I’m going to call all the lifts,’ he says. ‘Evil-GG might think we’ve switched, jumped in one of the other ones.’ The doors slide closed and I feel a huge
wrench as he disappears from sight.

The lift drops further, heading for the ninth floor.

‘I’m not going out there,’ whimpers Billie. ‘I’m not.’

‘You’ve got to, Billie.’

The lift stops at floor nine.

She gulps and I help pull her to her feet as the doors open. ‘Be quiet. Be careful. If you get through to the Ape tell him you’re sorry.’

‘Why do you even care about that beast?’

‘Dunno. But I do,’ I tell her.

We hug and then after making sure she can’t see Evil-GG lurking, Billie slips gingerly out onto the ninth floor landing.

The doors close and I stand in silence as I head for floor five. I’m hoping my plan works, that Evil-GG will go straight down to the lobby and not think for a second we’ll try and
outwit him. He’ll be standing there probably filing his nails, maybe whistling or doing a little Irish jig, because he is so full of his own wonder and self-adoration.

The lift comes to a gentle halt.

Floor five.

I brace myself. There’s no way Evil-GG will be expecting this, I tell myself. But I should be close enough for him to be able to hear me.

The doors open.

I wait, listening for the faintest sound. There’s nothing. I peer out of the lift. The floor is empty. I take a step. Then another.

There’s a wooden plaque on the wall directing people to the stairwell in an emergency. Whoever put it there probably didn’t have this in mind when they were contemplating
emergencies. I strain hard to see if I can hear Evil-GG.

Again there’s silence.

The closest I’ve ever been to a hotel like this is watching
Gossip Girl
and I try to rack my brains. Do the staff have their own lifts? Isn’t there a laundry chute? Or am I
just imagining that these things would exist? Whatever, I need to drag this chase out as long as I can.

I tiptoe away from the direction of the stairwell. I have to be smart about this, to make it look as close as I can to someone trying desperately not to be heard. But I tiptoe heavily, if there
is such a thing.

I walk quickly; the thick plush carpet under my feet gives little away and I’m not so sure I will be heard. I round a corner and stop. Did I hear something? I look down the landing but all
I can see are a series of evenly spaced doors leading to rooms that are furnished in ways me and my mum could only ever dream of at home.

I carry on, slower this time, trying to make it seem like I’m being as quiet as I can. There’s no hiding place anywhere, so I need Evil-GG to come looking for one, giggling to
himself about how hopeless I am. It may even slow him down as he savours the hunt.

Something creaks above my head and I instinctively look up. There’s another creak and I realise that someone is on the floor above me.

It could be Johnson or Billie.

Or it could be Evil-GG deciding to check out every floor.

I’m imagining that he reached the lobby and was met by an empty lift. That wouldn’t have pleased him and he’d then work out that we got out on another floor.

There’s another creak above me.

It can’t be him
, I think. I’m not being logical. He’d start off on the first floor and work his way up. He can’t already be above me because I’d have seen
him.

I move away, breaking into a light-footed trot. But again, just heavy enough to give myself away.

There has to be some other way out of this hotel. A fire escape or something. Anything that will lead him out into the streets while Johnson and/or Billie grab the Moth. Whoever’s above me
is matching their footsteps to my own.

It has to be Billie. She must have moved quickly to a different floor.

I speed up because I’m pretty sure that Evil-GG will be systematically checking every floor now. From the ground up. He has to be below me.

The footsteps overhead carry on down the hall as I crouch down and try to listen through the carpet. I have to put my ear to the floor, but when I do I immediately hear movement. Something is
moving incredibly fast along the fourth-floor hallway.

Evil-GG is coming at speed and he’s coming my way.

I start trying the doors of the rooms on the floor, but it’s pointless because all of them are locked. Even if I was to somehow miraculously force one open, Evil-GG would
spot the damage and be on me in a heartbeat. But that would make it too quick anyway. He’d tear me apart in seconds and I’ve got to make this last minutes.

He bounds at speed until I hear the door to the stairwell crash open below me. He’s moving up to my floor.

I break into a sprint and run as hard as I can. It’s futile I know, and I should really be saving all my strength for when he catches up with me.

I charge round another corner, but all I find are more rooms and more locked doors.

I am sure Evil-GG will be on my floor by now.

I keep going and round another bend.

More locked doors.

I keep on telling myself over and over that somewhere there’s going to be a laundry chute that I can throw myself down. All hotels in the movies have them. It’s got to be somewhere.
He’ll hear it and follow.