Forester felt Gareth's hand roughly grip his hair. Gareth crouched down in front of him and brought his face in close, until their noses were almost touching. His expression was furious. 

'Did you bring other people with you?' 

'What?' 

Gareth violently shook Forester's head. 'Did you bring other people with you!' 

Forester tried to turn his head away as specks of Gareth's spit flecked his face. 

'No!' 

'Is it Sarafina?' 

'I don't know!' 

'Don't lie to me!' 

The enforcers behind Gareth shifted nervously, as the unceasing screams continued to echo around them. The anguished sound seemed to be having an effect them. They fidgeted with their assorted weapons and crowded together, as if they could draw comfort from the physical proximity of other people. 

Gareth let go of Forester's hair and turned on them. 'We have a rat gnawing on us, and you're huddling up like sheep. Who the hell is screaming?' 

'It sounds like Portway,' said the enforcer with the facial tattoo. His face was pale, making his tattoo stand out like a livid bruise. 

Gareth cleared his throat and spat on the floor. He pointed to the enforcer closest to the door. 

'Go and do something about that screaming. I don't care what you do, but make it stop.' 

'What about the rat?' 

'If I have to explain it to you, then you're too stupid to work for me.' 

The enforcer ran out of the room through the plastic sheets that covered the doorway. 

Forester could feel the tension in the remaining enforcers. They watched the doorway intently, as if they could somehow fathom what was happening on the other side. As the seconds stretched into minutes though, the screams didn't stop. 

The weak fluorescent lights running along the ceiling flickered. 

'What the hell?' said Gareth. 

He looked at three of the enforcers he had left, including the one who couldn't seem to stand still. Of the three of them, she was the only one who didn't look poised to run. 

'You three. If there's someone in there, I want you to kill them. Make sure they know it too.' 

The woman nodded and drew a wickedly curved dagger from her jacket. It looked like a metal claw made to tear and rip though flesh. It wasn't a weapon designed to kill, but a weapon designed to inflict the maximum amount of pain on its victims. She looked at the other two enforcers and motioned towards the doorway with her head. They glanced at one another nervously, but it was clear they understood her message: running wasn't going to be an option. 

The three enforcers ran through the plastic curtains into the darkness, leaving Forester alone with Gareth and the enforcer with the facial tattoo. He searched the shadows in the corners of the room, but he couldn't see Dieter anywhere. He still couldn't work out how Dieter had appeared behind him so suddenly earlier. He hadn't heard any footsteps, not even a rustle of clothing. 

Gareth ran a hand through his hair and took a few agitated steps back and forth. He stopped in front of Forester and glared at him. 

'What have you brought with you?' 

Forester shook his head numbly. The screams felt like a corkscrew being driven into the base of his skull. Whatever was out there in the darkness, it left him feeling cold inside. 

Forester tried to focus his mind and think about the situation tactically. Gareth was distracted, and most of his enforcers were out of the room, but here was still Dieter and the enforcer with the tattoo to worry about. If something happened though, perhaps there would be an opening. Forester estimated he would need only a few seconds to make a grab for Eva and try to escape. She was sitting on the floor behind Gareth, staring intently at a crack in the tile floor. He readied himself and tried to subtly put himself in a position to spring for her when the time came. 

The lights flickered again, and a spatter of blood hit the plastic sheets covering the doorway like burst of ink. 

Gareth let out a yell of surprise and Forester lunged for Eva, as the lights cut out and dropped them all into sudden darkness. Forester grabbed Eva and rolled with her. He tired to get to his feet, but a strong hand gripped his collar and threw him off her. He hit the steel door of the industrial freezer and flinched as a heavy hand clamped around his throat. He found himself staring into the eyes of the enforcer with the tattoo. The dark shadows hollowed out his face and gave it a savage, demonic cast as he snarled at Forester and slammed the iron ball in his hand into the freezer door next to his head. 

'Tell me what's out there!' 

With wide eyes, Forester looked over the man's shoulder at the blood splattered curtain. Through the darkness, he could see indistinct shapes moving around behind the cloudy translucent plastic. 

Dieter dropped from the ceiling like a blob of liquid blackness and placed a hand on the enforcer's shoulder. 

'The enemy is using your friend as bait. His screams were meant to draw you in.' 

He had a deep, softly accented voice that was slightly muffled by his black face mask. His grip seemed to steady the man with the tattoo and bring him back down to earth. He released Forester's throat and let him slide coughing to the floor. 

'This is nuts,' he said. 'We need to get out of here.' 

'Be aware. Our enemy is trying to manipulate us, but their ultimate aim will not change.' 

Dieter glanced at Gareth, then disappeared upwards into the shadows. This time, Forester had a good view of his disappearing act. As he watched, Dieter used his chain and sickle as a grappling hook to catch a light fitting. In one smooth motion, he pulled himself upwards, dangling from the chains like a gymnast. As soon as his body touched the ceiling though, he didn't seem to need the chains anymore. Instead, his arms and legs stuck fast to the surface of the ceiling, and before Forester could blink, he scuttled into the shadows like a gecko. The whole process took only seconds. 

Forester realised that this craft was why he hadn't noticed Dieter's approach. He'd never even thought to look up at the ceiling. 

Suddenly, the lights came on again. 

Everybody froze. 

The screaming had stopped. 

Silence pressed down on them like a blanket as everyone in the room looked towards the doorway. Gareth drummed his fingers on the side of his leg and twisted his gold watch on his wrist. 

Forester saw movement behind the plastic sheet in the doorway. He watched as the shapes became more distinct, and the female enforcer stumbled through, leaving streaks of blood on the plastic behind her. Her movements were loose and uncontrolled, as if all of the strength had been drained from her body. She looked straight through them and took a step forwards with an unsteady, shuffling gait. Forester could see bloody footprints behind her on the white tiles, and her face was streaked with blood. She was still holding her curved dagger, but her grip was loose. Forester wasn't even sure if she still realised she was holding it. 

'What's going on?' said Gareth. 

The enforcer got two steps before the dagger slipped out of her hand and clattered to the floor. A second later, her legs gave out and she folded up like a tent pole. She landed heavily on her knees, and a small gout of blood spilled from her mouth. 

The enforcer with the tattoo looked at her, then crouched down and was quietly sick on the floor. Forester just watched mutely. The fear had drained out of him, and he found himself no longer caring if he lived or died. 

The female enforcer lifted her blood drenched face and looked at them imploringly, but it was too late. An apparition with blue hair appeared out of the darkness behind her, like a primal horror swimming up from the depths. 

Forester blinked. He wasn't sure what kind of nightmare creature he had expected to come out of the darkness, but he hadn't expected this. The apparition was the girl from Sarafina's kitchen, Regan.

Forester watched in horror as Regan gripped the enforcer's hair and gently pulled her head back. The enforcer looked up at her with her mouth half-open, as if she was about to form a word, but before she could make a sound, Regan slipped the kitchen knife under her chin and slit her throat in one smooth motion. The enforcer twitched and spasmed violently as blood cascaded down the front of her body. Regan stood motionless and gripped her hair, as she watched the life drain out of her. When the enforcer stopped shuddering, she let go, and the corpse hit the floor with a dull smack. 

Forester felt like he was in a room with a viper. Regan stood with her back to them, over the body of the enforcer. A drop of blood swelled on the tip of the knife in her hand and fell onto the tiles beneath. 

'I hate enforcers,' said Regan. 'They crawl all over this world like maggots infesting a rotting human corpse.' 

Forester felt like his own blood was draining out of his body. He felt cold and numb at the same time. This girl in front of him wasn't anything like the girl he'd seen in Sarafina's house. That girl had been cold, but this girl -- this creature -- wasn't even human. Her hands were splattered with blood, and there were droplets of it flecking her face. This was a girl who would kill without remorse, who would torture someone just to use their screams as a weapon. 

'What do you want?' said Gareth. 

His voice sounded dry and feeble. He cleared his throat and tried again. 

'Are you here for the girl?' 

Regan turned to look at him. Her eyes were like the empty void of space. 

'I couldn't care less about the girl. I'm here for you.'