Page 148 of Almost Midnight

They had to be okay.

He felt it when the field on his suit began to fail.

The change was more dramatic than he was prepared for.

Some part of him thought he wouldn’t feel it that fast; or maybe, he wouldn’t feel it at all, and the damage to his body would be subtle at first. He wondered if maybe he’d just be sick later, at least until his vampire body was able to fully repair itself.

Instead, he felt it the veryinstantthe first shield fell.

It was around his calf. The muscle immediately felt compressed, and then like it was being eaten from within. A second, even more crushing weight fell on his back when two of the shields there flickered and then died.

Nick nearly staggered as the radiation hit him there, and had to fight the impulse to put his hand out to the rock wall when the shield over his head clicked off.

He saw Jordan start to reach for the rock, and grabbed the other vampire’s suited arm.

“Don’t,” he warned. “It’ll be worse.”

Jordan looked up at him, nodded.

Through the mask, Nick saw the other vamp’s jaw had hardened, and his fangs were already beginning to extend.

Both of them turned to watch the door slowly close on the other side of the glass.

By the time it closed all the way and sealed, they were a minute and a half past the zero mark, and the clock in Nick’s suit was still counting backwards.

It showed the radiation levels in black and red spikes on a different panel.

Nick mashed his hand down on the handprint next to the glass door, and it slowly, slowly began to open.

He and Jordan stumbled inside as soon as the opening was large enough.

Nick placed his hand on the panel in there, and already, the bones and flesh of his fingers felt off.

They felt too soft, like his skin and normally marble-like vampire flesh was growing porous. He fought back a wave of revulsion at the odd sensation, and prayed like fuck the door would immediately reverse directions once he triggered the mechanism.

It didn’t.

The door opened all the way to its full span, stopped, then slowly began to close.

Nick wanted to scream.

His head hurt. His body was getting harder to hold up in the suit.

Jordan staggered while Nick watched, and leaned against the glass wall.

Both of them stared while the glass panel slowly closed.

It felt like it would take forever.

To Nick, it felt like they might already be dead.

Then there was a low hiss, loud enough inside the chamber to make him jump.

The hiss felt different inside. Nick realized it wasn’t only the doors sealing, it was something inside the room cleansing them. The second hiss hit even more strongly than the first. Something rushed over the outside of his suit, like a vacuum of air being sucked entirely out of the small space.

He immediately felt so much relief, he nearly staggered a second time.

He still felt like he might puke.

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