Hannah dove behind the stainless steel cart in the hotel kitchen. The hissing sound continued in the hallway. She could see the shadow of the thing under the door where the hall light invaded the room. Revulsion rose inside her and he placed her hand over her mouth fearing an imminent vomit. How did this day turn into this? She asked herself. How does something like this happen?

                Two days ago she arrived in Portland for a dental convention. The hotel staff had been all friendly with her, the doorman, the desk clerk, even the maids wore a smile on their faces that first day. She went to the convention and sat through boring seminars all day and only wanted to return to her room for a long soak in the tub, but something had gone seriously wrong.

                The lobby was dark when she arrived. She used her cellphone to light her way towards the stairs. About halfway across the green carpet she almost fell when she stepped in something wet. The carpet sloshed under her feet.

                She heard a groan behind the desk and made her way there by LED torchlight. There she found the clerk laying behind the mahogany counter, clutching his stomach. She could see the red stains spreading on his white shirt.

                “I’ll call for help,” she whispered, but the clerk tugged on her leg with a bloody hand.

                “Run,” he said, and the look in his eyes sent shivers down Hannah’s spine. She turned back towards the door and that was when she first caught a glimpse of it.

                The body was slick with moisture, translucent and almost amorphous in design, but her eyes didn’t fixate on its body. It had long appendages, two on each side where arms should be, but these looked more like tentacles. They had to be at least ten feet long, and flopped across the wet carpet like an unmanned firehose.

                Its face reminded her of a squid. With a beak located centrally, it had no eyes on its slick face. She caught glimpses of sharp yellowish teeth when it opened its maw. Two thick squat legs held the atrocity upright, ending in clawed feet with three toes. It screeched at her sounding like a movie version of a pterodactyl.  It was blocking the door, there was nowhere to escape.

                She ran towards the back, behind the counter, passing the dying clerk on the way. He still clutched his stomach. She passed through the doorway into a hall leading to some banquet rooms the hotel used from time to time. She saw the sign for the kitchen at the end of the hall and ran towards it.

                Now that creature had followed her. She whispered a prayer that it wouldn’t come in the kitchen where she was hiding, but she saw its tentacles slide across the floor and push against the double swinging door.

                With a push the door swung open and the creature probed the dark room with its tentacles. A nauseating smell reached Hannah as she tried not to freak out. She glances behind her looking for a way out. She carefully backed around the counter looking over her shoulder as the tentacles grew closer and closer to her, probing for its prey.

                Her feet struck something solid and she turned to find a counter behind her. Hanging on the edge was a magnetic strip with knives. She grabbed the biggest one she could find. Her eyes darted along the wall and she saw the exit sign above a side door. She started to make her way along the tiled floor.           

                She nearly jumped out of her skin when the tentacles of the monster struck the cart she had his behind earlier, sending it into the wall. She had to consciously keep herself from screaming. As she approached the door she saw through the center island the creature in the isle next to hers. Its beak snapping at air as its ten foot tentacles grasped anything it could. It knew she was in here somewhere.

                It turned its eyeless face in her direction and screeched, sending a shower of black sickly liquid onto her. A feeling of dread overcame her and she tried to move but it was like she was glued to the floor. She fought the feeling, the lethargy settling in her bones like sand filling an hour glass. The longer she was there the harder it was getting. 

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