The screaming stopped.
It didn't fade out. It just ended, all at once, the way a radio goes quiet when someone pulls the plug. One second there were dozens of voices coming up through the floor, and the next there was nothing but the low grinding rumble, and then not even that.
Nobody in the meeting room moved.
Jin stood by the door with the steel pipe in both hands and listened. He couldn't hear anything. His old ears weren't good for much.
"Jae-wo," he said quietly. "What's happening down there?"
Echo was still under the table with Eun-bi's hand on his back. His eyes were squeezed shut. He was quiet for a long moment.
"It stopped," he said. "The big one. It's not moving anymore. I think it's..." He swallowed. "I think it's eating. I can hear it chewing."
A woman by the whiteboard started crying again, very softly, into her hands.
Jin let out a slow breath. It wasn't coming up. Not yet. Maybe not at all.
