Lakewood Memorial (4 page)

And all the injured had that same scared,
confused look.

Dr. Gordon was gone. No nurses were in
sight. Not even a free area the jackass' friend could sit.

She found Freeda, who was still tending to
the wounded boy. The boy looked ill now, pale and sweating.

That's odd. He hasn't lost
enough blood for that
.

Freeda saw her and gave a weary smile.

Angie stepped over. “Where's Ruby? We got a
guy in the waiting room who's bleeding pretty badly.”

Freeda frowned. “Dunno. Outside smoking, I
guess.”

“
Now? Great.”

The dispatch radio sprang to life.

* * *

Ruby cursed and took a tight-lipped drag on
her cigarette. She felt ridiculous, hiding outside in the dark to
smoke. She considered walking down to the east wing of the
building, where the ground sloped away from the hospital and no one
would be able to see her from the windows. As far as she could
remember, there weren't even any patients on that wing tonight. But
that would be too ridiculous. She was a grown woman.

All the same, she hoped no one saw her. Her
numerous failed attempts to quit smoking were hospital legend. And
she was in no mood to catch any crap about failing again. If she
couldn't smoke on a night as crazy as this, when could she?

She squinted out into the dark. The only
light came from the door behind her. She couldn't see anything
beyond a few feet.

She took another drag. She had to hurry. The
ambulance would arrive soon, and there'd be no time for smoking
then.

A shuffling sound came from the dark.

“
Shit,” she said,
expecting an aide or even Dr. Gordon to appear and chastise her.
But no one emerged.

She heard more shuffling. Then a slight
groan.

Ruby frowned and took a third drag. More
shuffling. Shaky, uneven footsteps. From more than two feet. Then
another groan, from a different mouth.

“
What the hell is going
on?” she said, flicking the cigarette away and stepping into the
dark.

After a few steps, she couldn't see a thing.
The only light came from a few feet behind her. She heard moaning,
grunting and the sounds of people stumbling.

“
Is someone hurt?” she
said.

Two arms landed on her shoulders. Cold hands
clutched at her.

“
Hey!” she said, twisting
away from the arms. She was now standing facing the doorway and the
only light. She heard movement next to her and took a step
backward, further into the dark.

She backed into someone else. Cold arms
closed clumsily around her breasts. The arms smelled awful.

“
Get your hands off me!”
Ruby yelled, angry now. She pulled the arms away from her. The skin
on the arms felt wrong. Cold and spongy. She was wondering about
that when a cold mouth closed on her ear.

She gasped as the mouth bit her ear off.

Pain shot through her head and she screamed,
falling away from the arms as hot liquid ran down her cheek. She
landed on her knees. She wanted to cover the wound, but it hurt too
much to touch.

“
What the hell is the
matter with you?” Ruby shrieked into the darkness. She squinted but
couldn't see anything.

A pair of legs ran into her back. Someone
above her groaned and reached down, grabbing her hair. Ruby
screamed and fought. The hands fumbled, a cold finger landing in
the hole where her ear had been. The pain was so intense Ruby felt
faint.

“
Help!” Ruby yelled and
wrenched away from the hands. She tried to stand but fell forward,
still dizzy from pain. She landed on her stomach. Hands closed on
her legs.

“
Stop it!” Ruby yelled. A
cold mouth closed on her calf. And bit. Teeth ground into her leg
and tore a chunk free.

Ruby turned onto her back and kicked with
her good leg. Something caught the leg and held tight. A second
pair of hands closed on her head.

“
Help!” Ruby screamed,
cold fingers straying into her mouth. She fought and kicked, but
the clammy hands held fast.

A third set of hands landed on her stomach.
The hands fumbled with her clothes, pulling clumsily.

Ruby tried to scream but her mouth was full
of cold fingers.

The hands on her stomach found skin. She
heard groaning and the fingers dug into her stomach. Her shrieks
were muffled as the hands pushed further into her. She felt her
muscle and viscera tear. She felt bits of her being pulled out.

Then she felt nothing.

Six

The dispatch radio spat out static. Angie
turned to look. Rick, still sitting at the dispatch desk, frowned.
He leaned forward and clicked the microphone.

“
Max? Pete?” he
said.

Static. “Rick?” Static.

Rick clicked the microphone. “Where are you
guys?”

“
Shit!” Static. Garbled
screaming. More static.

Click. “Guys?”

Angie started walking toward Rick's desk.
Nurse Paula and the other aides turned to look. Even the patients
turned to look.

Rick looked worried and clicked again. “Max?
Pete? Come in.”

Static. “Oh my god! Oh shit!” Static.
Garbled screaming and groaning.

Angie reached Rick's back. She leaned
forward to listen. Rick didn't notice. Angie peered out the glass
ambulance entrance doors. She saw lights flicker outside.

“
Guys?” Rick said, panic
creeping into his voice.

“
Oh god no!” Static.
Screaming and gurgling. Wet choking sounds. Static.

Twin lights appeared outside. Approaching
fast. Moving frantically side to side, but getting closer.

“
Rick...” Angie started,
surprised when her voice came out as a whisper.

“
Max! Pete!” Rick screamed
into the microphone. Only static replied. The lights were growing,
huge and blaring into the emergency room.

“
Rick!” Angie said, full
volume now. “Oh shit.”

“
Guys!” Rick yelled into
the microphone.

People behind her started screaming. The
lights blared. An engine roared.

“
Rick!” Angie yelled. She
grabbed his collar and pulled him from the chair.

The glass doors and the wall surrounding
them exploded. Angie was lost in heat and noise. She fell to one
side, still holding Rick's hand. The dispatch desk flew past her,
slamming into something. Angie couldn't tell what. All she knew was
falling and the sounds of destruction.

Then, silence. Not real silence, just
relative silence after the chaos. Angie blinked. She was lying on
the emergency room floor. People around her cried and whimpered.
She smelled smoke. No, an engine. An overheated engine.

Her head was turned away from Rick, but she
could still feel his hand in hers. She tugged. The hand was oddly
stuck in place.

“
Rick?” she said, then
turned her head to look.

One of Rick's eyes stared at her, wide and
bulging. The other eye was gone. Lost along with most of his head,
crushed flat under the wheel of the ambulance.

Angie screamed and let go, scrambling to her
knees. Rick's head oozed blood and a thick, gray glop. Angie felt
sick.

“
Oh shit,” came Freeda's
voice from behind her.

Angie pushed down her vomit and stood. She
looked around. Patients lined the walls, looking stunned. Aides
stood with the patients. Angie barely knew any of them. They were
newbies, and all clearly looked like they had quit the hospital the
second the ambulance crashed through the wall.

Angie looked back at the ambulance. She
spoke, her voice a hoarse whisper. “Freeda, where's Ruby?”

“
Still out smoking,” said
Freeda from behind her.

Angie turned to look at Freeda. “Where's
Paula?”

Freeda looked around, pale. She pointed, and
Angie looked. The dispatch desk was smashed against the far wall.
Nurse Paula was slumped over the desk's remains. Or, at least, the
top half of her was.

Angie's stomach quivered as she turned back.
“Shit.”

She shook her head clear. “Okay then.
Freeda, check the patients. I'll check the ambulance.”

She moved to the ambulance
- careful not to look at Rick's body or even
think
about it - and grabbed the
driver's side door handle. She tugged but the door stayed shut. The
window was cracked so badly she couldn't see in.

“
Everyone stay calm,” said
Freeda behind her. “We'll find Nurse Ruby and Dr. Gordon and get
everyone looked at.”

Angie pulled on the door again, but it was
locked or stuck. “Hello?” she called and knocked on the window. “Is
everyone okay?”

She stepped onto the running board and
peered between the cracks in the window. The front was empty.
Something dark covered the driver's seat.

She hopped down and ran to
the back. She was reaching for the door when
something slammed against it from the inside.

Angie was so startled she stumbled backward,
tripping over rubble from the destroyed wall. The patients began to
squirm and mutter.

“
Please stay calm,” said
Freeda to the patients. “Dr. Gordon will be here soon.”

Angie looked at Freeda. “Call Nurse
Ruby.”

“
What do you think I'm
doing?” said Freeda, forcing a smile and holding her cell phone to
her ear. “She's not answering.”

Another
whump!
came from inside
the ambulance. The door rattled. Angie turned back to face
it.

“
Hold on,” she said to
whomever was inside. “We're coming.”

She grabbed the handle and opened the
door.

First she saw blood. Red smeared everywhere
across the silver of the ambulance. The thick copper smell of it
was overwhelming.

Next she saw Pete, the driver. He was lying
flat on the floor, splayed with his legs toward the driver's seat.
The skin of his face was peeled back toward his scalp, revealing
veins, muscle and two bulging eyes. Chunks of muscle were gone, his
skull showing through underneath.

Then she saw Jimmy, the gunshot victim. The
kid who'd tried to stick up Ed's. He sat on the floor of the
ambulance, with Max - the paramedic - across his lap. Most of Max's
throat was gone. Blood covered Jimmy's lap. Jimmy reached into
Max's throat and pulled out a handful of stringy connective tissue.
He shoved it into his mouth and chewed.

Jimmy saw Angie and dropped Max. He groaned
and reached for her.

Angie screamed and slammed the door. She
could hear Jimmy scratching from the inside. The patients
gasped.

“
Ms. Land!” came Dr.
Gordon's voice from across the room. Jimmy pushed against the
door.

Dr. Gordon strode quickly to the ambulance.
“I knew you were lax in your duties, but slamming doors on the
injured?”

“
Dr. Gordon, wait...” said
Angie, struggling to hold the door shut. Jimmy groaned.

Dr. Gordon stepped up next to her. “You were
damned near fired before. You're damned fired now.”

He pushed her aside and pulled on the
door.

Jimmy fell forward as the door swung open.
He clutched hold of Dr. Gordon's stomach.

“
Whoa, there,” said Dr.
Gordon. “Don't strain yourse...” Then he screamed as Jimmy bit into
his stomach.

Angie screamed and pulled Dr. Gordon back.
Jimmy held tight and fell out of the ambulance, his face buried in
Dr. Gordon's stomach. Blood ran past Jimmy's head and onto the
floor.

“
Freeda!” yelled Angie.
“Help!” She tugged on Dr. Gordon. But Jimmy would not come free.
Jimmy moaned ecstatically and pushed his face further into Dr.
Gordon. His head disappeared into Dr. Gordon's stomach.

Dr. Gordon shrieked and bucked. Blood ran
from his nose and mouth. Freeda reached them and grabbed hold of
Dr. Gordon's shoulders. Jimmy groaned, muffled from within Dr.
Gordon's innards.

Dr. Gordon stopped shrieking and his head
lolled back. Jimmy tried to push himself deeper inside. Angie put a
foot on Jimmy's torso.

“
Pull!” she yelled and
both she and Freeda yanked back. Jimmy's head came free of Dr.
Gordon with a horrible wet sound.

Angie and Freeda fell back with Dr. Gordon.
Angie landed on her tail bone and pain shot through her. Freeda
landed next to her. Dr. Gordon was splayed across both their
laps.

Jimmy knelt where he had fallen, chewing on
something. His face and shoulders were covered in blood and meat.
Thick red cords ran from his mouth to Dr. Gordon's ruined abdomen.
Angie blinked and realized they were intestines.

Jimmy moaned and chewed.

The patients screamed and ran in all
directions.

Most of the patients rushed out the door to
the waiting room. The other aides went with them. They quickly
crowded together and blocked the way out. Those who were left
started screaming and pulling at each other, trying to get
through.

Angie sat stupefied, staring at Jimmy eating
Dr. Gordon's intestines. Her tail bone smarted but she barely
registered the pain.

Freeda scrambled away from Dr. Gordon's body
and stood. “Come on,” she said. “Let's go.”

Angie shook her head clear. “No.”

“
What? Are you
crazy?”

Angie stood, doing her best to ease Dr.
Gordon's body down. “We can't leave him here with the patients.”
She pointed at Jimmy, who ignored them and chewed. “He can get to
the patient rooms from here. Hell, he can get to the maternity
ward.”