Shanna

SHANNA turned away as she saw the prissy doctor poised over Mortimer's exposed chest, smearing a clear gel on the defibrillator paddles. She'd spent the last two months studying some of history's worst atrocities. In fact she'd often perused accounts of mass impalings while eating lunch--no problem.

But this? Uh-uh.

She headed into the hospital proper. She'd been here once before, when they'd thought Mortimer had OD'd, and remembered a snack bar in the lobby. A cup of coffee would hit the spot, especially after that Scotch. She wasn't used to hard liquor.

The short middle-age man with "Ernie" embroidered into his shirt hung by the coffee kiosk at the end of the snack bar.

"Latte?" he said as she approached.

"Just a regular coffee, please. Black."

She glanced around the nearly deserted lobby. By this time the day's surgeries were done, the second shift was ensconced, the doctors had left for their offices, the kitchen was readying to serve dinner, the day visitors were gone and the night visitors weren't home from work yet.

Quiet. Like a morgue.

She grimaced. Probably not the best analogy for a hospital.

She paid Ernie for the coffee and pulled out her cell. She had to call Clay to make sure he'd received the message that she and Jenny needed a ride back to Mortimer's for their cars.

And then what?

Clay was expecting her to spend the weekend with him in Denver. She didn't see how she could do that without losing her mind. Another gun show. When not at the show, however...her pelvis tingled with warmth that coursed up through her abdomen and settled in her nipples. The non-show activities would almost be worth it.

Almost.

The sex...she'd miss the sex. They were so good in bed. But the parade of gun shows and all the machismo...she'd had her fill. She had to call a halt.

She checked her phone's display: no bars. Then she saw the sign: No Cell Phones!

Did they really need that exclamation point?

She glanced back along the lengthy hallway to the ER, then toward the lobby entrance. That looked closer. She pushed through the heavy glass doors to the outside, found a bench, and sat. She tried a sip of her coffee and winced as bitterness stabbed her tongue. Yuck. When had this been made? This morning?

She'd have to have a word with Ernie. But right now...

She stared at the cell display. Still no bars. But tucked in the corner of the room was a pay phone.

So call.

And say what? How could she tell that big cuddly guy that it wasn't working? That she needed more than the best sex she'd ever had in her life. She needed a life of the mind as well. He was extremely bright, but his focus was so narrow. Guns and action films and his job--he loved being a deputy sheriff, so much that a lot of other stuff in his life was pushed to the side.

She knew what would happen when she told him. He'd promise to change. Spend less time at work. Take her ballroom dancing.

At least she assumed that would happen. This was all new to her. What if he just said, "Okay. See you around."

She almost wished he would. It would shake her to know she'd been that wrong about him, but at least she wouldn't be hurting his feelings.

God, I'm such a coward.

Do it, Shanna.

She found some change in the bottom of her purse and plunked it into the payphone. Four rings and then his voicemail came on. Oh, no. She gritted her teeth and listened once again as Clint Eastwood said, "Go ahead...make my day. BEEEEP!"

She definitely had to break this off.

"Clay, it's Shanna. Don't know if you got my last message but Jenny Bolton and I had to rush Mortimer to the hospital. Our cars are still at his place. Could you swing by the hospital and give us a lift back?" She bit her lip. "And Clay...about this weekend..." No. She couldn't. She owed him a face-to-face explanation. "Talk to you later."

She hung up the receiver and thought about that. Face-to-face. How could she look into Clay's warm brown eyes and tell him it was over?

A woman came out of the lobby and lit up a cigarette. The smoke drifted Shanna's way. She thought about asking her to move downwind but decided to move herself instead. Shanna dumped her coffee and returned to the lobby. Ernie smiled at her as she passed. She wanted to tell him to brew some fresh coffee but decided against it. She wasn't looking for conversation. She needed a quiet place to think, to rehearse what she was going to say to Clay.

She checked the time. She'd give the ER staff another ten minutes to deal with Mortimer, then she'd return. Poor guy. Such a kind man. He'd been so good to her. Why on Earth had he jabbed himself with those fangs?

As she passed the elevator she saw a plaque: CHAPEL 2ND FLOOR.

Not a bad idea. She wasn't religious, but it would be quiet and no one would be smoking.

She hit the UP button and a pair of doors slid open immediately. She rode one stop and was stepping out onto the second floor when three sharp reports echoed faintly through the elevator shaft from somewhere in the hospital. She froze. They seemed to come from below. They almost sounded like...

No...couldn't be.

The elevator doors pincered against her and retreated. Puzzled and curious, she stepped back into the cab and punched the LOBBY button. On the way down she heard two more reports, much closer now, and immediately wished she'd stayed on the second floor. Because she knew that sound--knew it all too well from all the shows she'd been to where dealers and collectors demonstrated their wares.

Gunshots.

Somebody was shooting up the lobby.

Her heart began to thud as she hammered her palm against the button bank, pushing them all, any floor, she didn't care, just not the lobby. Wasn't there a way to stop these things? No sooner had the thought cleared than she saw the red STOP button. But as she reached for it the doors slid open.

Ernie looked up at her from the floor just outside the doors.

No, not Ernie. Just his head.

She screamed and began banging on the floor buttons again. She caught a flash of movement beyond Ernie's head. Someone racing for the elevator.

No--something. It was shaped like a man and dressed like a man, though its shirt was in tatters. But there the resemblance stopped. Splattered head to toe with blood and its face...a horror of bloody jutting fangs and black eyes.

And it was charging her!

Shanna screamed again. As the elevator doors began to slide toward each other, she pressed her palms against them and tried to speed their progress. Through the narrowing opening she saw the fanged monster with its arms extended, its taloned hands scoring the air as it raced toward her.

The doors...just a few more inches...an inch...

Steel met steel just as a heavy weight slammed against the other side. The cab began to rise.

Shanna sobbed with relief and slumped to the floor.

That thing...its wild, insane teeth resembled the skull Mortimer received earlier...the teeth that had pierced Mortimer's throat.

And despite all the blood, Shanna had recognized the gold belt buckle on its pants.

She sobbed again, this time in disbelief.

"Mortimer?"