Clay

"ALL right. Let's get you out of here."

He put his hand on the knob but used the slit window to give the lobby another look-see before stepping out.

"Aw, hell."

"What?" Shanna said, trying for a peek.

While they were talking, half a dozen monsters had gathered in the lobby. If Clay had only himself to worry about, he might have charged out and given it a go. But with Shanna along...no way.

He put his lips to her ear. "Let's go back up to the second floor and see if we can find another stairway that doesn't open on the lobby."

He let Shanna lead the way up and covered their six, keeping his shotgun trained on the door in case one of those things decided to check out the stairwell.

But when she reached the second-floor landing, she said, "We've got a problem."

Clay reached her side and peeked through the slit and saw what she meant: at least three monsters prowling the hall. One was dressed like a clown, but all its teeth were gone--shattered. Clowns looked weird enough in full light, but in this shadowy half-light, this bugger was about the most terrifying thing Clay had ever seen.

He could feel his temper rising. He sort of prided himself on being able to stay cool in any situation, but he was getting pissed.

"Are we the only people in this goddamn place who haven't turned?"

Shanna shuddered. "What an awful thought."

"Okay. The third floor. If it's the same up there, I'm just gonna have to step out and do some population control."

But the third-floor looked empty. Clay stepped out, shotgun ready. All clear. He spotted an EXIT sign glowing in the shadows at the end of the hall. He motioned Shanna out of the stairwell and pointed.

"We'll try that one," he said, keeping his voice low. No telling what was about and he didn't want to attract any attention.

She nodded and gripped the strap of his duffel. They hadn't taken two steps when a loud voice froze them.

"Well, well. If it ain't Deputy Dawg!"

As he whirled, Clay's finger tightened on the trigger, ready to fire. When he recognized that asshole Randall Bolton stepping out of the shadows ten feet away, he almost fired anyway.

"Stay right there, Bolton."

"Or what? You'll shoot?"

Clay took in Randall's bloodstained face and hospital gown and didn't like what he saw. He looked almost crazed.

"Absolutely. You've been infected. How long ago?"

"I'm not infected."

"You got blood all over you."

"Well, shit, you've got blood on you too! Everybody in this goddamn place has blood all over them! You want me to hire some guy in a white coat to scrape this stuff off me and put it under a microscope? This blood ain't mine!"

"Why should I believe that?"

"Do you see any dracula wounds on me?"

"Maybe on your leg. Looks like that one took a lot of stitches." Clay, of course, couldn't even see Randall's leg wound from the front, but he'd certainly heard about it.

Randall's eyes narrowed. "You think that's funny?"

"Hilarious. Whole department knows about Randall Bolton damn near cutting off his own ass. Drunk again?"

He couldn't remember how many times Jenny had called the department to come and subdue her drunken husband. He had no respect for bums like Randall Bolton.

Randall's face reddened. At least Clay assumed it did, beneath all of the blood. "Takes a small man to bring up something petty like that when we're in so much shit. I been dry ninety-seven days now."

Clay snorted a laugh. "Believe that when I see it."

Randall took a step toward him. "You're seeing it right now, you dumb fuck. I'm standing right here."

"Stay where you are!" Clay raised the shotgun to his shoulder. "You might turn any second now."

Randall stopped and shook his head. "You know better'n that, Theel. We've got monsters everywhere in this place, but you don't want to deal with that, you just want to wave your gun at me like a schoolyard bully. You think you're hot shit, but without your badge and your big bad gun, you're just a coward."

Clay's temper had already been frayed when he'd stepped out into the hall. Now it snapped.

"That so? Okay. My badge is off." He shrugged off his duffel bag and handed Shanna his shotgun and Alice. "And now my big bad guns are gone."

Shanna stared at him with eyes so wide he could see white all around. "What are you doing?"

"Shanna, meet Jenny's ex-husband."

"Never mind him. Are you insane?"

"No, just gonna see who's a coward."

"Clayton Theel, you stop this macho bullshit right now!"

"Sure, honey. Right after I stop his bullshit."

He stepped away from Shanna and faced Randall, raising his right hand and doing the Bruce Lee come-hither thing with his fingers.

Randall stared at him. "Did you get that from a kung fu movie? Are you Chinese now?"

"Are you two kidding?" Shanna said, her voice rising and getting all screechy. "We're in the middle of a slaughterhouse!"

"If Theel wants me to knock him on his ass in front of his girlfriend, I guess the draculas can wait a little while," Randall said.

Clay started circling. "Is that what you call them? Not bad for a dumbass."

Suddenly Shanna was between them as they circled each other. "Stop this! Stop this now!"

Clay looked past her at Randall. "I saw one of your draculas downstairs in a clown suit."

"Benny?"

"Oh, you're friends with a clown? Figures. Birds of a feather, and all that. Well, when I finish kicking your ass, I'm going down there and kicking his ass, then I'm gonna dress you in his clown suit."

"Well, shit, looks like bad circumstances bring out our perverted sides, huh? Should I act like a little choir boy when you dress me up? As for that clown, I greased that rat-fuck son of a bitch but good."

Something familiar about that line, but Clay couldn't place it.

"I don't believe this!" Shanna cried. "You're trash talking when we should be getting out of here!"

Clay remembered the clown's broken teeth. "You the one who messed up his teeth?"

"Yeah. Think I may take up dentistry on the side during the slow lumber months."

Clay was impressed--not about the threat but about the number he'd done on that clown. Wouldn't ever admit that to Randall, of course.

"Well, there's plenty more where he came from."

Randall grinned. "That's because we got draculas coming outta the walls. They're coming outta the goddamn walls."

Clay stopped circling and stared at him. "Aliens?"

"Hell yes Aliens! Beat the shit out of the original."

"I know. I loved that movie."

Randall stopped and puffed his chest. "Seen it eighty-three times."

"Wait-wait-wait!" Shanna said, staring at Randall. "You were quoting some movie?"

"He sure was, honey. You saw it. Aliens, remember? With Newt, the little girl who--"

"You mean there's two of you?"

Clay wasn't following. He looked at Randall. "I guess there's hope for you yet."

Shanna looked ready to cry. "Can we get out of here, please?"

"Yeah, okay." Now that he was closer, he noticed Randall didn't look in exactly top form, anyway. "We'll settle this some other time."

"Count on it."

"You really dry?"

"Bone. Day one hundred coming up."

If true, he deserved at the very least a pat on the back.

"Well, good for you. Seriously."

Clay picked up Alice and the shotgun from where Shanna had laid them and shouldered the duffel. As he took Shanna's hand and started for the end of the hall, he noticed Randall wasn't following. He stopped.

"You coming?"

He shook his head. "Jenny's down in pediatrics somewhere."

"Somewhere?"

"She was with a bunch of kids. I think she's hiding them."

Jenny...Clay had always liked Jenny, but Shanna was his number-one priority. And Randall looked kind of all in. He might need a little edge if he was going to bring Jenny out.

"Can you shoot?"

Randall smiled. "Not as good as I chainsaw, but I can pull a trigger."

Clay hesitated, then walked back to him.

"Here." He didn't believe he was doing this, but he handed him Alice. "Four rounds left. She kicks like a mule. Make sure nobody you care about is behind whoever you shoot--or even in the next room."

Randall looked from the Taurus, to Clay, to the Taurus again. "You sure?"

"Take good care of her. Don't make me regret this."

He took one last look at Alice, then turned and walked away, wondering if Randall had enough left in him to get Jenny out on his own. Maybe not.

"Be back ASAP to help you find Jenny," Clay called over his shoulder.

"You don't have to do that," Randall said.

"Yeah, I do."