Clay

HE ducked into the report room--a landlocked cubicle just off the OB nursing station, where one shift briefed the next on the floor's patients and their status. He'd been tempted to head straight for the stairs but didn't know how many draculas he'd run into along the way. Once they caught the scent of that blood, they'd come swarming from all directions. He had north of fifty .40 caliber rounds for the Glock, but knew from his first foray into the ER that it took a good three hits to put down a dracula. One on one, that was okay, but if he got swarmed he'd go down.

He closed the door and plunged into perfect darkness.

Didn't know if his hacks on the H-E rounds had been successful. No way to test them.

So he locked the door, found a chair, and waited.

Soon he heard movement outside--feet scraping the floor as they passed. Someone rattled the doorknob. A dracula had probably smelled him--no surprise since he was pretty much covered in dried blood. He raised the Glock, ready to fire if the creature somehow managed to break in, but it moved off. The smell of the fresh blood in the education room had to be more enticing.

Okay, Part A of the plan was working--the draculas were taking the bait. Part B depended on two factors: the hacks and the padre. Clay was pretty sure about the hacks. He'd rotated the firing pin in each round to line up with the detonator. Any impact would--should--set them off.

Adam was a bigger unknown. Pulling that trigger would take a certain level of intestinal fortitude. He didn't know if a noncombatant and officer in the God Squad like the padre had it in him. Just have to wait and--

The explosion shook the walls and floor, practically knocking Clay off his seat. Even through the locked door, the compression wave from the blast popped his ears.

Sorry for doubting you, padre.

Via con Dios.

He waited half a minute, then unlocked the door and stepped out. He'd expected smoke but instead felt a cool, clean breeze. Outside air?

He looked left and saw that windows on the far side of the building, opposite the explosion, had been blown out. He made his way through the rubble to the education room--or rather where it had been. The hallway wall and windows had been blown out. Everything in sight was coated with gore. The outer windows and wall were gone as well. He could look out at the night and see the flashing lights in the parking lot.

The parking lot...that was where he wanted to be. With Shanna.

He saw the TV copter idling in a clear corner of the lot. Great. The kids were safe.

But he heard another copter--a much heavier engine noise than the KREZ bird--though he couldn't see it. Sounded like it was directly over the hospital. Another pickup? Jenny was the only one left up there.

But would she go? Maybe, maybe not. Women were crazy sometimes.

He headed for the stairs. He'd get up there and force her onto the bird--even if he had to sling her over his shoulder and carry her aboard. She felt she owed it to Randall to stay with him, but that was the last thing her ex would have wanted. Last thing Clay wanted too. She was a good nurse and good people. Not enough of those around.

Randall...man, he'd misjudged him big time. But then, he'd known only the drunk Randall. The sober one was one helluva stand-up guy. Come to think of it, he'd underestimated the padre as well. Hazard of the job, he supposed. As a cop he saw too much of the worst side of people. After a while he couldn't help but start expecting it.

In the stairwell, he made it up one flight before stumbling to an abrupt halt. He wasn't going any farther. The flights above were packed with draculas.

Earlier, when he and Adam had made their way down, they'd had to climb over the pile of dead draculas Randall had sliced up. It had been a tight squeeze. Now the surviving draculas were feasting on their brothers, fighting each other for a place at the table. Probably what it had looked like on the way to the roof that last day at the US embassy in Saigon.

He started back down, hoping Jenny got some sense into her head and boarded the chopper. She could return to Randall later, after the army or National Guard or whatever mopped up the surviving draculas.