Scarlet Rain Part 13

"Look," James said, glancing down at the nurse's nametag. "Patrick."

"It's PJ, actually."

"Okay, PJ. Don't worry. There's not going to be any fighting. We're going to go down the hall and exit the building like you said. We are going to run, though. You think you can handle that?"

"Yes. I have short legs, but I'm very fast."

James didn't give PJ another chance to stall him. Instead, he jerked the chair away from the door and grabbed the handle. He cracked open the door and surveyed the immediate vicinity. "All clear." He shuffled into the corridor and motioned for PJ to follow.

Together, they turned left and bolted to the end of the hall.

"Now where?" James flattened his back against the wall and waited for PJ to further direct him.

"Now we go right." PJ peered around the corner and froze. "Holy cow. You really killed her," he whispered.

James stepped around PJ and looked down the hall. The slender doctor sat slumped against the exit door like a forgotten doll.

"Yeah, I guess I really did," James muttered somberly.

"I don't see anyone else. Can we make a run for it?" PJ asked.

James readied himself and his weapon for action. "Let's go. I got your back."

PJ took off around the corner, but came to an abrupt stop a few feet in front of the doctor.

"What are you doing?" James pressed his back against PJ's, and maintained a sweeping visual survey of the hallway.

The muscles in PJ's back tightened. "I-I don't think your gun is what killed her."

James glanced at the body, and immediately understood PJ's trepidation. "It's fine. Go around her. Everything's fine."

"But it's not. Her-her face. It's gone."

James shoved his gun in its holster and turned PJ around to face him. "Keep an eye on the hall. If you see anything, let me know immediately."

PJ swallowed hard and nodded stiffly. "Okay."

James hurried to the doctor and forced his hands to grip her ankles. A slick red streak followed her head as it slid down the door and onto the floor. He couldn't take his eyes off her face as he shuffled hesitantly backward. It was the same as Tyson's. The same as the girl's and the EMT's. With a matching dislocated jaw, and the same pattern of torn-out flesh unfurling from where her mouth was supposed to be.

"They are all connected."

"What?" PJ called.

"Let's go. And don't look at the body."

James let his legs carry him down the stairs as he compared all of the victims. Minus the bullet wounds, the damage to their bodies was almost identical. The swarm he and Alek had run into in the stairwell was exactly like what he'd seen on the surveillance tape. And, a.s.suming each of them had been taken over by the red cloud creature, it would explain why he and Schilling hadn't seen any obvious signs that there was someone else in Tyson's house at the time of his and his wife's deaths. "This is insane, but all of it's connected. I need to get to Eva."

"All of what's connected?" PJ panted as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Nothing. It's not important." He followed PJ out the door and into the narrow alley behind the hospital. "Thanks for helping me get out of there. I really appreciate it, but I've got to get back to the station. I'm sure it's a mess with all of this going on."

PJ put his hands on his thighs and sucked in air. "And what am I supposed to do?"

"Go home. And keep quiet about what happened in there. Just give it time. It'll all blow over."

"Hold up." PJ righted himself and planted his hands on his hips. "You want me to go back to my apartment and, what, pretend like none of this went down? Were we even in the same place? This isn't one of those take-some-time-off-and-it'll-get-better situations. This is clearly the beginning of something huge. We need to call Max Brooks or someone. The zombie apocalypse is upon us."

"PJ, those were not zombies. There is no apocalypse. You can go home. Everything is going to be fine," James said, unsure whether or not he was lying.

PJ frowned. "I'll trust you, but you are not getting rid of me. No way. No how. I'm small and weak, the perfect target. My best chance of survival is sticking with you."

"Fine. I really don't have time to argue with you right now, but you're on your own as soon as we get to the station."

"Deal."

James shook PJ's extended hand before turning and looking up at the hospital. "C'mon Alek. I don't trust you, but it looks like I might need you."

Seventeen.

The three frenzied men bucked and strained against Alek as he drove them down the hall. He let out a final, roaring grunt and tossed the snarling creatures backward. They slammed against a closed door at the end of the hall, and it splintered in half. Slivers of wood sprayed into the air and grazed Alek's skin as he raced into the room after them.

All three were on their feet, seemingly unaware of and unaffected by the brutal collision. One charged Alek, his arms flailing, spittle flying from his mouth. The immortal jumped to the side, grabbing the doctor's lab coat as he pa.s.sed. Alek used the man's speed to propel him through the doorway and out into the hall.

He turned to the other two and gritted his teeth. "Who's next?" They rushed him simultaneously, and Alek unleashed his boxing skills. Combating the men wasn't difficult for the warrior. If all evil fought like these two, the Mortal Realm would have nothing to fear. No, striking them wasn't the hard part. However, achieving the desired result seemed more and more impossible. Alek fired a punch at the taller of the two for the fifth or sixth time in a row. He'd lost count by now. The whites of the man's eyes were red from broken capillaries, and chunks of flesh blew off his face with each increasingly violent strike. But he continued to push forward.

The other man was at his back, tearing at his shirt and howling like a wild beast. Alek bent his knees, reached over his shoulder for the doctor's arm, and flung him over his back to the ground. Air hissed out of his lungs as he smacked against the floor. With his grip still firmly around the man's wrist, Alek stomped on his shoulder and used both of his hands to twist the doctor's arm. Bones popped and tore through the flesh, but the man still hungrily clawed the air, trying to get to the immortal.

"I will finish you," Alek seethed. He picked up a shard of the broken door and drove it through the man's eye until it came to a sudden stop against the back of his skull. Finally, he went limp, but only for a moment. His body flopped vigorously on the tile. Blood splashed up from the steadily increasing puddle around his head.

"Red mist." For a moment, panic sprouted in his chest. He knew the flying creature would chase him, and he couldn't risk using a huge portion of his energy to run. Until he made contact with the Oracle, he had to stay in the Mortal Realm, and he wouldn't let this trip end like the last.

A suffocating gurgle echoed up from the floor, and the remaining man uttered a piercing screech and cowered in the corner, as if he knew what happened next. The swarm sprayed tissue and blood as it rushed from the corpse's mouth like water from a fountain. Alek grabbed the only other soul in the room and pushed him into the pulsing cloud. It split and went around the body, rocketing straight toward Alek. The noise it emitted was unlike anything he'd heard before. Its steady purr was not only audible-he also felt its constant thrumming like an itch under his skin.

We see you. The oily words slipped into his ears. There is no escape.

Alek stiffened. "Try if you must, but I will defeat you."

Humans. Always constructing promises you cannot keep. The scarlet specks rippled to a stop inches away from Alek. Why do you not fear us, mortal?

A smirk cracked Alek's lips. "I am no mortal. Try me. You will fail."

Lies, the swarm shrieked, and rushed its prey.

Smiling grimly, Alek did not struggle as they flooded his mouth and clouded his lungs.

Eighteen.

The tips of Eva's fingers throbbed from digging into the sides of the cardboard box all the way back to Bridget's car. At her house, the books hadn't seemed so heavy, but four blocks later her arms were burning, and her brisk stride had morphed into a steady shuffle. "I hope the next power I get is the ability to fly. Or super strength. I'd be good with that too."

Finally at the car, she dropped the box onto the pavement and collapsed against the popped trunk. The trunk light bathed the four hefty, worn books in a yellow glow as they stared up at Eva from the pinstriped lining.

"Now, which of you is the one filled with those scary stories? I guess I should say facts. Which of you is filled with scary facts?" She stared up at the starless sky and flipped through her childhood memories. Being a young girl, sneaking around her grandmother's house, looking for treasures while Yiayi worked in the kitchen. The books had been stacked on top of her grandmother's bookshelf. There were tons of colorful tchotchkes she could have easily played with, but the books seemed to whisper promises of adventure. They had found her more than she had found them. She'd push a chair up against the shelves, and brush her fingers along each cracked spine before choosing one to explore. Through the books she learned about Alastor and so many other creatures she believed existed only in nightmares.

Alastor.

The thought guided her toward memories she wasn't yet ready to face. The fetid stench of his breath, the slurps and pops as he'd torn the flesh from his form, his strong hand around her throat.

"Enough!" she shouted into the dark. "I don't have to think about that anymore." She took a deep breath and yanked down the sleeve of her jacket to cover the garish tattoo he'd branded her with. "They were in the same book, Alastor and the picture. They had to have been. It was the only one I took from the shelf." The covers stared up at her. Each had a different design branded into the flaking leather. She remembered the weight of the book as it lay open in her lap, and how she would trace the delicate pattern on the cover, admiring the beautiful simplicity of the design. "It's this one." She picked up the book and did what she'd done as a girl, and let her fingers wander the image. The slender handle of the inverted torch stretched down the center of the cover, flames licking its bottom edge.

Footsteps pounded the street behind her, and Eva clutched the book against her chest, ready to flee.

"It's just me," Bridget puffed. "Lord, why do people run?" She put her hands on her knees. "I hope you found what you were looking for, because that was not fun, and I broke my nail all the way down to the skin. It's bleeding and everything." She held her finger up for Eva to inspect.

"I definitely found what I need. Maybe now we'll get some answers." Eva piled the three remaining hardbacks in the box and closed the trunk.

"Aren't you going to at least try to heal my finger?"

"Bridget, we've been over this. I don't have any new abilities yet."

"But this wouldn't be a new ability, just an extension of one you already have."

"Fine. Let me see your finger." Bridget placed her injured digit on Eva's palm, and Eva wrapped her fingers around the bleeding mess. She stared at her fist, focusing on channeling her power through her hand and into Bridget's. "Is it working?"

"No, it just hurts because you're squeezing my b.l.o.o.d.y stump."

Eva dropped Bridget's hand and dug in her pocket for the car keys. "Well, I tried."

"Guess you can only heal yourself. Gah, you're so selfish." Bridget smiled. "But I do hope you figure it out before something really bad happens. Not that many things are worse than completely f.u.c.king up a totally good manicure." She started the car and maneuvered out of the tight parking s.p.a.ce. "So, what did you find?"

The metallic image sparkled under the amber glow of the streetlights. "I don't know yet. I haven't had a chance to look through it, but from what I remember, it should tell us what we're dealing with."

"I get that you're going to use it to find out what kind of monster thing is popping out of people's faces. What I don't get is what the book actually is. If I went into a store, where would I find that? I'm guessing on the big-ol'-boring-book clearance rack."

"It's not boring. At least, it wasn't when I looked at it years ago." She opened the book and thumbed through the first few pages. "It's like an encyclopedia."

"Oh, gag. I thought you said it wasn't boring, and that's the first word I think of when I hear encyclopedia."

"This isn't the Britannica kind of encyclopedia. This one is full of Greek legends and monsters."

"So you're in there then?"

"Very funny. I'm not a monster."

"That's not what I meant. Being an Oracle, that's totally part of the whole Greek legend thing. So shouldn't there be stuff in there about how you are what you are?"

"I don't know. I hadn't even thought about it."

"And people say I'm not smart." Bridget stomped on the gas and bolted into traffic. "Can you imagine how much easier all of this would've been if they'd just had the Internet back then? I'm sure all those stinky encyclopedias would be neatly categorized and available on some super-secret, Oracle-only website. One simple search, and we would've been done. But then again, I guess I wouldn't have gotten to improve my acting skills."

Eva switched on the overhead light and let Bridget's rambling dissolve into the background while she flipped through the book. Faded images of b.l.o.o.d.y scenes and frightening creatures covered the worn pages. "Oh my G.o.d. I found it. I found the picture."

Blue and red flashing lights coated the inside of the car, and Eva's heart beat wildly within her chest.

"There must be some crazy s.h.i.t going down at the hospital. I've never seen this many cops out at once." Bridget pulled over and waited for them to pa.s.s. "Now, what were you saying? You found the picture of the stuff that flew out of that dead guy's mouth in the video?"

Fear trapped the words in her throat, and she could only nod.

The police cruisers pa.s.sed, and Bridget accelerated into traffic. "Well don't just sit there. Tell me what it says."

Eva silently read the short sentences accompanying the image. "If what this says is true, we're in a lot of trouble."

Nineteen.

James had to call Bridget. She needed all of the facts for when Eva returned, and, since Alek was back, he a.s.sumed the Oracle wouldn't be far behind. He patted the pockets of his khakis in search of his cell. "s.h.i.t. My phone is in my car."

"I have mine," PJ said, offering it to James.

"No, I don't know her number. It's in my phone."

"Need to call your girlfriend to make sure she's hasn't been attacked by the non-zombies?" PJ asked.

"She's not my girlfriend, and we don't know if that stuff has even gotten out of the hospital. I'm sure it's being contained."

"Viruses, parasites, bacteria-none of them are ever truly contained or eliminated. That's just something the powers that be tell the general public to make them feel better."

"And for good reason. We don't want people freaking out over nothing," James murmured.

"Hey! You two can't be back here." A uniformed officer shone his flashlight at them, momentarily blinding James.

"It's okay." James shielded his eyes and pulled out his badge for the officer. "Doing a quick perimeter sweep, and I found this guy wandering around out here."