Nathan said, "Can we get food?"
"There's a cafeteria on two that has a skeleton staff at night," she said. "Other than that we have vending machines."
Nathan smiled.
Erin said, "Let's hope they serve slayers."
"Don't even say that," Nathan said. "I don't want to get dinner out of a vending machine."
Dawn said, "They'll serve you."
She left us to our own designs. Nathan said, "Let's go eat."
I wanted to discuss the fact that these particular young people were predisposed to lying to me. Then my stomach growled, and I realized the futility of trying to argue with teenagers.
We had cafeteria food, and Nathan said, "I'm going to see what the vending machines have."
Erin said, "It wasn't that bad."
"Maybe there will be sausage sandwiches or cheeseburgers in the vending machines, though."
They did indeed have sausage biscuit sandwiches in the vending machines, and Pup and Nathan cleaned those machines out. Night time rolled around, and the four of us were left alone in the lobby. They brought us some microwave popcorn and ice cream about 9 pm. At eleven, they brought us blankets and pillows. Nathan and Erin started rearranging the chairs, so they had room to lie down on the floor. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't, so I sat in one of the chairs and waited.
Nathan and Pup were asleep almost next to each other with a row of chairs separating them and Erin. I was deep in thought about absolutely nothing when Dawn said from behind me, "How late were you going to stay up?"
Dawn smiled at me with two cups of coffee in her hands. I said, "I don't know…"
"You haven't been sleeping have you?"
"No."
"For how long?"
"I don't remember."
She slid one of the cups of coffee across an end table in my general direction. It had cream in it, and I devilishly pondered whether it had sugar in it. She said, "Cream and sugar."
I grabbed the coffee cup and took a sip. It tasted horrible. I grimaced.
"It's hospital coffee," she said. "It sucks."
I set it down away from me because that's what you do with poison.
She slid it towards me again. "Drink it."
I took another drink.
Dawn sat across from me and smiled.
I nodded. I like to nod at people.
"I could tell from how you snapped at them that you haven't been sleeping," she said.
"Snapped at who?"
"You snapped at your teammates. It was a simple accident, and you accuse them of lying about it."
"They did lie! And it's not the first time!"
"Just because somebody changes their story that doesn't make them a liar."
"What!"
"You heard me. Drink your coffee."
I wished at that time that I had brought my dictionary with me, so I could look up the definition of a liar and show it to her. Then I remembered how well that would work with most women I've known. I took another sip of the coffee. I wondered what they could have possibly done to the great coffee bean to convince it to produce a drink as noxious as the beverage in my hand.
Dawn said, "You're going to try some new meds…"
"No…"
"You said yourself that you're not sleeping."
"I'm under a lot of pressure."
"You're a risk to yourself and your teammates."
I finished the cup of coffee and set it down. My arm didn't want to move. That was the start of a terrible feeling of fatigue meandering through my veins. I looked around the room. My eyes wanted to close terribly. I reached for my Colt in slow motion. Dawn grabbed my wrist and whispered, "You won't be needing that."
I slumped down to the side and closed my eyes. After a few moments, I felt hands lift me up and put me on a gurney. The gurney rolled down a hallway and stopped. I don't remember anything else but blackness for the longest time.
I woke up on the beach in the sun laying next to Emily. Tried to nudge her awake, and she didn't move. I rolled her over, and maggots and worms were eating away at her dead flesh.
I woke up again, this time for real. The room was dimly lit, and a warm body lay next to me. A warm naked body for I could feel nipples. I pushed away from her and tried to focus my eyes. My head hurt bad.
Dawn stirred. "Hello, sleepyhead."
I said, "You drugged me."
"Eh, it's what I do."
"Now you're trying to seduce me?"
"I think it would be good therapy for you," she said. "It's just what the doctor ordered."
"You can't order me to have sex." I crossed my arms over my chest.
"I think I just did."
"This has got to be against some hospital rule."
"We slack on rules in this hospital. Now, just lay back…"
I said, "No. I want my clothes."
She snaked her hand inside my boxers and started rubbing me in the worst possible way, and to my despair, my body reacted.
She said, "Junior thinks we should have a go at it."
I pulled her hand away from my privates. "I want my clothes!"
She scowled and then pinched my nipple quite viciously. "I'll have to go and get them. Hop in the shower; you smell like you haven't showered in days."
"I have too showered!"
"Are you using soap?"
"Yes!"
"Take a shower, there are towels in the bathroom."
I said, "You're going to get my clothes?"
"You don't want to have sex with me. You think I'm ugly or something. I'll go get your clothes."
"I don't think you're ugly. You drugged me. I had a terrible dream. I'm not in the mood."
"Maybe you'll change your mind after your shower."
I looked at her in all her beautiful glory. "I thought you were mad at me."
"Oh, that silly thing. Well, I met the guy growing it and come to find out he's an old hippie, and he grows all organically. He even supplies three of my cancer patients for pennies on the dollar. He had this homemade hash…"
I said, "You smoked hashish?"
"It was organic!"
"It's still a narcotic."
"Hardly."
"I don't believe you. I want my clothes."
"I'll go get them. Take a shower: before they try and quarantine this wing of the hospital."
"I don't smell that bad."
She started getting dressed, and I went into the shower. While in there I started thinking. Why shouldn't I sleep with Dawn? I really couldn't come up with a good reason. Sure, she drugged me, but she had such nice breasts. I decided on a course of action. She wanted my affection; I could share.
I stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel to a room that contained a dresser, a chest, a bed, a hospital gown, and a cart with breakfast on it. Sitting on the cart was a paper cup with three little capsules maliciously eyeing me. Two of the pills were pinkish white, and the other pill was white and blue. The door was made of steel with a slot for getting food through and a glass window.
Chapter 44
"Take all three pills," echoed from some unseen speakers. "Eat the breakfast. Get some rest. Relax, we don't keep people in isolation for long; you'll be out of there in no time."
I looked at the three pills.
"The pink ones you should recognize as Lithium. The white and blue one is the new one you need to start taking."
I took the lithium and swallowed them with the orange juice. I took the white and blue pill and plopped it in the toilet. As the toilet flushed, I heard, "I saw that!"
I turned to look. A camera was mounted high up in the corner of the bathroom. I went back into the room with the bed. Another camera was mounted in a corner watching the room, and another camera watching the little hallway space. You couldn't go anywhere in the room without being on camera.
I flipped off the camera with my middle fingers and tried the door for fun. It didn't budge. I examined my breakfast: two boxes of cereal, two bananas, two 2% milk c
artons, two glazed donuts and a second tub of orange juice. It all barely fit on the tray. I said, "No bacon?"
"That's a double breakfast! The food will help you sleep."
"I just slept through the night. Why would I need more sleep?"
"You'll get out of isolation when you start taking all the medicine."
I heard a click, silence, and the little red lights on the cameras shut off. I ate my breakfast. I did jumping jacks. I did pushups. I did sit ups. I shadow boxed for a while. I took another shower. I noticed the oddest sensation with the water coursing down my face. I started to hear things like they were far off. Like conversations in the distance.
I shut off the water in the shower and dried off. An image flashed in my mind of a dark room with just a twinkle of light coming through a window that had otherwise been painted black.
I put my boxers on and sat down on the bed. Another dark room flashed before my eyes. Then another and another. I started focusing on the light in the images. I tried to think light.
I was looking in a mirror, but I was a woman combing her hair. She smiled in the mirror, and a whisper of a female voice spoke, "You're new."
I nodded without thinking.
"You haven't finished turning…" She said. "Who turned you? What's your name?"
I tried to reach into her body and take control of her hand. I held it in front of her face and reached out and touched the mirror with it. I felt a bolt like lightning push me out of the body, and the whispering voice spoke with a quickness, "You're very strong, but you must learn the rules. What's your name?"
I paused. I didn't know what was going on, but I felt an incredible urge to keep my name to myself. Another voice stepped in, a male voice this time, "His name doesn't matter. When he finishes turning, we'll give him a new name."
I tried to focus in on that voice, and I stepped inside another person. This person sat in a dark room in front of a computer. He spoke, "My name is Sinklin, and as Marishne said, you're a strong one."
I lay back on the bed and tried to block the images and sounds flooding my mind. I shouted at the top of my lungs, "What were those pink pills!"
Nobody said anything back. I staggered out of bed and went to the talk box by the door. I hit the button. After a moment, "Yes?" Dawn said.
"What were those pink pills?"
Dawn laughed this glee filled laugh as if she'd been torturing gnomes. "Those were the new drug. I had the pharmacy swap the colors."
I shouted, "Let me out!"
A thousand voices in my mind shouted, "You're trapped? Where are you? You're in a hospital… What city?"
"Get out of my head!"
A single voice echoed out louder than the others, "Calm down everyone. We'll rescue you, my son. We just need to know where you are."
I focused in on the single voice, and an image flooded my senses that disgusted me. I was in another blood farm. I felt the lifeblood pulsing through the veins of this one, and I knew he was the leader.
His eyes burned like gold, and his skin was a dark amber that made me think he wouldn't bleed in red. He had two horns on his skull and two rows of fangs. No fat showed itself on his shirtless body, and he did have muscle.
I paused. I focused on Nathan, and what he must be seeing. My vision switched to the waiting room of the hospital, and I could see Erin and Pup lounging in chairs. I howled, "Get me out!"
Nathan's body cringed, and Pup and Erin twitched. I focused on Pup next until I could see the waiting room with his eyes. I howled even louder, "Get me out!"
The leader's voice in my mind howled, "You're calling on slayers! You don't want to call upon slayers for help, my son. Who are you?"
I tried to push him out of my mind, and a thousand minds bit back with piercing pain. I clutched at my skull. The leader said, "Leave him be. When he finishes turning, he'll welcome us in his mind."
Silence followed. I lay there panting. If I focused, I could bounce around between vampires, but they didn't speak.
"Code red in the lobby. Code red in the lobby," echoed across the intercom.
I laughed. Then I cried. I waited: curled up in a ball in the corner of my room. Every few moments my vision would switch to a vampire drinking blood from a struggling victim like they were showing me their kills. Some of the images were of the blood farm.
I tried to get a fix on the blood farm's location somehow jumping from mind to mind in the place hoping one would consciously think about its location. I had no luck. I went and stood in the shower and let the hot water cascade down my body.
As I was drying off, the leader whispered in my ear, "You'll join us. It's inevitable. It's your fate. When you feel the thirst, you'll know you have one singular purpose on the Earth, and that's to feed."
I said, "Leave me alone."
"You're one of my many children. I'll direct your action."
"Give me your address there."
The voice laughed. "In time, my son. I have a great feeling of destiny that the two of us will meet someday."
I wanted to bleed that fucker slow-like. "Count on it."
The voice laughed again. Then it faded into the distance. I curled up in a ball on the bed and tried to quiet my thoughts. My stomach started to growl terribly, and I began to wonder if they planned on feeding me again. Surely they were.
I tried focusing on Marishne once again. She was driving a car this time: in broad daylight. I watched for landmarks and road signs until I figured out she was in the DC area, or I least I thought so. I felt her smile, and she said, "What's your name? What harm can come from us knowing your human name?"
I said, "I don't trust you."
"When you finish turning, it'll be like a great rebirth, and you'll be interested in getting to know all of us. Especially Father, you simply must get to know Father."
"That's what you call the leader I spoke to?"
"We call him Father, yes. His real name is Jarken, but we all call him Father. You'll call him Father."
I tried to take control of Marishne and push down the gas pedal on the car. I either succeeded, or she let me, and the car sped up. I tried to twist the wheel to the side causing an accident, and Marishne said, "Now now, we won't have any of that."
A sharp stabbing pain bit at my skull as she pushed me away. Slowly the images and sounds running through my head died down to faint whispers.
Chapter 45
A soft voice said, "Sidney?"
It didn't come from the intercom, and I climbed out of bed. Dawn stood in the doorway, and it looked like she'd been crying.
I looked her up and down. The luscious curves, firm breasts, and perfect face drew me in.
"I need you to tell your team to stand down," she said.
I said, "What?"
"They took hostages. They shot a security guard in the leg. They've got fifteen people barricaded in the lobby at gunpoint. I just pulled a bullet out of Bill's leg, Sidney. Three orderlies have broken arms. I had to reset two noses."
I heard a whisper from far way, "His name is Sidney."
I smiled. I said, "My team took hostages?"
"YES! What do you think I've been saying?"
"Well, it's about time."
She slapped me, hard.
I grabbed her by the upper arms and kissed her square on the lips. At first, she resisted, but soon enough I felt her tongue exploring my lips as she held me tight.
She pushed me away. She looked like she was going to break down. "I'm not even a doctor. The hospital makes me pretend. All the doctors left town years ago."
"You're not a doctor?"
"No! I talk to doctors from out of town all the time. It's a shrink ordering you on the new drug if you stop sleeping. He said, 'Use any means necessary to convince him to take the medicine, if he stops sleeping.'"
"You treat cancer patients?"
She said, "Call off your team."
"I want my clothes, armor, and gun."
In a firm voice, Dawn said, "Open the cabinet."
/> A click sounded from the cabinet in the corner. I walked over to the cabinet and inside rested my clothes, armor, and gun. I took the gun out and set it on the dresser.
I said, "If I speak, will they broadcast to the lobby?"
Dawn said, "Broadcast, hospital-wide."
I spoke loudly, "Nathan, Pup, Erin, thank you. I'm being released. Stand down. I repeat. Stand down. If anybody tries to arrest you, kill everyone. I repeat: if they try and arrest you, turn that lobby into a slaughterhouse."
Dawn slapped me again. She was very good at it. I mean, I've been slapped a few times; she did it just right.
I grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in close, so that our lips were scant inches away from each other. I waited a few moments and just breathed in her eyes with mine. Her eyes closed, and she leaned into me meeting my lips with hers. We kissed for a few moments, and I felt a certain surge from within my boxers.
She hopped up and straddled my hips with her thighs clenching my butt with her heels. I moved my hands to her butt to lift some of the weight off my legs and carried her to the bed. She climbed down from her perch on my hips and stripped off her white lab coat. Off came her blouse next. I smiled for I had access to her nipples once again. I leaned down and started sucking the left one while I massaged the right one with my left hand.
She kicked her shoes off and undid her skirt. She pushed my face off of her chest and climbed into bed with a wide, toothy grin on her face.
I stripped off my boxers. At this point they were working against me, so I figured better to get rid of them.
I climbed into bed on top of Dawn, and she spread her legs wide to accommodate me. I grabbed her by the hips and leaned into her neck. I started kissing her on the neck and probing her vagina with my penis. I found it fairly moist down there, so I pushed forward a little bit until I was sure I was on the mark. I held her in place by the hips and eased forward and in with my hips. She turned her head to the side and let out a low moan.
Once I was firmly planted, she wrapped her legs around me and held me tight with her heels. I started going in and out with it as that's how I was told it works, and she started controlling my speed by changing how tight she held me with her heels on my butt. She started moaning with each thrust like she was trying to control herself.
Bullets Will Work: A Vampire Slayer Novel Page 24