by Garton, Ray
Now he was up, and he was shouting and gesticulating wildly as he looked around for a target for all that shouting and gesticulating, and his eyes fell on Kaufman through the windshield and side window.
Getting a firm grip on the handle, Kaufman popped the door open against the blasting of the wind, then pushed it until there was a big enough opening along the bottom to quickly pull the microphone back into the car. But before he could pull the door closed—
“You motherfucker who the fuck do you think you are you mean no-good son of a bitch—”
The enraged and senseless screaming went on and on as two hands pulled on the top of the door. Kaufman saw the fingers curled over the edge, pulling hard. He dropped his gun on the passenger seat and reached his right hand over, grabbed the door handle with both hands and heaved back on it.
He pulled the door closed.
The hands had not let go.
The angry cursing was replaced by a long, ululating cry of pain as the crazy man outside the car stood with eight fingers trapped in the top of the closed door, arms outstretched, elbows out and up at the sides, pale face elongated as the scream went on.
For a moment, Kaufman was paralyzed by the scream and the sight of the man’s white face from below and he just sat there, unable to move. It went on for what seemed a long time, and Kaufman finally coaxed his right hand to inch over to the passenger seat and search blindly for his gun, fingers feeling around, fluttering over the upholstery until they found the cold metal.
The man jerked his hands upward, pulling his fingers out of the door, and he staggered backwards. He was still screaming and because he was unsteady on his feet, the wind slammed him to the gravel. He rolled around on the ground in the rain and wind, wailing in pain, holding his hands to his chest and kicking his bare legs like a lunatic.
Then he was on hands and knees facing Kaufman. Glaring up at him with teeth bared, like an animal on four legs. He got up on his feet, but did not stand up straight. Instead, he squatted low to the ground, pointed a finger at Kaufman, and ranted some kind of gibberish before charging forward like a bull with a loud battle cry, head down, straight for the car.
Kaufman watched in horror as the man slammed his head into the door of the patrol car. Already rocking under the force of the wind, the car jolted with the impact and the man dropped to the ground again. But he didn’t stay there.
Still gibbering, the man crawled over the ground away from the car, then got up again, hunkered down, let out another hoarse cry and charged the car again. But this time, he didn’t crash his head into the door. It hit the window.
“Oh, shit,” Kaufman said as several cracks appeared in a sunburst formation branching out from the point of impact.
The car’s engine was still running and Kaufman shifted to reverse. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw the black man who’d crossed the road in front of the car earlier. Now he was staggering toward the rear of the car, having trouble remaining upright under the storm’s assault, holding something in both hands, something long and heavy. It was a large tree branch. If Kaufman backed up, he’d run over the guy, and he didn’t want to do that again. He backed up just enough to disengage the front of his car from the corner of the guardhouse, then put it in park.
Meanwhile, the other man was preparing to charge the car a third time. He’d crawled away again and now he was bending over once more, a look of determination on his face. His forehead now had dark stripes where blood was running down to his face from the wound on top of his head.
“What the hell am I doing?” Kaufman muttered when he realized he had the radio mike in his lap and was just sitting there staring dumbly like a cow in a field. He picked it up and depressed the button with his thumb, but before he could speak—
—the crack of a gunshot broke through the sound of the storm.
The man charging toward the car went down heavily and lay sprawled and unmoving on the ground.
Something heavy struck the back of the car with a loud bang once, then again, and Kaufman looked in the rearview. The black man was beating the trunk of the patrol car with the fat tree branch. Then he hit the left rear fender and started working his way up that side of the car, pounding the rear door, then the driver’s door. He clubbed the side mirror twice until it was dangling from the side of the car, and he would have finished the job, but there was another gunshot. That distracted him and he looked in the direction of the sound. The next gunshot put him down.
As Kaufman looked around for the shooter, squinting to find a figure in the darkness that surrounded him, he lifted the mike to his mouth and said, “This is one-oh-one, one-oh-one.” He was surprised how winded and frantic he sounded and stopped to take a steadying breath. His heart was hammering rapidly in his chest. “I need backup immediately at the old Springmeier mental hospital in Batten. Shots fired, two people have been shot. I’m in my car at the rear of the building. Do not go to the front gate, it’s closed. Go farther east and turn left on Ogden Pass. It’s closed, but I removed the barrier earlier. About a quarter of a mile in there’s a new gravel road on the left that’s been cut through the woods. Take that road, it’ll bring you right to me.”
He spotted unusual movement beyond the crashed gate. A dark shape was moving in the darkness toward him. It wore a black mask and black clothes. It carried something in the right hand that looked like it might be a gun.
“The shooter’s approaching my car,” Kaufman said. “I see one, but there may be more. He’s wearing a black mask, like a ski mask.”
The dark man kept coming.
Kaufman reached down with his right hand, the hand holding his gun, and flicked a switch. When he spoke into the mike, his voice echoed outside the car from the speaker.
“Stop! Do not come any closer! Put the gun down!”
The figure stopped advancing, but he made no move to put down the gun. He simply stood there and stared at Kaufman.
Beyond that dark shape, another emerged from the blackness. Then another. They all looked the same—black masks, black clothes—but something hung from the right shoulder of the second figure.
“Son of a bitch,” Kaufman said as he flipped the switch. “This is one-oh-one. There are several people here approaching my car and they’re all wearing black masks. One of these guys looks like he’s got an Uzi.”
“Backup’s on the way, one-oh-one.”
The storm was growing worse. There was a sudden increase in the severity of the car’s rocking motions as branches and bits of debris clattered against it in a constant barrage.
“In a hurricane?” he muttered to himself. “They’re not getting here anytime soon.”
He was on his own and he was going to have to make the best of it. He put the mike on its hook, then tightened his grip on the gun as he reached for the handle to open the door.
The cracked window in the door exploded inward and the howling wind drove the broken bits of glass into his cheeks and chin and lips and eyes.
The endless roar of the storm swallowed up Sheriff Kaufman’s cry of pain.
4
When Emilio looked at Fara’s face, he knew she wasn’t going to help Ollie and his men kill anyone. She turned to him, her features sagging with exhaustion and disgust, and said, “I can’t. I just can’t, I’m sorry.”
Emilio said, “I think we’re gonna hole up in the office, Ollie.”
“I need to know exactly how many infected people we’re talking about here,” Ollie said. He turned to Fara and said, “Can you give me a number?”
“Dr. Corcoran could.”
“And where is he?”
“He was in my office when we left.”
Ollie turned to one of his men, pointed down the side corridor in the direction of Fara’s office and said, “Go fetch the good doctor, will you? Fourth door on the right.” The man hurried away. He turned to Fara again and asked, “Is he going to cooperate?”
“He doesn’t like confrontation,” she said. “If he doesn’t wa
nt to cooperate, I’m sure you can change his mind quickly with a little yelling and threatening.”
Ollie nodded once. “Happy to do it.”
She turned to Emilio and said, “I’m starving all of a sudden. I’ve got food in the office. Let’s go.”
As they headed toward Fara’s office, one of the headlamps approached them through the dark.
“He’s not there,” the figure said. It was the man Ollie had sent to get Corcoran.
“He’s not in the office?” Fara said.
“There’s nobody in the office.”
Emilio asked Fara, “Where would he go?”
“I have no idea. I’m amazed he would leave the office at all knowing what’s out here in the dark.”
“What’s the deal?” Ollie said, approaching them.
A voice shouted urgently from down the main corridor: “Hey! Hey! They’ve gotten out! You hear me? They got out down here and they’re loose! Outside!”
It was Corcoran’s voice coming from the rear entrance. His footsteps sounded as he jogged toward them.
“Two of the test subjects are out there attacking someone in a car,” he said.
“Who the hell went out and got in their car?” Ollie barked.
“No, no,” Corcoran said, shaking his head hard. He stood rigid, fists clenched at his sides. “It’s someone who’s driving here, to the hospital. A police car. They’re outside the gate, but the gates are open, for some reason. Crashed open. From inside. And somebody stole my goddamned Jeep!” As he shouted the last sentence, his whole body quaked.
“Did you get that coat out of my closet?” Fara asked absently. It sounded more like a thought inadvertently spoken aloud than a question in search of an answer.
“I bet Ivan called the sheriff,” Emilio said.
“The sheriff,” Ollie said. “Fuck.” He turned to his men and shouted, “Did any of you hear that? While we’re standing here contemplating our fuckin’ navels, those people are gettin’ out of the fuckin’ building!” He called out, “McCoy! Baker! Axelrod! Come with me!”
They followed Ollie down the corridor, the light from their headlamps bouncing and swaying through the dark ahead of them.
“What were you doing out there, Dr. Corcoran?” Fara said, shining her small Maglite directly in his face. “Trying to leave?”
Corcoran squinted and turned his head away. He made a sound of disgust as he held up a hand to shield his eyes from the light. “I . . . I wanted to get something from my car.”
Fara nodded. “Uh-huh. A new location. I so admire a man who stands behind his work.”
Corcoran looked down at her right hand, which hung at her side, then at her, with disbelief. “Is that a gun in your hand, Dr. McManus?”
“It is. And I know how to use it. Remember that the next time you think about trying to ditch us. You’re going down with this ship, captain. Vendon Labs may be able to step in and save your ass, but I’m going to make it as difficult for them as possible.”
Corcoran fidgeted and tried to dodge Fara’s light, but like a mean child holding a magnifying glass over an ant on a sunny day, she wouldn’t let him. Finally, he straightened his back and looked directly at her with squinting eyes.
“You seem to be forgetting who’s in charge here, Dr. McManus,” he said.
“It’s certainly not you, Dr. Corcoran. Not anymore.”
Watching Fara stand up to Corcoran, listening to her talk to him like that—Emilio thought it was sexy as hell. He was glad it was dark because he’d been watching her with an admiring smile and a growing erection.
Then Emilio noticed that Dr. Corcoran was looking at him. Staring at him. As if he expected him to say something. It quickly made Emilio uncomfortable.
“What?” he said, shrugging. “She’s right. Looks like Ollie’s the alpha male in here now. And outside, the hurricane’s in charge. Right here, though, in this corridor?” He nodded his head toward Fara. “She’s in charge. And she’s got a gun. I’d listen to her.”
Corcoran lifted the back of his hand to his eyes against the light. “Put that fucking light down. You’ve made your point.”
Fara lowered the light and Corcoran dropped his hand. He looked back and forth between them with a contemptuous smirk that oozed into a smile.
He chuckled that annoying chuckle of his, then said, “You’re in for such an unpleasant surprise.”
“What does that mean?” Fara said.
He kept smiling, but didn’t say anything.
“What does that mean, Dr. Corcoran? What surprise?”
Another chuckle, then he said, “You’ve got the light. Let’s go.”
Corcoran stepped around Emilio and headed for the office.
“What the hell do you think he means?” Emilio whispered.
“I have no idea, but it worries me.”
“Are you coming?” Corcoran said.
They followed him down the drafty, cold corridor.
Emilio’s stomach growled with hunger, which would soon be followed by acidic burning. He had some Gaviscon tablets in the utility closet they’d just passed, but he didn’t stop to get them. He’d do that later. The heartburn and reflux were always worse when he was seriously worried about something, and if Fara was worried, then Emilio was damned sure worried, because she knew this guy a lot better than he did. When Emilio had come to work there, he’d decided pretty quickly that he didn’t like Corcoran simply based on his behavior. Fara had much better and far more solid reasons for not liking him, and though he didn’t know what all of them were, Emilio trusted them.
The sound of a door gently closing with a couple of clicks was just loud enough to catch Fara’s attention. She stopped walking and turned toward the sound with her light—to her left, the beam sweeping along the wall to stop on the door marked STAIRS, and beneath that, EMPLOYEES ONLY.
“Did you hear that?” she said.
“Yeah,” Emilio said. “Ollie sent a guy down to the basement earlier.”
She aimed the light down the middle of the corridor, swept it back and forth to see if there was anyone behind them. There was no one, nothing. She turned the light back to the door—
—as it finished swinging shut and made that same clicking sound again.
“Hey,” she said, “what was—”
“Fucking cunt!” a thick female voice growled as a fist swung out of the darkness and struck Fara in the left side of her jaw.
“Shit,” Emilio said, quickly stepping forward to catch her before she fell. The gun and flashlight clattered to the floor. Her body was limp, she was unconscious, and the woman who had punched her babbled furiously as she began pummeling Fara with her fists while Emilio held her.
Occasionally, something coherent emerged from the woman’s angry, senseless babbling and ranting.
“You hateful bastard, you never loved me, you son of a bitch, eighteen years, eighteen fucking years!”
Her face remained obscured by darkness, but the shape of her head told him she was mostly bald.
He backed away from the woman, tried kicking her but couldn’t connect, then backed away some more. He bent down and swept Fara’s legs up, then swung his leg up again. This time, his foot connected solidly with her left knee and she stumbled and fell as Emilio turned and ran to the office door. He heard her getting up, though, ranting, coming after him.
“Run away! Run away! That’s all you ever do, you useless prick, you liar, you thief, you fucking asshole! I’m finally gonna kill you!” Then she became incoherent again, making more sounds than words.
The office door stood open, with the soft glow of candlelight coming from inside.
Hands grabbed the back of Emilio’s shirt and the woman’s angry, incoherent babbling was suddenly in his right ear as she latched on to his shoulders and wrapped her skinny legs around his waist.
“Goddammit, lady!” Emilio croaked, panting as he turned around and slammed her against the wall, throwing all his weight into her, trying to crush her.
>
She grunted and wheezed as her lungs emptied and he felt something crack against his back—a rib? Her hold on his shoulders and waist weakened until her legs slipped off of him and her arms dropped down to her sides.
Emilio stepped forward and the woman dropped to the floor with a whimpering sound. He sidled through the door, pushing Fara’s feet through first, then kicked it shut behind him. He spun around and turned the lock on the doorknob, then carried Fara into the office and gently placed her on the couch.
“What the hell was that?” Corcoran said. He was already seated at her desk again, smoking a cigarette. “What’s wrong with her?” He pulled his feet off the desk and stood, went to the couch and stood behind Emilio.
Emilio ignored him and knelt on the floor beside Fara. A bruise was beginning to darken on her cheek as it became puffy with swelling.
She coughed and sniffled and opened her eyes only slightly.
“That’s twice you’ve been punched in the face in one night,” Emilio said.
She closed her eyes again. “Yeah, but I don’t think it’s the kind of thing you get better at with practice.”
“The door’s locked and she’s in the hall not feeling very well, I think. We’re safe for now.”
“Who clocked you?” Corcoran said, peering over Emilio’s shoulder with a smile that he was managing to hold down to a smirk.
“I think it was one of the survivors,” Fara said without opening her eyes. She sat up and put her feet on the floor.
Emilio stood and said, “I’ll get some cold water for that—”
“No, not yet,” she said. “I don’t want to touch it yet. Half my face is throbbing and my headache’s back.”
Emilio sat beside her on the couch.
Corcoran paced while he smoked.
The storm continued to assault the building with a howling rage.
5
Ollie felt as if he were moving through a dream because the simple act of walking in the storm was like trying to walk through water against a strong current. He saw the car’s lights as soon as he stepped outside.