shake.
"What exactly did you see down there, Carla?"
"I can't..."
"Do you want me to pray with you?"
She nodded, and Adam took her hands in his, had just opened his mouth when a scream came rushing up the corridor beyond the doors.
It didn't sound human.
Felt like someone had run a cold finger down Adam's spine and he took an involuntary step back.
"What's out there, Carla?"
"I don't know."
"Can these doors stop it?"
"I don't know."
A thunderous succession of gunshots splintered the silence several floors below.
Adam stepped toward the window in the door.
The view through the single square foot of glass was of a long corridor that extended for a hundred and fifty feet to a sitting area.
One of the fluorescent lights halfway down had begun to flicker.
A figure appeared at the far end, turned the corner, and sprinted up the corridor toward the double doors--a woman in black scrubs and white tennis shoes, her curly brown hair pulled back in a scrunchie.
Adam could hear her crying and gasping, and she'd covered twenty strides when three others ripped around the corner in pursuit, chasing her, fast and low to the ground like pit bulls.
Carla whispered, "Oh God, that's Pam from Radiology."
Three seconds, and they were upon her, bringing her down in a violent tackle under that flickering light, the woman screaming, pleading for them to stop.
"We have to help her," Adam said, reaching up to retract the top lock.
The nurse grabbed his arm.
"There's nothing we can do."
And they stood watching through the windows as two of the creatures held Pam from radiology down while a third swiped a bone-white talon through her jugular.
A stream of dark blood rushed out across the floor and they screeched and descended upon it, lapping it up off the linoleum with a ravenous intensity as their prey's twitches became more sluggish.
"Dear God in heaven," Adam said.
The creatures fastidiously sucked up every drop of blood, their long, black tongues digging into the crevices between linoleum tiles.
They had human hair and human clothes, but there the similarity ended, their faces literally exploding with prehistorically savage teeth and their hands deformed into talon-like claws.
The blood was gone, like someone had spit-shined the linoleum to a high-gloss sheen, and then one of the creatures looked up, down the length of the corridor toward the maternity wing.
Adam grabbed Carla's arm, pulled her down.
Too late--footsteps already on the way, claws clicking across the floor.
Adam and Carla plastered themselves against the door as something bumped against the other side.
Adam craned his neck and looked up, saw a nightmare face peering through the window.
He whispered under his breath,
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not--
Something crashed into the door, set the bolts rattling in their housings.
Five seconds elapsed.
Adam's heart slamming in his chest.
It came again--twice as hard, enough force to jar them both onto the floor.
Adam reached into his shirt, came suddenly to his feet, knees like jelly, but he spun around, despite the fear, and held up a small gold cross his father had given him on the day he'd graduated from seminary.
The monster running toward the door pulled up short two inches from the glass.
Its head tilted to the side--a fleeting moment of curiosity as its breath fogged the bloodied window.
Adam pressed the cross against the glass and spoke with as much authority as he could muster, "By the power of Jesus Christ--"
The talon that punched through came within a half-second of driving into Adam's eye socket, but he parried out of the way, the thing screaming now, trying to climb through the square foot opening, jagged glass slicing into its head, but the moment the blood began to flow, the creature was sucked back out of the window.
The two others ripped it apart amid a chorus of screams, took less than a minute for them to fully exsanguinate the
"What exactly did you see down there, Carla?"
"I can't..."
"Do you want me to pray with you?"
She nodded, and Adam took her hands in his, had just opened his mouth when a scream came rushing up the corridor beyond the doors.
It didn't sound human.
Felt like someone had run a cold finger down Adam's spine and he took an involuntary step back.
"What's out there, Carla?"
"I don't know."
"Can these doors stop it?"
"I don't know."
A thunderous succession of gunshots splintered the silence several floors below.
Adam stepped toward the window in the door.
The view through the single square foot of glass was of a long corridor that extended for a hundred and fifty feet to a sitting area.
One of the fluorescent lights halfway down had begun to flicker.
A figure appeared at the far end, turned the corner, and sprinted up the corridor toward the double doors--a woman in black scrubs and white tennis shoes, her curly brown hair pulled back in a scrunchie.
Adam could hear her crying and gasping, and she'd covered twenty strides when three others ripped around the corner in pursuit, chasing her, fast and low to the ground like pit bulls.
Carla whispered, "Oh God, that's Pam from Radiology."
Three seconds, and they were upon her, bringing her down in a violent tackle under that flickering light, the woman screaming, pleading for them to stop.
"We have to help her," Adam said, reaching up to retract the top lock.
The nurse grabbed his arm.
"There's nothing we can do."
And they stood watching through the windows as two of the creatures held Pam from radiology down while a third swiped a bone-white talon through her jugular.
A stream of dark blood rushed out across the floor and they screeched and descended upon it, lapping it up off the linoleum with a ravenous intensity as their prey's twitches became more sluggish.
"Dear God in heaven," Adam said.
The creatures fastidiously sucked up every drop of blood, their long, black tongues digging into the crevices between linoleum tiles.
They had human hair and human clothes, but there the similarity ended, their faces literally exploding with prehistorically savage teeth and their hands deformed into talon-like claws.
The blood was gone, like someone had spit-shined the linoleum to a high-gloss sheen, and then one of the creatures looked up, down the length of the corridor toward the maternity wing.
Adam grabbed Carla's arm, pulled her down.
Too late--footsteps already on the way, claws clicking across the floor.
Adam and Carla plastered themselves against the door as something bumped against the other side.
Adam craned his neck and looked up, saw a nightmare face peering through the window.
He whispered under his breath,
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not--
Something crashed into the door, set the bolts rattling in their housings.
Five seconds elapsed.
Adam's heart slamming in his chest.
It came again--twice as hard, enough force to jar them both onto the floor.
Adam reached into his shirt, came suddenly to his feet, knees like jelly, but he spun around, despite the fear, and held up a small gold cross his father had given him on the day he'd graduated from seminary.
The monster running toward the door pulled up short two inches from the glass.
Its head tilted to the side--a fleeting moment of curiosity as its breath fogged the bloodied window.
Adam pressed the cross against the glass and spoke with as much authority as he could muster, "By the power of Jesus Christ--"
The talon that punched through came within a half-second of driving into Adam's eye socket, but he parried out of the way, the thing screaming now, trying to climb through the square foot opening, jagged glass slicing into its head, but the moment the blood began to flow, the creature was sucked back out of the window.
The two others ripped it apart amid a chorus of screams, took less than a minute for them to fully exsanguinate the
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