The Eaters: A Doctor Mills Thriller by Hale Darren

Author:Hale, Darren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

31

Sunday November 29th:

2:19pm:

Beep… beep… beep…

‘Cardiac arrest – main concourse – cardiac arrest – main…’

Dr Angela Sutton hurtled down the stairs two at a time, having figured that it would be quicker travelling on foot than it would be taking the elevator, despite the fact that the fire alarm should have cleared the building of those bumbling visitors who’d want to stop at each and every level along the way.

She burst through the door at the bottom and out into one of the better travelled corridors on route to the main concourse, while wondering what she might expect at the end. Her bleep had announced a “cardiac arrest”’ but as she knew well, a “cardiac arrest” could mean just about anything, from a man choking on a baguette behind the deli counter, to a little old lady vomiting blood.

But not this…

For starters there was not one body but three – a fireman in a striking yellow suit, the hospital’s chief of security, and a nurse. People who, by all accounts, should have been fit and well. The chief (who had perhaps been something of an equal-opportunities hiring, given his age) would at times be heard hacking his guts up like a fifty-a-day smoker, but the fire service had its standards, and the nurse looked young.

A small crowd of onlookers had formed – the few who’d completely ignored the alarm, having imagined that a half-eaten bagel and a tepid cup of coffee were more important than being burned alive, though they now found the prospects of human misery to be somehow enticing. Having arranged themselves in a semicircle some distance from the fallen trio, their expressions now hovered in that netherrealm between curiosity, apprehension, and disgust.

Angela hesitated.

Luke, her subordinate for the day, raced in through another door with an exuberance born of inexperience. She’d almost forgotten about him. She’d sent him to the emergency department to admit a patient of hers over an hour ago.

Something was wrong.

The subtle of poise and posture…

The crowd was frightened.

Angela gingerly took a few steps forward, searching for any clues as to what might have happened. ‘Wait!’ she warned, but Luke, failing to hear her, or having perhaps chosen to ignore her, knelt over the body of the prostrated nurse and pressed his middle and index fingers to the side of her neck, looking for a pulse. If Angela had been generous about his choice of patient, she would have credited his choice on the fact that the nurse had been the closest of the three and the youngest, rather than the fact that, to a young man like Luke, she’d undoubtedly been the most appealing.

And then she noticed the marks – dreadful sores covering the faces of both the fireman and the security chief, and the extensive burns on the arms of the nurse.

Hadn’t he seen it? The rash was unnatural. It was growing as she watched. Consuming skin as it left a livid and bloodless wound.

‘Get back!’ she warned.

The crowd backed up, but Luke didn’t move.

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