V-WARS by Jonathan Maberry

Author:Jonathan Maberry [IDW Publishing]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-61377-451-9
Publisher: IDW Publishing

— 26 —

October 12, 10:45 p.m.

Bellevue Hospital

Zero Days until the V-Event

“Stay back,” ordered Schmidt, but Swann was right at his heels. Swann didn’t want to be there, he wanted to flee, to find some place to hide, but his body would not listen to the cringing pleas of his mind. He pelted down the hallway after the detective.

Alarms began blaring overhead. People ran, people screamed.

In the private rooms the patients howled like dogs.

There was a long, crooked trail of blood leading all the way back to Fayne’s room. Doctors and nurses crouched against the walls, many of them spattered with red.

As they wheeled around the corner, Schmidt tripped and fell over a body that lay sprawled on the floor. A nurse. Her head was canted obscenely to one side and there was a red ruin where her trachea should have been. Her eyes stared at the ceiling and even as Swann dropped to his knees beside her, he knew that there was nothing he could do.

Schmidt was on his knees, his pistol in one hand and a cell phone in the other. He shouted into the phone, calling for backup. Calling for SWAT.

God almighty, thought Swann as he reached out to close the nurse’s eyes. They always did that in the movies. His fingers brushed the lids, but even though they rolled down, the lids popped open again as soon as he let go. He withdrew his hand like he’d been stung.

Down the hall, all of the doors were open. Some of the patients peered out. Most looked absolutely terrified. A few were laughing.

One pointed to a set of double doors that led to another wing.

“It went in there,” said the patient in a voice that was small and fractured.

It, thought Swann. Not “he.”

The patient said, “It had a girl. It dragged her in there.”

God.

Schmidt shoved his phone back into his pocket, clambered to his feet and hurried to the double doors. They were closed, but there was a small Plexiglas window. Schmidt did a quick-look through the window and ducked back as if expecting to be shot at.

“Can you see him?” whispered Swann.

“No.” Schmidt was sweating and he held his little automatic with two powerful hands. Those hands trembled.

“How long until your backup arrives?”

There was a single piercing scream from beyond the doors. A woman’s scream. High and shrill and filled with more terror than Swann had ever heard in a human voice.

“Too fucking long,” growled Schmidt, and he wheeled around, kicked open the doors and ran into the hall. Swann bounded up and got to the door just as he heard the first shot.

The sound was followed almost instantly by another scream. A man’s this time.

It was not Fayne’s voice.

It was Schmidt’s.

There was no second shot.

In the distance, even with the blaring alarms, Luther Swann could hear the sound of sirens approaching and, even louder, the thunder of his own beating heart.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.