Night's Favour (25 page)

“Doc.”
 
John clapped the doctor on the shoulder.
 
“You got a ride out of here?”

The doctor tugged down his mask, showing a surprisingly young face.
 
The shadow of a grin cracked through for a moment.
 
“I bike to work.
 
I’ll be fine.
 
Take care of her.”

“Great.
 
Look — thanks.”
 
The megawatt smile cracked on full.
 
“I mean it.
 
And we will.”

“Oh!”
 
The doctor went to a cupboard and opened it, pulling out a small brown paper wrapped bundle.
 
“Her things.
 
Sorry.
 
We had to cut her out of her clothes.
 
Wallet’s there.
 
Her badge, ID.
 
And… her gun.
 
You better get going.”

John took the bag from him, then tossed it to Val.
 
“Thanks again, doc.”

☽ ◇ ☾

Val held the brown bag under his arm.
 
He pushed through the door into the emergency reception with the other arm.
 
“Now, when we get —”

“
You
.”
 
The voice cut him off.
 
Val stopped, John hitting him in the back with the gurney carrying Carlisle.
 
She was still out cold.
 
“Mr. Everard.
 
This is a pleasant surprise.
 
Ah.
 
And who are your friends?
 
Who is that on the gurney?”

Val looked at the other man, taking in the close-cropped hair.
 
Then he looked at the two men who were with him.
 
Soldiers, dressed in black.
 
“You’re…
 
The guys.
 
From the —”

“From the police station, yes.”
 
The man looked Val up and down.
 
“I don’t think we’ve been introduced.
 
Tim Spencer.
 
The police station was regrettable, but our orders were clear.
 
Here?
 
Our orders provide more,”
 
and he gestured with his fingers, “Wiggle room.”

Val looked around the room, taking in the bodies.
 
His eyes noticed a figure near a wall.
 
An older woman, her name badge still attached to her chest.
 
Mavis
.
 
“This?”
 
Val’s arm took in the room around them.
 
“‘Wiggle room?’”

“It might be hard to believe, but this wasn’t our doing.”
 
The man looked the two soldiers next to him, then at the bodies and debris surrounding them.
 
“To be strictly accurate, it was Volk.”

“Volk?”

Spencer continued as if Val hadn’t spoken.
 
“We thought it was Volk at the police station.
 
Regrettable, as I said.”

Danny pushed forward.
 
“This Volk?
 
He carries enough guns to kill this many people by himself?”

A smile tugged the edge of Spencer’s mouth, never reaching his eyes.
 
“Volk provoked us, Miss..?”

“Miss Go-Play-Hide-And-Go-Fuck-Yourself.”

“Ah.
 
Like I said, we were provoked.”

Danny stared at the man.
 
“All these people?
 
They provoked you?”

Spencer cleared his throat.
 
“Regrettable, but I don’t want to dwell on the past.
 
Mr. Everard, you have something we want.”

Val closed his mouth.
 
“I do?”

“Yes.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask.
 
What is it?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“You.
 
I’d like to be fairly clear.
 
This is not a request.”
 
Spencer nodded towards them.
 
“Squad?
 
If Mr. Everard doesn’t wish to accompany us, execute his friends.”

John spoke up.
 
“Wait.
 
What?”

“You are?”

“This is not a game of who-the-fuck-am-I,” said John.
 
“Did you just say you were going to shoot us if Val didn’t go with you?”

That false smile tugged at Spencer’s mouth again.
 
“Yes.
 
Squad!”
 
The soldiers raised their weapons, one each trained on John and Danny.
 
Instinctively, Val stepped forward.

We will die before pack is taken from us.

Spencer nodded, taking Val’s step forward for assent.
 
“Mr. Everard, I’m going to have to ask you to put these on.”
 
He tossed a set of handcuffs at Val’s feet.
 

“You want me to put handcuffs on myself?”

“Yes.
 
Or I can just shoot your friends.
 
I can also ensure whoever is on that gurney never wakes up.
 
Accidents happen in hospitals.”
 
Spencer nodded to his men.
 
“You have five seconds.
 
Believe me, Mr. Everard.
 
You will be leaving with me.
 
Whether your friends are alive or not at the end of it is completely up to you.”

“Val, no —”

“You can’t —”

Val held his hands out.
 
“Aren’t you afraid of hitting me?
 
If you open fire.
 
Don’t get me wrong.
 
I don’t want anyone to get shot.
 
But if you shoot them, won’t you hit me?
 
Maybe?”

“Five.”
 
Spencer pulled a pistol out of his holster, and ejected a black clip from it.
 
He slapped in a red clip, and cocked the gun.
 
“Four.”

“You’re going to shoot them with silver bullets?”
 
Val looked at Danny.
 
“You were right.
 
Gangland shooting.”

Spencer shook his head.
 
“No, Mr. Everard.
 
I’m going to shoot you with silver bullets.
 
You’re perfectly safe from the regular kind.
 
Three.”

“Christ!
 
Why me?”
 
Val’s hand still burned from where the silver had touched him before.

“You don’t know?
 
Curious.
 
I’m pretty certain it won’t kill you outright, but it will make you more…
 
Malleable.
 
Two.”

“Look man.
 
I picked up one of those bullets before.
 
I got some kind of aller-…
 
Derm-…”

“Allergic dermatitis,” said Danny.

“Sure.
 
I got a burn from touching it.”
 
He held his palm out.
 
“See?”

“Mr. Everard, do you know why I haven’t pointed this gun at you yet?”

Val thought for a moment.
 
He scanned the room, looking for a way out of this.
 
This is a really crazy day
.
 
“No clue.”

“I see.”
 
Spencer lifted the gun, pointing it at Val.

Val’s lips pulled into a snarl.
 
He took an involuntary step forward.

“Remember, Mr. Everard.
 
Silver.”

It burns
.

Kill it.
 
It threatens pack.

It burns!

Val’s mouth opened and closed a few times.
 
No sound came out.

That faint smile touched Spencer’s mouth again.
 
“As I thought.
 
We’re almost out of time.
 
One.”

The creature tore through the wall to the administrative area, showering the room with plaster.
 
Val took a step back as it shouldered its way into the room.
 
There was something —
Christ, that’s a body
— held in one massive, clawed hand.
 
It looked at the seven humans in the room, leaned forward, and roared.

“Fire!’
 
Spencer spun on the spot and pulled his trigger, the pistol barking back at the creature.
 
It ducked back, holding the body up in front of it, the bullets thudding into the corpse.
 
Spencer’s pistol clicked empty.
 
He ejected the clip out, reaching for a fresh one.
 
The creature pulled back and threw the body at him, knocking him clear off his feet.

Spencer’s men looked at him lying on the ground tangled up in the limbs of a corpse, then at the creature.
 
They turned their weapons from John and Danny, firing into the thing, guns hammering.

Val turned to Danny.
 
“Go!
 
Get Carlisle clear!”

Danny looked at him.
 
“I —”

The creature grabbed one of the soldiers off his feet, holding him up.
 
To the man’s credit, he didn’t stop firing, the bullets smacking into the thing’s face and chest.
 
It roared its defiance back at the man, slapping the rifle out of his hands.
 
It spun across the room, embedding itself into the wall above John’s head.
 
The creature grabbed one of the man’s arms, and its shoulders bunched.
 
With a bright spray, the man’s arm tore free, his screaming shrill.
 
It tossed the arm into the middle of the room, swapping the man to its other hand, then tore off his remaining arm.

The screaming stopped.
 
The other soldier continued to fire.
 
Spencer was shouting something that sounded like, “Red,” over and over.
 
The other soldier shouted at him, “I’m out!” and continued to fire.

Val slapped the brown paper bag on top of Carlisle’s legs in the gurney.
 
Then he placed a hand on Danny's.
 
“Please.
 
I’ll be right behind you.
 
I —”

She looked up at him, eyes wide.
 
“You what?”

Pack mate.

“I —”

John came up behind them.
 
“Look, I hate to break up the moment, but
fucking run!
”
 
He shoved Danny ahead of him, and they started to steer the Carlisle’s gurney around the rubble on the floor.
 
“This is like a scene from fucking M*A*S*H.”

Val looked back at the soldiers in the room.
 
The creature was still holding the armless torso of the first man.
 
It held the body up —
like a shield,
thought Val — as the other soldier continued to fire.
 
As the man’s weapon ran dry, the creature bared its teeth.
 
Is that thing — Christ, it’s smiling
.

Val turned and watched Danny and John.
 
They’d made it to the doorway, they’d made it clear.
 
He looked down at his hands, holding them out in front of him as he turned them over this way and that.
 
They were big hands, strong, and different to yesterday and the day before.
 
He looked back at the creature, which was tearing a leg off the torso.
 
It swapped its grip again, and tore off the other leg.
 
As each leg came free, it tossed them into the pile of limbs in the middle of the room.
 
Four limbs; two arms and two legs.

That is not the hunt
.

The moment hung, a drop of dew caught in a spiderweb.

No man deserved to die like that.
 
Not even these guys.
 
He looked around him, grabbing a hunk of concrete the size of a child’s head from the ground.
 
He hefted it in one hand, then threw it with all his strength at the creature.

It swung the limbless torso in one hand —
like a bat
— and swatted the rock aside.
 
The rock crashed through a wall, a shaft of sunlight stabbing through the dust in its wake.
 
Then it tossed the torso on top of the limbs, making a neat pile, and ran at Val.

Christ it’s fast
, thought Val, a moment before it snatched him off his feet.
 
It grabbed one of Val’s arms in a powerful claw, and began to pull.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

-John stared around the emergency room parking lot.
 
A tow truck sat abandoned, hitched to a white van.
 
He pushed the gurney towards the van.
 
A quick check inside showed the keys were still in the ignition, but —

“There’s blood all over the passenger seat,” said Danny.

“Don’t be such a baby.”

“I’m not.
 
I’m driving.”
 
She looked around.
 
“Where’s Val?
 
John!
 
Where’s Val!”

John turned around.
 
Val wasn’t with them.
 
The sound of gunfire came from inside the emergency room entrance.

“John —”
 
Her eyes were wide.

“I know.
 
Fuck!”
 
He looked at the wheels of the van, snared up in the tow truck’s wheel-lift.
 
“Look, get this thing unhooked.
 
I’ll get him.”

He ran back to the entrance of the emergency room.
 
The sight in the doorway stopped him in his tracks.
 
The creature had Val in one massive claw, and had his arm gripped in the other claw.
 
Muscles were straining in its arms as it tried to pull him apart.