The Orphans Series Vol. 1: The Orphans (28 page)

             
"Son, I have a feeling you're going to regret your actions today."

             
Gutenberg ran for the elevator to save the nurse, unaware she had already turned. He hit the elevator button, sure that what he was doing was right and justified. He thought there was no way he wouldn't be considered a hero and get his picture in the paper.

             
Pat had an idea of his own. He grabbed his car keys, walked out quickly to the parking lot, opened the trunk, and grabbed his revolver. He clipped the holster to his belt letting his jacket fall back over it. He shut the trunk, forgetting his extra ammo.

             
Gutenberg waited impatiently inside the elevator, ready to help, but unsure how the poor nurse must be feeling right now. When the doors slid open, he ran out and immediately stopped.

             
The blood soaked floor had pieces of guts casually lying around. He saw Rogers on the floor with the axe handle protruding from his skull.

             
"Nurse?" he called nervously. "Nurse Kiley? It's Security Officer Gutenberg. Are you there, ma'am? I'm here to help!"

             
He walked slowly down the side of the hall to avoid the drying, sticky blood. Hitting his radio, he whispered, "Hey, Pat. I'm on the third floor and I don't see anyone. Do you see her anywhere?"

             
Pat was watching the monitors. "
I don't see anything kid, you sure she's there?
"

             
"Well, I thought she'd be easy to find with all the blood, but her footprints dried up halfway down the hall. I don't know where she is. Let me know when the police get here, will you?"

             
Gutenberg poked his head into the lab that Dr. Fox worked out of and was unable to see the view that Pat could see back in the security office.

             
Pat watched the nurse grab the man by his head, gripping his hair, and launching him into the air at a lab table filled with glass beakers. Gutenberg screamed as he landed hard, shattering glass and being stabbed in the back and side by it. He shook his head free of the feelings of passing out in time to see the blood covered nurse sprinting towards him. He scrambled up, running away, unable to think clearly. What used to be a girl called Kiley chased him, growling and drooling at the mouth, hungry for a bite of his flesh.

             
Gutenberg ran for everything his pudgy body was worth leaving a trail of blood dripping from the back of his blue security uniform. Pat hit the intercom button to his radio. "
Run, kid! Run! She's coming!
"

             
He peered over his shoulder to see the nurse running in an almost animal like way. She was gaining on him quickly. He tried to jump over the blood pool in the hallway, but hadn't anticipated how short of a jump he'd been able to make. His feet slipped out from under him quickly going higher than his head. As his head came down hard on the floor, everything went dark and hazy for a moment. As he came to, he saw nurse Kiley jumping high in the air and landing on his stomach, pinning him down and sniffing his fresh wounds. With tears in his eyes, he mumbled with fear in his voice, "Please don't hurt me...! I'm ... I'm here to help you!"

             
It growled loudly at him, gripped his head and smashed it repeatedly into the floor. It reached down and ripped his Adam's apple off and chewed at it wildly--loving the taste more with each bite. His warm wet blood sprayed into the air like a geyser, dripped off of the ceiling into his eyes and face as he lay twitching, dying underneath her mouth.

             
Pat watched this, biting his knuckles until they turned white. He saw the police and EMT pulling up and ran out, waving frantically to the police officers. When they saw Pat, they saw the urgency but read it completely wrong. Pat screamed at them, "You got to get up here now! You got to get in there and stop that thing!"

             
Martin, a twenty-something crime scene investigator, nodded at him. "From the sound of it, there isn't a hell of a lot left to stop. We already sent detective Lennon to the hospital to see if Dr. Fox went to see his fiancé, and Thompson's sitting on the Fox house in case he goes home."

             
"Damn it! You're not
listening
! There's
everything
to stop! Gutenberg--the other security worker--is in the building, and he's being eaten alive, for God sakes!"

             
Martin stared at Pat blankly. "Are you feeling all right, sir?"

             
Gonzalez, the paramedic, stepped out of his truck and saw the look on Pat's face. "Sir, are you feeling all right? You're as pale as a ghost! Can I get you to come over here and sit down for a minute, please?"

             
Pat was pacing back and forth impatiently. "Oh, God-Fucking damn it! Would you
fucking
listen to me!? I'm telling you that the woman is eating him! She's ripped his
fucking
neck out and was
chewing it
! I've never seen anything so horrible and wrong in my
fucking
life! Quit looking at me like I'm
fucking
insane and get over here, for God sakes, and look!"

             
Martin stared at Gonzalez with the same look of confusion. "Okay, then, Pat," he began again. "How about you show us what it is you're talking about, will you?"

             
Pat grabbed him by the collar. "Now get the
fuck
in there and I'll show you what I'm talking about!" He turned and went jogging for the door.

             
Martin pointed to Gonzalez and whispered, "Hey, go get your medical bag. Sounds like we're going to need it. I think Pat there might have lost it."

             
Gonzalez wasn't so sure. "He looks really scared there. Must really be something wrong."

             
Pat waited in the office for them.

             
Martin had his cell phone to his ear, cursing as he walked in, and unsure why he couldn't get a signal when he was only a few miles from town. "Okay, Pat. Can you tell me where this emergency is?"

             
Pat looked at them, unsure what was wrong with them. He pointed over to the monitors, ready to prove he wasn't crazy. "Hey, take a look, then you'll see exactly what I'm talking about." He hit the monitor to the hallway where Kiley had been eating Gutenberg and his mouth dropped.

             
It was empty. The blood was hard to see on the black and white monitors if he hadn't seen it pool.

             
Martin looked closely at the screen, unsure what was freaking the old man out. "Look at what, Pat?"

             
Pat knew he was looking and sounding like a complete and utter fool. He should have known any sane man who hadn't been offered any evidence would think he was senile. He threw up his hands in frustration. "They were up on the third floor, but I think you should call more people in! I know there's something there! I don't think any of us should go up there." He frowned, but suddenly had another thought. "I can show you the backup video!"              Martin cut him off, quickly getting short on patience. He figured Lennon was probably picking up Dr. Fox if Thompson hadn't already got him at his house. He completely ignored the old man's warnings. "That's fine don't worry about the video Pat we believe you let's just go up there so we can get the crime scene started. This is going to take all day from what your initial reports said."

             
"Martin," Gonzalez began and pulled the officer aside, "are you sure we want to go up there? Don't you want to wait for backup or maybe take a minute to watch the video? What's the harm in amusing him? Is there anyone else that could come help you out, just in case he's right? I'm of no use to you unless they need a medic. What are we going to do with just the two of us? I don't have a gun, for God sakes."

             
"He's wrong, simple as that. Old people always see things different than they really happened. For all I know, the nurse got a bite on the wrist or something and Dr. Rogers is down getting a cup of coffee.... Anyway, I did call but my cell didn't work, and when I got through on the radio every available officer not on this already was sent to help with some huge traffic pile up between Ankeny and Des Moines.. All we have to do is go up there and make sure the nurse is okay, and I say we get back to enjoying a warm Sunday afternoon."

             
Pat overheard the men and went to the stairwell figuring he would take them up there to prove it. He had ol'-Bessie on his side and knew if they just saw the blood then maybe they'd believe him.

             
"Hey, why don't we take the elevator?" Martin suggested.

             
Pat shrugged and sternly retorted, "Be my guest, but I'm taking the stairs! I want to know what's ahead of me when I go through those doors!"              

             
Since neither believed him they weren't worried about it. "Tell you what, Pat. You take your time getting up those three flights of stairs and by the time you get there we should have this entire thing wrapped up."

             
When he hit the up button for the elevator, Gonzalez sealed their fate. They entered, and as the elevator began going up, Pat's earlier behavior began to make Martin double guess himself and wonder why he hadn't taken the extra minute to watch the video. He was definitely worried that maybe the old man wasn't completely loony--after all, Pat may be old, but he was a trusted security guard. Martin touched his pistol just to make himself feel a little more at ease. Gonzalez he had nothing to protect himself with beyond his medical kit. Before the doors opened, Gonzalez looked at Martin, and seeing him check his pistol did nothing to ease the rising tension. "Why are you checking your pistol if this old guy's crazy? Do you think he could be right?"

             
Martin tried smiling, not wanting to let on that maybe something was wrong here. "No, don't worry about it. We're going to be just fine. Just ... uh ... just standard procedure." The elevators doors parted and, to their surprise, they saw a red stained floor they had not been able to see on the monitors. They'd found Security Officer Gutenberg.

             
"What in good God's name happened!?" Martin asked aloud. "How did this place get like this!? It looks like a freaking massacre! Do you know how much blood it takes to make a mess like this!?"

             
They cautiously walked out. Taking a look at the hallway, both men put a hand to their stomachs and felt sick. They peered around, quickly concentrating on one thing--exactly what or who had done this to the doctor. Martin thought there was no way Dr. Fox could have been responsible for what Pat was talking about. Pat had told them himself that Fox had left the property, which led Martin to believe there must still be a killer here because Gutenberg clearly didn't kill himself.

             
Gonzalez looked at Martin's raised pistol. "You keep bullets in that thing, Martin?"

             
Martin nodded his head, slowly looking left and right, aiming where he was looking but not sure what he was supposed to be looking for. He was afraid that maybe they should have gone with Pat up the stairs. Martin had the gun in front of him, ready for anything that looked like it was out of place.

             
They gasped when they saw Rogers on the floor. Gonzalez opened his mouth to scream, but Martin smacked him on the chest and raised a finger to his mouth to be quiet.

             
The two men walked around the giant mess of blood slowly, looking around but seeing and hearing nothing. They moved in unison, not sure which direction was the safe one to go in.

             
Martin motioned for Gonzalez to stay back as he quickly passed through a doorway, checking it left and right, trying his best to keep calm.

             
Gonzalez let Martin walk past one more doorway before he followed.

             
The last noise Martin ever heard Gonzalez make was an agonizing scream.

             
He turned just in time to see the medic's feet up in the air flying into a doorway. His medical case crashed to the floor spilling instruments everywhere.

             
Martin started yelling, "Freeze! It's the police! Come out with your hands up!"

             
The only sound he received was the gurgling of blood coming from the throat of his friend. Martin ran in sweeping his pistol around the laboratory room once the sounds from the medic had ceased.

             
He saw the nurse Pat had been so afraid of. Now he thought he had a good
fucking
reason to be. The creature was down on its knees, eating away at Gonzalez's bloody, trembling body.