back and forth until Jenny heard the audible
pop
of the spinal cord severing.
Still, the teeth gnashed and feet--claws bursting out through the gym shoes--continued to kick and writhe. It wasn't until Randall had the head completely severed and pushed away from the body, that the monster was finally still.
"You okay?" he asked, staring up at his ex-wife.
"Wouldn't it be easier if you turned the saw on?"
"Outta gas. Still works pretty good, though."
Jenny carefully wiped some blood from her face, avoiding getting any in her eyes, nose, or mouth, and then walked over to Randall.
"Nurse Fortescue is from pediatrics," she said. "We need to move. Now."
Lanz
SINGLY and in pairs, all but two teeth had fallen out of Dr. Kurt Lanz's gums. He cupped them in his hands. He'd counted them.
He knew.
How? Why? He'd been racking his brain for a reason. He hadn't been bitten or cut. He--
Oh no! Moorecook had been seizuring when Lanz arrived, spraying bloody saliva everywhere. Some had landed on his face. A fleck must have reached his lips. He'd been contaminated through his mucous membranes instead of directly into his blood. A tiny inoculum. A delayed reaction. A slower transformation.
Screams erupted on the far side of the door, followed by gunfire. He rose and pressed his ear against the steel. Sounded like chaos out there. Good thing--
Something
slammed
against the door. He jerked back as fists began pounding the other side and someone screamed to be let in.
No fucking way, Jose.
The pounding and screaming stopped abruptly. Shaken, Lanz sat again. If he could just hold out here till the cavalry rode in, he'd be--
The faint sound of a siren filtered through the door. Had the sheriff sent someone?
Okay...he could control this. Maybe not the physical aspects, but he refused to become a bloodthirsty beast like the others. He was a
doctor
, for fuck's sake. He was
educated
. And he was certainly more intelligent than any dozen of these yokels combined.
His last two teeth dropped from his gums.
Didn't matter. He was better than the rest. He'd beat this.
Sudden blasts of agony shrieked from his fingers and drove him to his knees as hooked claws burst from the tips.
And then indescribable pain from his jaws as the fangs erupted and tore through his cheeks and lips, like he'd forced his face into a wood chipper.
His vision blurred, then cleared. He saw everything in such detail now, like switching from a blurry black-and-white TV to hi-def. Same for his sense of smell. A delicious, mouth-watering odor was wafting through the door. He recognized it: blood. Beautiful, warm, red, delicious blood. He had to--
No! He was better than this. The cops were here. He'd heard the sirens. He'd stay in here and explain through the door what had happ--
Hungry!
So hungry! That smell was driving him crazy.
His hand seemed to move of its own volition. Hard to turn the knob with those claws, but he managed. And when the door swung open the blood smell enveloped him, banishing every desire but to feed, every feeling but hunger.
He saw a pair of wary EMTs--fat woman pulling in front, middle-age guy pushing from behind--hesitantly wheeling a stretcher through the door. The siren hadn't been police, it had been an ambulance.
Blood! Fresh blood!
Lanz leaped up on the nurse's station and launched himself at them. The claws of his left hand pierced the side of the fat, lead EMT's face as Lanz sailed by. The hooks caught and set. Lanz felt a tug and then a give as the face ripped free.
By then he was upon the second, sinking his fangs into his exposed throat, tearing the flesh, chugging the hot gush of blood as it rushed into his mouth. The guy went down, kicking and trying to scream but he had no throat so how could he scream? And then he stopped struggling and the blood stopped flowing.
So soon?
More!
Lanz turned and saw the fat EMT on her knees, screaming as she held her ripped face in place. He lunged at her
pop
of the spinal cord severing.
Still, the teeth gnashed and feet--claws bursting out through the gym shoes--continued to kick and writhe. It wasn't until Randall had the head completely severed and pushed away from the body, that the monster was finally still.
"You okay?" he asked, staring up at his ex-wife.
"Wouldn't it be easier if you turned the saw on?"
"Outta gas. Still works pretty good, though."
Jenny carefully wiped some blood from her face, avoiding getting any in her eyes, nose, or mouth, and then walked over to Randall.
"Nurse Fortescue is from pediatrics," she said. "We need to move. Now."
Lanz
SINGLY and in pairs, all but two teeth had fallen out of Dr. Kurt Lanz's gums. He cupped them in his hands. He'd counted them.
He knew.
How? Why? He'd been racking his brain for a reason. He hadn't been bitten or cut. He--
Oh no! Moorecook had been seizuring when Lanz arrived, spraying bloody saliva everywhere. Some had landed on his face. A fleck must have reached his lips. He'd been contaminated through his mucous membranes instead of directly into his blood. A tiny inoculum. A delayed reaction. A slower transformation.
Screams erupted on the far side of the door, followed by gunfire. He rose and pressed his ear against the steel. Sounded like chaos out there. Good thing--
Something
slammed
against the door. He jerked back as fists began pounding the other side and someone screamed to be let in.
No fucking way, Jose.
The pounding and screaming stopped abruptly. Shaken, Lanz sat again. If he could just hold out here till the cavalry rode in, he'd be--
The faint sound of a siren filtered through the door. Had the sheriff sent someone?
Okay...he could control this. Maybe not the physical aspects, but he refused to become a bloodthirsty beast like the others. He was a
doctor
, for fuck's sake. He was
educated
. And he was certainly more intelligent than any dozen of these yokels combined.
His last two teeth dropped from his gums.
Didn't matter. He was better than the rest. He'd beat this.
Sudden blasts of agony shrieked from his fingers and drove him to his knees as hooked claws burst from the tips.
And then indescribable pain from his jaws as the fangs erupted and tore through his cheeks and lips, like he'd forced his face into a wood chipper.
His vision blurred, then cleared. He saw everything in such detail now, like switching from a blurry black-and-white TV to hi-def. Same for his sense of smell. A delicious, mouth-watering odor was wafting through the door. He recognized it: blood. Beautiful, warm, red, delicious blood. He had to--
No! He was better than this. The cops were here. He'd heard the sirens. He'd stay in here and explain through the door what had happ--
Hungry!
So hungry! That smell was driving him crazy.
His hand seemed to move of its own volition. Hard to turn the knob with those claws, but he managed. And when the door swung open the blood smell enveloped him, banishing every desire but to feed, every feeling but hunger.
He saw a pair of wary EMTs--fat woman pulling in front, middle-age guy pushing from behind--hesitantly wheeling a stretcher through the door. The siren hadn't been police, it had been an ambulance.
Blood! Fresh blood!
Lanz leaped up on the nurse's station and launched himself at them. The claws of his left hand pierced the side of the fat, lead EMT's face as Lanz sailed by. The hooks caught and set. Lanz felt a tug and then a give as the face ripped free.
By then he was upon the second, sinking his fangs into his exposed throat, tearing the flesh, chugging the hot gush of blood as it rushed into his mouth. The guy went down, kicking and trying to scream but he had no throat so how could he scream? And then he stopped struggling and the blood stopped flowing.
So soon?
More!
Lanz turned and saw the fat EMT on her knees, screaming as she held her ripped face in place. He lunged at her
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