Draculas

Then she focused her attention on the twenty-foot space between her and the intercom.

Slow and steady? Or run like hell?

Je

The power is out. What if it doesn't work?

Je

Only one way to find out...

She pressed the button and spoke into the speaker, "Randall, I'm still in pediatrics with the children. I need you to...oh my God!"

Je

Dr. Lanz appeared in the hallway.

She spotted him through the spiderweb cracks of the room-length window, the children's finger painting now frescoed with bits of tissue.

Lanz hadn't spotted her yet. But he'd heard her. The intercom worked fine, Je

Lanz reached the hole he'd broken in the glass, and locked eyes with her. His white lab coat was charred, his nametag a melted blob.

His face was also a melted blob. The doctor's nose was nothing but a blackened hole, and his hair stuck to his scalp in sticky, burned patches.

"EEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHHHHHHHH!"

Did he just call me a bitch?

Quick as a cat, he pounced through the window and sprang at Je

Je

Then Lanz paused his attack. He sniffed the air, the ragged skin around his nasal cavity vibrating. He turned his head slowly toward the storage room.

No! Not the children!

Lanz leapt toward the closet, but Je

Every cell in Je

Lanz twisted on the floor, reaching back for Je

Lanz immediately released her head--

--and shoved his bleeding finger into his mouth.

As the creature ca

The door didn't move.

It must have closed shut on its own.

Je

She stuck her head into the window.

"Kids! Open the door and let me in!"

The children didn't reply.

"Come on! Open the door!"

When she got a response, it was tinged with tears. "I'm scared."

"I'm scared too. But you need to let me in so I can protect you."

Je

"Come on, kids. Please open up."

She glanced over her shoulder toward Lanz. He was still chewing on his hand, but it wasn't as frenzied. He'd grown calmer, almost contemplative about the task. As if deciding which part of the turkey leg to bite into next.

Even if Je

She stuck her head through the broken window. No way she'd fit through. Maybe ten years and twenty pounds ago, but all that would happen now was she'd get stuck like that monster had.

Another quick glance at Lanz.

He was no longer eating himself.

Instead, he was standing, staring at Je

Oh no...

She banged on the door with both fists. "Open this goddamn door now! Right now!"

Je

Lanz was holding his hand--now a ragged stump--up to his mouth. His misshapen, hideous tongue gave it a long, slow lick, like he was enjoying a popsicle. His black eyes bore into Je

Then he took an easy step forward.

"JESUS CHRIST JUST OPEN THE--!"

Lanz broke into a run, and just then the knob turned. Je

He got his arm in.

He got his head in.

But that was as far as he could go.

Je

Crash cart! Why hadn't she thought of that before?

The cart was a set of aluminum shelves on wheels, stocked with everything needed to resuscitate and treat life-threatening conditions. She crawled to it, yanking open a drawer, looking for something, anything, to hurt Lanz with. Her mind was thinking syringes and drugs.

But her eyes locked onto the defibrillator.

It was a manual model. Perfect. She flipped it on, cranked it to 970 joules, and grabbed the paddles while the battery charged the capacitor.

"You want something to eat?" Je

The unit beeped, and Je

The bastard did, jamming himself into the tight space, his outstretched claw swiping at her head. Je

He jerked away, but this time he had the presence of mind to take a paddle with him. Je

One paddle wasn't enough to complete the circuit, so the weapon was useless. But it didn't seem to matter.

A minute passed.

Then two.

Dr. Lanz didn't reappear.

"Is the monster dead?" one of the children wailed.

Je

"I don't know."

And she had no desire to check. If he was lying outside the door, dying, that was fine with Je