Страница 37 из 123
He'd done that to a five-year-old girl. A little girl he was supposed to save.
He bellowed. There may have been words in there. He wasn't sure.
Randall didn't want to focus. Didn't want to stay in the moment. Didn't want to know what was happening to him.
He'd lost Tina. Probably lost Je
Nobody was going to miss Randall Bolton.
Well, the other lumberjacks might. If he was dead, it would be harder for them to have another hearty laugh at his expense. "Haw, haw, haw. That dumbass Randall couldn't even save a little girl. Can you believe it? Big guy like that and he can't even protect an asthmatic five-year-old. Waste of skin and bones. Can't even hold a chainsaw right."
No.
Screw that.
He didn't know that Je
He could still hear the legless dracula struggling behind him.
Randall ignored it. He shoved the image of Tina's corpse out of his mind, then left the Rehabilitation Therapy area. He didn't care how many of those creatures stood in his way, he was going to get through them--a thousand of them if he had to--until he found his way back to pediatrics and the woman he so desperately...
Randall stopped for a second. Looked to the right and then to the left.
Fuck.
Which way had he come from?
Despite what many people said about him, Randall was not an idiot. But when you were losing blood from popped stitches and carrying a kid on your back and wandering around in barely existent lighting with monsters all around you, it was easy to lose your sense of direction.
All of that for nothing. Jesus. He should've just let Tina run off and get eaten by draculas. At least then he'd still be with Je
Or, he would've been there to helplessly bumble around while those things tore his wife apart. That was probably more likely. God, he was pathetic.
No, wait--he wasn't lost at all. There was a stairwell right next to the swinging door to the rehabilitation area. He hadn't passed one of those. Good, good. He was back on track. Ha! Those bastards could kill a little girl, but they couldn't get him lost!
Actually, you killed the little--
Shut up.
He started to turn around, but maybe the stairs were the way to go. Instead of backtracking where he knew there were draculas, he should find a different route back to pediatrics. Up the stairs, across the hall, down the stairs, and get back just in time to put his fist through a dracula's stomach. Good plan. Solid.
Going up a flight of stairs was go
So what? More pain? Quite honestly, he could barely even feel his injured leg. So long as it remained attached to his body and didn't collapse like an accordion, he could deal with it.
Accordion music sucked.
He pushed open the door to the stairwell and took his first step up.
So far, so good.
His second step was less good.
He bashed his jaw on the edge of the step as he fell forward. He lay there for a moment, hurting and trying to work up the energy to try again.
Had he lost consciousness?
Nah.
No, wait, yes he had, because now a clawed hand was wrapped around his ankle.
He twisted to see what it was. Holy shit. The legless dracula, covered in blood and with at least one visible internal organ, was still after him. He hadn't squished it enough.
Randall yanked his foot out of its grasp, kicked it in the head, and then began to crawl up the stairs. He could hear it crawling after him. This had to be a hallucination. No way could he actually be in this situation. This was absolutely batshit insane!
Move! Move! Move!
His leg wasn't cooperating at all, and the dracula, pulling itself from step to step just using its arms, kept pace with him all the way up to the first landing. Then it grabbed his foot again.
I'm losing a race with somebody who doesn't have any goddamn legs!
The dracula snarled, opened its mouth wide, and bit at Randall's foot just as he pulled it free. With those jaws, Randall had no doubt that the creature could take off his entire foot. Maybe not in one bite, but two or three would do the trick for sure.
Can't get bit. Don't wa
Randall scooted backward, his butt squeaking against the floor (squeaking just like that damned clown) until his back struck the wall. The dracula, several ropes of bloody drool dangling from its fangs, crawled after him.
Fuck it. He needed to make this problem go away.
Not giving a shit how bad it hurt, Randall forced himself to stand, grabbed the dracula under the shoulders, then heaved it. It bounced on the stairs twice before it hit bottom, where it lay with its neck twisted at a grotesque angle.
Still trying to come after him.
Jesus Christ. He'd just thrown a cripple down a flight of stairs. Dracula or not, Randall was pretty sure that hellfire awaited him in the afterlife.
And now he most definitely gave a shit about how bad it hurt to stand up. Wincing the entire time, Randall made his way up the second half of the stairway, wondering if any hidden cameras would see him should he decide to curl up and cry for a few days.
Finally he made it to the third floor. He stepped out into the hallway, expecting to see something that continued his streak of bad luck. Maybe two, three thousand of those things, all charging him, desperate to avenge their legless brother.
Aw, for God's sake...
Randall couldn't honestly say that he'd rather have had two or three thousand draculas waiting for him, but, c'mon, Clay Theel? Really? The dickhead who'd thought that his gun and badge gave him the right to stick his nose into Randall's business?
Clay was with a frightened-looking woman. Neither had seen him yet. Randall took a deep breath. He couldn't let that guy see him looking weak. Had to act casual. Maintain his dignity. Nothing he could do about the blood and the ass-exposing hospital gown, but he certainly wasn't going to let Clay know that he was mourning his failure to save a five-year-old girl.
He steeled himself, tried to think of something sarcastic to say, then walked forward.
Clay
"ALL right. Let's get you out of here."
He put his hand on the knob but used the slit window to give the lobby another look-see before stepping out.
"Aw, hell."
"What?" Sha
While they were talking, half a dozen monsters had gathered in the lobby. If Clay had only himself to worry about, he might have charged out and given it a go. But with Sha
He put his lips to her ear. "Let's go back up to the second floor and see if we can find another stairway that doesn't open on the lobby."
He let Sha