Five

Angie stepped back into the emergency room and looked around. Chaos. Every bed and chair was full. Aides scurried around, trying to attend to all the injured. Tend, hell, she thought. It looks like it's all they can do to keep up.

And all the injured had that same scared, confused look.

Dr. Gordon was gone. No nurses were in sight. Not even a free area the jackass' friend could sit.

She found Freeda, who was still tending to the wounded boy. The boy looked ill now, pale and sweating.

That's odd. He hasn't lost enough blood for that.

Freeda saw her and gave a weary smile.

Angie stepped over. “Where's Ruby? We got a guy in the waiting room who's bleeding pretty badly.”

Freeda frowned. “Dunno. Outside smoking, I guess.”

“Now? Great.”

The dispatch radio sprang to life.

* * *

Ruby cursed and took a tight-lipped drag on her cigarette. She felt ridiculous, hiding outside in the dark to smoke. She considered walking down to the east wing of the building, where the ground sloped away from the hospital and no one would be able to see her from the windows. As far as she could remember, there weren't even any patients on that wing tonight. But that would be too ridiculous. She was a grown woman.

All the same, she hoped no one saw her. Her numerous failed attempts to quit smoking were hospital legend. And she was in no mood to catch any crap about failing again. If she couldn't smoke on a night as crazy as this, when could she?

She squinted out into the dark. The only light came from the door behind her. She couldn't see anything beyond a few feet.

She took another drag. She had to hurry. The ambulance would arrive soon, and there'd be no time for smoking then.

A shuffling sound came from the dark.

“Shit,” she said, expecting an aide or even Dr. Gordon to appear and chastise her. But no one emerged.

She heard more shuffling. Then a slight groan.

Ruby frowned and took a third drag. More shuffling. Shaky, uneven footsteps. From more than two feet. Then another groan, from a different mouth.

“What the hell is going on?” she said, flicking the cigarette away and stepping into the dark.

After a few steps, she couldn't see a thing. The only light came from a few feet behind her. She heard moaning, grunting and the sounds of people stumbling.

“Is someone hurt?” she said.

Two arms landed on her shoulders. Cold hands clutched at her.

“Hey!” she said, twisting away from the arms. She was now standing facing the doorway and the only light. She heard movement next to her and took a step backward, further into the dark.

She backed into someone else. Cold arms closed clumsily around her breasts. The arms smelled awful.

“Get your hands off me!” Ruby yelled, angry now. She pulled the arms away from her. The skin on the arms felt wrong. Cold and spongy. She was wondering about that when a cold mouth closed on her ear.

She gasped as the mouth bit her ear off.

Pain shot through her head and she screamed, falling away from the arms as hot liquid ran down her cheek. She landed on her knees. She wanted to cover the wound, but it hurt too much to touch.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” Ruby shrieked into the darkness. She squinted but couldn't see anything.

A pair of legs ran into her back. Someone above her groaned and reached down, grabbing her hair. Ruby screamed and fought. The hands fumbled, a cold finger landing in the hole where her ear had been. The pain was so intense Ruby felt faint.

“Help!” Ruby yelled and wrenched away from the hands. She tried to stand but fell forward, still dizzy from pain. She landed on her stomach. Hands closed on her legs.

“Stop it!” Ruby yelled. A cold mouth closed on her calf. And bit. Teeth ground into her leg and tore a chunk free.

Ruby turned onto her back and kicked with her good leg. Something caught the leg and held tight. A second pair of hands closed on her head.

“Help!” Ruby screamed, cold fingers straying into her mouth. She fought and kicked, but the clammy hands held fast.

A third set of hands landed on her stomach. The hands fumbled with her clothes, pulling clumsily.

Ruby tried to scream but her mouth was full of cold fingers.

The hands on her stomach found skin. She heard groaning and the fingers dug into her stomach. Her shrieks were muffled as the hands pushed further into her. She felt her muscle and viscera tear. She felt bits of her being pulled out.

Then she felt nothing.