Blood in the Dark

Read………Important…….Stop………Read

Disclaimer: In my world, I DO own ER and all of its characters. But since I'm the only member of my own world, only I know that. The very good people who created ER own it, and so does NBC, my favourite channel. *Sniff* you guys are heroes…

I own the crazy guy.

Achieve: I need email first

Spoilers: None

Rating: PG

A/N: This would be a great Halloween ER episode, don't you think?

So remember…Luka and Abby are in a room with a crazy guy, Susan, Yosh and Carter are in the lounge and Randi and Pratt are at the front desk

*****SPECIAL NOTE: NOBODY SAID THIS WAS REALISTIC*****SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME TO MAKE THIS BETTER*****

*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter Two: The Shadow Man

*~*~*~*~*~*        

 Carter abruptly looked up. Something was not right. He tried to walk to the door, but tripped on a magazine that was lying on the floor of the lounge, due to Randi's carelessness, and nearly fell down.

Susan looked up from the paper airplane she was folding.

"Relax Carter." She held up the paper airplane. "Let your worries fly away with the plane!" she threw the plane at Carter. It didn't even get halfway to him.

"Har har." Carter rolled his eyes.

"Sorry!" Susan shrugged merrily and folded another paper airplane.

"You seem happy."

"I'm making light of the situation." She grinned.

"Susannn…."

"What? That was a joke!"

"Well it wasn't very punny!" Yosh said. "You know, like pun?"

"We get it." Carter shook his head. "Crazy kids."

"Be happy old man." Susan shook her head. "Abby's fine you know."

"What? What!"

"You worry about her…"

"No.."

"She's a grown up, she can take care of herself."

"Yeah. Who said I was worried?"

Susan glared at him.

"Oh I get it. He's afraid that Kovac's with her!" Yosh said to Susan.

Carter looked at Yosh.

"Nurse Gossip Chain." He shrugged. "They were an item."

Carter crossed his arms and nodded in an amused way. "Were they? I hadn't noticed."

Yosh looked at Susan. Susan looked at Yosh.  Then she snorted and kept folding the airplane. Carter shook his head at her and navigated his way out of the lounge.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"You know what would make this night perfect?" Randi said to Pratt from where she was sitting at the front desk.

"What?" Pratt asked tiredly.

"If I could GO HOME!" she said, exasperated. "Why am I still here anyway?" *Really, someone tell me why!*

"So go home." Pratt shrugged.

"I'm still on for two hours. Not that I need to be here, mind you, but Weaver has eyes…everywhere…she'd see me leave."

"I'm not afraid of Weaver." Pratt said.

Randi looked at him.

"Good for you, Macho Man."

"And I'm not afraid of this dark either."

"Good, because I am. Hold me." Randi said.

"Really."

"Get a life."

"My life is this!" He gestured to the darkness. "You know me; I live for the night life!"

Randi pulled out a lollipop from an emergency stash of junk food. "How about you go find Mr. Paulson then?"

"Kovac and Abby are doing that."

"So go assist them."

"I did. Once." Pratt winced as he touched the bruise on his face. "That Abby packs quite a punch."

"So did Gallant, as I hear it." Randi smirked.

Pratt just glared at her and sauntered into the dark empty corridor.

"Hey Mr. Paulson! Come out come out wherever you are!"

*~*~*~*~*~*

Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with fire?

Chilling. Haunting. Blood red letters that looked black in the dark.

It was so dark.

As far as she knew, she was still alive. Because she could hear her heart beat in her ears. And as far as she knew, he was still alive too. She could feel his presence beside her, but she didn't turn to look at him. She just stared straight ahead into the dark room to where the voice was coming from.

"I've been waiting." The person said.

Neither Abby nor Luka said a word.

"I've been watching."

Oh God.

"I've been planning." The person said, their voice low and barely audible.

In the silent room however, every word rang out, cold and harshly insane, and dripping with venom.

"I knew what I needed to do for a while now." The person said, as though it was a common thing to say.

Thunder roared.

"I told him not to come." The person rasped again.

Silence.

"Uh, Wh-what?" Abby asked, surprised that her voice squeaked in a nervous way.

"We had an agreement that he broke."

"Who?" Abby jumped as Luka spoke. He didn't sound nervous. At all. Which meant he must have been freaked. Who wouldn't be in a dark room with somebody who sounded like they just got let out from prison, for murder?

"I told him that if he came, you would all die."

The candle slipped from Abby's hand and hit the floor.

"And die you will. Because I keep my promises."

Abby bent down and tried to feel around for the candle.

She could suddenly sense somebody above her. Feel the chilling presence of the madman. But, it was the patient they treated. They should be able to control him.

She felt arms pulling her up, and stiffened. But it was just Luka, pulling her back up, who was as scared as she felt.

"Mr. Paulson?" Luka said.

"Ah yes, that bastard. He thought he could get away. But nobody gets away from me."

Damn.

"He owed me the money. I'm not a greedy man, but I like people to keep their promises. I always keep mine. We had a deal, we did. He thought he could cheat on it. Thought he could get away. Nasty little fighter he is, though. But I got him, I did. I told him to give me the money before I finished him off, but he ran like the coward he is. He thought he could get away, he did. But I watched. I knew all along where he was going. I'm not a mean man, but I like things to be fair. And the way I see it, it only seems fair if he pays. With his life."

"Mr. Paulson was treated for a fall." Abby spoke up.

The shadow man was right in front of her in an instant.

"Pauly boy. Ha. Is that the name he's going by now? Look, sweetheart, fair is fair. Money is life. I do what I do, and its hard work. He said he wanted her killed, he did. And I did the dirty work. Dirty, indeed. He owes me my due."

"I'm sure you and Mr. Paulson can work this out with the police – " Luka was cut off by the man.

"And that's just it, bud. The police can't get involved." The shadow man closer to Abby, who backed into Luka.

"And I told him that it was just between us, see? Nobody official. But he ran to the damn doctors. You two. And now you are involved. And I always keep my promises. My promise is to wipe my hands clean of this incident. If that means shedding some blood, so be it. But I can't trust you doctors to not blab to the police. It makes this matter easier for me if I can destroy all witnesses."

The man was serious.

He strolled away, talking to himself.

Luka nudged Abby.

"Did we do a background check on Mr. Paulson?"

"I'm not sure." She whispered.

From the far end of the trauma room, a soft glow flickered from a candle the man had lit.

"I can't do this in the dark." He called.

Abby's eyes widened.

"We've got to go." She whispered frantically.

"No kidding."

"Luka!" she cried, exasperated.

"Don't cry, girl. You won't feel a thing. Until I cut you with the knife." The man laughed hollowly.

He turned around. The glow from the candle illuminated the man's face in an eerie way, creating shadows under his merciless eyes, and creating too, shadows that danced among the walls. Shadows of the tray of life saving instruments. But now, they looked like weapons that glistened madly like the madman's eyes.

"Isn't it cute. Look at you two. Scared. I don't like cowards, I don't. But it's funny to think that I'm the one holding your lives in my hands instead of the other way around."

A plan of action formed in Abby's head.

"It might hurt, but not for long, so don't worry. By the time I'm done here, this hospital will look like a slaughter house and I will look like a rich man. Very rich."

Abby and Luka stood tense, waiting for action. Waiting for the blood. As it was, the words had run down the wall and were now along the floor. The room looked like it did after a bad trauma. Blood was something she didn't want to see or feel. She knew they needed to go. Fight. Stop the crazy man, or die trying. But the others couldn't get hurt. She and Luka would have to handle this. But could they? She had major doubts, signified by her shaking hands and pounding heart.

He'd seen the bloodlust before. Power is something that will turn the most normal person crazy. The shadow man held the power. He had the confidence. He held their fear and he knew it. The shadow man wanted revenge. He wanted to kill. But he was scared, just as they were. Scared of the whole mess he'd started. A person's life is precious and he'd destroyed one already. If one believed what he said. Now he had to destroy the other lives too. He wasn't thinking.

Luka knew that but he didn't know what to do.

"Okay." The shadow man said.

"Do you have a name?" Abby asked, biding time.

"Many." He answered. "But you can call me Jack."

"Does Jack have a last name?" she asked again.

"Many, girl. But I shouldn't waste time telling you. You won't need to know. And nobody else does or will either."

"Now." Jack said, holding up a knife in the dim candle light. "Who would like to go first?"

*~*~*~*~*~*

Dr. Gallant walked through the doors of County General carrying a flashlight. There was a bad storm, after all. He had assumed the ER would be fairly busy with MVAs, perhaps a near-drowning. He knew to expect the unexpected, because he had learned from past shifts that nobody could guess what would happen in the ER. He liked the challenges. But sometimes he wondered if this was the right thing to do. No matter how used he was to the long shifts and the hectic days, he could never be relaxed with it. Major stress. But, it was an experience very few get to have, and for that, Gallant was thankful.

The hospital was dark. Gallant was surprised, but waved the flashlight around to try and see if there were any unfortunate patients that had to wait in the dark. There were none. The beam of light passed over a bored looking Randi and a defeated looking Pratt, who, unknown to Gallant, didn't dare venture farther into the hospital and therefore, did not find Mr. Paulson.

Carter came up to Gallant.

"You came." He said somewhat loudly.

"Yep. Dedication." Gallant said. "Have you seen the rain?"

"Uh…yeah." Carter turned around and peered into the darkness. What he wanted to see was Abby and Luka, safe and sound with Mr. Paulson. All he saw was dark. He knew he shouldn't be so anxious, there were, after all, only his colleagues and a patient in the large hospital. It wasn't like this was a horror movie where a psychotic person would jump out of the closet, he thought with a laugh. Still, getting stabbed and Lucy getting stabbed…this was the only time asides to that that he ever felt so nervous. Getting stabbed, seeing the fright, the blood, feeling the pain of it all, it had opened his eyes to how much he valued life. And his co-workers. His friends. He didn't want to see any of them hurt. 

Gallant made his way to the lounge. Carter followed him.

"Hey Mikey!"  Susan called out.

"Hey. Susan. Yosh."  Gallant put his stethoscope around his neck.

"You won't be needing that." Yosh said, not for the first time.

"You never know. A trauma could come in at any moment."

"Gaaahhh." Susan groaned at the thought of a trauma.

Gallant looked around the near-empty room. "Who else is on?" He only saw Susan, Yosh and Carter in the candlelit room.

"Randi and Pratt are on. And Luka and Abby are out there…somewhere." Susan sighed and rested her head on her arms. "This candle's not going to last the night."

Carter fidgeted.

Gallant saw this. Susan explained.

"He's freaked. You know…dark, monster, Abby, it's all scary to him."

"Can you blame me?" Carter snapped, staring at Susan.

Susan's eyes went wide.

"Sorry Carter. I didn't realize…it's about you and Lucy, right?"

Carter shrugged.

"I'm anxious. Last time I let somebody I cared about out of my sight to go treat a rowdy patient, she got stabbed. It shouldn't happen again."

"I know Carter, but it's just a patient."

"You told me he needed sedation."

"He did."

"It's dark."

"It is."

"It's a not-so-crowded large hospital."

"Yes."

"Two of our colleagues are out there."

"…They're both smart. They are trained in the medical profession. They aren't stupid enough to get themselves into a bad situation."

"Not if they can help it."  

*~*~*~*~*~*

Randi tossed a jellybean in the air and caught it in her mouth.

Pratt looked partially amused as he sat relaxed in a chair.

Randi tossed another jellybean in the air. It missed her mouth and landed on the floor.

"Darn!"

"What are you doing?" Pratt asked.

"Practicing my mouth-eye coordination." Randi grinned cheekily. "Why? Wanna try it?"

"Not really."

"Eh. Whatever." Randi tossed another one in the air. She threw it a little too far and it hit Gallant, coming out of the lounge, in the head.

"Oops!" Randi jumped down from where she had been sitting, on the desk.

Gallant smiled at her good-naturedly. Carter came out of the lounge next.

"Any phone calls Randi?" He asked.

"Uh…no." The power and phone lines were dead. "Power failure."

"Oh. Yeah." Carter said distractedly. "Gallant and I are going to go check on what the heck Abby and Luka are doing with Mr. Paulson."

"Maybe they haven't found him." Pratt suggested.

"No thanks to you." Randi smirked.

"They better have found him." Carter said harshly. He didn't mean to sound so mean. He spoke again. "How long could it take?"

"Ask me when the power comes back on." Randi replied.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"I said, who wants to go first?" Jack asked in the dim candlelight. "I'm an impatient man. This will be done, so one of you might as well get it over with. Then you won't have to see the others die." He laughed cruelly.

"How about you, sister? Ready to meet the blade? Or would you rather watch your boyfriend suffer first?"

Abby just stared at him.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The hard way is messier."

Luka and Abby almost gagged.

"Ready to say goodbye?" He sneered madly.

"Yes." Abby said.

Luka spoke next. "Goodbye."

Abby hit the candle from Jack's hands. It's glowing flame went out. Once again, they were in the dark.

*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: Oh la la, exciting, oui? Seriously, I'm proud of this. I think it's the best I've written. It took 4 HOURS to do. So please review. It would make me very happy. :)

Can't you totally picture this as an ER episode?

I can.

All the special effects they could use…this would be a cool episode, don't you think?

I do.

Hope I didn't confuse anybody with the whole Jack/ Mr. Paulson thing.

I'm trying to make this a different story, so I needed a weird plot.

Thanks to all who reviewed the first chapter. You guys rock!

I want to see how many reviews this could get. The best I've seen is 85 reviews on a story, I think.

I don't think I can get that far, but I want to try, so please help make history and Review me!

 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
\ /
Look at that, the A/N took you right to the review button! Funny how life works, eh?