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?
SOME THAKYOUS:
Rocket: First reviewer. Thanks and, just decide for yourself when this is set. I'm not exactly sure…;),
lozenge, where is Kerry?,
bridget, I tried to be original, so hey, maybe great minds think alike,
dark sparrow, thanks, and I'm trying to make it a carby and a luby
sparky0151, make up a time ;)
CarbyLuvRR , I'll try for a bit o' carby for ya
Ashley, luby girl, I'm a luby too! :)
Kimmy, thanks, I think this is scary too
Riley Raine , I'm glad you think this is realistic, I was hoping it would be
Anna, I edited my site a bit, and really, I have nothing against Carter at all. :)
Jessica Lockhart, thanks a bunch!!! I'm glad you like my stories!
Ammie, thank you, hope you keep reading!
ILuvCarter, I can't stand Pratt either! Maybe a lamp will fall on him or something
Phantom of the Basement, thanks for your multi-reviews, they rock!
Hermione-2113, WOW, thanks for the awesome review!
MeoWO3, thank you! I'm glad you read my story!
Bluecake, thanks a bunch!
Wanda, I'm glad you liked it!
luvinCARTER24, I'm writing, I'm writing!!! ;)
Rachael, thanks, If I do plan on having a beta, I'll contact you
~, whoever you are, thanks!
Spheksophobia, thanks!
Cata, I'm happy you think my story rocks!
WOW. Look at all those nice people who reviewed.
So remember. Gallant and Carter went to look for Abby and Luka who are in a room with a crazy guy. Randi and Pratt are still at the front desk, and Susan and Yosh are still in the lounge.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Chapter Three: The Blood
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Yes." Abby said.
Luka spoke next. "Goodbye."
Abby hit the candle from Jack's hands. Its glowing flame went out. Once again, they were in the dark.
Now it was a game.
A twisted, horrible, sick game.
A game of tag.
Deadly tag.
Run from Jack, he's 'it'.
Just hope he doesn't catch you.
Or it won't be fun anymore.
"You've made this amusing now, sister." Jack said through the dark. "The dark is my ally. As you see, or rather, can't see, it's kind of hard to catch a crazy man in the dark." Jack brought his voice to a whisper. "Guess you're never going to catch me, huh?"
*~*~*~*~*~*
Gallant looked up. He had heard a crashing noise. Like metal hitting the ground. Like a candle and its lifesaving flame being put out.
He and Carter, who was holding the flashlight like it was their only light, which it was, exchanged a panicked look. Carter cleared his throat and regained his composure. Their footsteps echoed on the silent hallways, sounding loud and eerie.
"Which room was Mr., uh, Mr. Paulson in?" Gallant had been informed of the patient's history and was trying to be cheerful in the dark corridors of the hospital.
"Randi said he switched rooms a few times. We should have had someone in there, watching him."
"He was sedated, wasn't he?"
"Yes. He put up a bit of a hassle, I hear."
"You didn't treat him?" Gallant asked.
"Not directly, but we all share the workload in this hospital." Carter answered, sharply turning left towards a new hallway.
"Uh, yeah." Gallant looked around. "Look, I'm sure Abby and Dr. Kovac have got –"
Gallant was cut off by a loud clattering noise.
Without a word, Carter turned around. The beam of light from the flashlight hit none other than…
"I'm blind! Put the light down Carter!" Susan Lewis put a hand over her eyes. Carter put it down.
"That's better." Yosh, standing behind Susan, commented as he picked up the tray of instruments he and Susan had knocked over.
Carter gave Susan a look of death.
"We thought you'd like some help." Susan explained. "But by the looks of it, you – "
"Its fine, Dr. Lewis." Gallant assured her.
"We thought it might have been – "
"The patient?" Susan interrupted Carter.
"Yeah."
"Sorry."
"Yeah."
"We'll find him now."
"Yeah."
"Do you want to split up?"
"Yeah. Er, uh, no." Carter said. "No more of that. I don't want to go on another hunt to find you two after we find Mr. Paulson."
Susan smiled at him.
"Its good of you to care."
"Yeah."
They all looked at each other.
Thunder cracked. Lightning lit up the hallway.
"Let's get rolling." Susan said loudly.
Obediently, everyone followed Carter down the hallway.
*~*~*~*~*~*
At the front desk, Randi and Pratt were doing their best to ignore one another. Suddenly, the phone rang. Randi stopped filing her nails and Pratt looked up from the book he was 'reading'. They both stared at the phone as it rang, shrill and repetitive.
"Is that the phone?" Randi asked.
"Uh, Yeah!" Pratt answered.
"But the power's off." Randi crept closer to the phone.
"Really?" Pratt said sarcastically.
"Go away if you can't say anything nice." Randi retorted.
The phone kept ringing.
"Answer the phone!" Pratt ignored the earlier comment Randi had said.
"You!"
"You!"
"You!"
"YOU!" Pratt and Randi argued until Randi rolled her eyes and picked up the phone.
"County general, how may I – "
"Is He there?" a raspy voice on the other line asked.
Randi raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me, who – "
"Is He there?" the person on the other line interrupted.
"Who?"
"Him. Is He there?"
"Huh." Randi rolled her eyes. "Does He have a name?"
"Many." The raspy voice answered.
"Yeah." Randi shouldered the phone so she could put some gum in her mouth. "Okay. Listen punk, I don't want your stupid prank calls. Stop calling this number."
"It would be funny, if this was a prank." The raspy voice said with venom. Randi didn't say anything.
"Is He there?"
"I-"
"You better damn well know who He is and where He is!" the voice yelled at her. Randi chocked on her gum.
"I think you have the wrong number." She said when she recovered.
"I think you have the wrong attitude towards me." The voice responded. "Tell me now, are you looking for a person who shouldn't be there?"
"What?"
"A victim, or rather, a patient of yours?"
"Who wants to know?"
"I do. Yet I already know. And so does He. You are standing at the front desk, beside a doctor, no?"
Randi's mouth fell open.
"The lights are out, and you are all split up? Yes, I know."
"I-uh, I…He"
"Listen sister, this is it. You better find the patient of yours and you better do it quick."
"Gah – " Randi stuttered.
"Then you bring the patient to Him. He has some business with him."
"He-"
"You better make sure He gets what He wants. Or else there will be trouble. He and I will enforce it."
"Uh…"
"Have a nice night." Click. The person hung up. Randi stared at the phone. "What's wrong?" Pratt asked.
"Some guy with a creepy voice told me we have to find Him and the patient and let them do some business or something." Randi replied, shaken. But all I know is that there was just one patient, not two, in the hospital. Are we like, not alone?"
Pratt rolled his eyes. "Must have been a joke. Who was on the phone?"
"I don't know ."
"Call star sixty-nine."
"Alright." Randi replaced the phone in its holder and picked it up once more.
There was no dial tone.
*~*~*~*~*~*
They both thought up a plan.
What were they supposed to do with a crazy guy wielding a knife in the dark?
Whatever they needed to do.
She had a thought that this was going to be bloody, painful.
So why wasn't she scared?
Maybe she was past the sacredness.
Maybe she wanted to die.
Maybe she expected for Carter to come in and turn on a light.
Maybe she knew she could get away.
It was amazing, she thought, the little trauma room seemed so big in the dark.
But as it was, they were both standing against a wall.
It was there they thought up the plan.
Because they couldn't hide forever.
Action had to be taken.
"What…do. We. Do?" Abby said in a broken up sentence.
"Go find Carter." Luka suggested.
"That'll be easy." She whispered sarcastically.
"This will be easy." A third voice joined in. Quickly, and as easily as they could in the dark, Abby moved one way, and Luka moved another.
Smash!
Somebody had knocked over a tray of instruments.
Luka heard a muffled cry from Jack.
Good one Abby, He thought.
She heard the cry too.
She also felt the strong slash of metal against her skin. And the red substance that poured out. Down her arm, staining the nurse uniform she hated anyway.
Now she cried out.
Whirling around, she just barely ducked the knife and moved away from Jack, just barely staying up. Tripping would be disastrous.
She willed herself to find Luka in the dark.
He figured she had been stabbed or something. He now knew how Carter had felt many a year ago. But Carter had been in pain. He wasn't. Yet.
"Abby?!?" He hoped for a response from her.
"Yeah!" she called.
She was okay.
"Abby, we need help!" He heard someone coming towards him. "Abby, go find Carter, or Susan or someone!"
"I – "
"Go!"
"Luka!"
"GO!"
Alright, she'd go. She'd go wandering around in the dark aimlessly until somebody found her. No, she decided. She'd find them. She wasn't helpless.
Well, she was until she found the door. She just walked until she banged right into a wall.
"Ow!" she said, quietly. Hoping Jack didn't hear her and come near her. Feeling around she felt a…doorknob. She pulled it open and raced into the hallway, listening, looking, for anybody. She knew her arm was bleeding, and the odd thing was, she didn't feel the pain. She felt the blood, but not the pain.
No more blood should be shed.
Abby picked a way and headed, at a run, towards it.
In the trauma room, Luka heard a door click. As in the door shut and locked. By Jack.
"The key to your life is with that girl." Jack chuckled quietly to himself. "Something tells me you are going to die."
Luka believed he was going to die too.
She didn't hear a sound. She didn't see a light. She felt the blood. She felt exhaustion. And the panic.
"Is anybody out there?" Abby called frantically. "Hello?"
*~*~*~*~*
Yosh, at the back of the line of doctors on a search, heard a faint call.
He stopped walking. Gallant, in front of him, stopped too.
"Did you hear that?" Yosh asked quietly.
"Not really." Gallant answered.
"Huh?"
"I've been hearing weird things all night." Gallant nodded. "Must just be the storm or something, huh?"
"Yeah…maybe." Yosh looked at Gallant. Gallant looked at Yosh.
Susan looked behind her and saw the silhouettes of Gallant and Yosh, a few steps away.
"Hey guys, come on, we don't want to loose you!" she said seriously. She stopped walking.
Carter kept going. He thought he saw something…
"Carter!" Susan called. "Wait up! We're not as fast as you!"
"He's a man on a mission." Yosh said as he caught up.
Carter just directed the beam of light forward to one of the trauma rooms. Susan was quiet as the saw the distant shadow of somebody.
"Is it him?" Susan asked quietly.
"God, I hope so." Carter said, moving towards the room. He tried to open the door. It was locked. He knocked on the door.
"Mr. Paulson? You there?"
"We need you to open the door!" Susan joined in.
They listened for movement from the room. Nothing.
Carter knocked again.
"We need to help you, Mr. Paulson, and we can't if the door is locked."
"We won't hurt you!" Susan called.
Still nothing.
"Mr. Paulson, if you don't open the door, we will." Carter tried to reason with the patient. "So, let us in."
"is He there?" What they hoped was a Mr. Paulson voice called out.
"Who?"
"Him."
Carter looked at the doctors.
"There's nobody here but the doctors who treated you earlier this day, Mr. Paulson. Will you let us in?"
They heard the door creak open. Mr. Paulson stepped back. Carter was the first in. He checked the man out for any injury. Asides to the man's eyes, which were darting around nervously, everything was fine.
"Where are Abby and Luka?" Susan asked from the doorway.
Carter looked up.
"Are they there?" Yosh called from the hallway.
"…No." Carter breathed in. "No they're not."
He looked at Susan. Susan looked worried.
"Mr. Paulson, did you see – "
"I didn't see no one."
"Okay." Susan said carefully, glancing at Carter. "You didn't see a nurse? Did a doctor come and check on you?"
"No." Mr. Paulson answered quickly.
"Okay." Susan looked at Carter for instruction.
"let's take him to admit and call him a cab." Carter suggested. He looked Mr. Paulson over again.
"No cab!" Mr. Paulson said fearfully. "He'll kill me!" Then he clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Who?" Carter questioned.
"Nobody." Mr. Paulson said quietly.
"Okay. Susan, we'll take him to admit and put him in a room there" he looked at Mr. Paulson "If that's okay."
"Yes." Mr. Paulson agreed.
Susan made Mr. Paulson sit on a gurney which she, Yosh and Gallant wheeled out of the room.
Carter stayed in the room.
"You coming, Carter?" Susan asked.
"Yeah. In a minute." He tossed Susan the flashlight. "Take Mr. Paulson. I'll find you later."
Susan looked like she wanted to object.
"Patient's safety first." Carter said. "Go."
Susan nodded.
"They're fine." She assured him before she left.
Carter sat in the silence until he heard a familiar frantic call.
"Carter? Carter? John!" He turned to see Abby rush into the room.
"Abby!" he said, surprised. "Oh God Abby."
"What?"
"I- we were worried."
Abby smiled at him.
"I bet you were." She responded.
"Yeah. Are you okay?" he asked her gently.
"Uh, for the most part, I am." Abby tried to hide her bleeding arm behind her back but Carter was too quick.
"You're bleeding!"
"Uh, yeah." She let Carter take a look.
"What happened?"
"I was …essentially, stabbed."
Carter froze.
"That's why I'm here. We need help. He has a knife."
"Who? The patient? We have the patient. Susan took him." Carter gestured towards the hallway.
"No."
"Luka? He has a knife?"
"NOoo."
"I-"
"Mr. Paulson is not Mr. Paulson." Abby said quickly. "He's a criminal who made up a new name."
Carter pulled Abby, in the dark trauma room, over towards the cabinet where gauze was stored.
"And?" he prompted her as he pulled some gauze out.
"And he paid somebody to kill someone. A friend or a wife or something."
Abby let Carter wrap her arm in bandages.
Carter looked curiously at her.
"But he didn't actually pay this guy, Jack, who came after him. Mr. Paulson didn't fall down the stairs. He was beat up by Jack."
"Jack?"
"Jack, well, he says that's his name, killed the wife or whoever and wanted money. When Paulson didn't pay him, he beat him up and told him that if he came to the hospital, everyone would die."
"Including the doctors."
"Including the doctors." Abby repeated. "So now Jack was, or rather, is, trying to kill us. Luka and I thought he was Mr. Paulson. He tried to kill us." She looked at her bandaged arm. "Thanks, Dr. Carter."
Carter was relieved that she was okay.
"I'm glad you're okay, Abby."
"I'm glad you're okay too." She said truthfully.
Then she gasped.
"I, he, Luka won't be."
"Won't be what?" Carter was thoroughly confused.
"He won't be okay. I left him with Jack. I was supposed to get you."
"Me?" Carter asked. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Help us." Abby declared.
"Yeah." Carter looked at her. "What are we supposed to do?"
"You want my answer or the good answer?"
"Your answer."
"We're supposed to die."
"And the good answer?"
"We're supposed to find a way to get Jack behind bars without getting maimed."
"Sounds like a plan."
"A plan that needs action."
"Yeah. Let's go."
*~*~*~*~*
A/N: See? Carby and Luby. Hope I made everybody happy. Please review if I did!