Asher waddled across the hospital parking lot, her arm looped through Jason's and much of her weight leaned into him. There were still six weeks left in her pregnancy, but she looked more like she might pop at any moment. Her left arm was wrapped under her belly, trying to hold it up and take some of the strain off her lower back, but she wasn't sure it was helping enough to justify the shaking, tired muscles in her arms. Her long black ponytail swung dramatically behind her with each step she took, and Jason fought to keep his balance between her swaying strides and hard leaning. Both of them were looking up at the roof of the hospital. It was still pitch dark out, but it wouldn't be for long. They were watching the MedFlyt helicopter's very loud take-off. They craned their necks as they watched it disappear over the horizon, both lucky they didn't trip and fall.
Once the helicopter was out of sight, they both put their eyes back in front of them. It looked like things were starting to get busy. Before they crossed the next twelve feet, four EMT's had rushed out and run at full speed towards the ambulance bay around the corner of the building at the ER entrance. Two doctors were standing just outside the automatic doors the EMT's had used. Their raised voices were just loud enough to reach Asher's ears, but she couldn't quite make out what they were saying for some time. Even fifteen feet was a slow trek for her these days. Both of them were gesturing. One, a pretentious looking fellow in Asher's opinion, with slicked-back hair and a too-orange spray tan, was gesturing hard enough to fling little droplets out of his House of Java cup. The other, an older and more distinguished looking gent, was zig-zagging ribbons of cigarette smoke from his yellowed fingers as he spoke.
As Asher and Jason drew nearer to the doors, they were able to make out a bit of the conversation. Doctor Orange impatiently tapped his foot and sipped at his coffee as the older doctor said, "You realize, Will, that that's absolutely ridiculous. We can't just go sending patients into quarantine at the drop of a hat! We'd start a panic! And what would we tell them? That we don't know why? Sedate them, keep contact to a minimum, and check in with me in a couple of hours. We'll have this whole mess resolved by then, and-"
Asher jumped slightly and pressed closer to Jason when the younger doctor threw down his cup and showered the concrete with a thick, black liquid that smelled far too strongly of espresso. The older doctor stepped back a bit, but the hems of his pants were already splattered. Dr. Orange shouted, "Dr. Bledsoe, I don't think you've been listening to me! I told you, they were already -"
Now he was cut off by the elder doctor, who shoved his cigarette between his lips and put both hands on his companion's shoulders. "Do you need some personal time, Will? The stress gets to be too much for all of us at some time or another. Maybe a paid leave, or - ." Asher was stricken by how much less friendly his body language was than his tone of voice and words. Dr. Orange took in a deep breath and turned abruptly, making the old guy's hands drop back to his own sides as he walked back through the doors. Jason and Asher walked in a few steps behind him. The white-haired doctor did not follow, but stared after him, puffing heavily on what was left of his cigarette.
Jason and Asher exchanged a look but said nothing as they approached the open doors. The smell of hospital was the first thing to strike Asher. The hustle and bustle all around her was the second. Doctors, nurses, orderlies, and seemingly just about everyone else who worked there was up and about carrying stacks of charts or pushing carts or loading syringes with medication as they hurried along. No one wearing scrubs would look at them. They found the check-in desk deserted. Every line was blinking on the ringing phone. Asher leaned on the counter and looked up at Jason. He shrugged. Things had been quiet between them lately. Asher knew her silence was nothing more than how tired she'd been the past few months. She suspected Jason was quiet for different reasons, but had no intention of bringing it up until the baby was born and she was feeling like herself again. They both sighed, and each managed a little smile for the other. "Just sign the sheet," he suggested. "You need to be sitting down, resting." Asher nodded and signed in. She chose a seat towards the back, thinking she'd be damned if she didn't get to put her feet up while she waited.
She sat, thumbing through a random magazine from the table next to her, trying to think of something to say that might begin a conversation with Jason. She wasn't forced to sit and wrack her brain for long. Dawn was breaking outside, and the pale blue light was bathing everything in a surreal blue glow. Not far in the distance, a short and very thin woman was running towards the hospital and screaming at the top of her lungs. Long, golden blond hair flew behind her in glistening curls. She looked too dainty for the oversized cargo pants and checked flannel shirt she was wearing. At last Asher had something to say to Jason, "What the hell?"
He looked up from a dated copy of People Magazine, followed her gaze outside, and let his eyes settle on the quickly approaching woman. She skidded to a stop inside and looked around, her eyes wide and her hair disheveled. At last she spotted someone wearing scrubs, a nurse carrying a basket with little glass tubes and syringes who was rushing towards the exam rooms behind the desk. The little blonde ran to the nurse, grabbed her shoulders and screamed, "Help! You have to help! You have to shut those doors and you have to... to... you have to lock them if you can!"
The nurse, startled, jumped back out of the blonde's grasp and stared at her for a few seconds. The woman didn't have the patience to wait for a response. She piped up again, "You have to close those doors! Are you listening to me? They're coming! They're coming right now!"
The nurse took a deep breath and tried her best to force a patient smile. "Ma'am, you'll have to sit down and wait like everyone else." The blond woman's eyes went even wider and wilder.
"Do you hear what I am telling you?" She paused and looked over her shoulder, out the doors she'd come through. Jason and Asher looked, too. Still in the distance, walking at what looked like a relaxed pace, were two large men. One of them seemed to have a severe limp. Asher looked at Jason, who only shrugged again. The little woman kept going, "Don't you fucking see them? They're coming!"
The nurse's eyes flickered to the two men and back down to the woman. "They were chasing you?"
The blonde heaved a long sigh that appeared to deflate her upper body. She stared up at the nurse, her shoulders hunched and drawn inward. "Yeah... they're chasing me," she answered in a small, defeated voice. She straightened herself and turned to face the doors, her eyes fixed on her pursuers. "Everybody's gone damn crazy. I saw 'em hunkered down over some poor drunk on the corner by your parking lot and when I screamed they... they got up and started to follow me. You gotta shut those doors," she repeated with considerably less conviction. She turned back to the nurse, whose eyes were squinted and trained on the two men. The little blonde woman sighed.
"You can't let them in here. Please, just believe me, you can't let them in here with all these people. This is a hospital, for god's sake. There are sick people and… and… babies here." She kept her eyes trained on the men. They were close now, and she seemed to want nothing more than to give up on this dense nurse and bolt.
"I'll page security." The nurse dashed off to the check-in desk and picked up the PA mic. "Security to outpatient check-in immediately, please. Security to outpatient check-in." She set it down and fiddled with something behind the desk that Asher and Jason couldn't see. Then she spared a final look for the blond woman before hurrying back to her original purpose. The woman looked around helplessly, then looked back at the door. The two men were just feet from the door now. An EMT ran past again and one of them turned and followed her. The other didn't seem to notice, and kept limping right for the entrance.
Less than half a minute later, two security guards and a police officer rushed in from the hallway that connected the emergency room to the outpatient check-in. The cop was standing a few feet behind them as though he'd sent them onto the front lines of battle himself. The little blonde ran up to them and pointed to the lumbering man, who was near enough to make the electronic doors slide open. Asher and Jason turned to look again, as well, and this time it was Asher who sat in total silence as Jason gasped out loud. The limp wasn't just a limp - it was the result of half his femur sticking out through a tear in his blood-stained pants. The broken leg stood a full three inches shorter than its counterpart. With each step the man nearly fell over, the flesh seemed to sink a little lower around the bone, and Asher was sure she could hear a faint, wet sucking sound. His gait would have been comical were she not so horrified by his condition. He said nothing, no screams or cries of pain, and Asher found it especially frightening that his face was twisted not in tormentous pain but rather it was somewhere between desperate and utterly blank. He was pale, and blood was beginning to dry all over the lower half of his face. Something that resembled raw hamburger meat dangled between his teeth.
The officer and security guards stood stunned for a moment, all of them staring down at the man's leg. At last one of the guards called out, "Sir, stop where you are," just as the other yelled out for a doctor. The limping man looked, his nearly lifeless eyes shifting from the blonde to the three men standing in front of him. He reached a slow hand up towards the guard who'd spoken and began to limp towards him. The little blonde, unable to believe her good luck, scurried off down the hall. The guard spoke up again, "Sir, stop now!" The man kept coming. The guards and officer took a few slow steps backward to put some more distance between themselves and the limping man.
The officer drew his taser gun and shouted, "Stop walking and hit the floor!" When the limping man only kept drawing nearer, he fired the taser. The barbs shot out, a ribbon of wire trailing behind them, and hooked squarely into the limper's chest. A harsh buzz peppered with loud clicks filled the air. Jason buried his face in Asher's shoulder, and she couldn't help rolling her eyes. She'd have liked to be the one burying her face in his chest, feeling a protective arm around her, knowing he'd look out for her. Now she supposed she was supposed to do the comforting, pregnant as she was, and all the protecting, too. She expected the man with the broken leg to hit the ground, but he didn't. His muscles twitched a bit, but not enough to do more than slow him down. The officer's jaw dropped. He threw the taser to the ground and drew his pistol. "This is your last warning, sir!" Asher covered her ears, her eyes squeezing shut involuntarily. The officer fired his weapon. The shot rang out loudly and echoed on the stark walls and cold floors.
For a few seconds, there was quiet except for the echo of the gunshot. Asher forced her eyes open. The man had been pushed back a few steps by the force of the shot. She could see the exit wound blown through the back of his shirt. Judging from it's location, the bullet had to have gone straight through his heart, but she supposed it couldn't have, because he just kept moving towards them. Jason looked up at last, and was stunned. The officer kept his weapon trained on the man as he pressed the button on his radio. "This is unit 28, I'm at St. Vincent hospital. I fired on an aggressor, I need back-up. This guy's on something, he is unresponsive to bullets! I need back-up!"
A voice piped up in response, tinny and shrouded in static. The officer seemed to ignore it. The man was nearly in arm's length of the security guard who'd been the first to speak. Asher felt her curiosity melt away. She put a hand on Jason's thigh to help herself up. "We need to get out of here," she said, hoping she sounded as urgent as she felt. Jason sat in shocked silence. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Asher looked back at the limping man and the guards just as the man managed to get a hand around the guard's shoulder and pull him close. He opened his mouth wide and leaned down. Asher didn't avert her eyes in time to miss the strange man take a gigantic chomp out of the security guard's neck. Blood sprayed everywhere, followed in short order by her meager breakfast. So much blood. She was mostly past the stages of morning sickness, but not yet beyond having a weak stomach - too weak to bear witness to a man having half his neck eaten in one bite, at least. "Oh, god," she groaned, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and casting a sharp glare in Jason's direction. "We have to go, Jason."
A shot rang out, startling a little jump out of both of them. A bullet went through the limper's forehead, just above his left eye, and she was glad she hadn't had very much to eat that morning. He crumpled to the ground.
Asher instinctively reached out for Jason's hand, and he gave it to her. She pulled, tried to coax him up out of the chair. "I want to get out of here, Jason, let's go see Mo and Shadow, make sure they're okay..." At last Jason got to his feet. She started to pull him towards the doors they'd come in through, but what she saw there stopped her short.
The EMT that the limping man's companion had gone after was crawling inside, her arm bleeding from two places and another huge, bloody wound on her back. She kept looking behind her as she scrambled on all-fours. Her pursuer was not far behind. The EMT slipped and slid on the stone floor, the blood all over her hands and clothes not making things any easier. She couldn't seem to stand up, didn't even seem interested in standing up. Her face clearly expressed the one thing on her mind - getting the hell away.
Asher had the good sense to stop herself from shouting a frustrated, "FUCK!" Instead she quietly turned around, keeping to the back wall away from the trouble, and led Jason towards the hallway. It was simple enough sneaking behind the guards and officer, who were huddled on the floor shouting for a doctor and trying to put pressure on the security guard's neck, and she felt sure that with all the people between them the madman wouldn't notice or be interested in following them. Jason seemed to have no opinion on which direction to take, and allowed her to pull him like a dog on a leash. She could see he'd gone pale, his eyes were wide, and his lips drawn thin and tight. He's terrified, she thought to herself, and useless. Her brain wasn't interested in much outside the basics right now. Instinct took over before she had a chance to feel anything about her observation. She stopped at the elevator and pressed the down arrow. Again. Again. Again. 45 seconds passed. Three new gunshots exploded from outpatient waiting, and she simply turned and headed for the stairwell instead. She shut the door behind them and checked for a way to lock it, but didn't see one. She turned to Jason. When she took her hand away, he tried to grab for it and whined a little through his nose. She narrowed her eyes and put her hands firmly on his shoulders. "Listen to me, Jason... I am seven months pregnant. I cannot drag a grown man down the stairs. You have to walk for yourself... You have to at least try a little! Okay?" She held her breath and watched his face, waiting to see if her words would sink in. After a few seconds, nothing. She shook him. "Jason, goddammit, you have to get it together! Something is seriously wrong and we have to get back to the Beetle." She watched. At last his eyes narrowed back to a reasonably normal size and he blinked and opened his mouth.
"How do we get there, Ash?"
"We're going down to the basement. Employee parking is down there and the outlet is right near where we're parked. The elevator was taking too long... we have to go now." She started down the stairs, looking up over her shoulder to make sure he followed. He didn't. He just stood there with a fresh dumbfounded gawk.
With a deep breath she went back up the three steps she'd descended and grabbed his hand. "Come on, then."
She dragged him down the first flight and around the corner. There she stopped, and had to force her hand out of his to avoid being knocked down the stairs when he was unable to do so himself. It was only a few seconds before he scrambled back up behind her, as though he intended to use her for a shield if it proved necessary. A woman in a white labcoat and green surgical scrubs was lying unconscious on the floor. A yellow-haired gentlemen, similarly attired, was crouched over her. When he saw the two of them, he reached up, and revealed two bloody stumps where his middle and forefingers should have been. "Help, please..." he choked out. "I've killed her... I've killed Andrea... Oh, God, I had to..."
Asher didn't think. She said nothing. She pressed herself against the wall, keeping a few feet between herself and the surgeons. She kept her eyes trained on him, told him without words that she would fight if he came too close. He seemed to understand. His eyes fell down to her swollen abdomen and something about that seemed to resonate with him. And for just a split second she felt something - a desperate wish that the same were true of her boyfriend. He held up his other hand now, in submission, and leaned away from them, not bothering to stand up. She led Jason down and through the basement door, very quietly.
There didn't seem to be much going on. She slid along with her back to the wall, heading towards the sunlight in the not-too-far distance. Fifty feet to their left, someone screamed. Two cars hit each other, and the sound of bending metal sang through the garage. Yeah, make some noise, morons. She picked up her pace, feeling a little more confident. They practically skipped up the exit ramp and out into the sunlight. A few people were hurrying along the sidewalk, talking in hushed, frightened tones. Fine. She could hear Jason taking in deep breaths behind her, sucking in the fresh air as though they'd just come out of a sewage treatment facility instead of a hospital. Good. Across the street, the Beetle sparkled and shimmered, gorgeous golden yellow in the early morning sun, the most welcome sight she'd ever seen. She looked both ways at the edge of the street like a child, clutching Jason's hand. "Let's go," she whispered, and they dashed across and straight to the car. Jason even had the presence of mind to unlock her door the moment he slid into the driver's seat. He looked much more himself. "Now where?" he asked.
"SHH! Did you hear it?"
"What?"
"A bike… it sounds like the Indian... it's Mo and Shadow, it is has to be..."
Just then, Jason heard it too. They turned towards the sound, and their hearts sank. They were on the other side of the parking lot, heading for the entrance. Jason hit the horn, and Asher looked at him like he'd lost his mind, but it didn't matter because they didn't hear it, anyway. Asher saw Mo raise up a bat and club someone's skull in from the back of Shadow's bike. Then she saw them hop off the bike and disappear inside. This time, Asher did scream, "FUCK!" She pointed to the entrance, but Jason was already driving that way. "We're going to have to go back inside..." she sighed. Jason's face started to go green again. He broke a sweat right before her eyes just from trying to pay attention to his driving. She screamed again, "FUCK!" A deep breath. He was getting close to the entrance now. She popped open his console. Papers and gum and an unidentified pill that she handed to him and he dry-swallowed immediately. She was fairly sure it was Vicodin or something similar, and any state of mind but his current one would almost surely be an improvement. She reached under the seat and found a tire repair kit still in its package. And she didn't know what the fuck it was called, or what the fuck it's original use was, but it was a long sharp needle on a handle that would fit perfectly into her dainty fist, and she intended to perform some lobotomies with it today, if she had to. She turned sharply to Jason as he rolled to a stop.
"Fine. I'll go in. They can't have gotten far, anyway, and I'll need you to be ready to drive. Don't fucking go anywhere, or I swear to God, Jason." She stepped out of the car and softly shut the door. She heard Mo's bat thud against another skull from somewhere not far inside. It seemed the more immediate threats had been dispersed. Just inside, she saw the two guards dead on the ground, the police officer nowhere in sight. She didn't dare call out to Mo. Her eyes caught movement in their periphery. She looked to her left just in time to see the door behind the reception desk closing slowly and quietly. It had to be them.
With a deep breath, she checked her path to the exam rooms. Other than having to step around a few bodies, it was clear. She opened the door behind the check-in and stepped into the long, door-lined hallway. They were there, just a few feet ahead of her. She started to call out them, but stopped short when she heard the exam room door right next to her open. She turned to look, to run if it was one of those crazy fuckers, but it was just the cop from before. She nodded to him and turned back to call out to Mo and Shadow, but a strong hand clamped over her mouth and she was dragged her into the exam room before she even knew what was happening.