With his Tyranno Sword reared back past his hip, the Red Ranger was more than ready to to put it to good use against any creature that attacked him or the Blue Ranger, who had separated his Tricera Lance into halves and intersected them. A woman and her two children, who had been visiting Feron Grove Hospital for a routine checkup, hid behind the Power Rangers. Meanwhile, an infected man and woman scuttled backward in the darkness of the corridor, keeping their heads low in the face of the symbol and passing two more vampiric men who had been knocked out cold; they had attempted to bite the family at closed quarters, leaving Ash and Tracey had no choice but to strike them down.
"I'm picking up three more heat signatures like theirs," Red Ranger cut in, his HUD ticking the number under the heading "Viral Detection."
"Read ya," Blue Ranger responded. "Two of them are above us, probably on the second floor. They're static."
"I've got the other one." Ash narrowed his gaze between the two enemies and into the void; the next one was just a few yards away, where a loud banging could be heard.
Tracey noticed a side door near him that led to a stairway and an emergency exit. He used his elbow to turn the handle and open it, partially sliding inside.
"Go outside this door," he said to the family. "You'll be safe,"
"But then we'll be out where the vampires can get us!" one of the kids whimpered, tucking his head into his mother's side. The two conscious vampires hissed in reply, lashing out with their arms in the face of the crucifix.
"You'll be fine, I promise," Blue Ranger urged. "There will be protection outside, and I'm taking care of the victims upstairs."
Red Ranger nodded and tucked his blade under his arms, forming his Dino Crystal and saying, "You can trust him. Just go!"
The woman nodded in kind and took her children past the Blue Ranger and to the exit. They burst through the door and found themselves in an interior courtyard under the cover of the cloudy afternoon sky. The screeches of the infected people behind them chilled their bodies, but a deep, rolling cry drowned them out followed by a loud rumble. The family looked to the open area to the left, smiling and running toward the familiar sound of the robotic, prehistoric protector that was moving up to the hospital.
Tracey bounded up the rusty metal stairs, his grip on his lance sections tighter than ever. Ever since he teleported to Feron Grove from Kau Cove, he had yet to find his father.
"Please don't be one of those two," he thought.
Downstairs, Ash rolled past the duo that had been retreating from him and his partner, his Dino Crystal dissolving in his left hand. With a yell, he swung his Tyranno Sword in a broad slash, making Dredwing's grunts jump back. The Red Ranger then drew his Blade Blaster, focusing as it glittered with light.
"I know you guys are probably feeling foggy right now," he jested. "I'm sorry I have to make it worse."
He squeezed the trigger, releasing a torrent of mist in front of him and reaching to the floor and ceiling—mist that usually appeared when he performed the Quake Defender. Dredwing's charges sprung forward, squealing as they bounced into the protective matter, allowing Ash to tear down the corridor.
"Get away!" he heard somebody yell.
"Mike?" he breathed as he continued his run. Red Ranger finally reached the end of the hall and turned the corner to the pediatric ward. Sure enough, his schoolfellow Mike was backing away from one of the vampires. Even through his protective helmet, he could smell the stench of death on the shaggy boy's breath; past the reception desk was a hospital tech, clutching her bloody hand and trying to block the pale blue door.
"Mike, are you okay?" the Ranger asked, getting close to the teenager while keeping his sidearm drawn.
"I am, but she isn't," the slightly rotund boy answered. He held his fists clenched in front of his face. "Wendy's cousin Paula is in here with a broken arm, and we wanted to get her out since these attacks got worse, but the worst just happened a few minutes ago."
"Worst?" Ash let out while the infected boy got down to a crawl. His yellowed eyes widened and he drug his tongue over his new, bloody fangs like his torn hospital gown across the floor, all the while repeating, "Yellow. Gold. Yellow. Gold."
"I've got a nurse working on her leg where she was bitten," the tech nearly screamed, tightening the pressure on her bite; a similar scream, smaller and higher pitched, came from behind one of the other nearby doors. "But a lot of that black liquid leaked onto the bite…"
Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep!
"Red Ranger here," Ash answered. "What's up?"
"Red, this is Yellow!" Misty cried out through the Wrist Communicator. "You need to call all the Dinozords now! They're coming!"
"Triceratops is already here," Red Ranger responded in an irritated voice, bringing his wrist closer to his ear; a loud fluttering sound was almost masking all of Yellow Ranger's words. "And we've just got the second floor left to clear now, so we've got this. What gives now?"
"Dredwing has more...they're all monsters! Yah!"
"Yellow? Yellow!" The transmission had cut out after Misty's last yell. All the while, the infected child laughed, then went back to repeating, "Yellow. Gold. Yellow. Gold."
Both teenage boys growled, Ash holstering his Blade Blaster; his breathing was heavy and his body grew colder with every passing thought about Misty. The little boy crawled closer and closer, eventually touching the white bottom of Ash's boot. In that instant, he tried to sink his teeth into it, but Ash c-stepped to the side and bent down, gathering the child in his arms. Suddenly, before the boy could even struggle, another being barged through a partially open door and tackled them to the ground. Hissing, the beast gripped the Red Ranger by the throat, smothering both him and the boy.
Mike trembled from head to toe, but he didn't take long to move over to the pile of bodies, shouting, "Hey!" He grabbed the new entrant into the fray by its hoary shoulder, but he was met with a hard, bony backhand to the face that sent him to the tile floor. The hand then went for Red Ranger's throat again, but the sharp point of the superhero's Blade Blaster burst through it. The monster squealed, giving Red Ranger a chance to propel him over his head and right into the pediatric center reception desk.
Mike heaved himself to his feet, pushing his hair out of his face and dabbing at the blood that ran from his nose with his olive-colored overcoat sleeve. He spied upon a pair of scissors lying on the nearest edge desk and stumbled over to seize them.
"Take care of the kid!" he said, raising the scissors above his head as he moved to attack the prone Keese.
"Stop!" Ash yelled, pulling Mike back and moving in front of him. "Let me handle him!" He opened his hand to focus energy to form his Tyranno Sword, but the Keese snatched him by the arm and yanked the Ranger down, preparing to bite into his cranium. This proved to be a foolish maneuver since as Ash fell, his blade finally materialized and pierced its throat. The slightest sprinkle of black goop flew up from the wound, the colorful inferno quickly consuming its body.
"Let me help…" Mike pleaded, clutching his nose while he spoke.
"You're going to get us into more trouble by throwing yourself into harm's way!" The Red Ranger snapped. He took his Blade Blaster in his left hand, pointing it toward the little boy, who was recovering in the corner. No sooner than when he locked his yellowed eyes onto Ash's did he found himself pressed against the corner, stinging mist sprayed at his face and to the ceiling.
"Hey!"
Red Ranger found himself assaulted by the noises the boy made while he tried to bang through the Quake Defender's shield, Mike yelling, and the hospital tech screaming. A hostile signal came through his HUD, and Ash quickly looked around before cocking the back of his weapon and firing at another Keese coming through the door. The cretin twitched and yelped at the bolts crackling over its back, but it continued toward the woman blocking the door; the children behind it could be heard crying and whimpering. Its gnarly foot just barely touched her knee and saliva dripped down to her light blue scrubs when the Keese screamed, a searing pain slicing its back. It wheeled around and bit down, latching onto Mike's shoulder.
Mike shouted hoarsely as the multitude of fangs entered his body, dropping the scissors he slashed the Keese with. He tried to stagger back, but the monster didn't let up. The boy gave one last lurch, falling to the ground with it and smashing it under his weight. The Keese let Mike go, giving him a chance to roll to the side.
Seeing this brought Ash's own blood to a feverish temperature. With all his might, he dove the point of his Tyranno Sword into the Keese's heart. Only one strike was all that was needed to make the menace crumble, but the Red Ranger stabbed into the tile floor twice more and dropping the Power Weapon to the side. He then sank to Mike's side, the medical worker joining him.
"Here," Ash said, producing a metal box from a flash of electricity courtesy of the Command Center's Summon Link tied to the Morphing Grid. He opened it and retrieved three white bandages, patching the lady's wound first. "These have energy that'll slow the effects of the poison until we destroy these things."
The tech nodded and helped remove Mike's shirt to get to his bite. His left shoulder was coated in red life-giving fluid and venom, smearing the myriad of teeth marks. Mike struggled to repress a sob, his lip quivering.
"I'm sorry…" he let out. "I should've listened. I'm sorry."
"Hush…" the lady whispered, stretching the healing dressing over his shoulder with Red Ranger. "It's okay..."
A warm feeling cut through Ash's partially-foggy conscience and his tightly-held worry. He clasped the teenager's hand in a powerful grip.
"You'll have to work on that, buddy," he said. "But you're in good company."
"All of the Dinozords? I don't think that's necessary here," Green Ranger said into his Communicator. He stood atop the roof of Feron Grove Hospital, staking out for any possible threats when he received a call from the Red Ranger.
"These Keese aren't human, but they sure have the same taste as their master," Red Ranger responded. "Kau Cove might not be in too much danger from them…"
"Don't worry, we're having a hard enough time keeping the patients here from having an early dinner," Black Ranger cut in. "At least Pink has stopped trying to fire into their hearts."
"Don't push me…" Pink Ranger rebutted, a swish of air cutting across the transmission as a result of her sidestepping an incoming vampire and batting it with a knife-edge strike. "I just hope your plan holds up, Black. And we have…to get to Yellow…before it's too…"
"We're going to get her and the others back safely. I promise," Red Ranger vowed, noticing the shakiness in Lia's voice.
"Let's just watch the clock," Hayashi reminded everyone, taking note of the time on his HUD. "The sun will be down in an hour or so. Green Ranger out."
He then switched off his Communicator and drew his Dragon Dagger, turning in a circle and shaking his head. Three beasts flapped their wings and touched down on the roof, surrounding him. The Keese all opened their mouths, displaying their fangs, and started to creep toward him.
"Hey, I can show my teeth, too." the Green Ranger quipped, tapping the design that surrounded his visor. "But anyway, who wants to be first?"
Hayashi's muscles eagerly tensed, his fingers drumming the black hilt of his green blade. But they tightened even more when two more shapes swooped down from the sky, dipping to where the second floor was located, and the tension broke when he burst into a run when the windows shattered.