Enjoy!
The Night Shift
Sharp, sweet and smoky tendrils of scent followed us. The
stone floor beneath my feet was getting slick as Simon bled on it -- he ran
just in front of me. Behind us the howls were starting. Throaty, piercing
sounds that made your hair stand on end and burned into your memory as surely
as that time you walked in on your Great-Aunt Shirley in the bathtub.
Simon -- my
partner in this case and an unhealthily good looking young man several years my
junior -- had been injured during what had been supposed to be a simple
reconnaissance trip. The creatures behind us were ghouls; a nest of them had
gotten together in a section of the Old City, and we’d been trying to make a count
before taking affirmative action.
I wanted to
set fire to the whole damn complex, but somebody
overruled me.
“I see the
stairs!” Simon shouted over his shoulder.
I looked up,
spotting the sliver of sunlight that was our escape hatch. The ghouls wouldn’t
be able to follow us out into the light, thank God.
After a
moment’s thought, I caught up to Simon and slung him over my shoulder with a
grunt. “You see one, shoot.”
“Yes, sir.”
He wasn’t particularly surprised to be manhandled, I’d done it before -- not to
say the boy was injury prone but… He rested the butt of his shotgun against my
shoulder, and I went for the stairs. The howls were getting closer as I took
the first step, and Simon fired a warning shot that sent a sharp blow to my
shoulder as I absorbed the recoil. I ignored it for the time being and kept
going.
At the top
of the stairs I set him down, shoving him through the open doorway and turned
on the crowd of ghouls that had paused just out of reach of the sunlight. They
were ugly bastards. Unlike zombies, ghouls didn’t rot after they dug themselves
out of the ground -- they dried. It was particularly unattractive. Several of
them had huge distended stomachs to go with the long claws and pointed teeth.
They’d fed recently.
“Hi guys.” I
smiled and pulled the grenade I’d been saving out of my pocket. “Bye guys.” I
jerked the ring out and tossed the grenade amongst them, throwing myself out
the door, slamming it shut and running. “Fire in the hole!”
Simon took
off and the explosion went off about five seconds later, blasting bits of
building, and ghoul, into the air. Simon and I continued our retreat to the
van, climbing in and shutting the door. The reinforced panels would keep off
the worst of it, though I could hear the tinging as bits of stone and wood and
bone struck the exterior.
“That was fucking insane!” Simon snapped,
lounging against the wall of the van and panting. “You’re nuts.”
“Aw, it
wasn’t as bad as the siren in Humbolt Park and you know it.”
“One of
these days, Adder, you’re going to get me killed.”
“Not today.” I took a closer look at his injury, a nasty
gash along his side. “We’re heading to the hospital. Bronson, start her up.”
The
slender, salt and pepper redhead started up the van without further prompting
and took off fast enough to leave tire behind on the concrete. “You blew
something up again,” he complained.
“No
choice.” Well, there’d been a choice, but I’d liked mine.
“How bad is
it?”
I looked at
Simon, noting he had passed out. “He’ll be okay, just hurry.”
Simon
wasn’t particularly stalwart about pain, it seemed he’d pass out at the drop of
the hat -- if you didn’t know why. Simon had been diagnosed with narcolepsy,
because what was really wrong with him was too unbelievable for the medical
community.
“Is he
out?”
“Like a
light.” I maintained pressure on the wound. “I’m fine too, thanks for asking.”
“I assumed
you were, because you weren’t complaining.” He took a sharp turn that knocked
me into the wall. “Now hush.”
Bronson
wasn’t technically my superior; we were basically equals, but I still tended to
do as he said. For one, I was almost certain that if I pissed him off he’d
curse me. Bronson was, after all, a witch.
I refrained
from mouthing off and concentrated on keeping Simon from bleeding to death. All
in all, not a bad day of training.
Oh, when is this one going to be released?!!
ReplyDeleteSometime in May.
Delete*anticipation builds*
Delete