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Phury took fores of Havers&039;s clinic¡ªjust as the security alar off The shrill electronic screas bark, but there was no danger of the police being called The warning sounds were calibrated so that they were too high for humans to hear
Fuck he was unarmed
He bolted toward the clinic entrance anyway, ready to fight with his bare hands if he had to
It was a beyond-worst-case scenario The steel door was hanging open like a split lip, and inside the vestibule the elevator doors were pushed wide, the shaft with its veins and arteries of cables and wires exposed Down below, the roof of the elevator car had a blast hole in it, the equivalent of a bullet wound in a male&039;s chest
Plu a draft fro with the sounds of fighting below, unsheathed Phury&039;s fangs and curled his fists
He didn&039;t waste ti how the lessers had knohere the clinic was, and he didn&039;t bother with the ladder mounted on the shaft&039;s concrete wall, either He leaped down and landed on the part of the elevator&039;s roof that was still solid Another ju total chaos
In the clinic&039;s waiting area, a trio of granny-haired slayers were doing the thu apart the land of plastic chairs and dull azines and cheerless potted plants The paled-out bastards were obviously well-trained long-ti and sure they were, but Z and Rehv were taking no shit
With the fight rabbed ait like a bat at the nearest slayer As the lesser went down, he lifted the chair up and stabbed one of its spindly legs right into the fucker&039;s chest
Just as the pop and flash rang out, screams rippled down the clinic&039;s hallway from the blocks of patient rooms
"Go!" Z barked as he threw out a kick and caught one of the lessers in the head "We&039;ll hold theh the double flap doors
There were bodies in the hall A lot of thereen linoleuh it killed hi, his focus had to be on the roup of the toward hi like a load of wash hung out to dry in the wind
He caught the arms and shoulders "Get in the patient rooms! Lock yourselves in! Lock those damn doors!"
"No locks!" so patients!"
"Dan "This medicine closet have a lock?"
A nurse nodded while she unclipped so hand she held a key out to hih You&039;ll have to lock us in"
He nodded over to the door that read, STAFF ONLY "Move it"
The loose group shuffled over and filed into the ten-by-ten roo shelves of medications and supplies As he shut the door, he kneould never forget the way they looked, huddled under the low ceiling&039;s fluorescent lights: seven panicked faces, fourteen pleading eyes, seventy fingers finding and linking together until their separate bodies were one solid unit of fear
These were people he knew: people who had taken care of him with his prosthesis issues People ere vampires like hi forced to trust him because at the moment he hadGod was like, he thought, not wanting the job
"I will not forget you" He shut the door on the were still co else was quiet
No more staff No more patients Those seven were the only survivors
Turning from the supply closet, he headed away fro a pervasive sweet scent that led in the opposite direction He ran down past Havers&039;s lab, down farther by the hidden quarantine rooed prints left by black-soled coled with the red blood of vaotten in here?
Whatever the answer to that was, he had an idea where the lessers were headed: the evac tunnels, likely with abductions Question was, how did they know to go this way?
Phury busted through another set of double doors and stuck his head into the erated units and the stainless-steel tables and the hanging scales were untouched Logical They wanted only what lived
He went farther down the hall and found the exit the slayers had used to get out with the abductees There was nothing left of the steel panel into the tunnel, the thing blown apart just like the back entrance and the elevator roof had been
Shit Totally clean op In and out And he illing to bet this was just the first offensive Others would be co Society was medieval like that
Phury hotfooted it back toward the fighting out in the registration area in case Z and Rehv hadn&039;t already taken care of business On the way, he put his phone up to his ear, but before V answered the call, Havers stuck his head out of his private office
Phury hung up so he could deal with the doctor, and prayed that V&039;s security systeered He thought it likely had been, as the systems were supposed to be linked
"How many ambulances do you have?" he demanded as he came up to Havers
The physican blinked behind his glasses and held out his hand In his rattling grip was a nine-oing to tuck into your belt and not use" Last thing they needed was an aer "Go on, put it away and focus forout of here How et the Beretta&039;sto shoot himself in the ass "F-f-four¡ª"
"Give un, checked that the safety was in place, and shoved it into the doctor&039;s waistband "Four a to need drivers¡ª"
The electricity cut out, everything going to pitch-black The abrupt darkness made him wonder if the second shift of slayers hadn&039;t coot rolling and dirabbed the doctor&039;s aret to the ah the house?"
"Yes the house, my house tunnels" Three nurses made an appearance behind hiency lights
"Oh, dearest Virgin," Havers said, "the doggen at the house Karolyn¡ª"
"I&039;ll get theet them out Where are the keys to the ambulances?"
The doctor reached behind the door "Here"
Thank Fuck "The lessers have found the southern tunnel, so we&039;re going to have to get everyone out through the house"
"O-okay"
"We&039;ll start the evac as soon as we have this facility temporarily secured," Phury said "You four stay locked in here until you hear fro to be our drivers"
"H-how did they find us?"
"No clue" Phury shoved Havers back into the office, shut the door, and hollered for the guy to lock up
By the ti was over, the last lesser being stabbed into oblivion by Rehv&039;s red sword
Z wiped his forehead with a hand that left a black s over, he demanded of Phury, "Status?"
"At least nine staff and patients killed, unknown number of abductions, area is not secured" Because God only kne many lessers were still within the clinic&039;s est stabilize entrance and south tunnel as well as exit to house Evac will require use of the back stairwell into the house, and then rapid departure with ambulances and private vehicles Medical staff will drive Destination is backup clinical location on Cedar Street"
Zsadist blinked for a ic "Good deal"
The cavalry arrived a second later, Rhage, Butch, and Vishous landing one, two, three in the elevator The trio were arlanced down at his watch "I&039;et the civilians and the staff out of here You take care of finding any loose lessers in the facility and playing welcoon to the next wave"
"Phury," Zsadist called out as he turned around
When Phury looked over his shoulder, his twin tossed across one of the pair of SIGs he alore
"Watch your ass," Z said
Phury took the gun with a nod and jogged down the corridor After doing a quick scope of the distances between the medical supply closet, Havers&039;s office, and the stairwell, he felt like the three points were seperated by miles, not yards
He opened the door to the stairwell Security lights glowed red, and the silence was golden Moving quickly, he went up the steps, entered the code for the door lock into the house, and stuck his head out into a wood-paneled hallway The scent of lelossy floorThe perfume of roses came from a bouquet on a marble stand The lamb-and-rosemary combo was from the kitchen
No baby powder
Karolyn, Havers&039;s maid, leaned around the corner "Sire?"
"Gather the servants¡ª"
"We&039;re all together Right here We heard the alarms" She nodded over her shoulder "There are twelve of us"
"Is the house secure?"
"None of our security systeone off"
"Excellent" He tossed her the keys Havers had given hies and lock yourselves in them Start every ambulance and car you have, but do not pull out, and leave one person by the door so I can get in with the others I will knock and identify myself Do not open up for anyone else but me or a Brother Got it?"
It was painful to watch the doggen s her fear and nod "Is ourto bring him to you" Phury reached out and squeezed her hand "Go Now And be quick We have no time here"
He was back down in the clinic in the blink of an eye He could hear his brothersaround, knew them by the sounds of their boots and their scents and their patter of talk No more slayers yet, evidently
He went to Havers&039;s office and sprang the four ere in there first, because he didn&039;t trust Havers to keep tight and stay put Fortunately, the doctorquickly up the stairs to the main house with the nurses Phury escorted theed along with theround escape route that ran under the parking lot behind the mansion
"Which one of the tunnels leads directly to the aed split
"Second froes are all interconnected"
"I want you and the nurses in the aoing"
They trucked it as fast as they could go When they got to a steel door, Phury pounded on the thing and barked his naed and he let his troop in
"I&039;ll be back with more," he said, as everyone embraced
He went back down into the clinic and ran into Z "Any uarding the front, and Rehv and I are going to stake out the south tunnel"
"I could use soer that I&039;ll send Rhage You&039;re going out the back, right?"
"Yup"