Page 44 (1/2)

We spun around a corner and stopped Two cops were lying in a pool of blood, service revolvers out, throats torn away

And the first thing landed on Sylvia

CHAPTER 18

The Bad Men Are Gone

Eli let out a war scream and jumped in front Stupid man I nearly shot him Instead, I adjustedThey were spidey vahtning and nearly as deadly The one I shot took the blast e direction by shoving off Eli’s back and leaping at et chewed on twice

The spidey va, and I let her slide down un to her head and fired She stopped , so I pulled the va Sylvia to her feet She was covered in gore, and my heart fell "How much of that is yours?" I asked

"None," she said, and sht And then realized I’d said it aloud I shook ed away froues these days don’t use the pull-out, refrigerated, coffin-sized beds, except for new arrivals or bodies still being processed (That’s what they call it Processed Not slicing and dicing, ues use a cold rooerator where they can store bodies one of tays: stack thees that look like prison beds, but without the charurneys In the autopsy suite, I stepped over the body on the floor So a spidey vaen He was naked and had a hard carapace, like a spider’s, over his chest--or, rather, it was part of his chest The carapace was brown and covered with coarse hairs, spiked and barbed If he had ever been human, he’d lost it totally

Farther in the room was another one, still alive, her head only half re on top of a hu For creatures who had a rep for physical speed, theirthe lines of brain-dead I reared back with the vahead!" The vaed from her face Fly eyes I hurled h I cut with anger rather than skill, I took her head, the blow sending it spinning, and I could have sworn she stared at me the whole time, until her head whapped into the wall Atfor me I kicked it away froist, and he ay too dead for any help

Reaching for the handle of the cold roo today with the refrigerator and the white witch circle painted on the floor This fridge was empty of witch circles, but the s I caught half a breath, pulling the M4 into firing position as they flowed across the space like centipedes, a swirling yet jerky motion The musk they exuded was dry and ammoniac, and they moved so fast I had only an instant of impression before the first one was on me Naked, every one, and insectoid Ick

The first one latched on to the barrel of the shotgun as if she intended to use it as a straw Taking her head was easy, and had the added benefit of peppering the vamps behind her with silver fléchettes It didn’t kill them, but it made three of the forward and slammed the door shut I had counted only four rounds, but the shotgun was empty and I broke open the M4 to reload from my handy-dandy shell holder I could hear the creatures screae froht not look like vamps, but they had the vaathered close, I said, "I count five," like it was a ga

Eli re and ra the "That’s the easiest vaave me that little no-smile of humor "After the last ti extra equipment Let’s clear this place and come back," he added to Syl

"Yeah" I loaded the six additional rounds fast, andcouple

There was only one revenant vauard Eli took the vamp’s head with his vamp-killer, a silver-plated machete He used it like he’d had plenty of practice, and made me wonder about the scars on his chest and neck and face Not that I’d ask But I did wonder And I wondered what he’d tell Sylvia, if anything The cause of his wounds was classified, so it wasn’t likely