Devoured by - (ebook reader browser .txt) 📖

“I’m not sure. Looks like there’s some kind of fight going on down there.”

Lance eased off the bed, feeling the cool floor on his bare feet. A shiver ran up his body, sending a wave of pain through his sore left side. He gritted his teeth and shuffled across the room, dragging an I.V. stand behind, careful not to touch Liz as he peeked over her shoulder.

A large group of people encircled an area by the nurse’s station, watching as several doctors struggled to get two screaming patients to calm down. Lance recognized one of the patients immediately—the sick woman from the street. Even as he stood more than fifty feet away, he could see that her situation had deteriorated even further.

“Jesus,” Lance said. “That’s the woman I pushed out of the street.”

“The blonde?”

“Yeah. She was more comatose then though. I couldn’t even get her to acknowledge me, let alone struggle like that.”

Three security guards ran past them, shouting for everyone to stay in their rooms. Lance watched as they pushed through the spectators and grabbed hold of the woman, finally pulling her to the ground. Another man, his appearance shockingly similar to the ill woman, also fought against the doctors and guards.

“I don’t like the look of this.” Lance grabbed the I.V. and tore it out of his arm, tossing it back into the room.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting the hell out of here,” Lance said as he searched around the bed for his clothing, not finding them.

“You aren’t making any sense. Maybe you should lie back down.” Liz stood in the doorway, feet spread, blocking the way out. “Some sleep might clear your head.”

“I’m fine.”

“If you were fine, you wouldn’t be trying to leave the hospital in your condition.”

“Listen to me, there is something really wrong with that woman. You should see her close up. Veins are visible all over her face and her hair and skin are… thin.”

“She’s obviously a drug addict—they all look like shit.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I think she has some kind of disease or flu or something. I mean, look at the other guy down there. He has it too. If this is infectious, then I sure as hell don’t want to be around here any more than I have to.”

Liz leaned back and looked down the hallway again. “Infectious?”

Lance knew he had her full attention then. Liz was one of those people who hated being sick so much that she would pretend to be fine, even when she had food poisoning. She refused to go anywhere near someone she thought might have a cold. It was one of those personality quirks that Lance found endearing during the early stages of their relationship and annoying later on.

“Well, if two of them have it, then yeah, I’d say it’s contagious.” Lance didn’t know if anything he said was true or not, but he didn’t want to risk it. If there was even the remotest chance he could catch what that woman had, he needed to get the hell out of Dodge. Sadly, it wasn’t just the thought of looking like her that worried him—he knew he couldn’t handle the medical costs that would come with it.

Liz stood at the door, frowning. “I don’t know. I still think you should probably stay here until your doctor clears you.”

Shrieks flooded the hallway.

“Screw that,” Lance said, still looking around the room. “Damn it! Where are my clothes?”

“Oh, I forgot. The nurse said they had to throw them away because they were torn and bloody.”

“Shit.” Lance didn’t want to leave the hospital with his ass hanging out of his gown, but he didn’t see much of a choice. “Where are you parked?”

“Two blocks down. The garage was full.”

Lance grimaced. Not only did he have to walk through the hospital with his backside exposed, he’d have to navigate down two blocks. “The entire parking garage is full? That doesn’t sound good.”

“I didn’t really think about it at the time,” Liz said. “You’re right though—that sounds like there are a whole lot of people in here.”

More security guards rushed by the open door, huffing as they hustled their out-of-shape bodies as fast as they could. The ruckus from down the hall grew louder. The guards shouted for everyone to get away—that everything was under control.

“We need to leave. Now.” Lance moved to the door.

“You’re going to walk around in that?” Liz gestured to his gown. “Don’t you at least want your wallet first?”

“They can mail it to me. Look, I hate to ask you to do me any more favors, but I could really use a ride home. I promise not to argue with you at all.”

“Well, I’m supposed to meet Erin at the gym in about thirty—”

“That’s fine. I can walk home from there.” Lance stepped into the hallway before she could make a counter offer. He turned right, heading in the opposite direction of the crowd, glancing over his shoulder.

The two sickly people were gone, along with most of the doctors. A half dozen guards remained, trying to herd people back to their rooms. A janitor worked his way through the group, pushing a bucket and mop toward a red puddle in the floor.

Reaching the end of the hall, Lance and Liz turned right. Two more guards argued with a man at the opposite end of the corridor, their angry words incomprehensible from so far away. They stood in front of the elevators, hands on hips, blocking the way out. Out of order signs leaned against the reflective doors.

“Damn,” Lance said. “Do you know where the stairs are?”

Liz stopped and nodded her head in the other direction. “That way. It’s kind of weird that all the elevators are out of order, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

A glowing exit sign protruded above the door at the other end of the hall. Lance picked up his pace, feeling as if he needed to get out of there as fast as he could.

Something was going on and he didn’t want to wait around to find out what.

They made it down two flights of stairs when they ran into Don, his perfectly tailored suit disheveled and dirty.

“Don? Thought you were leaving?” Lance noticed that Don’s face had flushed.

“I’ve been trying, but they have the place on lockdown. Every exit is blocked off.” He gave Liz an uneasy look before turning his attention to Lance. “I’ve been running around, trying to sneak out, but they’ve got all of their bases covered.”

“Who has the place locked down?” Liz asked. “Why?”

“The police are all over the place out there. Dozens of ‘em. And no one will tell me why—they just keep saying that I need to stay inside for my own safety. I got pissed off and tried to push my way through but they swarmed on me and threw me into the lobby.”

Lance swallowed a swell of panic forming in his throat. “They aren’t letting anyone leave at all?”

“No. They aren’t even letting anyone else come in unless they’re seriously injured.”

Liz shared a brief look with Lance.

“What?” Don asked.

“Remember how the woman in the street looked? The sick one that I pushed out of the way?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s not the only one in here that looks like that. We just saw another guy that has the same thing.”