Part 30 (1/2)

”Lord in heaven, Roger,” the thin woman said. ”Can't you see that they have Miriam with them?”

He squinted at us through his gigantic goggles, then scowled. Letting people into the room must have felt like a loss of much-loved authority.

I glanced at the far end of the hall. Two hospital security guards leaned against a door. They were watching Roger and us but were obviously unwilling to approach closer.

At that moment, Arlene pushed past the guards, with Rev. Wilson and a doctor close behind. Miriam, Arlene, and the doctor bent their heads together for a conference. The doctor's voice was low but emphatic. He was unhappy about something, and I was pretty sure I knew what it was.

Rev. Wilson turned toward me but kept his gaze pointed off to my right. ”Emmett was here just a few minutes ago, but he's gone now.”

”He wouldn't surrender his weapon,” Roger announced. ”Or submit to a search.”

”And he smelled funny,” the bird woman said.

I imagined he would, if he hadn't had time to wash off Peter's blood. ”What about his brothers?”

”There's been no sign of them,” Wilson said.

I remembered the spent casing by Peter's body. I went to the doctor, who was objecting most strenuously to something. ”Hey, Doc,” I interrupted. ”Have any of the town police been admitted to the emergency room today?”

”I'm a cardiologist.”

”Don't be annoying, please. If one of them came into the ER, the whole hospital would have heard about it, right?”

The doctor obviously wanted to continue his argument with Miriam, but she was paying attention to me. He sighed. ”Right, and no.”

I hoped Peter had missed with his shot. ”Thanks. Now run along and get us a wheelchair, would you? We're taking the mayor out of here.” He blinked at me as he tried to generate a suitably outraged reply.

I heard a low growl behind me.

I turned. Luke Dubois stood by the door we had just come in. Standing next to him was a wolf.

s.h.i.+t. Too slow. If only I hadn't stopped for Peter Lemly, I might have gotten them away in time.

”Everyone stand where you are,” Luke said, looking pleased with himself.

The other wolves I had seen in Hammer Boy had been tinged with red or gray fur. The one beside Luke was black, and it was big. I remembered Wiley's dark mop of hair, and knew this one was him.

”Not protecting your secret anymore, Luke?” I said. ”It must hurt to have killed Wilma over something you're just throwing away now.”

Luke was startled, but he didn't break down in tears or anything. ”I didn't... I would have never... we don't have to be afraid,” he said, turning the subject toward something he wanted to talk about. ”All this time we thought we had to be afraid, but we don't. And we're not giving away our secret. Not today, at least.”

That wasn't good. We were in for a bloodbath. ”Roger,” I said, keeping my voice low, ”shoot that d.a.m.n wolf.”

The gun went off almost before I finished the sentence. It was brutally loud in the tiled hallway, and despite myself, I flinched.

A b.l.o.o.d.y hole appeared dead center on the black wolf's head. Roger was a good shot. As I watched, the hole closed over. The wolf barely staggered.

”You see?” Luke said. ”All this time we've been afraid, and we didn't have to.”

d.a.m.n. Peter had shot one of them. We needed silver, and they knew it.

I heard screams behind me. A red wolf had knocked down one of the security guards and was tearing apart his forearm. The grayish wolf had already gone for the throat of the second man, who struggled weakly against the attack, red blood squirting onto the tile floor.

”Get into the room!” I shouted.

Cynthia barreled into the door. I heard her shouting at someone inside not to shoot her.

Roger worked the bolt of his rifle. His face was set, as though he was trying to work out a complicated puzzle.

The gray wolf charged us. The birdlike woman stepped toward it and lifted her rifle. There was another shot, but the wolf leaped on her, knocking her to the floor. It sank its fangs into her neck just below her ear. She didn't get a chance to scream.

Roger grunted. The black wolf had landed on him. I kicked it in the ribs just as it snapped at his throat. Roger's gun went off. Luke, still standing at the end of the hall, collapsed backward onto the tile floor. The wolf tore into Roger's throat.

I rushed at Miriam. The red wolf came at her first. Arlene and Rev. Wilson both lunged at the creature. Wilson and the wolf went down. The reverend was not going to last long.

Arlene grabbed Miriam and shoved her toward the door to Frank's room. They collided with me. Rather than fight my way around them toward the reverend I let myself be pushed into the room. I ran when Rev. Wilson, the guards, Roger, and the old lady could not, and I was glad to do it.

I slammed the door shut and threw my shoulder against it. There was no lock. Someone slid a chair under the doork.n.o.b. I looked up and saw that it was the cardiologist. I hadn't seen him enter the room, but here he was, holding the door with me.

”What's going on?” he asked me, his voice low and breathless. ”What is that officer doing with those dogs?”

”Killing us, if he gets the chance.”

I turned and looked around the room. Frank was lying on his bed, tubes up his nose. Standing beside him were a fat middle-aged man with rake-thin arms and a fat elderly man with a handlebar mustache. Both were carrying identical doughboy-era rifles. Along with them were Cynthia, Miriam, and Arlene. Miriam was fussing over Arlene's hand, but the rest were looking at me.

”Is everyone all right over there?”

”It's Arlene,” Miriam said. ”She's been bitten pretty badly.”

”You have a patient, Doc.”

Cynthia fetched a rubber doorstop from the corner and kicked it beneath the closed door. Blood started to flow under the door. ”I saw what happened when the old guy shot the wolf. It wasn't hurt at all.”

”I know.”

”We need some kind of silver weapons, don't we? Silver bullets or something?”

”I don't know. I wasn't planning to fight them. That's why we were running away. But I don't know if silver will work.”

”What happened out there?” the man with the mustache asked. He looked like he wanted to throw his gun down and run. The middle-aged man was even more spooked. ”Where's Roger and Binky?”

”They're both dead,” Arlene snapped. ”So is Reverend Wilson.”

”What?” Mustache said. ”How-”

Everyone began talking at once, in high, panicked tones.

I felt someone try the handle. Someone pushed. Someone strong. I pushed back. I could hear sounds coming from the other side of the door, but I couldn't make them out.

”Hey!” I shouted at them. ”Be quiet!” No effect. Everyone was still badgering Arlene for explanations. Frank began to look pale. Miriam rushed to him. ”Shut up!” I shouted at them, but all I did was add to the noise.