Vanished (26 page)

There you have it, Alexis thought. It always fell to her to
change life's stinkies.

Alexis took her from jenny, smelling the diaper but also her
baby sweetness. And wouldn't it be heaven, Alexis thought, if
there were more sweetness than stink in the world?

Kate screamed and pointed.

Something thick and sinuous glided out of the drain-this
can't be-covered with what looked like shining hair, but the
bristles sparkled-we're seeing things-with a fierce beauty in
their razor-sharpness-move, run, get out.

But like the kids, Alexis froze in the horror of the moment,
the disbelief that the drain had spawned something beastly,
something that even when seen could not be believed.

The razor creature moved with such quickness that even
Tripp, standing in the door, did not have time to escape before
it had encircled all four of them. Not four-there were five of
them because Angelina was also in the circle of this snaking
beast that seemed to have no end.

It continued to push out of the drain, showing thicker bristles that tapered to a point like filet knives. That beast could
squeeze and shred them, just as it must have done to that side
of beef, leaving its bones under the table.

Alexis could shift the baby to her left arm and grab her gun,
but would bullets even work against this thing?

It twined up her leg, not cutting her; it had a different intention she might comprehend if she didn't have to think through
the ice block of horror numbing her mind. She managed to
cover Angelina's eyes, because the poor baby had seen too much
of the monstrous today.

The beast was eye to eye with her now, because surely that
was an eye at its very tip, searching her out, examining what
manner of beast she might be.

"Get out of my store," Alexis yelled.

The creature whipped her across the brow. Blood streaming
over her eyes, she could only feel Angelina being torn from her
grasp, only cry, "No! Take me instead!"

Only pray, God, help me keep her safe!

HE WOMAN IN THE COMA HAD JUST DIED.
I

If she had been taken to a hospital, she would have
had neurosurgery. Bone fragments removed from her
brain, massive IV steroids, other sophisticated measures to
reduce swelling and give her time to heal.

There wasn't one thing Kaya could do for her other than to
take her blood pressure, pray for help to come, and move on
to the next patient.

She had so many, with more trickling in. People further away
from the blast had been injured in vehicle accidents or endured
other medical crises.

She slumped into a chair, sipped water, and tried not to
smell the fear or listen to the agony. Ironically, Natasha was the
most comfortable, because she couldn't feel the pain. And that
blessed Kimmie Logan had helped take away the child's fear by
showing none of her own.

Did Jason know his daughter was here? She hadn't seen
him for almost two hours, hadn't seen Paul Wells for an hour.
And where was Ben?

Hung on the wall near the kitchen was a child's drawing,
a shaky brown cross on a dark-blue background. Yellow rays
stretched across the paper in a crude representation of a
rising sun.

This is the day the Lord has made, Kaya thought. And this is
what He set before me.

First order of business-deal with one of the most fundamental functions of living.

She stood up and yelled, "I need a volunteer to empty
bedpans!"

Everyone got comically busy with their injured. Leah
kicked the backside of a strong-looking young man who had
helped transport patients from South Spire. "Hey, you. What's
your name?"

"Nick. Nick Suarez."

"The lady's looking for volunteers."

Sheepish, he raised his hand. "I'll do it. But ... how? There's
no water."

"Get some big spoons from the kitchen for scooping. Then
scrub 'em out with dirt."

"Oh, this is just too gross."

"Hey. It's your chance to be a hero," Leah said.

"Dig a hole way behind the shed," Kaya said. "We'll dump
the feces in there. Maybe you can run over to the hardware
store and get me some lime."

"Hold on. Time out here," Nick said. "Lime is a long-term
solution."

"Just common sense."

"You know something the rest of us don't?"

"I'm just thinking ahead," Kaya said.

Leah shoved him. "Come on, let's not waste any more of this
lady's time. Go scoop some poop."

Chet Babin came in. He was the real hero of this day,
emptying the shelves of his pharmacy to treat the injured. "Hey,
I thought you were sending over another list."

Kaya resisted the urge to sigh. "I haven't had time."

"Tell me what you need."

"Broad-spectrum antibiotics. An ocular antibiotic rinse. And
whatever you would recommend as a prophylaxis for tetanus,"
Kaya said. "Oh, and adult diapers."

Chet raised his eyebrows. She nodded toward Natasha's
corner.

"What else?"

"Baby wipes. Antiseptic hand wash. Be thinking of what
we'll do if we have to set those fractures."
"

I don't have anything in the store that'll provide that level
of sedation. We'll have to go over to the liquor store. If it hasn't
been trashed."

Could this day become any more of a nightmare? Kaya curled
her fingers into her palms. If she couldn't squeeze out the fear,
she'd trap it. There was work to be done.

"Do you have any casting materials?" she said.

"No. You'll have to send out to... " Chet stopped, rubbed his
head, then wiped the perspiration on his pants. "I was going to
say a medical supply store. The closest one is three miles down
on South Spire. This thing is insane. Maybe I should try going
through that-"

"No. Don't even think it. I got lost in it and... " Kaya caught
his arm. "Chet, how long can we keep this up?"

"I'll let you know when inventory is running thin."

"I mean us. You, me, the injured, the cops, the people helping.
All of us."

Chet wrapped his arms around her. A father figure to so
many in this neighborhood, he had resolutely stood by her
during the lawsuit. "I figured you needed a break, so I brought
you something. Left it outside so no one else would grab it."

"There's too much work-"

"Young lady, I said now."

Chet steered her through the fellowship hall. Meant for
potluck dinners and youth group meetings, it was now a
makeshift hospital. Less than an hour ago, her patients had
all listened intently for ambulances while they waited for
their pain medication to bring them some relief. Back then,
they had been running thin on patience. The blank looks and sallow eyes made it clear these people were now running thin
on hope.

"Make sure she sits for ten minutes," Chet told Leah. "And
makes sure she eats."

On the picnic table was a cooler filled with ice and cold
drinks. Kaya popped open an iced tea and drank it down
thirstily. Chet passed her an insulated carton from La Hacienda. They had a wood-fired grill-one place to get hot food
with the power out. Manna couldn't have been more welcome
than chicken and green-chili enchiladas.

She dug in, the spicy flavors giving her a rush. She'd skipped
breakfast, tussling with Ben to get him out of bed and to the
clinic with her. This morning seemed like a lifetime ago.

After she demolished the second enchilada, she wiped her
fingers with the napkin and got ready to go back inside.

"Oh, no, you don't," Leah said. "Mr. Babin said you were to
sit for a full ten. You wolfed that chow faster than a marine.
You've got eight minutes left."

Kaya stretched out on the bench, eyes closed as she listened
to the strange sounds of the afternoon. The shifting of Leah's
feet as she kept watch. An occasional shout from the Avenue.
Moans from inside.

Fear itched under Kaya's skin, but no-she would not scratch.
She searched for Scripture, settled on her favorite.

Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities... nor
terrorists, nor terror... nor bombs, nor fear... shall be able-

Screams coming from University Avenue jolted her to her feet.

"My son," she said. "My son is in trouble."

LEXIS GRABBED THE CLEAVER AND WHACKED THE BEAST
a foot below where it coiled around Angelina.

It was a perfect cleave because she knew how to cut
through flesh and bone with a single strike. Tripp picked up
Angelina and sheltered her as, in its death throes, the beast
torpedoed its bristles outward.

"Get her out of here!" Alexis yelled. "Get up to my office
and stay there!"

The kids didn't have to be told twice.

She flipped the table upside down onto the drain and
weighted it with as much meat as she could lug out of the
cooler. She locked up the meat room, jammed a chair against
the door handle for good measure, then allowed herself one
long, voiceless scream.

She went into the ladies room and dumped a bottle of
water over the cuts on her brow. The water swirled red in the
white sink.

Something deep in the drain clicked and scraped.

Alexis ran to the men's room, the bake kitchen, the deli,
and the maintenance closet. The beast or beasts-what insane
thing could they be-were in all the pipes, under the store-get
out, go now-maybe even in the small pipes over her head. She
could take the kids and run away-anywhere but here-go up
to Grace maybe.

But Alexis hadn't gotten where she was by thinking irrationally.

If her store was on a well and septic system, she might
conclude that the beasts were her problem and no one else's.
But she was on town water and town sewage, so if these
monstrosities were here they could be anywhere.

What horror had the bomb shaken loose from the bowels of
Barcester?

A secret weapon, a mutant bird, a monster-no time to decide or
define, but just get out. Logan dived back into the mist, Luther
somewhere beside him, terror now driving the terrorist.

Deliver me from evil, Logan prayed, and maybe he got
it right this time because his head bumped the edge of the
culvert. No reason to crawl through it now; he scrambled
up the embankment. He ran past the school and through
the parking lot. What had Luther said about the backpack?
I moved it to where it would do the most-

One word unspoken but comprehended in an instant.

-damage.

Logan had unwittingly set up survivors as the perfect target
by sending them to Grace Church for the bogus two o'clock
meeting. He ran down University Avenue, plagued by pain and
cursing himself because people had taken his word to heart and
gone to the church.

Fourteen minutes before two, and Grace was still a quarter
mile away. Passing by Donnelly's, he saw the sign proclaiming
the meeting.

Should he look for a bike so he could get there faster? Searching
backyards, sheds, and garages would take up a minute, maybe
longer. He had to run on and pray that someone would be around,
a kid or Wells or anyone who could move faster than he could
and tell all those people at Grace to get out; there's a bomb!