Werewolf Suspense (Book 4): Outage 4 (The Reckoning) (13 page)

Stop
, he told himself.

They'd survived the previous night. They'd survive this one.
 

Rosemary's words echoed in his brain:

"They've been around as long as we have, Tom."
 

He couldn't believe it to be true. How could such vile beings have existed all this time, and without detection? Living among them, he wasn't sure how he'd ever feel safe again.
 

But he couldn't think about that now. He studied the gaping doorway of the east entrance, shuddering at the red light spilling out from the stairwell, as if it were an entrance to hell, rather than a means to escape. The others slowed. A few looked behind them. Tom took a few determined steps forward, covering the exit. His visibility was limited to a few vacant stairs up and down both sides, and the landing. Aside from that, the stairwell was a mystery. A springing beast could emerge from the shadows in no time.
 

He fought the feeling that he was leading his group to die.

Turning to the others, Tom said, "I'll wave you in once it's clear!"

Their faces glowed red as they nodded. He glanced at Rosemary, who held her pistol and gave him a knowing look. And then he was crossing the threshold, training his rifle on the lower stairwell. Snarls and howls floated from the depths of the building. Whether the noises were from an open doorway or further downstairs, he couldn't tell. The creatures had taken over the building as quickly as they'd taken the town, destroying the survivors' last refuge as fast as they could rebuild it.
 

He switched focus to the upper stairwell, ready for a beast to descend, but saw nothing save the eerie, amber glow of the lights.

Confirming it was safe, he called, "Okay, come on in!"

The group shuffled through the threshold, and then they were in the stairwell, a chorus of heavy breathing.
 

"I'll cover the front, you cover the rear!" he told Rosemary, mirroring the tactic they'd kept in the hallways.

Tom swallowed as he mounted the first stair, his companions right behind him. The stairwell was small and restrictive. No windows. Tom took the steps in rapid succession, avoiding the remains of a body. The sounds of the beasts vibrated through the stairway—grunts and chuffs from the lower floors. The group moved silently except for the occasional clap of a misplaced foot. Tom pictured the beasts on the lower floors, stalking them, and shuddered.

He stared upward, watching the two flights spiral in front of him. The distance was much shorter than what they'd already traveled, but it felt like miles. On the second stairwell, the red lights died. He'd almost reached the first landing when someone tripped. He spun to find Abraham propping up Sally, who had missed a stair. The children waited. Kelsey checked the woman with concern.
 

"Are you all right?" she hissed.

"I'm fine," Sally returned.

A gunshot made Tom jump.

His heart leapt at the noise. His ears rang. He stared at his rifle, as if he might've discharged it, but it was Rosemary. She ran up the stairs behind the group, shouting in panic. A large beast tumbled down the staircase behind her.

"It was sneaking up on us!" she shouted, as she reloaded. "More are coming!"

The cries from below them increased in volume, and Tom heard the inimitable pounding of feet on the stairs.

"Come on!" he whispered, leading the group faster, running over the blood-soaked landing and up the last flight of stairs. They were almost there. A red light gave them another dose of illumination. He saw the door at the top of the stairs and heard Kelsey retrieving the keys from her pocket.
 

He pictured a slew of creatures on the rooftop, presiding over the building like primitive guards. But that wouldn't make sense, with the door locked and closed.

His companions reshuffled as Kelsey found her way through. She set down her oxygen canister and fiddled with the keys.

The stairwell crawled with noise. Tom stared behind him, his companions little more than silhouettes. Rosemary was at the bottom, the outline of her pistol visible in the red glow.

They'd get to her first. They'd tear through her, then the others, forcing Tom to hear the screams of Abraham, Sally, Silas, and Katherine before he met his own demise.
Stop it. Don't think that way.

If Kelsey can't find the key…

"Dammit, I'm not sure which one it is!" Kelsey cried.
 

"Do you want me to—?"

The end of Tom's sentence was cut-off by a warning from Abraham. "Rosemary! Watch out!"

Tom's attention snapped to the landing. Three beasts made a rabid dash for Rosemary. She fired off several rounds, knocking two back, but a third plowed through the others and grabbed hold of her. Rosemary shrieked. She kicked and squirmed, discharging her gun. The bullet ricocheted harmlessly off the ceiling.
Dammit.

Tom had the horrifying thought that his vision was coming true.

He ran toward the commotion, pushing past the horrified Sally, Katherine, and Silas, and descended the stairs. But Abraham was faster.

Wielding his axe, Abraham leapt onto the landing and grabbed hold of Rosemary, pulling her out of the thing's clutches. He reared back the axe and swung. The blade struck the beast's stomach, pitching it backward. It fought for balance and slid, groping for the railing.
 

At the last second, it snagged onto Abraham.

Tom watched in horror as Abraham and the beast toppled down the next set of stairs. He lunged, hoping to save the falling man, but his efforts were too late. He was already tumbling end over end and onto the next level.
 

"No! Abraham!"

Abraham's gurgling screams filling the air as the beast landed on top of him and started to claw. Tom raised his rifle, but between the poor lighting and the tangle of movement, he was unable to decipher beast from man. Sally shrieked endlessly. The children screeched in terror. Abraham's screams fell silent under the snarls of the creature. Two other beasts appeared from the darkness, clambering over the bodies of their brethren, joining in on the feeding.
 

With nothing left to do for the man, Rosemary and Tom fired at the beasts. The last snarl tailed off as the remaining beasts fell down the stairs, exposing Abraham's lifeless, shredded body.

A blast of white light hit Tom's eyes. He covered his face with his hand.

Kelsey had flung open the door to the roof. Cold air and snow gusted into the stairwell, eddying over the survivors' heads.
 

"We have to go!" Kelsey screamed. "Come on!"

Tom stared at the pile of gore that used to be Abraham, then grabbed Rosemary's arm, yanking her up the stairs.

The bright moonlight hit Tom's eyes like a spotlight as he ushered the others ahead of him. The rooftop was bathed in snow. By his guess, there was almost a foot. Several pipes stuck through the snow. A four-foot ledge wrapped around the building. Looking out of the stairwell, he could see in every direction except behind him. The roof seemed unoccupied.
 

"Take the others away from the door!" Tom yelled to Rosemary. "Keep them safe!"

He watched her as he spoke, trying to will away his mistrust. They had to move.

Rosemary led Sally, Katherine, and Silas out into the snow while Kelsey and Tom ducked back in the stairwell. Sally fell to the ground, her mournful cries filling the air as she screamed for Abraham. Katherine and Silas clung to her arms, trying to console her. And then they were out of sight.

"Come on, Kelsey!"
 
Tom yelled, plunging back down the stairwell. Kelsey followed. They'd left the canisters on the first landing. Kelsey held the pack of Marlboros. Animal noises floated up from deep in the building.

Tom knelt down next to one of the canisters and fiddled with the top.
 

"How do you work these things?" he asked.

"Cover me. I've got it!" Kelsey pulled out an oxygen wrench and cranked it over the nozzle, unleashing a puff of air. He covered her as she opened each of the oxygen tanks until all four of them expelled invisible gas. Then Kelsey emptied her pockets, tossing alcohol-soaked gauze and bandages into a pile of makeshift kindling.
 

Tom swallowed as he appraised the landing.

"We'll need to stay back!" Kelsey urged.
 

Tom gave a last glance at the forms of the dead beasts on the stairs below, afraid they'd spring to life and attack. Abraham's eviscerated body was among them. Just a few moments ago, he'd been fighting alongside them, and now he was gone. Tom blinked back tears. They retreated up the stairwell as Kelsey opened the Marlboro pack.

The noises below them resembled a stampede, a platoon of demons emerging from the depths of hell to take them. Tom looked at Kelsey. To his surprise, instead of using the matches, Kelsey stuck the cigarette in her mouth, struck a match, and lit it. A puff of smoke billowed from her mouth as she sucked in a deep drag. In another scenario, the idea of a nurse smoking inside a hospital might've been amusing, but not now.

He watched as Kelsey took another pull. The cigarette crackled. Kelsey pulled Tom back up the staircase and flung the cigarette.

The cigarette hit the second to last stair. It rolled.

"I used to smoke!" Kelsey explained with a yell.

All at once it was on the landing, resting on a pile of alcohol-soaked bandages. The flames took a second to catch hold. When they did, there was a whoosh as the alcohol-soaked bandages caught fire, and then the flames were spreading wildly. The fire crackled as it consumed the oxygen, creating a fiery wall in the staircase.
 

"Now I know why I quit!" Kelsey shouted. "That tasted like shit!"

"Let's get out of here!" Tom yelled.

Through the fire, Tom caught sight of a line of beasts coming up the stairwell. Just past them were the carcasses of the beasts they'd killed, the body of Abraham. The flames started down the staircase, catching hold of the dead things' fur, consuming the beasts and the man underneath in a makeshift funeral pyre. Tom swallowed his emotion as they exited the door and slammed it behind them, hoping they'd exited for the last time.

Tom stood at the edge of the rooftop, surveying the ruined parking lot. The grey, moonlit sky illuminated the abandoned police cruiser. The shattered, deserted vehicles parked in rows might as well have been the last remains of humanity. He searched for life, but saw nothing. In the distance, fleeting shadows hovered between the trees—perhaps beasts drawn to the building from whatever hunting grounds they'd been stalking.

Sally had stopped crying and had resorted to staring at the door, as if Abraham might come walking out to join them. But he wouldn't. Not now. Not ever.

Closing his eyes, Tom could almost feel the building wavering and swaying, submerging into the icy landscape like an arctic ship.

But the building wasn't swaying.
 

It was Tom's stomach. He was sick at losing Tabatha and Abraham. Try as he might, he couldn't help but picture Abraham's ruined face as he was consumed by flame, a fiery burial. Maybe that was preferable to Lorena's body, which had ended up alone in the woods, food for whatever animals dared to venture out in the storm.

At least they'd kept the beasts at bay.
 

He turned and glanced over his shoulder. Crackling flames and smoke spilled from the door they'd closed. His initial fear was that the door would blow open, pressurized by the heat and oxygen. According to Kelsey, the doors were fireproof for a certain amount of time, though she couldn't recall how long. They'd been keeping a guarded vigil—and their distance—ever since. Since arriving, they'd reloaded with the last of the ammunition.

Rosemary paced around the rooftop, her face a mask of shock. Tom wondered how she could feel remorse for Abraham, when she'd already been responsible for the deaths of so many others. Whatever the case, she'd barely spoken a word since they'd reached the roof. Katherine and Silas hovered close to Sally.

Tom looked down at his pale legs sticking out of the hospital gown. The cold bit into his skin with teeth as sharp as the beasts'. Although he'd grabbed his boots, he'd never gotten a jacket. The bandage on his leg—the one with which Kelsey had outfitted him—was disheveled and hanging off him.

"Is your leg all right?" Kelsey asked, taking up next to him.

"Yeah, it's fine. I guess I'll need a new bandage." He smiled wryly. "I don't think that'll happen anytime soon."
 

"I'm sure it will. As soon as the fire truck arrives."

If it arrives
, he thought. He didn't tell her that. Tom needed to maintain his hope. Especially when everything else seemed lost.

"Do you think the creatures will make it out here?" Kelsey asked, a look of worry plastered to her face as she watched tendrils of smoke seep around the cracks in the doorframe. The banging in the stairwell was loud enough that each successive blow convinced Tom the beasts were on the roof with them. But that wasn't the case. The beasts were still inside. He imagined them scraping the walls in frustration, held in place by fear of the fire. He kept his rifle at the ready.