Chapter 7 #2
“I don’t remember you complaining when I saved your life.” Try as I might, I couldn’t argue with that logic. I’d certainly try, but it’d be a losing battle.
“I, uh…” I ran my hand across the stubble on my skull.
Each day I made a thousand decisions, resulting in people living or dying, but nothing was harder than showing even the tiniest bit of gratitude.
Much like the photo, it was time to pull the trigger and deal with the fallout later.
“Thank you. You know, for saving me. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for you. ”
“Some heroes wear capes, others…” he gestured in my direction. I was many things, but a hero wasn’t one of them. While the heroes hid and licked their wounds, I still had a job to do. Not all of us had the luxury of an alter ego.
“Are we finally going to nail down that coffee date?”
I appreciated his determination. My schedule was generally a nightmare, and it appeared his wasn’t much better.
Two men married to their jobs. Nothing about this was going to end well.
We couldn’t manage a thirty-minute lunch date over a hot beverage and I was sitting here thinking…
what was I thinking? When did I go from imagining him naked to giggling like a schoolgirl?
“Xander?”
“Tonight? I get—”
“No.” His voice was barely audible, as if he were trying to share a secret he didn’t want anybody to hear. “Turn around slowly.”
“If you wanted to see my ass, I have photos.”
“Xander.”
The second time he used my name, there was a distinct lack of emotion.
I followed his gaze past my shoulder. It took a moment before I saw the receptionist Lei had been speaking with.
She had frozen in place, but it was the dark orbs that replaced her eyes that were unsettling.
The vibrant nurse had vanished, and now she resembled something from a horror movie.
“There’s more of them.”
Aiden stopped being subtle. Pointing to a doctor, and then a patient on a gurney, each of them suffered the same affliction. The more I looked about the emergency room, the more it appeared to be spreading.
“We need to get to the door,” I whispered.
I grabbed Aiden’s hand, ready to bolt for the exit. Three security guards blocked our path, each of them dark-eyed. I debated on charging through them, even with their hands resting on their weapons. I might be able to withstand a few slugs, but I couldn’t put Aiden at risk.
“They’re not moving,” he whispered.
The room filled with whispers from the frozen people. The sounds coming from their mouths came in breathy gasps. None of their mouths moved as they attempted to speak. The effect made the entire lobby sound like a creepy echo chamber.
“How much longer till I see a doctor?” A man yelled from the sitting area.
Before he could leave the waiting room, one of the security guards jumped on him. Others screamed, but it was nearly impossible to tell who was normal and who had become possessed. The emergency room descended into chaos as people scrambled for the exit.
“Follow me.” I pulled Aiden close, pinching his elbow to guide him away from the anarchy. The last time we touched, I had nearly died, and now it happened again. I was wondered if the world was trying to give us a hint.
I spent more than my share of time in the hospital.
The primary hallways were only part of the labyrinth of corridors used by the staff.
If people were going to tear into one another, I wanted away.
After being shot, I didn’t think they could hurt me, but the box cutter left me with doubts.
I also couldn’t risk Aiden. I was going to get that coffee date one way or another.
“Crap.” We had barely gone twenty feet when a security guard blocked the door leading away from the emergency room. We slowed, and I turned around, ready to drag Aiden out another way.
At the entrance to the hospital, a man stepped through the automated doors. The chances a guy dressed in all black without a face happened to be a superhero were low. The trench coat of billowing smoke and the lines of dark clouds pouring off his head all pointed toward villain.
I knew the figure, but I couldn’t—the bridge. His arms weren’t as lengthy, and he had replaced the talons with smoky hands, but it was him. This time, I wouldn’t be able to rely on Lei mowing him down with the truck.
“What now?” asked Aiden.
“I choose guard,” I said.
“Dude has a gun,” Aiden said.
I noticed that. An average person with a gun didn’t worry me as much as the dude with smoke for a face. A woman screamed, running in our direction with her fingers poised to scratch my eyes. Before she reached us, Aiden jabbed her in the throat, dropping the attacker.
“I’m impressed.” Impressed and turned on. As a trio of nurses wrestled with a doctor, it was not the time to think with my cock. Whatever madness had spread through the hospital, I had to assume it had something to do with Mr. Monochrome.
“I’m going for the guard. Moment he’s down, run down the hall. Past the nurse’s station, there’s an exit that should get you to the parking lot.”
“But—”
“I’m not asking.”
The guard’s eyes had turned black, consumed by whatever madness seeped into the hospital. I didn’t want to slug the guy, but if it got us out of here, I’d slap him and his mom. His hand fidgeted with his holster, his fingers not as nimble as normal.
Jumping over a man in a hospital gown, I threw my arms out wide, ready to tackle the guard just as he freed his gun. Twenty pounds lighter, I took him off his feet. We hit the ground, and I didn’t waste time yelling at Aiden. “Run!”
He ran toward the swinging doors and hesitated while I attempted to bat the gun out of the guard’s hand. “Go, I’ll be right behind you.” I slugged the man under me, less concerned with him and more with the supervillain waltzing through the emergency room.
Aiden vanished, and as the doors swung back and forth, I could see him bolting.
A few seconds later, the gun fired. The tip of the weapon rested against my shoulder, and like before, I could feel the impact of the bullet.
No pain. I didn’t wait for a second shot.
One punch, two, three, and on the pull back for a fourth, the guard’s body went limp.
“Stay down,” I mumbled.
“Can it be? A hero?”
I rolled off the guard to see the villain had worked his way across the lobby.
His leather jacket moved awkwardly until I figured out it was smoke wafting into the air.
Even his head, features hidden in the black, rose off his shoulders like he was composed of fumes.
Half a dozen of the black-eyed citizens of Vanguard stood at his back, a squad of backup dancers ready to put on a show.
“I’m not a hero,” Xander barked.
“Not for long.”