Anomaly (Causal Enchantment #4)(19)
Her head bobbed up and down and then she strolled over to the corner, turned to face the clock, and plunked down.
This was too easy.
A white coat hung on the prep room just outside the OR. I pulled it on over my clothing and made my way to the stairwell. The basement of this small hospital was exactly as I’d expected: dark, dingy, the heady odor of bleach and used bedpans permeating the air. The lights flickered in and out as I ran down the hall, scanning the room numbers, like a scene out of an old horror film.
Finding room 109, I swiped Peggy’s security badge. When the light flashed green, I barged in.
The steady thump of another human heartbeat caught me off guard. A tall, lanky man hovered over two metal containers, a clipboard in hand, furiously scribbling something. His plain white uniform and jacket sported a blood transportation company logo. A visitor’s badge hung from his neck. Not sure why he was down here at this time of night, but I wasn’t going to complain. I was simply going to relieve him of his product.
His eyes narrowed as he studied my face. He glanced at my borrowed name tag. “You are not Dr. Magnotta.”
I countered with a light stammer, “Yes, I am.”
He blinked twice. And then smirked. “Dr. Magnotta is a sixty-year-old Italian man with a beard.” Turning to give me his full attention, he demanded, “Who let you down here?”
I guess compulsion wasn’t as easy as I had thought.
While I frantically grappled with what my next move should be, the man set his clipboard down and marched over to take hold of my wrist. “Okay, young lady. It’s time we went upstairs to visit security.”
I swung my arm out, intent on shaking his grip. In the next second, his lanky frame sailed backward, crashing into the tall refrigeration unit. With one, two, three blinks, his eyes settled back into his head and he slid down into a heap, the stainless door dented to the shape of his body, a streak of blood smearing where his head had dragged.
I stood still for a moment, mouth agape, waiting for him to regain consciousness.
But when the constant throb of his heartbeat in my throat faded, I knew that he wouldn’t be waking up ever again. My hands flew to cover my mouth, to suppress the scream from escaping.
I had just unwittingly killed a man.
If I were still human, I would crumble to the ground in sobs. But instead, a warm wave of shock coursed through my body. I embraced the numbness, knowing I needed to get the hell out of there before I accidently hurt someone else. Or worse.
The containers that the man had been hovering over were filled with blood bags. Maybe enough to tide over Julian and the others. The paperwork suggested that he was here doing an emergency blood transport to another hospital closer to the city. I got here just in time.
Stacking the boxes, I wasted no time tearing down the hall and up the stairs. I kicked open the exit door and stepped into the cool night air. There, parked in the spot next to the loading dock, was a blood transportation truck.
Wait … Perhaps … No, that would be too easy.
I glanced around to find no one watching. Setting the containers on the ground, I ran back inside to the blood bank and rifled through the dead guy’s pockets. Keys!
Despite the somber situation, when I opened the back of the truck, I couldn’t help but smile. It was full of blood. I quickly hopped into the driver’s seat, cranked the engine, and yanked on a lever until a “D” lit up, assuming that meant “drive”. The truck lurched forward.
I tried not to speed through the parking lot to where I’d left Max, a mixture of exhilaration and fear coursing through my limbs. Slowing to a stop, I threw open the passenger side door and a large black shadow hopped in.
You’ve never driven anything before, Max stated.
“Bumper car at the local fair,” I countered, gunning it out of the parking lot. It wouldn’t be long before someone discovered the delivery guy or the nurse. I needed to be far away from here when they did. The last thing I wanted were police chasing me. I had no interest in learning what bullets through my body felt like.
What’s the rush?
The back end of the truck fishtailed as I rounded a corner. “I accidently killed a man!”
Killed as in …
“Slammed his head against a wall. It was an accident. I swear. I didn’t mean to …” My voice drifted with the weight of my guilt.
Max was silent for a moment, likely sensing my distress. Well, just be careful. We need to get this truck to the mines.
Three wrong turns, two speeding police cars heading toward the hospital, and forty-five minutes later—it would’ve been faster by foot—I pulled over onto the narrow shoulder. The mine was two miles inbound, with no driveways to get us all the way there.
They’ll be looking for this truck by now and this road is too busy for someone not to report it, Max warned. We need to get this truck hidden now.
As if to prove his point, blue and red flashing lights appeared in my side view mirror. They were far in the distance—too far to identify us—but they looked to be moving at high speeds. “Crap! What do I do?”
You won’t outrun them. His long snout pointed ahead. Hit the lights and put us into the ditch over there. No one will see it, unless they’re looking.
“You mean over that cliff?”
Max snorted. You scared?
“No, just …” The idea of intentionally driving the truck over a cliff had me all kinds of nervous. “Can’t we run it off some other way?” Maybe a stick and a rock on the gas pedal?