Angel of Fire - Requiem of Lost Souls - Book Two

Cruel Intentions

Chapter 4

Placing his clip-board firmly under a well toned bi-cep, Adam stood up and approached the bed. I seriously doubted he had a clue about who he was dealing with. Otherwise, he would've been smart and kept his distance.

   I had the element of surprise in my favor. As soon as he got my lab results back, all bets would be off. Better to keep my mouth shut and lay low while I tried to figure a way out of this mess.

   There was just one tiny problem. I wasn't very good...uh, scratch that...more like I sucked at keeping my mouth shut. 

  Adam eyed me suspiciously. "Can you please explain to me exactly how you managed to recover so quickly? It's important."

   I gave a shrug. "How should I know. You're the Doctor. You tell me."

  The corner of his mouth twitched in surprise. "It's getting late. Rest comfortably, Chaos." He reached over to pat me on the knee. "I'm sure we'll have all the answers we need by morning." Turning away, he left the room without saying another word.

   He didn't have to.

   Despite what he'd told my mother, Adam never intended on letting me leave.

  I also already knew exactly what he had planned for me. That touch of his spoke volumes. So much so, in fact, that the fraudulent report he planned to write and give Dr. Stevens was going to explain in great detail that I suffered from serious anger issues – among other mental disorders – and I deserved a one way ticket to the padded palace because he'd found me to be a threat to society.

  Although without quite realizing it, Adam had managed to get one thing right. I did have anger issues.

  Oh, I planned to make him pay for spewing lies about me alright. Well, mostly lies. First thing's first – I needed to ditch this place and figure out a way to find Serenity. As soon as I stole some clothes to replace my hospital gown, that is.

   Yeah, I had my priorities in order.

   Tip-toeing to the door, I pulled it open and peeked out. Empty, except for someone standing behind a Nurse's Station at the other end of the long hall. I waited and soon the person picked something up and vanished out of sight.

   Humming the theme to the Pink Panther, I crept silently down the darkened hall – body hunched over and hugging the wall to avoid detection.

   An arrow on an overhead sign dangling from the ceiling pointed to an employee lounge on my right. I crossed the hall and disappeared behind the door. Finding the room empty, I rummaged through various lockers until I scored a pair of black cargo pants with removable bondage straps, a short sleeve black T-shirt, and black military style combat boots.

   After wrapping the straps loosely around each wrist several times, I spied a floor length, double breasted black trench-coat. Even though I never bothered to wear a coat, I pulled this one on and decided it suited the ensemble perfectly. Not because it made me look like a total bad-ass, but because I now knew the color really did match my soul.

   Dressed and ready to resume my hunt for Serenity, I pulled the door slowly open – only to be assaulted by the lingering smell of death.

   Yes, on one hand, I knew people died in hospitals. However, this smelled different. Like a combination of dead fish, spoiled milk, and rotten fruit...different. At first I couldn't quite put my finger on the lingering odor.

   And then it hit me.

   The place was crawling with zombies.

   Right then all I really, really wanted to know was – how in the hell did they find me?

   Anger spiking, the power I carried around like a torch nearly exploded out of my body. Struggling just to reign it in, I shot a blast of sizzling energy at the door – hoping it would release some of the pressure.

   It didn't.

  Instead the industrial strength door went careening across the hall, echoing loudly when it slammed against the cement wall before landing with a thud on the highly polished floor to announce my location.

   I might as well have been holding a sign that read, "Here I am, come and eat me."

   Stepping out into the hall, I watched transfixed as six zombies approached me all at once. Moving stealthily down the hall, they stalked toward me with the lithe precision of a pack of wild animals about to corner and devour their prey.

   Prey meaning me, of course.

   I scrunched my eyes closed and aimed in their general direction.

   Did I mention I can't stand the sight of blood?

  Power rippled from my fingertips and I let go. A scream pierced the silence, followed by a haunting voice of familiarity.

   "Chaos, why'd you just try to shoot me?"

   I held my breath opening first one eye, and then the other. Carmen stood in front of me wearing a pained expression on her beautiful face. Her face being mostly green and tinged with blue, but still beautiful.