The Scottsville Vampire Invasion

Chapter 20

Chapter 20 

I glance at the clock on the wall in the examination room of the morgue. It's almost five thirty and I'm getting closer to making it through my first day of not downing a single pill. I can, without a doubt, say that this is the longest day of my life. I keep telling myself to just hold on and let the time pass, but each second moves forward at a torturously slow pace. The cravings give the sensation of having my chest being crushed by a giant invisible hand. Several times today, I've almost ripped open my bag of pills and swallowed a mouthful to stop the agony, but each time I've resisted. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and think of my girls. The day's almost over. I've almost made it. I just have to get through Kim's autopsy before I can go home and ride out the rest of the day.  

I'm standing in the corner of the room observing Dr. Albert and the mortician from Andersonville, Dr. Lee, who has been brought in to observe Dr. Albert working on Kim. Kim is lying on the table wearing a blue hospital gown. We attempted to contact her family to have them claim the body, but they want nothing to do with her alive or dead. I put the corpse into the police department's care, and I'm going to have her processed and cremated before she has a chance to get up and head out the door. This time I'm not going to have Pete screw this up. I'm not taking any chances.  

The two lean over Kim. Doctor Albert is holding a tape recorder and talking into it. "The subject is Asian, her height is five feet and five inches. When she arrived, she was wearing a tan blouse and blue jeans. She has a gold necklace, a wrist watch and a ring on her right thumb. The subject also has multiple tattoos on her left hand and one on her right forearm."  

Dr. Albert stops the recording and looks at Dr. Lee. "We'll start with her brain." He picks up a large rotary saw and turns it on. It emits a high pitched whining sound.  

Dr. Lee holds her hand up to stop him and says to me, "You going to be okay to observe this part?" 

I swallow, take a deep breath, which pulls in the chemical smell that fills the room. I can feel my stomach about to turn and my lunch moving up my throat. I had to sit through a few of these at the academy. I didn't do well then and I don't think I'll do well now, but I have to stick with it. "I'm hanging in there." 

She laughs. "You could go in the other room, and we can come and get you when we are done." 

"Thanks. For right now I'll stay here," I say trying to compose myself. 

She points to the blue on the wall. "Your face is turning the same color as the wall tiles." Dr. Albert joins in laughing at my expense. 

"I'm sure it is," I say. I lean in on a staff that I made. I modeled it on the one Victor walks around with. I need this thing to protect me and keep me upright.  

Dr. Lee points at the staff and says, "What is that for?" 

"Just a woodworking project I finished at home," I say. 

She shrugs and turns around, nods to Dr. Albert and says, "Go for it."  

Dr. Albert clicks on the tool again. Over the din of the machine he yells out to me, "You sure you're ready, Sheriff Taylor?"  

As he says that, I feel the stress of being in this room with them, which hits a trigger that ignites a craving. I need to get out of here. I need a drink of water and some fresh air.  

Dr. Lee also looks over at me. Both of them are now facing me waiting for me to respond. "I changed my mind. I'll wait outside," I say as I start to head out of the room. 

Doctor Lee yells something to me over the sound of the saw. I stop to get her to repeat what she said and see both Doctor Lee and Albert watching me and laughing. With their attention on me, they don't see what I see. Kim lifts her head off the table and opens her eyes.  

"Get away from her," I scream and run towards the table. Kim sits upright and holds her hands out. The fingers have transformed into long, sharp claws. With one hand, she reaches across and slices Doctor Lee's face, opens her mouth and turns, taking a chunk out of Dr. Albert's neck. Dr. Lee is holding her face and screaming. Blood pours off of her and onto the floor.  

Instinctively, I reach for my gun, stop and pick the staff off the ground. I'm going to have to jam this thing through her chest. I look for an opening, but Dr. Lee is blocking me. Kim stops drinking from Dr. Albert, lets go of him, and drops him to the ground. She turns and takes mouthful out of Dr. Lee.  

This is my chance. I could go right through Dr. Lee and stab Kim. I charge. As I do, Kim drops Dr. Lee. Kim is caked in blood, all over her face and down her neck. I hesitate for a second and move forward. I have the staff pointed right at her chest. She snags it out of the air and throws it off to the side, jumps off the table, charges at me with both hands extended and drives me into the far wall. 

I slam into it. She hits me so hard my head snaps and bangs into the wall. My eyesight goes blank for a few seconds. The room spins. Kim opens her mouth like she is going to take me out and stops. "Sheriff, I hate to admit you were right, but you were. You said I would end up just like Jenn and here I am. But I have to tell you it feels really good. In fact, I've never felt better. You should try it. You really should. I'd help you with it, but right now I'm all full." She lets go of me. I collapse to the ground, watching her wipe the blood from around her mouth.  

The room is still spinning when she stands over the top of me. "We'll run into each other when I'm not so bloated. I'll make sure of it." Through the haze of my head injury, I see Kim's bare feet walking out of the room.  

My vision rotates around and around. I try to pull myself up, but I don't have the strength to do it. I see Dr. Lee's body lying motionless in front of me. I steady myself and crawl towards her. When I get over to her, I pull on her shoulder. She falls over, eyes wide open with three deep claw marks embedded on her face. I leave her and make my way to Dr. Albert, and examine him. The only mark on him is the deep gash on his neck.  

I grab the examination table and try to pull myself up. As I get to my knees, the room stops spinning and starts to tilt back and forth. I close my eyes to make it stop, but as soon as I do, I feel the sensation of spinning around and around. I let go of the table and crash onto the floor, close my eyes and drift away. 

"Clark, Clark!" I hear from the darkness.  

"Is he okay?" I hear another voice say. 

"I don't know. Call an ambulance." 

I slowly open my eyes. Josh and Bear are leaning over me with Bear talking on the phone calling in the EMTs. 

I try to tell them something, but I can't put the words together. Josh leans down, putting his face right up to mine. I concentrate on what I'm saying and can finally get out, "Kim, she did this and then she left. She went out the back." 

"Okay, Clark. We knew something bad happened when you didn't call in. We came right over here to check on you." 

"Go find her," I say. 

"No, Clark. Right now, we're going to make sure you're okay. We can find her later," Bear says. 

"I'm fine," I say and try to stand up. As soon as I move, I feel a sledgehammer of a headache pound down directly into the center of my forehead. I know this feeling; it's the same one I had in the championship in high school. 

"Clark, just stay down. Don't try to move. We'll get you out of here," Josh says. I hear the whirl of the ambulances in the distance, lie back down, and stare at the florescent light above me. The glare starts to irritate my broken vision, so I close my eyes for a second and as soon as I do I black out again.