Angel of Fire - Requiem of Lost Souls - Book Two

The Price of Power

Chapter 41

I drove the Fury along desolate M-36 to I-96 W, and followed the signs back to Hastings. It wasn't until I got closer to the city of Lansing that I started noticing all the abandoned vehicles choking the deserted five lane highway.

Gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white, I slowed down to a crawl in order to avoid mangled cars, trucks, and SUV's; some evacuated with the engines still running. There wasn't a single soul in sight, however, the remnants of blood smeared and broken glass told grotesque tales of unspeakable violence.

Once past the city limits, traffic seemed to thin out a bit. I only had to avoid a sprinkling of stalled vehicles along I-69 S as I made my way safely back to Vermontville Highway. With the two lane country road mostly clear, I was finally able to floor it on the way to Pennock Hospital.

Staring out the window of the Fury as I slowly drove down Main street in Hastings, I felt like I was watching a disaster movie. Building after building with blown out windows and fires raging from within was a haunting reminder of the devastation wrought by Serenity's army of corpses.

It wasn't until I pulled into the hospital's parking lot that the staggering magnitude of the attacks on innocent humans hit home. Scattered everywhere were the bloodied faces of fellow students staring blankly back at me while their petrified parents lay helplessly with torn flesh hanging in flaps. The entire place looked like some kind of elaborate death scene straight out of Hollywood.

Either out of fear, or out of sheer self-preservation, or maybe even both, my eyes continued to drink in the gory details of horribly mutilated bodies, but my mind still refused to accept all the carnage and bloodshed as real. After all, these people weren't just strangers. Growing up in Hastings all my life, these people were like family.

I made a parking space right up front between two mighty oak trees before climbing out of the car. The crisp, wintry morning air did little to clear the minds of my friends who were all still obviously suffering from brain fry as they scattered aimlessly in opposite directions. Carrying Luna in my arms, while at the same time attempting to wrangle Carmen and the guys into the hospital, was like chasing a bunch of wayward toddlers in desperate need of a nap.

I ushered my friends up the narrow stairs of a rarely used side entrance. I knew it would have been pointless to attempt to gain entrance through the massively crowded front lobby, so I didn't even bother. In times of extreme circumstances such as this, it was better to make your own luck than to take chances.

Besides, I hadn't heard a peep out of Luna the entire trip. Part of me wondered if she would ever regain consciousness from the severe head trauma she'd suffered at the hands of Nick.

Due to all the confusion and havoc, finding empty beds in the maternity unit turned out to be the easy part. Finding a nurse or a doctor willing to stop and help was the hard part. I put Luna in bed first, careful not to move her neck as much as possible before placing a pillow behind her head and covering her up with several blankets. After rounding up my wandering friends, I found an adjoining observation room with enough beds for them all. Separated by a glass partition, this way I could keep an eye on them all at once.

Starting with Carmen, I laid her down and secured her floppy arms and legs to the stainless steel bed rails using thick blood pressure cuffs, before replacing her tattered clothing with a powder blue hospital gown. It wasn't the fashion forward style she was used to, but at least it was clean.

I repeated the same routine on Nick, followed by Alex, Mark and Lake, before finally moving on to Skylar. He didn't seem to notice, much less care that he was being strapped down to a bed for his own safety. He was simply too out of it. They all were.