FULL MOON ISLAND

by Terry Yates

  The terror filled screams were deafening as he neared the end of the hallway. Once he rounded the hallway and was in the lobby, the unknown would be known. He was definitely not looking forward to whatever awaited him around that corner. He almost wanted to laugh. As he neared the end of the hall, it looked as if he was about to enter some sort of dance club that used strobe lights. He half expected to hear a high, piercing voice scream EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!!!…and then he would hear that heavy electric guitar sound that always followed.

  Only fifty feet or so now. Forty feet. Thirty. His mind and body did not want to do this. He felt like he was running through waist high water. Fifteen feet! Ten! Okay, he thought with five feet left…this is it.

  As he rounded the corner, he was met by a chair flying just over his head that crashed into the wall behind him. He was having trouble adjusting his eyes to the strobe effect that the lightning and the dark was causing, but he was pretty sure that Gringo had thrown it at something. Something big. Something that growled so ferociously that Kyler bet that he wasn’t the only one about to let his bladder go. He saw people running all over the room screaming and yelling trying to get out of the thing’s way. Kyler saw that it was holding something under one arm while simultaneously swinging the other arm at anything that came near. Zack Olsen jumped at the thing but was backhanded straight into a wall. He saw Sgt. Cohen scrambling around on the floor looking for something. Kyler guessed his gun. Zora had taken a metal bar, probably from one of the broken beds, and was swinging it at the beast from behind. She connected with the thing’s back and it let out one long cry of pain before it turned away from Zack and towards her. She stood her ground. She continued to swing at it as it as it moved toward her. Kyler wanted to run away, but instead picked up a piece of the broken chair leg that had flown over his head. He gripped it tightly, gritted his teeth, and began to run at the monster, screaming at the top of his lungs. He didn’t get three feet before his feet slipped out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor. He landed sideways, his head hitting the tiled floor hard while at the same time his body slid across the floor sideways only stopping when he hit the wall on the other side of the room. It was a good thing that Kyler had fallen. Just seconds after he had lost his footing, a half dozen gunshots came through one of the windows and found their mark in the wall at the place where the doctor had been standing.

  Kyler covered his head as bullets flew around the room. It couldn’t just be Sgt. Cohen shooting. These shots were coming from different directions. He thought that he heard most of them coming from outside the hospital. Sitting up, he saw several soldiers shooting blindly around the room. About every fourth shot actually hit the beast. It would howl in pain as each bullet found its mark. Kyler didn’t know which scared him most…the thing itself or the fact that bullets were haphazardly making their way around an enclosed area. If one of those bullets hit an oxygen tank, the whole place could go up in several giant explosions.

  “Stop shooting!” Kyler screamed. He was pretty sure that no one had heard him and even if they had, it would probably suffice to say that none of them would stop shooting at a giant, angry killing machine and ask him to debate them on the pros and cons of why they should stop shooting.

  “Stop shooting!” came another voice. Oh him, they listen to, Kyler thought. “Stop shooting!” the voice cried out again in a very authoritative tone that told Kyler that he himself would stop shooting if that voice had told him to do so. “He’s cornered! Let him go!” This strange order was met by several different voices saying “Sir?” in unison. “Godammit! I said stop shooting and get out of its way!”

  Kyler sat up in time to see the soldiers quickly stepping aside as the beast rushed between them and towards the hospital doors. If he’d been a betting man, Kyler would’ve guessed that the thing jumped…or lunged twenty feet through the air before crashing through the glass and disappearing into the black storm.

  “Now shoot at it!”

  Kyler turned to see Gen. Potts and four soldiers shooting at the beast from inside the hospital. Potts held his hand up and firing immediately ceased. He walked through the large broken plate glass hole and out onto the grass. Where the others had been carrying rifles, Potts merely had a sidearm. The colonel shielded his eyes from the rain, peered into the darkness, and then dropped into a shooting stance. With both hands on the pistol, he fired one shot. A sound of pain was faintly heard in the distance. Potts smiled and walked back through the broken window.

  “Man, there’s about to be a shit storm in old Miami town tonight!” he yelled, wiping the rain from his face.

  CHAPTER 11

  Kyler’s head was killing him. Just minutes before, he had reached up to feel a large knot forming on the side of his head. As he ran his fingers through his hair, he noticed that much of it seemed to be matted…almost crusted. His left hand was sticky, too. He had looked down to find that the left side of his body was completely covered in blood. Not his blood but someone else’s…and it wasn’t just blood. Bits of flesh and brain matter were clotting on his scrubs. He guessed that he probably had as much of Martin Burns’ blood on him as Burt Burns had in him.

  He hadn’t had much time to think about Martin Burns, Mrs. Rogerson, Leanne Olsen, Oliver Dixon, the John Doe/Monster or anyone else for that matter. For the last hour his two main concerns had been Lauren O’Hearley and Opal Munn. The thing had bitten Opal Munn on the shoulder, not badly, but for an eighty-six-year old lady, any sort of violent activity could be dangerous, especially violent activity that involved burn victims growing a foot in height and turning into hairy claw-baring monsters with an appetite for destruction. She had suffered a little shock, but for the most part, she was all right. Her grandson Corporal Wilbur Munn had not left her side from the moment he’d arrived. He’d stayed put, even after Col. Potts had threatened to sew up his asshole with a cactus. Lauren O’Hearley on the other hand, was a different story. Kyler had felt sure that her appendix had burst either from time or from the Blum kid having rolled over on top of her during their ordeal. She was nearly jaundiced and had not regained consciousness. Her breathing was labored and her pulse was weak. He was going to have to operate. The soldiers and anyone else that could walk had hurriedly moved everyone from the lobby to the second floor, which was the central part of the building. The storm had been nearing maximum strength and they had to move. Kyler had wished that they hadn’t been so close to the water but anywhere on No Name Island was close to the water. What had happened to the helicopters and more importantly, what had happened with the John Doe? He’d seen for himself that the man’s skin had regenerated in places, but the other thing…the changing…was just too crazy to think about. He hadn’t seen him go from man to monster but he would take the word of those who did. It wasn’t like when you saw that one toothed trailer park redneck saying that he saw a UFO…oh yeah and Bigfoot…not to mention the Whatever Lake He Lived Close To Monster. What he did see would stay with him the rest of his life…which he hoped was still years away, but with a jet crash, a hurricane and a killer on the loose, he didn’t feel so confident.

  They had made a makeshift operating room out of the second floor reception area. With such a small island population, they didn’t use the floor much, maybe once or twice a year. Very seldom were the twenty rooms on the first floor filled to capacity, so the staff, both military and civilian, would use it as sort of recreation area. There were TV’s in every room, so if someone wanted to watch a ballgame or a soap opera or David Letterman during their breaks, they would just use one of the rooms. He was pretty sure that some of the rooms were used for other activities as well, but he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t had much time to hang out upstairs in his three months on the island. They were using it now because it was the most centrally located space on the second floor. The first floor had the beginnings of a really bad hurricane going on in it. They couldn’t go to the basement level. They would be trapped if there was flooding. Much to Nurse Walling’s chagrin, P
otts had taken over and had everyone moved upstairs. Kyler didn’t care how his nurse felt at that particular moment, but he felt a thousand times better about things with Potts around. That man was made for chaos. He barked orders and everyone snapped to. They pulled beds out of the rooms and brought them out for the patients to lie on. They couldn’t use the rooms because of the windows possibly being blown out. Even though there were no windows where they were, they could hear and feel debris hitting the building on all floors making the building shake violently. Sam Fong had found two portable generators and two more radios, so they had lights and communication. Potts had three of his soldiers, Private Darius Hawkins, Private Sean Gibson, and Private FranAnne Fulton searching for Oliver Dixon. The monster had taken him. That’s what had been in the creature’s one hand when Kyler had showed up. Seeing the destruction that the thing had caused, very few held out hope of the baby being found alive, if at all. The soldiers couldn’t stay outside much longer. The wind, rain, and debris was becoming too much for them. Private Fulton had fallen over twice. Although short…about five four…most of them had mistaken her for a man. She was round and squatty with a short hair cut and answered “Sir!” in as deep a register as a person without balls could hit.

  Kyler was having a hard time concentrating. They had found an operating bed and had moved it into the reception area. Lauren was placed on the operating table, still unconscious. Nurse Walling had found one of Dr. Millard’s medical bags. The bastard had been in such a hurry, he hadn’t even bothered to take it with him. It contained several scalpels, sutures, sponges, threads, and a small vial of sodium pentothal. It might not be enough but it was all they had. That bastard Millard, he thought. He should be here operating on this child while he and Nurse Walling should be taking care of Opal Munn, Michael Blum, and Shelly Dixon. Zack Olsen’s jaw was swollen and his neck hurt. He had been jumping backwards when the thing hit him so he didn’t catch the whole brunt of the blow. If he had, that thing would’ve probably knocked his head off. He would be okay. He was a tough kid. Kyler figured his physical pain was secondary to the mental pain he was feeling. He was more in shock from losing his mother and grandmother. Leanne Olsen had been ripped apart and thrown through one of the windows. Thank God the storm had washed away what was left of her. He was also wondering why his father had run away instead of staying with his mother. Kyler knew that when the shock wore off, the boy was going to be in a world of pain. His father was in a bigger state of shock though. He sat on the edge of one of the beds silently, head down most of the time. Kyler had originally assumed that it was just shock that Rob Olsen suffered from but he had since figured out that it was much more than that. The man had run away, run away and left his wife to a hideous fate. It must be true, he thought, that a coward dies a thousand deaths. He wasn’t going to judge him though. He wasn’t so sure that he wouldn’t have done the same thing himself. If there was anyone around here that was truly afraid, it was Dr. Richard “Mommy Get Me Off This Island” Kyler.

  Meanwhile Samantha and Gringo were still trying to calm Sylvia Morrison. They had laid her on one of the beds and were both standing over her. She was still moaning a little from her ordeal but she seemed to be calming down. Not so, Shelly Dixon. She had only just stopped screaming moments before when the sedative that Nurse Walling had given her began to kick in. They had to take her surviving baby Kayla from her for the baby’s sake. Shelly wouldn’t let anyone near the newborn. She would scream and yell for her husband and then for Oliver and then for her father all the while thrashing around hugging the baby like a loaf of bread. Kyler, Gringo, and Cpl. Munn had to nearly tackle her to get the baby from her. She caught Gringo across his left cheek with her nails leaving four large welts. Nurse Walling had to straddle her to give her the sedative. After she’d passed out, they’d given the child to Zora to watch over. Zora had the baby over her shoulder, hands under its bottom, and was swaying from side to side in an attempt to comfort the child. She looked uncomfortable trying coo the baby. Michael Blum seemed to be the only person that no one was tending to. He was sitting quietly on one of the beds. He kept his broken leg straight out on the bed with it resting on a pillow while the other leg dangled off the side. His cast had completely melted off of his leg, which was purple from knee to ankle. It was darker at the two breaks. Kyler had been amazed that the kid had remained so quiet. Earlier that day, he had been barking orders louder than Potts but now he was silent. Kyler figured that either he was in shock after his ordeal or he had come to realize that he wasn’t the most important person in the room. Kyler felt sorry for him. The guilt he probably felt for rolling on top of Lauren and hastening her burst appendix had to be preying on his mind, but Kyler guessed that it was his missing parents that worried him the most. Were they still on the island or did they get on one of the helicopters and figure that he’d be evacuated with everyone else at the hospital? Neither scenario could make him feel too good. He looked so lonely that Kyler wanted to go over there and tell him that everything would be all right, but the kid wasn’t an idiot and Kyler wasn’t going to lie to him like most doctors do, saying things like…”Everything is fine”…”or let’s not get too concerned until we get the results of the x-rays”. Kyler wasn’t going to tell the kid that everything was going to be okay. They’d both seen the monster, they’d both been together when the jet crashed, and they were both in the middle of a hurricane. What could he tell him that he didn’t already know?

  Something large crashed against the building, causing everyone to jump. This was followed by the sound of windows breaking in two of the rooms. There was nothing worse than being in semi-darkness and hoping that it was a hurricane and not a monster that was causing a ruckus. Potts had seen the thing run away. Kyler couldn’t let himself think about it. He had to think about the task at hand. He had to start operating on Lauren and soon. Kyler had never performed the operation before, sure he’d seen it performed a dozen or more times but seeing it and doing it were two very different things. It was like watching the sword swallower at the circus and then going home and shoving a ninja sword down your windpipe.

  He was startled by something wet against his left temple. He flinched for a moment but stopped when he realized that it was Burt Burns gently wiping the crusted blood off of his face with a white washrag. He had forgotten about Burt. Burt, whose brother had nearly been devoured by the thing, and whom afterwards, had sent his head to splatter against a wall.

  “Are you okay, Doc?” Burt asked. His face was devoid of any noticeable emotion. His brother could have been mauled to death or he could have just won the lottery. You couldn’t tell. To Kyler though, it was again the tell tale sign of shock.

  “I’m fine, Mr. Burns,” he answered, not really wanting to make eye contact with him.

  “Please, call me Burt, wouldja’, Doc? Otherwise everyone gets me confused with the Mr. Burns on The Simpson’s.”

  He hadn’t even thought of Mr. Burns on The Simpson’s. He let him continue to wipe down his face.

  “Could you get me around the eye there, Burt? I’m having trouble opening it and closing it. The blood is dry and becoming sticky.”

  When he realized that it was Burt’s brother’s blood that he was talking about, he wanted to kill himself. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Burt either didn’t realize it or didn’t care. He continued to wipe around Kyler’s left eye, finally digging into the eye itself with the washrag on his index finger. Kyler wanted to scream. The old man was poking around in his eye with the sensitivity of a couple of T-Rex’s doing the nasty.

  “I think ya’ got it, Burt,” he said, hoping that he’d still be able to see to operate. His eye was watery now. Great, a watery-eyed three-month in-residency doctor was about to perform an operation that he had never done before.

  Nurse Walling approached him. She had been prepping Lauren as best she could. Between caring for a half dozen hysterical people and another half dozen who looked like they just might be ready to join the other half dozen�
�s private hysterical club, she had little time to make a proper operating area. Sam Fong had found an old bendable lamp that they could use as an overhead. He never strayed more than ten feet from the generators. If those babies went, they were S.O.L.

  Nurse Walling put a surgical glove on each of his hands while Burt finished wiping the blood off of his chin and neck. She placed a surgical cap over his head followed by a mask, and then put one on herself.

  “Dr. O’Hearley?” she called, holding another pair of gloves, hat, and mask. Ariella O’Hearley looked up. She and Locklear had been standing away from everyone. Kyler had sent them away from Lauren so that they could prep her. They stood silently, heads down with arms folded. Kyler had been impressed by their calmness. Most parents would be going ape shit crazy with a new doctor operating on their only daughter, especially one that was doing it in a building that was shaking because it was in the middle of a hurricane. God, when was this thing going to pass over? The hurricane was still thriving after an hour and Potts told them he didn’t think it had even reached maximum strength yet. The hospital was one of the sturdiest buildings on the island and it felt like it might go at any moment. He didn’t want to think about what the rest of the island looked like.

  Ariella joined them at the operating table, leaving her husband to pace back and forth and wring his hands nervously. They had learned that Ariella had a double PhD., one in psychology and one, in psychiatry, so she had some basic medical training. Kyler didn’t want to use her in the operation. Seeing the nervous look on her face made Kyler understand why doctors didn’t operate on their own families. But they had no choice. They needed three people to operate and there was no one else as qualified as Ariella. Kyler would’ve preferred Sgt. Cohen but the sergeant was busy in the corner trying to raise someone on his radio. The hospital had a radio that was used in case they had to call Care Flight but unfortunately it was on the first floor and the wind and the rain had made it completely unusable.