Ancient Awakening (The Ancient)
Page 16
Mike had gotten himself lost. He had taken a wrong turn someplace and was now wandering aimlessly. It wasn't completely his fault. His mind was still on that nurse, Mary, not to mention the shock of last night. He was also very tired.
Passing a nursery, Mike stopped and leaned on the glass. Inside, he saw several rows of newborn babies, each in their own little cart. On the front of each cart was a piece of blue or pink paper. The babies themselves looked tiny to Mike, and very angry. Not one was sleeping. Being a father, he knew that sometimes this was the case, but he thought it was odd that all of them should be awake.
“They’re crack babies,” a woman's voice said. Mike spun to find the source. It was a short blond woman. It looked like she was having a pretty poor morning as well. Her hair was a mess and there were bags under her eyes.
“I'm sorry...what?” Mike asked.
“Crack babies. They’re all kids whose mothers are addicts. There’s a program here for them. Junkies just drop off their kids, or even worse, have them here and then just leave without them. They don't have a real maternity wing here.”
“Oh,” was Mike’s only response. The woman walked up to the glass and put her head against it, looking miserable.
“It’s pretty terrible. The mothers are using while pregnant and it really screws up the kids. Some of them die, and none really ever recover,” she continued. Mike didn’t know what to say to that. It was horrible. There was a moment of silence while both of them looked at the struggling children. A great sadness hung over them.
“Um, are you ok?” Mike asked. The woman didn’t lift her forehead off the glass, but moved her eyes to look at him. The position looked pretty silly.
“No, I don't think so. It’s kind of a long story, and I don't think you would believe me.”
“Oh, one of those,” Mike responded. “I have one of those as well.”
The woman straightened and gave him a stern look.
“I didn’t mean it as a challenge, you know.” There was another stretch of silence.
“Look maybe if you help me, I can help you,” Mike started. “You see, I'm a bit lost and
you seem to know your way around.”
“I don't think you could help me and, strictly speaking, I'm not even supposed to be wandering around here.”
Mike raised an eyebrow. “Why is that?”
“Oh, that’s that long story again.” She paused and stared him up and down. “I'm Ann, by the way.”
“Mike Samson,” Mike said and shook her hand. “I'm just trying to get to the front desk. You see, I'm a police officer and I'm trying to...”
“Wait, you’re a cop?” Ann interrupted.
“Well, technically off-duty at the moment, but yes.”
“Maybe you can help me then.” Her spirits seemed to rise. “I think something is going on here, in this hospital. My boyfriend, well technically ex-boyfriend, Keith, is a doctor here, and he’s gone missing.”
“Missing? Have you put in a missing persons report?”
“No. Until yesterday I thought he was just avoiding me. But then I saw something.” She stopped and rubbed her hands together. “Look, you’re not going to believe this part, but I swear it’s true.”
Thinking back to last night’s little nightmare, Mike said, “Try me.”
“Down in the basement, there’s this, like, psych ward or something. And there’s a monster in there.” The hair stood up on the back of Mike's neck. He couldn't call her a lunatic. Last night he had seen a monster as well. Maybe it had been Ted, doped out on something, but then again...
“A monster? What kind of monster? It didn't happen to be really hairy with big claws like knives sticking out of its fingers, built like an ape?”
“Umm, no.” She scrunched up her face at him. “And that’s stupid. No, it was this demon-guy thing, all black and scaly with this one huge arm and a bat wing sticking out of its back.”
Never mind. She was a lunatic.
“So wait, my monster is stupid and yours isn’t?” he asked.
“Well, no, I mean, wait...you didn’t actually see something like that did you? I thought you were just making fun of me.”
Mike came clean. Maybe he had gone crazy too. “Oh yes, I did.” He lifted his shirt to show the bandages across his chest. “Sucker ripped me up pretty good too. I shot him in the head. It didn’t even slow him down.” Ann's eyes widened. “Worse yet, he ate two of my neighbors. One was this sweet little girl that used to play with my son.”
“Are you serious? You’re not shitting me ‘cause I started talking about monsters, are you?”
“No, I'm dead serious. I don't think I would have ever even considered telling you if you hadn’t started to talk about monsters. Maybe it was a werewolf.”
“Except,” Ann added slowly, “there’s no such thing.”
“And there’s no such thing as a demon-guy thing either, although I give you points for being more original with your monster.”
Ann gave him a sour look. “Yeah, sorry. Look, there’s more. One of the doctors here, she threatened me and smacked me around a bit. Her hand went all black and scaly and grew huge. It just, like, burst out of her skin. I think she has my boyfriend, Keith, captive someplace.”
“Wow,” Mike said, “that does sound a little crazy.”
“Says you, werewolf boy.” Ann balled her hands into fists and punched the wall. “To top it off, I think patients are disappearing. There was this one guy, named Miller. He took one look at the doctor and knew she was a demon. I think they killed him off to hush things up.”
Something clicked in Mike’s mind. “Wait, your ex, he’s a doctor here named Keith. He’s not Dr. Malone is he?”
“Yes, yes that’s him. Did you see him?”
“Yeah just like 30 minutes ago, he was...” He trailed off, not wanting to add “making out with an incredibly hot nurse.” He couldn't tell her that. Instead, he finished with, “downstairs in the emergency room.”
“I have to find him.” Ann turned and headed down the hall.
Thinking for a moment, Mike yelled, “Ann, wait!” She turned back to face him, looking like she was about to cry.
“I know it sounds nutty to you, but I need to work this out too. Something is happening here!” Ann said, her voice shaky.
Mike jogged a few steps to her side. “I think you’re right.” He still thought she might be crazy. “Let me help.”
Ann gave him a warm smile and, with a nod of her head, said, “Thank you.”