Mikel held the shotgun pointed towards the entryway, hoping he wouldn't have to use it. Two of them entered, crawling on all fours. A third followed, walking on two legs. They stopped for a moment and sniffed at the air, then the one standing dropped to the ground and started crawling towards the wall. It made its way to the wall and, without slowing, transitioned up the wall and onto the ceiling. Its movement was almost spider-like.
Seth was hidden from sight at ground level but certainly not from above. The wolf would see him in a matter of moments. The other wolves moved slowly towards the stairwell, following their scent from earlier.
One of the elevator doors opened and drew the attention of the two on the floor. Seth leaped up from his hiding place and started firing. The first wolf went down immediately with a round to the head. The second turned and dodged the gunfire.
The third wolf dropped from the ceiling and landed behind Seth. Mikel shouted a warning, and Seth dropped to his knees just as the wolf slashed out, catching nothing but air. Another shot rang out, this time coming from the baggage room. Jesse caught the wolf in its shoulder, and it spun sideways before retreating several feet. Seth followed her shot with several of his own, and it went down.
“Holy shit Jesse! Nice Shot!” Mikel shouted as he shoved the wolf’s corpse off.
Seth jumped up and quickly began gathering medications as Sal and Trisha walked into the lobby. Trisha went to help him while Sal and Jesse talked with Mikel.
“Thank God.” Jesse sighed as Mikel held her. “I was starting to think you’d let your new “tough Mikel” shell get you in trouble. You can be tough, but you need to stay safe, okay? Do it for me.” She was close to tears.
“I will, I promise. Everything I do is for you, Jesse, everything.” He held her tighter.
“Jesus Christ, you two. Where is Kevin Costner? Good job on the meds, though. Do you guys want to go get your car? I’ll go down with Trisha and get Julie’s. Seth can take the meds up to Byron. We meet out front in 30?”
“Perfect. I need to grab a few things from our place, and we’ll see you there.” Mikel answered as he and Jesse headed to the door.
#
Seth took the elevator and watched the numbers tick by as he waited for the 17th floor. When it opened, he wasn't prepared for the hallway to be occupied. One of Julie's neighbors was investigating the corpse lying on the floor. The neighbor was armed with a hockey stick and looked terrified. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing a Northwestern sweatshirt and pajama shorts. Her glasses kept fogging up because she had a scarf wrapped around her face as a makeshift mask. She wore slippers with little cat faces on them, with whiskers poking out the sides. She looked like a typical college student.
Seth cleared his throat and lifted his hands to show he meant no harm. She jumped and stood bolt upright. As Seth stepped out of the elevator, she retreated down the hallway, raising her stick and waving it back and forth.
“Look, I don’t want any trouble from you, miss. I just want to get to Julie’s apartment. My friend is in there, and he’s hurt really bad. This stuff is for him, to help him feel better. If you back up a few more feet, I’ll just go in there, and you won’t have to worry about me anymore.” He used the calmest voice he could.
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She nodded and backed up a few steps. Seth walked to the wall and started stepping towards Julie's door. The girl let out a scream and came at him, a stick held above her head. She brought it down in front of him, and he caught it mid-swing. She tried to yank it away from him, but she lost all control of it and fell to the floor in the process. He tossed a few feet from her and walked over to Julie's door. It wasn't locked, so he let himself in. As the door swung shut, she called out Julie's name.
“Was that Stevie?” Julie received a blank stare from Seth. “Auburn hair, glasses, college kid. Kind of cute, in a smart girl kind of way.”
“Guess so. Tried to hit me with a hockey stick. Fell down when I took it from her. She had a scarf wrapped around her face and didn’t want to chat with me.”
Julie laughed and opened her door. “Get your ass in here, girl. What are you doing in the hallway? Don’t you know better than to go out when shit’s going down?”
"Sorry, Julie. Thanks. Can I borrow your phone? Mine's dead, and I left my charger at…."
“Sure,” Julie cut her off. Phone in hand, Stevie went to go back to her apartment.
"You're not going anywhere. We've got food, plus safety in numbers. Call your mom. You can use my bedroom. These people are safe. They're my friends." Stevie seemed to relax a little but still kept her arms crossed tightly across her chest and her scarf around her face. She headed through the living room and down the hall to Jesse's room without looking up from the floor.
“She and two other girls rent the place next door. Of the three, she’s the sweetest but not the most worldly. Reminds me of me ten years ago. Maybe 15 years.”
Seth laughed. Julie pointed at the bags and asked, “Meds?”
“Yep. Byron?”
She pointed to the living room.
Byron was checking Glenn's vitals again, and from the look of concern on his face, things were grim. Glenn looked whiter than the sheets he lay upon. Blood had perforated the bandages and dripped off the table onto the floor. It didn't bode well for Glenn.
Seth handed over the medications, and Byron quickly set to work. He was surprised by the level of knowledge at which Seth had displayed in the pharmacy. He brought saline, liquid antibiotics, needles, IV kits, painkillers, all sorts of other meds, and emergency items, ranging from antihistamines to splints and wraps.
“You seem to have some experience with this stuff, Seth,” Byron said pointedly.
“I do. Not with administering, but I was an aspiring Pharmacist in a previous life. I worked as a Pharmacist Assistant for a few years before moving into the holistic, foraged foods and homegrown remedies life. I know some things.”
“Good to know. Look at us, full of surprises. Next thing we’ll find out we have an ex-Navy Seal in our ranks or something.” Julie laughed.
“I was in ROTC in high school,” Polly offered.
“Close enough,” Julie said and smiled.
Byron was busy hooking everything up to Glenn, hoping to save him. As he got the saline hung on a lamp, Glenn started to convulse on the table. He was seizing. Byron stood back and raised his hands in defeat.
“He doesn’t have enough blood, and we’ve got none to give him. He’s A-. What are you three?”
None matched.
Glenn was dead moments later. Byron took it hard. He had tried everything he could and was still unable to save Glenn. He pulled a sheet over the body but stopped at the bandages. They were tattered and burned as if exposed to a flame or an acid of some type.
He pulled the bandages away and found the sutures had done the same. The entire cavity had opened again, leaving blood flowing as whatever was burning away the sutures and bandages did further damage to the soft tissues of the internal organs. The intestines had been perforated in several places, and the stomach had a large hole on one side.
They needed to find out if this damage was due to the claws or if the wolf had licked or bitten Glenn as well. Did their spit contain acid?