"Help my Dad. Please help him."

"Can you hear me, sir?"

Glassy eyes. No response.

The man needed a transfusion, but the hospital's blood bank was in the basement, and even if she made a run for it, and survived the dracula gauntlet, there was no guarantee the man would still be alive by the time she got back.

Jenny hurried to a closet in the corner of the room, the door decorated with crayon pictures. Inside were supplies. No blood, but a saline IV that would help restore some blood volume, oxygen, noradrenaline...

Her finger attacked the keypad over the lock, punching in the four digit code by memory.

A red light came on, and an unpleasant raspberry buzz indicating she'd gotten it wrong.

She tried it again, slower this time.

Another raspberry. They had changed the code. Son of a--

"Lady, can you help me find my mommy?"

Jenny stared down at the little girl tugging on her uniform. Then she cast a frantic glance around for Randall, who was barricading the second entrance.

"Randall! I need to get this door open!"

His head cocked up at the sound of her voice, and after tossing another chair onto the pile he limped over, pulling a screwdriver off of his tool belt.

"Dad! DAD!"

Jenny stared back at the bleeding man, but even at that distance she could see his chest was no longer moving.

"Got it!" Randall had jammed his screwdriver into the door jamb and popped the lock.

But it was too late. Even if Jenny tried CPR, the man had lost too much blood, and his wound was still open.

She walked to the teen, put a hand on his shoulder, and then he hugged her legs, squeezing them hard as he cried.

"Ah, shit," Randall said, noticing the dead man.

Jenny tousled the boy's hair, then motioned for her husband to come over.

"You need to clear a path to one of the doors, so we can drag this man out of here, before he turns into..."

Her voice trailed off, but Randall got the point, limping back to the barricade he'd made. Jenny helped the boy to his feet.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Peter. Peter Bernacky."

"Peter, my name is Jenny. I'm very sorry about your dad. We're going to put him in another part of the hospital."

"He's...dead..."

"I know he's dead. But I need you to be strong for me. See those little kids sitting by the window? They're really scared right now. Can you help me try to calm them down?"

Peter nodded, and Jenny took his hand and led him to the two boys huddling together, crying hysterically. Peter knelt next to them, his face a mask of tears, and dragged over a toy fire truck. Jenny watched as he tried to engage the younger children, and had to turn away because she felt her own tears coming.

"Please help me find my mommy. One of the monsters took her away." The little girl was tugging on her uniform.

"I'll help in a second, sweetie. But first I need to help Randall. I'll just be a second."

Her husband had pushed aside the pile of chairs, returning access to the door. Checking to make sure Peter wasn't watching, she wrapped her hands around his father's collar and began to drag him toward the exit. He was a man of average size, but the blood loss not only made him lighter, but functioned as a lubricant. She managed to get him three quarters of the way there by herself, and then Randall joined her.

They tugged the dead man into the hall, outside the picture window.

"We can't leave him here," Jenny said. "Peter can still see him."

"We'll take him around the corner. He won't be able to--"

"Mommy!"

The little girl sprinted past, beelining down the hall.

Jenny automatically sprang up to run after her, but her husband's strong arm wrapped around her waist, holding her back.

"I've got to get her, Randall."

"I'll get her. You're staying here."

"Randall..."

Randall shoved her back into the room, then limped off after the child.

Damn him. He probably won't even be able to catch her with that bad leg.

What a stupid, stubborn, selfless fool.

"Randall!" she called out after he rounded the corner. "Be careful! I..."

She almost said I love you, but stopped herself. Old habits die hard. Though, if she were forced to tell the truth in a court of law, Jenny still did love the hopeless dope.

Staring down the hallway, she wondered if she should have just said it.

Wondered if she'd ever get another chance.

Squeak...

Squeak...

Squeak...

It was such a familiar sound. Jenny could swear she'd heard it before. Just a little while ago.

What could it be?

Then Jenny remembered.

Benny the Clown's shoes.

She took a fearful look behind her and saw him standing at the other end of the hallway. Just standing there, watching her, his clown outfit drenched in gore. The dracula teeth had broken through his lips and cheeks. But, incredibly, he still wore the red clown nose and the fright wig.

Squeaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueak!

The clown sprinted at her, its hands outstretched, talons wiggling. Jenny barely had time to scoot back when it pounced--

--on Peter's dead father. Benny the Clown's fangs tore into the corpse's throat, and it shook its head like a dog and pulled away, stretching out the carotid artery as if it were a long string of spaghetti. Jenny managed to get to her feet. Then she danced around Benny the Clown and sprinted toward the playroom. Slamming the door after her, she got behind the nearest table and braced it up against the entrance.

"Help me! Everyone, help!"

Peter and one of the boys began to stack chairs against the door. The others watched through the picture window as Benny the Clown feasted. The woman--the one Jenny guessed was in shock--had locked her eyes on the spectacle. They widened abruptly, and the woman began to scream.

When the door was as secure as Randall had had it, Jenny told Peter and the one boy to sit on the other side of the room and look away. Then she rushed to the screaming woman.

"Miss, you need to be quiet. You're upsetting the--"

"What is that terrible clown doing?" the Grandmother cried.

Jenny forced herself to look. Benny the Clown had torn open the man's abdominal cavity, his claws cradling several loops of glistening intestines. But rather than gorging on them, the clown was stretching and pulling the bloody loops, twisting the organ into knots.

Familiar knots.

"Is that...a flamingo?" asked the old woman.

Jenny couldn't answer. She stared, slack-jawed, as Benny the Clown continued to make balloon animals out of that poor man's innards.

One of the boys passed out.

The screaming woman passed out.

The old woman threw up, her dentures plopping into the puddle of puke.

Besides the flamingo, Benny the Clown also created a wiener dog, a giraffe, and what could have been either a lion or a poodle--some animal with a poofy mane. Jenny summoned up her last bit of courage and rushed the window, banging her palm on the glass.

"Get away from here! Get away from us, you fucking evil clown!"

Benny stared at Jenny. Stared without moving. Without making a sound. Jenny saw cunning, there. Cunning, and the same kind of cold, watchful malevolence that alligators had.

Then Benny the Clown reached up and squeezed his red nose, the fake flower on his chest squirting blood on the window, blurring Jenny's view.

A moment later, the clown was gone, his oversized shoes squeak-squeaking down the hallway...