"You're scaring me, Clay."

"Good. Scared's a good thing to be right now, considering what's roaming the halls. You sit tight. I'm on my way."

Shaken, she hung up.

...considering what's roaming the halls...monsters everywhere...

That didn't sound good, not good at all. But it dovetailed with the vampire thing...they created more of themselves. But didn't you have to die and get buried and rise from the grave to become one? Didn't it take--?

She heard the elevator open. Clay?

No. No way he could make it from the ER yet.

Don't let anyone in but me, and I do mean anyone.

She was going to take that to heart--her own picked up its tempo as she looked around. Something to stick through the handles...

Her gaze settled on the crucifix. No, too big. Never get Jesus's knees through those handles. But the slim cross in the side alcove ran about six feet along the upright.

Perfect.

She hurried over to it and yanked on it, expecting resistance. But it was hung on a nail like a plaque. It came loose and toppled toward her. She tried to hold it up but it over balanced her and she fell backward into the folding chairs with a terrible racket.

No way anyone--or anything--in the hall hadn't heard that.

The cross had landed atop her. She pushed it off, jumped to her feet, and lugged it toward the doors. This wasn't some plaster casting, this thing was solid wood, and not light. She'd chosen an academic field to avoid exercise. Now she wished--

She froze for a second. A sound outside...like a hiss? Panic lent her strength, lunging her forward to shove the long end of the upright through the loops of both handles.

"Did it!" she whispered.

Then something hissed and hit the other side of the doors.

Shanna couldn't help it. She screamed.

And instantly wished she hadn't because it seemed to incite the thing outside. It slammed its full weight against the doors, moving them inward an inch or so, but the cross held and kept them closed. This seemed to infuriate the thing. It threw itself against the barrier, and she could hear claws gouging the outer surface.

Mortimer...trying to get in?

She backed away from the ferocity of the attack as the thing repeatedly hurled itself against the doors.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Didn't it feel pain? Didn't it get tired?

And where was Clay?

As the assault continued she noticed a faint diagonal line begin to stretch across the cross's upright between the door handles. A crack? Oh, no!

She stepped closer. Yes! The wood was breaking under the relentless onslaught. She pressed her own weight against the doors to take the stress off the cross but was knocked back as the thing outside rammed them with shocking force.

She had an awful thought. When Clay did arrive, what could he do? He'd be powerless against that raging thing outside. No, wait. What was she thinking? This was Clay she was worried about. He'd have a gun--Clay always had a gun. But would a gun work against these things?

Meanwhile, she had to fend for herself. She needed to slide the upright farther through the handles so the cracked part was no longer between them. She got a grip on the crosspiece just as the thing rammed the doors with a particularly vicious blow.

That did it. The upright split and the doors flew open, knocking her back. Shanna staggered but didn't fall. She still had her grip on the cross. She held it up as she looked at the thing.

It wasn't Mortimer--or rather what Mortimer had become. This one wore a bloody orderly's uniform. A piece seemed to be missing from its neck. Its skin was cocoa colored but the fangs were the same as the "Dracula skull."

The thing saw the cross and cringed.

It's afraid of the cross! Yes!

"Back!" she cried, hoping to drive it out of the chapel.

It looked around and crouched as if the walls and ceiling were closing in on it.

"Out! You chose the wrong place to break into. This is God's territory. Leave!"

The creature looked again at the cross, then straightened. It gazed at Shanna with its black, black eyes and shook its head. If it had any lips left, it might have smiled.

"No." She backed away. It had been toying with her. "No, please!"

It leaped--literally flew through the air toward her. She angled the cross to fend it off. The upright had split diagonally along the grain, leaving a ragged point. The creature landed on it, driving Shanna back. This time she did lose her footing, but kept her grip on the crosspiece as she went down. The head of the upright caught on the carpet, and its other end plunged a good foot deep into the creature's chest.

As the impaled thing hissed and thrashed, Shanna scrambled to her feet and backed away, waiting for it to die. Staked through the heart--that was how you killed vampires, right?

But it didn't die. Shanna watched in horror as it lifted the cross and tried to pull it out.

"No!" She stepped forward and pushed against the crosspiece. "No way!"

It clawed at her, raking the air in front of her face with its talons, but couldn't get closer. If it ever connected, her nose and lips would be ripped off.

Now it pushed against the cross, taking her by surprise. She couldn't hold against its strength. The thing was backing her up. She flashed on what it was up to--trying to pin her against a wall, or better yet, into a corner. Couldn't let that happen.

She angled them around, keeping open space behind her.

Not so open. The back of her legs hit a chair. She went down. The thing was above her, slashing with its talons.

Through her scream she thought she heard someone shout, "Hey!"

As the thing looked up, a number of things happened almost at once: A black steel tube punched through its fangs into its mouth with a sharp crack, followed almost immediately by a blast that slammed her eardrums; the back of the creature's head dissolved in a red spray, taking a good deal of the forehead with it, leaving a pair of black eyes with an oddly surprised look.

Shanna held back a surge of bile and shoved against the cross, toppling the creature backward as Deputy Clayton Theel pulled her to her feet and wrapped her in his arms.

"Christ!" she heard him say through the whine in her ears. "If I'd been half a minute later..."

Shanna sobbed as she returned the embrace. She'd never been so glad to see anyone in her life.

"C-C-Clay! Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you!"

"Not a problem."

"What's happening?"

"I don't know what they are, Shanna, but they're multiplying."

"How many have you seen?"

"I've put down fourteen of them already." He looked at the thing on the floor. "Make that fifteen."

She pushed back and stared at him. He was carrying that strange-looking, rapid-fire shotgun he'd shown her a couple of weeks ago, and had a huge duffel bag slung from his shoulder.

"Fifteen?"

"Yep. Everything from ER patients to nurses to orderlies to operators."

Shanna's insides twisted. They were spreading like wildfire. It seemed impossible. All starting with...

"Was one of those patients you saw Mortimer Moorecook?"

Clay shrugged. "How could I tell? All their faces look the same."

He had a point.

"He was wearing black slacks with a gold belt buckle."

"No. Nobody like that. Why?"

"I think he started it all. I think he's patient zero."

"What are you talking about?"

She gave Clay a quick rundown of the "Dracula skull" and seeing Mortimer in the lobby.