The lights went out again, and as soon as I turned back to the lobby, the numbness was back. All I wanted to do was relax. The feeling was so refreshing, such a relief, the euphoria almost too much to fight.
There were five, six, no… ten. They were like tall children, some walking, others… arranging themselves, twitching in rickety sections, angling and reaching out like a scurrying insect.
None of this was alarming. It was such a delightful feeling. I wasn’t even worried that William was a few feet ahead of me, walking—
I heard the roar of engine. I groggily turned back to look outside, seeing Joe’s truck move in reverse and make a sharp turn towards the lobby. The light in the cab came on briefly, and Roxy was motioning wildly at me from behind the wheel.
“Get back!” I could see her yell.
The headlights of the truck shone out over the plow as it barreled towards the doors.
I rushed forward and grabbed William, stumbling away, closing my eyes as the glass exploded behind us.
As the plow smashed through the doors, I heard them scream. The sound, metallic and feline, made me want to cry out myself. The numbing feeling was immediately gone.
The truck tore back in reverse. I seized William and carried him over the shattered glass, wincing as an icy blast hit us both.
“What the hell?” I heard Joe call out, now turned in our direction. “What are you doing?”
“What are you doing, you moron!” Roxy hollered while she rolled down the window. “Took me driving through a building to get you to pay attention! Lynn, get in the backseat! Joe, get the hell in here! I had to use my bad foot to hit the gas, and it’s hurting like a son of a bitch!”
I opened the door and lifted William inside, looking back towards the lobby. “Go! Get away from here as fast as you can!”
“What the hell is going on out there?” Joe said, climbing in to take the wheel, rubbing the back of his head.
“Holy Mary Mother of God! William, is that really you?” Roxy reached out to brush his knee, and then winced in pain at the effort. “Lynn, you found him, you found him….”
“Roxy,” I said, my heart in my throat. “What happened to you?”
She leaned back. “Joe, get us the hell out of here.”
Joe sat, still dazed. “I… froze. I just can’t believe it. My whole head felt like I was doped up. What are those things? I mean, it can’t be—”
“Shut up and drive.”
The comment came from what I first thought was a pile of snowsuits on the other side of the bench. Instead, the groggy and wizened face of Verna Cliff revealed itself from within the hood of a long maroon coat. After scowling at Joe, she reached over and touched William’s shoulder. “Sweet boy. Your grandma found you.”
“How are you here…?” I stammered.
“Cover his eyes, Grandma.” Verna leaned forward. “Or he’ll be as useless as Joe was out there. Hard not to be; even I couldn’t look away.”
I realized that William hadn’t stirred. He was sitting on the edge of the seat, staring out the windshield.
I followed his gaze and immediately felt the numbing again. Beams of light spilled down from the snowing sky. Dozens of columns, white and gold, amid a flurry of colorful pulsating lights high in the gray night sky. As I looked beyond, I could see even more of the light beams behind the hospital.
Walking into the lights were people.
Even in the heavy snow, I could tell there were hundreds. They stood within each pillar of light, each wearing a hospital gown, looking up.
I knew with certainty that the basement to the hospital was now empty, and all those comatose people had risen for the first time. The power was out, so the door to the stairs was open. They had streamed out, a mindless mass, responding to the call.
I understood why. The closer we could all get to those lights, the better we would feel.
I reached over for the door handle when a large group of men in camouflage flooded past us, running to the hospital. I saw one point and sharply direct a few of his subordinates towards us.
Three soldiers broke off and ran to the driver’s side of the truck, pointing their rifles at us. As soon I focused on them, the calm feeling was gone.
“Oh shit,” Joe said.
“Put your hands where I can see them!” one of the men shouted.
One of the soldiers leaned into the glass and quickly spoke into the radio on his shoulder. “The boy and the old lady are in there. Do you copy? We’ve have them. They’re here.”
Drive, Joe! I wanted to scream.
“All of you, get out of the truck. Keep your hands up,” the first soldier ordered.
“Tell him his buddy made me too sore to move,” Roxy grumbled, her hands barely raised.
The soldier tapped the edge of his rifle on the glass. “Ma’am, we don’t have time for this! Do you hear me? Get out—”
Four beams of light shot down before the now-shattered entrance to White Crest. One beam was so close to the truck that Joe cried out. The soldiers turned, blinded by the searing light.
Seconds later, more shapes began to emerge from the hospital. All in the same stark hospital garb, all their faces calm and serene, walking towards the lights.
The feeling was so strong to join them that I opened the truck door, and heard Joe’s door ding, signaling he was feeling the same. William was already sliding across my lap to jump out.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?” Roxy cried out. “Drive, Joe! Dammit! And close the damn doors!”
“Shit,” Joe said, wiping his eyes.
“Don’t look at it!” I covered my own eyes. “Just drive Joe!”
Joe slammed on the gas. The pickup truck bolted forward, heading directly for the emerging masses.
“Turn!” Roxy yelled. The people in the light made no attempt to get out of the truck’s way. Joe spun the wheel and barely cleared a man and a small woman. Joe made another wild turn and drove directly towards two armored cars.
Again Joe turned, this time too late. Despite its snow tires, the truck slid into the front end of one of the military vehicles. We were all momentarily thrown forward, but Joe gave us no time to recover. He immediately took off again, driving down the row of vehicles and hanging right on the wrong way of a circle drive. He headed down a long road leading away from the medical center.
“Everybody OK?” Joe asked, out of breath.
“I’m gonna puke if you keep driving like this!” Verna said.
“Serves you right,” Roxy muttered.
“Whatever happens,” I said to Joe, “do not—I repeat—do not look into the lights.”
“What’s happening to us?” he asked, looking at me with genuine terror in his eyes, reaching out to touch the back of his head.
Knowing I couldn’t explain at this moment, I scooted to the edge of my seat. “Roxy, what happened to you? They showed me a picture of the van, they told me you’d been killed—”
A rifle shot suddenly sounded, and the back window of the quad cab cracked. I covered William’s head.
“Dammit,” Joe said, looking at his rearview mirror.
I turned to see three Humvees now following in the distance, their headlights beaming through the snow.
“Come on, Moses.” Joe pushed hard on the gas as houses started to appear. “Why are they shooting at us?”
“You think the government wants to you cruise on out of town to tell the world about this shit show?” Verna said.
“Aw, hell.” Joe took a sharp left down a side street. I was thankful for the chains I’d noticed on his tires. Otherwise, even on the recently cleared roads, we could have hit an icy spot and gone crashing into a building. Then another right, and another left, knocking down several snow-covered trash cans in an alley.
We heard another gunshot. “Can we get out of town?” I asked, feeling waves of carsickness.