"Get back!" Klaus cried. "This knife is very sharp!"
"You can't kill all of us," the hook-handed man replied. "In fact, I doubt you have the courage to kill anyone."
"It doesn't take courage to kill someone," Klaus said. "It takes a severe lack of moral stamina."
At the mention of the phrase "severe lack of moral stamina," which here means "cruel selfishness combined with a love of violence," Olaf's associates laughed in delight. "Your fancy words won't save you now, you twerp," Esmé said.
"That's true," Klaus admitted. "What will save me now is a bed on wheels used to transport hospital patients."
Without another word, Klaus tossed the rusty knife to the floor, startling Olaf's associates into stepping back. The circle of people with a severe lack of moral stamina was spread out a little more, just for a moment, but a moment was all the Baudelaires needed. Klaus jumped onto the gurney, which began to roll quickly toward the square metal door they had come in. A cry rose from the audience as the Baudelaires sped past Olaf's associates.
"Get them!" the hook-handed man cried. "They're getting away!"
"They won't get away from me!" Hal promised, and grabbed the gurney just before it reached the door. The gurney slowed to a halt, and for a second Sunny found herself face-to-face with the old man. Butterflies fluttered in the youngest Baudelaire's stomach as he glared at her from behind his tiny glasses. Unlike Olaf's associates, Hal was not an evil person, of course. He was merely someone who loved the Library of Records and was trying to capture the people he believed had set it on fire, and it pained Sunny to see that he thought she was an evil criminal, instead of an unlucky infant. But she knew she did not have time to explain to Hal what had really happened. She scarcely had time to say a single word, and yet that is precisely what the youngest Baudelaire did.
"Sorry," Sunny said to Hal, and gave him a small smile. Then she opened her mouth a little wider, and bit Hal's hand as gently as she could, so that he would let go of the gurney without getting hurt.
"Ow!" Hal said, and let go. "The baby bit me!" he shouted to the crowd.
"Are you hurt?" a nurse asked.
"No," Hal replied, "but I let go of the gurney. They're rolling out the door!"
The Baudelaires rolled out the door, with Violet's eyes flickering open, Klaus steering the gurney, and Sunny hanging on for dear life. The children rolled down the hallways of the Surgical Ward, dodging around surprised doctors and other medical professionals.
"Attention!" announced Mattathias's voice over the intercom. "This is Mattathias, the Head of Human Resources! The Baudelaire murderers and arsonists are escaping on a gurney! Capture them at once! Also, the fire is spreading throughout the hospital! You might want to evacuate!"
"Noriz!" Sunny shouted.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Klaus cried, dangling his legs over the side of the gurney to scoot it along. "Violet, wake up, please! You can help push!"
"I'm try ... ing. . . ." Violet muttered, squinting around her. The anesthesia made everything seem faint and foggy, and it was almost impossible for her to speak, let alone move.
"Door!" Sunny shrieked, pointing to the door that led out of the Surgical Ward. Klaus steered the gurney in that direction and rode past Olaf's fat associate who looked like neither a man nor a woman, who was still dressed as a spurious guard. With a terrible roar, it began to give chase, walking in huge, lumbering steps, as the Baudelaires raced toward a small group of Volunteers Fighting Disease. The bearded volunteer, who was playing some very familiar chords on his guitar, looked up to see the gurney wheel past them.
"Those must be those murderers Mattathias was talking about!" he said. "Come on, everyone, let's help that guard capture them!"
"Sounds good to me," another volunteer agreed. "I'm a bit tired of singing that song, if you want to know the truth."
Klaus steered the gurney around a corner, as the volunteers joined the overweight associate in pursuit. "Wake up," he begged Violet, who was looking around her in a confused way. "Please, Violet!"
"Stairs!" Sunny said, pointing to a staircase. Klaus turned the gurney in the direction his sister indicated, and the children began to roll down the stairs, bouncing up and down with each step. It was a fast, slippery ride that reminded the children of sliding down the bannisters at 667 Dark Avenue, or colliding with Mr. Poe's automobile when they were living with Uncle Monty. At a curve in the staircase, Klaus scraped his shoes against the floor to stop the gurney, and then leaned over to look at one of the hospital's confusing maps.
"I'm trying to figure out if we should go through that door," he said, pointing at a door marked "Ward for People with Nasty Rashes," "or continue down the staircase."
"Dleen!" Sunny cried, which meant "We can't continue down the staircase--look!"
Klaus looked, and even Violet managed to focus enough to look down where Sunny was pointing. Down the staircase, just past the next landing, was a flickering, orange glow, as if the sun was rising out of the hospital basement, and a few wisps of dark black smoke were curling up the staircase like the tentacles of some ghostly animal. It was an eerie sight that had haunted the Baudelaires in their dreams, ever since that fateful day at the beach when all their trouble began. For a moment, the three children were unable to do anything but stare down at the orange glow and the tentacles of smoke, and think about all they had lost because of what they were looking at.
"Fire," Violet said faintly.
"Yes," Klaus said. "It's spreading up this staircase. We've got to turn and go back upstairs."
From upstairs, the Baudelaires listened to the associate roar again, and heard the bearded volunteer reply.
"We'll help you capture them," he said. "Lead the way, sir--or is it madam? I can't tell."
"No up," Sunny said.
"I know," Klaus said. "We can't go up the stairs and we can't go down. We have to go into the Ward for People with Nasty Rashes."
Having made this rash decision, Klaus turned the gurney and wheeled it through the door, just as Mattathias's voice came through on the intercom. "This is Mattathias, the Head of Human Resources," he said hurriedly. "All associates of Dr. Flacutono, continue to search for the children! Everyone else, gather in front of the hospital--either we will catch the murderers as they escape, or they'll be burned to a crisp!"
The children rolled into the Ward for People with Nasty Rashes and saw that Mattathias was right. The gurney was racing down a hallway, and the children could see another orange glow at the far end of it. The children heard another roar behind them as the overweight associate lumbered down the stairs. The siblings were trapped in the middle of a hallway that led only to a fiery death or to Olaf's clutches.
Klaus leaned down and stopped the gurney. "We'd better hide," he said, jumping to the floor. "It's too dangerous to be rolling around like this."
"Where?" Sunny asked, as Klaus helped her down.
"Someplace close by," Klaus said, grabbing Violet's arm. "The anesthesia is still wearing off, so Violet can't walk too far."
"I'll . . . try. . . ." Violet murmured, stepping unsteadily off the gurney and leaning on Klaus. The children looked around and saw that the nearest door was marked "Supply Closet."
"Glaynop?" Sunny asked.
"I guess so," Klaus said doubtfully, opening the door with one hand while balancing Violet with the other. "I don't know what we can do in a supply closet, but at least it'll hide us for a few moments."