Abby Watson had been dead to the world when a familiar, and yet highly unusual, noise woke her. It sounded like firecrackers; it sounded like an assault rifle.
It took her a moment to realize she wasn’t dreaming, and even though it didn’t sound like it was coming from the hallway directly outside of her door, it seemed to be on this floor. She heard several more shots and screams of terror as she dug her gun out of her bag and hurried to the door.
She opened it cautiously, stuck her head out into the hallway, and saw that it was clear. Staying against the wall, she slid down the hall, quickly but carefully. When she got to the nurses’ station, she saw no one. She could still hear noise coming from the area near Gibbon’s room. She dropped down behind the nurses’ station, and feeling around the bottom of the desk, she finally found what she was looking for—the silent alarm.
Before she extracted herself completely from beneath the desk, she looked around the corner to make sure it was all clear. The fire seemed to have stopped, at least momentarily, but she could still hear strange noises, so she crept from beneath the counter and began to make her way slowly toward the source. As she approached the entryway to the waiting room she had spent so many hours in earlier that day, she saw the body of Nurse Sally lying precariously on the ground in a pool of blood. She heard a strange noise coming from around the corner. It sounded like a suction of some sort, a soft sucking noise, and she realized instantly that she had heard that noise once before. Dropping to the ground, she peered around the corner, and there she saw one of the most disturbing sights she’d ever lay eyes on, despite her lengthy career in law enforcement.
A large disfigured man was straddling her partner, his face pressed to Dixon’s neck, and as he pulled his head back, Watson could clearly see the blood running down his chin. She froze, a flashback to that fateful night years ago filling her senses. Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe; her hands began to tremble. Somehow, she managed to pull herself back around the corner. She wanted to run to Dixon, to help him, but she knew there was nothing she could do for him now, just as there had been nothing she could do for her sister.
Watson took several deep breaths and calmed herself the best she could, shaking those memories out of her head. “Focus,” she thought to herself. She might not be able to save Dixon, but there were other people in this hospital who still might be in danger. She pulled herself back to a crouching position, and prepared to round the corner. However, as she did so, she heard some shouting, and though she couldn’t make out the words, they were followed by the sound of hurried footsteps down the hall in the opposite direction. Stepping out from around the corner, gun drawn, she prepared to face the monster. But it was too late—he was gone. And so was Dixon.
* * *
Andrew Cooper had been the Philadelphia Area leader for a few years. For the most part, it hadn’t been that difficult a job, not compared to some areas. He was a Guardian, and he’d been around for a couple of centuries. When he’d gotten the call from Aaron earlier that evening that there was a possibility that Giovani was moving in on the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he had been shocked—and ill prepared. They had never faced anyone the likes of Giovani. It had taken him hours to pool his resources and assemble his people. Now, as he approached the hospital with his team, he could clearly hear that something was going on inside. Alarms were sounding, people were running out of the building, and police sirens blared in the distance. As they came to a stop, a helicopter took off from the roof. That couldn’t be good.
“I think we might be too late,” he had let Aaron and the rest of headquarters know as they pulled into the emergency room entrance. He had fifteen other team members in multiple vehicles, including two motorcycles, nearby. “Cover all of the exits,” he commanded as he exited the SUV he was driving.
The order wasn’t very specific, and through the IAC, he heard Aaron begin to give directions. He could access all of the information Andrew had available through his IAC. Aaron sent two Hunters and a Guardian to the back of the building, four more to a side entrance, and several others to the front of the building. He instructed Andrew and two Hunters, GeeGee and Cutter, to go in through the emergency room exit.
“I’ve gotten access to the hospital security cameras,” Aaron explained, “and it looks like you’ve got four assailants headed down the back stairway. You need to stop them. Try to bring at least one of them in alive if you can so we can question him.”
“Got it,” Andrew said. As they entered the building, they flashed badges at the staff and patients who were huddled on the floor, most of them cowering behind furniture or other objects. They rarely used these badges, as they often pretended to be from another agency, but these clearly said LIGHTS on them, and they were using them because it had been a direct order from Aaron earlier that night.
No one was really looking at them, however.
Andrew led his contingency toward the back stairwell, guns drawn. Before they reached the door, however, it burst open, and the four intruders assumed a defensive formation, firing as they made their way toward a side exit.
Andrew took the lead, trying to provide as much protection as he could to his two Hunters. Vampire bullets couldn’t hurt him, but they could kill his teammates. Though they were returning fire, GeeGee and Cutter were relatively new, and they hadn’t been in many shootouts. None of their shots hit their mark.
Giving chase, Andrew pursued the men down the hallway, his teammates following behind. He fired several rounds, but it was difficult to aim and run at the same time, and the Vampires were moving quickly. He struck one of them in the leg, and he fell backward. His teammates caught him and continued their sprint to the door.
Just as the Vampires reached the back exit, there was a volley of fire from the LIGHTS members Aaron had directed to take up that location. One of them, a Hunter named Reggie, hit the shortest Vampire directly in the shoulder. He screamed in pain and dropped. A black Jeep screeched out of a parking spot near the door and pulled in front of the Vampires. Reggie and his teammates continued to shoot, but the driver was spraying them with an assault weapon, and they had to take cover. Occasionally, they would pop up and fire off a round, but none of their shots were effective, and within seconds the vehicle sped away, leaving behind a distinct pile of dust on the sidewalk near the exit.
Andrew and his contingency burst through the back door, and Aaron shouted at Reggie and the other two to hold their fire, but one of them didn’t process the order fast enough, and GeeGee was hit in the leg by her own teammate. She fell to the ground, writhing in agony, and Andrew turned his attention to her to assess the damage. When a Hunter shot another Hunter, the bullet would bounce, which meant her life was not in danger, but it could still be very painful.
