There was no explanation as to why the Guardian wouldn’t be able to see Cassidy’s signal. Confused, Cassidy asked, “Did you try sending for help?”
“Tried… no answer….” The woman’s voice was a hoarse croak.
“Brandon is getting help,” Cassidy assured her. “Just hang on.”
She nodded, and Cassidy continued to puzzle over why she was able to get a message to Brandon but no one else could be reached by anyone inside of the tagging center.
“Look, if this Brandon person is getting help, maybe we should hang back,” Dax suggested as they began to walk, weapons drawn, down the dark hall in the direction Cassidy believed would lead them back to the holding cells. She’d read some of the signage the night before and had an idea where it was that they kept the Vampires who had come in to be tagged. She remembered what she’d been told about no new Vampires coming in, but she had no way of knowing how many were already here.
“I think it would be a great idea if the two of you did just that,” Cassidy replied. Thoughts of Bonnie accidentally getting shot in the crossfire, damaged somehow, made her feet keep moving forward. The echo of two sets of footsteps, however light, followed her.
Cassidy saw the office in front of her, the one where she’d met Faye. A streak of blood covered the frosted glass doors on both the right and left, and down the hallway were various Guardians tossed about with blood splatters so high up the walls some even dripped off of the ceiling.
The wall next to the office door was riddled with bullet holes and there were a few piles of black dust here as well. Ash. Vampire bodies.
With a trembling hand, Cassidy reached out and opened the office door. There was no blood on the inside, though she did see some ash on the floor. The alarm sound seemed to be coming from back down the hall where she’d played with Bonnie, and she was just about to head that direction when she spied a hand on the keyboard and rushed over.
Between the slightly open glass partitions, she could just see an arm, dressed in a white nurse’s uniform, reaching up from the floor, as if the woman was attempting to pull herself up to standing. Cassidy pushed the glass open a bit more and flung herself through, doing a somersault and landing on her feet, just missing Lena’s legs.
She was still alive, obviously. Otherwise, she would’ve been ash. Cassidy dropped down to her knees and shifted the nurse around so she could see her face. There were bullet holes all down the front of her uniform. Her coloring was an off-gray pallor, and Cassidy realized she didn’t have long to live. “Lena, what happened?”
The Vampire seemed to recognize her own kind immediately. Her eyes softened. “Cassidy—I… I’m sorry.”
“What happened, Lena?” There was another reverberation as something heavy seemed to hit the wall, not too far from where they were standing. Cassidy looked around, catching Dax’s eyes. He looked terrified.
“Bonnie,” Lena whispered.
“Where is she?” Cassidy implored, grasping the woman by the shoulders. “Where is Bonnie?”
“Get… Bonnie….” Lena’s face contorted as if the pain had suddenly become overwhelming. Her eyes full of sadness, her lips frozen in a grimace, she took one staggered breath and then faded away. A split second later, Cassidy found herself kneeling by a pile of ashes.
Fighting back tears, Cassidy stood and headed for the door that led to the patient area. She knew she could access the back through the door behind her as well, but if Dax and Tara were insisting on going with her, they needed to stay together. Once she found Bonnie, she’d barricade the four of them into a room so that no other Vampires could reach them and wait for help. She absently wondered why Brandon had said nothing back to her.
“Let’s go,” she said, once she was back with the other two. She held her Glock in front of her, noting that the aftermarket safety was already off, and proceeded down the hallway.
They passed several offices, each of them in various states of disarray, a few containing bodies. She couldn’t see Bonnie anywhere and wondered if the girl had gotten frightened and tried to hide somewhere once the mayhem was unleashed.
And then, up ahead in the toy room, the same place they’d come the night before, Cassidy saw her. Dressed in the same pink dress Faye had chosen the night before, she stood next to the doctor, who was leaning against the same plush pink stool Cassidy had occupied not even twenty-four hours ago. Just like the other Guardians in the hallway, Faye’s throat had been ripped out. Bonnie stood staring at the older woman, the pink frock coated in a thick layer of blood. Her chin was smeared with it as well, and it dripped off, all down her front. She licked her fingers, turned, and smiled at Cassidy.
Faye was breathing and tried to say something, but Cassidy was so distracted by the Vampire, she couldn’t hazard a guess as to what it might be. “Bonnie,” she said quietly. “Are you okay?”
“You came to see me,” Bonnie said, turning to face her.
“No…” Faye said, attempting to sit up but failing. “No… Cass….”
Cassidy’s eyes flickered from the pained face of the Guardian back to the child. Despite the sticky red liquid running down the front of her dress in rivulets, she was just as adorable as Cassidy remembered from the night before. “Are you hurt, Bonnie?” Cassidy asked, taking a step forward.
“I knew you’d come back.” Bonnie ran to her, and as if compelled to protect the child so like herself, Cassidy dropped to her knees, sliding the Glock into the back of her waistband, embracing her, not concerned about Faye’s blood covering her T-shirt and jeans.
