HALLOWEEN: WITCHING HOUR

Haddonfield Memorial Hospital 11:17 PM

Flames rip through the surgical wing of Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. An explosion blows a door from its hinges and blasts it across the hallway sinking it halfway into a wall. A massive fireball gushes through the open doorway and tunnels its way down the hall scorching paint off the walls and bubbling linoleum tile as it flames across them. The fireball is sucked towards the closest source of oxygen and meets it at the rear entrance doors, exploding through them and ejecting the aluminum doors out into the cool night with a loud whistle.

"Hit the deck!" Fire chief Grady Tapper screams.

The blast rocks the group of fire and policemen gathered outside. A storm of glass and embers rains down on the parking lot. The crews dive behind vehicles and drop to the pavement covering their heads as the mess drops down all around them. Grady rolls away just in time as a door handle clangs off the ground where he was. Grady hears a faint PTTSSSSS as the red-hot handle spins away out of control.

"Jesus jumpin' Christ! We gotta shut this down pronto!" Grady yells to no one. He gets to his feet and takes in the scene of chaos outside of the hospital- glass and little burning piles of rubble scattered everywhere, firemen (his men) cowering on the ground, police hugging the bumpers of their cars, a news reporter rolling around on the pavement extinguishing his burning suit coat, fear taking control. This is not good. He thinks.

Grady spots Sheriff Lee Brackett staring in disbelief at the burning hospital entrance. He marches over to him and snatches the megaphone Brackett is holding right out of his hands. Brackett snaps out of his trance and grabs for the megaphone.

"Now just what do you-" Brackett starts but Grady shoves him back.

"We need to control this goddammit! This aint gonna be like the shit show you had earlier!" Bracket glares at him but before he can respond Grady raises the megaphone to his lips.

"Listen up people! Hey! Listen up!" The spooked crowd slowly rises to their feet as they quiet down and tune into Grady. "We got a 'Class-A' problem going on here and we need to get this situation on lock down right away! I need two teams; Harker you get your house hoses on that entrance double-quick! Matthews you and your boys are heading in behind them breaking doors and pulling out anyone breathing." There won't be nobody breathing, the thought pops in his brain.

Grady turns the megaphone in Brackett's direction and shouts into it. "Brackett!" Brackett jerks his head back and shoots Grady a stone-cold glare. "You tell your rodeo clowns to cover all the exits here, nobody that isn't wearing a uniform or isn't accompanied by a uniform, walks out of that hospital without somebody seeing them. Let's get our asses in gear!" Grady tosses the megaphone back at Brackett and meets his glare. "Move it sheriff!"

Harker runs to one of his fire trucks and twists the water valve open then calls out to his team, "Okay men you heard him! Let's water that plant!" Harker's crew takes a hold of their hoses and drags them toward the blazing entrance of Haddonfield Memorial. In seconds water pounds the entrance immediately extinguishing flames and carving a pathway through the blazing entrance. Harker motions for his team to press in deeper as gallons of water coat the walls and floor, with each blast the fire disappearing in a sizzling shriek.

Matthews's team drops in behind Harker's like a tailback following a fullback, using their fire axes to smash charred wood debris helping to clear a clean path. As the two teams push deeper into the hospital smoke and steam from the smoldering blaze swallow them whole.

****

Grady approaches one of the hospital doctors as he feverishly works on a burned man on the ground. "Okay Linklater I need to know what my boys walking into in there? What's the layout?" Grady asks.

Doctor Linklater looks away from the burn victim for a moment to address Grady. "That's the surgical wing." He nods. "There's plenty of rooms, but chief listen, there's a ton of gas and O2 tanks down there too and if those flames aren't put out there's going to be real trouble!" Linklater snaps open his medical kit and starts fishing around inside of it.

"Relax Doc, I think those tanks already went up." Grady flings his arm up in the air, "Obviously they went up. Hell, the damn doors blew right off! One almost decapitated me over there!" He points over to the mangled remains of a door laying 30 feet away.

Doctor Linklater looks to the door and back to Grady and shakes his head. "Chief, you must tell your men to move quickly! There aren't enough resources to treat your men if another explosion happens! Grady motions with a blood-stained hand, "I can barely treat this man!"

"Hey! Let my men do their job and you do yours!" Grady looks down at the injured man slipping in and out of consciousness. Half of the man's face has been melted away leaving what looks like a chewed wad of bubblegum. Grady looks away in disgust. "Christ almighty. Is he going to make it?"

"The life flight is on its way. There is a slight chance he will live. I'm only one man here! Where the hell is Dr. Mixter? Where the hell are any of the other doctors?"

Slight. Grady almost lets out a laugh.

Linklater tears open a pack of burn cream and smears the gel over the warped skin. "Considering these burns there's no way this man will ever heal normally, he may lose vision in this eye. Who knows what the damage that we can't see is."

"What about the Strode girl? What's her name? Mary?"

"Laurie. She's going to make it, physically that is. Mentally? Who knows? Either way she's currently riding via police escort to Santa Mira Medical. It's the closest hospital outside of Haddonfield." Linklater replies as he does his best to dress Loomis's wounds.

"Have you ID'd this man?" Grady asks. Linklater looks up at him in disbelief.

"This is his doctor."