Watcher in the Darkness, Book 3: Imprisoned

Chapter 35, Part 3

Nothing could have prepared us for what we found. The hallway was post-apocalyptic. Scattered papers, pools of blood, and a staggering number of dead bodies covered the floor. Broken florescent lights filled the hall with the stink of burning electronics. The fixtures that remained flickered like strobe lights. Torn student council banners hung over the stained glass windows.

A few feet away, two ghouls hunched over the corpse of a nun. They lifted their gore-stained faces when they sensed fresh meat, but continued to chew. Meat and blood gurgled in their throats as their vacant eyes turned toward Karen.

Karen stepped forward as she lifted her gun. She fired twice in as many seconds, delivering perfect shots to each ghouls' forehead. Brain tissue exploded from the backs of their skulls, then the twice-dead teenagers collapsed.

I knew then why Khalid had given Karen that weapon. I knew why he'd set up the target range in the basement of his whorehouse. All the better to terrorize the vampires that worked for him. I could've pointed all of this out to Karen. Maybe I should have. Instead, I nodded toward the dead ghouls and said, "Did you know them?"

Karen pointed her hand cannon at the ground, but kept her finger close to the trigger. "Probably. I'm not going to get a closer look, though. Come on. Trevor's class is on the next floor."

We made our way down the hall, our backs to the rows of lockers. We rounded the corner to find three more ghouls lounging under the stairwell. One feasted on a severed arm. All three had stomachs so distended they looked pregnant. The rest of the bodies on the stairs were crumpled in pools of their own blood and guts.

I held out my hand when Karen lifted her gun again. "Let me. My goddamn ears are still ringing."

Karen nodded, then looked away as I finished off her classmates. She put her hand on my arm in silent thanks as we climbed the stairs.

On the fifth floor, we hit a wall of stench that stopped us in our tracks. Karen leaned against the handrail as though she would pass out, her eyes shut tight. Being human, she couldn't just stop breathing, like I did. She turned her face into her elbow and took shallow breaths, but started to retch. If there'd been anything in her stomach, she would've vomited.

So many bodies littered the floor that there was no clear path through them. The tile was so red and sticky that it was impossible to tell its original color.

"Let me carry you." I didn't say what I was really thinking, though Karen had to have had the same thought. There was a better than average chance that one of those bodies belonged to Trevor.

"No," Karen said. She swallowed hard then began to pick her way through the corpses. "This way. Trevor's class is down this way."

Karen wouldn't look down, so I did it for her. It was then that I realized there was something strange about these bodies. The ones that had turned, either as vamps or ghouls, all seemed to have a single wound in common. Somewhere on their skull, a wide gash split the bone to expose gooey brain matter.

"Karen, wait," I said.

She stopped then turned next to a classroom crisscrossed by heavy steel flagpoles. The ends of the poles stabbed through metal lockers, effectively blocking the door. The door handle shook, but it was bound to the place where the poles intersected. Karen frowned as she took a step closer to the darkened window, then a white arm smashed through the glass. Reflex alone saved Karen as a clawed hand took a swipe at her face. She tripped over the body lying face-down behind her, then sprawled on the ground.