Chapter 17 The Assault at The Hospital

Natasha sat on the hospital bed—arms wrapped around her legs, reading a novel to pass the time while she waits for her dad to come take her home. At periodic intervals, she kept staring at the big clock that hung on the wall. She was getting upset at how long her dad was making her wait.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps outside the door and peeked her eyes to see what it was. Caught a glimpse of someone standing outside the door. Could tell that whoever was standing out there was masculine from its shadow.

“Who’s there?” she asked inquisitively, but there came no response.

Then her eyes narrowed. Placing a pen between the pages of the book, she closed it and set it aside. Felt like she was being watched, and it sent cold chills traveling down the length of her spine.

“Hello?” she called out nervously, leaping cautiously to the door. “Dad? Is that you?”

A knock sounded on the door and Natasha—frightened, stopped in her path. For a moment, she stared quietly at the door.

A thought came to her. Dad doesn’t knock.

Heart pounding against her ribcage, she slowly shuffled backward, away from the door.

That’s not dad.

She froze when she saw the doorknob slowly turned and the door slid open, giving off a terrifying creak. And she saw, standing at the entrance, her bodyguard.

“Derik! Oh thank God.” she exhaled in pure relief, holding her chest. “For a second there I thought you were…”

He walked in rather rudely.

“Wait, did my dad sent you to come pick me up?” she frowned, looking for more excuse to remain pissed at him.

“I no longer work for your dad.” he answered, sounding terribly upset. “I just had a falling out with your dad. Trust me, it wasn’t a pleasant one.”

“Why?” she asked, a tone of sadness in her voice. “Did something happen? Did dad fire you?”

“Your dad did something terrible today. He made a rash decision that ended up killing hundreds of innocent women and children today.”

Gasping, she brought her hand to her mouth. “My God! How did that happen?”

“He thought those people were shifters and order that their houses be burnt—all of it.” Derik went on tattling, a tone of frustration in his voice. “But he was wrong, I found none of them to be a shifter, not one. We ended up killing all those people for nothing.”

“Hold on a sec, I didn’t catch any of that? You’re literally speaking faster that my brain could process.” She tried to calm him, trying to make sense of all he’d said. “And what are shifters by the way?”

“They are human-animal hybrid. Look exactly like us, but they are not humans. They can shift shape themselves into animals.”

“Is that even possible?” she asked sceptically.

“I haven’t seen one transform before, but I have a feeling...” he trailed when he noticed T-Rex standing at the entrance, listening in on their conversation.

His height and body structure were threatening—even to Derik.

Feeling threatened, he quickly pulled out his gun and pointed it at him. “Who the hell are you?”

T-Rex said nothing, but started walking towards them.

“Stay where you are!” Derik’s grip tightened on the gun.

But T-Rex didn’t take the warning seriously. Kept right on walking toward them, eyes colour deepening, nails growing into sharp claws.

“Oh, God,” Derik’s eyes widened. “You are one of them.” he quickly turned to Natasha over his shoulder and yelled, “Get back now!”

T-Rex was already standing before him when he turned. Before Derik could pull the trigger, T-Rex slapped the gun off his hand and quickly gripped his neck, lifting him off the ground. The gun rolled off to the door.

Kevin came and stood by the large transparent window, peeking into the room. He watched as Derik pull out a small knife from his pocket to stab him, but T-Rex gripped his arm and forced the knife out.

Derik groaned as the knife fell from his hand into T-Rex’s outstretched fingers. Clasping the knife, he plunged it into his chest. Derik’s eyes widened in pain. Natasha gasped in fear at the horrifying sight of blood spilling from his chest. She crept back, away from T-Rex, until her back pressed against the wall.

Derik let out a shrill that sounded familiar to Kevin. It was at that moment that Kevin realized Derik was the screaming man from his dream. His eye widened as everything started to make sense to him—the burning houses, the blackbirds, the note, all these things were leading him to this very moment. Someone has been trying to warn him of this very moment.

T-Rex took out the knife from his chest and stabbed him again—this time just slightly above his abdomen. He groaned loudly, blood trickling down his trembling knees. His shirt was matted in blood. Then T-Rex took out the knife and drove it into his chest again.

Natasha stared in horror as he stabbed Derik repeatedly. With the knife still embedded in Derik’s chest, T-Rex tossed him aside. A thud sounded after Derik dropped to the floor. He groaned aloud in pain, holding his chest and rolling in his pool of blood.

Heart pounding against her ribcage, she let out a shrill as T-Rex started walking towards her. The door abruptly slid open, squalling on its hinges—loud and rusty, calling T-Rex’s attention.

Seconds before T-Rex turned, Kevin dashed through the door, slid on the floor and picked up Derik’s gun. And pulling back the harmer, he fired at T-Rex. The bullet struck between his shoulders. T-Rex, holding his blood-soaked shoulder, grunted at the sharp pains which rippled throughout his left arm.

The gun cocked in Kevin's hand, and he levelled it at T-Rex to fire again at him. His eyes went round when he noticed he was gone. Kevin’s eyes fell on the opened window which swivelled slightly with the wind. Hastily, he walked to it and peered through, T-Rex was far gone and out of sight. Kevin let out a sigh of relief. Disappointed, but nonetheless thankful.

He clings to Derik’s gun tightly, turned to Natasha and said, “We have to go now!”

“What? No!” she hesitated. “We can’t leave him, not like this. He’ll bleed to death.”

Kevin walked over to her and held her hands. “If you don’t come with me right now, he will come back to get you. Trust me, you would rather prefer he kills you right away compared to what he’s going to do to you after he captures you.”

She stopped fighting him, and Kevin led her out of the room, tucking the gun in his trousers. “We just need to find a nurse who’d take care of him. He would be fine.” he assured.

They joined the enormous crowd of scared women—mostly patients and visitors who’d come to see their loved ones, all running towards the exit. They had all been alarmed right after the gunshot went off. Kevin saw a lady nurse running in their direction and stopped her.

“Room 157, a man is dying in there.” Kevin said to her over the hysteria. “He was stabbed multiple times in the chest and needs urgent medical attention or he’ll die. He is with the TCU and was trying to stop an attack on one of your patients, but he got stabbed and wounded seriously.”

The loud screaming from the panicking crowd running towards the exit made it impossible for Kevin to hear himself, but somehow she had heard what he said.

“Alright sir, I would get the doctor to that room right away.” Then she left in a hurry.

When they had gotten out of the hospital through the emergency exit, they noticed that the police had completely sealed off the entrance. Many armed cops were running into the hospital in an orderly file.

Kevin glanced about and saw that the whole place was rowdy. Many panicking civilians were running in different directions. It was chaotic. Suddenly, a car stopped beside them, horning persistently to draw his attention.

Kevin leaned forward to see who it was. “Landry!” he exclaimed, smiling. “Boy, am I glad to see you!”

“Quick, this way!” he held Natasha’s hands and led her towards the car, but then, she hesitated

“No! My dad would be here soon, I better wait for him.”

Kevin placed his hand over her shoulder, eyes fixed on her. “Do you trust me?” he asked.

“Kevin, why does that even matter? I need to make sure I’m…”

He shook her gently, then asked again, “Just answer me, do you trust me?”

She stayed silent for a moment, looking up at his ocean blue eyes, then she nodded.

Kevin held her hand and led her to Landry’s car. The door opened, and they hopped in. Landry drove away. And soon after they left, Mr. William drove in.