Sanctuary (6 page)

“Isn’t that a fire hazard?”

“Not today.” Fred scratched his chest with the bamboo scratcher. “The news guy says to keep all doors bolted, and that’s what I’m doing.”

“Great.” Hugh walked up to the glass door and peered outside.

Injured people mulled around aimlessly and with an uneven gait. Their wails permeated the glass. Somewhere, not too distant, a woman was screaming. How could Fred just ignore this?

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Hugh needed out. Somehow, he had to help the woman.

“Like what? The phone lines are down, and I ain’t no paramedic. Are you?”

Hugh shook his head in disgust and turned his back to the glass doors. “What if one of the condo owners comes up to the doors?"

“For a school teacher, you’re not so bright, huh? That’s why my apartment door is open, of course. I can hear someone knocking, and I’ll let them in. But I ain’t letting in anyone else, and no one leaves.”

Hugh clenched his jaw in frustration. He jumped at the abrupt pounding behind him. A man's fists hammered the doors. Blood streaked down the glass, blurring the face, as the man slowly dropped to the pavement.

Blinking twice, Hugh realized that it was Scott James. Scott lived on the seventh floor and had invited Hugh and Clarissa to his Christmas party last year. The glazed eyes made Scott almost unrecognizable. Hugh shuddered. Scott’s face was red and bloated. Patches of hair laced in the fingers that pressed against the glass. His mouth opened in a constant scream, his tongue black and swollen.

Hugh backed up a step and bumped into Fred.

“Ugly, ain’t it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“They have been like this for almost twenty minutes now. The news hadn’t even reported it yet.”

“Huh?”

“Them people that got bit are sick or somethin’. I dunno. But they’re screaming, moaning, and attacking each other and other people. You see? It was for your safety that I ain’t letting you outside.”

Fred walked around to the other side of Hugh and started pushing him back toward the elevators. “As long as they stay out there, and we stay in here, everything’s hunky-dory.”

Hugh allowed himself to be herded, still in shock, still speechless. He glanced over his shoulder. Scott James had left several bloody handprints on the door, but he was gone.

When they had reached the elevator, Fred took his nasty hand off of Hugh and waved it in his face. “See ya later, Teach.”

And the elevator doors swished shut.

CLARISSA NUZZLED BRAD’S EAR AN
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put her hand in his back pocket. Putting on his best charismatic smile, Brad Harris put an arm around her waist and stepped up to the coffee shop counter. He nodded a greeting to the barista. “Hey, can I get two Grande Caramel Lattes?”

With a giggle Clarissa whispered in his ear, “Extra whipped cream.”

Her breath caused tingles down the back of his neck. He repeated her request. The barista rolled her eyes and turned around to make their coffees.

Brad chuckled. He relished the freedom of being in a city where no one knew him. While Clarissa’s senator father was back in Williamsburg, she and Brad got to know each other better while staying in the Capitol Hill townhouse.

When the barista returned with the two coffees, Brad reached for his wallet but hesitated, fully expecting not to pay.

“I got it, Babe.” Clarissa growled into his ear and placed a twenty on the counter.

Without a word, the barista took the twenty and went to the register. Brad released Clarissa and took the two coffees to a table by the window. The Starbucks sat nearly empty. Long ago, it might have been strange on a Thursday morning at 9:15, but not with a large, impervious, silver disk hanging in the sky over the Washington Monument. The pale sunlight poured yellow upon the city outside the window, making the midsummer feel like late fall.

“Keep the change.” Clarissa giggled.

Brad snorted his derision while his back was turned to Clarissa. He set the coffees down on the table and held the chair for her. She touched his shoulder in thanks.

“What should we do today?” he asked.

Her brown, doe eyes blinked as Clarissa gently bit her bottom lip. After a moment, she asked, “What would you like to do today?”

Great. Dodging again. Did this girl have no personality? He was already growing sick of this conversation. Playing the lovesick younger brother had taken its toll when he had worked to seduce her from Hugh. Now it was about time to shift gears. He knew women, and if he didn’t take control of this relationship, she would.

“Well, this town is empty and boring. I know a guy who does tattoos and piercings if you want to try something new.”

Clarissa’s face flushed, and she dropped her wide eyes. It was obvious. Daddy’s little girl was clean skinned and ‘normal.’  It shook her up to suggest piercings or tattoos.

She finally muttered, “I don’t know.”

“A belly button ring might be sexy or maybe a cute little tattoo on your hipbone.”

Clarissa furrowed her brow a little and tilted her head. “I don’t know.”

“You’re not scared are you?”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

Playing with the ring above his eyebrow, Brad replied with a wink, “Not much. You can handle it.”

A smile played on her lips, and he knew he’d get his way.

A low rumbling struck his chest, and Brad jerked his head up to look out the window. He expected a low-rider to come by on the street with its bass turned up to the max. The table started to shake and the glass wall quivered.

Brad frowned and pushed back his chair. The rumbling became nearly all he could hear. Clarissa stood next to him and put her hand in his. He took it without a thought. Behind them, the barista squealed, and something made of glass shattered. The manager came out of his office and yelled a curse.

“Is it an earthquake?” Clarissa leaned hard against Brad’s shoulder.

“Earthquakes don’t make noise like this.”

A man in a suit ran past the glass doors, swinging a briefcase behind him. A lion-like creature dodged the briefcase and gained on the man. Clarissa’s vise-like grip became painful, but Brad didn’t move. He clenched his fists and watched the dog-sized lion grab the man by the back of the thigh and pull him down. When the man hit the ground, the creature jumped on his back and bit his shoulder.  The lion twisted its head and considered Brad and Clarissa. Blood dripped from its jaw. It studied them for a moment before it turned and ran away.

“What was that?” The Starbucks manager came up to the window and threw his hands on his hips. His nametag said his name was Steve.

Speechless, Brad shook his head and tried to make sense of what had just happened. Nausea welled up in his chest, burning his esophagus. Motion sickness. Had to be the constant vibration. The monotonous rumble had a deafening effect. He stepped forward, trying unsuccessfully to extract himself from Clarissa’s claws.

The manager reached the glass doors and peered out onto the street. He eyed the man who’d been injured by the alien lion and yelled back to the barista, “Hey, Susie! You better call 911!”

Brad glanced back. The barista sat, balled on the floor in front of the counter, crying and hugging her knees. She didn’t even respond to the manager’s command. Brad reached into his back pocket, pulling away from Clarissa. Even though her face showed no expression, she loosened her grip.

Pulling out his Blackberry, he dialed. After one ring, an operator picked up. “911 emergency. This is Lisa, how can I help you?”

“Hi Lisa, I don’t know how to explain this, but we just witnessed an attack on man by a…I don’t know a lion or something.”

“What is your name, sir?”

“Brad Harris.”

“And your location?”

“We are at the Starbucks on Massachusetts Avenue, near the Capitol in D.C.”

“Do you have an exact address?”

Brad called over to the manager whose hands never left his hips as he stared into the street, obviously too scared to open the door. “Hey, what’s the street address?”

“5142,” the manager answered, placing a hand on the handle and inching the door open.

Brad repeated the number.

Another, slightly bigger lion-dog rounded the corner and came for the glass doors.

Clarissa screamed.

The manager pulled the door closed and flicked the deadbolt. He backed up so fast that he tripped over a chair and tumbled to the floor.

Clarissa grabbed him, screaming in his ear and digging her nails into his arm. Brad’s heart raced. His breath quickened. He gritted his teeth.

They all needed to stay calm.

The lion creature regarded them all through the glass and then turned its head and rushed down the street.

“Sir? Sir?”

Brad remembered Lisa on the phone just as Clarissa receded into whimpering.

“Yes, I’m still here,” he said.

“What just happened, sir?”

“Another of those lion things just passed in front of the window.”

“Okay, sir. I’ve got medical personnel en route. Please stay on the line. I’m going to ask you to remain inside at this time until things get under control.”

“Okay.”

“Can you secure the door?”

The manager pushed a table in front of the glass door.

“Yes, I think it’s as secure as we can make it.”

“How many people are with you?”

Brad looked up and counted just the four of them. He debated whether to count the man on the sidewalk since he wasn’t inside. “Five including the injured party, but he’s outside the door.”

“Normally we would not want to move the injured party, but I…” Lisa trailed for a moment and her voice became muffled, like her hand was over the receiver. When she came back on, she said, “With the danger still present, is there any way you could get him inside?”

Brad swallowed hard. He really didn’t want to go out there, but he knew he should. The rumbling in his chest faded to a more tolerable level, and Clarissa’s whimpering grew louder. “I guess I could try.”

“Please do, sir.”

Trying to pull out of Clarissa’s grip proved impossible. Brad took her by the shoulder and said, “Here, Rissa. Take the phone and talk to the nice lady from 911. Her name is Lisa.”

“Lisa?” Clarissa’s brown eyes brimmed with tears, but she released her hold and took the phone. She placed it against her ear and gave a shaky, “Hello?”

Brad marched over to the manager with purposeful strides. “Unlock this. We’ve got to go get that guy in here.”

“Are you kidding me?” The mousey manager pulled his stare from the window, and his long nose scrunched as he spoke.

“No, I’m not. If one of those lions comes back, it could kill him, and right now he’s just injured.”

“If one of those lions comes back, it could kill me.”

Even though the guy was right, he didn’t think he could conscience it if the man outside died.  The manager, Steve’s cowardice, only solidified Brad’s resolve. “Look. Help is already on the way. He’s only six feet from the door. We have to go get him.”

“If help is on the way, they can go get him.”

Anger welled up, and Brad clenched his jaw. He was a full six inches taller than the manager. He stepped closer using his six foot two bulk for intimidation. “I said...we need to get him inside.”

The manager cowered and rubbed his hands through his greasy black hair, mussing it up. “I can’t go out there, man. I know I’ll piss myself.”

Shaking his head, exasperated, Brad finally succumbed. “All right. I’ll go get him. You just unlock this door,” he said, as he grabbed the table.

Steve nodded.

As a second thought, Brad added, “And if you decide not to let me back in, I promise you that I will throw that metal trashcan out there into the window. I’d like to see you keep the lions out then.”

Swallowing hard, Steve nodded and grew pale. Brad could tell that locking him out was exactly what Steve considered. The table leg scraped against the tile floor and set his teeth on edge. Brad looked up at Clarissa whose mascara made trails down her face. She’d never looked as unattractive to him as right now.

The bolt clicked as Steve turned it. Brad took a couple deep breaths and psyched himself.  Nothing chases away fear as fast as anger. He tightened his fists until his trimmed fingernails bit into his palms. Whatever those lion things were, they were in his way. His mouth felt dry. When his eyes rested on Steve, he channeled his anger at the manager, too. He felt the urge to punch the mousy manager but nodded his head instead. Steve pulled the door open, and Brad bolted out.