"Yeah." Fred stared at the body, then shook his head. "Strange thing was, we thought there was a heartbeat. We got him in the ambulance, no beat. Then, halfway here, there's another beat. Then no beat again. The guy couldn't decide if he was dead or not, I guess. The doc pronounced him dead when we got here."
Rachel glanced curiously at the corpse, then took the clipboard Dale held out.
"Where's Tony?" the EMT asked as he watched her sign the necessary papers.
"He's off. Sick."
"Caught your flu bug, did he?" Fred chuckled.
"Not from me. From his nurse friend." Rachel watched them shift the body to the steel table, then she returned the clipboard.
"So, I hear we're not going to have your smiling face around here at night anymore," Dale said. "Congratulations."
"Congratulations?" Rachel stared at him blankly.
"On getting the assistant coroner job. Tony told us about it last time we were here."
Rachel's jaw dropped. "What?"
Fred and Dale exchanged glances, but it was Fred who finally said, "Er... Tony said Bob was going to tell you as soon as you got back to work. Bob told you, right?"
Rachel just stared. Bob was Robert Clayton, the coroner. He worked the day shift but often dropped in to give instructions and get reports at the beginning of the night. He hadn't done so tonight. "Jenny told me he called in sick today too. I guess it's his turn to have the flu," she said.
"Oh, shoot, we ruined the surprise."
Rachel continued to stare, but she found herself grinning. She had gotten the assistant coroner's job. She would be off the night shift soon. She'd got it! "Guys!" Rachel began excitedly, then hesitated and asked, "This isn't a joke, right? You aren't pulling my leg?"
Both men shook their heads but looked apologetic. "Nope. You got the job. Just try to act surprised when Bob tells you. I don't want to get Tony in trouble."
Dale grunted as she launched herself at his chest. Catching him in a hug, she squeezed as tight as she could and laughed happily. "I got the job! Thank you, thank you, for telling me. Man! This is great news. No more nights. No more trying to sleep through buddy next door mowing his lawn. No more not being able to go out with friends 'cause I have to work. This is brilliant!"
"I take it you're happy, then?" Fred laughed as she released Dale and turned to hug him.
"Oh, you'll never know," Rachel said blissfully. "I absolutely, positively hate the night shift."
"Well, we'll miss your smiling face," Dale said. "But we're glad you're happy."
"Yup. Just remember to act surprised when Bob tells you," Fred said, patting her shoulder. He glanced at Dale. "We should get back to work."
Rachel stood, smiling as they left, then turned to the gurney and surveyed her guest. She would have to remove his belongings if there was anything left intact, then strip him, tag him, and move him to one of the freezer drawers. She couldn't do it by herself; she'd need help moving the body.
A glance at her watch showed it was nearly midnight. Beth should be arriving soon, a part-timer who filled in when someone was ill. The woman was really getting the hours lately. Normally Beth was the most dependable of workers too, arriving early and willing to work late, but today she'd had car trouble and called in to warn Rachel she'd be late. The woman was waiting for a friend to pick her up and drive her.
She'd be in within the half hour. Once here, Beth could help strip the body, but in the meantime, Rachel herself could remove his possessions and tag him. She glanced down at the unfortunate fellow, then stilled. He didn't seem to be in quite as bad a shape as he had first appeared. In fact, he seemed a lot better. When she had first glanced at him, he had seemed almost completely charred, with very little flesh. Now, a lot of the charred color seemed gone. In fact, Rachel realized, it was flaking off, and a lot of it now lay on the metal tabletop. Reaching out, she brushed at the skin on his face, fascinated to see the blackened flesh crumble, revealing healthier skin beneath. She'd never seen anything like it. He was shedding dead flesh like a snake.
Rachel straightened and stared, her heartbeat accelerating. How was this happening? Or was what she thought happening at all? Perhaps that wasn't charred flesh brushing away; perhaps something had been blown onto him by the blast. Perhaps he hadn't been badly burned at all, he just looked as if he had. Rachel knew it was silly; Dale and Fred were excellent EMTs. Still, she found herself looking for a pulse in his wrist. When more of the charring crumbled beneath her fingers, she feared it might interfere with getting a pulse, and she bent to press her ear to his chest instead. At first she felt foolish looking for life in a dead man, but then a thump sounded. Rachel straightened with amazement, then lowered her ear again. Silence followed for an extremely long time, then another thump.
The door banged behind her. "Get away from him! He's a vampire!"
Rachel straightened and whirled gaping in surprise at the man standing in the open doorway. He looked quite mad. It wasn't just the army fatigues he wore under the huge trench coat he opened, or the fact that he had a rifle swinging from a strap over his shoulder and dangling under one arm, or the ax that hung from the other. All of it, plus his wild eyes and his very expression, screamed escapee from the booby hatch.
Rachel eyed him warily and raised one hand. "Now, look, friend," she began in reasonable tones. It was as far as she got. The man charged forward and shoved her aside.
"Didn't you hear me? Get away, lady, get away! He's a vampire. A monster. A beast of the night. Demon spawn. A hell-breathing bloodsucker. I have to dispatch him."
Rachel grabbed the gurney to keep from stumbling, her eyes wide as the man unstrapped his ax and hefted it over his shoulder with both hands. She couldn't believe it. The fool really intended on cutting the head off her corpse. If he was a corpse, she reminded herself. She had heard a heartbeat. Her gaze shot to the man on the table to see that even more of the charring had flaked onto the table. Rachel could make out his features more clearly and he appeared familiar to her.
Without stopping to consider the action, Rachel threw herself between them and shouted "No!" even as the crazy man brought the ax down. She realized her mistake at once. It really would have been smarter to have pushed the man off balance or something. His swing barely slowed, and Rachel's breath left her in a stunned "Unh" as the ax struck. It happened so fast, she hardly felt any pain.