He saw the button for the nurse to his right. He reached up to press it, but something stopped him.
The hissing lady’s key was still in his hand.
Beep. Beep.
Christopher heard muffled voices outside in the hallway. He knew what was happening. He could feel it swarming around him.
The nice man is…
The nice man is…starting the war.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Christopher’s heart began to pound. He had to slow it down, or the nurses would know he was awake. He reached with his right arm, still battered and bruised from the car accident, and picked at the gel holding the sensors to his chest.
My mother is…in the house.
My mother is…in danger.
He gripped the breathing tube and ripped it out of his mouth. He immediately turned over and threw up all the air from his stomach. The retch smelled like acrid bile. Acidic and awful.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Christopher kept the clip on his finger and swung his legs out of the bed. His bare feet hit the freezing tile. He put the pillow under the covers to make it look like he was still sleeping. Then Christopher slowly slid the white curtain open. He saw that another person had been moved into his room.
It was Mrs. Collins.
She lay perfectly still. Her eyes closed. The ventilator moved up and down for her lungs, rattling like the ball inside a can of spray paint.
Hsssssss.
Christopher wanted to run. Get to the closet. Get his clothes. Get out of here. But there was the clip on his finger. If the clip came off, the nurses would come running in. There was only one way to fool them.
He had to put the clip on Mrs. Collins’ finger.
Christopher slowly ripped away the blood pressure Velcro strangling his arm. Then, he tiptoed to her bed. He heard voices right outside the door. He only had a few seconds. He spread out her fingers and put the index on top, big like a cherry. All he had to do was unclip and reclip. But it had to be done instantly. He took a big breath. This was it. His only chance. He grabbed the clip from his finger, his heart beating like crazy.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Christopher snapped it back on Mrs. Collins’ index finger.
Beep. Beep.
Hssssss.
The voices outside were getting louder. Christopher put the white curtain back around his bed and moved to the closet. But not before snatching Mrs. Collins’ cell phone from her nightstand. Half a charge left. No bars. No service. He quickly stripped off the hospital gown and put on his clothes. The phone went into his pocket along with the key.
The door to the room opened.
“Christopher? Are you awake?”
Christopher looked through the crack in the closet door. He saw Nurse Tammy walk into the room with a tray of food. She moved over to his bed and gently rolled the white curtain back. She saw the pillow under the blanket. It must have looked very convincing. She took the tray of food and carefully set it down.
“I just talked to my dad, Christopher. A deer frightened him in the backyard, and he dropped the bottle of merLOT. It broke, and the state store is closed. Now he’ll never have his Christmas merLOT. He worked night shifts to put me through school and you took his favorite thing.”
Nurse Tammy pulled out a scalpel from her pocket.
“I could have bought him more merLOT, but I had to work a triple. You made everyone sick. You made me miss Christmas. I have to stay here because of you.”
Nurse Tammy brought the scalpel down and violently stabbed the sheets. When she didn’t see any blood, she ripped them off. She found the pillow in place of the boy. She turned and whispered.
“Christopherrrr, where are youuu?”
Beep. Beep. Beep. Hssssss.
Christopher turned to Mrs. Collins in the bed. Her eyes were wide open now, staring at him through the crack in the closet. The wet paint rattling inside her lungs.
“Iiiiiiiizzzzzzz,” she groaned, trying to push the word “Christopher” through the breathing tube.
“What is it, Mrs. Collins?” Nurse Tammy asked.
Nurse Tammy rushed to her bedside. With her back turned, Christopher crawled out of the closet door and silently moved to the hallway.
The hallway was empty.
But he knew it was only temporary.
He could feel the people in bed.
Waking up for the hunt.
The ICU doors began to open. Christopher saw Mr. Henderson sit up in bed and point right at him. He screamed to alert the others, but no sound came