Dead Harvest

was to come.

  That's when she started screaming.

  My eyes flew open. Kate was staring back at me, her eyes wide with fear. She thrashed against her restraints, cuffed wrists clanging violently against the bedrail. Her screams echoed through the tiny room, blotting out all thought.

  'My God, is she all right?'

  A nurse, in the doorway. I forced myself to focus. 'She's seizing!' I replied. 'Give her something to calm her down.'

  The nurse hurried to Kate's bedside, snatching a needle from the cart beside the bed. 'Pushing four of Ativan.' Kate's thrashing slowed, and her cries died down to little more than a whimper. Her eyes met mine. Terrified, pleading. Then the spark within them guttered and died, and her lids came crashing down. Kate MacNeil was once again asleep.

  I, unfortunately, had no such luxury. My mind was reeling. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, urging me to flee. I knew I had a job to do. But that light, that song – in all my years, I'd never seen anything like that. Something wasn't right here.

  'Her wrists,' I said, embarrassed by the sudden quaver in my voice. 'They've been abraded by the cuffs. I'd like to have a look at them. Do you have a key?'

  'I'm not supposed to unlock her,' the nurse replied.

  I nodded toward Kate's sleeping form. 'You think she's going anywhere?'

  She hesitated a moment, and then fished a small set of keys from her pocket, unlocking first one set of cuffs, and then the other. 'The police should really be here when she wakes up,' the nurse said. 'They're going to want to talk to her.'

  I nodded my agreement. 'The officer that was stationed at her door was asleep when I arrived. When I woke him, he said he was gonna head down to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee. If I had to guess, I'd say they're not going to be too happy with him if they find out he was gone when she came to. You could catch him if you hurry. Tell him to call in, let them know that she's been stirring.'

  'And her?'

  'I'll keep an eye on her until you get back.'

  She gave me a curt nod, and took off at a jog. A good kid, I thought – the trusting sort. It almost made me feel bad for what I was about to do.

  Beside the bed was a wheelchair, folded and propped against the wall. I yanked it open. Then, with a glance over my shoulder to ensure I wasn't being watched, I slid the IV from Kate's arm. Blood welled red in its wake. I blotted it with the bed sheet, and replaced the tape that had held the IV in place. Then I lifted her into the wheelchair. Her eyes fluttered, but she didn't stir.

  Outside Kate's room, the hall bustled with activity. The nurse had headed left, so I went right. No one gave me a second glance as I wheeled her down the hall, her head lolling to one side.

  What the hell was I supposed to do now? It would only be a matter of minutes before they discovered she was missing, and this girl was a hot commodity. I knew what I should do was make the collection and be on my way. I also knew that wasn't going to happen – not until I figured out what the hell was going on.

  'Hey! Hey, you!'

  The call echoed down the length of the crowded hallway. I pretended not to hear – just kept on pushing Kate down the hall like I hadn't a care in the world. As soon as we were around the corner and out of view, I broke into a run. The wheelchair rattled and shimmied beneath my sweat-slick hands – any moment I expected her to spill out of the chair and onto the floor. But she stayed put, and I kept running.

  Some fucking plan this was.

  There was a clatter of footfalls behind us, a bevy of shouts. We reached a bank of elevators, and I pressed the call button. My lungs and legs were burning, and my heart thudded in my chest. Kate, for her part, seemed content to sit and drool on the shoulder of her hospital gown. At least it beat the screaming.

  The elevator door pinged open. Two uniformed cops rounded the corner, guns drawn. I rolled Kate into the elevator and chose a floor at random. Then I hit three more below it, just to keep them guessing.

  The cops were rapidly approaching, and still the door was open. I pounded on the button to close it, and slowly, it began to move. One of the cops made a leap for the door, arm extended in desperate attempt to halt the door's progress. A second more, and he might have made it, but he was too slow, too late. The door slid shut. A bang reverberated through the elevator shaft as he pounded on the door in frustration. The sound filled the elevator car, and then receded as we lurched downward.

  And just like that, we were gone.

4.

Shit.

  My hope was that I'd've had a couple of minutes before they noticed she was missing. And when they did, they'd be looking for a dangerous, psychotic, awake little girl; I could just wheel her out the front door unnoticed. But now they'd seen me with her, and that was going to complicate matters a bit.

  Of course, the fact that they'd seen me wasn't the end of the world. I could always leave this body behind and find another; around here, there were no shortage of volunteers. But whatever I looked like, I was still going to have to get her out, too. I couldn't afford to chance it in some broken-down old body. It just wasn't worth the cost.

  So what, then? My mother used to tell me when God closes a door, he opens a window, but I was guessing God didn't give two shits about me. Not to mention we were standing in a tin box with one door and no fucking windows. One door that was soon to open onto God knows what.

  The elevator jerked to a halt. I left Kate in the center of the car and pressed myself tight to the wall beside