Child of Fire

have to be afraid,” he said, turning the subject toward something he wanted to talk about. “All this time we thought we had to be afraid, but we don’t. And we’re not giving away our secret. Not today, at least.”

That wasn’t good. We were in for a bloodbath. “Roger,” I said, keeping my voice low, “shoot that damn wolf.”

The gun went off almost before I finished the sentence. It was brutally loud in the tiled hallway, and despite myself, I flinched.

A bloody hole appeared dead center on the black wolf’s head. Roger was a good shot. As I watched, the hole closed over. The wolf barely staggered.

“You see?” Luke said. “All this time we’ve been afraid, and we didn’t have to.”

Damn. Peter had shot one of them. We needed silver, and they knew it.

I heard screams behind me. A red wolf had knocked down one of the security guards and was tearing apart his forearm. The grayish wolf had already gone for the throat of the second man, who struggled weakly against the attack, red blood squirting onto the tile floor.

“Get into the room!” I shouted.

Cynthia barreled into the door. I heard her shouting at someone inside not to shoot her.

Roger worked the bolt of his rifle. His face was set, as though he was trying to work out a complicated puzzle.

The gray wolf charged us. The birdlike woman stepped toward it and lifted her rifle. There was another shot, but the wolf leaped on her, knocking her to the floor. It sank its fangs into her neck just below her ear. She didn’t get a chance to scream.

Roger grunted. The black wolf had landed on him. I kicked it in the ribs just as it snapped at his throat. Roger’s gun went off. Luke, still standing at the end of the hall, collapsed backward onto the tile floor. The wolf tore into Roger’s throat.

I rushed at Miriam. The red wolf came at her first. Arlene and Rev. Wilson both lunged at the creature. Wilson and the wolf went down. The reverend was not going to last long.

Arlene grabbed Miriam and shoved her toward the door to Frank’s room. They collided with me. Rather than fight my way around them toward the reverend I let myself be pushed into the room. I ran when Rev. Wilson, the guards, Roger, and the old lady could not, and I was glad to do it.

I slammed the door shut and threw my shoulder against it. There was no lock. Someone slid a chair under the doorknob. I looked up and saw that it was the cardiologist. I hadn’t seen him enter the room, but here he was, holding the door with me.

“What’s going on?” he asked me, his voice low and breathless. “What is that officer doing with those dogs?”

“Killing us, if he gets the chance.”

I turned and looked around the room. Frank was lying on his bed, tubes up his nose. Standing beside him were a fat middle-aged man with rake-thin arms and a fat elderly man with a handlebar mustache. Both were carrying identical doughboy-era rifles. Along with them were Cynthia, Miriam, and Arlene. Miriam was fussing over Arlene’s hand, but the rest were looking at me.

“Is everyone all right over there?”

“It’s Arlene,” Miriam said. “She’s been bitten pretty badly.”

“You have a patient, Doc.”

Cynthia fetched a rubber doorstop from the corner and kicked it beneath the closed door. Blood started to flow under the door. “I saw what happened when the old guy shot the wolf. It wasn’t hurt at all.”

“I know.”

“We need some kind of silver weapons, don’t we? Silver bullets or something?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t planning to fight them. That’s why we were running away. But I don’t know if silver will work.”

“What happened out there?” the man with the mustache asked. He looked like he wanted to throw his gun down and run. The middle-aged man was even more spooked. “Where’s Roger and Binky?”

“They’re both dead,” Arlene snapped. “So is Reverend Wilson.”

“What?” Mustache said. “How-“

Everyone began talking at once, in high, panicked tones.

I felt someone try the handle. Someone pushed. Someone strong. I pushed back. I could hear sounds coming from the other side of the door, but I couldn’t make them out.

“Hey!” I shouted at them. “Be quiet!” No effect. Everyone was still badgering Arlene for explanations. Frank began to look pale. Miriam rushed to him. “Shut up!” I shouted at them, but all I did was add to the noise.

From the other side of the door, a wolf howled. Then two, then a third. Everyone in the room fell silent.

“All right in there,” Luke Dubois said. He didn’t sound like a man who had just been shot. He sounded happy. “What say we talk terms?”

“Sure thing,” I said. “Let everyone in this room leave unharmed, and I won’t rain hellfire on your ass.”

Luke chuckled. “Hellfire, huh? You didn’t look like you had much hellfire on hand when you were scurrying into that hospital room. You looked like you had a load in your pants.”

“You don’t know who I am,” I said.