Chapter IX

A Night at the Morgue

The Monster circled the hospital a second time. There was little activity at this late hour, aside from the emergency entrance. Still, he knew that he inevitably attracted attention. If he were to approach the hospital directly he would very likely be mistaken for a traffic accident victim. So he stuck to the shadows, and circled the building looking for the entrance which would allow him access unseen.

At the back of the building there was a loading bay, unlit and with no apparent activity. The Monster imagined this would be a very busy area throughout the day, with supplies for a major hospital arriving regularly. However at this hour it appeared deserted. Still, he remained cautious as he approached the area.

The Monster climbed onto the loading platform and tried the loading bay door; locked. A regular door at the side of the loading bay provided access for staff, but it too proved to be locked. Of course, all doors would be locked. The only doors which would be unlocked would be the main entrance and the emergency entrance, neither of which were possibilities for him.

No door could truly stop The Monster. Any obstacle that could be overcome by a bulldozer would just as easily fall to his strength. It was just a matter of how much noise did he intend to make. It seemed his choices were limited, though. Breaking glass, or tearing metal. Either would attract unwanted attention.

Suddenly the staff door opened. The Monster quickly slid into an inky black shadow and observed as a single hospital employee came out of the door, wedging it open with a brick. The young man stretched, and lit a cigarette. He then climbed onto the loading platform and sat, blowing smoke into the night.

The Monster was enormous, yet he could move as quietly as a cat. He quickly took advantage of the situation, sliding as silent as a shadow along the wall and through the opening, into the hospital.

The hallways were well lit, but deserted. The area he had entered appeared to be mostly hospital support services; laundry, kitchens, mechanical rooms, storage. He needed to find a way down to the lowest level. This meant either an elevator, or stairs. And that meant people. The Monster realized he would need a disguise, if he was to get past the many people roaming the hospital corridors. But how do you disguise yourself when you're a seven foot tall creature of nightmares?

The Monster searched the back rooms of the hospital for something, anything that might help him. When he finally found it, he smiled.

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(@ @)

 VVV

Officer Barbu cursed his existence. Somehow, it was always he who drew the worst assignments. He hated hospitals with a passion. Hospitals were the place you came to die. He would usually cross himself if he so much as drove past the building. Nothing good had ever happened in a hospital, he was quite sure.

And yet, somehow they managed to make it so much worse than simply being assigned to the hospital. He was also assigned alone, to the basement, at the door to the morgue! An eight hour shift, the entire night, alone without relief at death's door.

Officer Barbu wasn't sure what his assignment was meant to achieve. Was he to stop people from entering, or was he to stop something else from escaping? Barbu shuddered at the thought of the room at his back, and moved his chair across the hall where he could watch both the hallway, and the door.

Two hours had passed, and Barbu was alert to every sound. He had quickly realized that the noises coming from the end of the hallway were simply the sounds of his own movements echoed back to him, but every one still made him jump and his eyes dart to the corners. The occasional flicker from the cheap fluorescent lighting would make his heart race. Barbu crossed himself, as another flicker sent shadows scurrying at the edges of his vision.

The sound of the elevator at the end of the hall made his heart jump once again. Of course the elevator ran quite often, but the noise would begin so suddenly he couldn't help himself. He was about to settle in his chair once again, when he heard an unexpected sound; the 'ping' of the elevator arriving on the basement floor.

Barbu looked up in surprise. Someone was coming. It might be the young morgue attendant he had met earlier, who would definitely provide welcome relief, another person to talk to. It was more likely to be the coroner however. Barbu had been told to expect him. He had met the coroner once before, and found him to be as creepy as one might expect a Transylvanian coroner to be. He hoped it wasn't him. He didn't need the added stress of wondering what that man would be doing behind the morgue door.

The elevator was at the far end of the corridor, facing down its length. Barbu watched as the doors slid sideways with a squonk of tired metal, revealing a man.

The man wore a surgical gown, complete with surgical mask, cap, and gloves. And, curiously, he sat in a wheelchair. When the doors had fully opened, the man rolled forward out of the elevator and into the corridor.

"Excuse me," called out Officer Barbu. "This corridor is off limits, except to authorized personnel only. Please state your business."

The man in the wheelchair continued to roll forward. Officer Barbu stood, and walked toward him.

"Excuse me?" he tried again. "I am a police officer. Please state your business."

The man in the wheelchair raised a hand to his mouth as he began coughing, then made a number of hand waving gestures Barbu was unable to interpret, but he continued to roll forward.

"Please, stay where you are," called out Barbu. "I am coming to you," he said as he pulled out his weaponwith a shaky hand.

Barbu met the man at the halfway point, and the wheelchair rolled to a stop. The man leaned forward and looked up at the officer as if to speak, but instead grabbed Barbu's weapon and stood.

The man stood up, and up, and up. Barbu began to wonder at what point the man would stop unfolding. At five foot seven, Barbu was one of the shortest officers and had actually barely qualified for the force. This man towered over him, and Barbu was powerless to do anything about it.

The man reached up and ripped off his surgical mask and cap, revealing a face Barbu couldn't have imagined in his worst nightmares. The Monster watched as Barbu's face went white, completely drained of blood. He caught the police officer as he fainted to the floor.

The Monster dropped Barbu into the wheelchair, and quickly examined the weapon now in his possession. A taser. Too bad. If he had known, he might have let the officer shoot him. The Monster had been electrocuted many times over two hundred years, but had been curious about the taser weapons ever since he had first heard of them. Oh well, there would always be another chance some time. The Monster opened the morgue door and rolled officer Barbu in.

Although safe within the morgue, The Monster still worked quickly. Opening an empty body drawer he deposited the unconscious Officer Barbu on the stainless steel table, using the officer's own handcuffs to secure him within. A spare surgical mask and cap made a perfect impromptu gag. The Monster made sure the officer was breathing easily, then shut him in the drawer.

The Monster then looked around. He had expected to find a person, someone experimenting with the secrets of life. To find this person committing their atrocities in the morgue would make perfect sense. He had tracked this person all the way from the Swiss monastery to this very spot, and yet there was no one.

The Monster concentrated, closed his eyes, breathed, searched his senses.

There.

The Monster opened one of the drawers, revealing a body; the body of a very elderly woman. Very dead, but very definitely the source of evil. Every cell in his body felt the pull. He checked the tag attached to her toe. Valeria Engel. The name meant nothing to him, but then why should it?

He was glad to see that this person, who had dared to attempt the creation of life, was already dead. He did not shy away from killing, yet he did not look forward to it. It had been a long time since he had killed. But the job was not over.

He did not know if this woman worked alone, but he did know that the secret of life was still imprinted in her memory. It could remain there for days, weeks, waiting for someone clever to revive it. The Monster could not leave it there any more than he could leave a written manual on the counter.

Searching the room, The Monster quickly found the tools he would need. An electric skull saw gave him quick access to the woman's brain. With no need for delicacy, The Monster reached into her skull, scooping out the brain along with its patterns for the secret of life. He then tossed the offending organ, splattering it into the stainless steel sink at the side of the room.

The relief to his own senses was immediate. The secret was destroyed. The Monster removed his bloody gloves, tossing them into the sink as well.

He was about to leave when he had one more thought. Finding a thick magic marker, The Monster went to Barbu's drawer and wrote "Missing Guard" on the door. He then quickly found his way out of the hospital, and into the night.

A/N: Some of these chapters are difficult to find photos for, so I'm just going to post more gorgeous photos of Zolfina!