Page 74 of Grave Danger

“Fuck yeah!” Cody shouted. “Now this is a ride! Wooooo!”

Demetrius couldn’t help smiling, even as the copper smell of Zellmer’s blood overtook the old, rancid odors of the backseat. He held the deputy’s head still with one hand as he pressed the shirt against the bite with his other.

“How’s he doing?” Cody asked, honking the horn as he blew through the stop sign at the end of the cemetery entrance.

“He’s still here, but he’s really pale.”

“Heading back into town. Won’t be long.”

“Hey, call it in on the radio,” Demetrius suggested. “Have someone go out to the cemetery and clear those zombies out.”

“This ought to be a fun call,” Cody muttered, and picked up the microphone. “Um, hello? Anyone there? This is a civilian. I’m in Deputy Ryan Zellmer’s cruiser, and I’m driving him to Parson’s Hollow Memorial. Deputy Zellmer was, um, injured, and is currently incapacitated.”

“Who is this?” a woman’s voice snapped back.

“My name is Cody Bower. We’re taking Deputy Zellmer to the hospital.”

“Bower?” This was a new voice. It, too, belonged to a woman, but it was all too familiar. And edged with icy anger. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Cody sighed. “Fucking Lucia.”

“Tell her to meet us at the hospital.”

Cody pressed the transmit button again. “Lucia, we’ll be at the hospital in a few minutes. Meet us there. And you’ll need to send some units out to Eternal Rest cemetery to clear out a few dangerous suspects. Tell them to be careful, these suspects bite. Hard.”

Silence from the radio, then a burst of static and Lucia came back. “Copy that. I will meet you at the hospital.”

“He still with us?” Cody asked, honking at more cars to get out of his way.

“He is, but he’s bad.”

“Almost there.”

A couple minutes later, the tires squealed as Cody took the turn into the ER driveway. He screeched to a halt underneath the portico and flung the driver’s door open.

“I need help here!” Cody shouted. “Officer down!”

A nurse on her smoke break threw her cigarette aside before running through the automatic doors. She reappeared a moment later pulling a gurney, another nurse hurrying along after her.

“What happened?” the nurse asked as Cody yanked open the rear door.

“He’s been bitten in the neck,” Demetrius said. “He’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Bitten?” The nurses exchanged a look, then helped guide Cody and Demetrius as they wrangled Zellmer out of the cruiser and onto the gurney.

“Is Zenona on duty?” Cody asked.

“Zenona?”

“Dr. Baldwin,” Demetrius said.

“Oh, yes. She’s here.”

“Page her,” Cody said. “She’ll need to see him.”

The nurses rushed the gurney into the ER, one of them holding a heavy bandage against the wound. Demetrius felt a little ill when he saw how red it was already.

“He’s bad,” Demetrius said, looking up at Cody. “Really bad.”