Life Among the Dead (Book 4): The End by Daniel Cotton Read Free Book Online Page B

from one of the few lit rooms.
    “You pronounced him!” he hears his daughter’s voice and runs towards whatever waits behind this door.
    “Just hold him down.”
    Luke arrives to see his daughter putting all her weight upon a man’s shoulders where he lies on a hospital bed. The man writhes, the nasal cannula that feeds him oxygen comes loose from his movement and he doesn’t seem to mind. The man his daughter holds down strains to crane his neck to get his face as close to the nurse as possible, he can’t quite reach but that just makes him try harder, snapping his jaws just inches away.
    The nurse winces when the teeth come too close for comfort, she’d scream for help if any was available to assist her. All she can do is hold tight and hope it’s enough as she waits for the doctor to draw the sedative. Her eyes fall on a sight that baffles her, Santa entering the room. His white beard is tinged with red, as is the white trim of his suit. “Dad?”
    Luke is able to hold the man to the bed with one hand so his daughter can slip away.
    The doctor turns with a full syringe and says, “Susan, hold his arm down for me.”
    The patient is subdued by Luke’s hand but his arms still flail and claw at them. Before the nurse can get ahold of one of the flying limbs, the patient latches onto Santa’s beefy arm, she has to fight to break his grip.
    “That won’t help,” Luke tells the doctor as he watches him inject the patient.
    “Pardon?”
    “Saw a guy. Dead. He got up. Medics gave him the same shit and it didn’t help.”
    “Forgive me if I wish to try anyway, Santa.”
    “Suzy, grab some towels,” Luke overrides the professional. “We’ll lash him to the bed.”
    “You will not!” the doctor adamantly states.
    “Perfectly legal,” Luke assures. “This guy’s a danger to himself and others, namely my daughter. Your wife I might add.”
    Even after the cocktail of sedatives is injected the man on the bed continues to fight for his freedom. His hands have once again found Luke’s arm, his vacant yet fixated eyes are locked onto the limb he holds painfully tight. The retired cop can feel the patient trying to lift himself to his arm while also trying to pull his arm down to his mouth. The sick man exerts surprising strength in his resolve.
    Susan stands off to the side, she is holding several towels but isn’t ready to undermined her husband’s objection to their use just yet.
    “Susan,” her husband says calmly, “can you bring the four-point restraints, please?”
    She is off and running. Luke isn’t sure how much longer he can hold the man down, the combative patient’s arms work like hydraulic pistons that just won’t quit.
    Aside from the required annual training the doctor and nurse team don’t get much practice using the restraints. They bungle with the buckles and thick plastic straps starting with the man’s arms to give Luke a much deserved rest. Free of the patient’s grasp Luke rubs the spot he had his hands on. Gonna be bruised for sure tomorrow. Guy his size shouldn’t be this strong , he considers the skinny, middle aged man on the bed that fights against the straps, still fixated on the three of them. The bed rattles and clangs.
    “So, what are you doing here?” Susan asks he father.
    “Just seeing if you’re all right,” he tells her. “Boys fine?”
    “Yes.”
    “Who’s with ‘em?”
    “Our neighbor, Mrs. Krantz, said she’d look in on them. They were asleep when I got called in.”
    “Don’tcha have caller ID?”
    “Susan and I enjoy helping people,” the doctor says in a snotty tone. He puts his arm around his wife’s shoulder.
    Luke doesn’t like this man much, not even remotely. He liked the previous husband a lot more, he said as much in his toast at their wedding.
    “God, Josh!” Susan takes her husband’s hand with concern. “You’re hurt!”
    “The patient,” he plays off the bloody bandage he now has wrapped around his hand, “he bit