Hell Fire MC

Chapter Four

After what felt like hours, a doctor finally came through the doors of the emergency department. Linc and Murphy got to their feet, their hearts trying to beat out of their chests.

“Doc?” Linc said, while he fidgeted with his helmet.

The doctor was an older man who looked very much like he wanted to go home and be done for the day. He took a breath and nodded.

“It was touch and go for a while with your friend. We thought we were going to have to have him airlifted to a bigger hospital,” he said.

“But he’s gonna be okay?” Murphy interrupted.

The doctor looked at him, but didn’t nod this time. “He’s not out of the woods completely. He’s lost a lot of blood, and that bite wound was significant. We’ll have to watch closely for infection, and whether or not he’ll need surgery to repair anything.”

“Jesus,” Linc muttered under his breath, while Murphy put his hands on his head. “Thanks, Doc,” he said and put out a hand for the man to shake.

The two men went back to their chairs and sank into them. The waiting room felt too quiet, too comfortable, like they were waiting for their friend to get his teeth cleaned at the dentist.

“I gotta get some air, man,” Murphy said, and popped back up out of his chair.

Linc gave him an understanding nod, but did the opposite. The waiting room chairs were surprisingly soft, and he was suddenly more exhausted than he’d ever felt. He sank down and let his head fall back.

He found himself back in the woods. The road was flat, though, like the mountain had been levelled off. He was on his motorcycle, but he noticed that the engine was hushed, and he didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. He glanced down at his front tire. It was spinning, but nothing was happening.

Cautiously, Linc put his foot down and swung his other leg over the motorcycle. Then he stepped away from it. The wheels continued to spin, but it didn’t go anywhere. He glanced around, but there wasn’t anyone else there.

“Hello?” he called out, but like the Harley’s engine, his voice was quiet and didn’t carry. He took a few more steps along the darkened highway and realized his footsteps had no echo either.

“Where the hell am I?” Linc mumbled.

Suddenly, he heard screams coming from the woods, and unlike his own voice, this one seemed to fill the whole forest. He ran toward the sound, but as soon as he went into the trees, what little light there had been was drowned out. He was engulfed in blackness, not even able to see his own hand when he held it up.

He stopped running and took deep breaths, trying to regain his composure. He knew that if he turned around, he should be able to walk straight back to the highway. When he felt in control again, he took a small step forward.

Linc put one foot in front of the other, on and on, but the highway wasn’t there. His heart started to race again, but he told himself just a few more steps. Suddenly, though, he sensed he wasn’t alone. He could hear someone or something breathing in the woods. He tried to ignore it, but then he felt hot breath on his neck, and started running.

Linc’s eyes flew open, and he scrambled up in the chair. For a moment, he had no idea where he was, but then Axel’s attack came flooding back to him. He sighed and wiped the sweat from his face. Then he glanced over at Murphy, who looked annoyed at being woken up.

“Sorry about that,” Lin said. “You hungry? I’m gonna find some snacks.” When Murphy nodded, he got to his feet and stretched.

As he walked to the receptionist’s desk, he noticed that most of the lights in the waiting room were off now, along with the ones down the halls.

“Everyone went home, huh?” he asked.

“Just about,” the receptionist answered.

“Do you have any vending machines or anything?”

“Sure,” she answered. “They’re just down the hall to the left.”

Linc pointed to the one beside her, and she nodded. Then he gave her a weak smile and walked down the dimly lit hall. It was quiet too, except for the buzz of fluorescent lights. They gave off an eerie blue glow. That, mixed with the dream he’d just had, made Linc feel uneasy.

Luckily, the vending machines weren’t far, and he dug around for some small bills in his wallet. He smoothed one out and tried to insert it into the machine. After a couple of tries, it finally went in, but nothing else happened.

“Oh, come on,” Linc grumbled and pushed the buttons for his selection a few times. Still nothing. He didn’t have the energy to bang on the thing and figured he’d talk to the receptionist about it instead. As he turned to walk back to the waiting room, though, the machine spat his dollar back out.

Linc scoffed and reached down to pick it up off the floor, but then the light above him started to flicker. It was only the light straight above him, and he squinted up at it. He didn’t think anything of it until the light next to it started to flicker too. The flickering slowly moved down the hall until every light was doing it.

“What the hell?” Linc breathed. He turned to see the flickering move the other way, toward the waiting room. He shook his head, trying to convince himself it was just an electrical problem, when a quiet hissing sound floated toward him from the other end of the hall.

His breath caught in his throat, and he slowly crept in the direction of the noise. Every instinct and horror movie death was screaming at him to run the other way, but his friend was in this hospital somewhere, and he needed to know Axel wasn’t in danger.

Unfortunately, all the doors were locked, and the rooms were dark. There were names on the glass windows, and he realized he was in the office wing of the hospital. He began to wonder if there was some kind of gas leak or pressure being released from somewhere. After a few minutes, though, the noise abruptly stopped. For a moment, Linc thought he was overreacting.

Then the lights blinked out.