Chapter 1

The pounding was barely audible over the rushing water. Marla ignored it and ducked under the shower head to rinse out her long black hair. Maybe whoever it was would go away. She'd just come off a double shift at the hospital. She needed a shower, food and sleep, in that order. She had to finish her anatomy homework before class the next day. Finished with her hair, she turned up the hot water and let the spray work the ache out of her back. There'd been a ton of emergency flu cases. Before she left, a rumor went around the hospital that one of the morgue attendants had been bitten by an angry patient. She moved away from the shower head, letting the spray hit her lower back. Whoever it was pounded harder.

"Fine, I'm coming!" She shut off the water and slid the curtain open. Grabbing a towel, she wrung most of the water from her hair with it, then wrapped it around herself. She slid open the drawer in the table next to the door and opened the bag inside, just in case. The familiar checkered grip of her grandfather's Luger comforted her. She couldn't afford an apartment in a good neighborhood, not and go to school at the same time. She set the security latch and opened the door just a crack.

"Marla!" The door slammed hard against the latch. "let me in, please, I need your car." It was Ray, her ex-boyfriend. "Mar-la," he whined and rattled the door. "It's crazy out here, you gotta help me."

He was just the same, getting in trouble and expecting her to take care of it. "No, no more. Go away, or I'll call the cops."

Enraged, he slammed his body against the door. The latch creaked ominously in the wooden frame. When he leaned back for another try, she slammed the door and shot the deadbolt home. The door bulged as he slammed into it again and again, alternately cursing and begging.

Marla couldn't take her eyes off the door. She backed slowly to the table, picked up her cell phone and gun bag, then dialed 911. It rang and rang until finally a bored woman picked up. Ray's scream of fear and pain drowned out the woman's voice. "Get out here now, my ex boyfriend's gone crazy and he's trying to break in. Seventeen University Circle, apartment Four-B." She ignored the woman's nearly inaudible response as she listed to the thumping sounds outside her front door. There was a moment of quiet, then Ray wailed and pounded at the door with something. The wood splintered and cracked with each blow. Marla dropped the phone into the bag and pointed the Luger at the door with one shaking hand.

The head of a sledgehammer broke through the door. As he twisted it free, she saw the blood smeared on it. He peered through the door. "You've got to help me, I need you." He was still whining, but would get ugly quick. The last time he'd needed a car payment and when she couldn't come up with enough cash ... well thats why grandpa gave her the gun.

She lined the sights up on the hole he'd smashed in the door, her free hand tightly clenched on the bag. "Go away, the police are coming, and I have a gun."

He hit the door again, widening the hole. "You can't send me away, I need you. You gotta help me." He reached in and flipped the security latch open, then rattled the door again. Grunting in frustration, he slammed the hammer against the deadbolt. The cheap pine frame shattered and the metal hardware flew across the room. The door swung open. Ray stood there panting, covered in blood. A small body lay on the ground next to him. The girl's blond hair was matted with blood and her pink nightgown was torn to shreds. She thought she recognized her neighbor's youngest in the small still form.

Shocked, Marla hesitated. She never thought even he would ... But even as she watched him, he turned, hefting the hammer. One of the girls from next door, the ten year old, walked into view. She was covered in blood and wore only a pair of panties. Ray brought the hammer down on her skull and it shattered like a watermelon. Then he headed for Marla.

She screamed, but not in fear. How could he? Getting carried away with her was one thing, but those girls ... She squeezed off a round, aiming at the center of his body. All the time she'd spent at the range paid off. He stopped, face white with shock. "Help me." he begged as she shot him again. His lips still moved and the pistol went off a third time. He collapsed to the ground

The eight year old from next door staggered in, moaning. Her face was bloody, and one hand was a mess of mangled flesh and bone. She didn't seem to realize she was naked. Her eyes were lifeless and she moved in a series of unnatural jerks. She let out a feral snarl, lunged at Ray and bit off a piece of his stomach. She knelt by him and chewed mechanically. Marla watched in frozen horror as the little girl ate another mouthful of his still living flesh.

Ray would have screamed if he could, but his lungs were full of blood that flowed from his mouth and spilled all over her floor. The light went out of his eyes. A moment later the girl looked up from his cooling corpse and fixed her eyes on Marla. She let out a hungry moan and lurched to her feet. Instinctively, Marla brought up the pistol and squeezed off two rapid shots. A small red spot appeared on her chest and another high on her forehead. Brains, blood and fragments of bone sprayed across the couch. The little girl collapsed bonelessly.

Working as an EMT, Marla had seen a surfeit of ghastly injuries, but she had never caused them. She went to the door only to discover the kid's mother dead on the walk in front of her apartment. Bite marks covered her legs and arms. All she had on was an unbelted terrycloth robe. Why would they leave their house dressed like that? She nearly made it to the bathroom before her churning gut spewed its contents over the floor.