Power Shift (Book 1)

Chapter 13: Explosive Situation

Winning Choice: Go upstairs to the ER to stop the bomb.

Mandeville and his group are driving off from the hospital with stolen equipment to do who knows what. Even though Brandon was feeling weak as his abilities evolved further, Mandeville was taking no chances and told Brandon he had planted a bomb up in the ER room. If Brandon goes to stop the bomb, Mandeville will get away…

Stumbling a bit, I get to the big door and push it open in time to see the back of a large truck disappear out of the loading dock and around the corner. Part of me would love to chase them and get more answers, but there’s a bomb upstairs and from the way Mandeville was talking it could go off any second. 

Taking a deep breath, I start climbing the stairs. By the time I get to the floor with the ER my legs are feeling pretty solid. I’m also feeling really hungry again, like I did right after I woke up in the warehouse. It makes sense that my body needs more fuel for whatever is happening to it, but if I’m really getting stronger then I have no idea how I’m going to keep full. I’ll be at McDonald’s around the clock at this rate.

There’s lots of noise coming from the direction of the ER, so I cinch up my hood and start hustling. It’s too risky to try a full speed run in here, but with some luck I can find this bomb and take care of it before a panic starts.

The hallway is wide and, surprisingly, there aren’t many people around. Two swinging doors close it off from the ER, and there’s a lot of shouting from the other side so hopefully there’s enough going on in there to give me some cover.

I dart through the doors, and it’s a madhouse.

The ER is enormous. The part of the ER where I’m standing connects to the main hospital and is filled with gurneys and mobile beds, each in little curtained treatment areas. Off to one side are are more elaborate rooms, probably for severe trauma cases. There’s a big admittance desk with a dozen computers, and at the far end of the room, is the waiting area and the big, sliding glass doors that lead to the ambulance bay and the parking lot.

There could be more, but that’s all I can see because the place is jam packed with people all trying to get out. Doctors are escorting gurneys, orderlies are milling about everywhere, and patients are hobbling or trying to make their own way out through the crush. In the middle of it all is a small army of police wearing heavy body armor and face shields. I’m guessing it’s a safe bet they already know about the bomb.

So where is the damned thing? The police or SWAT or whoever they are seem to be trying to evacuate as fast as they can, but I don’t see anyone running away from a specific spot so I don’t think they’ve found it yet. If someone from Mandeville’s group called in a bomb threat then maybe they’re not as bad as I thought. They could have just wanted me out of the way, but didn’t really want everyone to die.

The chaos can work to my advantage. I take a deep breath and try to take myself out of the bubbling confusion. Tuning past the yelling I listen for what is making quieter noise, sniff for any unusual smells, and look for what stands out in the swarm of activity filling the room.

I’d hoped to pick up some scent of explosives, whatever that smells like, but all I get is loads of blood and chemicals. My ears start to pick up the hum of computers and the buzz of the overhead lights, and I keep focusing to try and pick out even more subtle sounds. Finally I hear a strange, soft beeping I can’t place. It’s coming from the far side of the trauma room. I open my eyes, not even realizing I had closed them while concentrating. This part of ER is starting to get clear as people move out the front, and I can see a few exam areas across the room where the curtains are still closed. The beeping is coming from inside one of those.