The Ride Out of Darkness
This is a “Write or Die” response to The Darkness Descending, Eurydice Rising: In the Hall of the Dead and The Final Hello
By the time Eppie Kane realized the truth, it was almost too late. Heart thumping, she paused at the nurse’s station and glanced around for anything she might use as a weapon. Frantic, she yanked open drawers at the empty desks. She picked up and discarded a pair of scissors — too small and dull to be effective. Footsteps and the rattle of a cart alerted her to the return of one of the nurses on duty and she stepped out of the station. Whoever it was, they would be of no help against the creature. She would have to deal with it by herself, alone and unarmed.
The evening began with her usual routine at the hospital. Eppie was older than the other volunteers, no one thought her a teenager — there were small lines at the corner of her eyes and she carried herself with the confidence of someone who’d been out in the world. Her shoulders squared and back straight, she marched smartly down the tiled corridors, brunette curls brushing the tops of her collarbone. What would surprise folk would be her actual age. Not even the senior citizens who manned the information desk could match her in years, even if they added all their time together.
