Every ounce of air in Lucy's lungs dispelled before she could stop screaming. She was on the floor, bruises and scratches and broken limbs completely forgotten as she crawled backwards, one-handed, until her back was pressed up against the wall. The shadow had the vague shape of a man overstretched; its edges were ill-defined and came in and out of focus with the flickering of the lights as it moved across the room.
The air was too cold, and Lucy's tears froze at the corners of her eyes in little crystals. All the life and warmth left the room, and the closer the monster came, the more Lucy felt pulled towards it. She could feel a bond forming between them, like every other time she had bonded with a person, only with each internal tug she felt herself being pulled into the shadow as if it were a black hole.
The door to the hospital room shuddered as more shadows entered. Lucy watched with increasing horror as the dark forms slid under the door one by one. She was frozen with fear against the wall, hugging her broken arm to her chest, as the beast came towards her. It bent over her and reached down, stretching its lifeless arm towards her head in a motion that looked as if he were about to pat her head, but then suddenly it wrapped its dark hand around her throat and lifted her up, pressing her back against the wall until she was at eye level, though there were no eyes. The thing examined her face, leaning its shadowy head close to hers in a curious gesture.
Lucy hung in the air like a rag doll, all the air gone from her lungs, blurry vision dulling her sight of the thing that was going to kill her. She didn't know who she was, or what had happened to her in her life up until that point, but as she looked at the midnight creature she knew at that moment that she was about to die. What difference does it make? This self-deprecating thought flittered through her subconscious mind as drool fell from her mouth and her vision began to grow even more fuzzy. What difference does it make if I die tonight? The thing in front of her grew a size bigger as if her despair were feeding it. Her feet kicked beneath her in a final spasm of rebellion, and then from some deep inner well that she didn't know she possessed, an overwhelming will to live rose up inside her. Indignation that this thing would thrive on her pain and fear made her kick her left foot out with all her might. To her surprise, instead of passing through the creature, her foot made contact with something solid and liquid. The creature flinched in surprise, and it loosened its grip ever so slightly so that Lucy was able to suck in a small amount of air, preventing her from blacking out completely. Her head swam and her eyes were blurry, but the new desire to live still welled within her, and she swung her leg out again, making contact with the creature. It dropped her painfully on the floor.
Everything happened in slow motion, and Lucy watched in a daze, her head swimming and her arm aching, as a man wearing a faded leather bomber jacket and an old herringbone hat came into the room, holding out something in his hand that had a light on one end. There was a spark of recognition as Lucy looked into his eyes: it was the man from the subway, she remembered, and then another memory of him at the park flashed into her mind, followed by a flash of what she could only interpret as a vision of the future. She saw in her mind the man pointing the lighted stick at the shadow nearest to him and the shadow disappeared; then she saw the shorter woman with the blue hair who was with him pointing her own device at another shadow and it disappearing as well. The vision shifted, and she saw the fight playing out to a tragic end. The man and the two women who were with him were dead, and the shadows were dragging Lucy through the hospital as the lights flickered above.
With a wave of nausea, the vision was over, and she was looking at the man again. They stared at each other for what felt like minutes before the shorter woman yelled something at the man and he turned and pointed his wand at the nearest shadow just as he had done in her vision, seeming to make time start at its normal frantic pace again. The battle began just as she had seen it, and Lucy watched in horror as the big shadow that stood over her turned and moved towards the other three, growing larger with every step.
The man pointed his stick at each shadow in turn, his light piercing through them, causing the spots the light touched to sizzle as though it were burning their shadowy flesh. Each shadow that was hit by the light disappeared with smoke until there was a thick haze of noxious smoke in the air and the three were coughing.
Lucy was close enough to the floor to be just out of the thickest part of the smoke, and she watched as the strangers covered their noses as best they could and continued to fight the shadows that seemed to be multiplying.
The largest shadow was drawing nearer to the man, still growing in size as he went, and Lucy felt certain the thing was feeding off their fear. She watched in horror as the shadows began to form a solid ring of dark around the three until she could barely see them.
They were outnumbered, and Lucy could see they were going to lose just as her vision had shown her. The large shadow had countless smaller shadows throwing themselves in front of them each time the man or the women pointed their wands and shined their lights. As though the smaller pawns existed only as sacrificial body shields for the larger one. This allowed the beast to draw close quickly, and it seemed to be heading right for the man.
Lucy wasn't sure why she did it; it wasn't like she was in good fighting strength, or dressed for the occasion, and she didn't know any of these people. But something about seeing her vision come to life made her angry. It was unfair to show her something horrible that would happen in the future and then have to watch it happen in real life. That couldn't possibly be why she could see the future. So without thought or care for her broken arm, she stood up, hospital gown and all, and ran full speed across the room, throwing herself chest-first into the beastly shadow, tackling it to the ground with a thud.
The thing was surprisingly soft to land on, kind of like a water bed, waves of shadow ushering out from under her and then coming back to make her bounce as though she were riding a small wave. It cushioned her fall significantly, and she rolled off of it with a grunt, landing on the floor beside it. The thing seemed to be in shock by what she had done; it lay on the floor unmoving for several seconds as though stunned before the man shone his light directly on it and it vanished in a puff of acrid smoke. The other shadows began to flee the minute the large one was dead, and quite suddenly the lights flickered back on.
Lucy was still lying on the floor staring up at the ceiling as the dimmed lights came back on, making her blink in surprise. When she opened her eyes again, she was looking into the brown eyes of the man as he leaned over her with a worried look on his face. She could see that he was handsome, with stubble on his chin and one dimple on his left cheek.
"Are you ok?" he asked, putting his hand under her head and pulling her up to a sitting position.
"Of course she's not alright. Look at her, Tony," the tall beautiful woman said and then added, "She's a mess."
"Who cares! That was awesome! How did you tackle a shadow? That was freaking cool!" The shorter woman was practically yelling.
"It doesn't matter right now," the man said, still looking at Lucy with concern. "What matters now is getting her out of here before more shadows come back. I'm guessing a second ninja move is probably asking too much for one day?"
Lucy smiled weakly and nodded.
"What's your name?" he asked her.
"Lucy," she managed to reply.
"Lucy?" the tall woman said in disgust. "That's rather bland for someone who tackles shadows."
"Oh shut up, Bali! It's a freakin' awesome name, from a freakin' awesome person who can tackle shadows out of thin air. Seriously, you gotta tell me how you did that? Oh, and I'm Daisy, this is Bali and Tony." The girl was practically giddy with excitement, or adrenaline, probably both.
Lucy smiled shyly at them both. Bali smiled a half-hearted smile back at her, and Daisy shook her uninjured hand like she was a celebrity.
"Daisy! This is not the time for you to fangirl," the man said. "We gotta get her some clothes and get out of here before more shadows show up."
"Right," Daisy said. "Tony, why don't you give her your jacket? She can wear it over the hospital gown. I was able to grab a spare pair of boots, but that was all I could find at Mavericks before we left. I wanted to grab a whole outfit just in case, with the snow, you know. Bali, give her your snow hat and scarf. I'll spare her my gloves, and then we can all freeze at the same rate at least."
The man named Tony took off his jacket without complaint and threw it over her shoulders, while the silly but serious girl named Daisy took off her gloves and pulled some boots from her shoulder bag. The woman named Bali, however, did not seem pleased by this arrangement and tossed her beautiful hair before crossing her arms in agitation.
"Seriously, Bali? Give her your damn hat and gloves!" Tony bellowed as he helped Lucy to her feet and slipped one of her arms through the jacket and zipped it carefully up the front. It was a little big but warm compared to her hospital gown. She let Daisy slip the boots onto her feet and felt grateful for the feel of shoes, even though wearing shoes without socks felt weird. Still, it made her feel more solid somehow. Bali reluctantly took off her pink hat and gloves and tossed them at Daisy, who caught them with a smile and quickly put them onto Lucy's head and around her neck.
Lucy stood for a moment feeling oddly like a doll that an uncoordinated child had dressed for a snowy tea party. Her legs were still bare, but she felt significantly warmer than she had, since the ice the shadows had brought to the hospital room stayed even though the shadows themselves were gone.
"Is she fit to leave the hospital?" Daisy asked suddenly, frowning at the wrap that covered Lucy's stitches in the front and wrapped around to cover the bump in the back.
"It doesn't matter if she's fit or not; if she stays she will die. Or worse," Tony said, going to the window to look out.
"Is anybody out there?" Bali asked with concern.
"No," Tony replied, turning back to them. "At least not now. Are you ok to move?"
Lucy looked at the man called Tony and nodded. She felt ok, all things considered. It was probably the adrenaline, or the drugs, but her aches and pains felt like a dull throb in the distance, instead of a crippling pain in the present.
"How are you not freaked out?" Bali asked her suddenly, looking suspicious.
Daisy punched Bali's arm and said, "Seriously, Bali, what is wrong with you!?"
"What?! When we walked in here she was practically getting spliced, not to mention she was just hit by a car. She seems too normal after just experiencing paranormal activity and serious traumatic injury. It's weird!"
The woman had a point, Lucy thought. She shrugged and said, "They gave me a bunch of drugs in the ambulance."
"Well, that definitely explains it," Daisy laughed.
"Let's just hope they don't wear off too soon," Tony said as he looked out the window again. "Ok, we've stalled long enough. Let's go."