• Ira sat for a second, wondering what had just happened. He saw a man stumble through the door and fall to the ground. Ira opened the door of his truck and got out, stepping closer to the man. As he got closer he noticed the man had been bitten several times by some kind of animal. He began to stand, breathing heavily.

    “My doberman, Sarge! He bit me! We we're in the waiting room and he just attacked me! I don't know what's happening, but the I saw other people being attacked! ” He yelled as he ran to his car.

    Ira turned toward the clinic and looked through the glass doors. He saw the cute receptionist trying to wrestle off a large doberman. Quickly, he ran to his truck and climbed into the back seat to put on his handling gloves and to get his leash pole. He then jumped out of the vehicle and rushed through the doors. The receptionist began screaming and crying for help when she noticed Ira running through the door. The doberman took no noticed of him as he slipped the leash pole onto the dogs neck and tightened it securely. The dog began the to jump and run in attempt to break out of its new restraint. Ira pulled on the leash in hopes of choking the dog. Soon, it began to die. Once it lay lifeless on the ground, Ira looked at the receptionist. She was crying and shaking uncontrollably.

    “What is going on here?” Ira said, softly as to not upset the girl further
    .
    “I.. I don't know. The animals. All of the unrestrained animals started attacking us unexpectedly. I.. I just don't know what's going on!” She then screamed as she got up to run out of the clinic.

    Ira watched her as she left, only to be blind sighted by a large animal which sent him to the floor. His reflexes sent an elbow into the face of what was a white and brown saint bernard, with fresh blood on it's snout. Ira then put his arms around the dog and pulled it close, so the dog couldn't bite him anywhere. He rolled over and forced his shoulder down into the throat of the animal. He felt the saliva pour from the dogs mouth and drip onto the back of his head and neck. The dog whined and wheezed as it struggled for breath. Soon, it to was nothing more than another limb, lifeless body on the floor of the clinic. Ira stood up and wiped some of the thick drool off his neck and looked at it. It was heavy, and thick. More like a mucus than anything else. He shook it off and took the leash pole off the dead doberman and continued back into the back room. All of the caged animals looked at him with a certain rage in their eyes. He noticed the cage with his dog was missing, and that a trial of small drips of blood lead to a closed doorway. As he walked closer to the doorway, the sounds of the animals hoarse breathing got louder and louder. He put his hand on the doorknob, and with his leash at the ready, he attempted to open the door. It was being barricaded from the other side.
    “Laura?! Are you in there?” he waited with no response. In frustration he began kicking at the door and yelling for her to open it. The animals around him went crazy, smashing themselves against the doors of their cages.
    “Laura open this god DAMN DOOR!” He gave two good, strong kicks as the last two words came from his mouth, but it was to no prevail. The barricade was made too strong. Suddenly, he heard a voice coming from behind him. It was Laura. She was hiding in one of the clinics patient rooms.

    “Are you crazy?! Get in here before you get yourself killed!”

    Ira quickly stepped into into the room, and she closed the door behind them. He helped her rebarricade the door.

    “What is going on here? Everything seemed fine when I left.”

    “Through that door you were trying to kick down, the animals began attacking the staff. The animals in this side of the hospital we're fine, though. Until a doberman attacked it's owner and Gene. Did you see them?”

    “What?! Why would they attack? And why is the door barricaded like that? And yes, I saw both of them. The man got in his car, and I killed the doberman before it was able to get at the receptionist. Not to mention I was attacked by a ******** bear-dog”

    “Thank god they're okay.”

    “Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for asking. Mind answering my question?”

    “I can't, alright! The animals just attacked, and something caused a vending machine to fall in front of the door. Maybe someone was protecting us or something. All I know is that these animals are something straight out of hell”

    “Well, we can't stay here, Laura. We need to get out of here. I need to get my son”

    “Look, I'm not leaving this room. I had one of the interns phone for help after things became clear that something strange was happening. Maybe he made it. So, until someone comes for help, I'm not leaving. And neither are you. This is the end of it, Ira.” She was speaking in her annoyed voice. Ira tried to hide a smile as he nodded his head.

    “Fine, fine.” He sat down against a wall, and she sat next to him. It was amazing how he could go from being scared to death, killing crazed dogs, to sitting next to Dr. T'soni, trying not to smile like an idiot. He hadn't felt anything like this for a woman since his wife, Sophie, died in a car accident 6 years ago. He missed her like crazy, and was scared. He'd been avoiding women for so long, and still felt so traumatized by the loss of his wife, he'd thought he lost the ability to love. But whenever he met Laura a few years ago when he moved here, it felt good for him to know that those feelings were still available to him. Only he didn't know how to go about these feelings, and if he even should. He didn't even know how she felt.

    He stood up at the sound of a large crashing sound coming from beyond the door. Then another. Then another. The animals we're escaping. He was about to say something before he was interrupted by Laura.

    “Ira.. This is a bad time, but since we're probably about to die, I might not have another chance..”

    “I've been meaning to say somethi-” Laura just kissed him. She quickly backed away to see his reaction, which was one of shock.

    “Oh, Ira. I'm sorry. I didn't mea-” He kissed her, for longer. He put his arms around her body, and she seemed to melt into his embrace. She put both her hands on the sides of his face, pulling him into even more passionate kisses. They heard scratching and wheezing coming from the door, but they didn't stop. They just got more intense. If they were to die this night, then they were going to die as two lovers.