Тесс Герритсен - Bloodstream стр 18.

Frog sure looks dead, he said.

She shuddered.

Mrs. Horatio came walking down the aisle carrying the jar of frogs. She stopped beside Noah and Amelia.

Take one. Each team works on a frog.

The blood drained from Amelias face. It was up to Noah.

He shoved his hand in the jar and grabbed a wriggling frog. Mrs. Horatio slapped a pithing needle down on his desk. Get started, you two, she said, and moved on to the next team.

Noah looked down at the frog he was holding. It stared back at him, bug-eyed. He picked up the pithing needle, then he looked at the frog again. Those eyes were begging him, Let me live, let me live! He put down the needle, his nausea back full force, and looked hopefully at Amelia. You wanna do the honors?

I cant, she whispered. Dont make me, please.

One of the girls screamed. Noah glanced sideways and saw Lydia Lipman leap out of her chair and scramble away from her lab partner, Taylor Darnell. There was a wooden thud, thud, thud, as Taylor stabbed his pithing needle into the frog.

Blood spattered on his desk.

Taylor! Taylor, stop it! said Mrs. Horatio.

He kept stabbing. Thud, thud. The frog looked like green hamburger. D plus, he muttered. I studied all week for that test. You cant give me a D plus!

Taylor, go to the principals office.

He stabbed the frog harder. You cant give me a lousy D plus!

She grabbed his wrist and tried to take the needle away from him. Go see Miss Cornwallis now!

Taylor yanked away, knocking the dead frog off his desk. It tumbled into Amelias lap. With a shriek, she jumped to her feet and the small corpse slatted to the floor.

Taylor! Mrs. Horatio yelled. Again she grabbed his wrist, this time forcing him to drop the pithing needle. Leave this room immediately!

Fuck you!

What did you say?

He stood up and shoved his chair to the floor. Fuck you!

You are suspended as of right now! Youve been sullen and disrespectful all week. This is it, buddy. Youre out of here!

He kicked the chair. It bounced up the aisle and crashed into a desk. Grabbing his shirt, she tried to march him toward the door, but he twisted free and shoved her backwards. She fell against a desk, toppling the jar. It shattered, and frogs leaped free, scattering away in a writhing carpet of green.

Slowly Mrs. Horatio rose to her feet, fury blazing in her eyes. Im going to have you expelled!

Slowly Mrs. Horatio rose to her feet, fury blazing in her eyes. Im going to have you expelled!

Taylor reached into his backpack.

Mrs. Horatios gaze froze on the gun in his hand. Put it down, she said.

Taylor, put it down!

The explosion seemed to punch her in the abdomen. She staggered backwards, clutching her belly, and dropped to the floor with a look of disbelief. Time seemed to halt, frozen for one interminable moment as Noah stared down in horror at the bright river of blood streaming toward his sneakers. Then a girls terrified shriek pierced the silence. In the next instant, chaos exploded all around him. He heard chairs slam to the floor, saw a fleeing girl stumble and fall to her knees in the broken glass. The air itself seemed misted with blood and panic.

Another gunshot exploded.

Noahs gaze swept around in a slow-motion pan of fleeing bodies, and he saw Vernon Hobbs tumble forward and crash into a desk. The room was a blur of flying hair and churning legs. But Noah himself could not seem to move. His feet were mired in a waking nightmare, his body refusing to obey his brains commands of Run! Run!

His gaze panned back across the chaos to Taylor Darnell, and to his horror he saw that the gun was now pointed at Amelias head.

No, he thought. No!

Taylor fired.

A streak of blood magically appeared on Amelias temple and the rivulet slowly dripped down her cheek, yet she remained standing, her eyes wide and focused like a condemned animals on the gun barrel. Please, Taylor, she whispered.

Please, dont..

Taylor raised the gun again.

All at once, Noahs legs broke free of their nightmare paralysis, his body moving of its own accord. His brain registered a multitude of details at once.

He saw Taylors head come up, face rotating toward Noah. He saw the gun slowly sweep around in an arc. He saw the look of surprise in Taylors eyes as Noah came flying at him.

Another bullet exploded out of the barrel.

Ive just noticed my patient was admitted. Why didnt anyone call me?

The ward clerk looked up from her desk and seemed to shrink when she saw it was Claire asking the question. Uh which patient, Dr. Elliot?

Katie Youmans. I saw her name posted on one of the doors, but shes not in the room. I cant find her chart in the rack.

She was admitted just a few hours ago, through the ER. Shes in X-ray right now.

No one notified me.

The clerks gaze dropped like a stone to her desk. Dr. DelRay's taken over as attending physician.

Claire absorbed this dismaying news in silence. It was not uncommon for patients to switch physicians, sometimes for the most trivial of reasons. Two of Adam DelRays patients had transferred to Claires practice as well. But she was surprised that this particular patient would choose to leave her care.