The Walls of Lemuria by Sam Sisavath

said.
    “What’s there?”
    “A fort.”
    “Smart-ass.” Then, “Figured something out yet? It’s getting pretty hot in here.”
    “I’m still thinking.”
    He heard her sigh heavily. It was overly dramatic and for his benefit, no doubt.
    “Sit tight,” he said.
    “Sure,” she said. “I’ll call and cancel my day at the spa.”
    “That’s my girl.”
    “Keo, did I tell you?”
    “What’s that?”
    “I’m very attractive.”
    He smiled. “Is that right?”
    “Yes. I also have green eyes. It’s one of my best features and I’d love for you to get lost in them. So please, get me the hell out of here.”
    “I’ll do my best.”
    He stared at the building in front of him for a moment. Specifically, at the red-and-black brick and mortar that made up the wall. Behind that was the morgue, and Gillian. All he really needed was another entrance that wasn’t teeming with bloodsuckers on the other side. A new door of some kind.
    A door…
    “Gillian,” he said into the radio.
    “Really, really attractive,” she answered almost right away.
    He smiled again. “Where are you and the others right now inside the room?”
    “We’re kind of scattered everywhere. Why?”
    “I need you to move everyone away from the back wall. As far as you can. Get everyone to the front of the room.”
    She didn’t answer right away. Then, with more than just a touch of concern in her voice, “What are you going to do?”
    “I’m going to make a door.”
    “Oh God, I don’t like the sound of that.”
    “Trust me.”
    “I don’t even know you.”
    “Trust me anyway.”
    “I guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”
    “None that I can see. It’s a morgue, so it has those steel tables, right?”
    “Yes…”
    “You’ll want to use them as cover, just in case. Understand?”
    “Just in case of what?”
    “I thought you were going to trust me.”
    She sighed again. “Okay. And then what?”
    He walked back to the Lancer and Jake. “When you have everyone moved as far away from the back wall as possible, let me know.”
    “Okay,” she said. Then, “Keo…”
    “Yeah.”
    “Is this going to work?”
    “Definitely.”
    “You sound very sure of it.”
    “I am.”
    “Are you insane?”
    “I’ve been called worse.”
    Jake looked ready to leave when Keo reached him. “Are we going?”
    “Not yet,” Keo said.
    “How are we going to get them out?”
    “Do me a favor and start looking for a vehicle with keys in them.”
    Jake gave him a perplexed look.
    “Like the ambulance,” Keo said. “See if the keys are still inside.”
    “And if it’s not?”
    “You know how to hot-wire an ambulance?”
    “I…” He stopped and shook his head.
    “We’ll figure it out,” Keo said. “For now, you might want to get your stuff out of the Lancer.”
    *
    The Lancer was a full-size truck and weighed over 5,000 pounds. It had a maximum payload of over 1,500 pounds and was powered by a 5.7L V8. It also had a huge front grill and when Keo backed it up and slammed on the gas, it had no trouble whatsoever punching a hole into the side of the hospital.
    Keo hadn’t backed the truck all the way across the parking lot because he didn’t need that much of a head start. He wanted just enough speed to penetrate the wall, but too much and the collision would send huge blocks of brick flying across the room at Gillian and the others like missiles.
    The wall caved in as expected, chunks of it raining down and spiderwebbing the windshield of the Lancer from one side to the other and nearly collapsing the roof of the cab above him. He ducked his head, just in case. Keo knew he had lost the truck even before he saw smoke billowing out of the crumpled front hood. Trucks were not meant to be used as battering rams, but they sure made for a good one in a pinch.
    He couldn’t see much of anything through the smoke and debris outside the cracked windshield. He tried reversing the Lancer, but the rear wheels spun uselessly