Plastic
"A cold gust blew across a desert hospital, churning dead leaves and howling at all who would be in the night.
Dr. Harold Vesmer braced himself against the wind, and entered the hospital. The door slammed shut, as Dr. Vesmer inspected that days surgeries neatly scrawled on the wall.
'Karen Hollings' eye (quarter inch plates), jaw (half inch plates), teeth (full replacement), hair (full replacement).
Harold groaned, deep in thought, and traversed the hallway to the nearest corridor, approaching the entrance of the doctor's lounging room.
Another day, another surgery. Always with the eye plates, always with the full replacements. Harold Vesmer stirred in a chair, swirling a coffee and perplexed in thought.
The other incidents. Patients getting out of hand. Returning to the hospital. The world was getting to be a crazy place.
Dr. Vesmer gulped. The incision was lined up and closing, as the patient, young Miss Karen Hollings, swallowed and fidgeted on the table under sedation.
The wraps were on. Time to wait.
The hours ticked by, Harold arranging charts and sipping coffee, as the unwrapping came closer.
Footsteps, other doctors. Murmuring and screaming in the background. Typical hospital. Typical hospital.
A pounding at the doors went unnoticed. Threats of another incident hung in the air. Karen Hollings was unwrapped. She acted strangely as she studied her visage in the mirror.
Hushed conversations ensued, and doctors were heard hurriedly discussing 'the dilemma'.
'What if it's true? They're becoming monsters! There's too much work being done. They're physical!'
The second doctor a thin, balding older man, consoled the other doctor.
'Dont worry. We can get this under control. Plastic surgery is a common thing nowadays. Maybe we're just in a bad area.'
He gripped her arms and looked into her eyes. 'We can get out of here just fine.'
Karen Hollings disappeared, as the pounding on the outside door continued. Dr. Vesmer escaped to his surgery room, clutching a handgun and a scalpel.
Dr. Vesmer screamed as a hand covered his mouth from behind. The front door busted open loudly with an echoing bang. The doctor's and nurses stared helplessly and held each other, as one of the nurses screamed. The hospital power went out.
The hospital power flickered on. Doctor Harold Vesmer tried to get a hold on himself. The lights flashed over the surgery room, doctor's and nurses bodies horribly butchered and hanging over the room.
He looked into the bay mirror and saw his mouth was completely missing."
Short Stories