Several minutes later, there was no one in the room to see the fan as it started to rock slowly back and forth, the movement causing it to inch forward across the small table, directly toward the bed.

Mel was dreaming. His pain forgotten, along with the unbearable heat. He was now stretched out in the shade of a huge palm tree, on a warm tropical beach. There was a gentle breeze blowing off the deep, cobalt blue waters of the ocean, cooling and calming him. He lay quiet and relaxed for the first time in days. As pleasant as it all was, however, the dream soon began to sour.

Mel shook his head, trying to drive the bad thoughts from his once peaceful dream. Somewhere in the background, there was a disturbing noise. At first it had been barely noticeable, like a small insect buzzing around, just out of sight. But the sound had grown steadily, until it now filled his head with a roar like a rattling freight train bearing down on him from a great distance. The once cool breeze had changed to an uncomfortable gale, now hot and vicious against his face. The noise and heat were driving him mad.

Trying to awaken himself from this dream turned to nightmare, he tossed his head back and forth, finally coming completely off the pillow. His attempt to escape this strange, new torment caused renewed pain in his shoulder injuries, so he turned partly onto his left side and tried to sit up, not yet fully awake. Oddly, even though he was no longer dreaming, Mel still felt hot air blowing against his face as he slowly opened his eyes.

His screams brought Sarah racing quickly up the stairs and into the bedroom. She stopped at the foot of the bed and her screams mingled for a moment with Mel's own. Sarah went right on screaming, however, even as Mel's voice died with him. He slumped back onto the bed, his mouth open in a soundless cry of pain and terror, the entire left side of his face ripped away, parts of his skull showing whitely through shreds of bloody tissue. The fan sat near the edge of the bedside table, only inches away from what was left of Mel's face, its blades spinning wildly, now bright with his blood.

Sarah watched in growing horror as the fan slowly turned toward her, then suddenly seemed to lurch forward and fall from the table. It bounced once on the carpet and landed upright, the blades beginning to whirl faster and faster, blood spinning off in all directions. The increased vibration of the whirling blades started to cause the fan to wobble. As it rocked back and forth, the fan picked up forward momentum, until it was actually moving toward Sarah in a lurching, jerky motion. It continued to move slowly forward, inch by inch, directly toward where Sarah stood frozen in complete and utter terror.

She was still screaming when the fan reached her.