How many people did the two of them eat? How long had they been undead?
Four years ago I would have freaked out seeing a body just lying around. Not now. Now they were quite common. Especially out in the wild. An uneasy feeling crept into the pit of my stomach. Things were going much too easy. It was never easy. I pulled the hunting knife out of the sheath on my ankle, ready to take down anything that got in my way. I looked around for Meaghan again, but she was still nowhere to be seen. I gripped the handle of the knife until my knuckles turned white. Aside from a few stragglers near the main entrance, the horde had converged on the burning wreckage. The side door was clear though. I saw no signs of movement around the small smoking area, and the door looked to still be in one piece.
“Where are you going?” a voice asked from somewhere near my feet. I stumbled backward and fell hard onto my butt, watching Meaghan climb out from beneath an ambulance.
“You scared the shit out of me!”
“Sorry.” She grinned.
“I was beginning to think you were dead.”
“You can’t kill the unkillable.” She winked.
“Not funny, Meaghan.”
“Sorry.” She raised her hands in the air defensively. “So where are you going?”
“The side entrance. There are still a few stragglers near the front. It looks pretty clear up there.”
“Knifing it?” Taz asked.
“Yes. It’s riskier, but at least we won’t have to worry about drawing attention with loud weapons and we don’t have to clear the doors now.”
“Alright.” Liz reached under her jacket pulling out a very large knife.
“What the hell is that?”
“Like that, eh?”
“It’s a mini sword.”
“I know. I found it when I was out scavenging a few weeks ago.” She smiled.
I shook my head and lead her toward the door. The thick glass was still intact, and the small area inside clear. Pushing the door open, I crept in toward the second door. It was made of the same thick glass like material. Unfortunately, that door led to a bend. I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of it.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“Shit what?”
“I can’t see around that bend.”
“Then we go around front.” Meaghan turned around heading back to the door.
“No.” I shook my head.
“Why?”
“Too dangerous. That area is bigger there might be more inside.”
“And what if the hallway is filled and we can’t see anything?” she asked.
“Just stay here for a minute. I’ll go look.” I pushed the door slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible.
My heart pounded hard in my chest.
What if Nathan isn’t even here? How do you plan on even finding him? What if he’s dead?
I sighed with relief when I saw the hallway was empty. I turned to get Meaghan, but the look of terror on her face made me stop. Then I heard it. A low growl behind me. I closed my eyes and waited. That was when it happened.
A zombie fucking bit me.
Chapter Thirteen
Another Survivor and Escaping Hell…
*5 years ago*
“Now what do we do?” I asked still sitting on the floor watching Nathan try to hold back the mass of undead behind him.
“Get out of here,” Scott said pacing in circles.
“Well if Nathan moves, we’re done for. So first we have to block off that door better. A flimsy piece of wood isn’t going to hold them back.” I put my head in my hands hoping the headache that had started would go away.
“Finding something fast would be good,” Nathan grunted as the door heaved behind him.
I looked around trying to find something that would make a good lock. There wasn’t much, just chairs and the reception desk.
“Get down,” I whispered.
“That’s kind of hard to do,” Nathan replied.
“Fine, then just be quiet.”
“Why?” Scott questioned.
“There’s one of them.” I pointed to the windows on the other side of the room.
One of the zombies was walking slowly, its head tilted to one side, his front covered in blood, and someone’s flesh hanging out of his mouth.
“Oh my God.” I tried to hold the vomit in.
“Is that…”
“Uh huh.” I looked away.
“Dear sweet Jesus,” Scott said, staring as it walked past us. “I know him.”
“Who was it?” Nathan craned his neck to see the man.
“It was Chris Tumbler.”
“Plastics Chris?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit.”
“A friend of yours?” I still searched for something to use as a lock on the door.
“Yeah, he is. Well, was.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled walking over to a chair and looking it over.
I turned it on its side and began stomping on it till the wood splintered. The curved back remained intact though. I picked it up and headed for the door.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to block off the door long enough so we can get the hell out of here.”
“That’s never going to work,” Scott said.
“If it gives us a five minute head start does it matter? Or do you plan on holding them back forever? Now let me put this in while I still have a shred of bravery.”
I wedged the wood into the handles of the door and pulled Nathan away gently. The doors seemed to buckle a bit, but my makeshift lock was working. Temporarily.
“Now we leave. Quickly,” I muttered, walking away from the undead.
“Where do we go?” Scott asked, looking at me.
“How the hell should I know? You two work here. I don’t even know where I am.”
“We’re in the radiology reception room.”
“Okay? That means what?” I asked.
“We’re on the first floor,” Scott said. “Go through those doors and head left you’ll be at the escalators that lead out.”
“Then that is the direction we go.”
“It’s also the main lobby,” Nathan said, peeking out the door. “And it looks like there are even more of them.”
I looked out in time to see a woman wearing blue scrubs run past. She looked behind her, tripped, and fell to the ground hard. I let out a small scream, which was covered up by Nathan’s hand. Three undead surrounded her and began eating. She struggled to get away and made it to her feet as they tore at her flesh. I could feel vomit rise as I saw one of the men grab her shoulders. He clamped his mouth around her throat. His teeth tore into the tender skin and muscle tearing away a large portion her terrified screams of pain ended as nothing more than a gurgle. Blood sprayed from the wound like a garden hose. Her eyes closed and blood slowed.
“Oh God.” Nathan gripped my shoulders as he watched the horror unfold in front of us. “He got the carotid.”
“Huh?”
“A vein in the neck. As her heart beats the blood will continue to spurt through the wound.”
A final spurt of blood shot out a few feet then she sank to the floor as more zombies joined the feeding frenzy. There was so much blood. Even from down the hall I could see all the blood. I don’t know where they all came from, but they devoured the once terrified woman. After a few minutes they got up and stumbled away. A few scraps of clothes, blood, and other bits of her were left in the wake. I felt light headed and my stomach turned. I wish I didn’t watch.
“That isn’t happening to me. I don’t want to be eaten.” I couldn’t hold back the tears and vomit. I turned and grabbed a small garbage can as my stomach lurched. Everything I had ever eaten in my entire life ended up in that waste basket.
“Are you alright?” Nathan wrapped his arms around me and squeezed. He buried his head in my hair and I felt his body shudder against mine. I’m fairly certain he was crying. As we stood there in the most awkward embrace I
’ve ever experienced, a few of the zombies saw us, or smelled us, and ventured down the hallway toward us.
“I think so.”
“Alright, hugging done. We have to go.” Scott pushed between us and motioned to follow him into the hallway. “Let’s go, Emma!”
I brushed past him and walked the opposite direction of the buffet.
“You’re going the wrong way!” he yelled.
“Okay, you tell the zombies to turn around and go the other way then.”
“Never mind.” He followed us down the long corridor.
“So where does this lead?”
“Deeper into the hospital,” Nathan said.
“That’s not where we want to go.” I stopped near doors and jiggled the handles.
“Those rooms have no other way out.”
“Does it matter right now? At least if we’re barricaded in a room we’ll be safe.” I entered a small conference type room.
I swiftly shut and locked the door as the zombies staggered around the corner. They paused near our only way out, smacked on it a bit, but kept on going. We stood there waiting for what felt like hours. None of us willing to open the door first. Everything was quiet though. Not a sound could be heard, except for our breathing.
“Do you think it’s safe to go out?” My ear was pressed to the door.
“It will never be safe again,” Scott muttered.
I glanced over my shoulder at the man who sat, sulking, in a corner. His head was resting his hands, and he sounded like a man who was ready to give up.
“Stop it,” I mumbled rolling my eyes.
“There’s only one way to know for sure if it is.” Nathan pursed his lips into a tight, thin line.
“I know.”
I unlocked the door and slowly turned the knob. The light click of the door knob sounded like an atomic bomb being dropped in the silent hall. I opened the door just enough to poke my head out and scanned both ends. No sounds. No people. No undead.
“I think it’s safe,” I whispered.
“Do we head back toward the main entrance or keep circling around?” Nathan inquired.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“We need weapons.” Scott stood and walked around the room.
“We’re in a hospital. Where exactly do you think we’re going to find weapons?” I asked him.
“Make something.” He smashed a chair against a wall.
“Can you be any louder?”
“What?” he asked.
“Scott, seriously, we’re trying to not draw attention to this part of the hallway, and you’re smashing fucking furniture!” I went back into the room and shut the door.
“Well I’m not going out there unarmed. I don’t have a gun, so a blunt object it is.”
“And what are you going to do? Beat them with it?” I asked.
“Better than being turned into dinner,” he snapped.
“Can we please just go?”
“I think he’s right.” Nathan avoided eye contact with me.
“Fine. Get your caveman club and let’s get out of here.”
Nathan took a chair and did as Scott; he smashed it against a wall. He pried the legs off and handed me one. Somewhat reluctantly I took it.
Who knows, maybe I will need it.
“If it comes down to it, will you be able to kill one of those?”
“A zombie? An undead creature trying to eat my face? Yes, I think I’ll manage to kill it.” I opened the door again.
“Even if it still looks like a person?” Scott asked.
“Don’t push me.” I looked at him wild-eyed.
How did we end up stuck with a complete asshole?
Chapter Fourteen
Still Trying to Find Nathan…
The past seemed so far away. Carefree days of going out without worry. Though my life was never carefree and without worry. Now, things were even worse.
“What the fuck? What the fuck!” I screamed as the zombie held onto me, sinking its teeth deeper into my shoulder.
“Emma!” Meaghan pounded on the glass from the other side of the door.
“Stay there!” I hollered back, punching the zombie in the face as it clawed and bit at me.
I wriggled my right arm out of the leather jacket I was wearing and worked on the left. I took a deep breath, grabbed the knife out of my boot, and rammed it underneath his chin. The zombie’s grip on my shoulder loosened as the gooey, black blood dripped down my hand. It slumped to the floor and just to be sure it was really dead, I jammed my knife down in the skull.
“You were bit!” Taz shouted at me.
“No shit, Taz.”
“What do we do? What do I do?”
“Stay where you are.” I pulled down the shoulder of my shirt to examine the wound. I ran my hand over my smooth skin. I nearly peed myself, there was no bite mark.
“But you were bit! One of us has to shoot you! How are we supposed to shoot the Police Chief?” Liz look wild eyed and panicked.
She was usually the calm one of the bunch.
“Stop before you pass out. And police chief? Of what? Three streets and a few abandoned buildings?”
“But you’re going to turn!” Meaghan blubbered, pulling out her gun.
“Girl, I swear if you do not put that pea shooter away I’m going to smack you.”
“But you’re going to turn into an undead,” she sobbed.
“No I’m not.” I turned my left side toward her and pulled my shirt down. “See, no bite mark.”
“How?”
“The leather jacket took the damage. The jacket is ruined, but it saved me from being bitten.”
“It did?” Taz asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I swear.”
Meaghan bit her lip and looked down. Liz pursed her lips and Taz furrowed his brows searching my face for any sign of lying. I knew they were trying to decide if she had to kill me or if I was telling the truth.
“Meg, if you don’t believe me come take a look. I won’t bite.”
“Fine.” She left her safe vestibule and tentatively approached me.
“You have to get closer than five feet away.”
“I can see you fine from here,” she replied.
“If I was turning why am I still okay?”
“Maybe it’s taking its time.”
“With how hard that thing chomped on my shoulder it should have taken off a nice chunk. You know that would only be a matter of minutes from infection to zombification.” I rolled my eyes at her.
“You can never be too careful.” She watched me pick the leather jacket up. “You’re not putting that back on are you?”
“Yeah, it’s cold. Plus if another undead bites me, they get a mouth full of leather.”
“It has zombie slobber on it.” She crinkled her nose at the now offensive garment.
I shrugged my shoulders and put it back on. I stooped down near the zombie and wiped the sticky goo off the blade of my knife. I stood and continued down the hallway cautiously. Nathan had to be somewhere around here, and if the place still crawled with zombies he wouldn’t have made it too far into the hospital.
“Are you serious about still going in there?” Liz asked still standing by the door.
“Yes, of course. Nathan is somewhere around here. I can’t just leave him to face whatever fate he would face being here alone. Plus we’ve already come this far.”
“I can’t, Emma. I just can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t?”
She bit her lip and looked down at the ground. “I can’t go in there.”
“Alright, stay here then. The glass is pretty thick, and you should be safe.”
“You’re leaving me?” Panic filled her voice. “Alone?”
“Liz, you can come or you can stay. We’re going to find Nathan.”
“I’m not staying alone.”
“I have to. I have to go find Nathan. I’m not leaving this hospital without him.”
She sighed and sat do
wn. I picked the scared kitten up off the floor and opened the door to the vestibule. “Keep it safe.”
“What are you naming him?”
“I don’t know yet. Maybe Oak. Since we did find him here. Or Lucky.” I scratched the kittens head, shut the door, and headed into hell.
“I’ll stay with Liz,” Meaghan said, taking the kitten from me.
I nodded and looked to Taz.
“I’m going with you, Boss.”
I nodded back. I hadn’t been back in the hospital since that day. Not since Becca turned. Not since life as everyone knew it was over. I kept the knife out; completely unsure what I would run into. I came to a cross roads and peaked around the corner. One zombie stood there. It didn’t move. It just stood there swaying back and forth.
What the hell is wrong with it?
If it wasn’t the hallway I needed I would have kept going. I crept along the wall trying to stay behind it. I watched as the body twitched and it lifted its head moaning a bit.
Can it smell me? Do I smell differently than they do? Of course I do, they’re dead. I’m alive. Rotting flesh stinks, I don’t stink.
Before it had the chance to turn and bite me, I rammed my knife into the back of its head, and the gross undead slumped to the floor in a pool of black goo. This one was particularly smelly. It was a stench of death mixed with something else that was just horrendous.
“You nasty thing,” I muttered under my breath as I stepped over the body.
The long hallway led to the main lobby. A long-abandoned Starbucks was in the corner next to the closed gift shop. The glass windows were broken, and I didn’t dare look inside. There were blood stains all over the floors and somehow on the walls. I stayed near the old coffee shop watching as a few zombies stood around. I had never seen them act so strangely. Two of them swayed back and forth while a third kept walking into a wall.
“What the hell is this?” I asked quietly.
Taz shrugged while the Undead all stopped moving.
Shit.
I held my breath hoping they would just ignore me or not notice me. After a few minutes they went back to their swaying and walking into walls.
The Last Alive Page 10