by Mark Kramer
I found them and ran out of there, but I forgot all about my weapons, the mop and broom.
It took me a few seconds to catch up with the group. They were still in the cafeteria.
We followed Hank through the cafeteria, the beam of his flashlight bouncing in the darkness. We did our best not to make a sound, but couldn’t help the sound of our footsteps every time our shoes and feet hit the terrazzo floor. Even those sounds were being drowned out by the sound of the trapped creatures in the storage room.
My heart was beating fast. It was a chilly night, but that didn’t stop the sweat from running down my face. Felt like I was running a goddamn marathon. I guess, in a way, I was. But I kept thinking how they could be only inches from me and I wouldn’t even know it. It was so dark, I couldn’t see a thing. It was as if I was running with my eyes closed. The only thing that kept me at ease was that we didn’t hear any of them, their screams or tired moans, save for the ones trapped in the storage room.
Until we entered the hallway from the cafeteria.
The moment we pushed that door open and entered the hallway, we were welcomed with echoing moans filling the entire stretch. Wherever these things were, they weren’t too far off.
The group of us continued running, chasing Hank’s dancing tunnel of light.
A few times, the lights flickered. But for the most part, the building was dark.
The echoing moans continued. I adjusted to them and the dark as we moved closer to the tunnel that would lead us out of this living nightmare of a building.
It sounded like the moans were getting closer now. They were so close that Hank slowed down a bit, not wanting to run head on into a crowd of them.
We were approaching a stairwell where the moans were originating from. Once we passed it, the moans turned to screams. The one thing helping us the most, the flashlight, was what gave us away. The creatures saw the dancing beam lighting up a section of the hallway and became excited.
The moment we heard the screams, we jumped, goddamn full speed ahead.
Behind us, we heard the stairwell door slam open and the screams and snarls intensify.
“They’re coming!” shouted Pearl. She and Billy were bringing up the rear of the group. She may not have been able to see them, but she could hear their feet smacking against the floor as they ran after us, and that was enough for her to let out a crying scream.
We were at the back of the building, fifty or sixty yards away from the main entrance. If that army had made it inside, chances are, they were still not in this part of N-5.
“When we get to the end of this corridor,” Hank shouted, as he continued running, “we’re gonna take the second to the last door on the left.”
“Got it,” I said.
A few yards ahead of us, the path of light picked up what appeared to be a door, to the right, opening.
It was too late for us to react.
We ran right into them.
Chapter Nineteen
Hank crashed into the first of the infected and fell with her to the floor. The flashlight flew out of his hand and was spinning on the floor beside him; the beam of light, running in a circle along the walls of the hallway.
Once they collided, I couldn’t tell if we bumped into each other, or if we ran into the creatures. But now we were all on the floor, and someone was ripping at my clothes. I swung wild, doing my best to fight off this maniac in the dark.
I could hear Pearl’s screams blending with the screams of the infected, but hell, I couldn’t see anything.
Then a shot was fired from Hank’s gun.
The lights began to flicker again. On, off. On, off. On, off.
It looked as if a strobe light was flashing on us as one of the monsters kept trying, fighting to get my flesh in his mouth. I kicked at him. My right foot caught him in his chin and knocked him back.
Hank grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.
The lights were still flickering as the group that was chasing us from the stairwell was just reaching us now. There were three of them, and they grabbed Pearl.
Billy was fighting off one that he had crashed into. He was shouting, “The dirty scoundrel bit me, Stanton. You hear that? Lil’ dog bit Billy the Kid.”
My heart dropped. No, please tell me he was lying. This crazy bastard who was an honest-to-God good kid. He just hit a few roadblocks down the path of his life.
I was about to help Billy when I heard the woman attacking Hank again. With the lights still flashing, I saw the professor push an infected woman back into the room they popped out from, then he went to help Billy.
Pearl was doing her best to fight off the creatures; every time they had a grip on her, she managed to slip free.
I helped Hank with the woman. He shot her again. This time, he hit her in the corner of her forehead. She dropped.
The one I had kicked to the floor was grabbing hold of the professor’s leg as he tried to help Billy. The professor was naked, except for the open gown that he was wearing. He stomped his bare foot over the infected man’s head, stopping him for the moment.
Hank grabbed the professor and pulled him free. The professor went running down the hall.
“Where’s the doctor?” shouted Hank. I had no idea, but I was more worried about helping Billy and the nurse.
Hank came to my aid as the man from the floor tried to attack me from behind; he used his baton to beat on the man’s head.
I was helping Billy, but he saw the three had their hands on Pearl now and were about to devour her.
He screamed and ran to her side, pulled her free, but trapped himself. They jumped on him. One was biting into his neck, snarling; another, into his face; the other, ripping his pants off to get to his legs.
I wished I could have done something, but it was far too late. Even if we did pull him free, we all knew by now what would become of him. Sooner or later, he’d be dead. Then alive again.
We had to save ourselves.
Me and Hank grabbed Pearl and ran down the hallway.
The few other infected people had joined the others in their mutilation of Billy.
We reached the door. The professor entered, then Pearl, followed by Hank.
I was about to enter when I heard Billy shout, “Daddy! Please, come to take me home…I want…I want you…To hell with them Japs…I’m Billy the Kid, goddamn it!” I looked back ― the lights were on now ― to see Billy covered in, and surrounded in, blood. The creatures were tearing off flesh from his body and savoring every bit they stuffed in their mouths.
Billy the Kid was dead. For now.
I let out a gut wrenching cry and kicked the damn door open.
At the bottom of the staircase, there was a door, the entrance to the tunnel. Doctor Cochran was waiting there with the rest of the group.
“Billy’s dead,” I said. “We lost Billy.”
Pearl was crying. She already knew he was gone.
I gazed at Cochran, ran down the stairs, grabbed his shirt and shook him. “Why’d you leave us? Huh? You help? Get me?” I let go of him. “How’d you like it if we left you behind to fend for yourself?”
“I was scared,” he shouted. “Okay? I wanted to get away, so I did.”
“Shut up, both of youse,” said Hank. “Let’s get moving before they finish with him and come looking for us. That crumb was a no good nut anyways.”
I exchanged glares with Hank. I didn’t like the son of a bitch.
“You got something to say about it?” said Hank.
“Give me your stick,” I said, sounding calm. He squinted, not understanding what I wanted. “The baton.” I motioned to it with my eyes. “I need a weapon. You really want to be the only one with a way to hurt these things?”
He hesitated, but he wound up giving it to me. He knew it was the smart thing to do. Then he said, “I’ll go first.” He looked at me, saying, “You’re last. Keep your eyes peeled for what’s behind us. What happened back there,” he shook his head, “I don’t want it h
appening again.” I nodded. He turned to Cochran, “Open the door. But be prepared to close it.”
“How will I know when to close it?” said Doctor Cochran.
“How?” said Hank. “When I scream like a goddamn schoolgirl. That’s when you know to close it.”
The doctor let out a nervous chuckle and blushed, saying, “Excuse me. I’ve just never…been involved in something like this before. I feel like I’m in a war. A battle.”
“You are, doc. Tonight, this is a battle to live. To make it to the next goddamn day. Now on the count of three, I want you to open,” said Hank.
Cochran nodded.
“One.”
I gripped the baton.
“Two.”
The professor, appearing at ease, and Pearl, shivering in fear, stood behind Hank.
“Three.”
Beads of sweat ran down Cochran’s face as he pulled the door open.
And then.
It was quiet.
From what we could see, the tunnel was void of any creatures. It was flooded, as I had suspected, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought.
The water was about three feet high. The tunnel was about eight feet in length and width. There were light fixtures in the ceiling, but they were out. Hank was shining his trusty flashlight that he snatched off the floor when he ran down here.
It was cold in this tunnel. I remember hearing this morning from someone that the temperature was supposed to drop tonight. Did it ever, felt like it was about forty degrees down here.
Then we stepped in the water, and I had to take a deep breath. The water was freezing. It sent chills up my spine and covered me in goose bumps.
As we walked, I stared at the professor in front of me. With Hank’s flashlight as our only source of light, I could just make out a silhouette of the professor, but I thought to myself, Boy, he must feel like a popsicle, wearing that gown and nothing else.
Along the walls, there were huge cockroaches near the ceiling, keeping away from the water. On any given day, I hate cockroaches with a passion. Too many bad experiences with them when I was a kid. But tonight, I’d gladly take on a tunnel full of them rather than face even one of those maniacs.
We drudged through the water, our legs felt like they were moving through quicksand. It was slowing us down. We couldn’t help it. We were tired, but it was also cold, and that wasn’t helping us move any quicker.
About fifty yards into the tunnel, we heard banging echoing far behind us. The creatures must have finished with Billy and were looking for us. There was no way for us to barricade the entrance to the tunnel, so the best that we could do was to close it shut.
We heard the moans now behind us. They got through. But we didn’t panic. We were so far ahead that it would take them some time to waddle through these cold waters to reach us.
We moved on.
Chapter Twenty
We were in the stairwell of N-7, one of the hotel dormitories. It was first used as a dormitory for the nurse staff, but had recently doubled as a ward for female patients. I believe the first two floors were used for patients, and the third floor, for nurses.
The moans in the tunnel were barely heard, but they were there, in the distance, and soon they would be here.
I was closing the door shut when I turned to Hank and said, “We need something to seal off this door. In twenty thirty minutes, they’ll be pounding at it, trying to get in.”
“Come with me,” said the overweight security guard, then looked at Doctor Cochran. “Stay here with these two and keep an eye on things.” Cochran nodded. “Anyone tries to get outta that tunnel, youse scream…or something. Warn us.”
“Oh, believe me,” said Cochran, “that will not be a problem at all.”
Hank said, “We shouldn’t be any more than ten minutes. Any longer than that and you’re probably on your own.” He turned to me. “Come on, convict.”
I clenched my jaw, bit my tongue, and ignored the mug. I stepped to Cochran and handed him the baton. “In case you need it.”
“Thanks,” he said.
I followed Hank up the stairs and through the door that led into a long deserted hallway.
The place was quiet until we got closer to the ward. It was then that we began to hear faint screams. But these weren’t the screams of the creatures. These screams were more familiar, like an old friend welcoming us home. They were the screams of Philadelphia State’s patients. This was a normal thing to hear at this time of night in the hospital’s wards; patients screaming because they were trying to drown out the voices in their heads, or just screaming to be heard. Most of the time, they’d scream themselves right to sleep.
I was so relieved to hear them. I wanted to hug the first one I saw.
We approached the entrance to the ward. It was locked. Hank grabbed the set of keys from his belt and began flipping through them, looking for the right one.
He found it.
Hank unlocked the door, and we walked through, our eyes scanning the surrounding area, making sure we were safe.
The ward was layered with alcoves, and, like the other building, there were three beds to each one. Every bed had a patient in it, and most, if not all, of those patients were strapped to the frame.
In the corner was a nurses’ station. That’s where we saw Buster and Dallas, the two colored attendants on duty, both were in their forties, sitting at a table, playing cards and sipping from their thermoses. Dallas was the lead attendant and my boss. The first colored lead attendant in the history of the hospital.
As soon as they saw us walking toward them, Dallas stood from his chair. Their eyes widened; they seemed surprised to see us both soaking wet from the waist down, but even more surprised to see the splattered blood on my shirt and pants.
Dallas’ lips parted, about to say something, but Hank beat him to it, saying, “Is everything okay in here?”
“Yeah,” said Dallas. “Something wro…”
“Where’s the nurse on duty?” interrupted Hank.
“She’s upstairs, having her supper. A little late…”
Hank said, “Listen, we have an emergency on our hands.” Buster was off his chair now, standing behind Dallas. “Are all the patients accounted for?”
“Yes. They in bed,” said Dallas. “What emergency? You talking about the electricity going out earlier?”
“We need to get everyone in this building locked in the wards. You understand?”
Buster was confused, he said, “What about the nurses in their rooms? They’re all sleeping.”
“I said everyone,” said Hank. “I don’t give a donkey’s dick who’s sleeping. Get everyone in this building locked in these wards as fast as humanly possible. Now hop to it.”
Buster looked at Dallas for his approval. Dallas nodded and said, “Start on the third floor. Wake up the nurses. Take some to the second floor ward and bring the rest down here.”
“What should I tell them?”
Hank said, “Tell them, it’s a goddamn life or death situation. Don’t waste any time, just get their asses locked and safe.”
Buster seemed a little nervous after hearing that. I’m sure he was wondering what the hell was going on. But he didn’t ask another question; he ran off, toward the elevator.
I headed to the nearest window, which faced the rear of N-7. It was still raining but, at the moment, it had lightened up some. From this window, during a clear day, you could see a field beyond the parking lot, behind that was a road, then another field, followed by N-5. But with the darkness and the falling rain, the furthest I could see was the edge of the parking lot, where the dim parking lot lights shined.
There was a smaller group of the infected, about thirty, spread out from the closest field to the wrought iron gate that wrapped around the building. I turned back to Hank and Dallas and said, in a panic, “They’re already here.” I started moving toward the door of the ward, looking back at the two, saying, “I’m going to see if it’s not too late to lock
this gate. Hank, get the others back at the tunnel.”
I ran down the stretch of the hallway. I heard footsteps behind me and stole a quick glance back. It was Dallas. He was following. He said, as we ran, “Who you talking ‘bout? Who outside? Patients broke loose?”
“You assigned me to N-3 with Melvin.” We were fast approaching the entrance to N-7. “The doctors were testing that polio vaccine and all hell broke loose. And when I say, ‘all hell broke loose’, I mean that goddamn literally.” We reached the entrance. I pulled open the door to see the rain beating against the cement steps, welcoming us back to the gloomy campus. No one was in the parking lot, but eight of them were about thirty feet from the gate’s entrance. Me and my boss, about a hundred feet away.
I grabbed Dallas’ arm and pulled him along as I started running toward the gate. It was colder now. I could see my breath before me every time I huffed as my feet stomped against the asphalt.
As we passed under one of the lights, the group outside the gate saw us.
They screamed.
Three of them began to run, trying to beat us to the opening.
Chapter Twenty-one
About twenty feet away from the opening I realized this was a mistake; should’ve never attempted to lock this gate; should’ve stayed back there and just worried about securing that door.
It was too late to turn back now.
The three that were running made it into the parking lot, and they were coming right for us.
We were closing in for a head on collision. I shouted to Dallas, “Kill them.”
“What?”
“Go for…their heads…The brain…If you don’t…they’ll get you,” I shouted as we ran. “And whatever you do…don’t…let them…bite you.” I could see him out of the corner of my eye, giving me a weird look.
I gazed at the one in front of me, a male patient, couldn’t have been older than twenty-one. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his stomach had so many chunks of flesh missing that I could see his intestines beginning to sneak out. He snarled, showing his rotting teeth, as I got closer.