CHAPTER NINE
Lawrence
“We’ve got to make a stop,” Lawrence told David. They’d driven for about an hour, occasionally seeing survivors pass by in their own vehicles, but not finding anyone stranded. Lawrence would wave at the other vehicles in hopes that they would stop, but they didn’t, and David kept reiterating how people had already lost their trust and hope in others.
Lawrence was getting a strange vibe from David. He couldn’t exactly put his finger on it, but something about the way he’d been acting was just rubbing him the wrong way. He was about to ask David about how he ended up in a ditch on the side of the highway before Lawrence had rescued him when David spoke first.
“Where are we going?”
Lawrence thought of changing the subject, but they were close to their destination, and so he decided against it.
“There’s a small clinic up the road here. It’s a little off the beaten path, so it may not have been raided yet. I know some of the people that worked there so I want to go check it out.”
He looked over to David, who didn’t respond. The man just sat there, looking out the window.
“You know how to fire a gun?” Lawrence asked.
David looked over to him and nodded. “I can hold my own, yeah.”
“Good.”
With one hand on the wheel, Lawrence reached down and grabbed a pistol that was hidden between the driver’s side door and his seat. He held it in his hand where David could see it, all while staring at the man. He was trying to get a read on the mysterious man to see if he should give him the gun or not. In the end, he knew that it wouldn’t be safe for him to go into the clinic alone, and he couldn’t send David in unarmed. So, he handed David Ellis the small firearm.
David accepted the weapon into his hand as Lawrence put all his focus back onto the road. He heard David pop out the clip to confirm that the gun was loaded.
“It’s a 0.38. Should give you plenty of punch to take any of those things down.”
“Thanks,” David said.
Lawrence looked up the road and saw the exit he needed to take to get to the clinic.
“Here we go,” Lawrence said.
As Lawrence continued to drive toward the exit, he heard a window open. He looked over and saw David pointing the gun outside with both hands gripping the weapon. Up the road just a bit, Lawrence saw one of the creatures limping down the shoulder on the other side of the metal railing. David had the gun focused on it.
As they passed by the beast, Lawrence heard David fire off a round, and then he looked into the passenger side mirror.
Lawrence could just see the beast roll down the hill and come to a stop at the bottom, lying motionless.
He looked over to David, who was rolling up the window with the gun in his lap. The man never looked over toward Lawrence. He only continued to stare outside, and Lawrence wondered what the man could have been thinking.
***
David
“It’s just up ahead,” Lawrence said.
Just as Lawrence had told him earlier, the small clinic sat off an uninhabited road. They must have been on the outskirts of Knoxville, because there wasn’t much out here. As they got closer, David noticed something. Behind the building was a large wooden structure with chain link fence built into the sides of it. It ran a good twenty yards off the back of the building. Then, David could finally read the sign out front: Volunteer Kennels.
Lawrence pulled into the parking lot, and David watched as four Empties banged at the front door of the building. As the ambulance approached, the creatures turned around and walked toward them.
“Alright, let’s…”
But before Lawrence could finish, David was already out of the vehicle.
He walked toward the first Empty, raised the handgun, and fired a bullet right through its skull. Then, he hit the creature walking next to it. The next Empty was a few yards away and, still moving forward, he fired without missing that one, too. With one remaining, David stopped. He waited for the beast to get within just a few feet of him and, as it reached out to grab him, he kicked it in the stomach as hard as he could. The Empty stumbled to the ground, and David looked down at it. Just as it was about to reach for him, he lifted his leg and slammed his size eleven boot down onto the thing’s skull, crushing it.
David stood there, looking down at the last Empty. Barking from the dogs inside the kennels sang through the air. The way his boot had sandwiched the thing’s brain into the concrete tickled him funny on the inside. It made him feel good to end a being and to watch it stop moving. He only wished the Empties had the obligation to breathe so he could have watched the thing draw its last breath.
From behind him, David heard a door shut from the ambulance and he turned around to see Lawrence looking toward him with his jaw dropped.
“You’re crazy, man!” Lawrence exclaimed.
David turned his body to face the shocked black man. “I’ll need more ammo and a knife, if you’ve got one.” He walked toward Lawrence, who was still just standing there in awe of what he’d just witnessed.
Lawrence walked to the back of the ambulance and, when he came back, he had a backpack on and he offered David a bowie knife. It rested in a sheath, and David secured the holster for the blade around his waist. David slipped the extra clip into his pocket, turned around, and headed for the front door.
***
“Cover me,” David told Lawrence, who was standing right behind him.
David used one hand to slowly open the door. The dogs were barking so loudly that, if there was an Empty on the other side of this door snarling at him, he was apt not to even hear it, but his gun was drawn just in case.
The door creaked open with no trouble.
Once the door was open all the way, the smell hit him immediately. David brought his free hand up to cover his nose, and turned around to see Lawrence doing the same.
“What the fuck is that?” Lawrence asked. The man was a paramedic, and would have been inured to just about any foul smell by now, one would think. But this was awful.
David entered the clinic and saw the scattered remains of what had once been a human plastered all over the tile floor. It was chewed up, with blood and pieces of tissue, guts, and organs spread across the floor and wall, and David put himself on high alert. There were Empties here.
He turned around and held his pistol up in front of his face, ready to take down any creatures that came across his path. David watched Lawrence pass through the door and look down at the body. He covered his mouth and his eyes widened.
“Keep a lookout,” David said. “There’s got to be some of them in here.”
Lawrence nodded in acknowledgement, then turned around and raised his own gun.
In front of them was a welcome counter. Behind it, there was a door that presumably led to offices and an operating room, while beside the counter, there were two double doors with a sign on one of them that read “Kennels - Employees Only”. The barking was coming from beyond those doors.
Lawrence looked to David. “I’m going to go check this door behind the counter. Why don’t you go check through those doors and see if you find anything back there?”
David nodded and approached the double doors as Lawrence walked behind the counter through a small swinging gate.
The double doors had two square windows, and the barking grew louder as David approached them. When he got to where he could see through the windows, he saw them.
Three Empties stood along a narrow hallway. Lined down one side was chain link fence with individual gates every few feet. The Empties were standing in front of them, banging and pulling on the metal fencing, trying to bust through the fence to get to the barking meat inside.
David checked to make sure the gun was loaded, and then hesitated. He had a feeling building inside him… a need. He slipped the gun into the band of his pants, then reached for the knife. Pulling it from the sheath, he examined the blade up and down. It was fairl
y clean, free of blood, and begging for him to christen it.
David wet his lips, circling them with his tongue. He then smiled, grasped the knife with a solemn grip, and pushed through the doors.
***
Lawrence
The horrific odor along with the ongoing barking was giving Lawrence a splitting headache. The smell was a disgusting combination of death and dog shit, and Lawrence wondered if he would ever be able to wash the stench off of himself. He could hardly focus his attention on his surroundings as his temples pounded. The dogs barking in the kennels on the other side of the wall didn’t help either. All he wanted was to see if any survivors were here, get what he needed, and get out of this place.
He walked all the way through a short hall with doors on either side to a large operating room. He slowly lowered the gun once he was certain the room was clear. No one was around.
The idea that they were going to find any survivors was becoming futile. Since there wasn’t anyone around, Lawrence shifted his focus on trying to find supplies they could use at the hospital. There were a few specific items they needed, and he decided to fill the remaining space in his backpack with anything else they could use at the hospital. The main item on his mental checklist was anesthetics. The wing of the hospital they were trapped in did not have a heavy supply, and he wanted to make sure that he had some in case he’d have to try to perform any emergency procedures that would require a sedative. There was a room connected to the operation room, and he walked through the door hoping to find the vet clinic’s supply of drugs.
“Bingo!” he said.
Lawrence pulled off his backpack and started grabbing anything that appeared useful, including the local anesthetic Lidocaine.
Once he’d filled his bag, he turned to head out of the room.
He went back through to the operating room and immediately dropped his bag as a creature reached out to him. It had already gripped his shoulders before he could reach for the gun on his hip.
Lawrence gasped as the thing spit into his face, chomping its teeth. It pushed him back against the wall, and Lawrence’s grip on the gun almost slipped.
“Help!” he yelled out. “David!” His scream was blocked out by the snarling monster and the dogs barking in the distance.
The creature had once been an overweight man, heavier than Lawrence by at least fifty pounds, and its strength was evident. Lawrence couldn’t unpin himself from the wall.
It was just inches from Lawrence’s face now, clicking its jaw repeatedly right over his nose.
In a last-ditch effort, Lawrence mustered every bit of strength he had left in him and shoved the creature. It worked, but the thing still kept a hold of him and they both went stumbling over a table in the middle of the floor.
Lawrence landed on his back and arched, feeling the pain shoot down his spine. He looked over to see the beast trying to roll over toward him, and Lawrence reached for his gun. It wasn’t there.
He sat up and saw that it had fallen out and was on the ground about ten feet away.
As he started to get up and go for the pistol, the thing grabbed his arm, holding him back. Lawrence screamed as its nails dug into his forearm. He fell down, and the creature was trying to pull him toward it. Lawrence tried to beat it off of him, but the beast wouldn’t let go. The thing caught one of the punches, but Lawrence was able to pull his hand away just as the thing was about to bite into him.
He looked away from the creature, trying to find something, anything, that could help him.
Just within his reach was a scalpel that must have fallen off of the table when they toppled over it. As he went to reach for it, the thing made a lunge at him, and Lawrence had to turn quickly and push it away. He ended up rolling on top of the creature, pushing down on its arms as it tried to bite his exposed wrists.
Lawrence looked over at the small scalpel, biting his lip. He decided to make a jump at it.
He let go of the beast and dove toward the scalpel.
He accidentally grabbed it by the blade and cut his hand, then dropped the scalpel back onto the floor. The mistake gave the creature time to grab him again, but as the thing tried to pull him toward itself, Lawrence was able to get another hold on the scalpel.
Lawrence took a deep breath, rolled over, and drove the small blade into the thing’s eye.
Within moments, the grip on him loosened, and he rolled onto his back.
Staring at the ceiling, Lawrence spread his arms out like an angel, and lay there, breathing heavily as the beast ceased moving for good.
***
David
David stood in the middle of the hallway in silence.
Blood was everywhere. It coated the walls, covered the floor, and stained his clothes. He looked over and even saw crimson on the coat of one of the white dogs. It was barking at him, but he managed to block out every noise in the room, so all he saw was its jaw snapping. The bodies of the three Empties lay motionless nearby, and he stood over the final one he’d slain, the bloody knife still in his grasp. Mentally, he traveled to another place.
As David walked toward the door, he saw something he hadn’t noticed before. There was a fourth carcass on the ground, much smaller than that of a human. Though there was hardly anything left, he could tell from the fur around the blood and entrails that it was the remains of a dog.
He cocked his head, and smiled slightly at the sight of more death.
David stepped over the animal, and the other two Empties, and walked back through the double doors.
***
When he walked behind the front counter and entered the back room, the double doors to the O.R. were already open. David could see Lawrence sitting on the ground next to a large table with his back to him. He wasn’t moving, just sitting there with his shoulders steadily rising and falling.
This is it.
The man wasn’t fit to lead the group. David knew it. He could see so much potential in the hospital and the group that was there. David saw no reason to expand their group. They could survive with those they already had. Lawrence had other plans, and David could end those ideas right now.
David sheathed the knife and pulled the handgun from his waist.
Carefully, he crept closer to Lawrence. David was a damned good shot, and knew he wouldn’t have to get very close to blow the back of the man’s head out.
He’d tasted the ceasing of the Empties moments earlier, and now he was ready to feed off the ending of a real life. The feeling, the desire, and the craving were inside him. He just had to fulfill them.
The incessant barking of the dogs blocked out the sounds of his footsteps as well as the sound of him cocking the gun as he reached the door to the large room.
David raised the pistol and aimed.
A noise distracted him, and David turned just as an Empty rushed out from a door and came at him.
It was just about his size, wearing a white overcoat. The Empty had David around his neck, driving him against the wall while David clutched at its arms and tried to push back against his chest.
A loud bang rang into David’s left ear, and the weight of the Empty left him as it fell to the ground.
David looked over and saw Lawrence standing just five feet away from him, holding the gun up to the head level of where the Empty had stood. Like David, Lawrence had blood all over his clothes.
Gasping, the black man looked at David. He reached into his pocket, and tossed David a set of keys, which he caught in his free hand.
“Get me the fuck outta here,” Lawrence gasped. “You’re driving.”
CHAPTER TEN
Will
When Will opened his eyes again, he was lying on his stomach in a daze. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, and he could hardly remember where he was. His ears rang, and though he heard a distorted collection of noises around him, he couldn’t identify any of them. After a few moments, his vision, though blurry, began to return. His hands were resting on the carpeted interior lining
the SUV’s cargo area floor, and he could feel the weight of something resting on the back of his legs.
Will tried to push himself up but quickly fell back down. He felt his blood rush to his head, and put his hand near his temple and rubbed the area where it hurt the most. When he looked at his hand moments later, there was blood on it.
Again, he tried to get up, but the weight on top of him made it difficult. He simultaneously lifted his legs and slid to the left, and felt the weight slowly let off of him. He looked down and noticed that Holly had been on top of him. Her eyes were closed, and she had a large blood stain on her own head.
“Oh, shit, Holly!”
He grabbed her by the shoulders and gently shook her, but she wouldn’t come to. Will grabbed her arm and checked her wrist for a pulse. Though faint, it did exist.
In an instant, Will’s hearing became clear and he heard the Empties banging on the truck from all sides, and the frantic yelling from within the SUV.
He fell down and covered his ears once he heard the first gunshot. He stayed there for a moment, curled up with his ears covered. The gunshots continued from within the truck, with frantic yelling surrounding them.
Will sat up again and saw Marcus firing out of the broken back seat window on the driver’s side. He looked toward the front of the truck and saw that they had hit a tree. Gabriel was still in the driver’s seat, his head buried into an air bag, and Will wasn’t sure if he was alive. Dylan was in the front seat, covering his ears and screaming. Marcus was in front of Will, and Miranda was…
Where is Miranda?
When he looked out the driver’s side of the SUV, he noticed a small group of Empties gathered around something. For a brief second, he saw one of the things pull its head up and spit something pink into the air while chomping its jaws.
“I need you, man!” Marcus yelled. “We’re fuckin’ surrounded. Miranda’s dead, man. They fuckin’ got her. And I’m not sure if Gabriel is alive or not. But, I need you!” The weapons were stored behind the front seats in the floor, giving Marcus easy access to them. He reached down and grabbed a rifle and a Glock, then handed them to Will.
Empty Bodies (Book 2): Adaptation Page 6