Clifton Falls

by L A Taylor

  She truly believed in the words. Everything had been done to perfection, but even perfection had a way of letting you down.

  “So how come someone’s screaming?” snapped Wayne. Julie was put on the spot and wasn’t coping.

  How can he go from being a supportive helper on the phone, to this? she now thought.

  “I don’t know.”

  Hazel wasn’t standing for this verbal questioning from the sergeant. Her staff member didn’t deserve the third degree so interrupted the man, telling him to back off. After a swift thought, Wayne left the young woman alone and concentrated on sorting this latest mess out. After a few serious words with his partner, was ready to face the unexpected.

  The nurses stood back. Wayne reminded them to keep everyone away, and then fighting a feeling of dread, he and Jason slipped through the doorway to continue the mission.

  “Right, let’s get this sorted out quickly and efficiently. I don’t want you shooting like a madman because we don’t know if anybody’s still alive down there,” Wayne said, as the door closed behind them.

  There was no need for a reply. Jason knew what was needed of him. He checked his weapon, making sure it was loaded, then followed Wayne until reaching the stairs leading to the level they required.

  The officers stood close to each other upon reaching the bottom of the staircase. The monotonous noises made by the zombies increased with each step they took. They halted. There were no visible signs of the creatures but trails of blood, including bloody footprints were enough evidence that they were nearby.

  Gary’s I-phone was spotted lying on the ground. Jason picked it up, placing it inside his jacket pocket. Both men neared the corner where Clive had bumped into his killers. Wayne cautiously peered around it, witnessing a mutilated body. Sitting beside the corpse was one of the monsters. It had torn both eyes out of the dead man’s face and was trying to place them into its own, empty eye sockets. This latest victim of the zombie brigade wasn’t going to return as an un-dead corpse because one of the mad freaks had broken into the person’s head, removing the brain.

  Wayne turned around to face his partner. He stuck up an index finger, indicating that one of the monsters was up ahead. He then plucked up courage and jumped out of his hiding place. Jason did the same, backing the other man up. Wayne aimed his gun at the creature. The beast couldn’t see what was about to happen to it. However, it did know that someone was nearby, as the smell of human flesh alerted its angry side again. A nasty snarl rasped from its mouth.

  Wayne fired a bullet smack bang into the centre of the exbanker’s forehead, causing the insides to splatter against the wall behind it. “Well, that’s easy,” he said, smiling with relief.

  The officers walked past the two corpses, but Jason suddenly turned around to face the blood-splattered mess of a zombie. He still had a touch of anger as he thought about Nash again, so pretended that the zombie was still alive.

  “Hold on, it isn’t dead. I just saw it move.”

  Jason placed his gun tip against the blood soaked head of the corpse, pressing the trigger before Wayne could respond. ‘BANG’... Another hole was placed inside the monster’s forehead. This time the side of its face caved in. If the first shot didn’t alert the other walking dead then this one was sure to.

  Both officers remained with their backs facing the morgue entrance so didn’t know, or suspect at this time that there were more of these creatures nearby. Jason stepped back, but Wayne remained close, feeling confused as to why his partner would shoot the beast again.

  The other infected zombies shuffled out of the morgue room. One of them was biting fingers off a torn away hand, whilst the other had a mouthful of Clive’s brain. Jason watched one of them carefully, and waited until the fingerless hand dropped to the floor in front of him before making his move. He dodged the zombie, jostling it to the ground. He attempted to fire his gun again but was taken by surprise as Nash’s corpse wrapped its arms around his stomach. In the ensuing chaos his gun went off and a bullet embedded itself into Wayne’s left arm, knocking the unlucky man over the dead corpses. His weapon was catapulted from his grip as he now faced the zombie of Frank. It crawled along the ground, aiming in his direction.

  The zombie had a great opportunity to strike the defenceless man but instead, rose to its feet, shuffled past him and headed down the corridor to find food dressed in a different kind of uniform. Without realizing it, the two officers had given off the same smell only these creatures noticed. This was the driving force behind the zombie’s motive as it followed the odour, but this time the stairs would have to be attempted for the beast to reach its destination.

  Jason wrestled with the other zombie and was very lucky not to have been bitten. He bashed the back of his head many times against the beast’s face to try and free him-self but it didn’t work, as the zombie kept the grip extra tight.

  Wayne had no choice but to let the other zombie make some distance after seeing his partner in deep trouble.

  “Hold on, mate, I’m on my way.”

  He got up flinching from the pain, as blood ran down his arm, trickled down his hand and dripped from his fingertips.

  Jason and the monster toppled over until they were wrestling in front of Wayne. The constable was trying to adjust his gun in order to shoot the annoying freak, but couldn’t manoeuvre it into position because the monster’s arms were still tenaciously wrapped around his own.

  “I can’t keep it away for much longer; you have to hurry,” screamed a very frightened, frenzied man.

  Just at that moment the zombie released the grip. It became a statue for the next five seconds. Jason’s voice had acted like a magic wand, switching the zombie back to police officer mode. The living officers noticed a weird twitching around the face of the re-born thing. It was clearly a sign that brain activity was reminding the monster of what it used to be, and it smiled.

  Jason began to crawl away from the danger area as Wayne retrieved his gun. He then rushed over to help the constable, reaching out a hand for Jason to grab hold of, but the beast pounced again, grabbing hold of Jason.

  “Fuck me, Wayne, it’s got me again.”

  Wayne needed to sort this situation out before the second creature found the exit.

  “Put your head down. I’m going to blast its fucking head off.”

  “But you can’t; it’s Nash.”

  For some bizarre reason, Jason didn’t want to see one of his colleagues, alive or a dead version, being shot at.

  “Stop thinking like that, Nash has gone. Whatever that is, it isn’t him.”

  Wayne’s words distracted Jason, but he quickly refocused on his ex-colleague after feeling a nasty, stinging pain near to his right hip. It was the faintest of bites, but it drew blood all the same. Jason ducked and Wayne shot the creature. The hold was released as it lay on the ground in a furrowed heap.

  “Is it dead?”

  “I hope so buddy. I hit the sucker in the head, and as far as I’m concerned, in the head means it’s dead.” Wayne’s concern was for his partner now. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound.” Jason stared at Wayne’s injury, and was a touch embarrassed by what he’d done. “Your wound looks much worse. You do know it was an accident.”

  Even though Jason was a loose-cannon with a gun, Wayne knew that he’d never meant to hit him.

  “Of course I do.” Wayne hugged his friend with one arm, showing there were no hard feelings. “Anyway, best if we get you checked out.”

  “And the same goes for you,” Jason replied.

  “The good news is; we’re in the right place for that.”

  Both guys were able to produce a smile again and felt lucky to be alive.

  The last zombie was able to make some distance as it sniffed the air for an escape route. The men were so caught up in the emotion of surviving an attack that they let the beast slip beneath their memory radar. The monster had now climbed the stairs and was nearing the end of
the hallway, leading to the exit door.

  The corpse of Nash got up again. Somehow, the bullet ripped through the skull at an angle, completely bypassing the brain. The zombie moved toward the men with decayed blood trickling down its head. They stood watching, as moaning sounds irritated them once more. All memories of this once being one of them were rubbed out now as they both opened fire. Both weapons emptied all bullets as the metal objects split open pieces of the zombie’s face and head. The monster collapsed again and this time it wasn’t getting up.

  The other beast tried desperately to make its escape, and after a few seconds of fumbling with the door handle, stopped, seemed to think, and then placed a hand over it. A delicate twist later and the handle flopped down. The door opened, but the zombie seemed confused as to which direction to take. The area was clear of all human activity at this time so a hint of disappointment channelled out of its emotions. Hazel was responsible for no one being around. There may be a shootout in the morgue but there’s also living patients needing attention, so the staff pretended that everything was okay.

  The zombie moved through the opening, twitching its nose as a smile developed on the horror mask of a face. Flesh was nearby, but which door was the unlucky victim behind?

  The room where Gary slept was the destination point for this bloodthirsty creature. The zombie remained twitching as it shuffled toward the room. The slobbering, groaning beast glared at its prey through the small window in the doorframe before opening the door.

  The officers exited the morgue a minute later, finding no distinctive clues on where the monster had gone. If it still had blood on its feet then the prints weren’t showing up on the carpet. Wayne took control of the situation, ordering his partner to take one route while he took another.

  The receptionist was back behind her desk chatting with Hazel. Wayne spotted them and rushed over.

  “Nurse, I need to speak to you?”

  Hazel moved away from the other woman and followed the officer to a quiet corner. “Is everything okay now?” she replied, looking troubled.

  How was Wayne going to explain this without freaking her out completely? “Promise me you won’t say anything to anyone else about what I’m about to tell you?”

  “You have my word. What’s happened?”

  “Frank isn’t dead anymore. He’s escaped from the morgue and is up here somewhere.”

  Of all the theories as to why Wayne was on edge, Hazel hadn’t thought of this one. The woman was totally gob-smacked. A quick explanation was needed now. Wayne told her about the dreaded virus being passed from victim to victim and Hazel was able to fit the pieces of this jigsaw together. “I knew it was a human’s bitemark, but I’d no idea that it was from a dead person.” She glanced at the ground, noticing the man was haemorrhaging all over the carpet. “Do you know you’re bleeding?”

  “I’ve been shot. My partner’s gun went off by accident and I got in the way.”

  “You should learn to dodge bullets; it’d be better for you.”

  “Very funny... I’ll get it fixed when Frank’s dead again.” Wayne looked over at the other woman. “Do you think your receptionist saw anything?”

  “She’s just come back off her break. We walked down together.”

  There was a brief moment of no talking between the pair. Wayne looked over at Jason, while Hazel used this time to remember something from earlier. “So, Gary wasn’t lying about the walking dead. Everything he said was real.” The nurse feared for her own safety now and started shaking. “Who was it that screamed down there?”

  “I don’t know, but he was one of your staff.” Wayne was eager to find the man who had escaped the monsters. “Where’s Gary now?”

  “He’s in the waiting room.”

  “Will you come with me to talk to him?”

  Hazel agreed, and they began to walk together.

  Jason was close to finding the creature after following a deafening and heartbreaking scream coming from the waiting room, but as he approached the noise was joined by Wayne and Hazel.

  “Jason, close that fucking door. Do it quickly.”

  The words were too late. Jason reacted in horror to the sight that met his eyes. Wayne and Hazel also peered into the room where Gary had been sleeping. He wasn’t asleep anymore because the mad zombie had brutally ripped out the man’s tongue, and, while the shocked human screamed, had sadistically bit into his face and neck, leaving the poor man bleeding to death while the monster sat, eating the extracted organ.

  The officers shook free from staring and were back on top of the situation. “Wayne, do you want me to shoot it?”

  “No mate. The noise will attract too many witnesses and you’ve used up all your bullets. We have to find another way of making that thing extinct.”

  Even though Hazel remained stunned by what she saw she was still able to help. She noticed the fire extinguisher.

  “Will that be any good to you guys?” she said, pointing to it.

  Wayne nodded then told her to stand outside and keep watch. She was just in time because the receptionist was on her way over, but Hazel put out her hand to stop the other woman, leaving Wayne and Jason to do their job.

  Wayne rushed over to retrieve the device.

  “Right, out of my way, Jason, this could get messy.”

  The monster remained seated when he lifted the red object in the air, and with a crazy, sadistic vision escaping its eyes, remained munching on its catch. The weapon crashed down with an almighty force against its head, splitting the skull, but it took another two strikes before the creature stopped moving. The dead man’s tongue remained in the jaws as the final groaning sound escaped.

  The two men stared at this latest killing as Hazel entered the room again. “Is it over?” she asked Wayne.

  “No, it isn’t. Gary’s been infected with the virus and will rise from the dead unless we fuck up his brain to stop the

  transformation.”

  “You’re getting good at this,” Jason said.

  Hazel took this chance to slip in a few words of her own.

  “I don’t know much about whom or what these things are, but I may have an idea about how you can dispose of the bodies. You could take them to the incinerator room to be destroyed?”

  She’d gone from a caring leader in the hospital industry to planning ways of eliminating dead corpses in the space of a few minutes, but surely, when waking up tomorrow morning and remembering all of this, would feel sick to the stomach.

  Wayne needed to make plans if this was going to be successful. “Hazel, I’ll need you to keep the receptionist occupied while we dump these corpses.” She nodded and left the room. It was now Jason’s turn to listen to orders. “I’ll need a mobile bed equipped with bed sheets, as we have to hide the bodies.”

  “No problem, I’ll find one,” the pumped up constable replied.

  The ugly mess caused Wayne to feel uneasy as he was left alone in the room. He knew his partner would be back soon, but didn’t know how long it would take before Gary returned as one of those things. It seemed a very long time before he heard Jason return. Hazel had ordered the receptionist to take another break, leaving the path clear to help Jason locate a bed and return with him, but the task of lifting the dead was down to the men. She would be the guide and nothing more. Bed sheets were placed over the corpses to hide them from view.

  Hazel led the way, followed by the weary looking officers pushing the bed. A few nurses watched them pass by and an arm flopped from beneath the sheet, causing a couple of them to point stares in Hazel’s direction. She glared at them, but after realizing what the staring nurses gawped at, changed her complexion to a polite sorry. The arm was replaced beneath the covers and Hazel watched the curious nurses until they were out of sight.

  The crazy trio finally reached the destination point and now, a furnace fire will soon roar like a raging, hungry dragon. Hazel controlled the temperature, as she knew how hot it needed to be before the corpses would disin
tegrate. Wayne and Jason placed the macabre looking bodies onto the sliding tray but Gary’s corpse shook, and it was now a rush job to push the tray inwards before the latest zombie attacked. The large, heavy door slammed shut as the humans stood back, watching the colourful flames attack the intruders.

  A crazy movement from the now transformed monster was witnessed as it banged its face against the extremely thick glass. Eyes of death sent nightmare looks into the three humans. Hazel couldn’t help staring as the darkened blood patches formed bubbles, while the creature tried spluttering words from the tongueless opening. It knew what was happening, and if everyone

  remained silent then there was a great chance that the final screams

  would penetrate through to the outside, allowing them to hear. Suddenly, the extremely hot fire sliced through the corpses. The

  re-invented Gary’s face melted in front of the watchers, while its

  staring eyes popped against the glass. Hazel couldn’t look anymore.

  She turned, walking away as the furious fire left just crumbled up

  bone and mashed up piles of ash.

  Wayne looked over at the others. “Now it’s over.”

  NINETEEN (THURSDAY)

  The ringing of the phone caused Mike to startle, as he recovered from the night before. Chris stood next to him as he reluctantly answered the annoying object.

  “Hello.”

  “Mike, where have you been all night? There’s been a crisis at the hospital. George was constantly trying to get hold of you.”

  “Sorry about that, I was very busy.”

  “There’s no need to apologise to me, I know you had a worrying day yesterday, but you need to go to the hospital.”

  The chief put his authority head back on. “I’m on my way, Susan.”

  The handset was replaced and a puzzled expression was passed toward Chris.

  “Hey, Mike, what’s up?”

  “I’m not quite sure. Something’s happened at the hospital and I need to be there.”

  “I’m going with you. I hope you haven’t forgotten that we’re working together on this,” a very pleased little man said.