“They prefer live flesh and these corpses won’t last forever,” I said. “This isn’t a good sign.”
“No shit.”
“These bodies beneath us are proof the dead aren’t decaying as fast as they used to,” I said. “The undead down there, even the Shamblers are still up and about after what has probably been months without food. The Ferals are feeding of a sort and there’s nothing to say they need to consume food in the same way we do.”
“Wait, you mean that…”
“They’re going to be around for a long time? Yes,” I said. “That the Ferals are growing in number and will be a bigger threat than the Shamblers? Definitely.”
“Bugger,” he exhaled slowly and leaned closer to the gap. “How many are down there?”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Fifty or more Ferals and that’s way too many, let’s head back.”
The crawl back was as slow and unpleasant as the first time and we climbed out from under the tarp, covered liberally in the fluids released from the bodies as they putrefy. Even after six months fighting the undead, being covered in all manner of disgusting bodily fluids, it was a new level of disgusting.
We wiped our hands as best we could on our already ruined clothing and jogged back across the field to where the others waited. I realised that we needed a change of plan. If it had just been Shamblers, then we could have managed. With the Ferals down there, it would be immeasurably more difficult.
“You look and smell like crap dude.” Charlie wrinkled her nose at our approach and I shrugged. Not much I could do about it. Even Jinx seemed to look at us with disgust which likely meant we smelt really bad.
“New plan,” I said without preamble and pointed at Reece. “You need to head back to the road.”
“Why?”
“We’re going to need a car,” I said.
“And what the hell am I supposed to do about that? Do I look like a mechanic?”
“Seriously dude, if those cars worked they’d have been used to get far from here.”
Gregg looked at me and gestured for me to let him speak. I settled for glaring at the two young idiots and contemplated how I could kill them instead.
“The roads are narrow,” Gregg explained to the others in a far less condescending tone than I would have. “Which means that when the first few cars stopped for whatever reason, the ones behind couldn’t go anywhere. They likely have petrol, power in their batteries and whatever else is needed to make them work.”
“A lot of those cars were abandoned because the zombies were getting close and not because they’d broken down.”
“Alright, I find a car and get it working, then what?” Reece said. His tone was more than a little petulant and I had to resist the urge to drive my knife into his chest.
I’d never once considered that having friends would ever have any benefits and the idea of missing people was inconceivable but, I missed Pat, Cass and of course Lily. I could trust them to do what was needed with minimal questions and to accomplish what they had to.
“If we manage to get what we need, we’ll need to move quickly to get back to the sanctuary,” I said. “That’s if it works out, if things go wrong and we have a great many undead chasing us, we don’t want to have to walk back.”
“Fair point,” Reece muttered. “I’ll do what I can but I could use help.”
“Don’t look at me dude,” Charlie said with a grin and a wink to me. “I need to help this guy find the drugs.”
“I’ll help clear the way to the hospital,” Gregg said to me. “Then if you think it’s okay, I’ll go back and help sort a car.”
“Fine,” I agreed with an absent-minded nod. While he would be useful in there, at least if it was just me and the girl, I had no need to try and keep her alive at the cost of my own life. “Let’s move.”
****
Gregg jogged back across the landing field, keeping as low as possible to avoid any possibility of notice. He didn’t look back, nor did I expect him to.
A low concrete wall, rough and weathered with the years, sat at either side of the bridge we were on and provided a place for me to crouch as I waited. Beneath us, a group of undead were being herded from one car park to another by a handful of Ferals.
Jinx lay on her belly beside me and Charlie did the best she could, almost bending double at the waist to stay below the level of the wall as we waited. The stench was such that I had long since given up trying to breathe through my nose, though that had the added disadvantage of leaving a disturbing taste on the tongue with every breath of fouled air. The dog didn’t seem to mind, her tongue hung from her mouth as she panted gently.
The moans and general noise of zombie feet hitting pavement faded as they turned a corner, along with the growls and snapping teeth of the Ferals. I risked a look over the side of the bridge wall and seeing the coast was clear, gestured for the others to follow me.
A short dash across a couple of metres of concrete that made up the bridge and we were at the automatic sliding glass doors that led into the hospital. Fortunately, since the power had long since gone out, the doors were half open and just about wide enough for us all to slip through into the hospital proper.
I led the way inside, my knife held ready in one hand and the canine at my side. I was fairly certain her heightened senses would give me a couple of extra seconds of warning if anything nasty lurked in the darkened corridors.
Which was entirely possible I conceeded, as I looked around the waiting room I found myself in. The chairs were bolted down in rows of cheap plastic before the reception desk. Along the walls, posters and information notices had been tacked up and were now covered in smears of blood.
Cardboard folders had been scattered across the floor, their paper contents stuck together with the spilled blood of the fools who had been caught in this place. There was ample evidence that there’d been many.
A lone sneaker lay on its side by the wall while one of the hospital beds had been overturned, perhaps deliberately, in front of the double doors that led through the treatment area. Charlie picked up a discarded helmet that had no doubt belonged to one of the soldiers stationed at the hospital by the end and with a grimace of disgust, put it back down.
For any with eyes to see, it was clear that the dead had rampaged through this area and judging by the shell casings that covered the floor, the soldiers had at least attempted to put up a fight. Not that it had mattered.
“Which way?” I asked, my voice overly loud and breaking the tense silence.
Charlie pointed to a corridor that led off in a generally northerly direction. Even from my place by the door, I could see it was littered with detritus and a frown formed as I considered the annoyance of getting her chair along the corridor.
“Go that way, ignore the first two branching corridors and turn down the third. Go all the way to the end of the corridor and there’s a couple of elevators. We need to go up to the next floor.”
“You realise the lifts won’t work, right?”
“I’m not an idiot dude,” she said and twisted her face into an expression that mirrored that which she’d worn as she looked into the dead soldier's helmet. “There’s stairs too. We go up to the next floor and there’s a supply room two corridors away.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, and it’s either that or down to the pharmacy on the ground floor but that’s right next door to the main entrance.”
“Supply room it is then,” I said and flashed a smile at her. “Where’s your weapon?”
“Don’t have one, that’s why you’re here. To protect me.” Her grin was wide and showed a row of straight white teeth. It was no doubt supposed to be charming but just irritated me.
“Here take this,” I said as I tossed her the fold out claw blade. She caught it and looked at me as though I were an idiot.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” she snapped back at me. “I’m not exactly nimble you know. Am I supposed to hope that
any zombies that attack me aren’t too tall?”
“You’ll figure it out,” I said as I set off along the corridor she’d indicated.
She followed along, muttering softly to herself, barely audible over the slight squeak of her chairs wheels on the hospital floor. Jinx seemed to wear the canine equivalent of a grin as she kept easy pace with me and I had no doubt at her ability to take down an undead.
Along the right-hand side of the corridor were closed doors to offices, each with a doctor’s nameplate beside it. I kept a wary eye on each as we passed, alert for any movement within but all was quiet.
At the first connecting corridor I paused and peered around the corner first. No sign of movement so I gestured for the girl and the dog to follow me as I moved off to the next. A quick check caused me to do a double take as I saw all of the corpses sprawled over the floor.
Blood had dried beneath them and once again, bullet casings littered the floor. Score one for the soldiers, I thought as I did a rough count of the bodies. I moved along the corridor and paused as the wheels of Charlie's chair sent a few errant casings rolling along the floor with a faint tinkling sound of metal striking the dull material.
Nothing materialised at the sound and I continued on my way, waving away her attempts to apologise and focusing on the task at hand. I paused at the corner of the third corridor and glanced over my shoulder. The girl nodded and gestured for me to head down it, so after a quick look to make sure the way was clear, I set off.
Beds lined the walls, sheets and blankets hanging loose beside the stands that had held bags of fluid for the sick that had once lain in them. More than one of those beds held a body and I paused beside the first.
No obvious signs of traumatic death. No bite marks, bullet wounds or the like. It was perplexing since it was most likely the sickness that transformed others that had killed them. Finally, with a shrug, I ignored them and continued along the corridor.
It didn’t matter how they had died or why they hadn’t turned. They weren’t a potential threat and as such, not what I needed to concentrate on right then. I reached the end of the corridor and stopped.
A zombie, emaciated and painfully thin, stood before the elevator doors. Clad in red striped pyjamas, it hadn’t noticed our presence and seemed almost catatonic. Jinx had her teeth bared in a silent snarl and I touched the top of her head briefly with two fingers. She glanced up at me and settled down onto her haunches.
Charlie hissed for my attention and I glanced over to see her gesturing for me to go forward and kill it. Instead, I smiled and stepped over to her.
“Don’t scream, you’ll alert others,” I whispered as I grabbed the handles of her chair and pushed her forward.
She glided across the floor with her head shaking from side to side in denial and stopped against the wall with a bump beside the zombie. Almost painfully slowly, it turned its head towards her as she struggled with the knife to retract the blade, a slow wail of terror starting to build.
It let out a moan to match her wail and raised its arms towards her as it turned, slowly, carefully as though afraid moving too fast would cause it to fall. She had the knife free as it took the first step toward her, hands grasping her shoulders.
She had the blade free and slashed wildly at its arms to no effect and it pulled her towards it, mouth opened wide. I glanced down to see the dog looking back and perhaps imagined the reproachful look in her eyes. I grinned at her and turned back to watch.
With her free hand, she was pushing at the zombie's chest, hand gripping the material of its pyjamas as she began stabbing with the knife. Nowhere near its brain, but closer at least as she tore wide holes in its shoulders and neck.
Jinx refused to look away from me and I glanced back to her and sighed. She was far too similar to Lily, seemingly sharing her conscience and need to help people. I sighed and gestured. “Fine, go help.”
The dog closed the distance in seconds and leapt onto the creatures back with a silent snarl before sinking her teeth into the back of the creature’s neck. Her jaw clamped down and she began to shake her head from side to side, fouled blood spraying in all directions.
I exhaled another sigh and crossed the space between us, my hand gripping her wrist as she was about to stab once again at the zombie. “You’ll hit the dog,” I admonished as she struggled.
“You’re a fucking psycho,” she said, terror filling her voice and I nodded at her.
“More than likely, so you best do as I say. Calm down and put the blade through its temple or eye,” I said and released my hold on her wrist. “If you hurt the dog because you’re panicking, I’ll leave you here.”
“Fuck you!”
I stepped back as she slashed the knife my way and grinned as I saw the arm holding the zombie back, tremble with fatigue. “You’re running out of time. Focus and kill it.”
With a snarl, she swept the blade sideways, the claw blade cracking through the thin bone at its temple easily. As though a switch had been thrown, it collapsed to the floor. Jinx jumped free, and stared at me reproachfully as if to say ‘I had it.’ No pleasing everyone.
“What the fuck was that about?” Charlie asked. She sounded annoyed which I supposed was understandable.
“The world has changed and if you can’t protect yourself then you can’t expect others to look after you.”
“You’re insane!” she spun her chair to face me, knife held at the ready and I smiled.
“Perhaps, but you survived and you’ve killed a zombie now. Shown you can protect yourself.”
“What if I’d been killed?”
“You’d be dead,” I said and looked at her, head cocked to one side as though puzzling over why she didn’t grasp the simplest things. “At this moment in time you are useful, but as soon as I have the drugs I need, your use will have ended.”
Her mouth hung open as though she couldn’t understand what I was saying so I spoke slowly to better aid her.
“If you can’t even protect yourself then you’re no use to me.”
“Asshole!” she said. “I saved you and your friend, it was my drone that distracted those undead.”
“It was,” I agreed. “But you left that and the solar power stuff back with your gear and the others have taken that with them which means I don’t need you to be able to get it for myself. Let me be blunt here. That chair means you’re a liability.”
“Fuck you and all the pricks like you who ever judged me on this chair.” The arm that held the knife never wavered as she spoke and I shrugged.
“I would barely have noticed it before this began,” I said. “But now, well, now it is clearly a hindrance. If you’re trying to escape the undead, can you climb over a wall or up a tree? Can you cut across fields and hills? Could you even escape up a flight of stairs if you were in a rush?”
She gritted her teeth and her eyes burned with hate, but her arm wavered a little. “I survived this long.”
“Admirably so,” I agreed amiably. “But you’ve seen what’s out there. You know why I’m here, at this hospital. Do you really think I will spare my time or risk my life for you when my need is so urgent?”
“Any decent person would.”
“But I am not a decent person and they are becoming few and far between. If you do survive this place and make it back with us, I shall happily introduce you to some remarkably decent people. But don’t ever make the mistake of thinking I am one of them.”
“Oh I don’t,” she said with a tight-lipped smile. “I think you’re arrogant, condescending, a total prick and a bastard… but definitely not decent.”
“Not wrong either,” I said pointedly as I looked around for the door to the stairs. “If you can’t protect yourself then you can’t ask others to do so. Your chair is a liability but your intelligence and engineering skills will outweigh that… so long as you survive.”
I pulled open the door and peered up into the darkened stairwell. I turned to look at her, the knife had lowered almost to
her lap. “You coming?”
****
We paused at the top of the stairs and I pulled Charlie's chair onto the landing beside the door and peered through the small square of glass set into it. Nothing but darkness beyond. I glanced down to see Jinx panting happily which at least indicated she sensed no immediate threat either.
Charlie kept watch on me through narrowed lids and I could almost feel her contempt. I flashed her a smile and kept carefully out of reach of the knife she held.
“What’s on this floor?” I asked.
“Couple of labs at the far end,” she said slowly and even I could see her reluctance to speak to me. “Some general exam rooms and gynaecology department. I think just to the left through this door is the admin block.”
“Where’s the store rooms?”
“Go north, first turn off to the right and then past the exam rooms and children's ward, right to the end. It’s there near a nurses station.”
“Children's ward?”
“Yeah dude, like I said, Gynecology is on this floor and there’s a ward for pregnant women and then a children's ward further along.”
The urge to swear was quite strong and I glared at her for several long seconds. “You realise what that likely means don’t you?”
“No, what?”
Instead of answering I just shook my head and pulled open the door before stepping through. I’d never enjoyed the idea of killing children and even one such as I could be disturbed by what would greet us in the children's ward if zombies had made their way to that floor.
The corridors were much like the others, full of beds, carts, and the occasional body. No zombies to speak of. I led the way silently and as we reached the corridor we needed to turn into, Jinx bared her teeth.
I held up a hand to indicate Charlie should wait and peered around the corner. A handful of zombies in hospital gowns were standing in the corridor, before an open door. At least one of them was visibly pregnant, or had been when alive.
My head thumped against the wall softly and Charlie looked at me. I could count on the dog but the girl would be more of a hindrance than a help. I doubted those would be the only zombies, though.
Killing The Dead 9 (Season 2 | Book 3): Family Matters Page 11