Sorrow

by Brian Wortley

  “We have to take the stairs up,” Sara announced.

  “We’ll need to get the generators working first before heading up,” Val announced. “They’re probably in the basement.”

  They started towards a stairwell to see if they could take it down a level.

  “I hope we don’t run into any blood sucking leeches,” Sara started.

  “Or zombies, right? Because the doctors are the blood sucking leeches?” Val replied quickly.

  Sara looked at Val angry she’d already seen where the joke was heading. “You’re no fun at all,” Sara said.

  “I heard that one before. But usually about lawyers.”

  They found the generators with little trouble. Val took everyone’s gas tanks and started pouring the fuel in.

  “So what’s the plan if this brings everyone in the city?” Sara asked.

  “Run,” Val replied. “Chuck you lead the way back to your hideout, alright?” Chuck nodded. “Why don’t you two go find a window to look out of and I’ll start this up after you.”

  Sara shook her head. “No way we’re splitting up. Have you ever seen a horror movie? Don’t ever split up!”

  Val chuckled and said, “Fair enough.” She let her hand hover over the starter for a moment. “I hate this part.”

  “Wait,” Sara said. “What about the external lights?”

  “Genius!” Val replied. They rummaged around until they found a circuit breaker box. The labeling looked like it had been done by a seven-year-old serial killer but Val managed to find one called outside lights. Val flipped it off and they returned to the generator.

  Val gave another quick thought to everything and let her finger fall on the starter. She stood back pleased as the generator roared to life. The three quickly went up the stairs to look out the window. When they saw no one coming, the three ran up the stairs to the second floor. They found a small group of zombie doctors waiting for them on the maternity level. They charged them with white lab coats flying behind them. A stethoscope dangled over the shoulder of another as he ran. Val found zombie doctors a humorous thing. She laughed a little as she slashed them apart with her machete.

  Val came across a pair of crutches and stopped.

  "What are you doing," Sara asked.

  "Do you think Connor would use these?" Val asked.

  Sara looked at her friend and could not help being startled to hear Val talk about Connor especially in a way that involved his needs.

  "You should bring it along," Sara suggested. "He might like it better than that walking stick of his."

  Val thought it over one more time and picked up one of them. "I'll just take one."

  When all the zombies were dead and the way to the obstetric clinic opened, a thought crossed Val’s mind.

  “So what are we actually looking for here? I mean, how are we going to know if the baby is… normal?”

  “I don’t know. I think I’ll know. I just want to see it, Val. I need to see it.”

  Chuck had no idea what he’d signed himself up for. He spent most of the time looking at the horrifying instruments or checking the hallway for more zombies. Val fiddled with the ultrasound machine controls.

  “It’s not turning on,” Val said.

  “Is it plugged in?” Chuck yelled from the door.

  Val checked the cable and found it plugged into the wall outlet.

  “Yep,” Val said. “Any other ideas? It’s a pretty dumb trip to come all the way here for nothing.”

  “Generator is on,” Sara commented. “Lights work.” Sara moved over and began playing with the ultrasound machine. Just as Val said, the screen never lit up. In fact, every device Sara plugged into the outlets would not work. They tried different rooms with the same results.

  “I think this hospital became part of Bum-Town awhile ago,” Val finally concluded.

  A frustrated Sara kicked one of the machines. “I just want to know for sure.”

  “Know what?” Chuck asked.

  “If my baby is healthy,” Sara answered.

  A tremor rippled through the hospital causing the loose items on the countertops to move. The three looked at each other silently.

  Chuck ran to the window to look outside.

  “What is it?” Val asked Chuck.

  “They found us! They’re coming across the parking lot. And there’s - something else.”

  Val ran over to the window. “Time to go!”

  “What is it?” Sara asked. But Val was too busy picking up her machete and running out the door to answer. She got out the door and then doubled back to collect Connor's crutch.

  "You're going to fight zombies with a crutch?" Sara mocked.

  "If things get crazy, I'll drop it," Val replied.

  Sara didn’t take time to look out the window. They flew down the hallway back towards the stairs. Before they reached the door to the first floor, Val could hear the dead pounding against it. She ran by the glass window in the door to see several rotted faces glaring at her. The three ran past heading to the basement.

  “Where are you going?” Sara screamed. “We’ll be stuck down there.”

  “I remember a stairwell,” Val replied. “It was leading up.”

  “If you’re wrong, we’re dead!”

  The three ran through the basement passing stacks of medical equipment, chairs, and assorted office furniture. As Val said, they came to another set of stairs. She burst through the door and tripped over a body within the stairwell. Two zombies immediately piled on her. Sara made quick work of the first with her sword while Chuck took the second.

  A third zombie came bumbling down the stairs with its IV pole in tow. Val would have found it funny if she’d not been knocked down and bitten. With a quick snap of her blade, Sara severed the zombies head. It and the IV pole went tumbling down the stairs.

  This opened the stairs to the three and they jumped up them several steps at a time. Val located a door to the ground level.

  “Hey look,” Val stopped to say. “No zombies!” Just then one pounded its face against the glass. “Oops! Spoke too soon.” Val looked through the glass as best she could and then kicked it open and sliced the foe beyond it.

  Val stepped through and the building shook enough to send all three of them to their knees.

  “What is that?” Sara yelled.

  Val looked at her as she replied, “You know that thing that took Brady?”

  “The hound,” Sara whispered back. Just the thought of it brought back so many memories. She could feel the void of space in its eyes and deathly gaze. Her heart sank even at the thought of it. Val had to shake her before Sara returned to reality.

  They stood just as several ceiling tiles broke loose and crashed to the floor.

  “If I knew lighting up this hospital would have caused this much trouble,” Val began to say.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Sara replied. “I overheard Brady saying he would send it against us. Better in a town than in the wilderness.”

  “We’ve got to meet up with the others,” Val said. “We need to get back downtown.”

  As they made their way for one of the back doors, several different zombies burst through the doors at them. They seemed already half crippled or disabled. Many had gaping wounds with dangling organs. They were easily dealt with and Val went to poke her head inside the door that spawned them.

  “Ha,” Val said coming back. “Surgery ward! This is hilarious!”

  “You’re very odd,” Sara replied.

  “Hey, at least I’m getting a little variety in my days. We’ve been fighting the average-every-day-wasteland zombie for weeks now.”

  “Is that thing going to kill us?” Chuck asked.

  “No,” Sara said with a certainty that startled even herself. She felt no precognition about it. She just thought it seemed wiser to be optimistic with Chuck listening. “We just need to group up with the others.”

  Val yelled back that she located the door to the outside. “Ok,” she instructed
, “listen up. We need to go around the building and head back south. So let’s run out here and head for the first building off to the right. Let these zombies think we’re still here. If they see us, it’s too late. We can’t outrun this thing.”

  “We can fight it in my fort,” Chuck said gaining a little confidence.

  “That’s the plan. Ok, let’s go.”

  Val took point running from the doors to the right. Sara took a moment to gather her strength. All of a sudden she felt very pregnant and all the exercise drained her.

  Val noticed Sara's slow movements. "Need a crutch?" Val asked offering her Connor's crutch.

  "How can you joke at a time like this?" Sara asked.

  "I think it's those surgery ward zombies. That's one of the funniest things I've ever seen!"

  Sara shook her head.

  Sara would have rested more if Chuck hadn’t grabbed her hand to pull her along.

  A few stragglers ran from the far end of the parking lot towards Val. She saw the first and readied her machete but the second caught her unaware. It tore a chunk out of her leg before Chuck and Sara reached her to help. In a fury, Chuck sliced at the foe cutting flesh and limb. Val pushed its motionless corpse off her and thanked Chuck.

  “Are you going to be able to run?” Chuck asked.

  “I’ll make do,” Val said limping badly. “Look,” she said causing everyone to match her gaze towards the lit up hospital. “The lights are on. The switch didn’t work.”

  “Oh well,” Sara said anxiously. Sara quickly helped Val to her feet.

  Val’s wound slowed their pace dramatically but the three were able to make it to the next building without any other encounters. But once inside the building, the three turned to find several zombies now took the place of where they slew the other zombies out in the parking lot.

  “We need to keep moving,” Val said. She courageously took the lead again and moved through the building to another door that would take them towards downtown.

  Several more buildings south, Chuck asked, “How long has this been following you?”

  Sara replied, “We didn’t know this was tracking us.”

  “It’s destroying my city,” Chuck said looking back to see the creature tearing apart the hospital and a few nearby buildings.

  “Maybe I can try to snipe it once I get my gun,” Val said.

  “Val,” Sara started, “this is altogether different. I saw several men back in Colorado Springs fire at it with no change. It didn’t even seem to faze it.”

  “We’ve got to do something,” Val protested.

  “I need time to think.”

  ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ • ∙ ∙

  When they reached downtown, the creature seemed to turn south as if to follow them. Even before the three reached Chuck’s fort, they could tell the soldiers were prepared for a fight. Several leaned out the windows with guns raised. They had broken out many of the glass windows wherever they could find good shooting spots. A few fired preemptively and Val feared this would give away their position.

  Val screamed for them to stop but her words went unheard. Not until they flew across the last zip line and yelled at the soldiers directly did they finally stop. Val looked on in horror as the beast came running straight for them. The sight of the thing sapped the soldiers’ strength like a freezing north wind. Clarity abandoned everyone’s minds as if some terrible power overshadowed them. Like a tornado, it broke the tree trunks of any will bent against its own.

  Val found her sniper rifle and moved into a nearby window. From there she had a clean shot to the beast. It seemed now altogether menacing and frightful. Val now maintained no doubt that the thing knew exactly where they hid. Firing at it could do them no ill. As she lifted her weapon, she immediately felt her ability being sapped from her. It took everything she could muster to keep the rifle steady much less aim or attempt to hinder the thing.

  Struggling greatly for a moment, she burst into a moment of clarity and brought the creature into her sights. But as she did, weakness like a plague seized her arms and the simple action of pulling the trigger became beyond her strength. The beast engulfed her mind and she felt the flames of its will burning against the inside of her skull. Before she realized it, she took a step towards the open window. The overwhelming sense of hopelessness seduced her to the edge. She thought no efforts against this being could be successful. All of a sudden, it seemed better to fall to a quick death than to fight against this thing.

  Val would have fallen if Sara hadn’t touched her. Her cool grasp brought Val whirling back into reality. Val turned exposing to Sara the tear rolling down her face. It was the first time Sara could remember Val crying.

  “Take the shot,” Sara said.

  “I cannot.”

  Sara yanked the rifle from Val’s lifeless arms. She set it on the window ledge and fired far too quickly. The shot went wide hitting the building behind the creature.

  “Damn it, Val!” Sara yelled.

  Sara would have said more but the beast fell to all fours like an approaching wolf and crashed into the side of the building. The structure shook under the weight of the impact. Using its arms, it tore through the building material as if it were paper blocking his way. Soon it reached the second floor and was ripping through to the third.

  Sara slapped Val and she returned some to herself. “Come on!” Sara yelled as she ran for the exit zip line.

  Val returned to reality to find her group already evacuating. A sizeable hole had been ripped in the floor when the creature hit the building. This allowed the men to jump down to the second floor. Soldiers were grabbing the bulk of Chuck’s supplies and leaping down. A great shaking came from underneath them and soon horrible jaws came crashing through the floor. Val and Sara were cut off from the jump to the second floor so they moved to the exit zip line.

  The disgusting teeth chomped their way through the floor and the monster reached through to lift itself up. Val abandoned any hope of saving a soldier by the window and jumped down the zip line. As she looked back, she saw the soldier give way to the same intoxication she experienced. Mindlessly he stepped forward plunging head first through the third story window.

  Once to the new building, they could breathe easily for a moment. The monster, still on the third floor of the other building sent building parts flying out the windows as it tore apart the floor looking for anyone to devour.

  “It’s after me,” Sara confessed. “Maybe I should just give myself to it. Then you all will be safe. And I can go be with my bastard of a husband,” she said in an odd, mocking tone.

  “No, I won’t let you,” Val said. “We can defeat this.”

  “I need time to think,” Sara said. “If you guys can distract it, I may be able to make a plan.”

  The soldiers made their way through the bottom levels of the building and over to Sara and Val.

  As soon as everyone was together, Connor blurted out a question, “Are you really like Brady?”

  Sara took offense to this question and was preparing a hateful response when he continued.

  “I mean, can you see the future?” A murmur went through the company at this revelation. Although some knew Sara maintained an unusual connection to time, few if any knew she could see the future.

  “I don’t know,” Sara replied. “Maybe.”

  “We can use that to our advantage. We could totally defeat it if we know what it’s going to do.”

  “I don’t know that it works like that,” Sara replied. “I’ve only seen the future once and it was awful. It stings like staring into the sun. I don’t even know that I can control what I see.”

  “You’ve got to try even if it hurts!” Connor replied.

  “I’ll be damned before I listen to you give orders again!” Val yelled to Connor.

  “Maybe he’s right,” Sara said. “I need time to think. It’s possible I can come up with a plan. I just need time!”

  “Can we hide in the basement?” one of Jordan’s soldi
ers asked. “Do you think he could dig down there?”

  An answer never came because one of the guards yelled that the creature finished his search in the other building and turned their way. In panic several of the men went bolting out of the building. The main part of the company made a more strategic retreat to another nearby structure as the monster tracked down and killed those running in the street.

  ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ • ∙ ∙

  Once inside this new building, the company found a quiet place for Sara to be alone with her thoughts. Several of the others grouped up to create a diversion to give Sara time.

  With a worried look, Sara watched the others leave the building. The memory of her horrible experience in the hotel haunted her. She knew her heart could not take more hateful words from her husband. That would completely crush her. Sara motioned for Val to join her.

  “I don’t want to,” Sara whispered. “I’m scared.”

  “I’ll be right here with you,” Val comforted her with holding her hand.

  Sara started breathing heavily. With a single tear, she closed her eyes and began. Sara felt a strange sensation come over her. Even with her eyes closed, she could perceive the room and several in it. As she looked about the room it became illuminated with a bright light until it seemed to burn in white flames.

  “Oh no,” Sara whispered in a cry.

  Val tried to help her, but Sara passed beyond any aid or comfort. Sara found herself thrown into the burning future. Her eyes, like this world, burned from the intensity.

  ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ • ∙ ∙

  The diversion went south and so the others helped carry Sara’s lifeless body as they retreated from building to building away from the monster. The beast, now latched onto their scent, went from building to building smashing every structure in its path. Soon the company couldn’t move fast enough to outrun the hideous strength and were forced to take shelter in a basement. The beast passed over them at first leaping to the building beyond. One of the soldiers stayed in the lobby to watch its movements.

  Everyone else readied their weapons expecting the beast to quickly discover his error and begin digging into their hideout. They hunkered into a sturdy room preparing it as best they could.