Dead Over Texas: (Infected Texas Book 1)

by John J. O'Mahony

  The smell of a lemon-y flavor filled my nostrils reminding me of Sunshine Living.

  I walked down the corridor to the general care treatment wing. Dr. Richards door was open slightly but his lights were off.

  Edging my way through the door I felt my chest compress from the presence of another person already in the room.

  A silhouette of someone kneeled before me moaned in almost a hushed tone as I took careful steps inside the room.

  I could hear him, or something, as the sound of what I could only conclude was eating rang aloud.

  The smell of copper filled my nostrils as I walked into the darkness and my hands glided the wallpaper until I bumped the light switch on.

  The shadowy figure before me revealed itself, Dr. Richards was behind his desk with his back to me. He was crouched low to the ground, his normally groomed hair a mess of a slick wetness of a substance I couldn’t discern. Whatever it was, it globed on the side of his head in a doughy lump.

  “Dr. Richards? Are you ok sir?” I asked nervously. His busy hands lashed down before him. I moved over to my side, peeking over his large wooden desk to see someone else’s legs extending just behind the desk.

  “What the—” I said as the doctor turned to me, his neck snapped back, his illuminated pale face by his desk lamp highlighted deep gashes on his face and neck.

  Flesh and blood dripped from his mouth. His eyes as red, redder really, than that of what I seen in Jim. A pile of flesh and bones were all that were left of the man that he was eating.

  “Oh shit!” I yelled as he rose slowly to meet my gaze. I paced backward slowly. He gripped at his desk, then shambled forward dragging a blood soaked hand across.

  His wrist was broken exposing a meaty stub of bone and tendons. A pool of blood gathered atop and trickled down to the polished white floor.

  I nearly threw-up at the sight, but quickly swallowing down my approaching meal I ate earlier on the car ride home I started back outside.

  “Dr. Richards what have you done?” I asked as he moaned and moved toward me. The sight terrifying and unreal. Nearly causing me to loose my footing and freeze up.

  “Help! Someone help, please!” I called behind me to the open door. There was so much commotion going on out there by now that I don’t believe anyone could even hear me if they were even listening.

  As I edged out of the office, in the corner of my eye a woman in a blue gown was attacking one of the other doctors. He screamed for her to back off as the nurses around him stepped away from them in a panic.

  The woman chomped down on the doctor’s neck as he let out a wail that frightened the hairs on the back of my neck to rise. A single squirt of blood exploded from his neck, smacking against the wall as though a tube of paint was ejected from a strong force.

  The bloody spray hit the hallway wall leaving a splatter of red against white. I thought of those paintings you would find at one of the hipster coffee shops downtown. A splatter of paint against a white canvas.

  I closed my eyes, this can’t be real. None of this is happening. I must have fallen asleep and am having a nightmare.

  Before I could even open my eyes, I felt a stabbing hand grab at the front of my shirt and the force pulling me toward them. I squinted through my disbelieving eyes to Dr. Richards nearly two feet away and gaining. He had grabbed my shirt, his mouth open and wild. His teeth red and tobacco stained.

  “Shit!” I grabbed his office door and slammed it hard against his already broken arm. He didn’t let up on his grip.

  I slammed it several more times before he finally let go of me. I slammed the door shut, watching as Dr. Richards pushed at the door from the other side in anger.

  The situation over my shoulder rang loud in my ears. Several more former patients shambled out of their rooms and spilled out into the hallway. All moaning and attacking the nurses and doctors as they attempted to flea.

  The infected saw me standing nervously in the hallway.

  I needed to hide, fast.

  10

  Broom Closet

  I turned quickly to face the back end of the hallway. Another group of the infected people came pouring out of the adjacent rooms and were headed my way as well. A syringe was smashed in one of the infected mens eyes. Blood and bite marks were present on every one of their torn-up bodies.

  I needed to think. And fast.

  They would pin me in a matter of less than a minute. They weren’t quick, but in a group they would be hard to maneuver past. I looked around my surroundings for any escape out of this nightmare.

  I wasn’t going to make it to the other rooms beyond the doctors room. And I wasn’t about to go back in there with the blood thirsty doctor.

  I’m going to die.

  I closed my eyes, this was it. Tears swelled under my eyelids. Nowhere to hide. My brain turned fuzzy as I accepted my fate.

  “Get in the storage closet! Come on man! Move your legs!” A voice suddenly sounded from beside me.

  An older man with chocolate skin and a scruffy white beard was standing on the other side of a closet door that I somehow hadn’t noticed. From the looks of his cloths he was a janitor at the hospital.

  He revealed the rest of the painted white door blending seamlessly into the rest of the wall—allowing me entrance before slamming it shut as I could hear the impending doom from afar quickly approaching.

  I slumped to a side wall in exhaustion inside the small space between a broom and a bucket and caught my breath.

  “Thank you,” I said between airless breaths. Feeling my eyes sting from the salt in my tears.

  I nearly passed out from the adrenaline pumping throughout my entire body. My face had been near frozen to the look of panic I contorted at seeing that terrible sight in the doctors office.

  Gathering my emotions I scanned the space.

  “I didn’t even notice this room,” I said looking around it’s confines.

  A single light lit the tiny space occupied by a lone metal shelf as various cleaning equipment lined the wall. The ground was cool to the touch as I flexed my palms to the floor. My hands had been trembling since the skirmish with Dr. Richards. I held them firmly to the floor until the shaking eased.

  “No problem man, many people don’t. Name’s Frank. I work here at this fine hospital,” The old man said as he reached a wrinkled hand before me. His smile was wide as a welcoming warmth exuded from him.

  I reached up and shook his hand and said, “I’m glad to have met you Frank. I’m Nathan”.

  We looked at each other for a moment surrounded by our tight confines with at least a dozen of those monsters outside our door just waiting for a chance to consume our flesh and organs.

  I finally broke the ice.

  “Just what the hell is going on here Frank?” I asked, unsure if I would even like to hear the answer.

  “A bunch of sick people is what is going on. The hospital has been busy for the last few days. Full families coming in here checking themselves in. I can’t tell you how much vomit I’ve been cleaning up. Knew something was wrong with all the blood coming out of everyone. Doctors here were understaffed. Management had been calling every employee in to pick up extra shifts. Some came, others stopped answering their phones. Most of them were sick as well and couldn’t come into work. Not me though, I eat a clean diet,” Frank said proudly, pointing to his stomach.

  He was indeed in decent shape for his old age that’s for sure to be doing this type of work at his stage in life. Frank was slender, and slightly underweight to fit his baggy uniform.

  “Why didn’t the hospital just shut down then?” I asked puzzled.

  “Because, it’s our job Nathan,” He said proudly.

  Based on how well he kept his supplies I could tell he took great pride in his work. I admired that of a man. That despite this flu he choose to help people.

  “You said families were checking themselves in the last few days?” I started as Frank nodded.

  “I saw the news ea
rlier, they made it seem like this just happened,” I rubbed my tiring eyes in thought.

  “At first I figured it was an isolated case,” Frank started to explain.

  “How’s that?” I asked puzzled.

  “Well, me and my crew started talking about it. How it seemed only families were admitting themselves or loved ones. Take this one lady for instance. She come in here saying her child had an pneumonia. I went in, taking over Paul’s shift—he was out sick himself, to change the trash, I was shocked to see the thing was full of blood. She had been hiding it from the nurse.” Frank seemed to ponder for a moment. He glanced at me to seemingly to check my reaction.

  “So, you think she was what? Afraid to mention it to the nurse then?” I offered.

  “She was afraid to say anything. I helped the lady hide it when she saw me inspecting the trash. She comes quickly in and closes the door with the two of us standing in the bathroom and tells me she can’t tell them, or they’ll take him away,” Frank’s eyes grew wide.

  “She was nearly in tears. What else was I to do? So I told her I’d dispose of it and not say a word to the nurse come time for report,” Frank said. He looked down as he facial expression changed to sadness.

  “That was three days ago. I went to check on them the next day and they were gone. No trace, no record. No one would tell me a damn thing about them,” He said.

  “I had to keep my mouth shut about what I had done for them. Didn’t want to get myself missing for telling the truth after I just promised to help them,” Frank looked past me to the wall. I could see in his eyes his decision replaying over in his mind.

  I didn’t know what to say. He spoke as though he regretted his decision to help the woman. That perhaps if she had just told the nurse, maybe she and her child would still be here.

  “You did the right thing Frank. If I were in your shoes I would have done the same thing,” I said placing a hand on his shoulder.

  Frank nodded a smile my way. As a father, I would hope someone like Frank would help our family in that type of situation.

  “Were you hiding in here from them out there then?” I asked nodding to the door. Several groans could be heard from the infected on the other side. They really wanted to get in here and didn’t seem to be losing interest anytime soon.

  “No, I got lucky saving myself,” Frank said joyful of being stuck in this tiny room with me for god knows how long until someone saves us.

  “I was cleaning up after one of the patients before noticing I was missing my spray bottle of bleach, so I came into my office looking for it,” He said with his arms wide, touching the walls that ran the width of the room.

  “Good thing too, I wouldn’t have been here to save you too,” Frank said smiling.

  “I’m happy you went looking for your bottle too Frank,” I said extending my own smile.

  The door to the storage closet began to bang rapidly. We both stood in silence looking at one another. I placed a finger over my lips as Frank tensed up.

  I peered under the door to see at least a couple dozen or so feet on the other side. I couldn’t be sure how long the door would hold. Or if they would even just give up and wonder off eventually. But I wasn’t about to take a gamble like that, not now.

  “Hailey,” I said under my breath.

  “What was that man?” Frank hushed.

  “My wife is in the downstairs lobby. I need to get to her and to my kids in the parking garage. Do you know a way out of here that doesn’t involve going through this door?” I pointed to the shaking door.

  The doorknob was now rocking back and forth from the pressure of the bodies pressed against it.

  “Well, there’s the vent above you. Should lead us far enough away from those sick people. We can crawl through there and come out near the elevator on the south wing,” Frank said rubbing his chin in thought of the plan.

  “Fortunate for us, I just happen to be the best air conditioner cleaner here. I know those vents as well as the hallways around this place,” He said with amusement in his voice.

  He was quite cheery considering our situation. Although, it was a welcomed change than to think of the horrors outside that door and the near death experience I just escaped.

  “That sounds good to me. I just hope Hailey is ok by the time we get down,” My voice nearly cracking.

  I looked down to my hand. A stain of blood from the scuffle with Dr. Richards had soaked in the palm of my hand. I wiped it off on the side of my jeans.

  “You ok man?” Frank asked as he unscrewed the vent and positioned a small wood ladder underneath it.

  “I just can’t believe any of this. The look in his eyes were wild. He had the same look as my neighbor. The doctor I was fighting off before you saved me. He was going to eat me—” I stared off into the other side of the room as Frank climbed upward into the darkened open vent.

  “I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on hours ago, but now I don’t believe it’s something these people are going to get over anytime soon. The sickness or whatever I mean,” I closed my eyes.

  I need to focus.

  Hailey, get to Hailey. The girls I pray are locked in the truck with their heads down until we get there. I will get there. I made a promise to come back. And I intended to keep that promise.

  11

  Ding!

  “I feel like John McClain!” I called ahead to Frank as we crawled through the ventilation system.

  We rumbled through to the next room when I stopped and looked down the air vent at one of the infected—busy eating a woman in the hallway I just came from.

  She was flat on her back looking up at me. I could see the frozen look of dread in her lifeless eyes. Those cold staring blue eyes looking up causing me to gasp softly.

  She lay in a pool of her own blood as the infected pulled apart her chest and feasted on her organs. There was a slit of at least two feet long at the base of her chest full of blood gargling out of her.

  “Can’t say I know the man,” Frank said breaking my train of thought.

  I gathered myself and continued following Frank, pushing back those judging dead eyes. I was still alive…

  We listened as hospital staff and patients screamed for help below. Not daring to give away our cover, we stopped crawling every so often ensuring the infected wouldn’t hear us.

  We were easy targets in this shaft. Sardines ready for the picking. If they were able to somehow grab us here, we would certainly end up like that woman back there.

  “You know if the government is sending help?” I asked pulling myself forward through the grime of dirt built up along the corners of the vent-shaft.

  I had to stop and pull cobwebs from my face that had gotten tangled up from Frank’s shuffling ahead. Luckily he was leading our way and took most of the spiders with him.

  “What, as-in FEMA?” Frank questioned with slight amusement in his voice.

  “Those people ain’t gonna do nothing to help us. Too much red tape and all that. I imagine this is a survival of the fittest type of situation we are in, Nathan,” Frank said.

  I took it he didn’t have much faith in the government given his witty response and dropped the subject.

  We made a few turns through the winding ventilation shaft before arriving at our destination. A group of infected stood aimlessly near the elevator door below.

  Shit. It just couldn’t have been that easy.

  “Damnit, they are just standing there. If we drop down, we’re as sure as dead,” I said as though this was news to either of us.

  We both crowded overtop the vent that hung overhead the elevator. The infected below growled and groaned in no particular direction in a wicked chorus.

  Each infected had bloody markings up and down their exposed arms and legs with distinct imprints of teeth tattooing the rest of their bodies.

  I thought for a moment as to our best course of action. Frank continued peeking down taking the occasional scratch of his beard.

  And then it
hit me.

  “Maybe we can distract them. When I approached my neighbor that was sick like them, he seemed to respond to noise. I can double back and throw something out of one of the vent openings, and you cover the other side of the vent. Hopefully that gets their attention. Then we can escape,” I said.

  I pulled everything out of my pockets. Frank did the same. Between the two of us, we had wallets, some coins, and Frank’s ID card from around his neck. Coins it was then.

  “I’ll go this way and you take the other. Let’s both draw them away from the door. They’re slow, so it should buy us enough time to get back at the opening and drop down,” I explained.

  I hurried quietly down the vent and found the closest hatch I could open. I used one of the coins to unscrew and pop open the vent door.

  Against my better judgment, I peeked down the opening for a better look of how many infected were scattered about. Of the group near the elevator, I counted six. All of them were nurses. To the other end of the hall, I could see more that were busy feasting on the unfortunate souls the infected had pinned to the ground and enjoying as a meal.

  I tossed a coin near the group and watched as they slowly turned to attention. I threw another, this time closer to me. They began to move.

  Progress.

  I looked back up the vent to see Frank at the other end and doing the same. Before long we would have the area around the elevator door clear.

  I peered through the opening once more. About three feet from my head, gore wedged fingers clawed upward. An infected had parked herself under my opening in hopes I would be so daring to be grabbed.

  “Shit…!” I nearly yelled before slinging my head back into the vent. I closed a sweaty hand around my mouth and regained my composure. I saw Frank making his way back to the vent opening nearest the elevator.

  “Looks clear, Nathan. Let’s hop on down.” Frank unscrewed the screws and slid the vent quietly to the side taking care not to make any unnecessary noise and alerting the infected back to the spot in front of the elevator and undo all our effort.