Level Six

by Dean, Jane

  “It’s nice and warm in here. It’s right above the living room and the fireplace. If you need us we’ll be right below you.” Melissa hung onto Amy’s arm and didn’t let go. “You’ll be okay up here. We’re just downstairs. Listen, you can hear Rene washing dishes in the kitchen.” They stood and the clanking of pots in the sink could be heard clearly through a small opening in the floor. Melissa looked down and could see the fireplace down below.

  “You’ll be fine here.” Amy left and shut the door behind her. Melissa sat on the edge of one of the beds. There was a matching bed on the other side of the rood with a clean white wooden table sitting between them. She picked up a small bottle of pink nail polish and read the name of the color Who Needs of Prince, she read, mouthing the words and twisted open the top. Her mother had caught her using nail polish once and she didn’t understand why she was in trouble. Her sisters had used nail polish and it didn’t seem to be a problem. Her mother had gone to the bathroom and used the remover to take the pretty color off her nails.

  She used the polish now. Carefully brushing the pink onto her nails. She replaced the bottle on the table and placed her hands flat on her lap. She wished her mother would walk into the room and yell at her. She thought hard about her mother and tried to recall her face again. She didn’t want to forget how she looked the last time they were together. She took a deep breath and listened to the dishes being wash below her. Little stuffed animals lined the shelves able both beds and pictures of horses were stuck onto the walls with thumb tacks. She turned to look out the window and could see the Walkers pacing the fence. One walked only two feet then turned quickly, walked back two feet and kept repeating his short course. She moaned in rage at not finding a break in the fence.

  * * *

  Tod drove the truck around the hospital parking lot to draw the Walkers away from the emergency entrance. “Do you think this is going to work?” Marked asked.

  “It better work,” Tod said.

  “Hey, Callum,” Tod yelled back. “Get Marshall untied. We’re going to come back around.” Tod doubled back toward the hospital and up to the entrance. Callum held Marshall down to the bed. Ursa jumped from the cab and into the bed of the truck in one swift movement. She found it easy to carry Marshall out. She drew her gun and Mark came around to hold Marshall up on the other side. They didn’t waste any time running through the sliding emergency room doors.

  “They’re coming. Callum, they’re in. Get back in the truck we can’t make it.” Callum glanced around to see if there was a clear path through the Walkers to the emergency room entrance where Ursa had disappeared with Marshall and Mark. Large groups of Walkers were moving toward them from every direction.

  "Inside the truck, Callum held the door handle as they shuddered into reverse and lurched onto the road away from the hospital. Walkers in lab coats, hospital gowns and what Callum assumed were a mix of visitors and locals chased after them.

  "I'm going to slow down to draw them to us. Callum, I need you to be my eyes. Watch the street and let me know how many you see and if they're gaining on us. Jesus," Tod yelled as a small child ran out toward the car. The little boy threw himself at the car and stared at Tod through the windshield frantically clawing and biting at the window. Part of his cheek was hanging down against his collar. Tod bounced off the curb which jolted the child enough to throw him off the car onto the sidewalk. Callum watched in the side mirror as the child stood up and lurched after them.

  "If we can attract enough of them we can get them away from the hospital,” Tod said.

  "There're more of them out this way. They're coming out of the houses on both sides,” Callum said. "If we draw too many onto the highway we might not get back. I don't like this idea.” Callum half turned in his seat to look at Tod. "We're not leaving them back there. No one gets left behind. There’re too many of them and who knows how many are still in the hospital.”

  Tod continued to drive away from the hospital. “We can’t take all these things back with us now! We’ve got to lose them and double back another way.”

  He turned to face the front and grabbed the dashboard. "This is a suicide mission," Callum yelled.

  "I can let you out here if you don't like the idea." The truck skidded away and the noise of the old Ford brought out large groups of Walkers wandering around the small suburban area. Callum could see the grotesque humans were getting desperate and closer to jumping on them as they reached the end of the street.

  "Okay. You're right." Tod looked at Callum. “There’re too many of them. It’s time to double back and try to lose ‘em.” The Walkers were getting closer. As Tod skidded around a corner, the noise of the old engine echoed down the suburban street. The car came up onto two wheels and fell back on all four, landing on a few Walkers who had charged onto the road. Tod gained control of the car and drove south to what he hoped was another highway that bordered a field. They slid around a second corner to take them back toward the hospital.

  SIXTEEN

  Ursa and Mark held Marshall up between them. They stood behind an ambulance that had crashed into the wall next to the emergency room doors. Smoke drifted out from under the hood. Walkers poured out through the open doors past them in pursuit of Tod and Callum. Ursa closed her eyes and prayed for them to get away in time. Ursa wanted to yell out to them but stayed quiet and tried to block their essence from the pursuing Walkers. She could see her thoughts were working a little as the Walkers scattered and slowed their pursuit. There were too many dead people for her to control and they continued chasing after the men.

  She centered her thoughts on Melissa's energy and could make out a hazy view from the little girl's vantage point. The little girl was in the house with the fire burning. Ursa let go of the thin connection and looked at Mark, "It's clear. Let’s move,” she said. The doors closed after the last of the Walkers staggered out of the emergency room. The three entered the door. Mark turned and locked the door behind him and moved Marshall quickly toward the elevator down the hall. "Do you know where we should be going to do this?"

  "I think our best bet will be to head from the operating room."

  "Okay,” Ursa said. She felt a clear life force on the floor they were approaching. "Wait,” she said as they left the elevator on the third floor. “You go ahead,” she said. “There are a few Walkers but they aren’t in that direction. You’ll be okay.” She turned to run in the opposite direction.

  "Where are you going?" Mark called out quietly as he struggled with the weight of Marshall on his own.

  "There are people alive in here. I'll try to reach them and then join you,” she said.

  "How do you know?"

  "There's no time.” She waved him on. “Whoever they are may be able to help us. Get Marshall ready in the operating room." The elevator doors closed behind them and Ursa walked softly down the hall on the balls of her feet. She willed herself to blend into the wall color behind her. She could sense five Walkers in the halls and knew she'd have to be careful or they'd see her easily in the empty hallway.

  * * *

  In the abandoned hallway the lights in the section of the military base flickered off and on. Kat felt lost and disoriented. Craig blocked out the small amount of light in front of her and led the way as the two other altered military personnel followed behind Kat, Will and Dr Myers. The small monkey clung to Will’s back. “Are you well enough to remember how to get out of here?” she asked.

  Craig rested a large shoulder against the wall next to him. “I’m a little disoriented, but I think I can get us out of here.” Kat looked away from his large glassy eyes. They glowed red down here in the dark and she reminded herself that he was still human and needed help to escape or end up as rejected experiment. She stepped aside to let him walk ahead.

  “We can’t afford to rest. Keeping moving.” Scott’s loud voice boomed over her head.

  “Wait.” Tom called out softly from behind. “I can sense someone coming.” They moved into an alcove in the
wall and waited as two military personnel ran by back into the heart of the facility.

  “How did they not see us?” Kat asked.

  Tom and Scott looked at each. “We blocked their vision briefly. It’s like throwing up a mental dust cloud around us,” Tom said.

  “Enough!” Scott said. “We need to move, Craig’s not doing well.” Craig confirm this by struggling to walk forward. He bent at the wall and threw up the small amount of water left in his stomach.

  They continued quickly down the hall until an alarm sounded behind them. “There’s someone coming, but they aren’t a threat.” Scott stood in the middle of the hallway. His size almost filled the narrow corridor.

  “I’m not as young as I used to be,” Dr. Myers said and leaned against the wall next to Craig. “It seems we’ve alerted the authorities prematurely and now we’ll need to hurry.” Scott helped Craig forward and Tom half picked up the Professor and moved him along. Kat had to run to keep up with them. “How do things look Craig? Are we going to make it out?” the Professor asked.

  “I can recall the schematics for this facility pretty well. There’s another way out. They’ll expect us to be a half kilometer in the opposite direction. Taking this hall to the unused side will give us time to escape. I can’t say how well we’ll do outside though. I can sense some darkness.”

  The little monkey let out a small cry and the three men stopped abruptly at once. Kat ran into Tom and fell back into Will. “We’re here,” Scott said. “Now, it’s a short elevator ride up to the surface.”

  “They’re coming,” Scott said as he pushed a series of buttons on the control panel. The door opened in front of them. Kat could hear yells and foot falls echoing down the hall.

  * * *

  Ursa could hear babies crying from the far end of the hallway. She approached the door of the neonatal ward, tiptoeing on the balls of her feet. She sensed the presence of two Walkers wandering the floor but she couldn’t be sure where they were. Through the window were rows of clear plastic boxes sitting four feet off the floor. Each one held a small baby. A shock of electricity ran up her spine and she tried to turn the knob but it didn’t move. She moved away and almost turned to find Marshall and Mark and paused for a moment. How am I going to be able to help them? She thought to herself. She held her breath for a moment and returned to look back in the window. Hello? she thought loudly.

  “Help me”. It was a clear voice coming from the other side of the door. She couldn’t see the source of the answer but it was clear. She returned to the window and looked around the room again. Directly below the window, a woman sat on the floor with her head in her hands. Ursa grimaced then knocked on the window lightly. The woman started and looked up. She backed up further away from the door in horror. Ursa knew that her altered appearance startled the woman. She hesitated and then sent out a thought to the woman. The thought was more like a feeling she wanted to convey. She surrounded the words with a calm and peaceful emotion. Open the door. I’m here to help. The woman visibly relaxed and stood against the wall.

  Another feeling entered Ursa’s mind. It was the dead sickly feeling of a Walker. She looked down the hall to see two Walkers in white medical coats staggering toward her. She pointed to the door knob through the window, frantically motioning for the woman to let her in. The woman hesitated and looked at the babies. Ursa waved her hands, “Let me in. They’re coming,” she yelled. The woman ran to the door and opened it, grabbing Ursa and throwing her into the room before trying to slam the door shut. A hand stopped the door from closing completely. It groped to hold onto something with two missing fingers. The women pushed the door closed against it. Ursa found a stool and used it to slam against the hand until it pulled back enough for them to close the door. The two dead medical personnel continued to slam against the door gnashing their teeth while babies woke and cries filled the room.

  * * *

  The large military men, Kat, Dr. Myers, Will and what Kat could only think of as a monkey-man filled the elevator. The metal cables strained as it climbed slowly to the surface.

  “When we get out, we’ll have to assess the situation quickly and make a decision,” Scott said. “I’ll decide our move, watch for my command.” The doors opened to let them out into what appeared to be the inside of a dark shed. Dr. Myers turned in the dark room for a moment unable to find the front door. Scott walked to the wooden door and cracked it open wide enough to allow a beam of light to piece the shed’s dirt floor. “Are you okay Craig?” he asked looking back at the other man stooped over with his hands on his knees for support. Craig nodded that he was well enough.

  “Let me take a look at you,” Dr. Myers said. “Step into the light.” The large man stepped over to the doctor and bent down. Looking into the man’s eyes, Dr. Myers could see that his pupils were expanding and contracting rapidly. “You’ll be okay. Your eyes are still adjusting to their increased size and capacity. You’ll be fine son. Try to shield your eyes when we get outside and follow the feet in front of you. Don’t try to look around or you may lose your balance.”

  “What do you see?” Tom walked past the Professor and Craig and to look out the door.

  “We’ve got a ‘deuce and a half’ and no one in site.”

  “A what?” Kat asked.

  “One big ass truck lady.” Scott looked around for another moment. “It’s clear. Let’s go.”

  Craig shuddered as they stepped out into the light. “You’ll be okay,” the Professor said. “Let’s get you in the truck out of the sun.” They ran across a small stretch of field to the army green truck. The driver’s side door was open. Scott and Craig made it across the expanse quickly. It looked to Kat like they had only taken ten large strides to make it into the cab. She turned at the sound of moaning and stood stunned as a man ripped apart another man in a military uniform. “Kat!” the doctor called back to her.

  “Run for Christ’s sake!” Scott yelled as she ran to get into the back of the truck that was starting to drive away.

  “Hold on!” the Professor yelled. He jumped from the truck and ran back toward the shed.

  “Where the hell are you going!?” Scott yelled.

  “Professor!” Will yelled out and the monkey screeched. Scott jumped from the truck and took four long strides to reach the doctor who was struggled with a black duffle bag.

  “My bag!” the doctor yelled. Craig grabbed up the bag with one hand and threw the doctor over his shoulder on his other side and deposited them both in the bed of the truck.

  The Walker left his kill and ran after them. Kat could see the Walker’s silhouetted grow smaller as they drove away. She closed her eyes and put her head on her knees when he disappeared into the distance.

  * * *

  Ursa sat on the floor with the nurse. She looked around at the babies in the incubators and those wrapped in blankets on the floor around her. When one baby stopped crying another one started until the cries blended as part of the background.

  “Are you okay?” Ursa asked the nurse.

  “No.” she replied.

  “I mean have you been bitten or hurt by anyone?”

  “No.” The nurse shook her head. “When the outbreak started, I picked up as many babies as I could and brought them in here. Why hasn’t anyone come to help us?” She began crying. Ursa could see by the dark circles under the woman’s eyes that she hadn’t slept for days. The babies continued to cry and a terrible feeling crept into her stomach. She didn’t want to consider leaving all these lives but she couldn’t think of any way to save them. Trying to protect a dozen babies would mean they’d all be taken down by biters. She put her arm around the woman and let her cry. The Walkers scratching at the door window stopped and moved away toward another noise in the hallway. Ursa assumed it was Mark distracting them and hoped he was okay.

  “I know you’re upset and tired, but I need to ask for help.” The woman continued to sniff and Ursa reached out mentally to help calm the woman’s emotions. They both began
to breathe evenly. “I’m Ursa, what’s your name?”

  “It’s Emma, just Em,” the woman said.

  “Okay Em, I’m here with a doctor and a friend who’s been hurt. He’s hurt bad but the doctor thinks he can help him pull through. We could really use your help.” Ursa felt guilty asking for help while all the babies cried around them. “Once my friend’s stable, the doctor can help us with the babies.”

  * * *

  Tod turned the wheel sharply and jumped up and over the curb. “What the hell are you doing!?” Callum asked. He watched out the back window at the Walkers chasing them.

  “I’m going to lose them in the park!” He slowed the car slightly and weaved through the trees. They reached the other side and Tod slowed to drive quietly over the side of the school.

  “Let’s hope the outbreak started on a weekend. We can stop here. Until they pass.” The men put their seats down and Callum peaked up over the back seat. The horde of Walkers came through the park and disbursed along the street. Some kept looking for the car and others began to shamble across the road.

  “I think we’re okay here. They didn’t see us pull in,” Callum said.

  Tod slid further down the seat. “We get a break but how long can we last here?”

  “We drew a lot of them away from the hospital. It might be easier to get back in there.” Callum said. “That’s funny, I just got a thought but it wasn’t mine.”

  “What’re you talking about?” Tod put his hands over his face. He didn’t think he could cope with Callum going crazy right now.

  “I think it’s a message from Ursa,” Callum stared out the window. “She’s says they made it in and they’re okay.”

  * * *

  “Em, can you help us? When we’re done, I can ask the doctor to help with the children.”