Shay’s hand yanked him upright before the can could crash into the ground. Neil’s heart finally realized he was in danger and began pounding several seconds too late. They got the can to the door and set it carefully down. Neil took several deep, rapid breaths to calm himself. Cody tugged his arm toward the path and Neil realized the others were already several steps ahead. He glanced at the silhouette near the thin pile of plywood. It was definitely moving. He was certain now that his eyes had adjusted. He gripped Cody’s hand hard and pointed. Cody paused for a moment, nodded and pulled the phone out of his pocket, raising it toward the moving shadow. It took Neil a few seconds to realize he was trying to film it. Stupid, he thought, grab the others. He’s too slow. And who the fuck cares about us dying? Why film it? He slipped past Cody who didn’t even look up. Randi might care. Someday. He brushed the depressing thought aside. He didn’t have time for it. He wasn’t going to let them die in here.
Debbie glanced back and he pointed to the moving figure off to the side. It was rocking or swaying. Not quite rhythmically but definitely not the ripple of wind. He strained to listen, hoping to hear some sort of human sound from it, some sort of weak and reasonable call for help. Or just weeping. Even that would be saner than the grunts and rasps of the people who’d attacked. He was too far from it to hear anything at all. Just the cold December wind whistling through the courtyard. Debbie had grabbed Shay and all four of them stood staring at the shifting bundle.
“Come on,” whispered Shay, “It’s no good waiting until it notices us. We have to get to that door.”
“Don’t call them an ‘it,’” whispered Debbie. “That’s a person. Just an ill person.”
“Sorry. Doesn’t change the fact we should move.” She pulled her arm free of Debbie’s grasp and continued down the pathway, though not without several glances back toward the figure.
Cody nudged Neil as they got closer to the far wing of the hospital. “The windowsss are boarded,” he murmured. Neil peered into the twilight. Pale squares of raw wood glimmered against the cinderblock walls. The plywood stopped halfway down, leaving the door and a cluster of lit windows at the back corner of the courtyard unobstructed. There was movement behind them. Rapid flashes of pale blue and dark red shone through as several figures moved erratically behind the glass. It was too far to see more clearly than that. Neil was grateful for the distance.
“They didn’t finish,” he whispered back. Cody pointed his phone grimly at the windows for a few seconds. Neil turned away before Cody could use the camera’s zoom function.
18
He followed Shay and Debbie around a corner into the narrow, trellised alley that led to the exit and halted in dismay. They’d reached the spot where the door to the parking lot ought to be. Two large floodlights washed the structure that had been placed there in a bright, harsh blaze. The door itself was gone, the splintered wreckage of the door and the small fence wall that had housed it piled beside the trellis arch. In its place, two large concrete barriers made a low wall across the opening. Concertina wire was slung above them, the sharp edges glinting in the stark light. And beyond that, a riot truck parked across the small outlet to the parking lot.
“Shit,” muttered Debbie.
Neil looked back, but both the moving shadow and Cody were around the corner, out of his line of vision. Shay grunted softly. He looked back to see her trying to remove her shirt and wincing as the fabric slid past her bandaged wounds.
“What are you doing?” asked Debbie.
“Going to need something to cover that barbed wire,” she answered, wriggling slowly free. Neil tried to help with his good hand.
“Are you crazy?” asked Debbie. “Those razors will slice you to hell. A shirt’s not going to do any good—”
“Jeans then,” muttered Neil. “Hold on a moment, you can have mine. We’ll push down the wire with some of those boards.” He began unbuckling his belt.
“Good idea. These ones aren’t much good, but any little bit extra…” Shay unbuttoned her own.
“No, keep yours on. Protect your legs as much as you can. Gonna give you my shoes to put over your hands.”
“Stop,” hissed Debbie, trying to pull Shay’s shirt back over her head. “This is insane. Your clothes are going to be ripped to shreds and then your skin. Even with the cloth. And if you got over, what then?”
“Climb the side of the truck,” said Shay, ducking the shirt. “Or slide under. I’ll see when I get there.”
“Think for a minute. Would you—” Debbie grabbed Neil’s belt loop, yanking to keep his pants in place. “Just stop and think. Think about what this wire being here means. Those people— the sick ones, you think they’d stop to cushion their hands or use a board to make it easier to crawl over? You think anything at all would stop them? The only way they stop is when someone knocks them unconscious. Or worse. Those policemen or— or military or whoever did this— they know that. They’ve got more information about the sick people than I do, and I’ve been seeing them for days. They have access to a lot more labs and doctors and who knows? Maybe some kind of secret intelligence about some sort of— of attack or something. Probably know what on earth is causing it. They didn’t string this up to keep the people who are already sick inside. Probably just— just— eliminate them, if they made it past the quarantine.” Her shoulders lurched and she covered her mouth and turned away. Another lurch and Neil could hear her forcing deep breaths. “The wire is for us,” she said without turning back around. “A warning. We break out, we cross over, they’ll assume we’re sick because only sick people would try. And they’ll act accordingly.”
“You don’t know that,” said Neil. “They sent in people to get us out. They don’t know they’re all dead—”
“Sent ‘em in to keep us here, Neil,” muttered Shay. “Weren’t you listening? They put us all in one room to keep an eye on us. There was no plan to get us out. We were just supposed to hunker down and wait out the quarantine. The only thing those policemen— or whatever they were, were meant to do was keep the sick ones from wiping us out while we waited. And they failed. Obviously, the people outside don’t know everything. Or they would have known how to tell if someone was going to snap. And all those policemen would still be alive. Or not here at all. Right?” she touched Debbie’s shoulder.
“I guess.” Debbie turned back to look at the barrier. “Doesn’t change the point. We get past the barrier here, they’ll shoot us. We should go back to the cafe. Wait out the quarantine like we’re supposed to. I can— I can keep looking. Maybe I’ll find out something. Maybe we can trade it for help. We still have the lab results from the people in the ER. Got plenty of… patients. For more samples. The man in the bathroom and your friend in the gift store, that one out—” she jerked a thumb toward the mouth of the alley. “Where’s Cody?”
Neil glanced back. “He was right behind me.” He struggled to buckle his belt without re-injuring his hand. “Come on, we need to find him. I didn’t hear any yells so the— person in the courtyard probably didn’t attack.”
Shay stared at the barrier for another few seconds. It was obvious she didn’t want to turn around. Debbie moved back toward the courtyard. “Hey,” whispered Neil, “We can get some mats or a mattress or something. Come back, if you want. Better than a pair of jeans and a cotton shirt for the barbed wire anyway.”
“My kids are out there. No offense but if it comes to you guys or them—”
“I know, I know. Randi too. We’re going to get out, one way or another. If not here then we’re going to find a gap or a— a forgotten entrance. But we have to stick together. We have to help each other.”
He tugged her hand, trying to urge her back into the courtyard. She jerked her hand back. “Why? I could get over the wire right now. Why do I need your help? Or the others? Why do you need mine?”
“Because what if Debbie’s right? What if they shoot at us as soon as we get in sight? Or— or what if we can’t get over the truck and h
ave to find another way? There’s still a lot of sick people in here. I saw them through the window back there. If something happens— look, I’d find your kids. Because I know. I know what you’re feeling right now. And Cody’s kids. I’d tell ‘em. I’d help them if I could. And if— if something happened to me, I hope you’d do the same.”
“We’re in a hospital, Neil. My work. I’m here every day. I cook food. My best friend sells overpriced stuffed animals and get-well cards. My other coworkers type all day. Or clean the floors or try and make sick kids feel better. We aren’t going to die in here. But out there, our kids are out there with nothing to—”
“Maybe that was true a few days ago. Maybe it should be true, but I’ve found two dead bodies today and left another man to die. And then there’s these,” he said holding his bandaged hand up to his wounded neck. “I’m not feeling very strong or protected right now. How about you?”
Shay didn’t have an answer for him.
“So we stick together. When we get home, you can call me up and make fun of me for overreacting the rest of my life. I don’t care. But if something happens to one of us— I’m not asking you to step in front of one of those things for me, Shay. Or even to help me get out. I’m just asking, if you get out, find my mom. Help her protect my daughter. I’d find your family.” He slid his wallet out, the faded school photo of Randi with a gap in her teeth, smiling out at him. He pulled it out. Then his ancient emergency contact card. His mom had made him carry it when he was in high school. She always thought the wrestling team was going to suffer some tragic bus crash or something. The habit had stuck. He thrust both toward Shay. “Take it,” he said. “In case. And when we find a pen, you give me your address and kids’ names. We’ll get Cody’s. And whoever Debbie wants, if she does. Just in case.”
Shay took the photo and the creased emergency card. She placed them carefully together and tucked them into her bra. “Safest spot,” she explained and then wriggled back into her shirt with his help.
“Come on,” he said, “Cody and Debbie shouldn’t be left alone out there with that— person.”
The dark was dense in the courtyard as they turned the corner, the hospital wall blocking the floodlights in the alley. Neil ran into Debbie before his eyes could adjust and caught her before they could both go crashing into the ground.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “Where’s Cody?”
She pointed to a small, bobbing light halfway across the courtyard. It was Cody’s phone, the only thing Neil could make out for a moment.
“Is he— did it happen?”
“No. But I don’t know what did. He’s filming that person. The one we thought was moving earlier. He’s too close. I don’t dare call to him. I don’t know why they haven’t attacked him yet. They aren’t blind. Must see the light. Unless— maybe it’s a new symptom?”
Neil pushed carefully past her and she grabbed his hand. He winced in pain where her fingers brushed his wounds, but she didn’t let go.
“Where are you going?”
“To get him.”
“You can’t. You’ll draw attention—”
“Maybe. But if he’s attacked, I want to be closer when it happens, to help. And it beats standing here waiting for something terrible to happen. Gonna grab him and then we’re going to figure out how to get over that fence or keep going to the tunnel. We’re getting out of here. You want to wait in the cafe until someone decides to help, be my guest. But Shay and I are going.”
He shook her off and crept slowly toward the pale square of light that was Cody’s phone. His eyes had adjusted slightly and the pale light from the unboarded windows across the courtyard helped him pick out a tangle of dark shadows. Cody’s shadow was still and tall, one arm extended holding out the phone. At his feet, a jumble of different shapes. None of them really moved. Neil wondered if the sick person were still there or if they had wandered away while he had been out of sight. Or if Cody had killed them. He glanced back at Debbie and Shay, almost risking another whisper to ask if she was certain Cody hadn’t already snapped. He forced himself forward instead. He almost tripped over the edge of the thin plywood pile that had been abandoned in the center of the courtyard and did knock over a small box of screws, sending them scattering with a jarring tinkle. Cody whirled around, the pale light from his phone slimming, then disappearing as he did. Neil’s eyes clenched closed and he held his breath, waiting for Cody or the person on the ground to tackle him. When neither happened, he opened his eyes again.
“Just me,” Neil whispered. “Neil, remember? You still there Cody?”
Cody’s shadow sagged as he relaxed. “Yeah. Ssstill me.”
Neil held out his uninjured hand. “Gotta go, man.”
“But look.” Cody grabbed the hand but pulled Neil closer, and Neil stumbled over the edge of the plywood. Neil could hear Debbie or Shay gasp behind him and he teetered over the still bundle of cloth and flesh at his feet. Cody caught him before he could fall. “Ssorry,” he said, patting Neil’s chest once. “You need to see.” A fan of light erupted from his phone and jittered over the pile of bodies on the ground. Most of them were face-down, for which Neil was deeply grateful. For a few seconds, all he registered was blood. Dried, dark blood in branching trails across anonymous patches of skin. Glistening, still soupy blood in the center of deep holes and gashes, catching the light from the phone. Then he connected the blood to the bodies. To the idea it had come from that flesh. That it wasn’t some movie special effect or those corn syrup blood packets Randi liked to fool around with at Halloween. They’re dead, he realized. Course they are. You knew that already— but they’re dead. Really dead. And there are a lot of them. Not just one lying in the middle of the hallway or tucked away in someone’s room. Six? Seven? So many body parts. It could be three or could be ten for all I can tell. Why are they all cut up? And then, the last part hit him. Not cut, you know what cut meat looks like. Bit. Those are teeth marks. Chewed. Why are they— His brain went a snowy kind of blank, like he’d walked into a sudden blizzard and he felt a retch rumbling up in his stomach. He shut his eyes and forced a heavy breath through his nose.
“They don’t attack,” said Cody. “After they’re— full. They just— shlow down. Thiss one fell ‘sleep. She wasn’t before, when I got closhe.”
“You got close? Why did you get close?” asked Neil, opening his eyes and quickly looking up to Cody to avoid seeing more gore. Cody waved the phone slightly. “Had to show ‘em. And she was shlow. Really shlow. Took a chance.”
Neil scowled. “That thing’s gonna get you killed. We need to get out of here, not make a movie.”
“Thing’s gonna save uss. You want your kid to know what to do. So do I. Don’t know if we’re getting out of the quarantine, Neil. SSpecially me. Can’t go out there. But I can show my girlss anyway. Your kid too. All of ‘em out there. They don’t attack after they’ve eaten. I think. Maybe. Or maybe this one’s dying.” Cody leaned over to look more closely at the sleeping woman. She was draped over the gnawed hip of one of the bodies. Neil could see her chest rise and fall. She was alive. How did you fall asleep after this? Why didn’t you snap out of it? Why aren’t you horrified?
“It’s freezing out here. How on Earth did she fall asleep? She say anything before she passed out?” he asked.
“Nothing. Didn’ ask her to. Didn’ wanna draw attention.” He glanced up at Neil. “It might have been a crazy thing to get closher, but I’m not an idiot.” He frowned down at the woman. “Not yet, anyway. Maybe the bodies are sstill… maybe they’re sstill warm. Made a— a nest.” Cody retched, but stopped himself. Neil wanted to vomit as well.
“You sure she— did this?”
“Can’t be all of it. Thesse guys had weapons. Ssee?” he shone the phone’s light over a uniformed hip. Neil tried not to stare at the grayish-pink loop of intestine spilling out beside it. There was a holstered gun on the corpse’s belt.
“Didn’t even have a chance to draw it,” said Neil.
“What? No.”
She leaned over, her hand outstretched. Neil pulled on her shoulder to stop her. “No, Shay.”
“Thought you said you wanted to get out of here. That you’d do anything to warn your daughter and your mom.”
“Sure, but—”
“You want to wait until they all fall asleep? We don’t even know how many other sick people are in here. There were sixty of us in the conference room and that was only the people they found immediately. There could be dozens more from the pediatric wing. Or maybe you want to tear off an arm like a drumstick and carry it around to throw at one of the sick ones? Like you were soothing a mad dog?”
“Can’t be dozens more. Debbie said they evacuated the patients who were stable—”
“Didn’t evacuate us. Loads of housekeepers and lab techs and registrars—”
The sick woman shifted in her sleep and Shay stopped.
“Okay, okay, I get your point,” Neil whispered when the woman had become still again. “But we don’t need the gun. There’s a way out right here. We find a doormat or a cot mattress or something and go over. We’re out. Safe. We don’t need a gun for that. We’ll just keep going the way we have.”
Before The Cure (Book 1): Before The Cure Page 13