The Zombie Principle

by David R Vosburgh

  Performing a quick scan of the area it appeared to be clean; no one in the reception area, waiting area, or in the hallway. Gunner motioned for his men to head to the large double doors. They stopped just in front of them.

  Gunner moved over to the wall and placed his hand over the push button that would normally open the doors automatically. With Ludvig in front and Stefan and Mikael on either side; Gunner pressed the button. Nothing happened.

  He did not expect it to work but thought he would give it a shot. It was safer than having to manually open it given they had no idea what was on the other side. They were, however, about to find out.

  The doors would likely swing both ways to open. Doctors and nurses pushing patients on gurneys would need to get through those doors quickly. Gunner moved to the center and leaned against the doors and listened. He heard nothing.

  He told Stefan to push on the left door, Mikael on the right, as he pushed in the middle. Ludvig stood behind, his automatic rifle ready to take out anything that came through the door.

  With the black bag slung around his shoulder, Gunner gave a nod to his associates and they pushed on the doors. They gave way slowly at first. The creaking of the hinges combined with the swoosh of the rubber bottoms echoed in the hallway.

  After a few seconds the doors parted revealing the hallway on the other side. Ludvig stood ready to fire upon any infected. As the opening widened, Gunner looked up and saw an empty hallway. He let go of the doors and allowed Stefan and Mikael finish the job. Grabbing his sidearm he raised it to eye level prepared to use it if necessary.

  Stefan and Mikael joined Gunner after the doors were completely open; weapons drawn and focused. They moved into the hallway. A triage station was set up to their left. Three separate stations separated by plastic curtains contained hospital beds, medical equipment, and surgical supplies. To the right were doors leading into operating rooms. All areas seemed to be empty. On the far end of the room was another, smaller, set of double doors.

  Gunner moved his group slowly down the hallway. They were heading toward the doors at the far end checking each room as they passed. Arriving at the last operating room they were startled as a man in hospital scrubs fell out of the doorway in front of them and landed face first on the tiled hallway floor.

  He did not move or attempt to get up. As they all were looking down at the man in scrubs lying on the ground, they did not notice the infected woman standing in the doorway. She stepped over her victim and launched herself at Gunner. He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and deftly moved out of her way at the last second.

  As she passed by him, he shoved her down to the ground with his left hand and took aim at her head with the gun in his right. Before he could get off a round, however, Ludvig lowered his weapon and fired directly into the back of the zombie’s skull.

  Convinced it was dead, Gunner moved into the operating room to ensure it was empty. He found a collapsible ambulance gurney off to the side as well as the usual items one would expect to find in an operating room. No other infected were visible.

  Gunner backed up into the hallway, stepping over the man on the ground, and turned his attention to the smaller double doors in front of him. The emergency room was connected to the main hospital through the doors in front of them. It was on the main roof that their target was last seen. Once through this door, they would have to locate the first set of stairs and get to the third floor as quickly as possible.

  Chapter 32

  Up On the Roof

  Gunner noticed that one of the double doors was slightly ajar. He moved closer to it putting his ear near the gap and listening, he again heard nothing. Weapon drawn, he pushed the door open and stepped through into a small corridor that connected the emergency ward with the main building of the hospital.

  The hallway was empty. Gunner instructed his men to move swiftly as they left the hallway and entered an area of the hospital that housed the laboratories. They moved down the narrow hallway looking in each lab window checking for infected. So far, none had been seen.

  Gunner was surprised that the interior of the hospital had been, to this point, reasonably empty. He was hoping it would stay that way. After passing the labs, they came to a small nurse’s station on their left and a door on their right labeled STAIRS.

  It was what Gunner was looking for. He assumed that all the stairwells went up to the third floor so this one was as good as any other. He moved to the door and peeked through the rectangular window in the middle; it looked clear. Not taking any chances, Gunner had his men take flanking positions on both sides of the door. Ludvig stayed behind Gunner.

  On the count of three he opened the door and went straight to the ground. Stefan charged in and turned facing the stairs heading up. Mikael turned completely around to check their blind spot behind the door. Ludvig positioned himself in the doorway checking straight ahead.

  After Gunner gave the all clear signal they quickly climbed the first set of stairs. Using a two by two formation, they cleared the first landing and headed up to the second floor. The door to the second floor was closed. With nothing that would be of interest on that floor, they continued to the landing between the second and third floors.

  Looking up, Gunner noticed the third floor door was propped open by a hospital gurney. Moving slower now, they climbed the last set of stairs finally reaching the third floor. At first he did not notice the blood soaked sheet draped across what appeared to be a body. The sun was setting and light inside the building was becoming scarce.

  Upon noticing the blood, he trained his handgun on the end of the gurney that was exposed through the door. Gunner instructed Stefan to pull the gurney out of the doorway and onto the third floor landing. After it was completely on the landing Mikael grabbed hold of the bloody sheet and pulled back in one quick motion revealing a mangled body of what appeared to be a middle aged male.

  He was best described as partially devoured. Most of his torso and lower left leg were missing. His face was the only feature still somewhat intact. Gunner, holding the open door with his left hand, reactively pulled the trigger of the gun in his right hand and shot the man between the eyes.

  The gunshot startled his crew as they did not expect it. Gunner immediately regretted doing it. Regret was an emotion completely unfamiliar to him. He was not even sure why he did it. Noise attracts those things and this poor fellow was half eaten and likely no threat. It must have been that this whole business was finally getting to him. Pushing the gurney to the side he bulled his way through the door and found himself on the third floor of Blanchfield Army Hospital.

  Major Bradley turned to see what Sergeant Sanchez was talking about. Two distinct groups of infected were crossing Indiana Avenue and moving in their direction. Each group had about twenty infected and were separated by thirty yards.

  The Major put his index finger to his lips ordering his men to remain silent. There was no indication that either group had seen them yet or was targeting them specifically. He hoped they would just pass on by. He did not want to open fire on infected that were not threatening them or the emergency entrance.

  Both groups entered the hospital property at the same time. If they kept moving in the same direction they were currently heading, one would pass on their left side, the other to their right. The Major and his men had moved slightly so they were behind the trees, attempting to use them as camouflage.

  The group closest to the hospital started to peel off and head in that direction. The Major briefly considered that good news until he saw why. Coming from around the front of the hospital was another, even larger collection of infected. This new group was, it appeared, led by a zombie with a broken leg and another who was missing his left arm. It looked to the Major as if the smaller group was planning on joining up with the larger group.

  This is something that Major Bradley had never noticed before. The infected seemed to be moving in a herd mentality. He considered this for a moment as he thought of how h
e might use that to his advantage. Nothing immediately came to him so he turned his attention to the other smaller group to his left.

  They did not seem, at first, to be interested in joining the party near the hospital. Then all of a sudden the group stopped. The infected in the front of the pack turned and faced the Major. They seemed to look past him as they began moving toward their position.

  The Major raised his weapon as his men did the same. The infected were now moving just a few yards ahead of the trees the Major was hiding behind. The group suddenly became agitated and began to break apart. They had detected the Major and his men.

  Before the zombies could attack, the Major gave the signal to open fire on them. He grabbed Dr. Sanderson and moved him out of harm’s way as the sound of gunfire enveloped them.

  There was little the zombies could do. They had spread out and were in an open field. It only took a minute or so and the Major and his men had half of them eliminated.

  The Major had run out of ammo and had to replace his clip; he only had two left. His next shot dropped a young woman wearing a pretty blue summer dress. She stumbled and fell on her back directly in front of him. Looking down, his attention was drawn to a small pin attached to the front of her dress. It was blue and white and read: It’s a boy.

  He was frozen for a moment. The image of this woman at a baby shower celebrating and opening gifts from friends and family only to have it interrupted by this madness hit a nerve with him. It made him angry. He wanted to help this woman but he knew, of course, it was too late for her. It was then he decided that he would help this doctor and if he was able to find a cure, he was damn sure going to get it into as many hands as possible.

  Refocusing on the current problem, he saw Private Sinclair blow a hole through the last of the zombies. He quickly looked around and saw no further immediate danger. The second group of zombies was farther away now and had just about joined the larger group coming from the front of the hospital.

  “Ammo check,” the Major ordered.

  “Three spares,” said Sanchez.

  “Two clips,” said Diaz

  “Two here as well,” Sinclair added.

  “One left,” said Stevens.

  The Doctor looked at Major Bradley with his palms up indicating he had no weapon to say nothing of ammunition.

  “Not much,” thought the Major. The sun had set and they had virtually no light left. He had to assume Gunner was already on the roof, perhaps on his way down. He decided they needed to move. He saw another group of trees on the other side of the field in front of him. It was much closer to the emergency entrance and away from the approaching horde of zombies.

  The new location would make it easier to see and dispatch any zombies in front of the entrance. It would be problematic, however, it the large mass of infected coming around from the front of the hospital decided to follow them.

  He decided it was worth the risk.

  Gunner and his men were standing at the end of a long hallway. In-patient rooms lined both sides of the corridor. From what he could see most of the doors were closed. He motioned for his men to follow him.

  As he walked down the hall he noticed the usual sterile hospital smell. The odd thing was it was how hospitals were supposed to smell. The infected had an odor. He had grown so used to the smell that the lack of odor stood out. It could mean that this floor was clear of infected.

  He moved cautiously, however, looking for any indication of a maintenance closet or supply room. Looking in each room as he passed, his original assessment appeared to be correct; no infected in this wing.

  They arrived at the end of the hallway and could go left or right. He decided to take a right because the hallway in that direction was significantly shorter. Moving together they passed framed portraits of former department heads and other distinguished personnel mounted on both sides of the wall.

  At the end of the hallway they came to a single door that appeared to lead into some administrative offices. He was about to look through the window in the door when he noticed the solid non-descript door to his right. It was slightly ajar with a dim ray of light shining through the crack.

  Gunner spread his men apart and indicated he was going to kick the door all the way open. The doorway was narrow and would allow only one man at a time through. Mikael, Gunner decided, was going in first followed by Stefan.

  Not wasting time they did not have, he kicked the door open and his men raced in. Once inside, Gunner immediately recognized it as the HVAC room where the heating and air conditioning units on the roof were controlled. It was also clear of infected. An overturned box of filters was strewn across the floor.

  Looking straight ahead he saw a series of iron handles protruding out of the cement wall forming a makeshift ladder. The ladder led up to an open hatch that provided access to the roof through which the final bits of sunlight came streaming down into the room.

  Gunner stood at the base of the ladder, adjusted the black bag on his shoulder, and started to climb up. Before sticking his head through the opening he stopped to listen. The wind had started to pick up a little bit. He heard the shuffling of feet on the roof but it sounded like it was coming from farther away.

  He popped his head through the hatch and quickly scanned the rooftop. In the northwest corner he saw eight to ten infected wondering back and forth as if they were looking for a lost contact lens. Behind them was a zombie simply standing at the edge of the building. He was not moving and had its back to Gunner.

  Lifting the bag off his shoulder he placed it on top of the roof and finished climbing the makeshift ladder. Once on the roof he signaled for his men to join him as he turned to see if they had been noticed yet. The infected continued about their business.

  Gunner recognized the motionless zombie as their lost test subject, Number 5 as the Doctor referred to him. He was dressed in the familiar hospital scrubs he had seen on the other subjects. Gunner decided they would eliminate all other threats first, then attempt to surround Number 5 and capture him like they practiced the day before.

  Stefan, Ludvig, and Mikael had finally made it onto the roof. Gunner spread them out as there were no other infected on the roof except for the ones in front of him. He grabbed the black bag and moved his men forward. As the first zombie turned its head and took notice of them, Gunner had already fired the first shot.

  Major Bradley and Dr. Sanderson arrived at the group of trees just to the southeast of the entrance. “These trees provided better cover than the ones they had just come from,” thought the Major. He had finished positioning his men so that the entrance was covered and Sanchez was again guarding their rear.

  He looked past the emergency entrance all the way to the other side of the hospital just in time to barely make out the large mass of zombies turn the corner and head out toward the open field, not far from where they were recently positioned. He was confident they did not see him and his men make their way over here. It was getting very difficult to see much of anything at all. The wind had started to pick up and clouds were starting to move into the area.

  He took a knee and stared at the entrance when he heard gunfire explode from the hospital rooftop. Gunner was on the roof. As he listened carefully he noticed, for the first time, gunfire coming from some distance away. His training and time spent on the battlefield led him to believe it was originating northeast of his position.

  The hospital must have been blocking the sound before. Now that the Major was on the other side, he could hear it more clearly. A quick examination of the area confirmed the direction of the sound; it was coming from the convoy.

  As the gunfire from the roof continued, the Major’s comm link came alive with static and the unmistakable voice of his executive officer, Captain Morris.

  “Major Bradley, come in. Please acknowledge.”

  Chapter 33

  Scarecrow

  Nick made his way to the front Humvee where Lucy, Kim, and the kids were standing. He instinctively reached
to open the door even though Lucy had already tried it.

  “It’s stuck,” Lucy said again.

  He nodded and stood there for a second thinking.

  “I’ll try the other door,” he said.

  Nick ran around the front of the Major’s Humvee and saw for the first time the battle taking place on the other side. It stunned him. The sheer number of infected was alarming. The soldiers were holding their own it appeared based on the number of dead zombies that littered the field between the convoy and the large building on the other side.

  The rest of the zombies, nearly one hundred by Nick’s estimate, were about twenty-five yards from the line established by the soldiers. They would probably have to fall back in a minute or two and use the vehicles as high ground. He decided that even if the door to the Humvee was open, it was not going to be the safest place in a few minutes.

  He ran back around to the other side of the Humvee and rejoined the girls and Jason.

  “We can’t stay here. There’s a shitload of infected over there,” he said pointing to the other side of the truck.

  He looked around trying to find another safe location. He wanted to get back to help Stephen and the corporal but he felt finding a safe place for Lucy, Kim, and the kids was a priority.

  “How about there!” Lucy shouted indicating the small building next to the checkpoint.

  “I think that’s the visitor’s center,” Kim added.

  There did not seem to be any infected coming out of or heading into the building. It was not that far away and they had a clear path to get there.

  “Let’s go!” Nick said.

  Stephen fired the last bullet from the MP’s gun into a zombie wearing a green and yellow apron that read SUBWAY. He threw the gun to the ground and grabbed his axe again with both hands.

  They had whittled the number of infected down to a few. Corporal Levine took several steps back to regroup as he changed out his last cartridge. Stephen followed dragging the axe behind him.