Violet felt something snap.
“Oh no,” she breathed.
“Are you okay?” Matt sounded worried.
“No.”
“What? Why? Are you hurt?”
“No, my bra strap broke.” Violet could feel it flapping against her back.
“Oh.”
“That’s so annoying.”
“Well…yeah, but…you could be hurt, or dead. So…”
“Where am I going to find a decent bra in the zombie apocalypse?”
“I’m sure we could—”
“This is absolutely the worst day ever.”
“You’re handling this really well.”
Violet snorted at the pure ridiculousness of the situation, then erupted into silent giggles. Matt was grinning.
“Sorry,” she said when she had stopped laughing.
“No, it’s serious. I get it.”
Violet smiled, taking a moment to catch her breath. There was no sound from outside. “I think we’re okay.”
Matt opened the door. The two of them stepped out into the room, listening tentatively. They moved into the hallway, which was deserted again.
“Where do you think the others are?” Violet asked.
Matt shook his head. “I have no idea. Let’s just try to find our way out. I’m sure they’ll do the same.”
They continued through the dark hallways, following the signs for the hospital exit. As they rounded the corner, Violet caught sight of Zack going through something on the floor up ahead.
“Zack,” she half-whispered, half-called.
Zack’s head snapped up. Violet’s stomach dropped.
That’s not Zack. Not anymore.
His grey eyes locked with hers, wet blood smeared around his mouth. He wasn’t going through a bag. He was eating someone.
“Oh…” Violet took a wobbly step back. The thing that used to be Zack cried out, sprinting toward them. Matt grabbed Violet’s hand again, pulling her back the way they came. They ran, turning down different hallways, heading up some stairs, and then through another maze of dark corridors. Matt suddenly changed direction, yanking Violet to the left and through some double doors.
The large room smelled of dust and decay. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Violet realized they were surrounded by beds, many of which contained the remains of more people chewed right down to the bone. The machines were off, and the dark room was silent. There was a crash just outside the door. Violet spun around, realizing there was no other way out of the room. Her mouth felt like the desert, and her heart began to race. Matt, still holding onto her hand, pulled her toward an empty bed.
“Get in,” he hissed. Violet didn’t need to be told twice, not when she could see movement outside the little window on the door. Quickly, she got under the sheets. Matt lay down beside her, pulling the blankets over their heads.
This is crazy. This is crazy.
But there was no time to move now. The door to the room swung open, and Violet heard the biter come inside.
The thing that used to be Zack was in the room now. Violet could see his outline through the thin sheet covering her face, and could hear heavy steps as he lurched around. She felt as though time had slowed down, having no choice but to watch helplessly through the fabric. He was sniffing the air. Violet could hear the ragged breaths. He moved closer.
Can he smell us?
Slowly, he staggered toward the bed, still sniffing like a dog. He stood beside Violet, leaning a little over the sheet. She felt a wave of sadness at what Zack had become. His mouth was open, and saliva dripped onto the sheet covering her face. She could smell the blood in the thick liquid, mixed with rot and decay. Matt squeezed her hand as the two of them struggled not to breathe. Violet knew they could be about to die. Any moment now, this thing might just rip the sheet off and tear them to shreds. She felt as though her heartbeat was coming through a loudspeaker; so sure the creature would hear it.
But then there was a noise outside the room; the sound of something delicate being dropped. Zack let out a growl and broke into a run, crashing through the doors. Violet finally let out her breath, her whole body shaking. Matt pulled her closer, holding onto her as she shook. For a moment, they stayed like that, stuck together under the sheet in the room that smelled of death.
“We should go,” he finally whispered.
Violet nodded, and they lifted the blanket. She listened—silence. The two of them stayed sitting on the bed for a moment, neither confident enough to open the doors, but both knowing they had no choice. Eventually, Matt took the lead, getting off the bed and moving to the end of the room.
Violet got out her knife and held it in front of her, following Matt. He pushed open the door carefully. There was a woman outside. Thankfully, this one was alive. She stared at them, frozen in place. She was halfway through dislodging her weapon—a knife taped to a table leg—from Zack’s eye socket. She was small, pale, and had blonde hair tied loosely at the top of her head. Her eyes were a rich brown. Her skin was flecked with specks of blood.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, finishing removing her weapon and wiping the blood from the knife on the leg of her scrubs. Violet wondered if she was a doctor.
“The hospital’s dangerous,” the woman continued. “It’s full of the dead. If you’re here, you must be desperate.”
“We came for medicine,” Violet replied. “One of our friends has lost his fingers.”
“Was he bitten?” the woman asked briskly, her eyes unblinking.
Matt shook his head. “No.”
“Is he still bleeding?”
Violet nodded. The woman sighed. “You’ll need more than medicine. Where is he?”
“Outside,” Matt replied.
“Go and get him, then bring him here. I’ll help you.” There was a noise from a room to the left. The woman rolled her eyes, as if dealing with the dead was a chore rather than a horror. “I’ll be back. Go down those stairs behind me. They should be clear.”
Violet and Matt collected Maggie, Tom, and Toby from the car, and returned to where the woman was waiting. She had more blood on her scrubs now, but offered no explanation and simply led them through several hallways until they reached a large breakroom. Violet felt uneasy; Zack was dead, and they’d seen no sign of Joe or Sam. The pair had been gone for too long. From the way the woman moved through the hallways, it was clear the hospital wasn’t exactly the safest place. She wished she’d gotten a better look at whoever it was Zack had been eating, and prayed it hadn’t been either of her friends. Still, she knew they had to focus on Tom, who was now conscious again but deathly white and barely able walk. She would just have to hope Sam and Joe could take care of themselves.
The breakroom was much larger than the teachers’ lounge at school. It was filled with couches and armchairs. There was a large television, a kitchen, and snack and drink machines. There was also a private bathroom with a shower. Several of the windows were open, and the curtains blew gently. Violet moved over to one of them. She could see the car below, and just make out the shape of Ben stretched out on the backseats. She was sure Sam and Joe weren’t down there.
“My name is Lorin,” the woman said as she locked the door. She gestured for Tom to lie down on the nearest couch, which he did.
“How long have you been here?” Violet asked.
“Since the beginning. I’m a…I used to be a midwife. I was in here on my own, on my break, when it all happened. It was so fast.” She began to clean up Tom’s hand, something which clearly hurt a lot. Any color left in Tom’s face drained away, and he groaned quietly, eyes now closed.
Lorin continued speaking as though a mangled hand was nothing out of the ordinary. “When I saw what was happening outside the room, I panicked. I locked the doors and hid. At first, I thought it was some kind of terrorist attack, and waited for the police or the army to come and help. But they never did. When I saw what they were saying on TV, I didn’t want to believe it. Eventually,
I made myself look out of the window. I saw those things. They were everywhere, just ripping people apart and eating them. There were so many in the parking lot, but more and more people kept coming to the hospital for help, so more and more got bitten. I couldn’t risk going outside, so I stayed here. Luckily, the fridge and cupboards were full. After that, I got the vending machines open, too. I didn’t leave this room for over a week.” Her face took on an almost lost expression. “It was horrible in here alone, listening to the screams. Every time I thought it was finished, more people would arrive, and it would start all over again.” She examined Tom’s hand, and then began to go through a bag of medical equipment on the floor beside her.
“After a week or so, the place started to quiet down. Most of the dead had left. I thought I’d try to find any survivors. I was thinking there had to be others who locked themselves in like I did. I came across a few of the dead, but they weren’t too hard to avoid. I killed the ones I couldn’t hide from.” She smiled a little. “And running into the doctor who used to make jokes about how short I was made stabbing him though the head pretty satisfying. Who’s a hobbit now, Jonathan?” She looked at the others. “He was dead, though. I’m sure. Pretty sure.”
“Why did you stay, if there was no one left to help?” Matt asked.
Lorin shrugged. “I thought I’d be more useful here. If anyone was stupid enough to come to a place filled with the dead, they’d have to be desperate. I’m not a doctor, but I know enough to do some good.”
“We’re grateful you stayed,” Violet said, watching as Lorin injected Tom with something. He was asleep now, or passed out.
“Do you know much about what caused this?” Maggie asked. “Why corpses are walking, I mean?”
Lorin shook her head. “It’s not exactly my area of expertise.” She began to stitch up Tom’s hand. “Whatever it is, it kills you. But then it does something to bring you back, but only with the most basic instincts. Those things are like animals; they don’t reason or even really think. They just act.”
“Do you know if anyone is immune?” Matt asked. Immediately, Violet felt her face flush red, as though Lorin and Maggie would suddenly guess her secret from the simple question.
Lorin raised an eyebrow. “Immune? It’s not something I’ve seen, though I suppose if the dead are walking around, anything is possible.” She began to wrap Tom’s hand. “I’ll have to keep him here for a few days to make sure the wound doesn’t get infected.”
Violet bit her lip. That didn’t exactly fit with the plan, and she certainly wasn’t loving the idea of sticking around in the Deadspital. She turned to Matt. “What should we do?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “We were trying to get out of town as quickly as possible,” he explained to Lorin.
“I can understand that. There seem to be more of those things every day, and they’re moving in bigger and bigger herds.”
“We can’t just leave him,” Maggie said, though Violet got the distinct impression she wasn’t exactly about to fight them over it. Matt knelt beside Tom, and Violet joined him. Tom didn’t appear to be waking up any time soon.
“I wouldn’t feel right leaving him behind,” Matt said.
“No, me neither,” Violet replied, aware that she sounded at least twenty-three percent genuine.
Lorin joined them. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have the supplies to keep you all here. I can take care of him, though. Hell, I could do with the company.”
Violet was sure Matt scoffed at that, but he immediately covered it with a cough. She felt a smile cross her lips. How long would it be before Lorin realized Tom was about as fun as a yeast infection? Hopefully he’d at least not make any short jokes.
Matt took a sheet of paper and a pen from a table nearby, and wrote an address down. “This is my grandparents’ house. It’s where we’re going. I don’t know if it’s safe, or if we’ll get there, but when he’s well, you’re both welcome to come there and find us.”
Lorin nodded, taking the paper.
The door at the far side of the room rattled. Lorin sprang to her feet, approaching it silently. She peeped through the little window.
“I’m guessing these are your friends,” she said as she unlocked the door and pulled it open.
Sam and Joe practically fell inside, and Sam quickly slammed it closed again, locking it. They were both spattered with blood and out of breath. Joe looked relieved to see Violet and the others. “Isn’t this place great?”
Sam spun to face Joe, his face angry. “What the hell happened back there?”
Joe raised an eyebrow. “I was distracting the biters so we could sneak past.”
“Distracting them?”
“Yeah.”
“By throwing a bottle at them?”
Joe held up his hands. “I thought it would smash over by the door, and they’d run off to investigate the sound. Could you think of a better plan?”
“I can think of at least twelve ways I could’ve done it better. I’m literally counting them up in my head now. None of them start with—throw a bottle directly at the dead, alerting them to exactly where we were, and making them chase us!’”
Joe shrugged. “With that tone, anything sounds ridiculous.”
Sam rolled his eyes, turning back to the others. “Is Zack here?” he asked. “We got separated just before Joe’s awesome bottle plan.”
“He’s not coming,” Violet murmured. She saw Maggie’s shoulders slump, and she moved toward the window. Sam swore, punching the wall.
“What—” Matt began, but he was interrupted by the sounds of hammering on the other side of the door. Sam stepped back, and Violet saw the shapes of the dead just outside.
“We need to go,” she breathed. Lorin nodded, heading to a door at the other side of the room and unlocking it. “Go, run as quickly as you can.”
“What about you?” Matt asked.
“We’ll be fine,” Lorin replied quickly. “They’ve never gotten in before, but if you don’t leave now and the dead find this door, you’ll be trapped.” She gestured again to the only exit. “Go, those things usually get bored after a few days. Your friend will be fine.”
Violet took one last glance at Tom, still sleeping despite the sounds outside, and nodded. They ran from the room, Lorin locking up behind them.
They hurried through the dark hospital, running down the stairs so quickly Violet almost fell more than once. She was so sure the biters were behind them, but when they got outside, they were alone. They piled into the car. Sam started the engine, and Violet leaned back in her seat, finally allowing herself to breathe.
Lorin knows what she’s doing. She’ll take care of Tom.
As the car pulled away, Violet glanced up at the hospital. She could see movement in one of the windows above them. It took her a few moments to realize what it was—someone with blonde hair being forced against the glass.
“Sam—” Violet whispered.
He’d seen it, too. “We’re leaving,” he stated, cutting her off. It was too late now.
They’d only been driving for an hour or so, but Violet had drifted off within minutes. The sound of conversation woke her.
“What’s happening?” she asked groggily, peering out the window. The car was parked outside a huge pair of iron gates. On either side of them was a tall brick wall, between seven and eight feet high, which seemed to stretch on for miles in either direction.
“Where are we?” Violet asked.
“I’ve driven past this a few times before,” Matt replied. “I think there’s a big house in there somewhere. Like a country estate.”
“Is that why we stopped?”
Sam nodded. “There’s no way the biters could get over those walls. It should be secure.” He opened his door, and then got out of the car. Maggie, who’d also been asleep, began to stir.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
Violet shrugged. “Wait here.” She got out, too, heading over to the gates where Sam and Mat
t were waiting.
“You want to stay here?” she asked Sam.
“I think so. We just need to find out how to get inside.”
“What about the plan?” Matt asked. “We were heading to my grandparents’ house.”
Sam sighed. “We don’t know for sure that it’s safe, and I think you would’ve mentioned if it had protection like this. Besides, we’re almost out of fuel. If we keep going, it won’t be long before we’re on foot.”
“Pass,” Joe said with a yawn, joining them.
Sam agreed. “Look, if we still want to go on, we’ll need more fuel and supplies. If there are people in there, or if it’s empty, we might be able to find something. Or we could stay. I know I’d feel more secure with this huge wall around me.”
Violet bit her lip. As much as she didn’t want to say so, Sam was right. Matt’s grandparents were almost certainly gone, one way or another. This was their best option. And there was no way the biters would be able to get inside those walls.
Unless they’re already in there.
Matt seemed to read Violet’s mind. “What if the people inside have turned?”
Sam put his hands on the bars of the gate, rattling them gently. “Then we’ll get rid of them. We’ve done it before. We’ll just take it slow. If there are too many, we’ll get out, but we have to try. It’s better than roaming the streets, surely, which is our other option once the car runs dry.” He shook the gates again, more roughly. “Maybe we could move the car closer. Use it to climb—”
Sam jumped back as a face appeared at the gates. It was an old man, with dirty grey hair that hung raggedly around his cheeks. His face was gaunt and unshaven, and his breath smelled of cigarettes.
“What do you want?” he asked gruffly, his blue eyes darting anxiously to each of them.
“We’re looking for a place to stay,” Sam said, stepping forward again.
“Keep looking.”
“We’re good people,” Sam continued. “We don’t want to hurt anyone or steal anything. We’re just trying to find a place to rest, even just for a night.”
Alive? Page 19