by Ivan Turner
"Please, ma'am," Dr. Leke said never betraying that calm exterior.
Abby took a step away from Karl and two things happened. The first was that Karl went into motion. For some reason, it had been Abby who had been holding him stationary. He started to walk toward her, shuffling forward on his bad foot. The second thing that happened was that Jane, the wounded nurse, dragged herself to a sitting position and that was the event that sparked the chain reaction that created bedlam.
Marie shouted Jane's name. Unbeknownst to Abby, Marie was a struggling first year resident. Jane had helped ease her into a comfortable methodology so that she could evolve as a doctor. But their relationship had transformed from mentor student to friends to lovers over the course of several months. Marie's fear of Karl had kept her emotions in check for the past several moments but when Jane sat up, Marie rushed to her. She went to her knees and grabbed Jane in a big hug. At first it seemed as if Jane were returning the affection. Her arms came up and around Marie as well. But they held tight and her mouth opened and her eyes opened and it was clear that Jane was dead and gone. All that was left was hunger. She bit into Marie's neck the same way Karl had bit into hers. The gown held back her teeth a bit but she just bit harder. Caught in the ravenous grasp of the undead, Marie struggled like a rabbit held by the scruff of its neck. Even before the gown broke, her skin broke. Then Jane's teeth burst through the gown and took a bite of flesh. Abby couldn't decide whether or not zombies had a sense of taste but something about the gown made Jane spit out the chunk of Marie's neck and toss the poor girl away.
In that instant, as Marie was going to the floor clutching her wounded neck, other things were happening as well. Todd and Sven rushed Karl. Doctors, nurses and orderlies were rushing patients through the doors. Peter Ventura, standing in a gown and a mask and gloves, saw the epidemic happening. He saw it spread from Karl to Jane to Marie and he understood what he needed to do. Though Dr. Leke shouted an order, he didn't hear it or blatantly disobeyed it. Instead he rounded the desk and reached underneath for what Abby suspected was a panic button.
As Sven grabbed hold of Karl by his midsection, Todd landed a blow to the zombie's mouth that split his glove and his knuckle. His momentum carried him around and he saw Peter. Todd was a security guard and they all knew what was under the desk. Peter planned to lock down the ER, trap them all inside with those things. Todd was no coward but he was no fool. There was a six second delay between the time Peter would hit the button and the time that the doors would seal. Abandoning Sven, he rushed one of the side entrances, batting away the guarding nurse even as Peter hit the button. Todd heard the alarm go off but he was just in time and made it through the door.
The open glass door swung shut, shoving a poor old woman with a sprained ankle and the nurse helping her backwards. The woman fell as the nurse let go. Locks chunked into place. At the other exits, most of which were still manned by nurses and orderlies, more locks could be heard sealing into place.
Abby looked once at Peter Ventura, this boy barely out of med school and she knew he had done the right thing. They would all die in there now, but at least it would stop there. Or would it?
***
HERON was on the phone with Naughton almost immediately. He knew the ER was locked down but he also wanted a lock down of the entire hospital. No one in or out. Naughton asked for details but he didn't have them. But it was just a short flight and a long corridor down to the scene of the carnage. He needed to know just how bad it was.
It was bad.
The waiting area was practically empty, all of the prospective patients having fled in terror. Through the glass he could see all he needed to see.
"Send everyone, Lance. Send absolutely everyone."
He hung up the phone and took in the scene.
Whichever one of the survivors had had the wherewithal to lock down the ER was Heron's new hero. He could see two zombies feasting upon a hapless security guard. There was a woman on the floor with a neck wound. Three doctors and one nurse were well enough away from the scene to be considered safe for the moment, but they were trapped inside.
Then there was Abby.
He recognized her immediately as someone he'd interviewed in connection to a case, but he didn't put it all together until he noticed the name tag from Push Ups gym. He and Stemmy had spoken with her the week before about Larry Koplowitz. It was the information she had given them that had led them to the Koplowitz apartment and Stemmy's ultimate fate. For a moment, Heron felt an irrational hatred for her, blaming her for Stemmy's death. But it passed so quickly that he wasn't even sure it was real.
In the distance, he heard sirens. That was quick. That was good. But he needed an assessment of the situation.
"Who are you?"
Heron turned to see a man in his late sixties or early seventies. He was approaching with a stern look on his face and two security guards in tow. He was a doctor for sure, but an administrator on top of that.
"Detective Anthony Heron. I'll be taking charge of the situation until my superiors arrive."
The man softened a bit and extended a hand. "Luke Mancina, Chief of Staff. Do you have any idea what happened?"
Heron shook his head. "I was just about to ask you the same question."
Mancina looked in the room and Heron followed his gaze. He didn't see any more humans. Only zombies.
***
TODD had gotten away. He was bitten and he'd gotten away. He'd known exactly what Peter was going to do and he'd made a run for it. His actions had not only been cowardly and dangerous, but he'd left Sven in a lurch. Alone now, encumbered by his protective gown and gloves, Sven was struggling with Karl. It seemed that the zombies retained their former strength, if not their former grace. Maybe it was just the fresh ones.
"We have to contain them!" shouted Dr. Leke.
The area was virtually empty now. All of the patients had gotten out during the hasty evacuation. Besides Dr. Leke, Peter, Marie, Sven, Abby, and the zombies, there was only one other doctor, Everett Cheung, and the nurse that Todd had tossed aside on his way to freedom. Her name was Patricia Mills.
Jane was on her feet now, sniffing around for something to eat. She was caught between the whimpering Marie on the floor and the slowly moving Abby. Perhaps Abby's scent was stronger because she was on her feet or maybe zombies are like old people who just don't want to bend down. Jane moved toward Abby. She was still slow but not as slow as Karl had been on that foot. Abby, when she noticed, took two quick steps backward and tripped over a bedpan. Stumbling, she would have been caught up by Jane if Sven hadn't chosen that very moment to lose his battle with Karl.
The security guard must also have lost his balance. In an instant, Karl had him turned around and shoved up against the table upon which he'd died. Sven struggled, but Karl had a hold of his arm, free of the gown, and took a deep and satisfying bite. The blood welled freely out of the wound and Jane caught scent of it. She moved in quickly and, two on one, Sven didn't stand a chance.
"Peter, no!" Dr. Leke cried out, halting Peter in mid-stride. He was getting ready to move in and try to help Sven. But there was no help for Sven.
He screamed and screamed and screamed.
"We have to kill them," Abby cried.
With bloody faces and slavering jaws, Karl and Jane looked up from their meal. Both of them looked at Abby, the closest living thing. Had they heard her? Had they understood? Yes to the first question. No to the second. She was just more fresh meat.
This time Abby didn't hesitate. She gathered her feet beneath her and ran over to where Dr. Leke was trying to corral her remaining staff.
"We can't fight them," she was saying. "We need to find a safe place until the police come." She indicated one of the private examining rooms. The doors didn't lock but they could push something up against it and pray that the zombies didn't understand the detailed inner workings of a door knob.
"I'll get Marie," Peter offered.
"No you won't," D
r. Leke said, then addressed the poor woman on the floor. "Marie, you'll have to get up. You'll have to come with us on your own."
Marie's wound wasn't bad. Though it had hit in the same area as Jane's, the bite had been less successful and it hadn't hit an artery. Marie, though battling shock, nodded her understanding.
"Don't wait. Go now."
The small group began to move quickly away from the two zombies. Peter hesitated, waiting for Marie to find her feet. Dr. Leke spared him a glance, and then found one for Abby, too, as she stopped.
Marie wasn't going to make it.
Gritting his teeth, Peter moved to intervene. He stood alone, unarmed, against two zombies. As they approached, he shed his gown and gloves, realizing that they hadn't done anyone any good. He didn't stand a chance.
Abby took it upon herself to help Marie but before she went to the stricken woman, she grabbed up the nearest weapon, a three legged metal cane that an elderly patient had left behind, and passed it over to Peter. There were three broken tennis balls on the feet of the cane. Peter hefted it in both hands, waited, and then took his first swing at Jane.
The cane hit her in the head with a solid crack. She didn't even try to block it. One of the tennis balls popped off the end and landed on the floor without so much as a bounce. Jane's head snapped sideways and she staggered but didn't fall. Peter didn't hesitate. He brought the cane in with a backhanded swing and this time hit Karl in the head. The exposed foot of the cane caught Karl under the eye, scraped up over the cheek bone, and pushed into the socket. There was a nauseating squelch that Peter felt more than heard as the dislocated eye was pushed aside and deeper into the skull. Optic juice, pinked by blood, began to collect in the well of the socket and dribble out over the side.
"Keep your distance," Abby said to him. Marie was on her feet now. "Start backing up."
Sven was stirring now, his head up and sniffing for meat.
Three more whacks with the cane, one for Jane and two for Karl, and Peter began to tire. He floundered a moment and Karl took hold of the cane with his left hand. He tugged on it and Peter lost his grip. Certainly the zombie didn't recognize the significance of it as a weapon and yet he didn't let go of it. His arm dropped to his side and he dragged it along behind him.
"Time to go," Abby said to Peter.
He nodded, turned, and ran.
***
"WHERE'D they go?" Heron asked. He'd missed all of the action while involved in his short conversation with Mancina. It was difficult to see certain parts of the room because of the angle.
"They ran off to the left," Mancina said. "They probably went into an exam room."
There were three zombies now, Heron noticed. The security guard who'd been practically devoured was on his feet now. This was really starting to look like a horror movie. The first zombie, the guy from the gym, was in pretty good shape but had a vicious wound to the eye. He hadn't had it a moment ago but he was holding a cane with bloody feet. That looked like a suspect weapon. The nurse was worse off, the blood on her neck still dribbling out of the wound. Her head was angled oddly. And finally there was the poor security guard, Sven. Sven had been eaten alive. His arm was chewed clear through to the bone and there were gaping wounds in his belly and legs. Heron was surprised there was enough left to animate. Of course, the head was intact and that seemed to be all they needed.
They were moving off to Heron's left, shambling as a group toward the examination rooms. They didn't take any notice of the men behind the glass, focused entirely on the food that had gotten away from them.
Then Heron noticed that the woman was missing. The one who'd been bitten. The survivors must have taken her with them.
"Is there another way out of there?" Heron asked Mancina. The zombies had collected around the door to the first exam room. Jane had made it first and was pushing on the door with both hands. Karl came up right behind her and began to jerk on the doorknob.
"Even if the ER wasn't locked down, those rooms are small and only have one door," Mancina said. "Do you think those things can get in there?"
Heron thought about Lucia and Zoe Koplowitz, undead in their apartment. Who knew how long they had been there?
"We need to get them out. Is there a way to override the lockdown?"
Macina hesitated. "A lockdown is generally supposed to last twelve hours to be assured…"
"That's not what I asked you."
Clearing his throat, Mancina said, "There are override codes. I need to make a call."
"Then do that. Is there a phone in that exam room, some way I can get in touch with those people?" Heron asked.
Mancina nodded, moving over to an extension and dialing. Heron snatched the phone from him and waited for the answer. He didn't have to wait long.
"Hello. Hello!" It was a woman's voice.
Heron identified himself. "Who's this please?"
"Dr. Veronica Leke. I'm the chief resident in the ER. Are you at the hospital?"
"I'm right outside the ER," Heron confirmed. "Dr. Mancina and I arrived just before you went into the room."
"Are they out there, all three of them?"
"They're gathered around the door."
"Can you help us?"
Heron looked to Mancina, but of course he was only hearing one side of the conversation. "We'll do our best. In the meantime, I think you're safe. I've had some experience with….well, with zombies. I don't think they're capable of opening doors. There is another problem, however, and I need you to listen very carefully and reveal nothing to the others as I say this."
"Okay," she said and he could hear the change in her voice.
"You have an injured woman in there with you. Was she bitten?"
"Yes."
"The bite spreads an infection. She'll only last a few hours at most before turning. Hopefully we'll have you out well before then."
"What should we do if you don't?"
"I can't tell you what to do while she's alive but if she turns you need to destroy her brain. Find yourself a weapon and be ready."
"Okay, I…"
"Is that the cops?" someone in the background called. "I need to speak with them." Then someone grabbed the phone away from Dr. Leke and Heron was on with a young man.
"Hello?" said the man. "Are you a cop?"
"I'm Detective Heron. Could you put Dr. Leke back on please?"
"Listen," said the man. "My names Peter Ventura. I'm the one who locked down the ER but one of the guards got out before the doors shut."
Heron swallowed hard but said nothing.
"He was bitten, man!" Peter shouted. "Do you understand me?"
"I understand you," Heron answered. "Please put Dr. Leke back on."
"You don't get it…"
"I get it! Now give the phone to Dr. Leke."
Ventura went quiet and Heron could just picture the look on the boy's face. In a moment, though, Dr. Leke was back on the phone.
"I'm sorry, Detective," she said. "We're all obviously very tense. Peter only means well."
Heron immediately returned to his original tone of voice. "He did the right thing locking down the ER and telling me about the guard. I need to go and take care of that situation. Do you know the guard's name?"
"Todd Mayfield."
"Thanks." Heron hung up the phone. When he turned, there was a uniformed officer standing with Dr. Mancina.