by R. A. Neely
The officer’s eyes widened as there were answering howls sounding throughout the building. The sound of running feet reached their ears and James looked towards the end of the room. A lot of the answering howls were coming from that direction. There was another set of double doors there, each of them smeared with blood.
The creature stood back to his feet and sprang forward, arms outstretched. A single shot rang out and the creature crumpled to the ground. James lowered his gun hand and sighed. He didn't want to have done that, but he didn't see any other choice. There didn't appear to be any reasoning with these...things. They didn't seem to be human anymore.
James looked up as the sound of running feet came closer. "Shoot to kill," he said. James sighed at the look of horror on their faces.
"Look quickly," he said pointing towards the creature he had shot. "Take a good look! Do you see anything human left? I don't know what this illness does but these things aren't human anymore. Look around," he said indicating the room at large.
"Would a man do this?" He shook his head. "Even if they are still one of us, they mean to kill us. Can we let these things loose in the city?"
At that, the officers’ looks of horror were slowly replaced with one of determination. They had to protect the city. They couldn't let these things out of the hospital. They'd go on a rampage.
James nodded at the look of resolve on their faces. "Get ready. They're nearly here."
The doors at the far end of the room burst open and dozens of those creatures charged into the room. Seeing the officers they howled and sprinted in their direction.
"Fire!" James yelled. Shots rang out and several of the creatures immediately crumpled to the ground. Some of the creatures in back stumbled over their fellows but others managed to leap over the obstacle. More shots rang out and more of the creatures fell. James sighed as his gun clicked empty.
James glanced behind him and saw the same for the officers behind him. They were all out of ammo. How many did they put down? He was fairly confident his shots had been kills. He frequently went to the range to hone his skill. He'd always felt that the best way he could use his gun was to shoot what he was aiming at. He wasn't sure about the other officers. He knew that a number of them trained just enough to pass their annual evaluation. Looking forward, he sighed as he saw the result of that attitude.
Some of the creatures were getting back to their feet. They were wounded but they were somehow able to push past pain that would leave a normal man crippled on the ground. The creatures roared and charged the officers. James drew his asp and flicked his wrist to expand it.
"Hand to hand. Get ready!" James krav maga training kicked in. He'd been in a few scrapes on the job. This was the first time he'd needed to fire his weapon at a live target but he had been in his share of fights. Normally he held himself back as his krav maga training made him a deadly opponent. Krav maga focused on ending the fight as quickly as possible. That wasn't something he could normally do on the job. But right now he knew, this was kill or be killed. If he didn't fight with everything he had, he wouldn't be seeing his family again.
James met the first creature to reach him with a hard strike to the throat that put it back on the ground. It stopped moving. He sidestepped the next creature and managed a hit to the back of its knee that sent it to the ground. Moving quickly he finished it with a blow to the back of the head. Turning around he barely manged to block a blow with his asp. He responded with an elbow strike to the creature’s throat that had it gasping for breath. James put it out of its misery with a strike to the head.
The next creature that reached James received a kick in the groin for its efforts. James smiled inwardly as it crumpled. They had high pain tolerance, but they still felt that. Two strikes to the back of its head stopped it from moving. Movement from behind caught Jame's attention but he couldn't move in time. He turned only to be tackled to the ground. The creature struck at him but James managed to trap its arm with his against his body. With his other hand, he jabbed the creature in the eye. The gloves cushioned some of the blow but it was enough to make the creature howl in pain. A strike to the throat had the creature holding its throat and James was able to shove it off. Three quick punches knocked it unconscious.
James looked about for his asp. He'd lost it when he'd been tackled. Seeing it he grabbed it and looked for another opponent. He sighed in relief when he saw they were done. He walked over to the creature he'd just knocked out and finished it off. He didn't want to fight it twice. Who knew how quickly it might have recovered?
Looking around, James took stock. Of the ten officers that had started the fight, only four of them were still standing. They were all breathing heavily. James looked around in disgust. What was this thing? What could turn a man into a raving animal? James noticed a rip in his suit and checked the skin beneath. He sighed in relief as he found the skin unbroken. But the suit was now useless. He might as well lose it and get some mobility back. Some of the officers looked on him in shock as he started taking off his suit.
"Suit got ripped," he explained. "Hopefully, it doesn't spread that easily."
A few officers nodded and followed suit. All of them had suffered a rip of some sort. One of them cursed in disgust when he looked at his arm. One of the creatures had managed to bite him.
"Look around," James said. "See if you can find some clean bandages and take care of that. The rest of you check for bites too."
A few minutes passed in silence as the officers checked themselves for wounds. The sound of footsteps reached their ears and all of the officers tensed. James relaxed as he realized the steps were coming from the way they came in. That was their backup hopefully. A number of officers entered the room, the chief of police at head. The chief looked around the room in horror until his eyes found James.
"What the hell happened here?" he demanded. He entered the room and glanced at some of the bodies. "Why did you shoot these people? Have you lost your mind?"
"No, sir," James responded. "These people are crazed, sir. They attacked as soon as they laid eyes on us. They've got high pain tolerance. Several of them that were shot got up and kept attacking. We didn't have a choice.
The chief sighed as he saw the bodies of his officers on the floor. "Any survivors?"
"Don't know sir. Haven't been past this room."
The chief nodded. "Alright then. We need to search for survivors." He looked around the room again. "I'm gonna get the mayor on the radio. We're gonna need National Guard or something to handle all this."
The chief headed outside and the surviving officers took that time to rest. Only one of them had gotten bitten but they were all winded from their ordeal. James was grateful for all the intense training he'd been through with krav maga. Not just for the combat skills that had surely just saved his life, but also for the conditioning. He still had plenty of reserves left to see this through.
The chief returned a few minutes later with a look of fury on his face. "We're on our own."
"What do you mean, chief?" Jeffries asked.
"National Guard won't be coming. They've been deployed to more 'critical' locations."
"This isn't critical?" an officer asked.
"Looks like this is happening all over, son," the chief said. "We're just not high enough on the totem pole. We'll have to make do. Let's check for survivors. Maybe we can contain this here in the hospital."
Several officers nodded at that. They were angry. Their brothers had been killed by these things and they wanted payback. James wasn't so sure though. After what they'd just been through, maybe the best course of action was to retreat. If they were still a lot of those creatures left, they'd be facing another massacre. He looked at the chief's face and saw no argument on his part would make a difference. The chief could be stubborn at times and he looked to be pretty set on this course of action.
James sighed. He had a moment where he seriously considered leaving. Going further seemed like suicide but he wouldn't abandon h
is brothers. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if they winded up getting themselves killed. he shook his head. Nothing for it. He hoped he'd be able to walk away when this was done.
The officers headed through the doors and the end of the room and found themselves in another hallway. The hallway ended at a wide set of stairs that led into the upper levels. At the first landing, the chief called a halt.
"I don't want to be here any longer than we need to be. We're gonna check each floor as quickly as we can. If we see any creatures, we put them down. Understand?"
The officers nodded but James sighed internally. This still felt like a really bad idea. The entered the second floor and James saw that it was the maternity ward. Fortunately, there was no sign of the creatures here. James didn't know what he would have done if they creatures had made it here. A search showed that the floor was completely empty. That was good. The people on this floor must have taken another exit from the building. James didn't remember seeing anyone with babies when he came in.
The third floor showed signs of struggle but it looked to be empty. Maybe some of the creatures he had fought had come from this floor. The fourth floor turned out to be empty as well. One more floor and they could be done with this place. They found themselves exploring the fifth floor when one of the creatures suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway. Seeing them, he howled, alerting his fellows to their presence.
Answering howls told them they were about to have a fight on their hands. "Back to the stairs!" the chief yelled.
The officers turned around only to see there were creatures blocking their escape. "Alright. We've gotta fight," the chief said. "Let's put these bastards down!"
An officer handed James a clip and he quickly reloaded his pistol. "Go for head shots if you can," he said. "They get up if they can still breathe."
The creatures roared and charged towards the officers. James emptied his clip, trying to make every shot count. Twelve shots and ten fell to the ground. Other shots rang out and more creatures fell. Maybe they'd get through this okay.
"Behind us!" someone yelled. Looking behind him, James saw that the creature that had spotted him had been joined by several others.
This was bad. Surrounded like this, it probably wouldn't go well. Seeing their predicament, several officers bolted. Now the situation was even worse. Massed fire was their only hope of evening the odds for when the creatures reached them. They'd be slaughtered if they tried to stand and fight.
"Fall back!" James yelled. At his shout, officers scattered in every direction. He took off down a hallway with Jeffries and the chief on his heels. He checked rooms as he passed by but every door he checked was locked. Maybe they could find a place to hide and sneak out later. They couldn't fight their way through this many. James finally found an unlocked door and ducked inside. He waited for Jeffries and the chief to enter and then shut the door. Looking around, he saw they were in someone's office. There was a large desk in the middle of the room with a laptop and a bookshelf filled with thick volumes.
"Let's catch our breath," James said quietly.
Jeffries and the chief nodded, no complaints there. Neither of them were in nearly the shape that James was in. If he wanted to take a break, it was fine by them. A few minutes later, James put his ear to the door. Nothing. Hopefully the coast was clear. James opened the door and quickly looked outside. The coast was clear. He motioned for the others to follow and stepped out into the hallway. He didn't want to go back the way they'd come, creatures were likely in that direction. They needed to find another way off this floor and out of the building. An elevator perhaps? Not the regular ones. Those were too close to the stairs where they'd come up. Maybe a service elevator. He remembered when Laura had had the kids. They'd been part of a program that let them bypass the standard check. A nurse would come down and take Laura directly to the maternity ward. They'd used some sort of service elevator to do that. Hopefully he could find something like that.
James walked cautiously down the hallway. He didn't want to be surprised by another one of those things. As he reached the end of the hallway, he heard someone running to his left. Looking around the corner, he saw an officer running in his direction.
"Run! They're behind me!" he yelled.
James looked behind him and saw five creatures in pursuit. He took off after the officer and hoped that Jeffries and the chief were following. The officer went around a corner and James followed. Down the hall, James saw that some kind soul had left their door open.
"Door on the left!" he shouted to the officer ahead.
The officer heard and ran into the room, James and the others quickly entered behind them. James shut the door and locked it. He heard the creatures run by and sighed in relief. They'd managed to get in here with being seen.
"Everyone okay?" he asked. "Anybody hurt?"
"I'm good," Jeffries said.
"I'm fine too," the chief said.
The officer looked at his arm angrily. "One of those bastards got me before I could outrun them."
James looked at the officer's arm and saw a bite mark. It looked like the creature's teeth had barely broken the skin. He should be fine.
"How do you feel?" James asked.
"He barely got me," the officer replied. "Still hurts like hell though."
James glanced around the room. "Let's look around. Maybe we can wrap it up at least."
A few minutes of searching turned up a handkerchief that they used to wrap around the wound. That task complete, they all decided to rest for a bit. James looked at his watch. Nine. They'd arrived at the hospital around eight. It was hard to believe they'd only been here an hour. It felt like ages.
"Why don't we get some rest?" James said. "Hopefully we'll have better luck later."
The others nodded their assent and they looked around the room. This office was a bit better appointed than the last one. At least in regards to their current needs. There was a small desk with two leather chairs in front of it. Along one wall there was a comfortable looking couch. They gave the couch to the officer while Jeffries and the chief took the chair in front of the desk. James took the desk chair. He didn't think he was as comfortable as the others but it would do.
***
The sound of someone moaning woke James from his nap. Looking around the room he saw that it was the officer on the couch. James stood up and walked over to the officer. He was tossing and turning like he was having a nightmare but that wasn't what was concerning. He was sweating buckets. James tapped him on the shoulder but got no response. James pushed back an eyelid and sighed sadly when he saw solid red. He was infected. But how? All of them had been running from those things and they weren't showing any signs? How did it spread? James looked over the officer and stopped when he laid eyes on his bandaged wrapped arm. The bite. Is that how it was spread? Had to be. That was the only difference between them right now. None of them were wearing suits at this point. If it was spread in some other way then they should all be sick right? James walked over and shook Jeffries and the chief awake.
"We've got a problem," he said once he had their attention.
"What's wrong?" the chief asked.
James motioned towards the officer on the couch. "He's infected."
"How do you know?" Jeffries asked.
"Same symptoms," he responded, "fever and bloodshot eyes."
"How?" the chief asked.
James pointed to the officer's shoulder. "The bite I'm thinking. Other than that, we should all be sick."
"Is he gonna turn into one of those things?" the chief asked.
James nodded. "All of the people we dropped off this morning had the same symptoms. I don't know how long it'll take, but yea, he'll turn."
The chief sighed. "I never should have given that order to look for survivors."
"How could anyone know about this?" James replied. "And even if we did know, we probably would have come anyway. It's what we do."
The chief nodded. "True. Can't he
lp but feel it's my fault though. What do we do?"
James sighed. "I see two options. The first is that we look for somewhere else to hide. 'Course we risk running into more of those creatures."
"The second?" the chief asked.
"We put him out of his misery," James said softly.
"You mean kill him?" Jeffries asked.
"He's already dead," James responded, "just a matter of time now."
They all stood quietly as they processed this. It would be really risky to look for another hiding spot. But, could they do this? Kill a fellow officer? Yes, maybe he was as good as dead but to kill him?
"We've got a bigger problem," Jeffires said.
"What's that?" the chief asked.
Jeffries looked at James. "How many of those people running out of here were injured?"
James's eyes widened as he realized the implication. "Oh man. Enough that it could be all over the city right now."
Jeffries nodded. "If just a few of them went home. They've turned or they're going to turn soon. Not sure how long it takes."
James looked at the officer on the couch. He'd been bitten when they'd run in here. He looked at his watch. Ten thirty. So about an hour and a half had passed since they'd all went to sleep.
"A couple of hours I guess," James said. At their look he shrugged. "We've been asleep for about an hour and a half. He was bit just before we ran into him."
Jeffries nodded. "Okay. So how much time do we have?"
James shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I've got to get out of here and get home."
Jeffries looked at him and nodded. "Laura and your kids."
James nodded. He hadn't been too worried before. Laura had a good head on her shoulders. She wouldn't have panicked when she heard the announcement the mayor had made earlier. Plus, he'd made sure that she was proficient with the weapons they had in the house. Laura didn't particularly enjoy guns but was practical enough to understand something could happen while James wasn't at home. It would be up to her to keep the kids safe. James was confident she could handle a burglar. But this? One of those things could be creeping around his house right now. He had to get home and make sure his family was safe.