Mike walked towards the front door. He too was swiping at tears. Ellie followed him to his house next door. He unlocked the door and Ellie followed him inside. “Help yourself to whatever you can find in the kitchen.” Mike held out his hand and motioned her towards the kitchen. “This’ll take a while. Make yourself comfortable.”
Ellie nodded, not asking what he meant. She stepped into the white tiled kitchen with white washed cabinets. Opening the refrigerator door, she realized she’d better take a quick peek. The air inside was still cool and wouldn’t last long without electricity. She really wasn’t hungry, nothing sounded good, but her stomach was telling her otherwise. She noticed Mike had quite a few Greek yogurts. Ellie helped herself to a Strawberry Cheesecake one and wondered if it’d still be good. The container felt cool enough to the touch. She felt it was probably better to eat the things that’d spoil first, anyway. From the door, she snatched a diet soda. The caffeine would probably be good for her headache, yet she knew the sodium wasn’t the best choice for dehydration. And she’d been feeling dehydrated ever since she woke up this morning. After living near the beach for so many years, she wasn’t acclimated to the dry heat of the desert.
The garage door slammed and Mike walked back into the house with a shovel in one hand. “I’ll be next door.”
“Are you…”
“Yeah. It’s the least I can do…”
“I can help.”
Mike shook his head and swiped again at his bloodshot eyes. It was apparent he’d been crying. “If you need anything…”
“I’ll be fine.”
“If you’d like to get out of those clothes… I have detergent in the laundry room if you want to hand wash them.”
Ellie looked down at the front of her grungy, sweat-soaked tank top, and yanked at the fabric clinging to her damp skin. She wrinkled up her nose. She could only imagine how disgusting she looked, and smelled. Little did she know, Mike thought she looked amazing.
Clearing his throat, Mike tried not to stare at how the thin material clung to her voluptuous curves. When he went to speak, his voice cracked a little. Again, he cleared his throat. “You can help yourself to what you can find in my closet, you know, while your clothes dry.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll do that, thanks.”
Mike gave her a curt nod, leaving Ellie alone in the house.
Chapter 23
Amanda was in the middle of the hallway trying to figure out which way she should go. After several turns, she stopped and held still, waiting for the man to scream out again. From inside the restroom, she hadn’t been able to tell which direction the voice had come from. In all honesty, she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to run towards it or run away from it. Her foot was now throbbing something fierce. She’d need to look for something to wrap it in. She’d rinsed it and patted it dry the best she could. She knew she could’ve done a better job cleaning her wound, but the man’s screaming had interrupted her. She tried to put the sandal back on, but it hurt her foot too bad. She needed to find some gauze to wrap it properly. Besides, if she wandered around the halls with the sandals on, the soles made a loud, echoing sound against the tile. With them off, her movements were practically silent.
After a few minutes, Amanda made the decision to look for bandages, antibiotics, and perhaps painkillers. Again, she thought, that the last thing she needed was to get her foot infected. She followed the hallway to the right instead of back where she’d entered the hospital. She hobbled down the hall, walking on the ball of her right foot to avoid putting too much pressure on the wound.
Regardless of how careful she was with each step, she was leaving a trail of bloody footprints. When she stopped walking, she noticed a sign with an arrow pointing the way to the cafeteria. Her stomach clenched. She had the bag of corn tortillas under her arm that Jenny had given her, but needed something a bit more substantial.
Stepping into the dark cafeteria, Amanda shivered. There was a light on in the back of the room where the food was kept. Waiting for her eyes to adjust, Amanda looked around the room, staring hard at the shadows. She couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that someone infected may be lurking in the shadows. Or even worse, someone not infected that wished to do her harm. At least when someone was infected, they gave a warning with that guttural growl. And they didn’t seem to have the capacity to think, just attack. It was as if the fever destroyed all logic, driving them mad. At least, that’s how it seemed. Amanda was still on the fence as to what was happening.
One of things she noticed about the cafeteria was how clean it was. In fact, she realized most of the hospital was clean. She’d expected to find dead bodies everywhere, especially after the bodies piled up outside the hospital and the blood in the hall when she first entered the building. And she knew there were dead bodies in the front lobby of the hospital this morning.
The staff must’ve been really working hard at keeping sections of the hospital quarantined, she thought. They had to have had a decent sized clean-up crew. That thought gave Amanda a tiny glimmer of hope. There still might be a section of the hospital with doctors helping the infected. She might be able to find Jasper. Maybe even get help for herself. That’s probably why she heard that man. He’s probably in that section being treated.
Even as Amanda thought it, she didn’t really believe it. She wanted to, but didn’t. Setting down the sandals and bag of tortillas on a round table to free her hands, Amanda went into the area with the refrigerators and greedily gathered all sorts of food items. She piled everything that looked good onto a tray and took it back to the table she’d set her things down on. She looked around the room and wished she had a bag to carry her supplies in. There was a stack of plastic cafeteria trays, but nothing else. A tray wouldn’t be of much use to her when walking home. She wandered to the back of the room, in search of anything she could use. There had to be bags somewhere. She opened one of the fridges and grabbed a Granny Smith apple and took a bite. The bitterness tingled her tongue. There was a door at the back of the room. She wondered if it led to a storage room. If so, maybe she could find a box. A box wouldn’t be as easy to carry, but it’d be better than a tray.
Gripping the door handle, Amanda was relieved to feel it easily turn and click. She pushed it down and yanked open the heavy door. The room was dark. She stepped inside.
Bam! The door slammed shut behind her. That’s when she heard it. Deep guttural growls. They were close… Too close…
Spinning around, Amanda’s hands flew to the cold surface of the door in search of the handle. She patted it up and down. It was too dark. She couldn’t see anything. Couldn’t find the handle…
Crash! Amanda jumped. Her voice caught in her throat, unable to scream. What sounded like a stack of boxes crashed to the floor beside her, hitting her leg as they fell. The growls became louder, more incessant.
Amanda ran her hands up and down the door frame. Her fingers found the handle and yanked down with all her might. She leaned into the heavy door, pushing it open and ran without looking behind her. She could hear the growls and heavy footsteps pounding the ground right behind her. The infected was pursuing her. Grabbing a chair, she glanced over her shoulder for only a second and tossed it, hoping to trip her pursuer. She was too afraid to stand still long enough to get a good look at him. But she did notice that she was being chased by a large, bald man, wearing a blue smock. He easily leapt over the chair.
Hurtling through the swinging cafeteria door, Amanda stumbled out into the hallway and took a sharp left. She could hear the infected man bashing through the door behind her. She needed to find a place to hide. She hoped the infected man hadn’t realized she went down the hall to the left. She grabbed a door handle. Locked. She stumbled to the next door. Locked. There was a sign on the ceiling pointing the way to X-Rays. She grabbed another door handle and turned.
“Arrrrgggghhh…”
Amanda stopped dead in her tracks. Eyes large, she turned her head and made eye contact with her assailant.
His golden eyes narrowed in his white, distorted face. Her heart pounded rapidly in her ears. The door knob slipped beneath her sweaty palms as she tried again to twist it. Locked.
She turned to run towards the sign pointing to the X-Ray lab. A ferocious roar bellowed behind her. She ran as fast as she could down the hall when her foot slipped in her own blood. The running had opened the wound and blood was oozing out everywhere. Amanda tried to catch her balance, but couldn’t. She landed hard on her right knee, just as the man leapt at her. The man’s large body flew over the top of her, overshooting his leap. He hadn’t expected her to fall down. His shoulder crashed into the wall at the end of the hall with a loud crunch. Even though the knee Amanda landed on stiffened and didn’t want to budge, full of adrenaline, she managed to scramble to her feet, and race towards the X-ray lab. She prayed the door was unlocked. If not, she was at a dead end. The man snarled behind her.
To her surprise, the door to the lab easily swung open. However, there was no way to lock out her assailant. She stumbled through the small waiting room as the man pushed through the swinging door behind her. Ducking down behind the check-in desk, Amanda hoped that he hadn’t seen her. On all fours, she squeezed herself beneath the desk, trying to be as quiet as she could. She eyed a rolling chair, not far from the desk opening. Grabbing one of the legs, she slowly pulled the chair in front of her.
Closing her eyes, she concentrated on slowing her breathing as she listened to the man thrashing about the waiting room. He was growling and crashing into things. Her body tensed as a loud thump landed on top of the desk. Amanda opened her eyes and watched as papers flew off the desk, scattering across the floor. A ballpoint pen also landed on the floor and rolled toward her. There was another loud thump above her. Then she watched the chair roll away from her. She wanted to freak out. If the man were to walk behind the desk, there’d be no doubt he’d find her. There was another loud crash and bang above her. A stapler and various other office supplies landed on the floor. Amanda’s back tightened. She pushed herself as far under the desk as she could go. There was another loud crash. Amanda squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to look. She then felt the breeze of something heavy landing on the floor next to her hiding spot. She’d also heard the wheels of the rolling chair scrape across the floor and then crash as it tipped over.
Trembling, but still keeping her eyes shut, Amanda listened. The growling had ceased. There was no more crashing or banging. As she waited, her breathing slowed. Gathering her courage, she opened her eyes and peeked out from under the desk. The infected man was lying on the floor blocking the opening. His face was turned away from her. She figured he must’ve climbed up and fallen over the desk. He wasn’t moving, yet Amanda was afraid he was still alive. If he was, she’d have no way to fight him or defend herself if he attacked. She looked around and eyed the ballpoint pen that’d rolled under the desk. Slowly and carefully, she clutched the pen in her hand, gripping it hard. It wasn’t much, but at least it was something.
She watched the man’s chest to see if he was breathing. It was hard to tell under the bulk of his blue smock. As far as she could tell, he wasn’t, but she wasn’t sure. She noticed that the back of the man’s head and neck were puffed up with what looked like big white welts or blisters. His skin was just like the others, just like Jasper’s had been. Amanda scooted herself towards the man, trying to stay as quiet as she could. Her body didn’t want to cooperate with her. Her knee was stiff, her foot throbbing, and her arms and legs were cramping up. Grimacing, she scooted a bit closer to the man and stuck her head out from under the desk. If she wanted to stand, she’d need to move the man, lean on him, or somehow straddle him in order to get herself into a position to be able to get up. There was no way around him. She was trapped.
Amanda weighed her options; she could stay under the desk awhile longer to make sure he wasn’t alive, or she could just make a go of it. Neither option sounded good. If she were to stay put and the man was alive and he rolled over, there was a good chance he’d attack her, spreading the infection or killing her. But, if she was to get up, and the man was still alive, he could attack her, spreading the infection or killing her. Both would result in fatality. Yet, if she were to get up, and was fast enough, she might be able to get away before the man could attack her. That is, of course, if he was still alive.
She remembered the mass of dead bodies surrounding the police car this morning. They’d all been infected people trying to get at her the night before. At some point, they just keeled over and died. Maybe that’s what just happened to this man. She hadn’t a clue how long he’d been infected. His blisters, or hives, or whatever the hell they were, were much more pronounced than Jasper’s had been. Amanda frowned. Again, for the umpteenth time, she wondered if Jasper was still alive. She hated not knowing.
Eying the back of the infected man’s head, Amanda tried to make a decision. She wasn’t thrilled with either of her choices and didn’t know what to do. She said a little prayer asking for guidance. She wasn’t religious, but she did believe that angels were watching over her. She asked for their help.
Regardless of what she should or shouldn’t do, Amanda didn’t like the odds of her staying put. Plus, her body was cramping up something fierce. She needed to stretch her legs, find some pain killers, antibiotics, and something to bandage her foot with. The way her knee was throbbing, she was again contemplating finding an empty room, and locking herself in for the night. While she was at it, she’d also search for an Ace bandage or a knee brace of some sort. This wasn’t the first time she’d injured her knee. There’d be no way she’d be able to walk home without a knee brace. Heck, not that she really should be walking with it this way period. She could feel the familiar swelling around the kneecap. A night of rest might do her good. At least she knew she was in a place where there was food and water in the cafeteria, even though she was afraid to venture back there to get it. It was still a better idea than trying to limp home the ten plus miles. She had absolutely no idea on how long it’d take her to walk home, or the types of danger she may encounter on the way. Not only did she have to worry about the infected attacking her, she had to worry about those still left alive. After her earlier encounter with the hoodlums, she was worried about who was lurking about.
Saying another prayer, this time for strength, Amanda did her best to spring into action. The only way out of her hiding place without shoving the man aside was to straddle him. She held her breath while placing an arm and leg on the other side of the man’s body. She studied his face as she crawled over him. His eyes were closed. She could feel heat radiating from his body. He had to have been burning up in order for her to feel it the way she was. She remembered how Jasper had also been afflicted with a high fever. As she got to her feet, trying hard to stay quiet, her darn swollen knee locked into place, and she accidentally kicked the man’s side as she stepped over him with her other leg.
“Grrrrr…!”
Amanda shrieked as the man’s eyelids popped open. He wasn’t dead! His golden eyes zeroed in on her.
The man grabbed hold of her ankle and she screamed bloody murder. Without thinking, ballpoint pen still clutched in her hand, she leaned forward and jabbed it into the side of the man’s neck. She yanked it out and jabbed him again. Letting go of the pen, she screamed again as hot red blood spurted out all over the front of her light pink V-neck shirt. The man’s grasp released her ankle and she watched as his yellow eyes rolled back in his head. Covering her mouth, she tried to stifle another involuntary scream that’d been rising in her throat, in case other infected people were around and could hear her. Amanda ran out of the X-ray lab waiting room, and back into the hallway. She pressed her back against the cool white wall and hyperventilated. Then she heard it again. The man she’d heard earlier when she was in the bathroom. This time his loud bellowing screams were coherent and yelling for help.
***
Feeling uneasy, Liam watched the woman run to the X-ray laboratory
on one of the security monitors. He was thankful she’d decided to run in there. If she’d made a left turn, instead of a right, she’d have entered the stairwell, that’d lead her upstairs. That’d make their chances of being discovered greater. He didn’t want to see the woman hurt by the infected man chasing her, but there was nothing he could do to help her without being seen. Besides, he was not allowed to interfere. All he could do was watch. Then he remembered Susan, whom was in the other room, examining the little boy. They were already interfering. However, they were still trying to be discreet.
When Amanda disappeared from the view of the monitor, Liam was feeling a mixture of emotions. He was feeling happy, yet anxious, to see that the woman was still alive. She’d been hiding behind the check-in counter of the x-Ray laboratory. Somehow she’d managed to escape the infected man that’d been chasing her.
Liam glanced again at the clock on the wall. The incessant ticking was a constant reminder of how much time was passing. He was growing more anxious with each passing minute. Susan was taking a lot longer than expected. They needed to move. Quickly. Cloaking their tracking devices, that they’d recently removed, would soon become apparent, and so would their last known location. Time was of the essence. Or at least, that was the saying he’d recently learned, and it seemed to fit the situation.
Susan bustled into the room with a large insulated bag slung over her shoulder, just as Liam watched Amanda on the monitor, enter the hallway, and then press her back against the wall.
“We have another visitor,” he said, still staring at the screen.
“Human?” Susan asked, coming up beside him.
“Yes.”
“Good,” she sighed with relief.
“So far… no signs of…” Liam didn’t finish the thought. He was afraid to say it out loud.
Fatal Reaction, The Beginning Page 18