by Doug Ward
It was a woman dressed in a white lab coat, her hand covered in a hastily wrapped bandage. She looked completely terrified.
"It's going to be alright," I soothed, taking her in my arms. I could be reasonably sure she was a good distance from turning at this point, so I didn't fear her embrace. Her skin still bore the rosy hue of a healthy, living human being. Her body was warm, alive, as I held her in my arms. I could feel the tension leaving her limbs as she returned my hug.
We released our hold. I immediately could see a difference in her. She seemed a little less tense, but not relaxed. I stepped aside to let my husband take over. This was his arena. She spoke his language. We needed to know what they knew. If there were any answers found, this was where they would be kept.
"Have there been any breakthroughs?" Henry said, taking the opening. "Has the research here yielded anything?"
"Not much! The parasite is quite virulent," she responded, falling back to her trained way of thinking. "We cannot isolate a way of killing the organism without killing the host."
"Is there a way of inoculating people from the invading life form?"
"No," she said, her voice soft. "Not that we could formulate."
"What about the introduction of iron, we have found that-"
"Listen, we have tried everything. If there was a cure..." she said, lifting her hand and looking at the bloodied bandage. Her eyes became unfocused for a moment. "We have no more time. It's over."
"Maybe we can get the others?" Hank said, trying to bring her back around.
"There are no others!" she said angrily. "I was with them when it happened. We were in a meeting comparing our findings. We didn't know. As we were leaving, we were attacked. I barely made it here. The others..." She stopped, not able to find the words. "We failed."
I looked at the others in the room. Drew held Amber's hands. They were looking deeply into each other's eyes, sharing unspoken words of concern and love. Dean absently rubbed his eyes. I could see the despair in his stance. We were all defeated.
"Was anything else said in the meeting? Something that might give us a chance?" Henry probed gently, trying to keep hope alive.
"There was a report..."
The lights cut out. Red backup lights washed the room in crimson. A mechanical voice immediately informed, Emergency battery power override. Ten minutes until emergency fail-safe detonation.
A low-pitched, intermitted buzzing marked the passage of the countdown. The door slid open on its own, revealing the hallway.
"We gotta go!" Dean screamed over the noise, snapping into action. He spun and sprinted to the door.
I raced to his side, peering down the hall as I felt Drew and Amber join us. Looking back, I could see Henry, listening as the woman spoke to him.
"Henry!" I urged as the first of the zombie scientists stumbled into the hall. "It's now or never!"
He hurriedly extended a hand, pointer finger extended up, indicating for me to wait a minute. I felt frustration flooding my anxious body as I shot the first, only to watch as two more replaced him. All wearing the same white, blood-covered coats, they kept coming, stepping over their own as I dropped two more with three shots.
Looking back to see his progress, I saw the woman he was speaking with lean heavily on the desk.
"Hank!" Drew screamed as I turned back to the hall and the growing crowd ambling our way. Some were missing arms, while others dragged legs. They all reached toward us with grasping hands, anticipating a fresh meal.
I fired my weapon until the slide locked back. Frank had explained that this meant there were no more bullets. Amber bravely slid in front of me, shooting into the crowd as I dropped back to reload. Shaking hands fished fresh rounds out of my pocket as I slid them into the empty clip.
"Let's go!" a familiar voice commanded. Henry had joined us in the hall. Instantly, we began slowly moving back toward the elevators. We fought as a group, trying to hold back the gathering hoard. Somehow, the undead bathed in the red warning lights seemed to become even spookier. As I replaced Amber, it looked like we were losing ground quickly.
Nine minutes until emergency fail-safe detonation.
"Can we hurry it up a little up there?" I screamed to the front. Rapid firing confirmed my fear.
"We're a little bottled up here," a voice that sounded like Drew answered.
"In about eight more minutes, we won't have to worry about these zombies!" I urged.
I noticed a marked increase in gunfire toward the front, which was also realized in our movement toward the elevators. The hallway in front of the dead was littered with corpses. This served to slow them down, their already precarious gait impeded with the freshly fallen. The only problem was that as we moved forward we were literally walking on the dead that the people in front had freshly dropped.
As I was reloading again, Amber fell to her knees, stumbling over a prone body. Her gun spun away from her as she dropped. As she reached for the weapon, a zombie dressed in blue scrubs threw herself at my friend. I stepped beside Amber and kicked the creature in the face, sending it backward into the surging crowd.
Reaching down, I grabbed Amber under the upper arm, roughly throwing the woman to her feet. The time I used was too great. I knew I had come too close, maybe got too cocky. As I tried to regain my place in our group, I stepped on a slain zombie’s arm. The skin rotated, dropping me to hands and knees. I tried to crawl forward as fast as I could but my heart sank as an iron grip locked on my exposed ankle.
Eight minutes until emergency fail-safe detonation.
I kicked back and forth, trying to free my limb with no luck. Fearing to look backward, I looked forwards and up. Amber had just resumed her position. Her eyes went wide as she saw me and registered my predicament. Her gun swung toward my attacker just as intense pain registered from my calf.
It was over.
Chapter 36
Henry