The Last Alive

by H. L. Wampler

  I stood near the guard tower waiting for Meaghan contemplating having them open the gates, so I could go alone she emerged from the shadows. She looked badass decked out in all her weapons.

  "Are you ready for the suicide mission?" She smiled.

  "Where have you been hiding that?" I laughed.

  "Hiding what?"

  "The inner undead killer."

  She rolled her eyes at me. "I guess you didn't find him then."

  "No, nobody has seen him in days."

  "Awesome." She pulled a pistol out of a holster under her jacket and loaded it. "Let's do this then."

  "Are you sure?" I asked. I really didn't want her to go out there. I hated putting anyone besides myself at risk. What would I do if both she and Nathan ended up dying?

  "No, but let's go."

  "Not if you don't want to. I can go alone." I took the bow and quiver off my back.

  "You're not going alone."

  "I don't mind."

  "I do, Emma. This isn't like a quick trip to the store. You're going to face hordes of undead trying to find him. This is like finding a needle in the middle of a flesh-eating hay stack."

  "I know, Meaghan. I'm fully aware of the consequences."

  "Oh, so you're ready for death? There is no band aid to make an undead bite better. One bite and that's it. You're done. No more. Dead. As in only coming back as even more dead."

  "I know."

  "Then I'm going with you. If you die I get to shoot you in the head."

  "Don't sound so happy about it."

  We entered the old court house and head for what used to be one of the court rooms.

  "Ma'am?" I said to the chief who had her head buried in the National News. The only paper to still be printed and distributed amongst the colonies.

  "What is it?"

  "I've had reports of a missing person."

  "And?"

  "It's Nathan White, ma'am."

  She sighed and put the paper down. "Of course, it would be the only damn doctor we have in this undead fucking city. What are the plans?"

  "I would like to take out the S and R team, ma'am."

  She waved her hand went back to the paper. "Go. Make sure you bring that doctor back. We can't afford to not have someone with medical training around here."

  I nodded and hurried down the hall to command center. Fortunately, we still had functioning walkie talkies that all Guards were to keep on them always.

  "Betsy, I need you to call out for all Search and Rescue teams to meet at the gates. We're heading out for a mission," I said to the frail, white-haired woman behind the desk.

  "Everything alright, Emma?"

  "No. Nathan is missing."

  "Oh dear. I'll do that right away."

  "Thank you."

  Meaghan and I hurried out of the room as she put out the call.

  The gates to the city were impressive. They reached thirty feet into the sky with a guard tower on either side.

  I looked up to the top of the tower to see who was on duty for the afternoon. I saw a very familiar red baseball cap. "Hey, Arty!" I hollered.

  The bald man peered down at us, took off his cap to scratch his head, and narrowed his eyes. "What exactly are you girls up to?"

  "We're leaving the city."

  His smile quickly disappeared. "Why the hell are you doing that?"

  "Nathan is missing. Search and Rescue is heading out," I called up.

  "He left the city three days ago. You're never going to find him." He shielded his eyes and looked out over the vast, infected city. He raised his riffle and fired off a shot. "That's another kill for ol' Arty."

  "He what? Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

  "I didn't know I was supposed to!"

  "Dammit, Arty! Open the gates."

  "Good job, Art," Meaghan said, shaking her head.

  "He said something about getting low on medical supplies and needing to go to the hospital."

  "Oh my God, he's heading into Oakland," I gasped.

  "That's great. Zombie fucking central," Meaghan groaned.

  He pulled a few bullets from his jacket pocket and reloaded his weapon. "You two really shouldn't go."

  "We don't need your opinion," I snapped at him.

  "Well I'm giving it!"

  "Shut up, Arty!" Meaghan yelled.

  "You don't have to come." I turned toward my friend giving her one last time to back out.

  "Of course, I do. I'm your best friend."

  There was nobody else I would want to fight through zombie hoards with than my best friend. "Open the gates, Arty."

  "Just so you two know I'm really against this."

  "Shut up, Arty!" we yelled at the man.

  The large, thick, wooden gates creaked open as the rest of my team joined us. They were some of the most skilled marksman and martial artist left alive. As we stepped over the threshold I could have shit my pants. We weren't even out of city limits and the zombies started to swarm us.

  Chapter Six

  Hiding in the hospital, waiting...

  Nathan didn't let go of my hand as we ascended the stairs, our footsteps echoing up the silent stairwell. He paused outside the door at floor six and peeked in through the narrow window. The hallway was empty except for a nurse at the far end.

  "Alright it looks normal. Let's go." He pushed the door open and led me to room forty-two.

  "Looks can be deceiving," I mumbled as my heart slammed against my chest. I thought for sure he'd be able to hear it.

  It was unnervingly quiet on the unit. I didn't hear the same beeping from the heart monitors I heard earlier. The silence didn't bode well with me. I walked as close to Nathan as possible without stepping on him. I clutched the back of his jacket and investigated the rooms as we passed. Something wasn't right. Most of the beds were empty and messy.

  "Nathan," I whispered tugging on his shirt.

  "We're almost there," he said, pulling me a bit faster.

  "But Nathan," I persisted.

  "Shh."

  "Why is it so quiet?" I ignored him shushing me.

  He stopped and listened for a few seconds. "I don't know."

  "Why are some of the rooms empty?" I continued.

  "Are they?"

  "Yeah and they weren't empty before."

  He reached back and grabbed my arm. "Are you sure?"

  "Yes."

  "Wait here." He paused outside of Becca's room.

  "Wait here? I'm not waiting here!"

  "Just stay here!"

  "I don't feel good about being up here." I refused to let go of his scrub jacket as he inched into the room.

  "You're fine. Let me go so I can do what I need to do." He turned toward me and gripped my shoulders. His voice was so strong, reaffirming, and sure; the complete opposite of me.

  "What could you possibly need to do to my sister?" I asked while looking around the hallway for signs of anybody.

  Reaching inside my jacket I grabbed my Glock 22 out of the holster and checked the chamber. Locked and loaded.

  "I want to do a few tests."

  "Tests? She's an undead zombie! You don't perform medical test on a zombie, Nathan."

  I replaced it and gripped the door jamb. I knew he was trying to keep me calm.

  "You're not leaving me here alone." I glanced up and down the hall.

  Dangerous criminals and thugs I could deal with. Blood thirsty, flesh eating zombies; not so much.

  "Stay right here. I'll be a few feet in the room. You'll be safer here."

  "I want to leave."

  "Emma, we're going to leave. Calm down."

  Reluctantly I nodded. I stood right outside the door as he approached what used to be my sister. Becca was still strapped to the bed and the restraints had rubbed her wrists raw. Dark purple blood soaked the sheets and covered her arms. She snarled and snapped at Nathan as he approached her. He pulled back the blankets from her legs and took a pen from his pocket. Disgusting, thick, foamy drool lathered at
her mouth. She reminded me of a rabid raccoon.

  "Her blood doesn't look normal."

  "That's because it's not," Nathan said, looking at her legs. "Did she always have purple veins?"

  "No. Her legs were always really pale like mine." I held onto the door and kept my eyes trained on him. "What are you doing?"

  "Testing her reflexes."

  "Why?"

  "To see how extensive the nerve damage is from the virus."

  "Oh," I mumbled as he traced the end of a pen on the bottom of her feet.

  I grimaced and held onto the gun as Becca reached for him. She tugged at the restraints and a furious snarl emanated from her. She looked like a primal beast.

  Poor Becca.

  My heart sped up and my stomach turned when I heard a groaning behind me. I turned my head slightly.

  "Oh god."

  Her milky white eyes caught my attention first. She didn't stare at me, sort of through me. My gaze drifted down, and I noticed there was a huge chunk of skin missing from her shoulder. The nurse stumbled down the hallway with blood all over the front of her uniform. She was only a few feet away from me and moving rather fast. I took a few steps into the hallway watching her.

  "Hello?" I called to her. "Are you alright?"

  I knew she wasn't. I don't know why I asked. She groaned and lurched forward.

  "Nathan?"

  My face fell when I glanced behind her. The undead clustered together and formed this huge undead herd. One dragged a weird looking machine behind him. A brown liquid leaked out of it streaking the floor.

  "Hmm?"

  "Nathan!"

  "Hmm?"

  "Doctor White!" I shouted, panic filling every fiber of my being.

  "Shh, I'm concentrating." He wasn't fazed by my terror in the least.

  "That's great, but whatever she has I think everyone else up here must have to." I bumped into him as the nurse stumbled into the room reaching for me. There was no time to grab the gun. They were too close.

  "Holy shit!" he yelled, jumping back as she grabbed his lab coat. He struggled out of it, grabbed me, and yanked me into the bathroom.

  I didn't know so many bodies could fit into such a small room. They swarmed us as we threw our weight against the door locking it. I let my forehead rest against the cool wood and listened to the sounds from beyond.

  "Did it bite you?" I looked at him in terror.

  "No. What about you?"

  I shook my head. "I don't think so. Nothing hurts, and I don't see any blood."

  "Okay good. This is insane. I don't understand how it can be spreading so fast. There should be an incubation period of some sort. This makes absolute no fucking sense." He walked small circles around the bathroom as I sat in the shower.

  "Don't ask me. You're the medical professional."

  The longer we stood there listening, the more the room beyond seemed to fill with groans, snarls, and moans. I could see the shadows of undead under the door as they shuffled around. Some of them even smacked at it. I hugged my knees and tried to keep from throwing up.

  "How many are there?" he asked.

  "I don't know."

  "This is spreading really fast."

  "What are we going to do?" I chewed the inside of my lip unsure of what to do.

  "We need to find a way out." Nathan looked around the small room.

  "Get out? How the hell are we supposed to get out of here? We're trapped!" I started hyperventilating. The walls of the room seemed to close in on me. Everything spun, and I could feel the vomit rising.

  "Calm down. Panicking is not going to help," he shouted. The incessant howls of undead became more fervent

  "What else is there to do? We are trapped in a small bathroom. Trapped, Nathan! There are flesh eating zombies on the other side!"

  "Emma, calm the fuck down! We need to be rational about this. You're a cop?"

  "Rational went out the window when my sister turned into a zombie! They didn't exactly have zombie training in the fucking academy."

  Nathan grabbed my shoulders and pulled me close. He lowered his head and pressed his lips to mine hard. After a few long seconds, he pulled back. "Stop."

  "You kissed me."

  "Yes, I did."

  "They're going to hear us in here. We need to be quiet," I said absently.

  "I think it's a little too late for that. If you can't hear what I do, there are tons of undead people out there!"

  "At least you're admitting they're undead."

  "It is not time for I-told-you-so's."

  He stood in the center of the bathroom looking around. I didn't know what he could possibly be looking for. The only thing in the bathroom was a sink, toilet, and a shower. There was one way out, and that way was currently blocked by zombies.

  "Come here." He motioned toward the toilet.

  "If you have to go I can close the shower curtain."

  "No, climb up on the back. It's metal, but it should be strong enough to hold your weight."

  "What am I supposed to do standing on a toilet?" I narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips. I was losing faith in the doctor.

  "Push up one of those tiles. See what's up there." He motioned to the white tiles above my head.

  "Oh, okay."

  Nathan held my waist as I climbed up onto the steel pipe behind the toilet. I popped the tile out of place and glanced around the dark, empty space.

  "There's nothing up here except wires and some pipes."

  "That's what I thought." He helped me down.

  "Is that our way out?" I asked, watching him climb up.

  "I hope. If the steel beams are strong enough, we should be able to crawl through to somewhere safe."