“Damn. I hope they haven’t ruined everything.”
“What all is here?” Meaghan picked up a few boxes and examined the labels.
“Everything. Antibiotics, narcs, and insulin to name a few. Anything the people in the fort could use was kept here.”
The five of us fought our way through the pharmacy clearing out the ten or so decaying undead. The odor wafting from their bodies was horrendous. It took everything in me not to gag. I pulled my bandana over my nose to help, but it did nothing.
Nathan grabbed a bag and started tossing syringes, vial’s, and pill bottles into it. Once he zipped it and found a large metal cart we quickly left in search of a way out.
“What is that for?” Liz nodded toward the bulky cart.
He shrugged his shoulders and looks the cumbersome metal thing. “It may help me open those doors out there.”
He positioned the cart in front of the second set of locked doors. Motioning to the spot next to him I grasped the handle and prepared to ram.
“Meagan?”
“What?”
“Remember how you wanted to use that gun of yours?” I inquired.
“Yeah.”
“When that door opens if there are any undead you shoot them.”
“Are you sure? What if more come?”
“Just do it,” I insisted.
“Alright.” She smiled while pulling out the guns.
Meaghan, Taz, and Liz took aim behind us as we rammed the cart into the door. I could already hear the undead on the other side.
“Nathan, if we don’t make it out of here I have to tell you something.”
“You are always so dramatic.”
“And you take unnecessary risks, but that is not what I want to tell you.”
“What then?”
“I love you,” I said, glancing at him briefly.
“I love you too, and when we do make it out of here we’re getting married.” He smiled.
“Married? In a time like this?”
“Why not?”
“You’re being awfully pushy, Doctor Adesse.”
“It’s not my fault it took you four years to finally say that big L word.”
“Don’t push it, Nathan.”
“I love you, Emma.”
“I’m your maid of honor!” Meaghan piped up behind us.
“Sounds good me.” We rammed the door a second time.
“Partay!” Taz shouted.
“I’m not wearing pink,” Liz stated very matter-of-factly.
The doors began to cave. I could see the grey arms reaching through the cracks. Meaghan took a deep breath, ready to fire. Putting everything into it we ran the heavy metal cart at the door one more time. The door flung open and the undead came pouring out. I fell to the side pulling out arrows as Meaghan let the bullets fly.
Gunshots echoes off the walls and a chorus of groans could be heard throughout the hospital.
What have we done?
Chapter Twenty
Escaping From the Hospital…Again
“We better be fast,” I mumbled
“I don’t think that was a good idea.” Meaghan’s eyes were as large as saucers. The zombies scrambled over each other.
“It doesn’t matter now. Just keep shooting. One of the other doors can’t be far down the hallway.” Taz stabbed an undead through the eye.
I watched in disgust as the gooey eyeball detached from the socket, stuck to the knife. The body sank to the floor in a heap. Meaghan’s face turned white at the sight; she spun around and vomited. I couldn’t blame her if anything was in my stomach I would do the same thing.
“That was a first,” Taz said, using the body beside him to remove the eyeball.
“That was disgusting.”
Meaghan stopped heaving and ran past us. I watched as she high-tailed it down the hall.
“What the…” Nathan watched Meaghan run.
Taz and Liz stopped what they were doing and just stared at her.
She paused, looked back, and yelled at us. “Uh, don’t stand there. Run!”
“Wh-..." I stopped and looked behind us. “Oh.”
A massive horde formed beyond the broken doors. They tripped and stumbled over each other trying to get through the doors.
“Shit,” Nathan said.
“That’s an understatement,” I yelled, running past him.
“Don’t leave me behind!” Taz screamed.
“I want a raise!” Liz shouted after us.
“Then run!” Meaghan and I screamed in unison.
I went ahead of Meaghan stabbing an undead in the head. I looked behind us again; the horde grew even larger. There were hundreds of them.
“Where did they come from?” Meaghan asked.
“Everywhere I guess. The hospital isn’t small.” Nathan finally caught up to us.
“I know but that many?” she asked.
“When the zombiepacolypse happened there were over a thousand people here.”
“And none of them left? Why didn’t any of them leave?” Meaghan yelled, shooting another between the eyes as we ran.
“Stop with the gun!” Nathan yelled.
“I think that it’s a little too late for that,” I said.
“I’m not using that ridiculous knife to fight off an entire horde of them! Are you insane, Nathan?”
“Shut up about the gun, both of you, and run!” I shot an arrow into the side of a head. “How far down is the fucking door out of here?”
“Not much further. I think,” Liz told him.
I stopped and looked at him in disbelief.
She’d better be kidding.
“You think?” Meaghan said what I thought.
“I haven’t been down here in a long time,” she explained.
“What if the door isn’t down this way? What if we’re running to a dead end?” I asked skeptically.
“It is,” Nathan spoke up.
“How do you know?” Meaghan asked.
“I have used it; just not in four years.”
“Nathan!” I yelled as I grabbed an arrow out of the quiver on my back and jamming it into an undead’s eye.
We turned a bend and came face to face with another, smaller, horde.
“This is unbelievable,” I muttered, nocking an arrow and aiming it toward the group. “I don’t even know where to shoot first.”
“Just shoot!” Meaghan hollered, unloading the rest of her clip into the mass of walking corpses in front of us. A few went down; the others seemed to get riled up.
“The door!” Nathan yelled.
“What?” I asked.
“It’s behind that group! It’s the door!”
“Of course it is,” Meaghan grumbled, pulling a magazine out of her back pocket. “I’m down to one magazine.”
“You only brought two?” I asked horrified.
“I didn’t think we’d be out here as long as we have.”
“Awesome,” I groaned, nocking another arrow.
The horde behind us closed in as we finished off the last of the group ahead of us. I slammed into the door and felt a rush of cool, autumn air hit me in the face and then the stench. It was a remarkably horrible smell. I gagged and almost tried to go back inside. Nathan pulled the door shut as the first of the massive horde slammed into it. Hopefully they hadn’t figured out how to turn door knobs.
“What is that?” Taz asked.
“Decomposing bodies,” Nathan replied.
“Bodies? Where?” Meaghan asked.
“I don’t know, but that is what that smell is. Dead bodies.”
“There are always dead bodies around. Be a little more specific,” Liz said.
“That is the smell of long dead bodies.”
“Let’s go in the opposite direction of that then.” I shook my head. I was so fed up with death, zombies, and the world. It sucked.
“Sounds good to me,” Meaghan piped up.
We walked up the hill to the back of the hospital. It felt
strange seeing everything so deserted even after all the time that passed. The campus was nothing more than a death trap with hiding spots for zombies everywhere. The dorm room Becca and I shared was only a few blocks away. The crane on top of the unfinished apartment building was our neighbor. Weather took its toll on the creaky machine. The once bright yellow was rusted. So many of my friends, classmates, and professors did not make it out when things went to hell. Oak popped out of my jacket and nuzzled my chin. I scratched the top of her little head and led the group along the back street; the eerily quiet back street. I stopped at a crossroads not looking for cars, but searching for any signs of people or undead. Two zombies stumbled and fell down the hill trying to get to us. We continued on not bothering to waste the energy on them. Outrunning a few was simple.
“Do you think we’ll make it home tonight?” Meaghan asked.
“Yeah, because I’m not stopping till I’m behind the gates of downtown,” I said.
“It’s already pretty late,” Nathan said.
“Not that late.”
“What if night falls before we get there, Emma?”
“I don’t care, Nathan. I’m not spending a single night out here.”
“You know they’re more active then,” he continued.
“Again, I don’t care. I’m not stopping till I get to the town.”
“Is it worth running into another horde?” he asked.
“I’ve already ran into enough. I think one or two more won’t be that bad.”
“I don’t know,” Meaghan said. “Nathan does have a point.”
“Okay, you two can stay out here in the wild. I’m going home.”
They looked at each other nervously but followed close by. I was nervous, but it would be ridiculous to stop. We were so close to home. The gates were only a few short miles away. If we stopped talking and picked up the pace we would be there within two hours. Of course, night fall would be upon us sooner and they were right about the zombies being more active at night. The cooler air seemed to energize their dead bodies. As odd as that was to think about.
“I didn’t see Becca in her room,” I muttered.
“I know,” Nathan said.
“Your sister is out?” Taz asked.
I nodded trying not to think that she was one of those swollen, green things in the hospital. I didn’t want to think about her at all. The pain was still so fresh. When she died, a part of me died with her. Liz placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. We all lost so much.
Chapter Twenty-one
Barricading Your Ass in the House
I climbed out of my car slowly almost afraid to see my parents.
“It’s going to be okay,” Nathan said quietly from the passenger side.
“No it’s not.” I replied before biting my bottom lip.
“Emma, what on earth is going on? Is Becca okay?” Mom questioned when she saw me.
“Mom, things are a bit chaotic right now,” I started. How do I tell her Becca’s dead?
“Chaotic?” Dad asked, his concern was always evident on his face. His forehead wrinkled and his eyes narrowed.
“Yes. Chaotic is an accurate description. Right, Nathan?”
“I think so.”
“Did something happen to Becca?” Dad asked.
“Are any fences down?” I tried avoiding the question.
“No, the fences are fine. Did something happen to Becca?” he repeated.
I sighed and sat on the leather sectional. I looked around at the walls, pictures of Becca and I were everywhere. Tears sprang to my eyes as I stared at her happy, smiling face.
My best friend is gone. My sister is a zombie.
“Becca, um, succumbed to her illness,” I squeaked out.
“What do you mean?” Mom panic crept into her voice.
“Whatever bit or stung her ended up being more serious than originally thought,” I explained with tears running down my cheeks.
“She was bit by a bug. How serious could that be?” Dad asked.
“Serious enough to kill her,” I cried.
“I don’t understand,” Mom said.
“The venom from whatever bit her mutated in her body, so she didn’t just die. She came back to life, sort of,” Nathan told them.
“Wait, what?” Dad stitched his brows together.
“A zombie, dad. Becca is a zombie.”
“I told you to stop watching those movies,” Mom grumbled.
“We’re serious!” I shouted. “It’s spreading rapidly and it’s the fucking apocalypse. Everyone is turning into damned zombies!”
My parents sat there staring at me as if I had sprouted a second head, turned purple, and was speaking in tongues.
“Turn on the TV,” I told Nathan.
“Nothing is out yet,” he said.
“Something might be reported by now. I can’t see it staying isolated to just Oakland.”
“You’re serious?” Mom asked.
“Yes, Mother. Why would I joke about something like this? Why would I have a random doctor with me? He helped me escape. We’re the only ones, that I know of, that managed to get out of that hospital alive. Hell, we might be the only ones to escape Oakland alive.”
“Emma, dear, this is all just impossible. It’s not logical. You’re a well-educated woman, do you believe it?”
“Believe it, Mom? Believe it? I just fucking lived it! We need to barricade ourselves in this house and prepare.”
“Look!” Nathan said, turning on the local news station.
I sat next to him, squeezing his hand as a young reporter talked from somewhere off camera. Her voice trembled as the van moved slowly through the now ravaged college part of Pittsburgh. Cars were wrecked, a few on fire, bodies lay in the street; zombies stumbled around, and even attempted to attack the news van. At one point she started crying and screaming when one of the undead pounded at her window. The camera panned around and all you could see was the cloudy eyes and mindless monster that had once been a person. It had been a man. He looked vaguely familiar; perhaps someone I passed on the street between classes. A large portion of his neck and shoulder were missing. Exposed tissue and bone could clearly be seen.
“I-I don’t know what we’re looking at,” the reported stuttered. “I have never seen anything like this. I think it’s time to get out of here. Come on, Johnny, put the camera down and get us out of here.”
The report cut back to the anchors who sat in stunned silence. The woman cried as the man sat there in silence.
“Um, folks, I don’t know what to say. I have no idea what’s going on and we can’t seem to get answers. Stay indoors. Don’t open for anyone or anything. Protect your loved ones. I have to call my wife. She has to get our son.” He got up and walked off the stage.
“What’s going on?” Mom asked quietly.
“You saw, Mom. It’s the zombiepocalypse. Shit is hitting the fan.”
“What do we do?” Dad asked next.
“What he said. We stay indoors. We fortify our fences, and we stay inside away from all of that.”
“Becca is dead?”
“Becca is what started this,” I mumbled.
“What?”
“Whatever bit Becca caused this.”
Dad got up and walked into the kitchen. I heard him punch something hard and begin to weep. I had never heard my dad cry before. Of course, the world had never been through a zombie apocalypse started by his daughter before either. Nathan squeezed my hand and looked at me solemnly.
“We’ll be fine,” he tried to reassure me.
“How do you know?” Mom asked.
“We’re way out here, surrounded by electric fences, and Emma tells me that you all are well armed.”
“You expect us to kill people?” she gasped in horror.
“Not people, Mrs. Taylor, the undead.”
“I could never! Those are people!”
“Mom, they aren’t people anymore. They are mindless zombies.” I got up and walked toward
the front door. “I need to call Meaghan.”
“Don’t go outside! Are you insane!” Mom yelled.
“They haven’t reached us yet,” I muttered. “I have to call Meaghan. Her and her folks will need to come over. They don’t have electric fences like we do.”
“What if they are bit?” she asked.
“They won’t be yet, Mrs. Taylor. But if they don’t have protection, they will be.”
“Oh heavens! Bonnie is such a lovely lady and a dear friend. Have them hurry over!”
“Yes, mother,” I called shutting the door.
“Yes, my best friend?” Meaghan said when she answered.
“What are you doing?”
“Watching T.V. Why?” she asked.
“Turn on the news.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it,” I told her.
“Okay fine, miss sassy pants.”
I waited saying nothing.
I heard her gasp and mumble a few things to herself. “Oh my God. What’s going on?”
“Zombies,” I said.
“What? No!” she replied in disbelief.
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s a long story, Meg. Just pack a few bags, get your folks to pack a few bags, and get to my house now.”
“Is this really real?”
“Yeah.”
She was silent for a few moments. “Not a hoax or a joke?”
“No.”
“How did you know?” she asked.
“I was there when it started, Meaghan. Becca...she’s the reason.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Spending the Night in an Abandoned Hockey Arena
“Damnit,” I muttered standing the middle of Fifth Avenue.
“What?” Meaghan asked.
“We’re not making it back tonight.” I shook my head in utter disappointment.
“Why?” Taz furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side.
“I’m not spending the night out here. There is no cover. We would chow for the undead,” Liz muttered.
“Yeah. I know that but look down there. The entire intersection is covered in them. There’s no way we make it through them.”
“We can go around.” Nathan stood next to me watching them.
The Last Alive Page 13
