by West, J. D.
“We can't just abandon her!” pleaded Blair.
“We'll we can't take her with us either!” said Kahleem.
“In order for us to stay uninfected we need to kill her while she is normal!” explained Joe
“We just have to watch for signs of infection.” said Blair. “She might not turn!”
“KNOCK! KNOCK!”
“What the hell is going on?” I asked coming into the room. “Do you have a death wish or something?”
“You heard the man!” asked Carlos. “Why the hell are y’all making so much noise? We don't need this bullshit right now. There is enough mess going on already.”
Maria told us why they had gotten into it with each other. I knew what had to be done. Dr. Green and his group were right about one thing. Once she changed she would be dangerous and no longer be human.
“Everybody calm down!” I stressed. “I'm in charge so I'll deal with her. She can stay with us until she changes and then I’ll take care of it. When the time is right I'll end her suffering!”
Doctor Green continued to question my leadership because I refused to kill her on the spot.
“Oh I get it!” blurted out Dr. Green. “Mister big, black and macho wants to get a taste of that Spanish brown sugar so the rest of us have to put up with this bullshit!”
“This is the last time I'm going to warn you about being disrespectful!” I said while grabbing him around the collar.
“If I get bit by one of those things don't waste your time.” responded Dr. Green. “Just shoot me in the head and get it over with!”
“We'll keep that in mind!” Carlos told him.
I told doctor and the rest of the group that if they had a problem with how I was running things then they could find their own way out! I knew they weren't happy with that but nobody said anything. After hearing the rest of the groups silence the doctor shut up and sat down.
“Now if the trial is over then maybe we should get out of here before the forsaken show up!” I demanded. “All of this arguing is going to attract more of those things to us.”
Maria was happy we didn't kill Anne. She was scared that the group was close to losing its humanity.
“Maria?” I asked. “How is she really doing?”
“It's not good Kevin!” she replied. “She doesn't have that long!”
While we were talking Carlos told the others that the hallway to the service elevator was blocked and we would have to go around. We gathered up everyone and got under way. Anne was forced to bring up the rear.
“I don't want anyone talking unless necessary!” I stressed. “Maintain silence unless you see something important.”
I was in the lead followed by Carlos. The partially lit hallways were hard to navigate. At one point he stopped for a second and gazed out the broken window in the hallway. Anne stopped too and also looked down. She was trembling and crying. Maria and everybody else kept following me. Two stories down below three bodies laid crushed on the concrete. Carlos could tell that one of the figures was a woman. The other two looked like children. The impact broke their necks and backs. Several streams of blood had extended from the bodies before drying up. When faced with dying sometimes the best choice is a quicker death. Just like the people who jump out the window of a burning building. At that moment they would rather jump than be burned alive. During a crisis people choose personal or mass suicide as an option. They believe that it is better to die on their own terms.
“I guess they found a way out!” Carlos whispered to Anne. “You never know what a person’s state of mind is toward the end but suicide is not the way. You can't give up!”
Anne wiped away her tears and paused for a second before carrying on. It was clear that she was regressing mentally. The sickness was also affecting her physically. She experienced several brief blackouts and was feeling weaker. Carlos made a cross on his chest and then trailed behind her. We had no way of knowing how many forsaken were now roaming the building. Hopefully we didn't have any problems on the way there. It was getting late and we needed to get outside or find a place to hold up for the night. In the military I learned the importance of cover, concealment and shelter. Every time we moved into a new area we made a quick sweep to make sure we were alone. We stopped anytime we heard something or saw movement. Out of the corner of her eye Blair thought she saw something underneath a bed.
“Hold on!” she begged. “Don't move forward yet.”
Thankfully it turned out to be nothing. It could have been more survivors or it could have been trouble. Our group ventured down the hall walking past various offices and wards. The smell was so sour and rotten that it caused many of them to stop to cover their nose. As we glanced inside we found empty rooms with all the contents scattered around. After a while we made it to the service elevator entrance. I looked around the corner to see what was going on. Dismembered body parts covered in flies were scattered around the hall. Luckily the service elevator had its own emergency power. A warehouse dolly was stuck in between the doors keeping them open. On a normal day the separate power source prevented staff from getting trapped inside during a fire or power outage. They opened and closed slowly on the box filled dolly.
Dr. Green saw a drug cart through a glass window to a room. In the rush to escape one of the staff members left the cart unlocked. When he got a chance he slipped away and entered the room. He lit a cigarette and let it dangle from the side of his mouth. He loved the aroma of the burning tobacco and the menthol flavor it produced when he exhaled. The room was a two person maternity suite with two beds. The bed next to the cart was empty but the other bed was blocked by a curtain. He slowly walked across the room towards the cart. The room was a mess. Medical supplies were tossed everywhere. Dr. Green had hit the jackpot. The cart was filled with pain killers and stimulants of every kind. He pulled a pillow case off the bed and filled it up with pills, drug vials and syringes. Dr. Green smiled wide as he looked at his prize. That’s when he heard the slurping and chewing noise.
“MUNCH!”
He pulled the curtain back from the other bed and revealed a pregnant forsaken. She was chin deep in the chest of a dead nurse. He had inadvertently disturbed its meal.
“GRRRRRR!”
There was no intelligence in her eyes just animal instinct. He let the curtain go and started to back away. For a second he caught a glance of something in his peripheral vision. Another one of the pregnant creatures came from out of nowhere. She had been hiding in the suite's bathroom. The mutated woman bit a plug out of the hand holding the drugs.
“GNAAAW!”
The doctor screamed in pain alerting the other creature.
“Uuuggghhh!”
She rose up from the bed and attacked him too.
“GRRRRRR!”
He scrambled for a place to hide but there was nowhere to go. They knocked him to the ground biting and clawing his flesh. He was able to get up but they kept coming towards him moaning and gnashing their teeth.
“GROOOWWWL!”
Dr. Green's shirt was saturated with his blood as he tried to apply pressure to the wound. The two monsters circled him before attacking him again.
“CHOMP!”
He was in excruciating pain but struggled to get back up on his feet.
“Help! Help me! Help!”
We could all hear him calling out but no one was going to risk their life for someone like him. Dr. Greens back was ripped open and a section of his shoulder was injured. Blood gushed from the mouth shaped puncture wound.
“CHOMP!”
Carlos stood at the doorway of the room and aimed his gun at the back of the doctor’s head.
“You’re sorry ass ain’t worth the bullet essay!” he mumbled to himself as he lowered the gun and heade
d back out into the hall.
Dr. Green wrestled with the dead women but was eventually pinned down. He was left writhing in a pool of blood. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he lost consciousness from so much bleeding.
“GRRRRRRR!”
After a few more bites he woke up to see them digging in his viscera and abdominal cavity. He was being eaten alive.
“Aaaaaahh!” he moaned.
Seconds later they were already detaching his bowels and holding handfuls of his guts. He was good as gone and there was nothing we could do about it.
“CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!”
The two walking dead corpses fought over his limbs and scraps of meat. His arms were severed off and his chest was mangled and gutted of its organs.
“GNAAAW!”
His severed hand was still clutching the pillowcase of drugs. The pregnant forsaken stumbled out the room after us. Soon a dead forsaken doctor and nurse lurched stiffly out of some other rooms.
“GROOOWWWL!”
Their skeleton like arms stretched out in front of them. They cut George off from the rest of the group. He was so focused on what was happening to the doctor that he never realized something was creeping up behind him. By the time he noticed them it was too late. We saw more of them come out the adjacent room and we took off down the hall.
”GRRRRRRR!”
“Don't leave me! I'm coming!” he screamed with fear in his eyes.
He swung wildly at them with his hammer. He was so scared that he couldn't get a good shot. Most of his blows caught them on the shoulder or collar bone. The nurse grabbed his other arm in a death grip and wouldn't let go.
“GROOOWWWL!”
“Let me go you ugly bitch!” he screamed trying to get free.
She pulled his arm up to her hungry drooling mouth and bit into the muscle.
“CHOMP!”
George screamed and then slammed the blunt end of the hammer into her face.
“You bitch!” he shouted in anger.
He thought he was safe until he noticed another forsaken in the corner of his eye. The emaciated doctor’s corpse had crept up behind him. Then it was able to bite him on the side of the neck leaving a laceration from his throat to his ear. The deep animal like bites bled profusely.
“GNAAAW! GNAAAW! GNAAAW!”
He lost his balance and they pinned him down on the tile. They held him tightly and forced him onto his side. The creatures scratched and clawed his skin before ripping open his belly.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!”
It was medieval autopsy that left him gutted and filet open from his groin to his sternum. He was severely bitten injuring his kidneys, liver and intestines. The noise drew other creatures into the corridor. The new set of forsaken barged through a set of labor and delivery double doors one by one.
“GRRRRRR!”
Their features had been distorted by violence and decay. The entire ravenous pack joyfully joined in the feeding frenzy.
“Get back!” screamed Carlos. “Get back!”
There was nothing me or my fellow survivors could do for him. George finally died after they tore through his aorta with one final bite.
“CHOMP!”
The kids turned their heads away and the women averted their eyes in disgust. I carefully aimed my gun at the biggest one then pulled the trigger. To my surprise it just clicked. I was completely out but luckily George’s death gave us the diversion we needed.
“Fuck!” I screamed. “Everyone get into the elevator!”
Soon their attention was drawn to the rest of us.
“GRRRRRR”
They clearly wanted to devour all of us. Joe and I pushed the loaded dolly in their path to slow them down. Carlos put Alex on his back and took off. We all made it inside but the buttons wouldn't work. I used a small silver key on my key ring to bypass the fire service mode. It still had power but we had another problem. The outer manually operated doors were broken. They were stuck in the open position.
“Forget this damn elevator!” frantically screamed Kahleem. “Let’s take the stairs to one of the other floors!”
“GROOOWWWL!”
I grabbed his shoulder and said. “That’s not an option. We'll be dead before we get there.”
Someone would have to stay behind and close the doors by hand. I was about to get off but Anne beat me to it.
“What are you doing?” I yelled. “Get back on the elevator!”
“It’s okay Kevin! I'm going to die anyway!” Anne explained. “At least this way it’s on my terms!”
“They can fix you can't they?” cried Latia.
“No sweetheart!” she said while giving Latia a hug.
Tears filled Blair’s eyes. Anne was upset too. She said her tearful goodbyes to everyone and asked us to forgive her for not telling us about being bit.
“Go with God my child!” responded the Pastor. “All is forgiven!”
“GRRRRRR!”
She closed the outer gates and I pushed the down button. Anne managed to put on a brave face but I could see the fear in her eyes. Maria squeezed my hand and shook her head. Anne slowly sank to her knees and pleaded for us to abandon her. Over her shoulder we could see the pregnant ghoul and a legion of decaying undead stumbling and slowly approaching.
“GRRRRRR!”
Anne's body trembled as the footsteps and moans behind her grew closer. The inner doors started to close just as the beasts got to her. By the time their hands began reaching out for her she was physically and emotionally exhausted. They grabbed Anne by the shoulders and dragged the crying woman down.
“CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!”
She let out a shriek as several of those things bit down into her soft flesh.
“Aaaiiihhheee!”
Anne violently shook and convulsed as her life’s blood sprayed into the air. She continued to kick and scream as they tore a chunk out of her neck. Her hands gripped her throat as the blood flowed like a faucet through her fingers. The forsaken continued to rip the skin from her bones and spilled her entrails and guts onto the dirty floor.
“CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!”
Blair fell to her knees distraught and gripped with emotion. We heard Anne s screams of anguish as we descended to the level below.
“Uuuggghhh!”
She was just a regular person a couple of days ago but she died a hero. For a long time no one spoke inside the elevator. We tried not to look each other in the eyes. We just exchanged a few quick glances. As our numbers began to decline I started to second guess my own decisions. The last thing I needed was someone else bitching or moaning about my leadership.
“Better them than us.” said Kahleem full indifference.
Nobody else said it but we were all thinking the same thing. It was cruel and insensitive but true. You had to learn to keep moving and not look back. We had become numb to it all just like Maria feared. By the time we stopped on the first floor everything above us was silent again.
CHAPTER 20:
The Final Salvation
When the service elevator stopped on the first floor we braced ourselves for action as the doors slowly opened. We ended up in the back storage area of the operating room. At first glance it looked deserted. Several colored and different size pipes hovered overhead and ran the length of the room. We stood there for a moment and listened before we exited. I determined that we were alone then we stepped out one by one. Normally anyone walking through this area would be met with a barrage of noise from the furnace and steam pipes. Today everything was silent.
The corridor was lined with beds with torn mattresses, equipment with broken electronics, and various parts. The quickest way out was to follow it and cut through the main surgery ward. That section was newer and more modern.
We walked down a long hallway with operating rooms on one side. Most of the rooms were empty but we did see a few patients still on the operating table. The smell looming in the hall was putrid and sour. The dead patients must have been left there when the doctors and nurses fled. Every instrument and tool was in its proper place.
“That is just tragic!” mumbled Joe. “Everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody deserves to die like that!”
“Something must have scared the doctors off!” said Blair.
The last room at the hall was different. You could tell that there was some sort of commotion. Surgical equipment and supplies were scattered around. The patient was missing but there was a lot of blood. I saw a decomposed body wearing surgical scrubs. It was hard to tell if it was a man or woman. The body was picked clean down to the skeleton. The area was contaminated with body fluids. Bloody footprints led out of the room. They were at odd angles and skipped around before coming together. We would never know what happened. They were dead and the dead don't talk.
“I don’t know if I want to live in a world this terrifying!” said Maria.
“Let's just keep moving!” said Carlos.
The footprints led up to a set of double doors. Dried bloody hand prints covered the door and the glass. I slowly pushed them open and peaked out the crack. Everyone else followed me through. That's when we realized how bad things had gotten. The OR waiting room was in shambles. Blood stained the rug and fancy chairs. Directly in front of our path a large pack of the forsaken ravaged the skeletons of two doctors and a nurse. Both of their faces were frozen in final expressions of terror.
“CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!”
They were busy tearing the corpses to pieces and didn’t look up. Carlos and I hurried everyone down the other corridor. The glass at the nurses’ station was shattered. Glass had fallen on the counter and floor. A dried bloodstain on the floor behind the desk was in the shape of a body that was no longer there. Out of nowhere the undead nurse who had been killed behind the desk grabbed Joe by the shoulder.
