Judgment

by Tom Reinhart

  How do I fucking know?

  “I don’t know. Maybe in the chaos and chasing down everyone else it just got forgotten or overlooked.”

  Steve tried to cover the baby with its blanket, jerking his hand back several times as if it would bite him. It was screaming incessantly now. Suddenly the lights in the room sputtered and flickered intensely as if they were going to go out.

  Shit. The generator.

  For a few seconds we stood in near darkness with a screaming dead baby. The lights flickered a few more times, before lighting solidly again. The generator was running low on fuel. It wouldn’t last much longer.

  “What are we going to do with it?” Margie asked, looking back towards the infant while wiping snot from her nose.

  Steve was having none of it. “Do with it? We can’t do anything with it. It’s dead. What are you going to do, breast feed a dead baby? It’s dead. And its screaming is going to attract attention. It’s going to get us killed.”

  Before I had a chance to tell Steve to tone it down, we all heard the Judges coming. I heard the double doors in the hallway creak open. Everyone froze. The shuffling of feet and the ruffling of feathers followed the sounds of equipment being shoved around in the corridor. There were several Judges coming. Margie looked around at the rest of us holding a finger over her lips, telling us to be quiet.

  Really? There’s a fucking screaming dead baby in the room.

  I looked around for any place to hide, but there was none, especially for three people. The sounds were getting closer. I quickly moved towards the doorway and motioned for the rest to follow.

  At the door I nervously peered out into the hallway. The angels were still around the corner in the other corridor. I could see shadows moving on the wall, but our room was still out of their view. Almost directly across from us was a public restroom, and beyond that what looked like a couple of closets before the hall widened to a nurses’ station area. One quick look back the other way and I could see the shadows growing, the angels almost about to turn the corner. The baby screamed furiously behind us.

  We’ve got to move. Right now.

  “Let’s go. Quick,” I whispered as I moved out into the hallway. I was heading to the closets when Steve stopped at the restroom door.

  “In here!” he urged us.

  “No, it’s too open. Too close. We’ll be trapped. Come on!” I insisted, quickly moving further down the hallway to the closets. Margie followed close and Steve, after hesitating a moment longer, quickly ran after us. At the first closet door I yanked on a locked handle. Margie pointed to the sign above that read ‘Medical Supply’.

  “Meds,” she said, “we’re not getting in there.”

  Margie hurried to the next door with Steve beside her. She pulled open the door and motioned to us all to follow. Margie went in, followed by Steve but it seemed to be a struggle. When I got to the door I saw the two of them wedged into a small linen closet. There was no way another person was getting in there and shutting the door.

  Shit.

  “Just stay in here and don’t make a sound.”

  “Adam wait!” I heard Margie whisper as I quickly shut the door on her. I continued down to the nurses’ station and to the double doors just beyond. I ran to open the doors, my face smacking into them when they didn’t open.

  Locked! God damn it!

  Frantically looking around for somewhere to hide, I saw nothing that felt safe. Even the underneath of the nurses’ desk was wide open. There was just nowhere to go. Down the hall the baby continued to wail. The sound of something loudly crashing to the floor echoed up the corridor, the fluttering of large wings following along with it. Beginning to panic now, I ran back in that direction and ducked into the restroom. I could think of nothing else to do.

  Inside, the bathroom was a single occupancy space, just a toilet and a sink. I shut the door and stood in the dark, leaning against the door trying to catch my breath without breathing too loudly. Outside the door the only sound was the baby screaming bloody murder.

  I waited for what seemed like an eternity, leaning up against the door, listening intently for clues as to what the angels were doing and where they were. I could hear the baby crying across the hall, the only other sounds were drops of water dripping into the sink behind me. I could feel my own heart pounding in my ears. It’s funny what the mind does under extreme circumstances. I found myself focusing on the different rhythm of my heartbeats compared to the water drips, as if my mind was blocking out the real situation outside the door in an act of mental self-preservation. After what I guessed was five minutes or so, I couldn’t take it any longer.

  Slowly and ever so slightly I cracked open the door, just barely enough to peek out through a razor thin gap. Squinting through the gap I could see two angels in the room with the baby. A female was standing over the bassinet, staring down at the screaming infant. I expected her to pick it up, embrace it, and perhaps judge it. But she did none of that. She simply stood over it, looking at it without emotion, making no effort to comfort it, nor end its suffering.

  The other Judge, a male, was in the center of the room, looking upwards with his head tilted at an odd angle. It was as if he was listening, or smelling; somehow searching for us. Then he suddenly turned and focused on the hallway, almost looking directly at me. It seemed as though he could sense me somehow, but I couldn’t tell how.

  For a moment I was afraid to even push the door back shut for fear he would see it move. I felt the hair stand up on my arms and my gut tighten with raw fear when the angel began walking directly towards the bathroom. I froze with panic and could only stare out through the tiny crack. The angel entered the hallway, still focused on the bathroom door. The female Judge had now turned to follow him, leaving the screaming infant alone in the bassinet. The angel took several more steps towards the door. I knew I would be trapped. My eyes closed tightly, involuntarily.

  Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Please no.

  Without thought I tightened my grip on the handle as if I would attempt to hold the door shut. I held my breath, and after several moments with nothing happening, I opened my eyes. Immediately I saw the golden eyeball staring at me through the gap. Sheer panic overcame me and I don’t even remember consciously thinking about my next move. I burst out through the door and into the hallway; the angel stepping back surprised at the sudden opening of the door.

  I barely slipped past him before he could grab me. The female also lunged towards me, but the adrenaline of pure panic drove me past them with unusual speed. I ran back the way we had originally come, around the corner and down the next hall. My heart was pounding in my chest and I couldn’t breathe, the raw fear choking the air out of me. I could hear the angels behind me; the fluttering of wings and the patter of bare feet on the cold hospital floor.

  Just ahead of me was the stairwell door we had first come up. Without any plan I ran through it, finding myself back on the same dimly lit landing. Down the steps I threw myself, jumping two and three steps at a time. I just had to get away and hide; I could go back and find Margie and Steve later. I found myself passing by the first floor lobby where we had entered the stairwell, continuing down into that dark basement area below; the place I didn’t want to go. Two flights above me I heard the stairwell door at the second floor bang open. The angels were coming, their feet slapping against each step.

  Please God give me somewhere to hide.

  Out through the only door at the bottom of the stairs, I found myself in the basement of the hospital. Dark, dirty and neglected, it was an area of maintenance supplies, janitor closets and storage rooms. It was dimly lit, just light enough for me to move around without tripping over everything.

  Wanting to get as far from the stairwell as I could, I ran across a large open room and into a small hallway with a single door at the end. Outside the door I hesitated, hearing noises on the other side. I could clearly hear thumping and banging, and the unnerving and unmistakable moaning of the maledic
ted. I feared opening the door, but I heard the angels coming through the basement now; I had to find a place to hide or die.

  Opening the door I rushed through into what felt like a refrigerator; the air cold enough to see my breath. Warmer air from the hallway behind me poured into the cold room, creating a thin layer of fog that slowly rolled across the ceiling. The metallic walls of the room were lined with little square doors with metal handles, like rows of old fashioned ice boxes.

  Oh my god it’s the morgue.

  All around me the dead and maledicted were moving inside the walls; kicking against their doors, moaning and groaning, protesting their predicament. There was nowhere for me to go except to hide in one of those drawers in the wall. I hesitated, but I could hear the angels moving around outside the door. Adrenaline burned my veins as the pressure to hide intensified by the second.

  I ran to the closest wall and pulled open one of the doors. A terrible stench spewed forth, stinging the inside of my nose. Two human feet were there in the opening, complete with a dangling toe tag. The tag immediately began moving, like a signal warning me to stay away as the body began sliding itself out of the wall.

  I ran to another drawer, but found only another animated corpse when I opened it. I couldn’t find any empty drawers to climb into, and now the maledicted were climbing out of the walls. I tried a third, and a forth, and another, but only found more bodies of the dead that were no longer truly dead.

  Two of the maledicted were now totally out of the drawers and in the room. One had fallen and was sitting on the floor, mumbling to himself. The other was standing, leaning against the wall for support, looking directly at me. He looked confused, his brain function having stopped long ago. His eyes were lifeless, but he stared at me like an animal does that doesn’t understand what it’s seeing. Seconds later it seemed as though he had an epiphany of self-awareness, and looking into his lifeless eyes I saw the insanity awake behind them.

  Several more were beginning to fall out of the walls, and I could smell them from across the room, the lingering stench of dead flesh climbing out of the drawers ahead of them. The one that had been staring at me suddenly began to move forward, his arms outstretched, reaching for me.

  He moved steadily towards me, an insane dead corpse, while the others fell out of their drawers and slowly got to their feet. There was nowhere for me to go. I could hear the angels at the door now as the maledicted came ever closer.

  As I began backing up towards a corner, the lights on the ceiling began to sputter and flicker. An even worse chill of panic ran up my spine.

  Oh shit, no. Not now. The generator…

  A few seconds later the lights went out completely and the hospital was plunged into total darkness.

  I stood frozen, the gurgling and shuffling of the insane dead moving all around me in the darkness. I backed into a corner as far as I could and squatted down, unable to see even six inches in front of my face. I heard one of the maledicted fall to the ground from rotted legs that could no longer hold him up. It sounded like the bones had cracked, and I heard him utter sounds of pain. The smell in the air made me want to puke and I had to choke it back simply to be quiet.

  The sound of a handle turning drifted across the room, and the rusting hinges of the door creaked in protest as the angels pulled it open. No light entered from the hall, but I felt a slight breeze on my face push in when the door opened. My panicked and heightened senses caught the sound of ruffling feathers, and the light patter of bare feet on the cold metal floor. The Judges were in the room, moving amongst the maledicted in the dark. I tried to push myself back into the wall, to become part of it, to hide. I tucked my face down into my knees, covering my head with my arms.

  Please God. Just let me get out of here. Please.

  One of the maledicted bumped into me, the cold clammy skin of its legs brushing against my arm. He seemed to not realize what I was, and he stumbled away into the darkness. Shuffling noises seemed to come from all around the room, with no distinction between what was a Judge and what was a maledicted. I sat there, frozen in the cold corner, terrified to move. The fear and horror choked me and I struggled to breathe. I held my breath for as long as I could trying to be quiet, but it only made me breathe harder when I could no longer hold it. My heart pounded in my chest so powerfully I was sure the Judges could hear it.

  Shuffling feet drew nearer in the dark, and suddenly one of the dead tripped over me, falling right on top of me. I had to put my hand over my mouth to stop from yelling out. The corpse squirmed around, its cold rotted flesh leaving a slimy film on me wherever we touched. The smell and the thought of touching it made me instantly gag, but I had to remain still and silent to not give myself away to the Judges. I tucked my head down harder into my knees and arms to cover my face, clenched my teeth tightly, and just froze motionless. A sudden gentle movement of air rolled past as an angel’s wing moved just over me; the very tips of its feathers brushing gently across the top of my head.

  Oh my god, he’s right in front of me.

  I stiffened and held my breathe knowing a Judge was only a foot away in the darkness. The maledicted corpse, attempting to rise to his feet, pushed against me with cold clammy hands. Suddenly its focus seemed to shift, and I felt it’s long rotting arms reach around my shoulders. Something was attracting it to me; my smell, my sweat, perhaps my body heat. A moment later I felt a wet sensation on the back of my neck. I heard suckling sounds as I felt teeth and tongue against my skin.

  The god damned thing is sucking on me.

  I struggled desperately to not move, to not flinch, as this disgusting corpse suckled on the back of my neck, lapping up my warm salty sweat. I fought desperately to not puke at the smell of the foul slime that dripped from its dead lips and trickled across my cheek. I dared not move for several minutes, while the maledicted slobbered on the back of my neck and Judges moved around in the darkness.

  Sounds of movement came from outside the room, several items clanking around on the floor out in the main basement. The sound of the stairwell door opening came next, and several seconds later the thud of its closing. It had to be the angels going back upstairs, and I desperately wanted out of here, to get away from this morgue and its rotting horrifying tenants. I needed to get back to Margie and Steve, take Steve’s inhalers and just get the hell out of here.

  I couldn’t take it anymore, and I quickly stood, throwing my arms outward, shoving the rotting maledicted monster off of my neck. In the dark I heard it gurgle a startled gasp and fall backwards onto the floor. The sudden activity seemed to excite the others, and the room became a frenzy of walking corpses stumbling into each other in the dark. Feeling my way along the cold wall, I moved to the doorway.

  Standing in the small hallway just outside the room, darkness enveloped me, making me completely blind. I could hear and smell the maledicted shuffling around behind me. Afraid to create any type of light for fear a Judge was still nearby, I fumbled a few steps through the darkness into the main room. I immediately tripped over several loose items on the floor, causing loud noises that were answered quickly by the excited hissing and wheezing of the maledicted shambling out of the refrigerated room and into the hallway.

  The disgust and fear of walking into one of the dead in the dark became greater than the fear of running from a Judge, so I pulled the last flare from my pack and ignited it. The loud crack of the sparks echoed across the room as the red light followed the sound and filled the space around me with an eerie red glow. I waved the flare back and forth around me scanning the area. A couple of maledicted were slowly moving towards me from the shadows, drawn by the glow of the flare. For the moment I saw no Judges, and I began to move back towards the stairwell to get to the upper floor.

  As quietly as I could I pushed open the stairwell door. The flickering red glow of the flare slowly crept into the lower stairwell, seemingly as afraid to enter as I was. Looking upwards and listening intently, I heard no sounds within the small space of th
e stairwell. Entering, I quickly shut the door behind me, the maledicted wandering over from the morgue just steps behind me before I sealed them out behind the metal door. I heard them scratching at it as I made my way up first flight of stairs, reaching the flare out ahead of me, straining to see into the darkness just beyond the red glow.

  I passed by the lobby floor, and after pausing for a moment listening for the Judges, continued on up to the second floor where I had left the others. The stairwell was bathed in the red glow of the flare, the sparks emitting from it making a trail of smoke that rose up the stairwell into the darkness like the souls of the judged rose into the night sky. As I neared the second floor I could hear the dead baby still crying, while below the maledicted were scratching at the basement door.

  Still very afraid, I quickly thrust the flare out into the second floor, peeking out behind it. “Whoa!” came Margie’s voice as I almost hit her in the face with the flare. I yelled out as well, startled by her sudden appearance just outside the doorway. Steve grabbed her by the shoulders and caught her as she nearly fell trying to lean back away from the flare.

  “We were just coming looking for you,” he said.

  “You scared the crap out of me,” I told them, still trying to catch my breath from the panic.