Knight in the City: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale

by Beard, Stephen J.

  “One wants to kill us and one doesn’t. I don’t know who is going to win but we can’t gamble that it works out for us. Be ready.”

  I nodded and tried not to look as scared as I really was.

  We picked up a few more things after that but our bags were getting full and there wasn’t much left. We only found two zombies while we were gathering supplies.

  “Okay,” said Tyler. “I think we got what we came for. Let’s get ready to go.”

  We met back at the door and made ourselves ready. Which was mostly getting a good grip on our tomahawks. Ben and Tyler would go through first again with John and I right behind them.

  “We’ve got to move forward. There’s no retreating. If we have to use the ambulance again we’ll meet there,” said Tyler. “On three. One… Two… Three…”

  Ben and Tyler pulled the doors open and began to move forward through them into the ER lobby. There was a group of over a dozen zombies in front of them. As they continued forward, John pushed them and pushed the doors closed.

  “Run, Tabby. Go.”

  I froze.

  John adjusted his stance, getting his feet situated on the linoleum floor and leaned into the door.

  “Run, Tabby. You’ve got to. I don’t know how long I can keep them out. Go, now.”

  I turned to run and I could hear shouting behind me from the other side of the door. And then banging, like Ben and Tyler were trying to get through. I ran through the treatment area we had just raided. On the other side of the ‘L’ shaped room there was a door leading further into the hospital. I knew I had to go through that door. But, I didn’t know what was on the other side.

  Maybe I should go back and help John. Together, we could maybe hold the door and fight Ben and Tyler.

  Who was I kidding? I’m a teenage girl.

  Still, John was risking his life to save me. I shouldn’t just abandon him.

  Two shots rang out. I opened the door and went through.

  In front of me was a hallway leading to a ‘T’ intersection. Along the sides were doors.

  And there were seven zombies.

  They’d heard the shots, too and were already moving towards me. I tightened my grip on my tomahawk and swung at the closest zombie. The pointy end of the weapon went into his skull and the zombie, a doctor I think, went down. I dodged the next zombie and the next. I was small and quick. As long as there weren’t too many of them I could maybe make my way through without getting bogged down and surrounded.

  Buoyed by my realization, I went around the corner to the left ready to dodge and weave. There were at least ten zombies all bunched up right in front of me. I took a mighty swing with my tomahawk and hit the first zombie in the side of the skull. She went down and pulled the tomahawk right out of my hand. I scrambled to get it back and retrieved it just as another got close. As I swung, I saw that this zombie was a teenage girl like me: probably a patient.

  I closed my eyes and missed my mark. Instead, the tomahawk sliced open her neck almost back to her spine. My swing left me off balance and turned to my left.

  There was a zombie on me quickly, pulling on my pack. I shrugged it off and opened the door in front of me.

  God, let it be empty.

  It was.

  The X-ray machinery looked like the WWII machinery in the battery at Ft Sumter in my headlamp. I moved to the back of the room and cowered on the floor. The zombies in the hall banged on the door trying to get to their meal. Me. I could hear their un natural moaning.

  I began to cry. Loudly at first, then I realized they could hear me. Their moaning got louder.

  I was going to die here. Alone in this hospital. Away from my dad and my brother. And my mom. I missed her so much. I was going to die here. I cried quietly until the noise from the zombies stopped. Then, exhausted from the day, I fell asleep.

  My eyes snapped open. I wasn’t sure where I was right away. The room was dark and quiet. Then it all came flooding back.

  Zombies. Fort Sumter. Medical supply run. Ben and Tyler trying to kill us. John sacrificing himself. Running. More zombies. Hiding in the X-ray room.

  Still alive. But trapped in here.

  But, my dad was coming for me. It was the last thing he said to me before I left. But when I left him he was still locked in the pillory after getting lashed with a whip. He’s my dad. He’ll find a way. He’s kept all these people alive during the freaking zombie apocalypse.

  Well, not all of them. Mom didn’t make it. It wasn’t dad’s fault. He did all he could. But, if he couldn’t save mom can he really control what happens to me? He’s not even here right now.

  Oh my God. What if he’s dead? Maybe Capt. Rendina had him killed after we left. No, he had no reason to do that. Well, he did. But, if he was going to kill my dad he wouldn’t done it in front of all of us. Rendina wanted my dad to suffer with the loss of me on this trip.

  I miss Mike. I’ve treated him so poorly since Justin showed up at the fort. I missed Justin but that’s no excuse for how I treated Mike. I love him. I’m sure of that. I can’t wait to see him. He’ll be with dad when he comes.

  No matter what: dad, Mike, grandma, Malcolm, everyone. They’re coming for me. I know it. I’ll just sit here in a safe spot until they get here.

  Eventually, though, I talked myself into not being a scared, useless, little teenage girl. If I could get out of the hospital then I could get to the City Marina. That would help everyone out. Surely all the zombies have wondered off after Ben and Tyler.

  So, I checked my headlamp, wishing I had replacement batteries but they were in the pack on the floor down the hall. Unless zombies had gotten materialistic all of the sudden. My knife was on my left hip. My handgun was on my right hip. My tomahawk was covered with zombie brains but I had it. I still had my AR but I had no idea where my crossbow was. I must’ve dropped it earlier.

  I turned my headlamp on and opened the door as quietly as I could manage. Two zombie corpses were on the floor where I’d left them. My eyes followed the light as I turned my head one way then the other.

  Nothing there.

  And no sound, either.

  No, wait. That wasn’t true. There was a soft but consistent banging noise coming from one direction. Thankfully, I was headed the other way.

  Down the corridor and around the corner I went. Still no zombies.

  I stopped at the door. On the other side of this door was the ER treatment area. We cleared it already so there shouldn’t be any zombies. I took a deep breath. If there were a few zombies that had wondered in, I’d be ready.

  Gripping my tomahawk, I went through the door. The room was dark and silent except for my headlamp and footsteps. I had the feeling that something was wrong right away but I didn’t know what it was. Halfway through the room, two things happened. One, I heard a noise behind. And, two, I realized what was bothering me.

  There were medical supplies everywhere.

  This was not the ER we were in earlier. I had made a wrong turn.

  Turning toward the noise, I could see zombies shambling up from behind me.

  I panicked.

  What was I doing here? I could’ve hid in that X-ray room until dad and Mike came to get me. Turning to run, I found more zombies in front of me. The way forward was blocked. I turned back the way that I’d came and found more zombies there now.

  Over to my left was a room. I tried the door. Open. The room looked empty of zombies.

  It seemed like an intensive care room. There was a hospital bed with lots of instruments around it. The wall next to the door was made of glass and zombies were gathering along it, trying to get to me. They could see I was in here.

  Duh. My headlamp was on. I took one last look at the zombies gathering at the window… doctors, nurses, police, maintenance workers, patients. All snarling at me through the glass. I switched off my headlamp. I just had to hide here until the zombies lost interest.

  Almost instantly, I heard that un natural moaning. And it was close. Insid
e the room, close! I turned my headlamp back on and got ready to fight. Nothing. The zombies at the window were still there but that was it. There it was again, that un natural sound.

  I stood up to find a zombie strapped to the bed. How did I miss that? One strike to the head and I sat back down in the corner. I turned my headlamp back off and began to cry.

  “Tabby, copy. It’s your father. Tabby”

  I sat up. That was dad. And the walkie was really loud.

  “Tabitha Knight, this is your father. Do you Copy?”

  “Daddy?” I keyed the mic on the walkie. “Dad, is that you?”

  I couldn’t contain myself, I was practically shouting.

  “Hey Tabby. It’s me. We got out. We’re on our way to you. Where are you?”

  There were more zombies at the glass wall now. I could hear them.

  “I’m in Roper Hospital somewhere. I don’t know where.”

  “Where’s John?” dad asked.

  I began to cry, making more noise.

  “I don’t know, daddy. We got separated. Those two men tried to kill us. John saved me, but I don’t know where he is.”

  Or, if he’s alive, I continued in my head.

  Now there seemed to be even more zombies at the glass. I could hear them banging pretty hard on the glass.

  Okay, honey,” dad said. “We’re coming.”

  I turned my headlamp back on and could see the glass moving as the zombies beat on it.

  “Hurry, daddy. The zombies are getting in.”

  The glass wall shattered with a tremendous boom, showering me with safety glass. The zombies fell into the room. I screamed and bolted for the door, stuffing the walkie in my pocket. Most of the zombies were pushed up against the glass and there were only a few on the other side of the door when I opened it. I pushed them and kept running. Back through the door I came through. I hoped it was the same door, anyway. A left, a right and, yes. My pack was there on the floor. That’s why I didn’t see it before. One more turn and there was the door to the ER. No one behind me but I could hear that moaning getting louder.

  I opened the door slowly and went through. I was in the right place. No supplies anywhere. It all looked familiar. On the other side of the room was the door that John pushed Ben and Tyler through then held so I could get away.

  There were two bullet holes low in the door. Blood was on the floor. There were boot prints in it and some was smeared on the door.

  They killed him. I was sure now. I dropped to the floor and cried softly.

  No one should have to die for me. Not my mother. Not John. What kind of messed up world was this?

  Zombies? Rival gangs of humans?

  I missed my dad. I missed my brother and my grandmother. I missed Mike. I wish he were here. I missed my mom.

  I sat like that for a few minutes, looking around occasionally to make sure I was alone. I wished my family were here. But, they weren’t. I was here alone.

  You know? I practiced hard with these weapons. Dad taught me and Mike taught me. And, I was pretty good. I fought hard to get dad to let me go on a supply run. I’ve fought hard to get him to stop treating me like I was his little princess. And now, I’m sitting here on the floor crying?

  No, I was better than that.

  I stood up; made sure my gear was in the right place and took a deep breath.

  Let’s try this again.

  I opened the door and found the room had a lot of zombies. I waded into the group of snarling, smelly creatures and began to swing my tomahawk. And I was doing great. But there were a lot of zombies and I was already getting tired. I could see through the busted out doors to the ER drop off area. There was the ambulance we had sought refuge on before. I’d be safe up there.

  With renewed energy I kept fighting my way toward the ambulance. Zombies were going down one after the other. I kept my distance and moved quickly around the ones who got too close. But, I wasn’t going to make it. I had maybe fifty or sixty feet to go and I was just too tired. And, there were just too many zombies.

  I dropped my tomahawk and raised my AR. It’d never felt so heavy, even the first time I picked it up. I began to fire at the zombies between me and the ambulance, clearing a path. It didn’t matter if I hit them in the head or not, as long as they went down or moved out of the way.

  Over the tremendous noise of my AR, I could hear another firearm shooting now. It was close, too. Zombies in front of me began to fall. Someone else was shooting them.

  I looked up and there was John on top of the ambulance. He was helping me to clear a path. A few more went down and I was climbing onto the hood of the ambulance. One had a hold of my foot but John took it out before I could even turn. By the time I joined John on the top, zombies were banging on the sides as they tried to get to us. They were rocking it well, but there was no coordinated effort.

  I threw my arms around John, surprising him.

  “I thought you were dead,” I yelled.

  “I thought you were dead, too.”

  “What happened?”

  “After you ran we exchanged a lot of words through the door and there was a lot of pushing. Finally, they fired two rounds through the door hitting me in the leg. I waited a couple of minutes then opened the door. I figured any zombies out there probably followed them and I was right, sort of. There were too many for how slow I was moving. Plus the trail of blood wasn’t helping. Climbing up here was my best option. What happened to you?”

  “I hid for a while then thought I’d try to get out of the hospital. I got lost then trapped. Then dad called and I tried again to get out.”

  “Your dad’s alive?”

  I nodded.

  “What about the others?”

  “We didn’t have too much time to chat before I had to move. I don’t know who made it out. We can call him.”

  “We probably should anyway to tell him where we are.”

  “Yeah,” I said as I reached for my walkie. “Hey, John?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you for trying to save me.”

  “You’re welcome. I told your dad I would look after you if I could. He’s a good man.”

  “Yes, he is,” I replied. “And a good father.”

  If you enjoyed Knight in the City please leave a review on Amazon so others can find it.

  Ryan Knight and his group will return soon.

  Stephen J. Beard is a tour guide in Historic Charleston, South Carolina. He lives with his wonderful, supportive wife, two cats and a crazy dog. The series, A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale, is his first published work.

  Also by Stephen J. Beard…

  Dead of Knight

  Knight Terrors