They stood in front of the stairway entrance, but Will found himself staring at the double doors.
Deep down, he wanted to rush through the doors and sprint back to the area where his mother had been killed. Her body was still back there. Part of the reason Will wanted to go with the others was because he knew Gabriel was going to lead a clean-up of that room while he was gone, and pull his mother out in the process. He wanted to be away when that happened, and he could guess that this was also part of the reason Gabriel had shown little resistance to him going.
Will turned away from the door when he felt a hand grip his shoulder.
“You about ready?” Gabriel asked.
Will nodded. He looked down at the broomstick he held in his hands and chuckled. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
The best thing they’d been able to find for weapons were some mops and brooms in a supply closet. They’d taken the heads off of them to create three makeshift Bo Staffs. They’d also found kitchen knives in the break room, and the four of them each carried one of those on them as well, but the broom sticks would give them a little more range. They’d agreed that the best strategy was going to be to run like hell down the hallway and reach the garage as quickly as possible. There was no need to take out the Empties—only to get past them. But, in truth, they had no idea how many of the creatures would be down there.
Will looked over to Brandon, who had sweat dripping down his cheeks. He nervously rotated his staff in his hands with sweaty palms. Standing next to Brandon, Sam looked much the same. His eyes were closed and his lips moved as he mumbled something to himself.
Then he looked over to Jessica. Her arm was out of the sling and she was moving it around, trying to loosen it up. Apparently, she’d been right about the misdiagnosis the EMT had given her. It didn’t look like her arm would be a hindrance. Aside for this first part of their journey, her legs were going to be much more important anyway.
“You ready?” Will asked her.
“Yeah,” Jessica replied. She had a focused look in her eyes.
He felt a presence from his other side and looked over to see Holly. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand, and her other arm was crossed over her chest. Her face was flush, and she looked exhausted.
“I still don’t want you to go,” she mumbled.
“I know,” Will said.
“But I know you have to.” There was a pause as they stared at each other, and then she said, “I’m sorry about earlier.” She looked down at his wrapped hand, the gauze having a light stain of blood to it.
“Don’t be,” Will told her. “I was an asshole. You’ve done nothing but tried to be supportive today.”
The last line made her smile, and she leaned in to hug him.
As she cried on his shoulder, Will’s eyes wandered to Jessica, who was looking at them with that same serious and focused look on her face. She cracked a small smile, then turned away, moving her hair out of her face. Will pulled away from Holly.
“Just get back to me safe, okay?” Holly said.
Will leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, then embraced her. “I will. I promise.”
She stepped away from him, holding his hand until she had backed up to join the rest of the group, standing next to Marcus as he clutched her from the side. Gabriel then approached Will again. He reached his hand out and Will took it.
“Everything will be handled when you get back,” Gabriel told him.
Will pulled him into a fast hug. “Thanks, bro. I really appreciate it.”
They pulled apart and Gabriel said, “No problem. Now go get us some guns so we can go get that son of a bitch and rescue Dylan.”
Will nodded, then turned toward the stairway door. He, Sam, Brandon, and Jessica stood in a line facing it. He opened the door, and they headed inside.
They reached the bottom of the first ten steps, then turned around the corner for a slightly longer descent.
When they reached the bottom, Will put his ear to the door. There wasn’t a window pane, so the only way to know if there was something waiting for them on the other side of the metal frame would be to listen. He looked over to his cohorts and shook his head.
Above them, the group looked down to them from the top of the wrapped staircase. Will looked up to give Gabriel and Marcus a thumbs up, and then winked at Holly. The group above retreated back through the door.
He glanced over his shoulder.
“Ready?” he whispered.
The three people with him nodded.
“Alright, watch my back.”
Will closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. His hand grasped the metal handle and he opened the door.
***
Light on the 7th floor of the hospital appeared to be almost non-existent. In spots, the overhead lamps flickered, illuminating some of the shadows. There was a strong buzzing sound that came from the bulbs, and it could be heard stretching down the hallway. Will poked his head through the door to examine the area. Just outside the door, a table that had sat between the elevator doors had been turned over, and a small bouquet of flowers sat in the middle of a shattered vase on the floor. When the light flashed, he could see a splatter of blood on the wall above the space where the table looked to have sat, but there wasn’t a body anywhere on the ground.
Will drew in a deep breath and then stepped through the doorway.
Almost immediately, he retreated back through the door. He looked back at Brandon, Sam, and Jessica. He held up four fingers, signaling to them that he’d seen at least four Empties lumbering around in the corridor.
“Are they blocking the entire hallway?” Sam whispered.
Will nodded. “But I think I saw the door we’ve gotta get to. I’m gonna poke my head around the corner and check it out.”
“Be careful,” Jessica said.
He again moved out of the door and stood with his back flat against the wall. Poking his head around the corner, he saw the Empties again, walking aimlessly in the corridor. One of them seemed to be just walking the width of the hallway, hitting the wall on one side and then turning around again until it reached the opposing wall. Another one walked closer to the end of the hall, and Will could now see a fifth creature walking by. Down at the end of the hall was the door. It seemed so simple a task to reach the door. But navigating the hallway with only a few broomsticks and kitchen knives to rid it of the Empties would be something else completely. Will moved back to the door and looked inside.
“The door is down there, no doubt,” he whispered. “But there’s no telling how many more of them are in there. I definitely just saw a fifth one walk by, but a lot of the doors appear to be open. For all we know, one of those patient rooms could be filled with the bastards.”
“So, what do we do?” Jessica asked.
Will looked across the hallway and saw there were two double doors, similar to the ones upstairs. Behind them, it appeared to be darker than the hallway in front of him, and he assumed there was a very good chance that more Empties would be back there. But he had an idea.
“Wait just a couple of minutes, then make a run for the garage,” Will said. “Until then, keep this door shut. Just listen for them.”
“What? Where are you going?” Brandon asked.
“Just trust me.”
“Will, no,” Jessica said. She reached out and grabbed his arm.
He smiled at her. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Just wait until you don’t hear them anymore, and then run like hell.”
***
Jessica
Letting go of his arm, Jessica watched as Will stepped into the middle of the hallway. He stopped and looked down toward the beasts, then whistled, and started to wave his arms in the air. She heard the creatures growl, and the sound slowly became increasingly louder. Just out in front of her, Will opened the double doors, then urgently signaled for her to shut the door to the stairway. She did as requested.
“What the fuck is he doing?” Brandon asked.
; “He’s giving us a clear shot to that door,” Sam said.
“I’ve only seen someone hotwire a car—I’ve never actually done it,” Brandon admitted.
“Well, looks like we’re gonna have to figure it out,” Jessica said.
She put her ear to the door and listened as the beasts growled. Closing her eyes to focus, Jessica could almost see them chasing after Will through the double doors. Just as Will had instructed, she waited long enough for the growling of the beasts to fade.
“It sounds like it might be clear,” Jessica said.
“You sure? What if there’s more of them out there?” Brandon asked.
She shrugged. “Only one way for us to find out.”
Jessica reached down and pulled the door open.
Taking her time, she stepped out into the hallway. With the door now open, she could hear the creatures somewhere in the distance, on the other side of the double doors. It sounded to be quite a large group, and Jessica swallowed hard as she wondered if Will was alright. But when she peeked around the corner to look down the main corridor, it appeared vacant. In the flashing light, she could see at least three mangled and motionless figures on the ground between where she stood and the door to the parking garage.
She looked back to Brandon and Sam, who both still stood just inside the door of the stairway. “You ready?”
Brandon nodded nervously and they both stepped out through the door.
Jessica led them, walking cautiously toward the door. As they approached the first body on the floor, she told herself not to look at it. It ranked as some grotesque smell like she’d never experienced in her entire life. The scent alone made her want to turn and throw up, and she wished they had thought about bringing rags to cover their faces. Instead, she cupped her mouth and nose with her hand, holding her broomstick tight in the other. She wanted to close her eyes, so as to help her ignore the body, but she had to keep them open to remain aware of her surroundings.
She couldn’t resist looking.
With the body now at her feet, which splashed in a pool of blood, she unconsciously looked down.
It was one of the worst she’d seen. There was hardly anything left, aside from a pile of tattered clothes and a stack of bones. Presumably, the body had been sitting here for over a week, giving the Empties who occupied this floor of the hospital plenty of time to pick it dry. All that remained of the body was a little bit of tissue and muscle. Even the eyes had been gorged—the only thing left on the head, with the exception of some of the skin’s underlinings, being the hair. It was the long, kempt hair of a woman. So much blood stained it that she couldn’t even tell what color the hair had been, especially with the inconsistent lighting.
She jostled when a hand grabbed her shoulder and then turned to Brandon, who’d used the collar of his t-shirt to cover his face so that he could keep both hands grasped on his makeshift weapon.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s keep going.” He took the lead, stepping out in front of Jessica and Sam.
A noise sounded from one of the rooms around them, and before Jessica could say anything, something crashed through a door ahead.
Brandon cried out as a large figure wearing a once white overcoat rushed out of the door and grabbed onto him. Brandon instinctively raised his broomstick with both hands, and the Empty took hold of it. They fought each other for leverage and Brandon found himself with his back against the wall, trying to push the beast backward.
Sam lifted his own broomstick and was about to bring it down into the creature when another beast came out of the same room and lunged at him. He turned just in time to get his hands up and block the thing from biting him. They began to struggle near the opposite wall from where Brandon and his assailant fought.
When Jessica took a step toward Brandon in hopes of helping him, she slipped in a pool of blood, falling onto her back and throwing her broomstick behind her in the process. She hit the floor with a thud, and immediately clutched her back. She heard a snap, and looked up to see that Brandon’s broomstick had broken. The Empty fell toward him, but Brandon got his hand on its shoulder before it was able to bite him.
“Run!” Brandon shouted.
But Jessica couldn’t move. Her eyes, glazed over, happened to come upon one half of Brandon’s broomstick, now broken off into a jagged point. She rolled toward it, grasping it as she heard another howl from behind her. Jessica turned toward the door they’d been trying to reach to see two more Empties lumbering toward them.
“Get out of here!” Brandon demanded.
Jessica fought her way onto her hands and knees, then heard a crash, and looked over to see that Brandon and the Empty had fallen. Behind her, the two stragglers approached quickly. Sam had the Empty he’d been fighting pinned against the wall, but was trying to free his hand.
Jessica made her way to one knee, and she felt the strain in her back as she stood all the way up. The pain shooting down her spine caused her to stand with an elderly woman’s posture, but she found a way to move and stand over Brandon and his opposition. Just as the creature was about to finally catch hold of the flesh on Brandon’s wrist, she drove the stake down into the side of its head, and the grip on Brandon became nonexistent. Jessica fell to the ground again, the execution having taken everything out of her and the pain in her back not subsiding. Brandon breathed heavy, but somehow made it to his feet.
Brandon grabbed the other half of the broomstick off the ground and rushed over to Sam, driving the stake into the head of the creature he’d been fighting. The Empty went limp, and Sam gasped for air.
“Thanks,” Sam said.
Brandon turned and delivered a swift kick to one of the approaching beasts, before clutching the other one by the shirt and driving the stake into its eye. It fell to the ground, and Brandon picked up Jessica’s unbroken broomstick. The standing Empty let out a scream, and Brandon swung the stick like a baseball bat. The creature didn’t even attempt to cover up, and Brandon connected, breaking the stick over the thing’s face as it fell to the ground. Brandon was left with a freshly made stake in his hand, and promptly drove it down into the Empty’s eye. The fight over, he went down to his knees and gasped for breath.
“Are you okay?” he asked, short on air and looking over at Jessica.
“Yeah,” she grimaced. “I took a bad spill, but I’ll be fine.”
Jessica turned when she heard another crash come from the direction of the elevators. Will appeared at the end of the hall and fell, crawling for a moment before standing upright again. He was waving toward the door to the garage.
“Run! Go!” he shouted.
Behind him, a pack of Empties filled the end of the hall. Too many for Jessica to count.
“Holy shit,” Sam said.
Jessica’s eyes went wide, and Brandon reached down to pick her up. She grimaced from a shooting pain in her back.
“I’m sorry,” Brandon told her. He threw his arm around her and Sam joined from the other side.
“We gotta go, now!” Will shouted, and they headed for the door as the gates of hell seemed to open behind him.
CHAPTER SIX
Will
The growling grew behind them as they raced for the door. Will had almost caught up to them, and wondered what had happened to Jessica to where she now had trouble walking. There’d be time to ask questions later. For now, he just wanted to get them out of the hospital.
When they reached the door to the parking garage, Will looked through a large window to his right and saw a small group of Empties inside a closed room. They slapped the glass with their palms. Reluctantly, he looked back and saw the crowd, fast-approaching them. For the first time, he was able to get a good look at the horde. It had to be made up of at least twenty figures, and they slowed themselves down by grouping from wall to wall, rubbing up against it and fighting for space as they moved toward Will and the others. He heard the hinges on the door in front of him, and saw Brandon using his free hand to push it open.
&
nbsp; If the horde hadn’t been approaching from behind, Will would have told the anesthesiologist that he should have waited in case something was on the other side. Instead, the door opened, and they were faced with another Empty who’d been trapped.
The Empty lunged at them, and Will stepped in front. He got his stick up just in time to push the creature back, and he moved into the room.
“Come on!” he called back without looking, keeping his eyes focused on the monster in front of him.
The door slammed shut behind him, muffling the calls of the approaching horde. Now the only thing standing between the group and the parking garage was a long-haired Empty wearing turquoise scrubs—probably a former nurse at the hospital who’d been on her way into work when she’d fallen. There were no other bodies in this small room, so the creature must have been trapped here alone for the past week.
“Stay back!” Will called behind him.
The former nurse came at him, and he kicked her in the gut, sending her flying backward. He immediately swung his stick, but the thing’s hands were already coming up in front of its face after falling back. The broomstick broke, and Will was left holding only a six-inch piece. He reached to his belt and withdrew the kitchen knife as the Empty stood up straight again.
A crash from behind startled Will, followed by repeated loud banging. The horde inside the hospital had reached the door, and were now slamming themselves against it. Turning back had been a mistake, as the former nurse lunged toward him.
Will saw the panic in Jessica’s eyes, and just as she started to point and shout out his name, he turned and thrust the knife toward the creature’s head, getting lucky to hit it just above its right eye. The nails on one of its hands scratched Will’s arm in the process, but the Empty fell to the ground at Will’s feet.
After leaning down and pulling the knife from the monster’s head, Will turned back to look at his counterparts. “Ready to keep going?” He had to yell so he could be heard over the constant banging at the door behind them.
Empty Bodies 3: Deliverance (Empty Bodies Series Book 3) Page 4
