“Already got it covered, see you guys soon. Your mom says be careful, she’s been sick with worry since you left, but the kids are keeping her occupied, thank goodness.”
“Tell her I’ll be back soon, and I love her.” I hung up and turned to Leland. “He says they have a pump, we just need to get back there within the hour before the generator runs out. We gotta to get out of here now.”
He nodded and called to everyone, “Okay, guys, let’s get moving. Now, Autumn will take the lead and I’ll cover our backs. Just stay close to one another and don’t panic if we come across any biters.”
They all had their purses, keys, phones, etc. from the lockers and were ready to roll. I started down the hallway, my gun poised at my shoulder and walking in silent methodical steps. We came a little further from the stairwell to get to the break room, so I worked my way back around the hospital hallways to get to the stairs we had come up. We passed the pharmacy and horrid display of the half eaten nurse and dead zombie girl, everyone behind me gasping at the sight of them. But the real horror show lay up ahead, around the corner. I slowly came to the curve that led back to the hallway where the stairwell was, and peeked my head around the corner to make sure no surprises waited for us. Only the piles of corpses lay in our path, I didn’t spot any movement up ahead, only the flashing lights above us and lightning striking outside.
“There are a lot of bodies in the floor around this corner, they are all dead, but just be careful not to trip over them. And try not to scream or make any loud noises in case there are any hiding in the shadows,” I told everyone, looking at all of their faces to judge the reaction they might have at the sight of the next display of slaughter. They nodded and I heard Jess swallow loudly with a worried look in her eyes. I grabbed her hand, “It’s alright, Jess. It was hard for me at first when I saw the bodies, but after a while you get used to it. I won’t let anything hurt you. Trust me.” She nodded and squeezed my hand.
I let go and turned the corner, her and the others following closely behind, and Leland bringing up the rear. Tammy whispered, “Oh my Lord”, as we weaved our way carefully through the blood and gore that Leland and I had caused. We slowly stepped around each body, making sure not to touch any of them. Then, I heard a noise up ahead and stopped dead in my tracks. I held up a hand so everyone behind would know to stop also. Straining to hear what the noise was, it sounded like scratching on a door. I looked back at Leland to see if he heard it and he just gave me a confused look in return. We started forward again, the scratching noise getting louder now as we got closer to the stairs. I figured out what it was when I walked over to the door leading into the stairwell and looked through the little glass window. Twenty or so zombies stood outside the door, bumping into one another and falling down as they tried to climb the stairs. One of them chose that moment to slam his face into the window I was looking through, scaring the hell out of me, and making me jump back and squeal like a total girl. He smeared blood and slime across the window with his rotten face, teeth crashing against the glass so hard that one cracked in two and I watched a piece of tooth slide down the window pane. Leland moved up to see what scared me, shaking his head at the sight of all of them blocking our way out.
“What are we supposed to do now? That’s where the truck is parked and there is no other way to get to it unless we go out another exit and hope to make it around the building back to the truck without getting attacked by these bastards,” he pleaded to me, panic starting to show on his face.
“I don’t know, I can’t remember what other exits would be close to the service entrance,” I looked to the others for answers.
“There is a staff entrance down in the cafeteria on the main floor, we can take the west wing stairs down to it, and the exit door is a couple hundred feet away from the service entrance outside,” Larry stated.
I thanked him for remembering that and giving us a way out. We started for the west wing, all the while I was praying that there weren’t any biters along the way. The hallway we walked through, on the backside of the hospital, was more like a breezeway. Glass windows covered each side, so you could see outside to the right and into the main lobby beneath to the left. Outside was total darkness with only flashes of lightning casting a faint glow on the parking lot out back. I stopped for a moment to look. Dozens of walkers shuffled around the parked cars in the pouring down rain.
“It’s going to be hard getting through those guys to get to our cars, but we don’t have any choice. Jess, Larry… you guys have to be ready to swing those axes on them, and you have to hit them in the head, hard. Otherwise, they will attack you and if you get bitten then you’re dead. There is no cure for this thing yet and it spreads fast. So find whatever strength you can and fight with all you have, because if you can’t fight then we’re going to get ourselves killed. Leland and I will try our best to cover you guys but there are more biters than us, so just stay alert and close to the group,” I spoke to them all with as serious a face as I could give. They needed to know this was life and death.
“I can do this, Autumn, I’ve been trapped here for days and I’m determined to make it out of here alive,” Jess responded, with a shaky voice, but I knew she would give it her best.
“Don’t you guys worry about me, I’ll carry my own weight. I’ve used an axe before and still have strength in these old bones. Now let’s get out of here; I don’t care if I never see a hospital again,” Larry claimed with his deep voice.
So we headed for the west wing again, everyone staying behind me but close. We made it to the stairwell door, and I peeked through to see if there were any corpses walking around. Surprisingly, we were able to make it down these stairs with no interference, but of course when we got down to the main floor there were biters wandering around everywhere. I stood at the door looking out, trying to come up with a plan.
“What’s wrong, Autumn?” Leland questioned from the back of the group. We all squeezed to fit on the landing at the bottom of the steps and he couldn’t get close enough to see what I was seeing.
“There are zombies everywhere outside this door. I’m trying to decide the next course of action that doesn’t involve one of us getting killed,” I told him, while I stared over the main floor.
“How many do you see?” he asked.
“About twenty or thirty,” I answered.
“Shit. Well which way do we have to go to get to the cafeteria?”
“Left, then an immediate left again. There are probably ten of them that are close enough to get to us before we can make it down that hallway.”
“Okay, Drema, you said you know how to use a gun right?” Leland asked her.
“Yes, my husband wanted to be sure I could take care of myself if the need ever arose. He trained me to use all kinds of guns. If you have an extra handy, then I’ll do my part,” Drema told him.
He handed her the .22 revolver with some extra shells, and reached into the duffel bag to pull out the last weapon we had with us, the shotgun. I waited for him to get ready, and made sure everyone else was prepared for action. Once they all gave me the okay, Tammy swung open the door, because she was the only one without a weapon so she needed to stay behind us. Leland ran out first but I stayed right on his heels. Drema was behind me then Jess, Larry and finally Tammy came out. The three of us with guns started shooting at the closest ones. Drema proved herself to be very useful, taking out three of them within seconds. I saw Larry out of the corner of my eye swing his axe and crack open the skull on one of them. We drew every biter within hearing distance towards us and needed to hurry. As we turned the corner that led to the cafeteria, I heard an ear piercing scream. I swung back around to see Tammy on the floor with a zombie on top of her, fighting to keep him at arm’s length while Jess whacked away at it, but only hitting its back side.
“Jess, you gotta hit them in the head!” I screamed at her.
Leland grabbed the zombie by the shoulders and yanked him off of Tammy, throwing him to one side. T
hen Jess ran over to him and slammed her axe down onto his head, blood flying everywhere. Tammy shakily stood on her feet with the help of Leland, while Jess remained over her kill, staring at it in horror. I marched over and grabbed her arm.
“Jess, we have to go,” I yelled over the gunshots ringing out around us. I lifted my gun to shoot a biter that had gotten too close for comfort then pulled Jess away from the corpse at her feet and pushed her in the right direction.
We all hurried down the hallway to the cafeteria, a horde of biters creeping right behind us. We shoved open the big wooden doors and got everyone through, then frantically pushed them closed and I slammed the locking bolts down right as the horde bumped into the doors from the other side.
“We have to find something to block this door so they can’t push through. There are too many of them and I don’t think these bolts will hold long,” Leland said to everyone.
We all started grabbing tables, chairs, trash cans, even a small buffet on wheels that the cooks usually used for the salad bar, and piled them up against the big doors. The outbreak must have happened during lunch or dinner hours because there was rotten food strung everywhere. The salad buffet had remnants of lettuce and tomatoes glued to the metal pans that sat in it. It smelled rancid and my nerves were already shot. I felt the first jolt of my tummy lurching with whatever food I had left in it. My mouth started to water and I could feel the contents of my stomach pushing its way up. I darted around the corner to the kitchen and found a trashcan just in time for me to start heaving into it. I threw up everything inside and after a while just dry heaved to the point of sharp pains shooting through my gut. My heart pounded out of my chest and head felt as if it might explode. I felt a hand touch my back and jumped.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. Just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Jess told me, running her hand up and down my back in a soothing way. She handed me some wet paper towels to wipe my face and mouth with.
“Yeah, I guess all the excitement finally got to me. Plus the smell of that old food hit my stomach like a ton of bricks,” I said to her, my voice shaking from throwing all of my strength up into the trashcan.
“It is pretty gross, but I thought if anyone would throw up it would be me,” she joked. I wiped my face off with the wet towel and spit the last taste of vomit from my mouth.
“Are there any more bottles of water? By the way, thanks for coming to check on me, so Leland wouldn’t see me like this.”
“No problem, buddy, I wouldn’t want someone that hot seeing me toss my cookies either.” She laughed at me, “Hang on I’ll get you a water.” As she walked away, Leland peeked his head around the corner and gave me a concerned look.
“I know you don’t want me to see you like that, but I just want to make sure you’re okay,” he admitted to me, his gorgeous eyes flashing different shades of blue and green in the flickering lights above.
“I’m fine, no need to worry. I just got sick from the nasty food out there stinking up the place. Although it doesn’t smell any better back here. Thank God I already threw up everything I had in me,” I replied with a small smile. He smiled back and turned as Jess came back around to hand me a bottle of water.
“Okay, you know she’s fine now, let the girl get cleaned up then we can move along,” she told him in her sassy, “don’t mess with me”, voice. But then gave him her winning smile and winked at him. He chuckled and disappeared back around the corner. I took sips of water, washing down that awful aftertaste that goes along with throwing up. Jess pushed back little strands of hair that were glued to my forehead and looked at me and smiled. “You know that boy is smitten on you, right?”
I gave her a small laugh and nodded, “The feeling is mutual.”
“When we get back to your family’s store, you are going to sit down and tell me what happened. Like where the hell Luke is, and when you traded him in for a better, and much hotter model,” she said, looking at me like she was pissed that I hadn’t stopped in the middle of our rescue mission and told her all of this when I first saw her upstairs.
“I promise, I’ll tell you everything, let’s just get the hell out of here. This place stinks to high heaven.” I stood up and started for the rest of the group, Jess following me and saying, “You ain’t lying.”
Chapter 28
We regrouped in the main cafeteria. My knees were still a little shaky and my stomach ached from the muscles contracting so hard with my purging, but I reloaded my gun, ready to get out of there. Leland ensured everyone else was ready to fight or run when we opened the door that led outside. They all nodded, yielding their weapons like they were ready for battle. Tammy found herself a large butcher knife in the kitchen and seemed satisfied with it. It was better than nothing. I heard the reanimated corpses bumping and scratching against the big doors behind us, but the stuff we piled against them still held them closed. The game plan was to get Larry and Tammy to his car first, since it was parked closest to the door. Then, quickly escort Drema to her vehicle, which sat another hundred feet or so past Larry’s. Leland readied his shotgun, turned on his flashlight and led the way out into the raging storm.
The rain drizzled down in thick sheets, while the wind whipped by, drenching us all within seconds. Water already covered the parking lot and was rising fast. The sky lit up with lightning bolts every few seconds and then a rumbling crack of thunder would vibrate the ground beneath us. Leland spotted Larry’s car across the lot with the flashlight and started running for it. Everyone struggled to keep up except Larry. They both had long legs made for running while we were cursed with short stubby legs. We did our best though and I watched for any zombies to appear. So far, so good.
We got them to Larry’s car, a silver four door sedan. As he and Tammy climbed in, he turned to us and said, “I can never thank you enough for getting us out of there. Please be safe and hopefully I’ll see you when this mess is over with.” Then, he got in the car and drove off into the night, Tammy waving at us from the passenger seat.
We quickly got Drema to her white antique Volkswagon Beetle, which made me smile because of my love for old cars. Drema won extra brownie points with that one, the woman can shoot a gun and drives a classic car... I definitely approved. Leland sweeped the lot with his flashlight and a few biters, who spotted us after hearing Larry’s car start up, proceeded towards us at a turtle’s pace. Drema unlocked her car and handed Leland the revolver back, “I have plenty of weapons at home, you guys will need this more than I will. I appreciate your help more than you know, and I hope one day we can see each other again.” We said our goodbyes and watched her taillights disappear in the rain.
“Okay guys, let’s hurry up and get to that truck before the rest of these reeking zombies find out fresh meat is close by,” I told Leland and Jess, as we all rushed for the truck as fast as we could, through what seemed like at least six inches of water standing on the pavement. It slowed us down and made us clumsy. Before too long this whole place would be completely flooded. Leland and I shot four biters that darted in our path. They each fell into the water like sandbags, causing ripples to move along surface.
We arrived at the service entrance to find the truck’s front end submerged in three feet of water, because of the hill decline it rested on. The water didn’t seem high enough to flood the motor, but I kept my fingers crossed as we climbed in and slammed the doors shut. I sat in the middle of Leland and Jess, us all dripping wet and quickly causing puddles to gather in the floorboard. Leland tried to crank the engine. It turned over but wouldn’t start. I worried that we wouldn’t be able to get it going after the fifth try. Then, it finally roared to life and I released a nervous laugh.
He put it in reverse and feathered the gas pedal. We crawled backwards up the hill to the lot behind us, tires spinning trying to grip the wet asphalt. I felt a bump and turned to see a biter run into the passenger side of truck, then bounced back off and fell into the rushing water below. He got the truck to flat land, shoved the
gearshift in drive, and gunned it out of the hospital lot. Waves shot out behind us and knocked a few zombies over along the way. We breathed a sigh of relief, turning onto the main street. The hospital, looming over us in the storm like some haunted asylum, disappeared from sight.
“Whew. I wasn’t sure we would make it out of there alive, but you and Leland came to the rescue. I’m so lucky to have you as a friend, Autumn. Not many people would have done that for us. Most people run and hide to save their own asses when disaster strikes, but not you two. You guys are brave and make an awesome team. Thanks again for coming to get me,” Jess told us, reaching an arm around my shoulders to pull me in for another hug. I squeezed her tight and she fell apart in my arms, hiding her face in the curve of my neck. Unconcerned about Leland, she burst into tears and held onto me like I was the only solid thing in her life.
“When I heard your voice on the phone, how scared you were, I had to come for you, Jess. You would do the same for me and I know it. You’ve been my best friend for years and I wouldn’t dream of leaving you in a place like that. I’m relieved we got everyone out with no injuries or worse. Everything will be alright now. We have all we need to ride this thing out at the hardware store. Beds, food, weapons, even a shower,” I told her, running my hand down her hair and back to comfort her. She pulled away and looked at me with serious eyes.
“A shower? Are you serious? That’s probably the best thing I’ve heard in days,” she squealed, laughing with glee now, but tears still streaming down her cheeks.
“Yes, a shower. My dad, the genius, put one in after we got trapped there a few bad winters and couldn’t get home to clean up for a few days. He really did think of everything. I wish he was here to see what kind of excitement his shower could cause,” I said, thinking of how much I missed him, but didn’t wish for anyone to see this horrible outbreak. He was better off in Heaven. I envied him sometimes, this being one of those times. I knew he watched over Mom and I to make sure we were always taken care of. Glancing at the beautiful man driving, I knew that Dad was the one who sent him to me. Leland was a blessing to my life, and I would do everything I could to keep him.
Autumn's Calling (Book 1): The Outbreak Page 13
