The morgue was just another expansive room; markedly different from all the other rooms in the hospital by the ominous looking metal cabinets lining all the walls of the room. The room was dully lit by a solitary bulb in the centre of the room.
“Somehow Penny, I feel a lot less safe here.” Than whispered as they entered the morgue.
“Don’t worry; the dead are the least of your worries. They cannot be turned.” Penny said.
“Turned? What do you mean?” He asked.
“What I mean is that I’ll tell you everything once we are safe. For now let’s just focus on escaping this miniature hell.” She said.
The door marked EXIT was securely locked at this time of day. The keys to the lock were obviously held by the guards who had probably been feasted upon by the death quartet.
“O, how I wish we had their strength.” Penny said, kicking at the lock, followed by a cavalcade of choice coarse language.
“Wait!” Than pointed to another part of the morgue.
On the opposite side of the room was a cabin lined with a grill mesh, inside of which was a computer monitor that showed split images in four square windows. Each image was of a different part of the hospital, with the last one being the morgue itself. Penny made her way into the cabin.
“Oh my dear God!” She exclaimed as the images became clearer. Blood was spattered on all the walls they saw. One camera showed the zombies hacking away at a security guard, whose only defining feature was her now-shredded blue uniform, drenched in her own blood and gore. They had fed on her, eating all the fleshy parts, obviously very quickly. They had torn pieces of meat from her, careful enough not to turn this one before they devoured their fill. And yet turned she had. There was suddenly movement in the body. Although a bleeding mess, the guard was getting up and limping her way towards what seemed to be the neuropsychology department building, coincidentally where they were now.
“No please, please go the other way!” Penny seemed to plead almost under her breath.
CHAPTER FOUR
Please Pack Carefully
Than stood watching all this, and before Penny could say another word, he rushed for the morgue door. After securing the latch, he began piling all the furniture he could find up against it. Shortly afterwards, Penny stepped up to help him.
“I mean, they could barge right in and turn all these poor sleeping fools into beautiful samples of the Zombie race.” Than said, dragging a table towards the entry door.
“The dead can’t be turned. The virus needs a living, functioning nervous system, so pipe down with the horror flick dynamics,” Penny said, trying to overturn the examination table, without success.
“Penny, urrm, the table is bolted to the floor.” said Than, motioning towards the floor with his head.
“I knew that!” Penny said, moving away from the table.
“Right. So, what makes you so sure?”
“We infected rodents with the virus. The results were not very promising. The rodents were worse. It was heinous seeing little creatures eat each other up. Made me wonder whether it was worth all the testing and research, but I had to keep my game face on. It was for the benefit of the whole of humankind. We couldn’t take any risks. The virus showed no signs of abating, and for ten days we waited for signs of improvement. Then we abandoned them, crestfallen. Surprisingly, one of the unattended samples became the alpha predator, and was the only one left standing in his glass case. For the next ten days he survived without food or water. He only had the leftover vegetables in his case, which he nibbled on over those ten days, without actually eating any. After twenty days had passed, he died, scratching on the walls of the glass case and screeching in an annoying voice.”
They had settled into the remaining chairs in the morgue. Once she had told Than, Penny broke down in tears and silent sobs.
“There, there. That’s not much of a downer. Look on the bright side; they aren’t immortal. They will die if they do not have food.” he said, putting an arm over her shoulder.
“Yes, to the very point of extinction. They fight it out, Than. Somehow, the survival instinct becomes more acute, more powerful, and it takes over every other feeling, every other emotion. That is why we named it ‘Advanced brain function awareness disorder’, because you cannot blame them. They are under the influence of the virus occupying their body, after being infected.” She had settled down, at least for now, and wiped her face on her lab coat.
The conversation ended on a bitter note. For a few moments they sat in silence. Penny had her head in her lap; Than was looking transfixed. Suddenly a low, barely audible “thud” sounded on the morgue door. Instantly Than turned his eyes towards the monitor screen.
“Umm, Penny! We’ve got company!” he said, tapping her on the shoulder and pointing to the screen. The rest of the hospital seemed to be strewn with corpses. It was an ominous sight to witness such brutality on such a grand scale.
“Brilliant! Bloody brilliant! We should have looked for the keys to the exit, instead of sit on our asses and chinwag about all this stuff. Come on, hurry up, Miss Guard can barge in any moment; now hurry!” she said with urgency.
The door to the morgue had already started to budge. Bolts like bullets came off of the door latch, as if it were being hit by a Jackhammer. Than looked for spare keys in the drawers, while Penny’s gaze shifted from the screen to Than to the thuds on the door, where the furniture had started to move inch by inch. Suddenly, Penny observed in utmost horror how the corpses on the three split screens had started to move, rising from their death states.
“Hurry up, Than” she almost shrieked, and with that the doors opened with a loud bang. In the same instance, Than said “Got them” and rushed out of the little cabin, almost dragging Penny behind him, one hand holding her arm.
They ran towards the exit with their hearts thumping, never looking back. Than put the keys into the lock, and finally they were free. Penny kept thinking about the armada that was about to begin as the corpses joined in with their friends. Their numbers had dramatically increased within just half an hour. The door clicked, signalling the lock was now disengaged, and they could finally see the city. The evening air was chilly and the world seemed to have been going along just fine. They were about to escape the building when Penny uttered a shriek. Than turned his neck to see why, and saw the Zombie Security guard holding Penny by the hem of her lab coat. Than half turned to deliver a forceful kick into the guard’s stomach, and his foot was covered in zombie gunk; half clotted blood, and entrails, but Penny was freed of the grip. The first thing she did was get out of her lab coat.
“And these Timbs I had just bought.” Than said, rubbing the gunk over the asphalt in the hospital yard to get it off.
“Can you believe this guy?” Penny said still running, with a tired expression on her face.
They made their way to the bottom of the tall building, where the parking for in house doctors was located. It was dark down here as well. Penny got the keys from her jeans pocket, and pressed a button. Her car made a beeping sound, and the lights flickered. They rushed towards it. It was a black GMC Yukon. Despite the rush, Than stopped in his tracks and gave the 4wd a look of great appreciation.
“What are you waiting for?” Penny said, in the lead now, and she motioned for him to come towards the car.
They ran for it. This night seemed to have no end. It was a mommy mobile alright. Only the driver and the shotgun seats were unoccupied, the rest of the four wheel drive was stuffed with all sorts of things. The few Than could discern in the darkness included an emergency light, and lots of tin cans, maybe Campbell’s soup or beans, or even seeds. She had been preparing for this very moment. There wasn’t a single second to lose. The stairway that led down towards the parking from the building, darkened now as zombies descended from above. They needed to get out of there and fast. Once inside the car, Than looked at her in a quizzical manner, but Penny looked utterly focused. “Explanations could wait.” She figured a
nd put the car into drive.
CHAPTER FIVE
Harry Houdini had it Easy
Times Square was in total darkness and the city seemed to be suffering a complete power outage. Screams could be heard in the distance, but it's seldom advisable to dwell on that which is beyond control. They saw the first zombie outside Times Square. He was breaking into a television shop. More of the creatures followed as they raided the television store and infected more unsuspecting people. Penny slowed down a little, maybe the prey is always fascinated by the predator. The TVs were still playing; one was broadcasting CBS live news. They could only hear snippets in passing. The government was calling the outbreak 'the Flesh Eaters'. Without warning, a half ripped face banged against Penny's window. This one was also turned, so suddenly that it surprised them beyond their wits. Penny immediately started searching the back of the Yukon. Within seconds she came up with a fire extinguisher, and hit the Zombie with a jet of what smelt like a mixture of Bug-out spray and thinners. The Zombie retreated, rubbing its eyes and shrieking and moaning in agony. Penny immediately stepped on the accelerator and, in the rear view mirror, Than saw the zombie writhing on the floor like a snail covered in salt.
New York was all murder tonight; that was for sure. Wherever they looked, there were zombies. Not even a single nook or back alley was available for them to park the car to take a breather; every one of them featured more of the festering creatures. They were all limping, but when they saw the car, they reverted to running at incredible speed, which was surprising on too many levels for their human brains to properly comprehend. “Brains; Ha!” Than said as they manoeuvred their way around the city. The phenomenon was somehow similar to a pest infestation. Like cockroaches when they make a place their home, the speed with which they reproduce and spread is unbelievable, but there they are and you just have to kill the nasty crawlers. These were human beings though; or, at least they used to be. Penny thought of everyone she knew or cared about. Mom and Dad were dead (Thank God for that, Penny, if they were alive, you’d probably see them turn right before your very eyes), and she'd witnessed the only friend she had at the hospital being eaten and then zombified in the morgue. Than, on the other hand, was preoccupied with all that was going on in the streets. The zombies included men, women, and children, with none left behind. On a sidewalk, a group of zombies was chomping away at an old lady, only looking up when the Yukon’s headlights passed over them. Another one had climbed a pole to jump into a tree, to get to the child who had climbed up there for safety; a second zombie had climbed up behind him and he was now stuck between the two.
“We can help him, he can't be more than 12 or 13,” Than pleaded.
Before Penny could choose a course of action, the zombie on the pole jumped on to the tree and landed straight in front of the kid who was now clinging on to a branch. In a split second, he was on the kid, his teeth sinking into his neck, biting hard, baring the sinews. Blood sprayed as the zombie dug deeper into the kid’s neck, tearing open the jugular. Penny kept going. Than would have stopped to mourn, to cry about the inhumanity of the act; this was where they differed from one another. Penny just hung her head for a moment and sped on. There was no use fighting here. The city had already been lost.
They witnessed more scenes of beastly hunger as they drove on. A zombie stood banging at the doorstep of an apartment building, as if he was just there to collect rent from tenants. Another one walked aimlessly down the middle of the road, and Penny drove straight over him, taking much delight in the act. The Yukon just bumped and nothing more. As they reached the suburbs on the outskirts of New York City, they noticed that the Zombie crowd had thinned out. Families were trying to flee; stuffing belongings into their cars, their faces either horror struck, confused or hopeless. “Where would they go?” Than found himself asking the question aloud.
“To grandmas or to anywhere really; no place is safe. It doesn’t matter.”
“I just want to know where we are going.” He rephrased his question.
“I thought that I’d tell you about it when we got there. Still, I think it’s pointless to keep you in suspense any longer. I know I might come off as a nut, but I guess the time for assumptions and saving face has passed. If I am a nut in anybody’s eyes, it just goes to show that you may have to be a little bit crazy to survive in this beautiful world of ours,” she had spoken as if she were sitting in a cave, in hushed tones.
“I have been familiar with contagions my whole life. It all started when I was in grade school and we were taught about the bubonic plague. There was nowhere to run for those people. No shelter, no rescuers from above. I have read enough neuropsychology to know that the images my brain conjured up of the bubonic plague at such a young age, are ingrained in my subconscious and able to resurface at the slightest provocation. In high school, we were given an assignment on gothic literature, and I was given the story; ‘the masque of the red Death’, By Edgar Alan Poe. The story conjured up old nightmares and the fear of endemics and epidemics was yet again inculcated to my psyche. I used to be a shaky teenager. Nightmares about death parades and doctors' masks from medieval times kept me awake at night. It took a lot of therapy to recover from that state of mental fatigue and numbness. My parents both fell victim to hepatitis, contracted from each other, and that was the nail in the coffin. I still had to find something to distract me, and I found myself reading psychology and neuroscience as a self-medicating cure. That led to me studying medicine, and here I am today. Just a week ago, however, all those pent up feelings resurfaced; studying advanced brain function awareness disorder, ABFAD, all my memories resurfaced, shaking my very core. I figured that this was indeed the end, and I needed a place to hide out from it all. A safe haven. I tried to place myself in the position I now find myself in, and thought of ways to correct it, before I had ever heard of nuclear bomb shelters. Places where people could go to when the shit hit the fan. I found this one on Facebook.” Having said that, she started to rummage for something in the glove compartment, and came out with a brochure.
“Hope Springs, Vermont” it said at the top. “Are you afraid that the world is falling to bits and you can’t put your trust in sleazy politicians who seem always to be denying what’s what? Fret no more, because Hope Springs is a facility just for you. For only half a million, you can purchase your dream home; safe and away from the concrete jungle, our shelters are bomb proof, and yes apocalypse proof, equipped with all the survival equipment money can buy, and state of the art security and defence capabilities, Dial 678-987-543 for details.” Beneath that an army base-like building stood against the blue horizon; a glum looking place in front of a backdrop of lush scenery. Its construction was of thick granite blocks, which meant that the walls were at least half a meter thick.
“How far away is it?” He asked.
“We’re half an hour away, at most.” Penny replied.
“Would have cost a lot, these things are exclusive, sometimes go down to the highest bidders.” He said.
“I already told you, half a million, tax included, and a few connections here and there.” She reminded him.
The Zombies, their wails and the sounds of bones breaking and flesh tearing from bone would haunt them for the rest of their days. Thankfully, at least for now, the sounds were receding. This meant they were almost out of New York. The golden horde was behind them, but what was next?
Than felt a little uneasy; the idea of living in confinement wasn’t big on him. He had always been a social person, and this was too much for him. He couldn’t stay indoors on the best of days, even in New York. He was either cycling his way through Brooklyn on sunny days, playing ball with buddies, or dining at a fancy restaurant with a view of the New York skyline and the full moon shining brightly over the sea of lights below. What was that show on TV? Big brother; yeah, like 1984 by George Orwell. Big brother is watching you. He reckoned it was going to be like that. It was a hard bargain alright. If everyone out there was as edgy as Penny, it
was bound to be difficult to cope. “Edgy?” He corrected himself. It was that very characteristic that had saved her skin, and in the process, his too. The New York shapes and shadows were slipping away fast as the Yukon tore away at an amazing 140 miles an hour. The darkness on the main streets was giving way to moonlight as they approached the suburbs.
“Oh a light that never, never warms...” somehow Blue Oyster Cult’s Astronomy’s lyrics came to his mind and he hummed along.
“What is that song? It seems familiar” Penny said, eyes focused on the road.
Than told her.
“Good times. I just wished as a kid that I could attend one of their concerts. Now they’re probably dead. If not, they’re using what’s left of their money to get a bunker like ours, or being turned into Zombies by their loved ones,” she laughed a little at this. “Imagine going to a concert where all the band members are Zombies, I’d still watch the show though, but I guess everyday isn’t Christmas.” She completed her thought.
They were sitting on a beast, just like in the fairy tales, with all its might and power. He wondered how long they would survive if they just camped inside the vehicle; not long, was the obvious answer. The zombies had displayed immense power, and it wouldn’t budge if there were one or two, but talk about the golden horde. They could rip the Yukon to shreds in a matter of minutes just to feed on their sweet meat. Penny had been wise, even with all her little gimmicks and sweet weirdness, she had pulled them through. It was an odd feeling, but Than thought that he could count on her.
They were outside of New York now, away from Brooklyn, away from the Bronx, away from the Big Apple. Than never did like traveling. He was born in New York, and had never travelled far from it. He liked the streets, their sound; the smells: from the hot dog vendors to the taco stands; to the vermin, and bums lying in dark back alleys. It had its downside: the cold hearted people, the power hungry politicians and lawyers, Wall Street, but it was home. Watching it go by, filled him with an unseen melancholy, this seemed to bear him down. “This is childish”, he said to himself, “and this won’t do at all”. For a man standing at about 200 pounds, he was sentimental to the core. Once again, as if to distract himself from the thoughts of parting, he shifted his attention to the stuff in the back. Penny had been really careful about what she needed and what she did not. There was no camping equipment, and farther back he could see a huge water tank that took up half the space in the SUV. She might have had it custom fitted. All of this fell into place and there was not an inch of room for error. Than admired her for that. He looked at her driving the Yukon with focus, without a sign of exhaustion, and he was pretty impressed. She had heard all the world’s problems, and that sometimes puts you in a state of nausea, but she had persevered despite it all. Her case was much like the bird that had sweet songs for every passerby, but was still ignored. Than looked out of the window. Farmhouses were passing by as they drove along. Almost all had power outage, but as dusk approached, silhouettes of ambling and struggling Zombies could be seen.
The Golden Horde and the Zombies (Zombie Conflict Series Book 1) Page 2
