Basement Dwellers

by Holly Copella

  “We’ll wait until Lexx gets back from her outing with the sheriff,” Carson said in a slightly drunken tone. “She’ll know what to do.” He then muttered into his drink, “God, I hope she knows what to do.”

  “Do you think that’s why she called him over in the first place?” Rolan asked while casting a quick glance at him. “That’s what dispatch said, right? She called him? I mean, I don’t think she called him to ask him on a date.”

  “If she saw Tracy like that, I’m sure she would have warned us,” Carson bluntly informed him. “She wouldn’t just leave something like that for us to blindly walk into.” He then reconsidered the comment. “Me, maybe, but she’d never do something like that to you.”

  “Then why did she call the sheriff?” Rolan asked. “Where did they go?”

  “Maybe he found some evidence on the DNA samples,” Carson announced with a glimmer of hope. “We should call the hospital. Maybe they’re there questioning Nathan.”

  “Hopefully the sheriff is arresting him as we speak,” Rolan muttered.

  There was a knock on the door, startling both. They simultaneously straightened, appeared alarmed, and stared at the back door as if it would bite them. For a brief moment, neither seemed able to move.

  “Act casual,” Carson finally announced as he collected himself and straightened his jacket.

  “Act casual?” Rolan gasped with a look of horror on his face. “A dead, naked woman tried to bite me. Casual went out the door an hour ago.”

  Carson ignored the comment and approached the kitchen door. He looked out, appeared puzzled, and then opened the door to reveal Warren.

  “Warren, Dr. Sharp’s associate, right?” Carson asked and remained bewildered by the man at his door. “What brings you here at this hour?”

  “There’s a situation at the hospital,” Warren casually informed him. “We need to return the corpse you signed out this morning immediately.”

  “Return?” Rolan gasped with horror. “Why would you need us to return a corpse?”

  “There’s an infection going around, and the corpse needs to be tested,” Warren remarked with little emotion. “Have you started the embalming process?”

  “Uh, no, we haven’t,” Carson replied while fidgeting and uncertainly cast a glance at Rolan.

  Rolan was unable to do more than just stare at the man with his mouth hanging open.

  “Good,” Warren said and seemed moderately pleased with the response. “Let’s get the body into your hearse and return it to the hospital.”

  “What sort of infection?” Carson questioned while tilting his head as he stared at Warren. “What exactly do you think the corpse is carrying?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say, but it’s urgent that we return the body immediately.”

  “Yeah, well, she may not want to go willingly,” Rolan suddenly announced with a soft snort and took a large swallow of whiskey from his glass.

  Warren eyed Rolan by the counter and appeared curious. “Did something happen?”

  “Well, uh--” Carson fumbled and attempted to think of a reasonable explanation.

  “She freaking tried to eat us!” Rolan proclaimed and nearly jumped out of his skin despite the large amount of alcohol in his system.

  “There goes casual,” Carson muttered.

  The look they received from Warren was hard to read. He was a serious man and most found him intimidating. There was no telling what was going through his head.

  “Did you contain her?” he suddenly asked.

  Both men appeared stunned.

  “You believe us?” Carson suddenly gasped while staring at Warren.

  “Did you contain her?” Warren again asked in a more demanding tone. “Did she injure anyone?”

  “Aside from jump-starting our hearts, no one was injured,” Carson replied. “We secured her in one of the caskets and locked it for good measure.”

  “Where is the corpse?” Warren asked and looked around the kitchen.

  Carson gave a slight nod to the room next door. “In the casket room. She’s in the closed casket that sounds like a wild animal attempting to claw its way out.”

  Warren glared at Rolan. “You,” he announced firmly, “pull the hearse around to the door.” He then looked at Carson and pointed at him. “You, come with me.”

  As Warren headed into the casket room next door, Rolan and Carson exchanged concerned looks. It was troubling that the intimidating man actually believed their farfetched story. Who would believe such a thing? Warren had a reputation around the hospital, and it wasn’t a good one. Something was definitely happening that neither of them wanted to know about.

  †

  Alison sat on the exam table within exam room six while her mother hovered over her with motherly concern. Her father checked out several items lying around within the small exam room. He’d already been through every cupboard and drawer, attempting to cure his boredom. He looked at his watch, groaned softly, and rolled his eyes.

  “Why does this take so long?” he demanded and tossed one of the tools aside. “Can’t they just take her for x-rays? Why all the waiting?”

  “I’m sure they’re busy,” Ellen replied while sitting on the exam table with her daughter.

  “The E.R. didn’t look that busy,” Peter scoffed and continued his pacing.

  A lean man in a lab coat approached them. He was easily noticeable with his bleached blonde, spiked hair and many tattoos sticking out beneath his rolled lab coat sleeves. He smiled at Allison with boyish delight.

  “I hear someone was climbing trees,” Marco announced cheerfully. He looked at her arm and playfully gasped false surprise. “Oh, that looks like it smarts. How about we take you back for x-rays?”

  “It’s about time,” Peter mumbled.

  “Can we come along?” Ellen asked.

  Marco looked at them and smiled sympathetically. “She won’t be gone that long. You can’t go into the room with her anyway,” he replied. “I’ll have her back in fifteen minutes. You can wait here, if you’d like.”

  They reluctantly agreed and watched as Marco helped their daughter off the table and led her from the room. Despite his slightly shocking appearance, she seemed particularly taken with him and happily walked alongside him.

  “We’re going to take a picture of your arm,” he announced with enthusiasm as they headed through the door. “And if you stay real still for the picture, you get to pick out a ring from our treasure chest.”

  “Diamonds?” she asked with glee.

  “Close,” he replied cheerfully as they disappeared into the hallway. “They’re rhinestones.”

  Peter shook his head and looked back at his wife. “Can we really trust that guy?”

  “Why?” she suddenly asked.

  “You saw the way he looked,” Peter remarked while wrinkling his nose with distaste. “He looks like the sort of guy you’d find driving a windowless van.”

  “Peter--” she scolded.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Monica stood alongside Evan’s examination table in exam room four. She now wore a surgical mask and latex gloves as an added precaution to his unidentified illness. Evan was completely pale, drenched in sweat, and trembled from his cold chills. Monica attempted to keep him covered and warm. Her concern won over her annoyance with the doctor, who still hadn’t bothered to check on them. It seemed odd that even the nurses hadn’t checked on them. There had been several emergency pages for both the doctor and orderlies to one of the rooms, but that wasn’t uncommon in an emergency room. Monica wiped the cold sweat from Evan’s forehead with a cloth and attempted to soothe him despite her annoyance with the hospital staff. He clung to the blanket and shivered uncontrollably.

  “Hey, it’s going to be okay, Evan,” Monica said in her best sympathetic tone. She uncertainly looked around and again allowed her irritation to surface. She looked back at him and tried to control her hostility. “You just keep warm. I’m going to find that damned doctor myself.”
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  “Don’t beat anyone up on my account,” he said weakly then attempted a grin.

  Monica removed her mask, returned the knowing smile, and gently squeezed his shoulder. “If I beat up anyone, you know it’s for my own pleasure,” she teased him gently although the slight snarl in her voice conveyed her seriousness.

  Evan took pleasure in her anger even in his weakened condition. She tossed her mask aside and stormed from the room while ripping off her latex gloves. Monica entered the corridor and immediately looked around. The corridor seemed oddly empty considering all the earlier emergency pages. There was a commotion coming from one of the exam rooms further down the hall. Several nurses and orderlies suddenly appeared as if out of nowhere and ran to exam room one. Monica appeared curious, picked up her pace, and hurried after them. She entered the exam room in time to witness Alpert being tackled by several orderlies while a nurse tried to give him a sedation injection. A second nurse lie on the floor clutching her bleeding neck as a third nurse attempted to control the nurse’s bleeding.

  Alpert had blood down his chin and the front of his scrub uniform, but there didn’t appear to be an open wound to cause so much blood. He bit one of the orderlies on the arm as another nurse injected him with the needle. Monica stared helplessly as Alpert tore flesh from the orderlies arm. The nurse on the floor began convulsing as she bled out. Monica eyes widened with horror at the thrashing nurse almost certainly bleeding to death. She wasted little time grabbing a box of gauze pads and dived to the floor alongside them.

  “Pinch the artery!” Monica cried out while attempting to assist the nurse.

  Alpert suddenly broke free from the bleeding orderly and bit him on the shoulder. As the bitten orderly pulled away from Alpert, he stumbled backwards into Monica, who was crouched on the floor, and knocked her the rest of the way to the floor with him. Monica scrambled out from beneath the fallen orderly and flipped onto her backside. The nurse who had bled out on the floor suddenly grabbed the nurse assisting her, sank her teeth into her neck, and ripped a large chunk of flesh from her neck. The nurse screamed while attempting to fight her off. Monica leaped to her feet and stared at the startling scene with horror on her face. Alpert suddenly looked at Monica. She caught his gaze, stared into his lifeless eyes, and then looked at the blood running down his chin to his blood-soaked scrub top. She couldn’t move and only stared helplessly. Alpert snarled at her through bloodstained teeth.

  †

  Within exam room six, Peter paced the length of the room and looked out the open doorway several times. Ellen sat on the exam table and attempted a calm attitude, although she was failing miserably. She’d flipped through the same magazine three times without reading a single article.

  “It’s been over half an hour,” Peter announced and looked back at his wife sitting on the exam table with her magazine. “What’s taking them so long?”

  “I guess they’re busy today,” she gently replied even though she showed signs of concern as well.

  Peter was hostile enough for both of them. “I told you I didn’t trust that guy,” he announced sternly while pointing a demanding finger at her. “We should find someone and demand to know where they took our daughter.”

  Patty hurried past the exam room. Peter immediately stepped into the hall and caught her arm, startling the older woman. She turned to face him.

  “A man from x-ray took our daughter over half an hour ago, and they’re not back yet,” Peter informed her as his temper rose with his blood pressure.

  “They were calling for assistance with an emergency,” Patty announced as she removed a folder from the wall near the door. She seemed preoccupied but did her best to cover. “Personnel in x-ray may have reported to the emergency.” She flipped through the file while entering the exam room with them. She looked over the file and nodded. “X-ray to rule out fracture of the lower, left arm,” she announced. “I’m sure she’s probably still in x-ray.” Patty looked back at Peter. “I just have to check on that emergency page, and then I’ll locate your daughter.”

  Another nurse appeared in the open doorway behind Patty. Peter saw the nurse and sighed with relief.

  “Well, it’s about time--” he announced and took a step toward her.

  He suddenly stopped and stared at her with surprise. Rose stood in the doorway with blood spattered across her once white uniform. There was blood seeping from her mouth and down her chin.

  “What the hell--?” Peter gasped.

  Patty turned to see Rose standing just behind her. She gasped with surprise to the young nurse’s condition and took a quick step toward her.

  “Rose, what on earth happened--?”

  Rose suddenly snarled, exposing bloodstained teeth, and lunged for Patty. She tackled the older nurse into the exam table, knocking Ellen to the floor. Rose bit into the flesh on Patty’s face while the older nurse screamed and thrashed against her. Ellen remained on the floor and watched in horror as the flesh was torn from the nurse’s face. Peter took a step back while staring with a look of shock. Ellen sprang to her feet. Rose lunged for Ellen, knocking her against the counter. Several items fell from the counter with a crash. Ellen attempted to hold Rose back to keep her bloodied teeth from her face. She stared with horror as the chunk of flesh fell from Rose’s mouth.

  “Peter, do something!” Ellen screamed while struggling with the aggressive dead woman.

  Peter looked from Patty clinging to her bleeding cheek while leaning on the exam table to his wife attempting to hold back the zombie nurse. He suddenly turned and ran from the room.

  “Peter!”

  Patty stumbled across the exam room, removed a scalpel from one of the drawers, and stabbed Rose in the back of the neck. Rose released Ellen and spun toward Patty. She again lunged for Patty. Patty screamed and stabbed her in the throat with the scalpel. The sharpened blade plunging into her neck didn’t even faze the snarling nurse. Ellen removed a metal tray from the table, tossing all the tools from it as she coiled back, and swung for Rose’s head. The metal tray made a loud, metallic clang against the back of her head, denting the tray. Rose was knocked off balance. Ellen grabbed Patty’s hand and pulled her from the room, slamming the door on Rose behind them.

  Patty and Ellen ran down the hallway toward exam room one and the sounds of life, hoping to find help. They heard a shrill scream coming from the room and immediately stopped. There was a snarling sound behind them. Both looked back. Rose stood in the hallway with her sights on them. Patty and Ellen stared at her with horror. Rose ran for them.

  “The doctor’s lounge!” Patty cried out and pointed just ahead of them.

  They ran for the closed lounge door not far from them. Rose suddenly tackled Patty and drove her into the wall alongside the doctor’s lounge doorway. As Patty’s head struck the wall, the sound of the bones in her neck snapping was almost deafening. Patty fell to the floor with Rose on top of her. Rose tore into the back of her neck with her teeth, tearing a large chunk of flesh. Ellen stared in horror, but it was obvious the older nurse was dead. Ellen darted into the doctor’s lounge and slammed the door behind her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Monica stared at the dead look in Alpert’s eyes as he stood in the exam room doorway with his eyes locked on her. He suddenly snarled, charged for her, and tackled her to the floor. Monica reacted without thinking, grabbed his scrub shirt as he knocked her down, and, using his momentum, flipped him over her as they hit the floor. She rolled into a crouched position, grabbed her cell phone, and pressed a button as she sprang to her feet. The emergency dispatch could barely be heard above the commotion within the exam room.

  “This is Sheriff Burke’s sister,” she shouted into the phone. “I’m at the hospital! They’re killing one another! You need to send help!”

  The third nurse was now on her feet and tore into the second nurse’s lower arm with her teeth. The woman screamed with surprise and agony while attempting to pull her arm free. She thrashed and punched the nurse to
no avail. As Monica assessed how to help the screaming nurse, Alpert returned to his feet with his sights again on her. Monica stared into his dead eyes and appeared horrified as he bared his bloodstained teeth. She no longer knew this man, and he intended to kill her.

  “Oh, shit!” Monica gasped.

  She bolted from the room with Alpert chasing her. Monica ran through the now bustling corridor and the scene of mass chaos as an infected Rose ran down the hall chasing staff and patients. A man was seen just ahead running into the x-ray waiting room. He turned while closing the door. It was Peter. Monica frantically waved to him as she ran.

  “Wait!”

  Despite seeing her running for him and the door, Peter shut the door. Monica slammed into the door and attempted to open it. It was locked! She pounded on the door while screaming profanities at the man staring at her from the glass on the other side. He wasn’t malicious; he was just too scared to let her inside. Monica kicked the door then turned just in time to see Alpert nearly on top of her. Monica dodged beneath his grasping arms, allowing him to strike the door. Peter jumped away from the glass on the other side, startled by the orderly’s impact against it. Monica ran in the opposite direction and witnessed nearly a dozen infected people tearing into their screaming victims. A quick assessment of the situation indicated there was nothing she could do for any of them. Rose, with blood now running down her chin and shirt, saw Monica sprinting through the corridor and ran for her. She had Rose approaching from the front, and Alpert only a few feet behind her. Monica threw herself to the floor and slid on her right hip past the zombie nurse, allowing Rose to crash into a nearby wall. Alpert was nearly on top of her now. Monica sprang to her feet and shoved a stretcher into her infected friend. It only briefly slowed him down.

  Rose regained her balance and attacked a man attempting to flee another infected nurse. She took him to the floor, and he was immediately piled upon by several infected people. By the sounds coming from the man under the pileup, they were tearing him apart. Monica continued to run along the hall with Alpert in hot pursuit. She bolted into exam room four and slammed the door shut. Alpert struck the door and thumped against it with his body while snarling like a wild animal. Monica flipped the lock on the door and stared out the small window. Alpert pounded his head against the window, streaking it with blood while attempting to get to her. Monica jumped back with surprise and stared at him with the horror evident on her face. She clutched her head and took a deep, shaken breath. For a brief moment, it almost appeared as if she were about to cry. She collected herself and turned toward the exam table. Evan was now on his feet and clung to the counter with his head hanging down. Monica straightened with a renewed sense of purpose and newly founded anger.