Basement Dwellers

by Holly Copella

  “I’m going to get us out of here,” she announced firmly as she approached. “We can make it to the ambulance. It’s parked right outside the emergency room door. I just need a minute to think--”

  Evan lifted his head and slowly looked at her. He exposed his teeth as bloody drool ran down his chin and had that same dead look in his eyes she’d seen in Alpert’s eyes. Monica stopped midstride and stared with horror at her infected partner. He snarled and lunged for her. Monica cried out and attempted to bolt from his path. Just outside the door, Alpert slammed his face against the window and clawed at the exam room door. Monica screamed from inside. A crash followed and the thick door vibrated with a dull thud. Monica’s screams subsided. A wounded nurse screamed and ran with a limp past Alpert down the hall. Alpert saw his lumbering meal run past him and pursued her. On the floor beneath the exam room door, blood rapidly spilled out from under it.

  †

  Peter cowered within the x-ray waiting room and slowly backed away from the door. He stared at the zombies piling against the thick window. They pawed at the glass with blood-covered hands and attempted to reach him. The glass and door were thick enough that there was little chance they’d break through. The terrified screams of men and women being torn apart by the infected echoed into the x-ray waiting room. What should have subsided as the flesh was torn from their bodies didn’t end their screams. Peter’s shoulders sagged as he sobbed only a moment. He looked around the x-ray waiting room. It was empty with no other sounds. He saw the phone on the desk just beyond the sliding glass window in the nurse’s station. He ran around to the side door and entered the station.

  Several chairs were overturned, but there wasn’t any blood, suggesting whoever had been attacked had escaped. Peter grabbed the phone on the desk and pressed buttons, unable to figure out how to get an outside line. There was a faint thump from nearby. He uncertainly turned and looked around. The room was empty. Peter returned to the phone and continued pressing the numbers in different sequences in order to get an outside line. A hand appeared from beneath the desk and grabbed his leg. He cried out and leaped away from the desk. A nurse in her late thirties crawled out from under the desk.

  “You have to press nine for an outside line,” she told him while flustered and out of breath.

  He saw her, exhaled deeply, and relaxed. “Damn it,” he gasped softly. “You scared me.”

  As she straightened, he saw her ankle was in a cast. “Human nature,” she informed him. “Fight or flight, right? Well, sometimes we hide when we can’t do either of those.”

  “I hear you,” he replied as he pressed nine then dialed 911. “We just need to ride it out and let the police or the goddamned National Guard end all this.” He glanced at the nurse and waited for someone to answer his call. “I think we’re safe in here. The doors and windows are thick.”

  No one was answering the emergency line. Peter became disgusted and slammed down the phone. They heard a low gurgle from nearby. Both looked across the room to the open nurse’s station doorway. Marco, the tattooed x-ray technician, stood in the doorway while holding what appeared to be a woman’s scalp containing long, dark hair. Both stood frozen and stared at the zombie technician still in his protective gown.

  “That’s the technician who brought my daughter back here for x-rays,” Peter gasped then stared at the scalp with horror. “Oh, God, is that my daughter’s hair?”

  “What do we do?” the nurse asked softly.

  Peter considered their options only a moment while briefly looking around. “Through the window and into the waiting room,” he replied in a soft tone. “Once we’re out, I’ll run around and lock that thing in here.”

  The zombie technician took a step toward them while tossing the scalp to the floor. It made a grotesque splattering sound as it hit the floor. The nurse nodded in response while staring at her zombie co-worker.

  “Remember flight or fight?” she asked Peter without taking her eyes off the zombie in the protective gown.

  “Yeah,” he replied and stared as well. “Do you have a better idea?”

  “Yes, I do,” she replied softly.

  The nurse suddenly shoved him with all her force in the direction of the zombie technician. Peter was able to stop his forward motion before being propelled into Marco. As he attempted to jump back, Marco leaped on top of him and tore into his shoulder. He screamed in terror and pain while attempting to tear the zombie off his shoulder. As he shoved Marco away, he looked across the nurse’s station to see the nurse climbing through the window despite her leg in a cast. He sneered and chased after her. She shut the window and wedged something between the glass to keep him from opening it. As he turned for the door, Marco again jumped on top of him. He held his arm out to stop the assault. The zombie bit into his arm and tore a chunk of flesh from Peter as he screamed. The amount of blood was staggering. Peter was finally able to shove the zombie back, darted past it, and ran for the open nurse’s station door only a few feet away.

  The nurse stood just outside the door and slammed it shut. He attempted to open it, but she braced herself against the door to keep him from getting out. There was a snarl behind him. He quickly turned. Marco lunged for him, knocked him against the door, and ripped the flesh from his neck. The nurse remained braced against the door from the opposite side as the man screamed and the door thumped against her body. There was fight or flight; and then there was survival. She was ensuring hers.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Pricilla sat in the E.R. waiting room with a magazine on her lap, which she flipped through with little interest. She glanced at her watch, set the magazine aside, and looked around the waiting room. There weren’t any nurses or orderlies anywhere. Even the older nurse behind the front desk was conspicuously missing. Several emergency pages had caught the attention of the fifteen or more people still awaiting word on loved ones or treatment within the waiting room. The emergency pages had subsided nearly forty minutes ago, and they hadn’t seen anyone since. The commotion within the emergency room beyond the double doors was unusually loud, indicating they had a trauma case of some sort requiring all personnel. Oddly enough, there hadn’t been any ambulances or EMT’s floating through for nearly an hour. Pricilla finally stood, stretched her legs, and approached the front desk. She looked behind the desk, but there wasn’t anyone in the back area either. The others still within the waiting room were becoming equally restless from their unusually long wait.

  Emmerich wasn’t a big city. Their hospital didn’t usually have long waits. Something seemed wrong. The sound of the double doors was finally heard opening for the first time in almost an hour. Pricilla glanced at the doors along with several others, eager to be called next. An orderly, based on his scrub uniform, stood in the partially open doorway. Since it wasn’t a nurse, nearly everyone returned to their magazines or entertainment on their cell phones. It seemed odd when one person within the waiting room suddenly let out a slight gasp and stood abruptly. The parting of air behind Pricilla caused her to turn toward the desk. Patty stood behind the front desk only a foot away from Pricilla. The flesh from the left side of her face was almost completely gone, leaving her eye dangling from the bony socket, and exposing the upper half of her jaw. She snarled with bloodstained teeth and lunged for Pricilla. Pricilla suddenly cried out. There were several screams matching hers within the waiting room. Pricilla leaped out of the lunging zombie nurse’s path. Patty struck the tall desk and narrowly missed grabbing the grandmother with her blood covered hands. Pricilla turned to run and warn the others, but it was already too late.

  Alpert was within the waiting room and tore out the throat of a thrashing woman in his arms. One of the men within the waiting room punched him in the back of the head and the kidneys until he released the woman. The woman clutched her bleeding throat as blood poured past her hands and down her chest. Alpert spun to face the man with a large chunk of the woman’s throat still between his teeth. As he snarled and lunged for the man,
the flesh fell from his mouth. The man appeared horrified at the grotesque image and jumped backwards, out of his path. He collided with Rose behind him, who clutched his face and shoulder while sinking her teeth into the side of his neck. He attempted to pull away from her while screaming, but she remained glued to him, shredding the skin on his face with her fingernails until they reached his eye. Her fingers dug into his eye socket, blood spraying everywhere as he thrashed and screamed.

  Everyone screamed and sprang to their feet from the initial, bloodcurdling scream. When they saw the bloody scene unfolding, several people ran for the main door to escape. Three of them made it through the door. Alpert tackled a fourth man into the door, stopping the stampede in their tracks. Pricilla backed away from Patty and the doors while watching helplessly as Alpert aggressively tore the flesh from the man’s face with his teeth. There were more screams as a few more zombies stumbled through the inner doors into the waiting room, leaving the main entrance and the exam area doors blocked with ravenous undead. As the zombies stormed the waiting room, patients and visitors screamed and ran despite having no place to go. Pricilla watched a moment longer as if unable to move. Sheer panic was driving the masses and any rational thought seemed to dissipate. Patty again attempted to reach for Pricilla, but couldn’t make it past the counter height desk. Pricilla snapped out of her daze, grabbed a nearby chair, and slid it in front of the counter. She grabbed a discarded crutch leaning against the wall near several wheelchairs and swung for Patty’s head.

  As the crutch connected with Patty’s head, her already broken neck gave, throwing her head unnaturally sideways and onto her shoulder. Despite her head resting on her shoulder, she still snarled at Pricilla. The older woman took several steps back then ran for the desk and rammed the crutch into Patty’s chest using her forward momentum. Patty was thrown backwards several feet and crashed into a large filing cabinet. Pricilla jumped on the chair and looked across the chaotic waiting room as several others were knocked to the floor by the flood of zombies. Anyone falling to the floor was immediately piled upon, sealing their fate as zombie fodder.

  “This way!” Pricilla cried out to anyone who could hear her while waving her hands.

  As she climbed on top of the desk, several others ran for her. She wasn’t an agile woman anymore, but she managed to climb from the higher counter down to the lower desk and onto the floor without falling. Several men and women climbed over the desk, some using the chair and others haphazardly scrambling over the counter. One man stopped to help a woman onto the desk, and he was grabbed by the zombie directly behind her. She screamed as the man was pulled to the floor and piled upon by several more zombies. He vanished beneath the pileup of zombies and only his screams indicated what became of him. Another man pulled the startled woman from the desk to the safety of the other side. Pricilla led the charge from the front desk and into the back exam area. She suddenly stopped and was nearly toppled by those directly behind her. Within the emergency room corridor, several zombies fed on those less fortunate. Other zombies attempting to pass through the emergency room doors saw them and immediately backtracked. Pricilla and her six followers were running out of options. Patty was heard snarling behind them, her awkwardly placed head lying on her shoulder.

  “Over here!” shouted a familiar female voice from further away. “Mom, over here!”

  Pricilla looked down the hall past several zombies on the floor and on a slower approach for them. Ellen stood inside the doctor’s lounge doorway waving her arms to her mother. It was crazy, but that wasn’t going to stop a mother from reaching her daughter. Pricilla charged down the corridor as fast as her fifty-five year old legs would carry her. All six men and women followed in a stampede relying on the herd mentality. Several zombies lunged for Pricilla in the lead. The older woman turned into a Roman warrior and swung her crutch like a sword at each zombie within striking distance all while never slowing. She took down four zombies and plowed straight through the fifth. Several zombies chased after the small herd of humans that were their meal. Pricilla ran through the open door as her daughter stood aside, giving room. Five of the six made it through. The sixth, a woman, was tackled into the nearby wall by one of the faster moving zombies. She was slightly dazed as the zombie’s teeth came at her. She screamed and attempted to hold the ravenous undead back, giving it opportunity to bit her lower arm. She screamed as its teeth punctured her skin. It was about ready to rip her flesh when the broad end of a crutch struck it in the face. The zombie flew backwards and struck the floor. Pricilla pulled the bleeding woman into the room and sneered at the zombie on the floor. She slammed the lounge door.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  The hearse pulled up to the hospital and stopped short of the parking lot. There were people running around the area surrounding the main entrance to the hospital in mass chaos. CDC and state police surrounded the front of the building with flashing lights and vehicles blocking the entire front entrance. The screaming, panicking people were detained by the police and CDC. No one was allowed to leave. The only people attempting to get closer were the flocking reporters freshly arriving on the scene. Men in biohazard suits checked over those outside while the police kept everyone rounded up, keeping the press away with a wall of emergency vehicles. Rolan sat behind the wheel of the hearse and watched the mass hysteria surrounding the once quiet hospital. Warren sat in the passenger seat and stared out the hearse’s windshield, looking equally surprised.

  “They’re sealing the doors,” Warren suddenly announced, showing panic for the first time. “We need to get the doctor inside before the building is completely sealed.”

  Carson poked his head out front from the back. “That’s a bad idea.”

  “It’s possible she’s patient zero,” Warren announced sternly. “In case you don’t understand what that means, she could hold the cure for all this.” He glared at Carson just behind him. “We have to get her inside.”

  “Wouldn’t it be beneficial to hand her over to the CDC?” Rolan asked. “They’d know what to do.”

  “Dr. Sharp is the only one who can stop this,” Warren informed him. “We need to take her to him. CDC won’t know what they’re looking for, and they’ll waste a lot of time with unnecessary tests.” He casually pointed around back. “There’s the rear entrance to the basement. They may not have gotten to it yet. It’s easily overlooked.”

  “And then we’re also stuck inside,” Carson informed him with panic in his voice.

  “If we can stop it, that won’t matter,” Warren said as he became agitated. His look was stern, alarming Rolan. “Drive around back.”

  †

  Lexx and Hill entered the silent, empty morgue and looked around. There was no one around. Nathan possibly went home for the evening, leaving them alone with the freezers and empty exam tables. Hill approached the office and peered inside. He looked back at Lexx and casually placed his hands on his holster.

  “I guess your boyfriend went home for the evening,” Hill announced.

  She glared at him. “That’s not funny.”

  Lexx approached the freezers and opened each. Nearly half were empty. The others contained the recently dead crash victims. Most hadn’t been picked up for their final arrangements. As Lexx checked toe tags and uncovered each body, she frowned with disgust. She couldn’t believe how many of the critical crash victims had died in the last two days. She opened another door containing a sheet-covered corpse. Nathan entered, startling both, and appeared surprised to see Lexx standing before the sheet-covered corpse on the metal tray. He gave her an odd, quizzical look.

  “Lexx, what’s going on?” Nathan asked then glanced at Hill on the other side of the room.

  Hill turned official, approached Nathan, and showed him the search warrant. “We have a warrant to search the hospital for a missing body.”

  Nathan wasn’t impressed by Hill’s professional attitude, but was surprised by the comment. “Missing body?” he asked. “What missing body?”<
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  “Dr. Tracy Kirby,” Hill replied.

  Nathan appeared surprised and looked at Lexx, who pulled the sheet back to reveal another crash victim. “You lost Dr. Kirby’s body?”

  Lexx didn’t even acknowledge his scathing question. She had limited patients with the man she idolized for years. She didn’t even want to look at him, but she couldn’t avoid it after noticing another crash victim. Lexx stared at him with the surprise evident on her face.

  “Four of these bodies are victims from the crash, Nathan,” she suddenly announced. “That means nearly everyone in ICU from the wreck died in the last two days.”

  Nathan nodded. “That’s correct,” he replied. “About Dr. Kirby--”

  “I saw Dr. Sharp injecting something into my uncle’s IV, and it wasn’t listed,” Lexx informed him. Her concerns were stronger than her repulsion for her former friend.

  The coroner appeared surprised and stared at her. “Why would a surgeon be administering medication?” he demanded. “That’s the nurse’s job.”

  “Exactly,” Lexx announced and felt her anger welling inside her. “Dr. Kirby was going to look into it for me. Maybe she found something she shouldn’t have.” She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end to the thoughts she was thinking. “If I could see her file, I could tell what angle she hit the steps.”