Dead Tropics (3 page)

Screaming.

Panicked, desperate screaming getting closer and closer.

4

Automatically, I hit the security alarm before racing into the ward. The hallway was completely deserted. My mind absorbed the scene in snapshots. A mop in a pool of water. A chair overturned. Records spilled on the floor. Coffee cup smashed. Bedding spilling off a trolley. What had happened here?

My ears were assaulted by the sounds of people's panicked cries ahead of me. My heart began to thump. The thought of going forward terrified me. Looking around for something to defend myself with, I saw the mop. Quickly I unscrewed the head, leaving me with a solid piece of wood to wield.
I had the sinking feeling I would need to.

I sent up a quick prayer that security would respond soon and forced myself to move down the hall. The screams had stopped to be replaced by even more disturbing sounds. Thumps, bangs, whimpers and growls merged with cries of pain and terror. Swallowing convulsively, I clutched my pole tightly and peered around the corner.

A sight beyond my imagining lay before me. It was a few seconds before my brain could even make sense of the images it was seeing. But when it did register, I suddenly couldn't breathe. Bodies lay scattered along the length of the hallway. Eight, ten bodies?

Hunched over the closest ones were three blood-covered men. For a moment, I thought they were trying to help the fallen individuals and then the truth dawned on me with horrifying clarity. They were
eating them
.

I blinked rapidly to clear my eyes but still they continued to tear chunks out of the fallen bodies and chew the meat with such relish, that bile rose in my throat. The blood of my colleagues, people I had worked with every day, was in their hair, their clothes, their nails.

A groan drew my eyes to the victim closest to me. It was a man lying on his back. Wrinkled face, grey hair...it was Dr Wilson.
Oh my God, he is still alive!

His eyes fluttered as he moaned again. The man kneeling over him leaned over and buried his head in his victim's chest, ripping pieces of flesh off with his teeth. As he flung his head up, I recognised the dark hair and blank eyes as the first miner I had seen coming in. He's mad, I realised with despair, they are
all
insane.

Slowly I pulled back. For a long moment, I stood pressed against the wall paralysed. I was terrified of moving, for fear the madmen would hear me. Then a new sound. A door slammed and footsteps ran up the hallway towards us. A feminine cry of despair as whoever it was realised what she had run into. I took a deep breath and forced myself to peer around the corner again.

Emma, dear bubbly Emma, stood a few feet from the scene of the carnage. Beside her stood a young man with glasses who looked vaguely familiar (Ken?). Slowly he reached over and grasped her hand and started to edge backwards and the madmen stopped their dining to stare at them.

Behind them, a young woman came through the doors, and then another. With a sinking feeling in my gut, I saw the now familiar pale slack skin and deadened eyes.

Emma glanced behind her and cried out again. They were trapped and they knew it. Without allowing myself time to think, I flung myself around the corner.

"Hey! Come and get me!" I waved my pole and jeered in a foolhardy attempt to distract the madmen long enough to allow Emma and Ken to escape. "What are you waiting for, you ugly bastards?"

As the men rose clumsily to their feet, I felt a thrill of satisfaction that my plan had actually worked and they were coming after me. Then - sheer terror.
They were coming after me
.
Shit, shit, shit.

"Catch!" I hollered and flung my pole like a javelin towards Ken. Without waiting to see if he caught it, I turned and ran for my life. The doors loomed ahead, fifty meters, forty...If I could get through, I could bolt it and get help.

A raspy groan echoed through the hall just behind me.
Oh God.
Thirty meters.
Please God.
A door suddenly opened to my side and a bloody figure stepped through.

I cried out and veered sharply away as I caught a glimpse of ashen skin and a mauled face. I banged against the far wall and fell over an overturned chair. The woman lurched at me, hands clenched into claws. From the corner of my eyes, I saw other maniacs moving towards me. I grabbed the chair and heaved it at the woman in desperation. It didn't even slow her down; she reached forward and grabbed my ankle. Screaming, I kicked violently at her face with my other foot until she fell back, releasing me. Scrambling to my feet, I pelted desperately towards the doorway.

Twenty meters. Suddenly the doors flung open and the wonderful sight of uniformed security men greeted me. Without slowing, I pushed past as the six men spread out across the hallway. "There are people down there that need your help!" I gasped. "Please hurry!"

"Don't worry, miss" An older man with grey streaked hair smiled at me. "We'll have this under control soon."

I clutched his arm. "Please be careful. They're completely insane! They're eating people!" He blinked as he absorbed that. Patting my hand reassuringly, he moved away.

Drawing back, I tried to control my trembling limbs as I took in the scene. The woman with a ravaged face was reaching for a young security guard. He pointed his weapon and shouted at her to stop while the remaining men hurried towards the approaching madmen. I prayed that they were in time to save Ken and Emma.

Suddenly a shot rang out. My head snapped around to see the young security guard had fired a warning shot above the woman's head.

"What the hell, Jack!" The security officer standing next to me, yelled out. "These are sick people! Use your taser!"

I watched on as the guards fired their tasers - with absolutely no effect. And in those precious wasted seconds, the madmen reached out and grabbed the officers. The woman sunk her teeth eagerly into the young guard, Jack's, arm and tore a chunk out. He screamed in disbelief and struggled to fend her off. Further down the hall, the guards were also engaged in a hand to hand struggle with the infected men.

Cries rang out as the struggles became increasingly desperate.

"Do something!" I shouted despairingly at the officer beside me. A quick check of his badge identified him as the officer in charge. "Biggs!"

Biggs, a lean man with leathery skin and short salt and pepper hair, shook himself and pulled his gun out. "Shoot, shoot! Defend yourself if you have to!"

He strode forward and tried to find a clear shot. The woman, a jagged hole where her lips once were, pulled Jack close and sunk her teeth into his cheek. He screamed again but seemed helpless to fight her off. Biggs pulled her away roughly and aimed his gun at her. "Don't make me do this, lady."

She bared bloody teeth at him and lunged forward. He shot her in the chest. She stumbled back a few steps then moved towards him again. With incredulity, he shot her again. Again she staggered and then reached for him. Desperate, he pushed his gun into her forehead and pulled the trigger. The woman collapsed instantly like a marionette, a bloody mess where her head had been.

The senior officer stared at her fallen body in disbelief. Around him, panic took hold as shots rang out without effect. "They aren't stopping!"

Horrified, I watched the older officer who had comforted me, drop his gun and stagger towards us. His yells became garbled and blood poured from a ragged wound in his throat.

Do something!
Stepping forward, I yelled at the top of my voice. "Aim for the head!"

Another guard took up the cry. "Go for the head!" A cacophony of gunshots followed as the security men desperately targeted the maniacs' heads.

As the noise died away, the officers stood surrounded by the corpses of the infected patients. They gazed at each other, stunned into somber silence.

Suddenly, the sound of a woman's scream brought my head up sharply. Emma! She ran towards me from the far end of the corridor, waving her arms frantically. "Run! Run!"

Behind her, I heard shots being fired and then Ken and the security guards came bolting around the corner. They were looking over their shoulders and yelling, "Move! Move!"

In the moment of frozen inaction that gripped me and the others, I saw them - a throng of blood-splattered creatures staggering around the corner. It is an image that will forever be burned in my memory. A doctor with arms that ended in bloody stumps; a security guard with intestines dragging on the floor; a young dark-haired woman with a gaping hole where her abdomen once was. Doctor Wilson stumbled behind her, oblivious to the gaping hole in his chest.

One of the guards turned and fired wildly at them. A bullet slammed into the chest of a middle-aged woman in a nurse's uniform. She fell back into the crowd.

And then she stood up.

"Help the wounded!" Biggs yelled, snapping everyone out of their paralysis. "Get going!"

He grabbed Jack's arm and pulled him up. We followed the other guards carrying the older injured man through. I rushed back to hold a door open. I waved at Emma and the others as they raced towards us. "Come on!"

She was so close, I could see the flush on her cheeks and the terror in her wide eyes. Not far behind her were Ken and the officers and oh, so close, too close, were the monsters. Their missing limbs slowed them down, thank God, but they kept coming...

"Hurry, Emma." I murmured and held my hand out to her. Her eyes met mine and she reached for me. I closed my fingers around hers and swept her into a tight one-armed hug as I continued to hold the door open.

"Am I safe?" She whispered pleadingly.

"For now." I answered truthfully, watching the men drawing closer. And then they were through, and the guards were bolting the doors shut.

5

Emma flew into Ken's arms, surprising me a bit. I wasn't aware that she knew him that well. A gurgled cry drew my attention. The older guard was lying against the wall, blood pooling around him.

The nurse in me kicked in. I grabbed a kit from the nearby counter and hurried over to examine them.

"Call for help" I snapped at Biggs as I ran by. Kneeling by the older man, I struggled to stem the flow of blood from his neck but I saw the light of life already fading from his eyes. Within a minute, he was gone. I stood up slowly. "I'm sorry. He's gone."

I quickly moved over to the young man, Jack. His wounds were serious but not immediately life threatening. He could be going into shock, though. Behind me, Biggs ordered one of his men to get help.

As I knelt beside the lad, Emma moved to join me, her red hair falling over her face. "You saved my life, Lori. I can't believe that you risked your life like that!"

I shrugged, embarrassed, as I worked on the boy. "Momentary madness."

Emma grinned, and with a professional eye, quickly assessed the situation in the room. Her smile faded as her eyes settled on the dead older guard. Eyes widening, Emma stood up quickly. "You've got to get him out of here. Now!" Her blue eyes focused on Biggs. "The ones who have been bitten turn quickly when they die. Hurry, we don't have long!"

Even as she spoke, the dead man's eyes snapped open. His lips peeled back and he lunged at a guard near him, sinking his teeth into the man's calf.

"Get him off, get him off!" The guard, a young fair-haired man, screamed, fumbling with his gun. Biggs stepped forward, coolly pressed his gun against the side of the older man's head and pulled the trigger.

Biggs turned an icy blue eye on me. "Either you are a shitty nurse who can't tell when a man is dead, ma'am, or I just iced a corpse. " He closed his eyes briefly. "I don't suppose there's much chance you're a shitty nurse, is there?"

I shook my head wordlessly, pushing myself to my feet. "He was gone."

Biggs sighed and turned away. "Not sure how I am going to explain this away if there is an inquiry. Then again, not sure there's any way to explain any of this..."

As he gathered his remaining able officers for a conference, Ken joined us.

"Thanks." Ken's sensitive face was drawn and pale as he looked at me. "That pole allowed me to hold off Jan...those creatures - until the officers arrived."

I accepted his thanks with an awkward nod. It was hard to feel proud when I had abandoned them and run like hell.

The stocky sandy-haired guard sent to make a call trotted back from the nurses' station, looking unsettled. "I can't raise anyone in admin, or down in ER, the office..."

For some reason, he reminded me of the Bananas in Pyjamas characters my babies were so fond of. It could have been the combination of the blue uniform and his spiky blonde hair, I mused, silently nicknaming him B1.

Biggs scowled. "Everyone's spread so damned thin today. We've been dealing with reports of aggression all over the hospital for the last hour." He stopped abruptly as the same appalling thought occurred to all of us.
What if this was happening all over the hospital?

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, folks." He turned to a man calmly chewing gum beside him. Broad shouldered, square jawed and smooth shaven, he looked like a poster boy for the marines. I couldn't help admiring his relaxed confidence as he listened to Biggs, gun held loosely at his side.