Dead and Forsaken (27 page)

“
Aaaaaahh!” he
moaned.

Seconds
later they were already detaching his bowels and holding handfuls of
his guts. He was good as gone and there was nothing we could do
about it.

“
CHOMP!
CHOMP! CHOMP!”

The
two walking dead corpses fought over his limbs and scraps of meat.
His arms were severed off and his chest was mangled and gutted of
its organs.

“
GNAAAW!”

His
severed hand was still clutching the pillowcase of drugs. The
pregnant forsaken stumbled out the room after us. Soon a dead
forsaken doctor and nurse lurched stiffly out of some other rooms.

“
GROOOWWWL!”

Their
skeleton like arms stretched out in front of them. They cut George
off from the rest of the group. He was so focused on what was
happening to the doctor that he never realized something was
creeping up behind him. By the time he noticed them it was too late.
We saw
more
of them come out the adjacent room and we took off down the hall.

”
GRRRRRRR!”

“
Don't leave me! I'm
coming!” he screamed with fear in his eyes.

He
swung wildly at them with his hammer. He was so scared that he
couldn't get a good shot. Most of his blows caught them on the
shoulder or collar bone. The nurse grabbed his other arm in a death
grip and wouldn't let go.

“
GROOOWWWL!”

“
Let me go you ugly
bitch!” he screamed trying to get free.

She
pulled his arm up to her hungry drooling mouth and bit into the
muscle.

“
CHOMP!”

George
screamed and then slammed the blunt end of the hammer into her face.

“
You bitch!” he
shouted in anger.

He
thought he was safe until he noticed another forsaken in the corner
of his eye. The emaciated doctor’s corpse had crept up behind
him. Then it was able to bite him on the side of the neck leaving a
laceration from his throat to his ear. The deep animal like bites
bled profusely.

“
GNAAAW!
GNAAAW! GNAAAW!”

He
lost his balance and they pinned him down on the tile. They held him
tightly and forced him onto his side. The creatures scratched and
clawed his skin before ripping open his belly.

“
Aaaaaaahhhhh!”

It
was medieval autopsy that left him gutted and filet open from his
groin to his sternum. He was severely bitten injuring his kidneys,
liver and intestines. The noise drew other creatures into
the
corridor. The new set of forsaken barged through a set of labor and
delivery double doors one by one.

“
GRRRRRR!”

Their
features had been distorted by violence and decay. The entire
ravenous pack joyfully joined in the feeding frenzy.

“
Get back!” screamed
Carlos. “Get back!”

There
was nothing me or my fellow survivors could do for him. George
finally died after they tore through his aorta with one final bite.

“
CHOMP!”

The
kids turned their heads away and the women averted their eyes in
disgust. I carefully aimed my gun at the biggest one then pulled the
trigger. To my surprise it just clicked. I was completely out but
luckily George’s death gave us the diversion we needed.

“
Fuck!” I screamed.
“Everyone get into the elevator!”

Soon
their attention was drawn to the rest of us.

“
GRRRRRR”

They
clearly wanted to devour all of us. Joe and I pushed the loaded
dolly in their path to slow them down. Carlos put Alex on his back
and took off. We all made it inside but the buttons wouldn't work. I
used a small silver key on my key ring to bypass the fire service
mode. It still had power but we had another problem. The outer
manually operated doors were broken. They were stuck in the open
position.

“
Forget this damn
elevator!” frantically screamed Kahleem. “Let’s
take the stairs to one of the other floors!”

“
GROOOWWWL!”

I grabbed his shoulder and said.
“That’s not an option. We'll be dead before we get
there.”

Someone
would have to stay behind and close the doors by hand. I was about
to get off but Anne beat me to it.

“
What are you doing?”
I yelled. “Get back on the elevator!”

“
It’s okay Kevin!
I'm going to die anyway!” Anne explained. “At least this
way it’s on my terms!”

“
They can fix you can't
they?” cried Latia.

“
No sweetheart!” she
said while giving Latia a hug.

Tears filled Blair’s eyes.
Anne was upset too. She said her tearful goodbyes to everyone and
asked us to forgive her for not telling us about being bit.

“
Go with God my child!”
responded the Pastor. “All is forgiven!”

“
GRRRRRR!”

She
closed the outer gates and I pushed the down button. Anne managed to
put on a brave face but I could see the fear in her eyes. Maria
squeezed my hand and shook her head. Anne slowly sank to her knees
and pleaded for us to abandon her. Over her shoulder we could see
the pregnant ghoul and a legion of decaying undead stumbling and
slowly approaching.

“
GRRRRRR!”

Anne's
body trembled as the footsteps and moans behind her grew closer. The
inner doors started to close just as the beasts got to her. By the
time their hands began reaching out for her she was physically and
emotionally exhausted. They grabbed Anne by the shoulders and
dragged the crying woman down.

“
CHOMP!
CHOMP! CHOMP!”

She
let out a shriek as several of those things bit down into her soft
flesh.

“
Aaaiiihhheee!”

Anne
violently shook and convulsed as her life’s blood sprayed into
the air.
She
continued to kick and scream as they tore a chunk out of her neck.
Her
hands gripped her throat as the blood flowed like a faucet through
her fingers. The forsaken continued to rip the skin from her bones
and spilled her entrails and guts onto the dirty floor.

“
CRUNCH!
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!”

Blair
fell to her knees distraught and gripped with emotion. We heard Anne
s screams of anguish as we descended to the level below.

“
Uuuggghhh!”

She
was just a regular person a couple of days ago but she died a hero.
For a long time no one spoke inside the elevator. We tried not to
look each other in the eyes. We just exchanged a few quick glances.
As our numbers began to decline I started to second guess my own
decisions. The last thing I needed was someone else bitching or
moaning about my leadership.

“
Better them than us.”
said Kahleem full indifference.

Nobody
else said it but we were all thinking the same thing. It was cruel
and insensitive but true. You had to
learn
to keep moving and not look back.
We
had become numb to it all just like Maria feared. By the time we
stopped on the first floor everything above us was silent again.

When
the service elevator stopped on the first floor we braced ourselves
for action as the doors slowly opened. We ended up in the back
storage area of the operating room. At first glance it looked
deserted. Several colored and different size pipes hovered overhead
and ran the length of the room. We stood there for a moment and
listened before we exited. I determined that we were alone then we
stepped out one by one. Normally anyone walking through this area
would be met with a barrage of noise from the furnace and steam
pipes. Today everything was silent.

The
corridor was lined with beds with torn mattresses, equipment with
broken electronics, and various parts. The quickest way out was to
follow it and cut through the main surgery ward. That section was
newer and more modern. We walked down a long hallway with operating
rooms on one side. Most of the rooms were empty but we did see a few
patients still on the operating table. The smell looming in the hall
was putrid and sour. The dead patients must have been left there
when the doctors and nurses fled. Every instrument and tool was in
its proper place.

“
That is just tragic!”
mumbled Joe. “Everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody
deserves to die like that!”

“
Something must have scared
the doctors off!” said Blair.

The
last room at the hall was different. You could tell that there was
some sort of commotion. Surgical equipment and supplies were
scattered around. The patient was missing but there was a lot of
blood. I saw a decomposed body wearing surgical scrubs. It was hard
to tell if it was a man or woman. The body was picked clean down to
the skeleton. The area was contaminated with body fluids. Bloody
footprints led out of the room. They were at odd angles and skipped
around before coming together. We would never know what happened.
They were dead and the dead don't talk.

“
I don’t know if I
want to live in a world this terrifying!” said Maria.

“
Let's just keep moving!”
said Carlos.

The
footprints led up to a set of double doors. Dried bloody hand prints
covered the door and the glass. I slowly pushed them open and peaked
out the crack. Everyone else followed me through. That's when we
realized how bad things had gotten. The OR waiting room was in
shambles. Blood stained the rug and fancy chairs. Directly in front
of our path a large pack of the forsaken ravaged the skeletons of
two doctors and a nurse. Both of their faces were frozen in final
expressions of terror.

“
CHOMP!
CHOMP! CHOMP!”

They
were busy tearing the corpses to pieces and didn’t look up.
Carlos and I hurried everyone down the other corridor. The glass at
the nurses’ station was shattered. Glass had fallen on the
counter and floor. A dried bloodstain on the floor behind the desk
was in the shape of a body that was no longer there. Out of nowhere
the undead nurse who had been killed behind the desk grabbed Joe by
the shoulder.

“
GRAAAUUUHHH!”

“
GRRRRRR!”

“
Oh hell no!” cried
out a startled Joe.

He
gripped her clammy dead arm and flipped her over his shoulder and
onto the ground. Joe quickly hauled her desk chair over his head and
slammed it down into the she devils head. He was huffing and puffing
like crazy before breaking out into robust laugh. It was short lived
because the monster stopped for a second then began to stir again.

“
GRRRRRR!”

Joe
violently plowed the steel bottomed chair into her head until she
fell stiff onto the floor.

“
That's was one tough
bitch!” teased Joe. “Let’s get the hell out of
here just in case she has a sister!”

We
exited the OR and rounded the corner to the main lobby. The once
cozy interior was now in disorder. On the way across we saw another
group stumbled in. I pointed at Maria and gestured for her to duck
down. Everybody else did the same. We had to make a split-second
decision and hide behind the large guest services booth in the
middle of the floor. A large group with several dozen forsaken
stumbled and lurched toward the ER. The decomposition process caused
insects to crawl in and out their mouths, ears, nostrils and bite
wounds. I wondered what primitive impulse kept them searching. It
took a while for the roving horde to move past. Everyone could hear
their awkward lurching footsteps echoing all around us.

“
SHAMBLE!
SHAMBLE! SHAMBLE!”

The
moans, groans and growls made them seem even closer.

“
GROOOWWWL!”

“
GRRRRRRR!”

We
were stacked so close together that we could hear each others hearts
beat.

“
No matter what happens
don't scream!” I whispered to all of them.

The
children shivered with fear and everyone’s breathing was
labored. To make things worse the rotting bottom half of a woman was
still behind the counter. She still had on a white skirt and sandals
covering her French manicured feet. Her guts were spilled onto the
floor and were covered in maggots and flies. They buzzed around our
faces but we couldn't risk swatting them away. The corpse smelled
rancid from decay and rot. It was hard for us to keep from vomiting.
It was like being covered in trash or swimming in raw sewage. The
worst part was the look of panic on the kids’ faces. Blair
pulled Alex close to her as Latia pressed her head into Maria’s
chest. Tears ran down her cheeks. It seemed like we waited forever
for them to clear out. We were dangerously close to being
discovered. Somehow they didn't see us. Luckily the stench covered
our scent. Chunks of rotten flesh and decayed skin stuck to our
bodies. Once I saw the last one pass by us we all moved slowly
across the rest of the room. At one point a large forsaken male
slowly approached us.

“
GROOOWWWL!”

He
was straggling behind the other group. I sent Joe to stealthy get
behind the creature while it focused on the rest of us. As soon as
he saw us he tried to attack.

“
GRRRRRR!”

He used my boot knife to stab the
straggler in the back of the head before it could react. With a
twist of his wrist all brain function stopped. The lifeless corpse
died for the second time as it slumped to the floor. Joe wiped the
blade off on his pants and we moved forward.

“
The
front doors are right there!” said Kahleem. “Why don't
we just run outside hop in a car and get the fuck out of here?”

“
I'm all out of ammo and
Carlos only has a few shots left! What are we going to do if we get
outside?” I asked. “We need more ammo and supplies!
That's why we‘re going to the security office!”

“
Kevin is right! There are
hundreds more of those things outside!” explained Maria.

“
I'm with the doc and
super cop!” added Joe. “Like me daddy use to say it’s
better to be the hunter than it is to be the deer!”

“
The only weapon we truly
need is the Lord's word!” said the pastor.

“
Even if that’s true
I would feel a whole lot better going outside if we had guns!”
said Blair.

“
They won't stop until
they kill and eat all of us will they” whispered Kahleem.

We
walked past a row of elevators and exited the lobby. We stopped on
the other side and stared down another hall. I could see what
appeared to be corpses scattered around. Blood
stained
their clothes and formed dry puddles around them. The security
communications office was at the other end. We carefully made our
way down the hall occasionally stepping over skeletons without
breaking stride. After several hours we had made it to the security
office. Sixteen of us got trapped in x-ray but only nine of us made
it this far. Standing outside the door we were horrified by what was
in front of us. The room was tight and claustrophobic.

“
Looks like we missed one
hell of a party!” said Joe.

“
Yeah! It looks like hell
alright!” replied Kahleem.

Through
the cheap wooden door we saw the bodies of a dozen dead forsaken
piled up just inside. The corpses were riddled with bullets but head
shots brought them down. Hernandez clearly put up a good fight. The
pastor offered to say a few words for my slain friend but I told him
now was not the time. I tried to hide the fact that my confidence in
us escaping was shaken to the core. Our last hours consisted of only
running, murder and death.

“
Stay out here and I'll
have a look around!” I whispered. “We need to make sure
none of those creatures are still alive inside.”

It
was hard to believe that much blood was spilled. It seemed like all
the equipment and furniture was coated. Blood cast off and spray
painted the ceiling and walls. The bulletproof glass window was left
cloudy from a dry layer of blood. On the floor in front of the
surveillance monitors I found what was left of Hernandez. His
dismembered skeleton was stripped and picked clean. Maroon stained
pieces of his tattered uniform were strewn about the area. It was
hard to see my friend in that condition. My search came up empty and
the office was deserted.
The
forsaken finished their meal and then moved on. I gave Carlos the
clear signal and he and the other guys started dragging the corpses
out. I used my keys to unlock all the drawers and cabinets.

I
called Maria and Blair in to the room look through them for anything
useful. They rummaged through everything. I had the kids searched
through the lockers for something to carry stuff in. Inside our gun
locker I found three full boxes of fifty count nine millimeter ammo.
For a second I just zoned out and just stood there holding the box.
It was the first time I thought about my own family. What if my mom
was in danger? I wondered how far this thing had traveled. Maria
came up behind me and wrapped her arms around me. Her warm body and
physical contact brought me back to reality.

“
Are you OK?” she
asked.

“
Yeah!” I told her.
“I'm just tired of losing people!”

“
Were all behind you one
hundred percent.” she said while kissing me on the cheek.

Once
again she was right. Now was not the time for self-pity. These
people needed my leadership and guidance. I ejected my magazine from
my gun and reloaded it.

“
That is the way I like
it!” I whispered to myself. “Seventeen bullets in the
clip and one in the chamber!”

Then
I tossed the box to Carlos to do the same.

“
Here you go dog!” I
told him. “Make all of them count!”

The
bullets could tip things in back our favor.

“
T hats what I'm talking
about!” said Carlos. “It’s time for some payback!”

During
her search Blair found Hernandez's empty gun under the desk.

“
I think this might help!”
said Blair.

I
reloaded it and gave it to Joe.

“
Now y'all going to see
what a real man can do!” he boasted. “It’s going
to be like shooting fish in a barrel!”

I
didn't know if he was kidding or just full of backwoods machismo. He
smiled then went back outside to keep watch in the corridor. Maria
came across a box of road flares, a machete and a golf club some
doctor lost. Kahleem picked up the machete and nodded with approval.

“
Now this was made to
kill!” he said.

Blair
placed the golf club on her shoulder and gripped the handle like a
pro. She tried to have a positive outlook but it was tough.

“
I guess this will work!”
she mumbled.

Alex
and Latia were also successful. They scavenged around and located a
first aid kit, and large book bag. I unlocked the confiscated
weapons locker and hit pay dirt. The victim of a hit and run
accident had a Colt Commando .38 special on him when he came in. His
family never had a chance to pick up his belongings. The bullets
from his gun were placed in a zip lock bag and left with the gun. I
loaded it up and gave it to Maria.

“
Don't be afraid to use
this!” I told her. “Your life and the life of those kids
might depend on it!”

“
I
never shot a gun before!” she replied.

“
Just hold it in both
hands point it at your target and smoothly pull the trigger!”
I replied.

“
That’s it?”
She asked.

“
Yeah that’s it!”
I responded.

The
baton I gave her wasn't going to cut it when we get outside. I told
the Pastor he could have his pick from everything else.