Zombies! Episode 2 - Abby's Bad Day (4 page)

"Detective Anthony Heron. I'll be taking
charge of the situation until my superiors arrive."

The man softened a bit and extended a hand.
"Luke Mancina, Chief of Staff. Do you have any idea what
happened?"

Heron shook his head. "I was just about to
ask you the same question."

Mancina looked in the room and Heron followed
his gaze. He didn't see any more humans. Only zombies.

***

TODD
had gotten away. He was bitten
and he'd gotten away. He'd known exactly what Peter was going to do
and he'd made a run for it. His actions had not only been cowardly
and dangerous, but he'd left Sven in a lurch. Alone now, encumbered
by his
protective
gown and gloves, Sven was struggling with
Karl. It seemed that the zombies retained their former strength, if
not their former grace. Maybe it was just the fresh ones.

"We have to contain them!" shouted Dr.
Leke.

The area was virtually empty now. All of the
patients had gotten out during the hasty evacuation. Besides Dr.
Leke, Peter, Marie, Sven, Abby, and the zombies, there was only one
other doctor, Everett Cheung, and the nurse that Todd had tossed
aside on his way to freedom. Her name was Patricia Mills.

Jane was on her feet now, sniffing around for
something to eat. She was caught between the whimpering Marie on
the floor and the slowly moving Abby. Perhaps Abby's scent was
stronger because she was on her feet or maybe zombies are like old
people who just don't want to bend down. Jane moved toward Abby.
She was still slow but not as slow as Karl had been on that foot.
Abby, when she noticed, took two quick steps backward and tripped
over a bedpan. Stumbling, she would have been caught up by Jane if
Sven hadn't chosen that very moment to lose his battle with
Karl.

The security guard must also have lost his
balance. In an instant, Karl had him turned around and shoved up
against the table upon which he'd died. Sven struggled, but Karl
had a hold of his arm, free of the gown, and took a deep and
satisfying bite. The blood welled freely out of the wound and Jane
caught scent of it. She moved in quickly and, two on one, Sven
didn't stand a chance.

"Peter,
no!
" Dr. Leke cried out,
halting Peter in mid-stride. He was getting ready to move in and
try to help Sven. But there was no help for Sven.

He screamed and screamed and screamed.

"We have to kill them," Abby cried.

With bloody faces and slavering jaws, Karl
and Jane looked up from their meal. Both of them looked at Abby,
the closest living thing. Had they heard her? Had they understood?
Yes to the first question. No to the second. She was just more
fresh meat.

This time Abby didn't hesitate. She gathered
her feet beneath her and ran over to where Dr. Leke was trying to
corral her remaining staff.

"We can't fight them," she was saying. "We
need to find a safe place until the police come." She indicated one
of the private examining rooms. The doors didn't lock but they
could push something up against it and pray that the zombies didn't
understand the detailed inner workings of a door knob.

"I'll get Marie," Peter offered.

"No you won't," Dr. Leke said, then addressed
the poor woman on the floor. "Marie, you'll have to get up. You'll
have to come with us on your own."

Marie's wound wasn't bad. Though it had hit
in the same area as Jane's, the bite had been less successful and
it hadn't hit an artery. Marie, though battling shock, nodded her
understanding.

"Don't wait. Go now."

The small group began to move quickly away
from the two zombies. Peter hesitated, waiting for Marie to find
her feet. Dr. Leke spared him a glance, and then found one for
Abby, too, as she stopped.

Marie wasn't going to make it.

Gritting his teeth, Peter moved to intervene.
He stood alone, unarmed, against two zombies. As they approached,
he shed his gown and gloves, realizing that they hadn't done anyone
any good. He didn't stand a chance.

Abby took it upon herself to help Marie but
before she went to the stricken woman, she grabbed up the nearest
weapon, a three legged metal cane that an elderly patient had left
behind, and passed it over to Peter. There were three broken tennis
balls on the feet of the cane. Peter hefted it in both hands,
waited, and then took his first swing at Jane.

The cane hit her in the head with a solid
crack. She didn't even try to block it. One of the tennis balls
popped off the end and landed on the floor without so much as a
bounce. Jane's head snapped sideways and she staggered but didn't
fall. Peter didn't hesitate. He brought the cane in with a
backhanded swing and this time hit Karl in the head. The exposed
foot of the cane caught Karl under the eye, scraped up over the
cheek bone, and pushed into the socket. There was a nauseating
squelch that Peter felt more than heard as the dislocated eye was
pushed aside and deeper into the skull. Optic juice, pinked by
blood, began to collect in the well of the socket and dribble out
over the side.

"Keep your distance," Abby said to him. Marie
was on her feet now. "Start backing up."

Sven was stirring now, his head up and
sniffing for meat.

Three more whacks with the cane, one for Jane
and two for Karl, and Peter began to tire. He floundered a moment
and Karl took hold of the cane with his left hand. He tugged on it
and Peter lost his grip. Certainly the zombie didn't recognize the
significance of it as a weapon and yet he didn't let go of it. His
arm dropped to his side and he dragged it along behind him.

"Time to go," Abby said to Peter.

He nodded, turned, and ran.

***

"
WHERE'D
they go?" Heron asked. He'd
missed all of the action while involved in his short conversation
with Mancina. It was difficult to see certain parts of the room
because of the angle.

"They ran off to the left," Mancina said.
"They probably went into an exam room."

There were three zombies now, Heron noticed.
The security guard who'd been practically devoured was on his feet
now. This was really starting to look like a horror movie. The
first zombie, the guy from the gym, was in pretty good shape but
had a vicious wound to the eye. He hadn't had it a moment ago but
he was holding a cane with bloody feet. That looked like a suspect
weapon. The nurse was worse off, the blood on her neck still
dribbling out of the wound. Her head was angled oddly. And finally
there was the poor security guard, Sven. Sven had been eaten alive.
His arm was chewed clear through to the bone and there were gaping
wounds in his belly and legs. Heron was surprised there was enough
left to animate. Of course, the head was intact and that seemed to
be all they needed.

They were moving off to Heron's left,
shambling as a group toward the examination rooms. They didn't take
any notice of the men behind the glass, focused entirely on the
food that had gotten away from them.

Then Heron noticed that the woman was
missing. The one who'd been bitten. The survivors must have taken
her with them.

"Is there another way out of there?" Heron
asked Mancina. The zombies had collected around the door to the
first exam room. Jane had made it first and was pushing on the door
with both hands. Karl came up right behind her and began to jerk on
the doorknob.

"Even if the ER wasn't locked down, those
rooms are small and only have one door," Mancina said. "Do you
think those things can get in there?"

Heron thought about Lucia and Zoe Koplowitz,
undead in their apartment. Who knew how long they had been
there?

"We need to get them out. Is there a way to
override the lockdown?"

Macina hesitated. "A lockdown is generally
supposed to last twelve hours to be assured…"

"That's not what I asked you."

Clearing his throat, Mancina said, "There are
override codes. I need to make a call."

"Then do that. Is there a phone in that exam
room, some way I can get in touch with those people?" Heron
asked.

Mancina nodded, moving over to an extension
and dialing. Heron snatched the phone from him and waited for the
answer. He didn't have to wait long.

"Hello. Hello!" It was a woman's voice.

Heron identified himself. "Who's this
please?"

"Dr. Veronica Leke. I'm the chief resident in
the ER. Are you at the hospital?"

"I'm right outside the ER," Heron confirmed.
"Dr. Mancina and I arrived just before you went into the room."

"Are they out there, all three of them?"

"They're gathered around the door."

"Can you help us?"

Heron looked to Mancina, but of course he was
only hearing one side of the conversation. "We'll do our best. In
the meantime, I think you're safe. I've had some experience
with….well, with zombies. I don't think they're capable of opening
doors. There is another problem, however, and I need you to listen
very carefully and reveal nothing to the others as I say this."

"Okay," she said and he could hear the change
in her voice.

"You have an injured woman in there with you.
Was she bitten?"

"Yes."

"The bite spreads an infection. She'll only
last a few hours at most before turning. Hopefully we'll have you
out well before then."

"What should we do if you don't?"

"I can't tell you what to do while she's
alive but if she turns you need to destroy her brain. Find yourself
a weapon and be ready."

"Okay, I…"

"Is that the cops?" someone in the background
called. "I need to speak with them." Then someone grabbed the phone
away from Dr. Leke and Heron was on with a young man.

"Hello?" said the man. "Are you a cop?"

"I'm Detective Heron. Could you put Dr. Leke
back on please?"

"Listen," said the man. "My names Peter
Ventura. I'm the one who locked down the ER but one of the guards
got out before the doors shut."

Heron swallowed hard but said nothing.

"He was bitten, man!" Peter shouted. "Do you
understand me?"

"I understand you," Heron answered. "Please
put Dr. Leke back on."

"You don't get it…"

"I get it! Now give the phone to Dr.
Leke."

Ventura went quiet and Heron could just
picture the look on the boy's face. In a moment, though, Dr. Leke
was back on the phone.

"I'm sorry, Detective," she said. "We're all
obviously very tense. Peter only means well."

Heron immediately returned to his original
tone of voice. "He did the right thing locking down the ER and
telling me about the guard. I need to go and take care of that
situation. Do you know the guard's name?"

"Todd Mayfield."

"Thanks." Heron hung up the phone. When he
turned, there was a uniformed officer standing with Dr.
Mancina.

"What's your name?" Heron asked the
officer.

The young man looked a bit flustered. "Culph,
sir."

Heron looked at Mancina. "One of your
security guards, a Todd Mayfield, got out before the lock down went
into effect. He was bitten."

Mancina went white. "Good God."

"I need you to address your entire staff.
Mayfield needs to be found." He turned to Culph. "You go out and
tell your superiors that I want every exit covered. Nobody goes in
or out. Set up a two block perimeter. Cops only. I don't want the
reporters in here."

Culph took off at a run and Mancina was
already on the phone. Heron was breathing heavily, trying to figure
out what to do next. Abruptly, he went for the phone again and
dialed the extension for the exam room.

***

MARIE
was starting to become feverish.
Peter and Patricia had done their best with the wound. There wasn't
much in the way of supplies in the exam room. Most of what they
used in there was brought in on carts. The poor woman lay on the
bed and sobbed for Jane.

Dr. Leke hung up the phone and turned to
Peter. "He apologized for yelling. He said to thank you."

"Oh." Peter looked uncomfortable. "Well all
right then."

Suddenly remembering the bag on her shoulder,
Abby reached in and took out her phone.

"Who are you calling?" Dr. Leke asked in a
none too friendly tone of voice.

Abby looked up at her. "I'm calling my
husband, if you don't mind."

Dr. Leke seemed unsure of herself even as she
tried to present a bold and confident facade. "Maybe we should
discuss it with the police before we start making outside
calls."

"Yeah," Abby agreed, nodding. "Maybe." Then
she began to dial.

Martin picked up on the second ring. "Jesus,
Abby, I'm about to go in for the interview."

"Where's Sammy?"

"He's at home with your parents, just like we
discussed." Martin sounded annoyed, his voice barely above a
hiss.