Life isn't easy.
"Adams! If you don't get your ass into this ER so help me..!" the demand thinned out as Dr. Bailey ran down the crowded hospital corridor. A mop of black, disheveled hair followed the Dr hastily.
One day is all it takes to change it all.
Dr. Joe Adams gave a quick apology to what has to be the 10th person she has bumped in to, before continuing her chase after the short yet very fast Dr. Bailey.
"Have they figured out what's going on yet?" Joe asked, coming to a stop next to Bailey and began washing her hands along with the shorter woman. Bailey gave her a glance, quickly tying up her surgical attire over her scrubs.
"I don't know, that's not my job, that's not your job. Our job is to save lives." a silent look was sent across the two, before they both rushed in to the operation room.
It would have been impossible for them to have known, how could they have?
Joe looked down at the paiten dejectedly, hands raised, gloves covered in this man's blood.
"Time of death, 13:27." Dr. Bailey announced, dropping her tools on the table. They couldn't let this bother them, they had to move on, with all the patients swarming the hallways. Joe stepped back with a deep sigh as one of the nurses moved the blanket to cover the deceased patient's face.
She turned around, removing her gloves and tossing them into the waste bag. She began to untie her surgical attire when a startled scream had her spinning on her heal. A gasp escaped her mouth. The man- the dead, well supposed to be dead man was sitting upright on the table. Joe looked to the monitor where he was still connected to, no beeps sounded. It was still flatline.
"S-sir?" a nurse, Rebekah if she remembered correctly, hesitantly calls out.
The man made a groan, hands reaching out for her. Without thought, she rushes forward in hopes to help the man. Joe steps forward to help too, only to halt with horror as the man sunk his teeth into Rebekah's neck. She screamed in agony, trying to push the man away. Joe stepped back, bumping into Bailey as a male nurse ran forward in hopes to hold the savage patient down.
"My god.." Dr. Bailey cried out, falling backwards onto her ass. That snapped Joe out of her momentary stuper and rushed forward as Rebekah crumbled to the floor. Joe rolled her on her back, quickly applying pressure to the wound. Rebekah gurled blood, tears leaking out of her eyes. Blood seeped through Joe's fingers as she stared desperately down at the dying girl.
"Simon! Sedate the patient!" Joe yelled frantically, glancing over at the struggling nurse. More haunting groans sounds from the supposedly dead patient.
"Dr. Bailey, I need help! Get me something to stop the bleeding!" she yelled, not caring she was ordering her superior. One of the other nurses screamed and barged out the doors, Joe watched helplessly.
"Bailey!" she yelled again, looking over to the shell shocked woman.
"Get me something to fucking stop the bleeding!" Joe screamed, startling Bailey enough to get moving.
"Gah, Ow!" Simon yelled out, punching the patient. Joe looked over sharply, taking notice to the claw scratches on the nurse' arm. He stepped back only for the man to lunge at him again. He tripped over himself in his haste, landing on his ass just as Bailey had previously done.
They watched with horror and disgust as the man followed, his open abdomen spilling guts all over the once pristine emergency room floor.
Simon screamed as the man began to drag his body towards him, growling. Joe could only watch, frozen. Hands still firmly placed over Rebekah's throat.
Simon began to shuffling backwards, tears prickling in his eyes as the man- the dead man who was crawling towards him. The man grabbed Simons ankle, electing a scream from the nurse as he attempted to kick him away.
"Simon!" Joe choked out, as the man moved his mouth towards simons ankle. Just as he was about to sink his teeth into Simons ankle, a scalpel dug into his skull. Bailey dug it deeper into the man's skull, then let go with shaking hands. The man fell silent to the floor with a thud.
Simon hunched over and threw up.
"J..o-" Joe looked down at the dying nurse, who raised her hand to softly touch her face. Joe held her breath, tears in her eyes as Rebekah became limp. Her hand falling dead to the ground.
"Rebekah..?" she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks.
The world was changing, and not for the better of humanity.
A few tears fell onto the dead nurses lax face. Joe shakily removed her hands, blood dripping off of them. A thud sounded as Bailey fell to her knees, looking at the man with a scalpel in his head with unseeing eyes.
"What did I just..?" Bailey whispered, tears silently streaking down her face. Simon dry heaved, moving backwards to rest against the wall, curling himself into a ball as a sob escaped him.
"Ok. ok, ok…" Joe repeated, sniffing. She looked around dazedly. They couldn't stay like this, they needed to get help. She harshly rubbed her face with the crook of her arm.
"We need to go.. Now." she stood on wobbly knees, using the wall to support herself. She knew is she didn't she would fall. She glanced at Simon, who now was crying hard. She decided to get Bailey first.
"Bailey?" she called out, walking slowly towards the woman. Scared that if she went any faster her knees would buckle. Bailey looked at her, her eyes wide a saucers.
"I didn't mean.. He was attacking and I-" Bailey rambled, grabbing her hair. Joe grabbed onto her shoulders, forcing the breaking woman to look at her.
"I know, I know… I understand- t-the cops will too… it was self defence.." Joe looked at her desperately, hoping to calm Bailey down. The woman nodded, looking as if she hadn't heard a word Joe had just said. She probably hadn't.
Joe looked over at Simon again, who was digging his fingers into his knees so hard his knuckles were white while he sobbed. She stood up again, looking to the door, finally noticing the screams outside of it. It felt as if her blood froze.
She clumsily walked towards the door, almost tripping over Rebekah's body. She let out a whine looking down at the girl. They were never close, only ever saying a couple hellos when passing down the hall or when she helped in the ER. but that didn't make her feel any less towards the girl, she had been kind to everyone and now she was dead.
She stumbled passed the sinks, not even considering the thought to wash her hands. Her head felt clouded.
She open the door a crack, just enough to fit her head out. Her heart stopped. People were running and screaming, patients were grabbing onto people with snarls, biting into anyone they could get a hold of. She held the bile back in her throat at the blood puddles and smears all over the walls and floors. She stumbled back into the room, the door closing shut in front of her.
"What's going on..?" She whipped her head back to Simon, who stood at the door. Eyes wide with fear after seeing a glimpse of the hallway.
"I- I don't k-know.. People are fighting and.." she swallowed "B-biting each other- there's blood everywhere.." she choked, Simon ran forward pulling her behind him. Stepping forward to look out himself.
"Don't go out there!" she said frantically, reaching out to grab his shirt. He shoved her hand away, moving forward anyway. He opened the door a crack and looked out, his whole body seemed to freeze. After a moment he came back in, closing the door. He turned to look at her grimly.
"I'm going to get help." her eyes widened, she looked to the door than back at him.
"You, you c-can't do that!" Joe yelled, stepping forward. There was no way he could do anything out there.
"I have to.. We can't just leave Rebekah like that.. Bailey needs help." she looked into his determined eyes. Feeling her heart twist painfully.
"B-but..!" he grabbed onto her shoulders in a hard grip, the suddenness surprising her.
"Lock the door behind me, i'll be back ok..?" he said, although it sounded as if he was trying to convince himself. She could only nod. Allowing him to pull her towards the door.
"Ok.." he whispered. Bouncing his leg slightly and taking a deep breath. With one last look at Joe, he barged out the door. She saw him look left, then run towards the right down the hall just before the door closed. She quickly locked the door. Her gut felt heavy. She couldn't help but think he just ran out to his death. And she didn't do anything to stop him.
Maybe the whole thing could have been prevented.
Her head zipped back as Bailey screamed. Fear spiked painfully in her heart as she rushed back into the room. Bailey was backing up, gasping wildly.
Rebekah was growling, reaching out with blood covered hands towards bailey. The wound on her neck spurting blood.
"Get back..! G-get!" Bailey yelled, kicking at the hands attempting to grasp at her. Joe looked around wildly, her eyes caught the bright red paint of the fire extinguisher on the wall. She ran forward, trying to pull it off the wall. With one hard yank, it came free from its place on the wall. she turned and ran toward Rebekah, raising the extinguisher above her head before slamming it down on Rebekah's head. She fell forward with a groan. They waited with baited breath, seeing if she really wasn't going to get up again.
"She j-just..!" Joe and Bailey screamed as Rebekah lifted her head towards Joe, jaw snapping open and closed. Joe whacked the dead nurses head, sending them both to the floor. Before Rebekah could get up again Joe smashed her skull in with the extinguisher. She stumbled to her feet, gagging. The extinguisher slipped out of her hand, clanging on the ground, rolling to the side. Joe didn't notice, she could only look at the splattered blood and brain matter that once was Rebekah's head.
Do you think they could all have survived if they had known what would happen that night in the emergency room, would they have even walked in?
Joe was aware of the screams outside of the ER, the gunshots. She couldn't think about it too long because then her mind would wander to Rebekahs smashed skull, spread all over the floor. Bailey was quick to drape a blanket over the deceased nurse and patient. No longer able to handle looking at either.
Joe allowed herself to be pulled away from the two dead bodys by Bailey, neither had said a word yet.
"We.." Bailey swallowed, glancing back at the blankets, blood started to seep through the white material. "We need to get out of here.." Bailey whispered, looking around the room. She started to walk to the door, only to halt as Joe's hand holds her in place.
"Not out there.." Joe gags again, trying her best not to collapse on the spot. Bailey looks to the door, nodding as she heard a set of loud screams followed by gunshots.
"Where..?" Bailey looked to Joe, who hunched over and hurled. Not being able to hold the sickness in her stomach any longer. Bailey hesitantly held her hair back, glancing back at what once was Rebekah.
Once Joe was done, she made a sound of disgust. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Not registering the dried blood that covered them. She looked to Bailey with a weak smile, which she shakily returned. Joe looked around the room, in hopes to find a way to escape.
Since it was the ER, the only windows in the room were the observation ones. Which were at least 10 feet in the air above them. One more glance around the room, she noticed a vent near the back right corner.
As much as life screws us over, there's always a way out of something. Whether it be a vent or death.
Bailey helped Joe push the operation table under the vent, both panting once finished. Joe looked over to the table holding all the tools and walked over, picking up a bloody scalpel. She reached the table again and climbed on top of it.
The bottom of the vent reached her collarbone while the top was about a foot above her head. It was wide enough to fit, so they wouldn't get stuck hopefully. She used the scalpel to unscrew the vent grate from the wall, and pulled it off. The vent was dusty, but looked big enough for them to fit in.
"We'll have to jump a bit to get in…if i'm right, this should lead to another ER or the scrubs room.." she looked back at Bailey, who nodded. Joe glanced at the bodies, than the door once more before crawling into the vent.
It was a tight squeeze, and her leg scraped on the edge of the vent. She went forward a bit, testing the sturdiness. Only a small, barely noticble groan sounded. Her stomach dropped at the possibility of the vent falling into a hallway or a patient's room.. A patient with a snapping jaw, greedy hands, blood smeared all over them-
"Joe? Can you move a bit, I can't get in." Joe shuffled forward swallowing her fear. It's too late now to go back, and she really did not want to face the horrors of that hallway.
She began to move forward slowly, she isn't able to look back so she'll just have to assume that Bailey was following her. Father up ahead she could see light shining in through another grate and the vent turned off to the right. So they have two choices.
Making sure to be quiet, she crawled over to the vent and looked through. Her eyes were drawn to the door, which lead outside of the ER. she paused taking a deep breath, she could see a pair of bloody legs laying in the hallway. Shifting her eyes away from the corpse, the ER was in similar destruction as theirs. She looked to the floor almost expecting to see Rebekah's bludgeoned head.. They couldn't go in there.
She veered to the right, ignoring Bailey's gasp as she too passed the room. Down a little further was another grate, which she hopes is the scrub room. That means their stuff will be there, more importantly their phones. They can call for help, finally figure out what the hell is going on. Maybe even find Simon again.
As she reached the grate, she looked through. She let out a sigh of relief once she noticed the door was closed. The room was almost exactly how she remembered it this morning when she first started her shift. Besides the pool of blood that was leaking through from under the door.
She braced herself. The grate's are screwed shut from the outside so she'll have to knock it out somehow. The vent is too tight of a space for her to turn and kick, so that leaves her fists. She would take her shirt off to soften the blow, but she was sure her arms would get stuck in the motion.
With a shaky breath, she pulled back her fist as much as she could, and punched the grate. It made a groaning noise. She hissed, pulling her hand back again. She couldn't focus on the cuts it was making. She landed another punch, biting her tongue as to not yell out in pain. It was almost off.
One last punch and the grate's top came undone, falling down and banging against the wall. Joe quickly crawled out of the vent, landing on the ground with an ungraceful thud. Tears stung in her eyes as she looked down at her right hand. It had left multiple gashes on her knuckles. She wanted to suck on them to ease the pain, but her hands were still covered in blood. In Rebekah's blood.
She heard Bailey crawl out and call her name, Joe turned to the woman with a grimace.
"Joe.." Bailey gasped, "Your hand!" she whisper yelled, helping Joe stand up. After looking around for a moment they noticed a door with the ladies room symbol. Walking over, Bailey was about to open the door when they heard shuffling come from inside. Bailey pulled her hand back as if she had just been burned. The two woman looked at each other hesitantly.
"Open the door, it'll be ok.." Joe mouthed, standing in front of the door, holding the Scalpel up defensively. Bailey looked at her as if she was crazy, but still moved over to the side to open the door. Joe's hand burned, and she really just needed to clean it off.
"1..2.." Joe mouthed, "3!" she yelled, Bailey swung the door open. Joe took a step back in shock, Scalpel dropping from her hand.
"D-don't move! I'll sh-shoot!" there, standing in front of the sink. Shaking hands holding a .45 ACP handgun, finger on the trigger stood Sarah D., one of the Pediatric doctors.
"Sarah? It's me, Joe." Joe said slowly raising her hands, she does not need a bullet hole in her chest. She spared a glance at Bailey, silently telling her not to move.
"J-Joe..?" Sarah asked, slowly letting the gun fall. Joe looked back to Sarah, who looked relieved to see her.
"Can I have the gun?" Joe asked as calmly as she could, although on the inside her heart was hammering against her chest a mile a minute. Sarah slowly handed the gun over. Joe held the gun in her left hand, it was lighter than the one she used to use at the shooting range when she was a kid. She hasn't touched one since. She let another sigh go as she noticed the safety was on.
Bailey walked out from behind the door, startling Sarah. She slowly walked out of the bathroom, taking in their appearances with a quivering lip. Joe was sure they looked awful, blood splattered everywhere, vomit on the front of her shirt, Rebekah's brain matter.. She clenched her hand, only to hiss in pain. Reminded of her injury and the whole reason why they needed the bathroom in the first place.
She walked past Sarah, who stumbled out of her way. Sarah was as clean as ever compared to Joe and Bailey.
Placing the gun on the edge of the sink, she turned the tap on, thanking god that it still worked. She shakily put her hand under, biting her lip at the stinging feeling. Slowly it began to hurt less, and she watched the blood swirl down in to the drain. She could dimly hear Bailey calming Sarah down in the room. Explaining what had happened to them.. About Rebekah and how simon left.. The patient coming alive and..
Joe looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was disheveled, her cheeks had splatters of blood. Her shirt was covered in so much blood it was nearly impossible to see the original blue of the scrubs. She could see the terror in her eyes, the fear. They looked scared, just like Rebekahs before she-
Joe hastily turned off the tap, grabbed a towel stacked off to the side and held it over her fist. She shoved the gun into the hem of her scrub pants. Not wanting to leave it in the bathroom. Joe walked out to see Sarah and Bailey leaned against a wall next to each other, as far away as they could get from the puddle of blood coming from under the door. Bailey noticed her and beckoned her over, holding some gauze.
Joe slumped down next to Bailey and gingerly held her hand out for her to wrap. There were at least 7 cuts, all looking pretty deep. As long as she kept it cleaned and covered it wouldn't get infected. Luckily, they weren't cut deep enough for her to need stitches. Bailey pulled out a bottle of disinfectant and Joe groaned. Sarah gave a weak, sympathetic smile as she pulled her knees to her chest.
Life is painful, some can't handle it. While others thrive through all it's hardships.
Joe let out a whine as she kept her mouth clamped shut. That stung like a bitch. She let out a shaky breath as she watched the white residue slowly disappear. Once it was fully gone, Bailey carefully wrapped her hand. Joe wiggled her fingers slightly before letting her hand drop into her lap.
"Why were you in the bathroom, and where'd you get the gun?" Joe asked Sarah tiredly. Sarah stiffened slightly, looking back to the bathroom then the blood puddle.
"I was in the pediatric hall, taking care of the babies and such. When I started hearing gunshots and screams, I went to go investigate- it- it was horrible. The army was shooting peo-," she took a breather, calming herself down, "they were shooting people left and right, I got dragged off in the comotion. I kept trying to make my way back t the babies and when I did-" a look of horror spread across her features, she gagged.
"People- patients were eating the babies!" she said frantically. Bailey and Joe only watched with sympathy and terror as tears fell down Sarah's cheeks. After a bit, Sarah calmed down.
"This guy, a cop i'm sure. He had the uniform, the gun, everything." she said, as if they wouldn't believe her. "He took me in here, gave me his gun and told me to wait in here." she explained, then looked to the door.
"Someone was banging on the door and growling, I got so scared I hid myself in the bathroom. Then I heard more gunshots and…" she gestured with her head to the door. They all sat in silence. This was really happening. People were dying, eating eachother. Joe was sure Rebekah had died, that man had died. They were dead, yet they starting moving as if they were alive and growling.
"We should change our clothes.." Bailey broke the silence, standing up and walking over to the rack that held clean scrubs. Since she had a late shift, Joe hadn't bothered wearing normal clothes to work, just her spare clean pair of scrubs. With a dejected sigh, Joe stood and walked over to the rack, taking a shirt and pants off of it.
She took the gun out of her pants and placed it on the bench. She took her shirt off and threw it to the ground in disgust. Then looked down at herself. There were some blood spots on her skin. She would just have to wait till later before she can shower. She pulled the clear slips off her sneakers. Then took off her pants and threw it on her discarded shirt. She let go of a sigh of relief as the blood drenched clothes were removed. She pulled on the clean clothes and retucked the gun in her pants. Joe looked over at Sarah.
"I'm just going to-"
"Go ahead. Keep the damn thing, I don't want it." Sarah shivered, referring to the gun. Joe nodded. Bailey came back over in a pair of jeans and a grey T-shirt. She brought over her purse and was rummaging through it. An idea suddenly hit Joe, phone. She ran to her locker, nearly running into it. She shakily did the combination, open the locker and yanked out her backpack.
She unzipped it while walking back to the other 2 woman. Sarah was still sitting, tucked in a ball watching Bailey on the phone. She wasn't talking so whoever it was that she was calling, isn't answering. Joe grabbed her phone, dialed the number she knew by heart and waited for it to ring.
After 3 steady rings, the voicemail button sounded.
"This is Sam Adams, you know what do do." another beep sounded.
"Hey, it's Joe." her voice came out shaky, "some crazy shit is going on, i'm not sure what to do. Just- just stay safe k? If I don't see you alive and well again i'm going to kick your ass.." she trailed off as tears threatened to fall.
"Be safe, little brother." she heard the machine beep again, and let her hand dangle at her side limply.
"Hey.." Sarah started, looking sorry. Joe just shook her head and wiped under her eyes with her good hand.
Joe sucked in a breath, looking at her phone again before dialing 911.
It rang once, twice, then beeped. And automatically hung up. Joe stared at her phone in shock. She looked to the other two. Sarah looked confused while Bailey looked just as worried as she was.
"They just hung up." Joe said dumbly. Bailey nodded in agreement. Sarah looked in between the two in shock.
"They what?" she asked quietly.
"Maybe they just-" Baileys words were cut off by a thundering boom. They all let out a scream as the building shook and dust fell off the ceiling. They could hear loud bangs not to far away, and more people screaming.
"What the hell was that?" Sarah yelled in panic.
"Are they bombing the hospital?" Joe yelled over another deafening crash. Sarah stumbled on to her legs and ran for the door.
"We need to get out of here!" she yelled, grasping the handle. Joe and Bailey ran forward.
"Wait..!" Joe's yell went unheard as Sarah flung the door open, she backstepped with a scream as a body fell into the room, adding more blood to the previous puddle.
"Holy shit.." Bailey whispered. The corpse was badly mutilated. Its abdomen, legs, arms have all been torn in to. The floral, torn up scrub uniform and bloody blonde hair was the only indication that it was once a woman.
Joe swallowed, pulling the gun out of her waist. Ignoring the burning in her hand as she held the gun with a tight grip. She stepped over the body, trying hard not to think about it too much. Looking down the hall, the hospital was in utter chaos.
To the left is the cafeteria, but Joe got rid of that possibility as soon as she saw the doors. The handles were chained together and a slab of wood sat in between them. That didn't stop whatever was inside, bloody fingers kept poking in through the small gap the chain allowed, aggressive growls coming from the sick people inside.
Joe reached back and grabbed on to Baileys wrist with her left hand and began pulling her down the hallway to the right. Following her example, Bailey gabbed Sarah's hand. Joe opened a set of double doors. Straight ahead of them were screams of pain, patients, doctors were eating other people trying to run away. They watched in horror for a moment as a doctor savagely began biting and eating a Patient's face, the howls of pain echoed off the walls.
Joe turned a sharp left, trying to get as far away from that as possible. She could hear Sarah's constant gagging, and Baileys harsh gasps. Joe was trying not to focus on anything other than getting out, she was scared that if she let herself register what was going on she would have a panic attack and get killed.
As they ran forward, their line of hands was tugged back as Sarah screamed. They whipped their heads back only to gape in horror. A patient had grabbed one of Sarah's arms and took a huge bite out of her forearm. Sarah screamed in agony, trying to tug her arm back.
"Sarah!" Joe screamed, tugging Bailey and ultimately tugging Sarah out of the Patients grasp. The patient reached out with a snarl again, Joe pointed the gun at his temple and fired. The gunshot seemed to ecco in her mind as the body crumpled to the floor and Bailey began to pull her away.
Life isn't fair.
Joe watched numbly as Bailey opened up a door with almost enough force to throw it off its hinges. Bailey tugged the two girls in and slammed the door behind her, panting as she locked the deadbolt. Joe could only stare silently at the gun in her hand, barely aware of Sarah's crying.
Bailey looked to the unresponsive Joe then to the hysterical Sarah holding on to her bleeding arm. She hadn't paid attention to the room they went in, turns out it wasn't even a room. It was the emergency stairs. It was terrifying, being in the open and the flickering lights were not helping.
"Joe, Joe…" Bailey started, grabbing on to the woman's shoulders. Joe looked in to Bailey's eyes, but all she could see was Rebekah's head. What used to be Rebekahs head. She just killed 2 people. They're not going to wake up, and it's her fault.
"You had to Joe! Don't do this.. I c-cant- I don't know h-how to use a gun… a-and Sarah is bleeding a lot. We need to go!" Bailey screamed, tears in her eyes as she hastily glanced at Sarah who gave a pained whine. Joe looked over at Sarah, who was still crying, blood gushing all over herself. She couldn't help but think about how the patient sat up, and bit into Rebekah's neck, how her blood had spurted through her hands-
"Joe..!" Bailey yelled, slapping Joe harshly.
Joe's head snapped to the side, her cheek red. That seemed to shock her out of her stupor. Joe didn't look at Bailey as she rushed over to Sarah, now aware of where they were. She gingerly lifted Sarah's good arm and placed it over her shoulders and began walking towards the stairs down. Bailey hastily followed.
After stumbling down the first floor of stairs, they were greeted to 7 snarling, bloody faces. The three girls paled as they began stumbling towards them. Joe pivoted as fast as she could while supporting the crying Sarah. She quickly began ascending the stairs upwards again, Bailey leading the way as fast as she could. The growls and grasping hands pumped them full of adrenaline, allowing them to make it up to the 3rd floor of the hospital.
Bailey opened another door, ushering us through before slamming it behind them. They quickly began running away from the door, the only way to lock the stair doors is if you had a key or deadbolt it from the inside. None of them had a key, and they definitely weren't going back into that Staircase. They could hear screams coming from down the hallway.
Bailey opened a random door and ran inside, followed by Joe and Sarah, who had finally stopped crying and was now moaning in pain. Bailey closed the door, and gestured for Joe to help her move the rolling bed in front of it. Joe left Sarah to lean against the wall, and rushed over to help. Once it was in front of the door, Bailey turned the locks on the wheels so it wouldn't move.
They let out a breath, only for a groan from Sarah to remind them what was going on. Joe went to her and knelt down quickly in front of the bleeding girl, her gun dropped to the floor as she moved Sarah's hands out of the way so she could keep pressure on the wound. She looked around the room as Bailey scavenged for something to stop the bleeding. They ended up inside one of the hospitals cleaning rooms, there were a few washing machines stacked on top of one another in the corner. A trash chute, towels and pillows stacked.
Bailey scrambled over to the two, a wrap of gauze in her hand and disinfectant.
"I found bodles of this stuff in the back, but it's going to hurt.. A lot." without waiting for feedback, Bailey unscrewed the cap and began pouring it on to Sarah's wound. Sarah screamed in pain, trying to pull her arm back, only for Joe's strong hold to keep it in place.
Their head whipped to the door as it began to rattle, growls and groans coming from the people trying to take a bite out of them. Sarah began crying again, which only made them louder and pound on the door harder. Joe got up, grabbing the gun. Giving Bailey enough room to finish treating to Sarah's wound. She walked over to the window, eyes wide.
Helicopters were roaming the sky's, along with fighter jets. Dark puffs of smoke, going in all directions, army men shooting Patients, doctors. People eating eachother… she looked away. They need to get out of this closed room, they're sitting ducks here. The only thing keeping them from becoming sick people chow is that door. And that will only hold for so long.
Even so, you still try and live. Fight, because it'll get better. It has to.
"You were lucky he didn't get any arteries." Bailey said, sending a look to the rattling door. Sarah groaned, clutching her arm to her chest.
"Sonofabitch bit me!" Sarah laughed out humorlessly, Tears streaming down her face. Joe could only look at the blood covered girl with a grimace. She looked down at herself, only to find herself in a similar state. Helping Sarah walk had gotten her clothes thoroughly covered in blood. Again.
"We need to get out of here, that door won't hold long." Joe voiced her thoughts, looking around the room for an escape.
"How?" Bailey asked, also looking around. "There's no vent and we can't go out the window, that's a long drop.." Bailey hesitantly glanced over at the window, paling at the idea. Joe sighed in annoyance, rubbing her face. She looked at the door with a frown, the growls had worsened and the hammering on the door only grew louder. Who knows how many of them were outside that door, dead eyes and snapping jaws. She did not want to find out.
Looking around again, her eyes zeroed on the trash chute. Her eyes widened at the simplicity of it, and the stupidity. In any normal situation, there would be no way in hell that she would even consider the trash chute as an exit, but this was no normal situation was it?
"Hear me out," Joe started, warily eyeing the door. "This may sound completely insane." Joe walked over to the trash chute, and opened up the latch, looking down. It was dark, but she could see that it would be big enough for at least two body's to go down at once. The only problem would be the drop, and whatever lies at the bottom of the chute. The thought sent a shiver down her spine.
"What is it- you can't mean!" Bailey harshly whispered, also sending a look at the door. Joe looked back with a weak smile.
"We don't really have a choice do we? It's not as if those peo- things outside the door are a part of the welcome committee." Joe looked back into the chute, swallowing the lump in her throat. Bailey looked at the trash chute, than to Joe, and back again. She was right, they really had no other choice. Bailey looked back at Sarah, who was focusing on breathing. Trying not to scream at the terrifying situation.
"What about..?" Bailey suggested to Sarah. Joe looked to the pained girl, than back to Bailey.
"I can go first.." Joe looked at the chute again, "then you'll help Sarah in, then you'll go.." she explained, though truthfully she was terrified.
"We don't know what's down there.." Bailey's eyes were wide and frightened. "What if they are d-down there…" the pointed look towards the door sent Joe's heart thumping. She didn't want to think about that, she couldn't. Sucking in a breath, she steeled her eyes. She had to be confident everything would be okay. Joe walked over to Sarah and knelt down in front of her. Bailey stood off to the side silently looking down the chute.
"Sarah, we have a plan. It's insane.. But just listen, k?" Joe started slowly, making sure to have Sarah's undivided attention.
"Were going down the trash chute." silence filtered between the three girls, the only sound was of the banging door and hungry snarls. Screams and sirens could be heard in the distance. Gunshots. Sarah laughed out loud, looking at Joe as if she were the one who bit her.
"Were what?" Sarah gasped, noticing the serious look on both Joe and Bailey's faces.
"I know it may seem crazy, but we have no other choice. Were stuck here and that door won't hold much longer. I don't want to see what's on the other side of it." Joe said, looking to Sarah hopefully. She didn't want to voice these thoughts but if it came down to it, Joe would leave Sarah if she was unwilling to comply. She knew that it was horrible to think that, but she couldn't help it.
"Crazy? That is not possible.." Sarah sent a horror filled glance at the door, realising how there really was no other way.
"There's no other way..?" she asked quietly, eyeing the chute with hesitance. Joe shook her head, relieved that Sarah was starting to understand her plan. Even if it was a completely stupid plan.
"Shit.." Sarah whispered. Joe stood, deciding they have wasted enough time. She needed to do this before she thought about the plan to much. The thought that she would die from a trash chute almost sent her into a fit of giggles. The idiocy of the matter was just too much.
"It's now or never." Joe said, opening up the chute and looking down again. She held her breath as she eased her legs over the edge, they dangled down into the chute. Joe looked back with a failing smile.
"I'll wait down there for you.." with one last look to the girls, she swallowed the fear in her throat and pushed herself in.
Who would have thought this was how the world would end?
Bailey ran forward, it felt as if all the air left her lungs. She looked down the chute to see Joe's mop of black hair disappearing. Her heart leaped in her chest. She looked back to Sarah, who looked pale as snow, staring at the trash chute.
"She actually jumped." Sarah said. Letting it sink in. Bailey shook her head of all bad thoughts and rushed forward, helping Sarah stand. Joe would be okay, but they wouldn't be if they stayed here.
War lead humans to kill each other for power, now they do it for hunger.
Joe closed her eyes tight, her stomach hurt from the weight of the landing. Would she fall on to hard cement and break her legs? What if it lead to a drop, or if it was closed off and she had no way of getting back up. She would die from starvation in a trash chute.
Her thoughts were abruptly cut off as a flash of light flooded her face, causing her eyes to snap open. Before she could take in her surroundings she landed on a heap of something. She groaned, then froze.
She gagged, wide eyed. Trying to scramble out of the huge trash bin she landed in. which was filled with corpses. She could feel blood soaking in to her clothes, all of the corpses had bullet holes. She's seen dead people before, but no so many all discarded as if they were just a piece of litter you see on the street.
She fell out of the bin with a thud, landing on the cement of the hospital parking lot. Her body landed on her hand and she felt tears spring to her eyes. Her hand was burning. She looked back to the bin, and felt the bile in her throat rise.
Hands and feet dangled out the side of the bin, and a head was rested on the side. Their dead eyes looked at her, a bullet hole in between them.
She looked to the chute as a scream sounded, along with thumping. For a split second she was terrified they had managed to break through the door, but a heap of a person landing in the large, green trash bin erased those thoughts.
Joe scrambled forward to quickly get Sarah out of the bin. She practically dragged the horrified Sarah out, who was staring at the bodies. Once out, Sarah stumbled and fell to her knees. Breathing deeply. More thumping was heard and Bailey emerged out of the chute, landing in the pile of bodies. Noticing them, Bailey jumped out. Landing hard on the ground. She looked behind her at the bodies and threw up. Sarah stared blankly ahead, gripping on to her bandaged arm.
Joe shuffled to stand, looking around. Everything was in chaos.
She looked to the side, and not far away were people, army men fighting off people trying to take a bite of them.
"God, we have to go..now." Joe helped Sarah stand up, and Bailey followed. Also taking notice to the war going on in front of them.
They ran towards a grassy hill just outside of the parking lot. They were lucky and unlucky that the chute lead to the outside of the hospital and not to a dead end. However, now they were in the complete open. Injured and practically defenseless.
Joe's house was 2 blocks away from the hospital, If they could make it there they would be safe until this whole thing blows over. She didn't bother explaining this to them, they could talk about going to their houses once they were all safe in doors and away from snarling patients.
Once on top of the hill, Joe headed towards the street across from it.
She sucked in a breath as a man, a normal civilian turned his head towards them. And began to shuffle towards them, groaning hungrily. Joe raised the gun, grip so tight her knuckles were white. She really didn't want to shoot him, for all she knew he was just sick.
"What are you waiting for!?" Sarah screamed. Joe pulled the trigger, hitting the man in the shoulder. They watched with horror as he didn't even register it and continued towards them. Joe shot again, this time hitting him in the eye. The bullet went straight through his skull and he dropped like a log to the floor.
Sarah tugged on joe's arm and they began running down the street. She could see the familiar stop sign she sometimes passed when she would go out for a run. The street looked nothing like it used to. Bodies, walking and on the ground were everywhere. Blood Splatters, guts, brain matter everywhere too.
Turning down to the right, a woman in sleepwear turned to them. Chewing on something, they noticed it was covered in blood. Then they noticed the guy on the ground, bleed profusely from the bite wound on his neck. Sarah screamed, and Joe and Bailey gagged.
Joe raised the gun and shot the woman, the bullet went through her for head. Sending the woman to the ground, unmoving. Bailey rushed forward and knelt beside the man, putting her hands on the wound on his neck.
"What do we do? What do we do..?" she said, looking to the two girls. Joe looked helpless, while Sarah was whipping her head every which way, gripping on to Joe's left arm.
"I-" Joe started, only to stop from a harsh tug from Sarah.
"Who cares! We need to go, he's dead now.." Sarah sent a fleeting glance to the man, who gurgled blood. His movements were slowing down.
For a split second, Joe felt pure hatred for the girl clung to her arm. Her hands felt like burning acid, and she wanted to rip her arm away. But she knew tensions were high, and Sarah wasn't thinking straight because of blood loss.
Bailey looked down sadly as the man's movements stopped altogether. She retracted her hands and moved forward to close his eyes, only to scream as he lunged forward, growling. Joe shot him in the temple and he dropped like a rock. They all looked at each other in horror and bewilderment.
Joe grabbed Baileys arm and dragged her along with Sarah. They could talk later. Right now, all they need to do was get to her house.
They turned another corner, and Joe could see her house. She began to run faster, pulling the two girls to keep up with her speed. They managed to dodge a girl in a bathing suit who reached out for them, they knew she wasn't ok. Her stomach was slashed open, sending her intestines out onto the road. Yet she walked as if it weren't even there.
They stomped up her porch steps and Joe shakily lifted a plant pot and grabbed the spare key from under it. She rammed it in the lock, unlocked the door and flung it open. The three girls ran inside and Joe took the key out, slammed the door shut and locked it. They all backed away from the door, panting. Joe's head snapped to the window and she cursed herself for having such thin curtains. She placed the gun and key on the coffee table and open a closet door, pulling out blankets.
"Bailey, help me pin these up." she tossed a few blankets to Bailey, who caught them with a shaky nod. She didn't bother asking Sarah, knowing she wouldn't be able to. Joe went to the garage and flicked on the light. She reached into a basket and pulled out a hammer and some nails.
She could worry about the damages to her house once this whole epidemic blows over. For now, all she cares about is nothing being able to see them inside of her house. She jogged back into the livingroom, Bailey propped up a chair under the window. And Sarah was slumped on the couch, staring at her bandaged arm in worry and disbelief.
Once they got the house locked down, then they could worry about injuries.
Joe climbed up on the chair and held a corner of the blacket up with a nail and hammered it in. Bailey and Sarah jumped at the sudden loud noise.
Once she finished and was satisfied nothing could look through, she stepped off the chair with a sigh, dropping the hammer from her hand. The room was dark now that the natural light wasn't filtering in. Joe turned on the lamp and illuminated the living room.
Joe fell to her ass on the floor. Her legs felt like jello. She let out a shuddering breath, running her hands through her hair. She let out a hiss as her right hand clenched. She looked to see blood seeping through the bandages.
They all sat in silence for a while, all taking in what had just happened.
"Is it a virus?" Bailey hesitantly asked from her spot on the couch next to Sarah, who looked very pale. Joe thought about that for a moment. What was going on? That man had died on the table, and he came back to life. And he bit Rebekah.
People were eating each other. What in the hell causes that? Did some new kind of Virus, or an outbreak happened. Had washington created something that causes people to resort to cannibalism, and come back from the dead? She shot that man in the shoulder and it was as if she had thrown a crumpled ball of paper at him. And that girl in the bathing suit, her stomach was…
"I don't know." Joe said, eyes flickering from Bailey to Sarah, who had become more pale. Joe stood once she felt like her legs could hold her and walked to the couch.
"How are you feeling Sarah?" she asked. Sarah looked to her tiredly.
"Not so good… I feel hot." Joe put her hand to Sarah's forehead, she was burning up. Joe's brow crinkled. She did lose a lot of blood, and the fatigue was catching up to all of them right now.
"You can lay down in the spare room, do you want to have a shower first and change your clothes?" Joe offered, nodding her head towards a door she knew lead to the bathroom. Sarah shook her head, saying she was too tired.
Joe helped her stand up and walked her to the spare room. Sarah laid down and curled up under the covers, Joe could hear her begin to sniffle and left the room. Sarah needs space to breathe and cry, today was stressful on her, on all of them.
Joe walked back to the living room to see Bailey rubbing her face tiredly, content on sitting on the couch and staring at the now covered windows. Joe plopped down on the couch next to her, releasing a shaky sigh.
"What are we going to do? What the hell is happening?" Bailey asked, looking to Joe with sad eyes. Joe could see the glistening tears in her eyes.
"I don't know." she said. For once, she had no idea what to do.
Life fucking sucks.