Author's Note: well fucking hell! That was a long ass block and I'm so sorry for people who were waiting for this chapter to come out! I've just been so busy..stressed..you know, the usual! Hah! Well anyway, here's the next chapter that I managed to pull out from my skull. I hope you all enjoy it and please review! I wanna know how this goes. Got suggestions? Give 'em up! No flames though. Don't wanna get cooked!
P.S.: Oh yeah! I wanted to thank Cjjs for both letting me use one of his characters (that'll show up soon!) and for supporting me on this fanfic. Also Mr. Sinestro and Umbrella's Worst Enemy for giving me some good input. I'm so tired…
Chapter III: Welcome to Hell
At first, Liv didn't think he'd actually survive attempting to push through the media. It felt so surprisingly…suffocating in the thickened crowd of people, cameras, and the dangling microphones that occasionally brushed his face while pushing through them all. It wasn't easy getting both him and the assistants into the hospital, but after the epic struggle and passing through the automated sliding doors, it was done with them well on their way down to the morgue. The trio of men took the next available elevator down to the basement level of the hospital. At first, it felt awkward for the three men and a corpse to ride in silence, only to be accompanied by the overly-pleasant Jazz played over the speakers. This day had to have sucked. First thing in the morning, he had to fight off the nosy public…Then he was literally face to face with a chewed up cadaver that he just so happened to be standing next to. After that, he had to fight off the media that surrounded the three as if they were the walking plague themselves. Last but not least, he now stood with a six-foot giant, a scrawny nerd with coke-bottle glasses and a mean stutter. Oh, and he couldn't forget the corpse in the body bag. For a moment, eyes shifted down to the tied up bag and reflected upon the half-eaten face that he had literally come so close to as Ford's cracking voice played over in his mind.
-No one deserves to die like that…-
He suddenly chewed upon his lower lip and fidgeted in place. Just looking at the damn bag gave him the chills. Nevertheless, his eyes traced the contours and wrinkles of the bag until it he could've sworn the damn thing was moving. Was it moving?...Or was it the lights that were playing tricks on him? Nevertheless, eyes widened and before he knew it, a loud gasp left his lips. Did the body just…move? Or did he want it to move just because he refused to believe that he was "seeing things"? Either way, he missed the fact that he actually flinched and flattened himself against the cold wall. Mick and Jake easily took notice, but it was Mick who quickly reached over and took Liv's shoulder in a tight squeeze to somewhat bring the poor man back to reality.
"Hey man, are you alright?" Mick asked, his voice laced with deep concerns. He couldn't blame the young officer at all. The very first victim that Mick and Jake had come across gave Mick nightmares for two weeks while Jake managed to puke out breakfast, lunch, and possibly the frozen T.V. dinner he had the night before. After that, it felt damn near like a normal thing to see someone's face chewed away.
Liv whose eyes were wide with terror, shifted between Mick, Jake, and the body bag. "That…It just…" he soon trailed off when it seemed almost impossible to even put a valid sentence together. Breathing that was more like hyperventilating, soon slowed into an even pace that finally had him calm himself and tore his gaze away from the body bag that he swore had shifted before his very eyes. "It's nothing…I..Guess I can't shake it off..You know?" he said with a weary smile while brushing away Mick's loosening grip. "Yeah, I know what ya mean, buddy. This started a month ago and we still can't brush this off like another murder case." Mick replied while offering a chuckle that was most likely an attempt to comfort himself, "Don't feel bad about it or anything…At least you took it better than Jakey-boy here. Haha, I swear he must've purged two days worth of meals in the bushes!" The two began to laugh while poor Jake stuttered and stumbled over his words before sending glares their way.
After a good laugh that permeated through the awkward elevator music, the doors finally opened and the men were well on their way down a narrow hallway towards the morgue. Liv's eyes trailed about the whitewashed walls that felt as if they were closing in on him. Soon, the gears of his imagination began to turn as he imagined himself being escorted down to the morgue by a few blabbering employees who discussed about what they had for lunch…
But before Liv's thoughts could go any deeper, Mick pushed the gurney through the automated double-doors which welcomed a chilling breeze to waft into their faces…and something else. He groaned and held up a hand to his face. The morgue was normally a clean-smelling place besides the slight scent of chemicals…but now it stank of decay and other scents that Liv didn't even want to investigate. Normally he didn't mind morgues…But this time, something was eating away at him, begging him to get the hell out of there as fast as he could.
Jake was the second to bring hands to his face and hold back the gags that could possibly have him retching yet another lunch. "A-A-And I thought last time was b-bad!…" Jake whined with tears literally building up from the retched stench. And liv thought he was bad..
"Where's the doc anyway?! H-He said he was gonna be here."
"Good question. The Doc's pretty anal when it comes to being on time," Mick grunted with a crackling of knuckles as he took a good look around the morgue. Indeed something was amiss. Not only Dr. Ferguson was missing, but his tools were scattered haphazardly upon the counter. The man was a very tidy person-- the type to even keep all the labels of his bottles facing outward, the tools arranged by use, and would often blow a fuse when people were five minutes late in delivering a body. "And we're ten minutes late. You'd think we'd get another verbal ass-whoopin'."
Liv only watched the two men as they searched for the missing doctor with Jake being the first to move from the small group. He made his way around the observation table until he suddenly slipped and fell hard upon the cold floor with more of a shriek rather than a scream. Liv and Mick were quick to come to the man's rescue, but suddenly froze at the sight of Jake and exactly what he was covered in; blood. The poor boy's glasses bounced off his face and dropped into the pool he just so happened to be now scrambling upon in a poor attempt to get back onto his feet. While Mick scooped up the blood soaked assistant, Liv had finally taken in the scene before them. A thick trail of blood led towards the doctor's small office where broken bottles lay strewn about, decorating the once sterilized floors along with other various tools, knocked over trays and other instruments that Liv couldn't even identify to save his own life. Eyes eventually caught sight of the office door ajar and keen ears picked up the sound of crunching.
-What the hell is going on…?-
Mick seemed pretty accurate on reading the thoughts displayed upon Liv's face--especially when the young officer directed his focus upon the office. The massive man gulped and kept hands upon his scrawny friend's shoulders. "Hey Liv…you don't think Dr. Ferguson's…"
"I don't know," Liv sharply replied while drawing out his beloved SIG P226 from the shoulder holster hidden within his jacket, "But you two should stay here…" Once again, that knot in his stomach began to tighten along with a lump in his throat that was rather difficult to swallow down. Leaving them behind, the young officer took cautioned steps beside the blood trail. Instincts were on and the safety was definitely off. Something went wrong here…horribly wrong…Someone was hurt bad--no, someone was killed here. No way in hell someone would survive with practically ninety-five percent of their blood being spilt onto the floor.
-Whoever did this was…pretty messy…- He idly thought to himself as his free hand quickly retracted from the blood-smeared doorknob. Instead, he nudged the door opened that made that nerve-racking squeeeeeakupon rusty hinges. Upon entering, the first thing anyone would do is flip on the lights…But in Liv's case, a flip of the lights didn't do him any good considering…
Crunch.
The feel of delicate glass crunching under his boot was enough to tell him that the lights were broken. The only light he had now was the overhead lighting that stretched as far as the opened door allowed into the dark room. -Screw that.- Thank god he filled up his torch with fresh batteries this morning before he left for Raccoon City Park. With a click of the torch, the first thing it illuminated was the large red oak desk and a bobbing mass of matted blonde locks that were clotted with…blood. Gulp.
"Dr. Ferguson?…." Liv replied with a slight crack in his voice as he slowly made his way around the table, keeping the torch lit upon the bobbing head. The crunching sound from before had only grown louder and louder and only reminded him of those grisly cannibalistic murders. What if…whomever this was…was one of those cannibal killers?…Nevermind that. He tried to shake the thoughts from his head until something upon the ground caught his eye; a fresh rivulet of blood that congregated at the toe of his boot. Finally swallowing that lump in his throat, he slowly directed the torch from his boot…up the rivulet of blood…and upon the figure hunched over another. The figure's once pristine white lab coat was now torn and stained with blotches of fresh blood. The figure kept hunching over the body upon the floor as if….
-The body…He's..EATING THE OTHER BODY…-
Now Liv couldn't find the will to speak as he gawked at such a horrid sight. God…he could see the doctor's blood-drenched hand dipping into the body's abdomen and pull out a slippery length of intestine and stuff it hungrily into his mouth. Hot bile began to build up in his throat once again and this time it took all of his might to keep himself from retching his guts out on the spot. Before Liv could speak, the figure suddenly dropped the rest of the uneaten intestine and slowly turned towards the baffled police officer. Sure enough, the man was Dr. Ferguson…But the mind blowing part of it all was the fact that he himself looked just like the victim from Raccoon City Park. A portion of his cheek had been chewed away to expose yellowed teeth beneath. Clumps of hair had been ripped out in what Liv figured to be the result of a struggle between him and something that chewed on his face. "Dr…Ferguson…" Liv muttered before he roughly shook his head. What was he doing!? -Man up, Tremmain and take him down!- The sudden thought had his courage boost up a few points despite how terrifying the man's wounds seemed to be and the fact that he was actually eating someone's intestines.
Ferguson only replied with a guttural moan and suddenly rose to his feet, leaving Liv with a better view of his 'meal'. It looked like one of those male nurses that he often saw running about upstairs in the hallways, but this one was prone…and was dead. Very dead. Ferguson on the other hand, began to shuffle towards the officer, having his head literally resting upon his right shoulder thanks to the lack of supporting muscles that were torn away from his neck. Blood drenched the man's white dress shirt and soaked into the black tie. Another decent sized chunk of flesh was ripped away from the collarbone as well which contributed to changing his shirt into a more 'vibrant' red color.
-Is that actually…bone I see?!…-
Thoughts began to scramble up like eggs in a beater before he mustered up a solid "Freeze!" in attempt to keep some bit of authority over the shambling man, but it only fell upon deaf ears as the man continued to close the distance between himself and the officer. The office was only so small and Liv only had a few seconds before the man had enough reach to try and make a grab for him. Teeth clenched and his aim shifted down towards the Doctor's leg and squeezed off a round into his thigh. Liv was shocked…It wasn't the fact that he actually fired his gun…it was because of the man's reaction. There was only a spurt of blood when the bullet punched into his leg. Normally people would crumble where they stood, hold their injury and scream like little bitches with threats in between about how they were going to sue the department. This man however, only jerked to the punch of the bullet and outstretched his bony fingers out towards the officer.
-What the fu-- Two rounds went for the chest, but not even that seemed to make the man botch an eyelid. Retched fingertips grazed his sleeve which sent Liv into a mad panic and had him squeeze off an additional three wildshots. Two more in the chest and one through-on-through to the neck. Blood sprayed out the back along with fragments of spine. The man uttered his last moan before collapsing into a dead heap before Liv's feet. "What…The..Fuck…" Liv spat between panicked breaths. What the hell just happened? Those shots should've been fatal. The man should've been on the floor the moment a round punched into his thigh in the first place so…Why didn't it happen!?
BANG..BANG…BANG…The noises grew louder from outside the office. What was it this time? Before he got a chance to recollect himself, a struggle was heard and a shrill cry that sounded all too familiar.
-Jake!-
The officer nearly slipped on the slick blood smeared floors before hopping over the corpse and flew through the door that had him sprinting for the assistants. By the time Liv arrived, the very body that they brought in had somehow come back to life and had it's pearly whites latched onto the crook of Jake's neck. Blood began to spew and flesh was heard being crunched. No matter how loud Mick screamed or how hard he pulled at the corpse, it only chewed deeper into Jake's flesh. "GET OFF'A HIM!" Mick screamed and suddenly swung the back of his fist that connected with the corpse's temple, knocking the it right off the gurney and rolling onto the table. The portion of flesh it claimed was taken along with it, having Jake's neck spew blood like a makeshift water fountain. The young boy's legs grew weak and eyes rolled to the back of his head while hands made a poor attempt to cover his wound. They didn't see it coming…They both didn't think that thing would come back to life and…
"JAKE, HOLD ON!" Mick's voice boomed as solid arms caught the limp boy, but as Mick was about to lift Jake into his arms, one of the individual freezer doors positioned just above him flew open and made a solid connection with his forehead, forcing him to drop Jake and stumble back into the shelves behind him. Liv skidded to a stop and watched in horror as one by one, the freezer doors began to pop open with corpses crawling out like worms from dirt. Each one spilled out from their box and dropped onto the ground, some with sickening splats while others landed upon their heads, breaking their necks in an instant. One of them got lucky enough to drop right onto Jake whose eyes widened in fear behind those coke-bottle glasses. Mick was dazed and Liv couldn't shoot the one on top of him in fear of hitting Jake as well.
Damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!
Both of the men watched as the corpse latched onto the other side of Jake's neck and crunched down while the others crawled to join the party. Two at one leg…three on the other…two eating away at his torso…It was the worst way to die. Both Liv and Mick would never forget the sheer terror plastered upon Jake Steven's face and the tortured, but silent scream his lips uttered before the light dimmed from his eyes. Feet were unwilling to move, but Liv's instincts kicked in once again and surge pure adrenaline through his veins. First thoughts? Get the fuck out of here, evacuate the hospital, and call for backup…No, call the fucking army! His heart raced as feet finally managed to move and he was quick to bolt around towards the other side of the observation tables and yank the shocked assistant up to his feet. "C'MON we gotta get the fuck outta here!!" Liv cried out as the burly man rose to his feet only to still have eyes glued to the 'feast' that was once his best friend, " If we stay here, we'll end up just like him..C'mon there's nothing we can do!!"
It seemed like words only fell upon deaf ears for a moment before Mick snapped back to reality. Perhaps it was some of the blood that trickled down from the cut upon his forehead almost got into his eye that got him back to reality or the realization that they could possibly be next in line. Whatever it was, got the assistant bolting through the automated doors with Liv right at his heels. The hallway didn't seem so long when they were first walking through, but now as the two sprinted, it felt as if the hallway stretched on and on with them getting absolutely nowhere. Already, the cadavers were on the hunt for them and passed through the same double doors, having their groans and moans echo down the hallway for the two to hear. Shivers traveled down Liv's spine as fingers impatiently rapped upon the elevator button. Mick was already sweating bullets. Of all elevators in the hospital, this one always took the longest even though it's only destinations were the lobby and the Morgue. Mick and Jake always complained about how the elevator needed a fixing, but nothing was ever done about it. Now they were sitting ducks and resting their hands upon the very elevator that always loved to take it's sweet-ass time.
"FUCK! Can't that thing go any faster!?" Liv growled while keeping his eye upon the numbers that steadily began to build within the hallway. Seemed like they were done feasting on Jake now.
"I…It'll come, Liv. Just..hang tight." Mick replied between heavy breaths as he looked over to the group of corpses making their shambling way towards them. He didn't dare tell Liv about the problem with this elevator. Why spook the only man with a gun? Hell, Liv could be the type to shoot him as a mercy kill and then take out himself. No, that wasn't the thing to think about now. Instead, he kept his gaze upon the cadavers and their papery-white skin, the flesh that often rotted and dropped off their bodies, the horrific injuries that killed them. Impossible…No such thing could come back from the dead--especially humans. When they brought those corpses in, they were dead. Dead. Very dead.
Seconds ticked by and the distance between the two and the army of the undead began to close at an alarming rate. The groans and moans were overpowered by Liv's SIGP226 as each round slammed into the thicket of corpses. Chest shots, limb shots…None of them seemed to work and if he kept up with body shots, Liv knew well he'd be out of ammo and the both of them would be fucked just like Jake. With the eighteen rounds gone from his clip, the slide hammered back and locked into place. The gun needed a feeding and Liv was quick to eject and slap a new clip into it. The slide shot forward and Liv was locked and loaded. Suddenly, he recalled the moment between him and Dr. Ferguson. Body shots didn't work at all..But when he chipped away the exposed spine, Dr. Ferguson dropped like a rock and didn't move since. If body shots didn't work then…
Bang, bang!
Two shots were delivered into two different entities. One just above the right brow upon one corpse, and the other was a straight shot between the eyes. Both of them collapsed in a dead heap for others to trip over and fall onto their rotting faces.
-That's it!…-
Even so, it wasn't going to be easy. Already, six of them were almost within arms reach until…
Ding!
The elevator doors opened and both of the men screamed at each other to get inside with Mick hammering away at the 'close door' button and Liv taking another two shots before a rotting hand shot forth through the closing doors to snatch Liv by the collar of his jacket. The officer screamed and instantly struggled to free himself from the deathly grasp until Mick suddenly snatched the forearm and bent the limb the opposite way, causing the limb to snap. Liv suddenly cried out and threw himself back against the wall, taking the rest of that limb with him before the doors completely closed. Both men had broken out into a clammy sweat and sucked in as much air as they could into their lungs. The red head at first was completely unaware of the appendage until the stump nudged his stomach. His gaze was directed down towards the limb and for a second or two, he didn't seem to register that hand was still gripping his jacket. "GAH!" he cried out and even wiggled in place before hands hesitantly grabbed onto the forearm and yanked the dead hand free. With that tossed aside, eyes directed themselves to Mick who only gave Liv a "What the fuck just happened" look on his face. An awkward moment hovered over the two men as the classical elevator music aired over the speakers once again…But to break the silence this time, Liv grunted with a point towards the limb and a pat to the man's muscular shoulder. "Ah…Um…Thanks…"
"Don't mention it."
The elevator doors finally opened and the men scrambled out to only find out that the hospital itself had gotten busier. And worse, the staff began to grow ill themselves. Nurses were complaining of the patients "biting" them whenever they got close. Others just seemed worse for wear, and the number of patients were unbelievable. The seats were filled and many stood about the hospital, often getting into the way of the works to only be pushed aside or told they needed to wait. To put it short, the hospital was a bloody mess…and they had an even bloodier mess down in the morgue. As the nurses and doctor's passed by, both Liv and Mick went to anyone in attempt to get their attention, but was only brushed off as they hurried away to tend to their next patient. As they frantically scrambled to capture someone's attention, Liv heard a certain voice he really wished he didn't hear. That voice that used to make his heart melt…That sweet voice that now made his teeth clench…The only voice that always captured his attention, no matter who was around him.
"Liv! You shouldn't be here!"
Even if he harbored his grudge against her for what she did, it still made his heart sink knowing that she was HERE amongst the mess. Knowing that she was in complete danger had his veins pumped once more. With a spin upon heels, he caught sight of her adorned in the Hospital's navy blue nurse scrubs they were required to wear. His image was captured in those lovely, honey hazel hues that he used to adore. Rich ebony locks were tied up haphazardly with a couple of sturdy hairpins and a No.2 pencil stabbed through it. There she was, with a clipboard tucked under her arm and giving him the most worried gaze he's ever seen on her face.
-She looks so cute..Wait--
So that's what she was trying to tell him. Hell, he knew she was a medical student, but he never knew that she had already become a nurse within the span of six months that he spent rotting in his apartment. Time flew by so fast…
Thoughts were shaken from his head as he approached Jody and immediately snatched her up by the arm, earning him a baffled look from Mick and a sudden gasp from Jody herself. "C'mon, Jody we have to get the hell out of here and back to the station." he said while doing the best he could to calm himself down until she ripped her arm out of his gloved grasp. That little stunt had earned him a bewildered look from Jody before it quickly turned into a glare as if she were shocked that he thought he had the right to touch her. "What the hell, Liv? I can't! Don't you see this place!? These people need our help! I can't just run away because you said so!" She quipped and widened the distance between them, turning her attention towards the obvious cut upon Mick's forehead, "What the hell happened to your head?"
That did nothing but piss Liv off even more. The man was already on a short fuse and here she was snapping at him. Normally it took a while before he'd start to yell but this time…
"Jody, we don't have fucking time for this! Mick and I just got back from the morgue and--"
As if right on que, a blood curling scream pierced throughout the lobby that stopped everyone in their tracks with other screams to shortly follow. The three turned just in time to see one of the sick patients suddenly turn on a nurse and latched teeth right onto her cheek. The poor woman screamed and screamed bloody murder as two doctors came to pull away the deranged man from his savage attack. Tendrils of skin and muscle were stretched until they were torn at the limit and literally away from the woman's face, leaving a decent sized hole for everyone to see just which molars she got capped.
-Oh god…Not here too…-
Oh no, he wasn't going to fight with Jody today. Instead, he took her roughly by the wrist and jerked her his way with Mick tailing behind the two. "See what I mean? We're getting--"
"Liv, we can't! James is here too! He's on the seventh floor and I can't leave him here!.."
-Great…fucking great…-
The wrench thrown into his plan was so big, that he actually stopped in his tracks. Only a turn to the left, and they could get into the van and get back to the station within a span of ten minutes…But then again, that'd be wrong without James. Then again, he felt he had the fucking right to leave him here to be eaten and rot in his room since the man had snuck into his life and destroyed everything he had. God-damnit… That mother fucker always threw some kind of wrench into his plans. Hell, it even tempted him to just say fuck-it and leave his ass here but…
Fuck it. He made a sharp U-Turn and hauled ass for the elevators. Suddenly, another scream ensued when others stumbled through the entrance, riddled with bites and chunks of flesh missing from their bodies. Liv did his best to ignore the pleas and cries as the elevator opened up. Time to go.
Liv knew he'd forever hate elevator music and promised himself that should he live through this shit-fest, that he'd shoot out every speaker in any elevator he'd walk into so he could enjoy the silence. This time, he recognized the tune as "Oh Happy Days" which made his grip upon the gun tighten. He was tempted to shoot out the box now but…conserving ammo seemed like a smarter idea. As he took the longest elevator ride of his life, the power suddenly shut down right when they were about to reach the seventh floor. Luckily for them, they managed to get each other through the escape hatch and on top of the elevator itself. Not to mention, should they be a floor lower, they'd be forced to take the stairs. No, it wasn't hard but…Liv preferred not to. Using Mick as a leverage, Liv climbed on top of the man's burly shoulders and managed to pry the elevator doors little by little until the gap was enough to escort Jody first after her big climb. Next came Liv and…Mick was the toughest one to haul. The seventh floor was dark…and gave off an eerie silence. Not the beep of a monitor, the commotion of people normally walking about. Hell, there was not a soul in sight--only papers scattered about the narrow hallways.
-All this for the very guy who took Jody away…What the fuck am I getting myself into?-
With a deep breath, Liv calmed himself once more and readied his gun for anything that should come their way. He'd protect both Mick and Jody…No matter what.
"Well guys and gals…Here it goes."