*CAUTION SWEARING*
**And possible CRYING EVENTS AND FEEL HURTING**
Chapter 20
Can we trust this guy? I looked over nervously at Maddy who was looking at all of us. I saw Logan shake his head in a yes motion. Kristen shook her head no. Renee and I just shrugged. Alexa nodded her head yes. I guess it would be up to Maddy.
"Sure. Lead the way." Maddy shrugged.
Chandler nodded and began to walk down the hall. Alexa immediately began talking to him, about what who knows. There was something about this guy. He's just so much like Alexa, and maybe even Jarrett. I'm pretty sure they know each other as well. Maybe we could trust him then. I sure hope so...
"Here's the first room. It's nice, but I don't stay here." Chandler announced, gesturing to a room that looked alright, but much better than being shoved in a RV.
He then gestured to the next room. "Here's the room where I stay. It's my office." Or at least was.
Before anyone could even look inside, he opened another door in front of him. It opened up into a large room. There was a window that covered the front wall. I peered out of the window from behind Alexa. He had a pretty good view of the surrounding area. Mainly woods and forest, nothing that interesting. To the right of the window, there was a small door, which Chandler was opening, revealing an empty blank room with nothing but a window that had continued from the other room. This was probably once a storage room, for who knows what. This hospital was just full of mysteries. Hah, the lack of sleep must be getting to me.
"We could move a bed into here if any of your group needs a room." Chandler said.
If it fit. This room was so insanely small….but cozy. But still, only one person would fit in here so it would be pretty lonely. But then again you would have a view. Chandler closed the door to the room and led us out of the larger room. He ushered us back next to his office, turning the opposite way.
"This is the room where I keep the food." He said as he opened the door.
Behind the door was a room, two walls had shelves covering it. A pitiful amount of food remained on the shelves, only six cans of soup and ten water bottles. That wouldn't last Chandler very long let alone our group. It would all be gone in a day. At least we had some food still.
"You're lucky we came when we had," Maddy joked. "You would've run out of food." Chandler shuddered at the thought of dying in this hospital, all alone, only things here were zombies.
Chandler walked to the other side of the room. "This room has a ladder that leads onto the roof. There were geeks up there, so I blocked it off." Geeks. I don't think I'm going to get use to them being called that.
Alexa suddenly stepped forward, wielding her katana. "Open the door. I'll handle it."
I sighed. Really? Was she really that confident of herself? I mean, confidence is a great thing but hers is on the edge of cocky. And I hate cocky. I smiled when he started to object but he suddenly opened the door. Was he trying to kill us?! What made him change his mind? Is he just some sick psycho path that had planned this ahead of time? I watched, nervous a bit, as Maddy cautiously stepped forward, pulling out her own sword. At least Maddy had acted a bit more humane. I watched as six zombies immediately stumbled out, moaning for food. One fell down the ladder, not noticing it was there, and some of its friends followed. Good thing they don't have brains or they would have stopped. Alexa simply decapitated the first one, the top half of its head flying off as its body simply dropped down. I winced at the gore. Sure, I watched the Walking Dead and I never winced at the gore but in real life….in real life it's real, it's right infront of you and you wince. Maddy and Alexa simply swung, killing each one while the rest of us watched, not sure if we were really safe, really watching this, and not sure if we should run. The once clean floors were soon spattered in blood, a mess that might never be cleaned up. Maddy and Alexa led the way into the room, in which I was glad to see no more zombies. I had seen enough death for one day. On the left wall was a ladder, on the wall in front of us were shelves which were scattered with medical supplies. Not like the simple little things we hand. No, these were real medical supplies, those used in a hospital-which makes sense saying it's a hospital-such as anesthetic, bandages, painkillers, blood bags, and so many more things that would probably come to use someday. I smiled and walked over, immediately eager to see what was now in our medical supplies. Sure, I hadn't much experience with medicine like a nurse would but I had been a patient in a hospital for about a week or so, so I knew enough to know what we could use some things for. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Alexa climb up the ladder to the roof.
I turned back around to what was in front of me. I grinned. Valium. We definitely will need this sometime. It's a muscle relaxant that worked like magic. Doesn't make you too drowsy, just need to take it with food or something. Definitely could use this when we get sore, which is quite often. And there was quite a bit of it too. There were some other name brand medicines I didn't recognize, along with rolls of bandage wrap and tape. Perfect for cuts and small wounds. Maybe even sprains. No, the ACE wrap would be better. I heard someone jump down from the last bit of the ladder, Alexa. I kept to my own business, blocking out what they were saying. We had enough medicine right here to keep us going for a pretty decent amount of time.
"You look awfully pleased with the medicine and materials I have." Chandler said, spooking me a bit.
"Oh, yah! I mean, this is amazing. And some of this will come in handy. Especially the Valium." I smiled.
"Works like magic." He chuckled.
"Exactly." He wasn't bad, he could be a vital part of our group for sure.
"I sure hope your group likes me, I'd rather not be stuck up in this little hellhole of mine any longer." He smiled weakly.
"If they are anything like me, you'll be fine. You seem pretty trustworthy, you just have to prove it." I reassured him.
"Well then, why don't we go set up some bedrooms and such?" Chandler raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, guys come on. You heard him." I announced to the rest of my group. "Let's make us some actual living spaces!" I whooped.
"Finally!" Kristen moaned, putting down a blood bag that she was looking at with a face of disgust.
"You know, one day that bag o' blood might save ya'," Chandler joked.
"Come on!" Renee cheered, being her normal optimistic self.
We all followed Renee out, who was skipping happily down the hallways and back to the entrance, where we had cleared out all the hospital rooms. Chandler had told us to put all the bodies in a certain room, apparently it was the largest and had the highest amount of dead bodies. Matisse had backed out and simply talked with Kristen about who should sleep where. Which didn't surprise me, this was a ratchet job. Touching dead, old skin full of dust. Inhaling that horrid smell they cast off. Seeing the mere dried up and dead bodies also grossed me out. We had only moved about half of one rooms bodies when we all had to stop doing so and breath. I stretched a bit, everyone else doing so. Time to get back to this nightmare worthy job. Or not. Alexa and Maddy opened the door, a couple of people nodded and moved into some rooms, cleaning them up. I turned around and nodded to Mitch who was now pulling out dead bodies. I turned back to Chandler who had his mouth wide open.
"What is it Chandler?" I asked worriedly.
I looked up and saw some mysterious guy was behind Maddy and Alexa. He had matted, long black hair, that I'd cut off in an instant. He was wearing some extremely shattered glasses that mustn't be helping his vision in any way, and he was wearing a lab coat similar to Chandler.
"Hey everybody! New guy!" I called out.
The rest of our group poured out of the rooms, most looked thrilled to have an excuse to stop touching dead bodies. Alexa walked over to Chandler and began to whisper into his ear, in which he urgently whispered back. I turned back over to the new guy. My mouth fell open and my body froze. My mouth hung open, trying to make a noise but none came out. Then Kristen let out an attempted scream but she was stopped. The guy was next to Kristen, a knife now in her throat. I screamed. This guy had just stabbed one of my best friends! Tears jerked into my eyes as I saw Kristen panic and freeze up. Everything was moving in slow motion now.
"Shit!" Maddy yelled.
Even her scream was slow, each letter slowly forming on her lips. I watched in terror as she lifted up her gun, placing her hands on it, her finger pulling the trigger oh so slowly, firing the gun. The sound slowly hit my ears as I watched the bullet slowly move, until it finally lodged itself into the guys head. He fell down. Dead. I stumbled over to Kristen. I felt nothing. My best friend was now dying. That bastard deserved to die.
"Nonononononono!" Maddy moaned out.
Maddy and Alexa ran over to Kristen, who was now coughing up blood as she kneeled, her eyes wide with fear. This can't be happening! She was just talking with Matisse about who sleeps where! She can't die! I collapsed onto my knees, combing her hair back as she coughed, tears streaming down my face.
"Kristen, you're going to be okay." Maddy said reassuringly. "Alexa! Grab some bandages! Hurry!"
She isn't alright. And I know that she knows that. "Maddy, it's alright." Kristen choked out, barely audible as she coughed up more blood, her breathing now shallow and slowing down. "Alexa, Maddy, you two take care of these guys." She gestured to Renee, Matisse, and I.
I sobbed even harder, letting out a moan of pain. No! This can't be happening! Tears fell even harder. I hated this! I know it's real but it can't be! It's all fake! My own thoughts made me cry harder as did the sounds of agony coming from Matisse and Renee. I squeezed both their hands, who squeezed back equally as hard. We were losing out best friend. Our small crazy friend that we all loved to death. It hurt. My heart was throbbing. And all Kristen wants is us to be safe. Oh, how I'll miss her. But I shouldn't have to miss her. She should be alive!
"Kristen, you'll be okay. You just need…." Maddy trailed off.
Oh no! Oh God no! I looked up as Kristen slumped down. Her eyes…..they will haunt me forever. They were glazed over, the life sucked out of them, all her joy, all her happiness. Gone. They were nothing to me now. They seemed black. I slumped down, cradling her head in my hands as I wailed. Renee rested her head on Kristen's chest, sobbing into her shirt. Matisse was in a ball, rocking back and forth, tears running down her face, streams of black following. No idea where she got the makeup. But she never cried with makeup on. Never. But now she is. All because of this. Kristen. Dead. I heard the door swing open but I didn't bother looking. All that mattered was desperately whispering all the things I wanted to say to Kristen but never did.
"I heard a gunshot! Everyone okay?" I heard Logan's voice ask.
No. No one is okay. And I won't ever be okay again. And neither will Kristen. This isn't what I had made the apocalypse out to be. I knew there would be death. But not like this. And I didn't think I'd react this way. The situation changed now. I had just seen my best friend die. All because I called everyone over to meet the 'new guy'. It's all my fault. I sobbed into her hair. Oh God. I did this to her! Kristen I'm so sorry! I love you! I never meant for this to happen!
"Oh man…" Logan trailed off.
"Don't tell Kate! If she wakes up, DON'T TELL HER!" Renee choked out.
Oh God. That's who was missing. Kate. Kristen is best friends with her! Or was….I felt tears jerk to my eyes again. Logan shuffled out of the room. Kristen. Kristen dead. The two words didn't fit together. I heard Maddy kick the guy. Over. And over. And over. I don't care about that bastard, he deserved all the pain in the world. He had killed my best friend. I looked up and hugged Matisse and Renee, who gladly fell into my arms, all three of us wailing like babies. We slowly stopped crying but the pain didn't stop. And I didn't wake up no matter how hard I pinched myself. Kristen was dead. The words didn't seem right but I accepted them.
"Maddy, it's okay." I heard Alexa consoling Maddy.
"What kind of a leader am I? I trusted this guy, and Kristen is dead now!" Maddy pointed out.
"I trusted him too. We couldn't have prevented this." Alexa said soothingly.
I stayed in the hug. If I had hoped my bloody damn mouth to announce the guy, she'd be alive. I could have prevented this. I let more tears fall.
"That's it. I can't trust anyone else. Just you, and the group. All outsiders are shot on sight, or at least interrogated. You understand?" Maddy said.
This day will change me forever and i know that already. Seeing my best friend die...something in me has clicked. My darker side. The side I'd hide at school, at home, everywhere. It was on the surface ready to spill. Not yet. It wasn't time. But her death has changed me, for the better I don't know. For the worse, possibly. To survive, yes. To live, yes. Her death has shown me the reality of this. This Hell. We'd die. Not only due to zombies, but humans. And that realization hurt. But not as bad as the realization that I'd lose my friends. I'd lose them to this war. And I can't stop them all. Something, somewhere inside me cracked. The little spot I held for Kristen in my heart was filled with anger. I contained the anger and let my despair come out. 'Hide the anger, expose the happy.' Kristen's voice rang in my head. It's the least I could do for her.