Hey Everybody! I'm back with another chapter of No Hope! If your all caught up, that last chapter was pretty much non-stop against the undead and infected of the zoo! But they all made it to safety…er…the tram? Yeah…it's safeish. And I would like to thank everybody for the birthday wishes. Granted, 36 years isn't that important, but thanks anyway! But, without further waiting, here is the next chapter! Which I don't own at all!
Prepare to re-enter the world of survival horror…
Chapter 13: Leeches
October 1st 6:58 p.m.
Elliot looked out of the nearby window of the tram car, his face reflected in the glass as water droplets slid down. Body sore and muscles throbbing with fatigue, he felt the rumble of the wheel's clack along the track as Raccoon continued to die and burn.
A scream outside grasped his attention as he looked for the source. It came from a burning bus that had collided with a corner toy store. The lit up sign was still advertising toys in the shape of a blinking teddybear that cast neon oranges and green against the blazing bus like the devil's strobe light. Dead were beating against the side, infected hands curling and grasping toward the windows as another panicked shout came from inside.
Elliot watched intently as the emergency roof hatch popped open with a resounding clang before a man appeared…wearing the familiar chest piece of the R.P.D. The gloom was heavy, the night fallen, but Edwards did a double take. The messy hair…facial structure like a movie star as he gripped a .45 with a free hand. The distant officer was reaching into the bus, most likely to pull a fellow survivor upwards as the dozens of dead continued to beat and rasp against the public transport.
"Is that Ryman?" he asked incredulously as the tracked transport moved further away. More dead staggered along the wide street, trying to shift toward the mobile fortress as wrecks littered the road wherever they were abandoned.
Rita shot a look to her left, her eyes catching a glimpse of the officer pulling a shorter woman to the roof…but they moved out of sight as the distant survivors were left behind.
"It might have been…" The blonde whispered…then cringed her eyes. She had just run over three corpses that had walked in front of the trolley…and felt the light jump as their bodies were dragged underneath the chassis.
"Not like we could've stopped anyway…that street was crawling with the dead. In all likelihood, we would've been swarmed and probably killed by those numbers if we tried to stop and help" Ada retorted. Casting her almond eyes to the window, she watched more dead trying to march toward them…but failing as Rita kept up the speed.
"I didn't even think there were any other cops left in the city…especially Kevin" Marvin muttered lightly. Ryman was a good cop. Likeable all around, but Marvin had to reprimand him in May for sneaking a few drinks on the job. The incident hadn't re-occurred, but still… "If that was you, Ryman…good luck"
Settling further into his seat, Marvin employed to take it easy as Rita slowed for a rightward curve in the tracks. Technically the intersection of Donner Avenue and Manford Boulevard, most of it was a tangle of a massive traffic jam that had blocked off travel to their North and West. Cars were on fire…attracting the infected to the billowing smoke and crackling flames. Unfortunate souls had been caught…dragged to the pavement as ghouls fed on their corpses in the darkened street under lamp-posts. There was nothing to be done here as the trolley moved on…passing a group of school children feasting on flesh near an overturned S.U.V.
"Crap…this is just…" Edwards cursed exasperatedly as he looked around the trolley car. His gaze settled on Wendy and her…group of large cats in the back as the fifteen year old smiled while petting them. The Jaguar narrowed its yellow eyes, a light growly rising from the throat. Elliot turned away, his heart beat a little faster as he looked around for something to distract himself.
A back pack shuffled in the overhead, the straps hanging over the side. Shrugging to himself, the officer decided to check it out. Pulling the bag down, the zipper was pulled open as he peered inside.
"Well…that's surprising" He smirked as he reached in with eagerness.
"What is?" Rita asked from her place up front. The woman's eyes darted back and forth, studying the darkened buildings and the infected roaming around like nightmarish drunks.
"Ammunition. A box of nine millimeters and a few more shells for my new friend" Edwards informed the group as he opened the orange box with a grin. "Twenty bullets…and four shells. Not too shabby"
"Use those rifle shells sparingly Edwards. I doubt you'll find any more at the hospital" Marvin reminded the younger man as the darkened border of the park came into view. A few paths were still lit up…lined with benches as rain drizzled. He could see shifting shadows along the bike paths or moving over the grass by some trees…but he knew better.
"Hospital's coming up…and I think I see a barricade" Rita told them all, her eyes locked onto the ten story place of healing as it rapidly approached. Multiple floors still had electricity, soft light pouring from windows of different floors. A sign on a small lawn along the front near the building's parking garage still glowed, the words 'Raccoon General' flickering as ichor graced the large 'G'
Easing back the throttle, Rita slowed the trolley a few feet from the vehicle barricade as the silent sirens reflected off her skin. Blue and Red flashing lights strobed through the night air, pulsing like a staccato heartbeat as several police cars had formed a semi-circle around the entrance. A few large vans also took up part of the barricade, serving the missing defenders. Multiple corpses lay haphazardly around the semi-circle of cars, almost at random as light rain ran down dead eyes staring upward to the darkened sky. It was obvious that whoever had manned the barricade had tried to keep zombies out, their bodies laying still among spent brass casings and coagulated blood that sheened under burning street lamps.
"We should move fast. I don't see any infected, but it won't take long" Wendy suggested as she stood up. Red flashed against her hair as she stepped out into the light rain…not like it mattered with how soaked she was. Staring into the night, Wendy tried to squint as the park across the street loomed with evil. A few rasps could be heard in the distance…and they were getting closer. After all, a trolley car wasn't exactly stealthy. Gripping her pistol, she moved to the nearest police car. Climbing over the hood that was pressed against another cruiser, she found herself standing in the semi-circle as boots crunched broken glass and kicked away bullet casings. Looking toward the main doors, she saw they had been broken in as shards littered the entranceway…along with splatters of dried blood. A dead policeman was slumped over near the door, his wounds beyond lethal as an empty firearm rested near an open hand.
Aslan and his pride climbed over, their weight sinking the vehicles before they joined the young woman. She turned to him, her eyes steady as the four cats sniffed the air. The king looked at her, his eyes bright from the flashing lights as they locked in a light stare. They didn't even acknowledge the other human's climbing over…or the light cursing of Marvin.
"Mreoww…"
"It's okay…I understand. You have to make your own way for your family" Wendy smiled, petting the large lion on the head. He sniffed her hair…then gave a light lick of her hand with a small purr and rumble.
Aslan turned, his mane full in the night as the king made his way to a narrow alleyway along the distant wing of the hospital a few hundred feet away. An ambulance blocked part of the far street, giving a modicum of safety. The other three cats followed, their paws and nails clicking against the road before the group disappeared down the narrow path.
"Where are they going?" Rita asked with suspicion. On one hand, she hoped for the best…but she wasn't stupid. She doubted a fight between herself and one of those felines would play out in her favor.
"We had a small agreement to leave the zoo together as a sign of respect. After that, he wanted to lead his pride again. I hope they'll make it" Wendy prayed as Ada shook her head.
"You are a very strange, young woman"
"I know"
Hungry rasps filled the air, ending the moment as the five turned toward the source. At least a dozen of the dead had followed…homing in on the tram as they weaved and stumbled down the nearby street. A few more groans came from the darkened path of the park…but were still unseen.
'Thumpthumpthumpthump'
Marvin snapped his eyes skyward, recognizing the sounds of a helicopter. Narrowing his eyes, he finally saw the glowing lights of the aerial transport moving over the rooftops in the distance…and it was coming this way.
Marvin's radio hissed, crackling with light static as the man snatched it up.
"This is RG-one! To any survivors at…ksshhk..the hospital…I'll be there in ten ksshhhkkk…I'm low on fuel…This is your last chance…"
"RG-one! This is lieutenant Branagh! Do you read!?" Marvin shouted into the radio with hope as his eyes continued to study the distant chopper.
"KKKShhkk! I…Skkkhkead you! Get to…shhkkkhoof!"
It cut out after that…the static crackling and popping before Marvin silenced the radio. Glancing over his shoulder, the first of the dead were almost at the blockade of vehicles as they raised their arms to try and reach the supple humans.
"You all heard that? We need to reach the roof…and in ten minutes" Ada stated as Wendy walked past with Rita and peered into the lobby of Raccoon General.
"What about the others at the clock tower?" Elliot asked as the stunning woman shrugged.
"It sucks, but we have a chance to escape. I for one will not waste it. And for all we know, they never made it. So stay here if you want, but I'm getting on that helicopter" Gripping her pistol in two hands, the woman in red stepped over the threshold and entered the building.
"She does have a point…" Wendy muttered as she followed, her boot setting down near a severed hand.
The lobby was a shambles. Overturned chairs sprayed with blood and gore…scattered papers everywhere as a vending machine in the corner flickered. A dead nurse was on the floor near the front desk, her skin necrotic as a bullet hole graced the center forehead. Other bodies were strewn about, each one shot in the head by someone in the past. Ichor was spread across the wall near the elevators along the left wall…but they were blocked by piles upon piles of furniture. A hallway past the barricaded elevators led to the cafeteria down a long hall strewn with papers and garbage…sprays of blood before ending in double doors. They were chained shut, a heavy padlock keeping the cafeteria sealed as a dead man lay on the linoleum floor. He had…been mostly eaten. Intestines were spread out across the dirty tile as Rita looked away with a grimace of disgust.
Turning her attention toward the elevators, she couldn't see a way through. Tables and chairs…lamps and benches had been stacked up right toward the lift doors. Bullet holes graced the nearby wall, illuminated by florescent lights as the powered lifts displayed the current floor. Three and Seven were still lit…but who knows the state of those upper levels.
"That was either to keep the rest of the hospital safe…or to keep something in" Marvin observed as he glanced around the lobby for anything of use. He quickly gave up though, the officers hackles rising as several rasps came from the sealed cafeteria. Those insidious sounds were all he need to hear…don't go looking for hospital food.
"I bet you twenty bucks that cafeteria is full of zombies" Elliot said, his tone trying to be playful…but ultimately failing.
"It doesn't matter. We need to get to the roof, not eat crappy hospital food" Wendy stated harshly as she looked around…and studied the door past the nurse's station on the right. Practically straight ahead, it was partially open as Wendy started to take a step forward.
"I don't think so. I'll lead. You stay in the middle. I know your capable of defending yourself, but you're still a minor" Branagh instructed, his legs moving him past the girl toward the next room. He saw her trying to protest…but ultimately didn't bother.
"Lets just get to the damn roof" She agreed with a light huff. Nodding, Marvin pushed against the metal door…and pulled his hand away with disgust. Clear, slimy liquid was coated along near the handle…dripping down in a slow crawl.
"Gross" He muttered before pushing through, his mind forgetting about the strange substance as the five walked into the larger room.
It was a hall, shaped like a rectangle as crutches and abandoned wheelchairs sat near the closest wall. Blood trailed along the floor along the right, ending at a side door that led to an open office. The window had been smashed in, leaking darkness from the interior as shadows seemed to shift. The smell of fear mixed in with copper and death, making the five on edge. At the far end of the room a small sign pointed to the left from the ceiling, the soft red glow easy to read. The stairwell couldn't be seen though, as the doorway was tucked into a small alcove past the elevator shafts. Discarded hospital supplies and paperwork lay nearby, but none was useful. Vending machines stood in the far right corner by an overturned table as a headless corpse sat against the soda machine. Cans littered the ground, an attempt at looting the cola gone bad as dried ichor graced the small break corner. Flies buzzed…eating on the decay as one un-opened can of Dr. Pepper sat in the dried gore…lone and forgotten.
'STAIRS'
"Seems easy enough" Rita shrugged, her shoulders lightly rising…then almost hunching as a shadow loomed from the nearby office. A rasp…hungry made her gulp as the distant stairwell door gave a light shudder in the frame.
"You had to say it…" Ada cursed the blonde as she inched upward toward Marvin on squelching boots. Rita had ignored her, aiming toward the darkened office as she used the small flashlight on her pistol to illuminate the darkened doorway. A face appeared…peeling skin as the undead woman let out a snarl. Shuffling forward on a broken foot, the former nurse didn't get another moment before Williams fired. The round blew through the skinned forehead, blowing out the back in a bloom of red. The corpse crumpled to the floor, blocking the doorway to the darkened office as the officer breathed a light sigh of relief.
'CRASH!'
The door to the staircase burst open, the weight of bodies stumbling forward as half a dozen of the dead poured out. Unsteady gaits were familiar from the infected as they seemed to turn as one toward the human's. A male hospital technician took the lead, his shirt torn open as many horrific…suction wounds decorated his chest. There were dozens of the blemishes, but it was a moot point as Ada raised her weapon and fired twice.
Muzzle fire flashed across her face, reflecting in tired eyes as the rounds tore through the hospital workers cranium. Bone fragments and gore sprayed against an abandoned wheelchair as he collapsed, the zombie forgotten. The others moaned…rasped with cannibalistic desire as their feet shuffled and stepped over the fallen male.
"Dammit! We don't have time for this crap!" Marvin hissed out in frustrated annoyance. Pressing the MP5 to his shoulder as the flashlight trailed over the horrors approaching, the lieutenant dropped two more of the dead with an expenditure of four spent cartridges. They tinkled to the linoleum floor, clattering softly as Wendy centered the laser sight of her personal 9mm on the next closest infected. The head bobbed to the left as the jawless man gurgled, more of those horrific pucker wounds covering the exposed skin of his arms and neck. The teenager shifted her aim before firing. Bits of temple flew away as the body spun from the gunshot. Uttering a dying rasp, the former male dropped as Marvin and Ada finished off the last two zombies with a small expenditure of ammunition.
Silence reigned for a moment, the crack of gunfire still ringing in all their ears as Marvin waved the flashlight over the pile of bodies. None moved…or tried to shift under the lights glare as the police man lowered the weapon slightly.
"Enough of this crap. Follow me, we already lost several minutes" Branagh ordered with a hard command as he stepped over the first bodies. Swinging wide, the tiny flashlight burned into the darkened stairwell as emergency lights flicked on and off. Seeing no threat, he pushed on as the four followed his lead. Moving quickly…but quietly, the lieutenant led the way upward toward the second floor landing. More sprays of blood adorned the doorway leading to that floor, but he passed it without a second glance as they moved onward to level three.
Passing her own cone of illumination over the walls into the strobing darkness, Rita gulped as her gaze settled on…something sliding down the walls. It flowed in clumps…rivulets of slime and clear ichor with hints of blackness mixed in. It smelled…like rotten sewage, a stench that grew more vile the closer she got to the dripping source.
"Eww…what is this stuff?" She lightly asked with a shudder before turning away from the sight.
"Nothing good, I'm sure of that" Edwards muttered with a scowl as the other three reached the third floor landing. The two officers didn't take long to catch up, their sight downcast as Marvin cursed near the partially opened entranceway to the floor.
"Damn!" He shouted, his ire rising at the problem before them all.
"Probably the surviving staff and other survivors…trying to keep the dead away" Ada concluded as she studied the hospital beds, monitors, and other discarded equipment that sealed any further access upward. Blocking the middle landing between the third and fourth floors, it was stacked practically to the ceiling…and there was more of that stinky slime coating several spots.
A muffled gunshot echoed from above, accompanied by panicked shouts among the upper floors…then a few more rapid fire bursts.
"Survivors?" Wendy asked, her gaze looking upward past the sluicing slime and vile ichor coating the walls.
"Sounds like it. Maybe floor eight or nine?" Marvin pondered for a moment before clearing his head with a shake. There wasn't time for that now. The helicopter would be here in just a few minutes, and he doubted the pilot would wait around for them.
Forgetting about the distant survivors for now, the lieutenant pressed his shoulder against the entryway as more drips of slime clung to the metal surface. Flowing into the hallway of the third floor, his eyes almost burned from the illumination of the ceiling lights above. But dammit…he kind of wished it was dark.
"Okay…that's just nasty…" Ada grimaced as she lightly raised her weapon. Stepping sideways to make room for the others in the corner near the wall, Wong stepped in something…soft. Looking down, she saw the half crushed form of a leech underfoot as the insides had ruptured out.
"I guess we know where all that slime came from…" Wendy whispered in horrified disgust as she studied the surroundings.
A coating of slime covered the ceiling…the walls like an evil substance of satan. It dripped down…falling on Elliot's head and shoulders as the man tried to brush it off. But that wasn't all. Several of the nearby patient rooms had their doors sealed shut by hundreds of empty sacs. They had split open…disgorging who knows what as papers and items from panicking staff lay around. A lone body lay halfway down the hall to the end of the building, her hands still clutching a broken crutch as sucker wounds covered the elder's body. Even if she had been eighty…the old woman had fought to the last breath.
The nurse's station ten feet away was covered with them…some even growing out of the body of a hospital worker as she was slumped over the desk with dead eyes. Some of the sacs still pulsed…the horrid life inside still growing. One of them burst open, a spittle of blackish pus flying across the dead woman's cheek as a leech slithered out…and down out of sight.
Elliot thought about making a light quip of slimy things…but decided against it as the third floor just seemed to…pulse with the tiny monsters. And to be honest, he thought something was watching them all.
Another few rivulets fell on Rita, causing the poor woman to cringe and swipe at the ichor. She wanted to gag…to just loose whatever food she had, but she quelled the urge as Wendy moved past her around the corner to the elevators. Her boots squelched each time, a crushing of dead leech or something else as she pinched her nose.
"Ugh…seriously?" the blunette complained as a honeycomb of sacs covered the left most elevator that had halted on this floor. They had piled into the corner on top of a wheelchair bound person…His or her form could still be seen, but any chance of life was long gone. Past the twin elevator doors was another hallway stretching off further into the hospital as more of the vile coating graced the walls among splatters of dried gore. A distant zombie could be seen at the end of the west wing, beating on a door mindlessly with a hungered rasp…but they were too far away to draw attention.
Wendy discarded the horror, her finger pressing the call button for the lift as small specks of slime slid down the panel. Wiping her dirty pants, she didn't want any of that stuff touching her.
Humming machinery and shifting cables surge to life, the powered elevator starting to drop from floor seven as the five waited quietly. There really wasn't much to say at the moment as Ada looked at the others with a small grin as a few precious minutes ticked by.
"Almost there…a way out of this hell" she said with a hint of warmness.
'CLANG!'
A ceiling grate halfway down the west hallway clattered to the floor, a thunderclap of noise that drew the attention of the five in a split second. Weapons raised, all five stared with rising dread as the air duct above shuddered.
It slithered through…a movement that just screamed wrongness. Leeches flopped and fell to the floor, some rejoining the larger mass as it crouched…then slowly stood. The form writhed and pulsed with hundreds of crawling leeches squirming and flowing as it took a lone step forward. No face or discernable features could be identified….just leeches.
"Oh…oh god…" Rita gasped with horrific fear as it took another step closer. It was finding its stride now, the footsteps wider each time. She wanted to run…but her feet refused to move as the pulsating horror squelched and shifted down the hall toward the living humans.
"KILL IT!" Wendy cried out in rising horror as she switched firearms. Taking a planted stance, she leveled the .357 at the monstrosity.
"No shit!" Elliot cried out as he aimed over the large rifle's sights. Pulling the trigger, the long rifle spat flame as the large slug hissed through the air. It hit center mass, blowing over the leech man onto its back as dozens of the crawling vermin were killed. Underneath, a stained doctor's coat was seen under the electric light…but was quickly hidden as more of the slithering forms gathered and flowed.
Starting to stand up, the abomination coiled back an arm from twenty feet away…then snapped it forward. An extension of the parasites flew along the stretching limb…then crashed right into Elliot's chest.
"GAAHHHGH!" The man cried out in pain as he fell backward. The rifle cluttered away, his fingers losing the grip as the policeman coughed and wheezed. Some of the tiny creatures clung to his shirt, trying to find purchase to feed.
"Ahh! Get them off!" Edwards panicked lightly as he tried to brush them away. Wendy was there though, her hands grasping the squirming horrors as she flung them away. Some slapped against the wall, sliding down as Ada, Rita and Marvin fired downrange.
"How do we kill this thing!?" Rita screamed out, her gun jumping as the bullet merely stunned the approaching nightmare.
"I dunno!" Marvin bellowed back as he looked around for anything that could slow it down.
'Ding'
The elevator arrived, the doors sliding open near Elliot and Wendy as safety beckoned.
"UP! GET UP!" Wendy urged the man as he breathed heavily from the recent blow. Groaning as he scooped up his rifle, the officer staggered into the elevator as Wendy held the door open.
"GO!" Marvin urged, the man already turning his back as he practically pushed Ada and Rita to the open doorway. The monster seemed to sense the human's fleeing…despite the lack of eyes as it surged forward.
Wendy watched Marvin pass the threshold and stepped back, her finger rapidly smashing 'roof' as the leechman flowed on horrific steps. "Come on! Come on!" Wendy screamed in her head, her eyes never wavering from the grisly sight approaching as fear fueled adrenaline started to pour through her veins like ice. Some of the leeches flopped to the tile floor, slithering through the closing doors as the monster reached with a stretched arm.
The doors slid shut just in time, the creature's appendage slapping against the metal exterior with a horrifying thud. The rectangle interior of the lift shook, causing the gurney against the left wall to shift on squeaking wheels.
One of the slugs left a trail of slime across the polished flooring, homing in on Rita's foot as she took a cautionary step back.
'Splat!'
Marvin stepped down, crushing the vile thing as bits of red flew out from under his dirty shoe. Wendy had taken care of the other two slugs, her boots squelching from the gristle.
"What…What in the fuck was that!?" Ada gasped, her core shaken from the refreshed horror. Gripping her weapon so tightly that the knuckles started going white, the Asian female wasn't sure she could survive all these abominations rampaging throughout the city.
"A monster…something that will haunt my nightmares…" Rita whispered as the elevator started to rise. Trying to steady her nerves, she breathed deeply of the sterile air as the others tried to calm themselves from…whatever the hell that thing was.
"Edwards? You alright?" Marvin asked with a sheen of fear emanating from his body.
"Ugh…un..yeah. Bastard hits like a hammer though…" the man groaned as he leaned against the wall. Trying to grasp his chest, the man breathed heavily.
Ada watched him for a moment before looking away as the numbered lights on the panel ticked off. "How much time do we have left?" She inquired as the woman gripped one of the hand grips along the side.
Rita looked at her watch…the blonde woman's eyes falling as the lift passed floor seven. "None. We're past ten minutes now…"
"The helicopter might still be there. He won't just sit there for a few seconds and leave" Marvin tried to reassure as Wendy scowled in the corner.
"That pilot better not. I am not dealing with…some fucking leech man running around in this hospital" She promised herself as the machinery started to slow. They had arrived at floor ten…and salvation was just beyond these doors.
They opened swiftly, the scent of rain and mist greeting them all as thundering beatings of rotors kicked up a breeze. The helicopter was across the roof on the pad, it's landing skids barely hovering over the concrete of the painted 'H.' Hazard lights surrounding the barrier of the building blinked red, a slow glow as Marvin moved like a man possessed toward escape only a hundred feet away.
"HURRY!" Branagh shouted, his hands still gripping the MP5 as the five started to sprint with shoes and boots thumping like anvils against the surface. Several dead bodies lay about the roof, most likely deceased zombies as the group ignored the corpses and empty casings.
Ada pumped her legs, brown eyes locked on a distant police man picking up a six year old girl. The child was African American, pressed into the waiting arms of the presumed mother waiting in the craft. More survivors were already crowding the interior, dirty and tired as the officer stepped up into the helicopter. Streaks of blood covered his face, a matting of gore in his hair as an MP5 thumped against the grimy blue of his uniform.
"NO! WAIT!" Wendy cried as the distant officer looked back with sorrow in his eyes. Shaking his head, the male said something to the pilot…and the craft started to rise. Looking back at the five once more, he reached for something in the crowded cabin before tossing a small bag onto the roof. Ada still tried to run…to reach salvation as she extended a hand to the heavens…but nobody took it.
Rita could've sworn she heard the escaping police man say 'I'm sorry' but the hammering blades drowned out his voice. The side door slid shut, barely accommodating the people inside as the helicopter rose and turned. Pressed eyes at the windows looked down at the five…regret and shame in their tired pupils as the vehicle moved away from the hospital…and flew off into the distance.
Wendy sank to her knees, her palms pressed against damp concrete as she breathed deeply. "No…NO! ESCAPE WAS RIGHT THERE! RIGHT THERE!"
"DAMMIT! FUCKING HELL!" She cried, her palm beating against the material below as her heart broke. They had been so close…and fate had crushed their chances. Beating it again, she cursed once more as her friends became downtrodden and depressed.
"We were so close…" Rita whispered, her spirit taking a major blow. Watching the flying vehicle disappear to the north past tendrils of smoke rising into the darkened night, she wanted to cry.
"Everyone…even if we had arrived in time, that chopper was full. No matter what, none of us were getting on that bird" Marvin stated deeply, his voice almost cracking in disappointment. Looking at the small bag tossed from that other officer, Branagh stepped over and picked it up. A sound of unzipping slew the air softly as the Lieutenant peered inside.
Three full magazines for his sub machine gun jangled inside next to a flashbang and fragmentation grenade. Another magazine of 5.56 bullets was with the stash, but were useless to them all at the moment.
"At least they gave you some ammo" Elliot commented after he studied the contents, his face grim as mist flowed through the air.
"I guess…wait, there's a note" Branagh informed them all as he pulled it out, the parchment damp in the air as red lights along the edge blinked silent warnings. Squinting his eyes in the gloom, Branagh found himself surrounded by the others.
"Well? Don't keep us in suspense. This day's already been shitty enough" Ada griped as she scowled. "I should've ran faster…left them behind or something…damn this city"
"Alright, alright" He replied a little shortly, his voice snapping before he started to read.
Dr. George Hamilton
September 24th
A man came in with a horrendous bite on his left arm. Reported attack by a 'crazed homeless bastard'
He died six hours later then resurrected by some unknown means. An orderly was killed by the patient before he himself was shot by a security guard.
September 26th
More and more patients keep arriving with either bites on extremities or pallid skin. The staff is almost overwhelmed trying to care for those in need. Several nurses complained of 'leeches' falling from vents on floor three. Just what the hell is going on?
September 28th
The city is in flames. Riots are rampant through the streets as the dead seek out the living. Several police officers arrived to try to keep the hospital running, but I fear their efforts are futile.
…My god, the living dead. It should be impossible…but I've seen it far too many times during these past few days. Half my staff is gone. Either dead or undead. The other half have tried to barricade the exits and the floors over-run with…the zombies.
September 30th
The hospital was attacked in force by the undead. At this point the survivors have barricaded themselves in the upper floors with the assistance of the remaining officers. But…something is hunting us. A…leech man that seeks us out.
Doctor Gary Morton was attacked by countless of those leeches while saving nurse Briscombe. She made it to safety…but the screams of my comrade as those things feasted…it haunts me.
I've armed myself with a crutch. I know it's not much, but I've never fired a gun before and would be more of a hindrance with a firearm. We've barricaded floor nine against the horrors in this hospital as our remaining helicopter flies out full loads of survivors…I really hope the fuel lasts before then.
I captured one of those strange leeches. It's abnormally large, almost the size of a kitten. But despite the mutation, I can safely say that it is drawn to warm blood…and is very susceptible to heat like a normal leech. If only we could reach the reach the 'Fixed Temperature Laboratory' in the basement and draw that creature in…I think several hundred degrees would be enough to kill it. Unfortunately, I lost my I.D. card on the seventh floor during the panic.
October 1st
I'm with the last group. Officer Dorian has gone above and beyond in keeping us alive. Even after some of the dead broke through the stairwell, he and that older security guard, Mark kept them at bay as we fled to floor ten. I am relieved that they made it, but still…I thought I heard gunshots coming from the first floor. If its other survivors…it's too late. The helicopter will be at full capacity with all of us. I hate to say it…but we have to think of ourselves now or nobody will escape this hell.
If anybody is reading this…stay alive and escape.
Doctor George Hamilton
"So…if we can trap that thing in that temperature lab, we can kill it?" Rita asked, her spirt not daring to raise hope.
"Sounds like it. And if we can do that, I might still be able to help Marvin" Wendy explained lightly, her skin rising with goosebumps as moans danced on the breeze. A man's scream echoed through the night from several streets away, but nobody was inclined to try and find out where. Odds were, he was dead anyway.
"What happens if you can't?" Elliot asked with skepticism. To be honest, he didn't think Marvin had much of a chance. Not that he wasn't glad the lieutenant was still alive, but the odds of him surviving the virus that had killed this city were…pretty non-existent.
"Then I'll make sure he doesn't come back before then. Still, I find the claim of this girl curing this virus laughable" Ada stated with even hostility.
"Won't know until I try" Wendy shrugged as her eyes scanned the skyline. The old clocktower stood directly to their south, merely a single street away past winding alleyways that were hopefully deserted.
"No. See. I think your full of shit. If seasoned doctors couldn't cure this thing, then what chance does a little bitch have? And even if you can…and that's a big if, that mean's you knew about it already. Hell, you've been hiding something this whole time. Not only from me, but everybody here" Ada claimed, her eyes boring into the blue haired girl as she glared back.
"That's mighty big talk from a Fed who abandoned a minor in that hellish basement back at the station. Fuck, you don't even act like a cop" Wendy finished with dripping anger as she turned to Marvin. "You want to know what I'm hiding?"
"It would ease our minds a bit. After all, you have…unusual skills for somebody your age. And if you can cure this infection coursing through my body, you'll just raise more questions"
"Fine…I'll tell you. But after we reach that clock tower. Until then, just trust the fact that I'm just trying to keep everybody alive. Now shouldn't we go search floor seven for that damn I.D?" Marching away toward the elevators as mist clung to the chilled air, the teenager could be heard grumbling. "Thanks I get trying to help…god-dammit…"
"Kid's got a point…we do need to get out of here…" Edwards muttered as he took the frag grenade from the bag. Ada had taken the flashbang, slipping it into the sidepouch on her left hip. Branagh had taken the generous magazines, storing them away for future use before looking back at the fifteen year old.
"Is it right accusing her of hiding secrets? She'd saved my life…fought through a nightmare that's killed veteran officers. Shit…I feel like garbage mis-trusting her, but she just raises too many unknown's" Shifting a gaze out of the corner of his eye, he studied Wong as the woman in red watched the teenager like a rival feline. "Might have to keep an eye on Ada too…If I live long enough to do that"
Feeling the bite pulse with pain, Marvin knew that the virus would eventually find a way past the anti-viral pills he was taking…then it would be game over. "Let's just find that damn keycard" Stepping forward, he headed back toward the elevator as more undead cries filled the night air…
Floor Seven
The metallic elevator doors slid open with barely a whisper as the five braced themselves for the unknown. Darkness loomed ahead in the hallway, the power barely functional as lights flickered on and off like a seizure. The stale stench of medical chemicals tainted the air…along with the coppery smell of dried blood. A sign dangled from the ceiling, the arrow pointing right toward the distant Emergency Room while another arrow pointed left toward 'Critical Care' Tendrils of slime dripped down, slapping toward the tile below.
Stepping out, Marvin led the way, fanning out to the left with his MP5 raised and pressed to his shoulder as his heart raced. The flashlight on his weapon stabbed the darkness, revealing two partially eaten bodies on the floor. Dried ichor coated the nearby walls, arcing near abandoned medical equipment and gurneys soaked with copious amounts of gore.
It had been a place for critical patients, a large hall lined with beds that had once seen nurses and doctors attend those straight from surgery…but now it was a tomb. A shadow shifted behind a curtain a good fifty feet away near some double doors…doors that had been blocked with beds, boxes, and anything that could be found. Marvin knew the emergency stairs were behind the elevator, but he doubted they would be clear of more debris as he checked the left for immediate threats.
A rasp spiked in his ears, horrifying close as he started to spin with haste.
"The Emergency Room should be our—" Ada started to say as she stepped out past the doors. Icy fingers of a dead woman grasped her shoulders, the putrid vileness of rot and death spilling from the infected. The former house-mom opened her mouth of disease, the teeth vile and putrid as cracked fingernails dragged across the exposed arm.
"AHHH!" Ada screamed, her training barely managing to twist her right arm as tracks of claw marks were cut across the skin. Crimson started to flow as the lurking zombie bayed and snapped, hunger in its dead eyes as the woman braced her freshly wounded arm under the necrotic skin. Ada didn't even care that intestines were spilling out, slapping against her boots as she grunted with exertion. The others were clamoring, trying to get a clear shot as they looked nervously around. Some of the other dead bodies were twitching, trying to rise from the floor despite their half eaten state.
"I don't have a shot!" Rita cried, her distress palpable as she attempted to aim past Ada's head. The zombie kept trying to bite the woman, the teeth clacking mere centimeters from flesh as Wong used all her strength to prevent her demise.
"Ugh…dammit!" She tried to mutter as more groans and cries of hunger echoed from distant rooms. Her arm throbbed…the raked skin burning as death assaulted her nostrils.
'BANG!'
The zombies head snapped to the side, a billow of gore spraying along the wall from the headshot as Wendy lowered her firearm. A single casing clattered to the floor, tinkling in silence as tendrils of smoke rose.
Ada breathed deeply, her eyes locked onto the young woman that just saved her life. Heart racing, she gulped lightly as she rose her arm to inspect the damage. It throbbed, a trio of shallow scratches across the beautiful skin as her fear rose. "Am I infected…?"
It felt like death had gripped her soul, clenched tightly as Rita looked at her with…pity. It wasn't a bite, but odds are Ada just became infected with the virus burning through the city.
"Better hope I'm not full of shit, huh Ada?" Wendy uttered as she turned away. Walking up to the downed zombie on the floor, the fifteen year old eyed the ravaged body. It was obvious others had fed…ripping into the body cavity as it snarled. Extending the stumps of ruined arms, it was almost pathetic as she finished it off with three swings of her baseball bat.
Stepping away, she was preparing to kill the second wriggling body as lights flickered above. Wendy could hear the others rapidly searching the nearby hallway, their footsteps squeaking against the tile. Rita was whispering to Ada about something, but Marvell really didn't care at the moment.
"Wendy…leave them. They can't even walk after us" Marvin ordered as he watched the young woman. To be honest…he felt like shit for what Ada said on the roof. Then she goes around and saves the life of the woman accusing her of secrecy.
"Can't argue with that…" the girl said with a sigh as she idly glanced down at the snarling corpse. To say it was a grisly mess was an understatement as it tried to squirm and crawl. Muscle tore…sliding in the darkness as the zombie separated from the lower half. The light flickered on, showing a dreadful trail of intestine as she stepped back.
Something dripped onto Wendy's head. A droplet that slid through her blue hair as she looked up…and gulped. The air vent opening was dripping with slime…a clear liquid that fell as a few slugs emerged from the darkness. Stepping back, she barely avoided the leechman as it dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. Starting to stand only ten feet away as more of the writhing life forms slithered and crawled, Wendy knew firearms would only slow it down.
"Don't just stand there! RUN!" Elliot cried out as he grabbed the teenager's wrist and pulled her away. A swiping tendril of the arm hissed past her back, slapping against the wall as the monster started to stagger after them.
"Find the Emergency Room! We might be able to barricade it!" Ada shouted as she started to run with Rita. Looking back, the creature was a literal nightmare of leeches and parasites. Running faster as the flickering lights strobed between illumination and darkness, all the woman could feel was fear and dread.
Rita ran, her pulse pounding as the commotion seemed to wake the entire floor. A door thudded on her left, the body inside throwing its weight against the simple wood as the echoing rasp hollowed in her ears as she ran past.
Marvin huffed, his legs and body just aching from the constant running as the ceiling lights flickered above. Cradling the weapon, he tried to keep the lead of the others. Plopping leeches graced his ears, a constant reminder of what pursued them. A simple glance back told him all he needed to know…it was still chasing them. A mess of wriggling horror.
Spinning while running in a backpedal, the lieutenant fired from the hip as he squeezed off a short burst. The report and gunfire flashed in the hallway, illuminating the abomination as three slugs clipped it in the side. Some of the parasites screamed, a sound that would never be forgotten as the tiny corpses flew with sprays of blackened ichor.
"DAMN!" Marvin cursed as he resumed running, his hopes dashed as the leechman hunted them down the hall.
"Just keep moving!" Elliot urged, his face contorted in stressed fear. He gripped the rifle, contemplating an expenditure of rare ammunition…but the officer knew this thing would recover.
'CRASH!'
A patient room door on the right shattered open, the paneling cracked and useless as two of the dead started to limp and stagger out. Both wearing hospital gowns, it was obvious from the bandaged wounds on their exposed arms how they had turned. The lead one turned, jaws slack with diseased eyes reflecting back light as Rita raised her service pistol from mere feet away.
Two shots rang out, blowing through the bridge of the nose before the woman ran past with increasing dread.
The second grasped the air, trying to reach Wendy with clawed hands as it snarled in the darkness. Fingers raked the air, missing the girl by inches.
"UNGH!' Marvell exerted, her swing cracking against the dead woman's face. It wasn't enough to kill…only to stun as she sprinted faster with a cautionary glance back. The Leech man launched an attack, the arm stretching far too long for her tastes as she veered to the right along the wall.
"OUTTA THE WAY ELLIOT!" the teenager screamed as she barely got the warning off. The insidious appendage jutted between her an the policeman, stabbing the air while some of the virus laden parasites fell free….others almost flew from the thrashing arm as the others kept running.
Something landed on her left shoulder…wriggling and homing in on her exposed neck as she gasped in horror. Wendy didn't waste a moment. Grabbing it, she hefted it as wriggling flesh and slime coated her left hand…then threw it a wall with a light 'splat' as she hurried to keep her distance from the monster chasing them.
"There it is!" Ada shouted, small rivulets of blood flowing toward her right wrist as she pointed ahead.
The emergency room was located on the left, the double doors partially open as shattered glass graced the floor like dead diamonds. Shadows seemed to shift and dance, the constant flickering of lights a taxation on their eyesight. A dead doctor was slumped against the wall, his body a horror of suction wounds as he held a makeshift weapon.
And past him…it was a dead end. Another barricade of hospital mattresses, gurney's, life support machines…anything that kept this part of the floor separated from the Eastern part of the hospital.
"No choice! Inside now!" Marvin barked as his lunges heaved. Shouldering the door open, the metal smacked his bicep as the police man turned and urged the others inside….not like they needed much encouragement.
"It's right behind us!" Edwards yelled as he pushed Wendy through roughly. The girl staggered, almost falling to the floor as hungry rasps and infected throats grew with excitement. The dead emergency staff had been inside…bitten and turned as they started to home in on the survivors.
"Rita! Wendy! I could use your help!" Ada screamed in a voice laced with crackling stress. Aiming down her sights at the closest doctor, the Asian woman fired as the pistol flashed flame in the trembling light. It punched through the throat…not a kill shot as the former surgeon snarled from the warm flesh before him. She fired again, dropping the doctor as she shifted aim to the next zombie near the operating table. The throat had been torn out…a ragged wound from dead teeth as the deceased patient struggled against restraints on the table itself.
"I got the left!" Wendy cried out, her pistol already stabbing a beam of red light through the gloom. It centered on a female nurse…someone that would've been pretty in life…but was nothing but a corpse now. She squeezed the trigger, the firearm jumping in her hands as the bullet tore through the brain.
"ELLIOT! GRAP THAT PIPE!" Marvin hollered, his back pressed toward the double doors as the creature beyond surged to enter. They buckled, almost bowling the lieutenant over as his fellow officer scrambled.
Snatching up the object, Edwards was distinctly aware of the zombies in the room, but would have to trust the ladies to take care of it. Sliding the metal object between the door handles, it did the required task as Marvin looked around. A rolling monitor of equipment was to his right…and a perfect way to reinforce the door.
"Help me with this!" Marvin ordered as Rita dropped the fourth doctor, the blonde woman beyond frayed as Ada gave her attention to the last infected form in the room.
"Got it!" Edwards complied, his body already moving to assist. Straining muscle, both men made short work of tipping over the machinery to block the door as the leech man tried to reach them with its extending arm.
The equipment crashed, forming a light barricade as Ada finished off the last zombie.
"Quick! Get this table over there! Never mind the dead guy!" Wendy commanded, her voice fearful as she started to shove against the weight. The zombie snapped at her, the head restrained by bands of leather. If it had been because of surgery…or experimentation after death, she couldn't tell…or care.
"Hunnghh!" Rita gasped, her feet trying to dig against the tiled floor as she pushed with all her might. Another slapping appendage of leeches slashed the air from the broken window, but it wasn't long enough to reach as the three women grunted and exerted force.
"I…I Really hate hospitals!" Ada groaned as the table slid toward the growing pile of the barricade. It screeched and cried with scrapping material…but was finally pushed into place by panic fueled muscles.
Forgetting about the strapped down zombie, the five stepped away from the double doors as the Leechman seemed to screech with annoyance. Trying once more to reach them from the hallway, the monster lost a few of the virus laden creatures as they started to slither and crawl over equipment.
"That won't hold forever. We need to get out of here" Ada observed as she clutched the wounded arm with her other hand. It throbbed…the gouges almost three inches long as she imagined increased heat from the zombie attack. Gulping, her eyes studied the doorway…as gathering zombies trying to push in as it buckled. Arms were reaching in under the flickering lightbulbs, the skin pale and ravaged by cuts and bites. Hungry snarls were ravenous, mixed in as more of the slithering parasites crawled over the barricade.
"Search the room…and quickly!" Marvin urged as the lights flickered on and off once more. Casting his eyes around, he finally saw the horrific state of the E.R. as dried gore slicked the floor. A fight had occurred here with empty syringes, broken bottles of medication, and abandoned surgeon tools laying about. A few bloody handprints decorated some of the cabinets, the individual prints telling a tale of death among the deceased surgeons.
Wendy was doing her utmost to ignore the baleful cries of the undead merely thirty feet away as Elliot kept a wary guard. More zombies were gathering…a tiny horde easily reaching a dozen. Scanning her eyes away toward the Eastern wall, she spotted a rolling cart near a large ventilation duct set at the base of the wall. The grate was gone…tossed to the side as darkness loomed from within. "That might work…it's large enough…" The teenager concluded as she started to ransack the cart.
Wendy didn't find much. Just a half roll of gauze and a flashlight. Turning it on, she had to smack it a few times before the bulb stayed lit. Crouching down, she peered into the vent as the zombies surged again. Something scrapped against the floor…the weight of bodies slowly winning against the pile of equipment.
Slime dripped down as she looked in. It ran along the galvanized metal sheet…coating the interior. But, there weren't any bodies blocking the pathway between room's.
"Anything?' Ada asked, her words hollow as she continuously gripped her pistol. Blood had collected at the muzzle point, slowly falling as the Leech man grew even more excited by her bleeding.
"It's clear. Now let me wrap your forearm…or you going to call me a bitch again?" Wendy said evenly as the dead cried beyond.
Ada held her arm out with a regretful sigh. She was a mercenary…didn't like owing anybody anything. And here she was, possibly infected with a nightmarish virus that would turn her into a zombie with possibly the only person that could help her…and she had accused her of…who knows what.
"Wendy…"
"Save it. You're a bitch. All I've done is try to help and you just give me shit. So shut the fuck up and let me bandage these scratches. Oh, and if you do turn, I will put you down"
Rita heard the conversation between the other women…but it wasn't her place to say anything. Time was scarce and the dead wouldn't stop trying to get in. Searching along the nearby countertop, the sink was partially full of…watery blood as flies buzzed. The stench was awful…but not new as she used her flashlight to search.
The operating table screeched slightly, the zombies pushing against the door with the unholy nightmare still trying to gain entrance.
Rita's heart skipped a beat, the fear palpable as something reflected back, the lamination buried under a few maggots as she peered closer. Brushing them away with her gun, she picked it up as the E.R. doors thudded again. A few more zombies had joined the parasite monster outside, their dead eyes watching the human's as they sought to enter.
Picking up the keycard, her smile grew at the find. A small picture of Dr. George Hamilton stared back, his access card ripe for the taking.
"I found the keycard!" Rita said loudly, her smile pushing past fatigue as Marvin nodded.
"Good work, Rita" he complimented as the door's and barricade shuddered once more. Brown eyes watched the monsters…and one of them looked back as more of the leeches slid over the zombie strapped to the table. "You said that duct was empty?" he asked while hurrying past Wendy, the girl finished with the first aid.
Stooping down, Branagh peered in as the table scrapped again. Waving Elliot over, Marvin's face was a crease of worry. "Go first Edwards. Then you ladies. I'll cover the rear" he ordered, the issue not up for debate as the zombies tried to surge again. More of the parasites were now slithering down the sides, the advance periodically disturbed by the undead pressing against the buckling barricade.
"You better be right behind us, Lieutenant" Elliot said before settling to his stomach. Sliding forward, the policeman started to crawl through the narrow passage.
"This slime is disgusting…" he whispered as the vile substance clung to his clothes and hands. Inching forward with the rifle, he made it through to the next room before climbing out of the duct. A patient's room devoid of any life, the police man saw just two beds and nothing else. The door was ajar…leading into a darkened hall beyond as he took a crouch with the rifle aimed at the exit.
"It's clear!" He whispered loudly, the voice traveling through the stale air. A rustling of clothes and light cursing moments later had Wendy emerging, her blue hair like velvet in the darkness. She stood up, giving a terse nod to Elliot before moving toward the doorway. Taking station, she peered out as Ada came next.
"Dammit…" The woman cursed lowly, her voice pale as crimson soaked through her new bandage. Standing up in the room, she hurried toward the exit as Rita crawled through next with relief on her tired features.
Marvin watched Rita disappear into the darkness of the air duct, his face showing a bit of relief as he lay down to crawl himself.
'CRRASSH!'
The door finally buckled, the press of undead winning as the operating table tipped with a resounding clang. The infected poured in, their unsteady feet trying to pick past the ruined hospital equipment as the Leech man climbed over on its search for warm blood.
"Time to go!" Marvin urged as he scooted forward, his heart pumping with adrenaline as he crawled through the vent. A zombified patient homed in on the crawling man, cutting up necrotic feet on shards as it snarled. Dropping to the floor, it reached for the foot…but missed as the human disappeared. Grunting with annoyance, the dead man flopped to the floor as more of his fellow infected gathered around the opening. Reaching diseased arms in, they tried to gain entrance among the tangle of dead.
"They're right behind me!" Marvin bellowed as human hands reached for his. The officer didn't bother looking back as he felt warm hands grip his and pull him through. And for a moment…he thought something brushed his foot as Rita and Elliot pulled him upright. The short blonde wanted to ask if he was alright, but Marvin waved it off.
"No time. Lets get to the basement and kill that leech bastard" Marvin ordered with a hint of dread as snarling grew louder from the floor duct.
"Don't need to tell me twice" Edwards smirked as the five poured out into the hallway. It was a mess…a morgue of remembrance as papers lay on the floor. To their immediate right was that ceiling high barricade blocking the hall that was still standing. To the left…darkness as the lighting had completely failed.
"There should be another staircase at the end of the East Wing. We reach it and hopefully can get to the basement" Marvin told the group as he took point, the flashlight of his MP5 pushing away the gloom as they moved with deadly silence.
Wendy kept quiet breaths, her boots making light footfalls as she followed Rita. The two officers were like beacons of light, the cones revealing the destruction among the halls. Keeping a tight grip on her bat, she was hoping to take out any lurkers with silence as they moved past hospital rooms. Some were barricaded from the outside…others left open with rotting entrails on the floor. And others? She could hear the sounds of tearing flesh…of feeding behind closed doors as the five hurried along.
The corridor abruptly ended, the doorway to the Eastern stairwell propped open by a body. Maggots crawled…feeding inside the empty eye sockets as the corpse lay still. A knife was jammed through the ear canal, preventing reanimation as Ada stepped over the legs. Glancing toward Wendy, the teenager was silent. Just the sound of her light breathing and rustling body armor gave her away as the five moved down the stairs with rapidity.
"Another barricade…" Rita whispered lowly, her flashlight eyeing the pile of computers, bedding and file cabinets that prevented further progress past floor five.
"No help for it" Elliot shrugged as Marvin cracked the door to floor five. Light poured in, casting shafts of illumination as the five stepped out into the new hallway. It was a mess just like the rest of the hospital. A place that had obviously fallen with several offices on either side. Partly administration, the five started to proceed as the light bulb's burned their eyes with harsh light.
A rasp sounded, echoing along the walls from a conference room on the left. It had probably looked nice once…nothing but glass walls and windows to see in. Problem with that was most of the glass was gone. Shattered as gore dripped among the shards with easily two dozen zombies inside…and they had spotted the humans. Administrators…accountants and lawyers. They had all been killed and turned with one still clinging to his expensive briefcase. Starting to flow around the large conference table, the men and women let out a continuous moan. They surged, bites visible on some as one of the women grunted. A broom handle stuck out of her chest…but failed to kill as diseased eyes locked onto the teenager.
"Nope. Fuck that" Wendy said as she turned, her legs already pumping for fresh speed as the adults did the same.
"I'm getting sick of running, dammit" Elliot breathed, his lungs craving rest.
"Then just tell those zombies you want a break! I'm sure they'd listen if you said please!" Wendy shot back as they sprinted. The zombies were chasing them…stumbling and staggering down the hall in pursuit of flesh with mournful hunger.
"We just need to reach the elevators again! They should be about a hundred yards ahead!" Rita gasped, her own heart pumping with the footfalls echoing through the deserted hospital. "Why can't we catch a break!"
Marvin grit his teeth, the running making the sewed up wound on his side cry in agony. He should be resting in a bed…not running for his life from undead cannibals. But not just him…they all needed to rest. To sleep and recoup their strength from constantly running…of fleeing for their lives.
Ada turned her head, eyeing the shambling horde pursue them down the hallway as she ran for all she was worth. They were a horrible sight…the torn flesh and dried bits of gore dripping from slack jaws as the humans continued to run past closed offices and patient rooms. If they held supplies…or just the dead, they didn't have time to check as the distant elevators loomed closer and closer.
Wendy reached the doors first, her fist literally punching the down button as the indicator lit up. Stepping away as she switched to her pistol, the others gathered around with the dead only fifty feet away…and closing faster than expected. Raising her firearm at the lead zombie in a tattered suit, the blue haired female lined up a shot. A red dot appeared on the former man's forehead, dancing between the eyes as the five formed a firing line.
"Bang! Bang!'
Marvell fired twice, two slugs snapping through the air with cordite stink wafting up her nose. The lead corpse dropped from part of the head being blown away as a tangle of limbs tripped up three more of the undead.
"I swear…I'm never stepping foot in a hospital again!" Rita cried out as her own fire arm jumped in clammy hands. The shot went wide as the zombie stumbled, the effect harmless as the bullet embedded in the left breast of an older woman. Marvin and the other two adults fired, the flashes of flame leaving the muzzles as a few more undead were taken out.
Branagh pressed the MP5 to his shoulder, the stock hammering against his muscle as he squeezed off another burst with brass arcing away. An office clerks head snapped back, two rounds boring through the eye hole with gristle and bone spraying against the nearby corpses. They had only killed six or seven…but still over a dozen remained as they shuffled and gasped with hunger toward the survivors.
"Come on you damn elevator…hurry up!" Edwards hissed out with growing fear as Ada dropped another body. She was looking pale…a little flushed as the bandage on her arm grew redder.
'CLAANNGG!'
The policeman spun, his eyes wide while snatching the rifle to his shoulder. It was a tight grip…the hands steady as the Leechman fell from the ceiling with a horrific plop of parasites. Fifty feet away down the opposite hall to the West, it looked even more nightmarish in the bright lights. It squiggled…squirmed as individual slugs fell and slithered across the nearby tile…or rejoined the monster as they left clear slime trails across the floor.
"SHIT!" Edwards cried as he pulled the trigger of his rifle.
'BOOOM!'
The report bounced off the walls, echoing in his ears as the heavy caliber munition erupted from the muzzle on a wave of flame. It struck the leech covered abomination, destroying dozens of parasites as they cried and writhed on the floor. Stunned, the horror staggered backwards on unsteady feet…just as the doors dinged open.
"IN! GET IN!" Ada screamed, her stance at the door with Wendy and Rita sprinting inside. Firing into the horde, she winged the temple of a doctor as the body spun. He regained footing, snarls erupting from a lipless mouth covered in dried gore. The remaining corpses continued un-hindered as they continued to close the distance to fewer than ten feet.
Marvin and Elliot ran into the large lift, their faces a strain of stress as the Lieutenant roughly pulled Ada inside.
"Come on…come on!" Edwards pleaded to fate, his finger mashing the button to the basement with untold haste. The doors started to close, a squeal of rolling machinery as the zombies started to converge with drunken gaits. One lunged forward with a rasp, the arms extended as it felt gnawing hunger spurn it on toward the closing elevator.
'BANG!'
The sound echoed off the enclosed walls, reverberating in ringing eardrums as Rita stood with her pistol smoking. The lone brass cartridge hit the floor just as that zombie fell backward from the door…that closed just as the Leech Man shoved its way forward. Machinery hummed…rattling above their heads in the shaft as they started to travel to the basement.
"Ugh…my ears…" Elliot cringed as he tried to shake the ringing from his head.
"Good…good shot" Wendy complimented as she stuck a finger into her left ear, trying to disrupt that annoying humming. Ada slumped against the wall, strands of loose hair dangling past her almond eyes as she tried to remain composed. Her arm itched…burning from the scratch as she solemnly looked at it in silence.
"Here…take one" Marvin offered the woman in the red dress as he held an anti-viral pill in his hand. Taking it, she mumbled a soft thanks before dry swallowing it.
"I really hope the basement is empty…" Williams prayed out loud, her hope in tune with the others as the elevator clicked and hummed past the floors.
"We're all hoping that" Wendy replied as their ride settled…and the doors slid open to reveal the hospital basement.
Dingy light illuminated the beige painted brick walls as the smell of dust and must assaulted their senses as the five stepped out. Weapons were raised…each one darting for threats as they looked around. A janitor's closet was across from them with a cart of cleaning supplies that would never be used.
The telltale echo of dripping water was heard, but the survivors didn't pay it any mind as they stood in the center of the corridor. It extended left and right by about a hundred feet respectively with a few closed doors lining the walls.
"Stairs" Rita pointed to their right, the woman studying the sign and fire extinguisher at the end of the hallway.
"Doubt we could use them anyway with how the staff threw up barricades everywhere" Elliot observed in a pessimistic tone. Leaving the exit way alone, the five started to walk down the left hall. The first door they passed proclaimed 'Generator Room' but seeing as the corridor still was lit with electricity, no one bothered.
"I hate this silence…it's un-nerving" Wendy complained, her pistol gripped tightly as they approached the next door on the right.
"I know the feeling…" Marvin replied as he gripped the knob and pushed. The door remained locked as the card reader next to the handle burned with a red light.
"Here. That note said this keycard should work" Rita mentioned as she swiped it through the reader. The red light turned blue with a small 'click' echoing.
Marvin tried again with a small, sheepish grin on his lips.
It swung easily, oiled hinges not making a whisper as the small laboratory revealed itself. A few computers still hummed on desks, but sprays of dried blood across one of the monitors left a hint of copper in the air. Across the room was a medical refrigerator, the shelves stacked with blood bags for testing as it hummed contently.
A doorway to the south was left open, gore spread across the surface as the five studied the room. But aside from the refrigerator filled with transfusion bags, nothing was of use.
"Edwards" Marvin ordered, his head nodding toward the next room as the two men walked cautiously. Stepping over the dried blood pooling on the floor, Marvin immediately saw the body laying face down. A research doctor or technician, the normally white coat was a ribbon of torn gore and pucker wounds.
Nudging the foot, the corpse didn't stir as Elliot moved toward the window set into the wall above the control console. Right next to another door, he peered in with a squint. The room was almost gray in color, the walls cracked with years of heat testing as a ventilation vent decorated the ceiling. Heating coils lined many surfaces, separated evenly among the walls and ceiling as they sat silently in their housings.
"I'd say that's a makeshift furnace" Wendy mentioned from the door as she held a blood bag in her hands. Starting to walk forward, the girl felt herself stopped by Ada as the older woman relieved her of the plastic bag filled with crimson.
"No. You stay here"
"I'm fully capable of drawing it out"
"Just stay back you stubborn bi—"
'CLANG!'
The grate dropped like an anvil, tendrils of slime and fat slugs falling to the floor...then the Leech man itself. It was fast this time, making it to the control room door in brief moments as it loomed in the doorway. Parasites writhed and wriggled…their hunger almost felt by the humans as it turned toward them all.
"Crap!" Ada yelled in frustrated anger as the monster stepped into the room. It launched an arm swing, the vile limb cutting through the air as some of the leeches flew free.
"Hngh!" Rita gasped as she tackled Wendy to the ground, the swipe hissing above her head as a few of those vile things started to crawl toward them. Marvin and Elliot dove, the enclosed space meaning they landed next to the corpse on the floor…and it stank.
Ada gripped the blood bag…then sprinted past the crawling nightmare into the temp room. Ripping it open, she flung it to the concrete as crimson flew from the thrown force. "HEY! FRESH BLOOD!"
The leeches stopped…halting their approach to the warm humans…then turned and staggered into the room. Falling to its knees as the overpowering scent made it forget of the living food, it started to feed on the crimson liquid.
Ada ran out of the room, her legs pumping as she slammed the door behind her and threw the lock.
"BURN IT! BURN THAT THING!" she cried out, the toll of today making her exterior break.
Wendy scrambled to her feet, twisting the temperature knob to max…then slamming her palm against the start button.
The coils heated…jumping to hundreds of degrees as they began to glow red hot all around the locked room. The leech man noticed, its body standing erect as it surged toward the thick glass. Slamming into it with a resounding 'thud' the parasites began to scream as the heat boiled their insides. They fell…flopping and writhing on the ground as more and more died from the brutal temperature.
In a minute it was over, the creatures dead and shriveled as the body of a doctor revealed itself on the floor. Shutting down the coils, the heat began to rapidly fall as Ada unlocked the door.
"Is it dead?" Rita inquired as the other two women walked cautiously toward the corpse.
"it better be" Wendy scowled before rolling the ravaged body with a boot. The arms flopped like ragdolls while hundreds of leech bites covered the skin. Slime covered the coat that was now a horrific mixture of brown and red.
Stooping down, Wendy eyed the keycard clipped near the hip. Pulling it free, she read the inscription.
"Head Surgeon Gary Morton. Restricted Access"
"Huh…you officers know about this?" Wendy asked as she stood up, her hands wiping away some dust as the three shook their heads.
"Can't say I do. But it has to be good for something? Maybe in the elevator?" Marvin suggested.
"Couldn't hurt to check"
Walking out of the room, Wendy led the way as relief filled their hearts and minds. They managed to kill that abomination…now they just needed to find a way to make a cure.
Entering the elevator, Wendy scanned the button panel…and found a narrow slot to the right. Sliding the card in, the doors slid shut as the five felt the lift lower….and pass the sub-basement of B-2.
"I though that was the lowest part of the hospital?" Rita observed, her body vibrating slightly from the travel…or the shuddering stress.
"I guess not" Ada replied. The Elevator stopped, the doors sliding open as a brightly lit hallway of polished tile and white walls greeted them. A familiar symbol of red and white was decorated across from them along the wall as Marvin stepped out.
"Umbrella? Under the hospital? How did they manage that?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if they owned the whole building" Wendy said evenly as her dirty boots clicked across the floor. Walking down the hallway, they passed a few offices, but they were neglected as the teenager homed in on the double doors at the end.
Pushing them open, the five were greeted to a high tech laboratory of centrifuges, state of the art equipment and countless apparatus. But…along the right side of the room were several liquid filled tubes larger than a man…and they weren't empty.
"What…what the hell are those things…?" Rita whispered in fear and horror as she took a step back. Bumping into a table, she tried to steady herself.
They floated in the blue solution, bubbles rising past closed eyes. Their skin was an off green and scaled like an amphibian. In fact…they were almost froglike. But only if you ignored the fact the monsters were six feet tall and sported tipped claws that would put wolverine to shame.
A total of four slumbered, monitors slowly beeping as Elliot slowly raised his large rifle.
"I wouldn't do that. Right now, they're sleeping. But if you fire, they could wake up. I for one don't want that since this lab could hold the means to cure Marvin and Ada" Wendy cautioned, her eyes darting to the Asian woman that was an off-white pale.
"Yeah…you have a point…" the police officer murmured as Wendy walked past and started inspecting the equipment.
Nodding her head, she turned to Ada and Marvin while clapping her hands. "Alright. Let's see if I was spouting bullshit or not. Ada. Marvin. I'm gonna need a blood sample from both of you"
"Sure thing" sitting down nearby, Marvin didn't complain as he watched the girl pick up a syringe.
"What about us?" Rita asked, her eyes constantly darting to…whatever those frog things were across the lab.
"Search the offices…get some rest. This might take a while" Wendy waved as she drew the blood before waving Ada over to start working on a cure…
October 2nd 2:13 a.m.
Wendy's eye's sagged with fatigue and exhaustion as she sat at on the stool. Slumped over the table as the incubator hummed nearby, the future doctor rubbed her closed eyelids from the brightness of the computer screen as she tried to stay awake.
The research had been…mind-numbing to say the least. Formulas and cell strands…flaring double helixes that she had to go over at least a dozen times as earlier attempts failed. If it wasn't for the fact that a cure to this virus had already been seventy percent complete…Wendy would've had to kill Marvin and Ada. The simple truth was…it would've taken countless days. Maybe weeks to develop it otherwise.
Turning around on the seat, the blunette silently watched the slumbering beasts…which thankfully had not woken. They were still under heavy sedation according to the monitors near their vats.
"Those are hunter's in the tanks. I think Natsu fought some once…god I'm tired…"
The incubator dinged softly with a light turning green on the side above the readout. Sliding open, a panel revealed four vials of bluish liquid. Taking them with tired hands, she slid them into her pouch before picking up an ampoule shooter from the table.
Standing up, she trudged toward the double doors as her head throbbed. The stitches hadn't come loose…but staring at that screen had been a trial. Pushing them open, they swung easily as the fifteen year old passed through.
And a few brief moments later…Hunter 00-3 slowly opened its eyes as the claws twitched among rising bubbles.
"You look awful kiddo" Rita teased lightly, the blonde woman standing guard in the hallway. Leaning near the open doorframe, the other three adults had taken naps during the night in shifts…and to periodically check on the girl.
"Yeah…I want to sleep for a week…on a pillow of clouds…or warm cupcakes"
Rita give a warm chuckle, her mirth calming as Wendy stepped into the doorway. Loading the first vial into the shooter as Marvin stood up from his chair, he gave a knowing nod as Ada and Elliot still slept on the floor.
"Is that the cure?"
"I…I hope so. I tired to plan for anything unforeseen in the genetic make-up, but until I inj—"
'CRRAASHHH!'
The sound of shattering glass snapped Ada and Elliot awake, their hands already grabbing for weapons as Wendy spun. She had retrieved her .357, eyes wide with fear as more sounds of breaking glass and spilling liquid came from the lab.
"Elevator…now!" She whispered harshly as the fatigue was forgotten for the moment. Adrenaline spiked once more…flowing through her veins as an inhuman shriek came from the closed doors of the lab. Stepping backwards as the others started to run down the short hall, Wendy turned and ran with Rita as another wail filled the air. It made her skin chill…rise with goosebumps as the hair rose.
Boots and shoes beat down the tile, the flight silent as Ada reached the elevator first.
The double doors slammed open, the heavy blows echoing down the hallway as Wendy turned on her heel near the elevator.
It was a genetic nightmare at the far end. Muscles rippled…flowing with forbidden power while rivulets of liquid flowed between the green scales. Beady, yellow eyes squinted at Wendy while the nose flared. The hunter bared its teeth…a deadly horror of knives in its mouth as the long arms dangled with equally sharp claws.
The creature took a step forward…then started to coil its leg in a squat as it prepared to jump.
"FUCK THAT!" Wendy cried out before turning and running into the elevator.
'SSSHHHHRRRIIIIEKKKKK!'
The hunter jumped, the head almost scrapping the ceiling as it tried to catch the fleeing prey. Luckily for the human's, the door was already closing as the monster landed a dozen feet away. It howled in anger once again as it tried to reach the human's, but the cry was cut off as the lift started to rise toward the sub-basement.
"How…how could those things be under the hospital?" Rita asked her friends, the woman almost pale. They had been lucky… if they had woken while in that lab…or at any other time, some of them might be dead.
"I don't know Rita…I don't know" Marvin said evenly as the elevator stopped at the sub-basement. Sliding open, the stench of sewage and rot assaulted the five as Elliot groaned.
"Please…not the sewer again…" he complained as the five stepped into the mildew heavy air. Water dripped, but aside from a few abandoned sewer worker tools and forgotten construction cones, nothing moved in the corridor that stretched out below old bulbs to the left.
"Maybe we can find a ladder to the surface?" Rita asked hopefully as the others sighed in annoyance. Even if they found a way up…they would still have to traverse that vile liquid.
"Well…before we do that, lets see if I'm as smart as I think I am"
Pressing the ampoule shooter with the cure to Marvin's exposed left bicep, she squeezed down as the man hissed in light pain. Pulling away, it left a circular mark as the girl reloaded a second vial.
"So…that's it?"
"Hope so" Wendy replied as she gave Ada the same treatment. The woman eyed the mark, a small nod of thanks in her eyes…then wandered to the pouch on the girls left hip.
"Does she have more? I bet a cure would be very valuable to the highest bidder…"
"Alright. Either I'll stay human or not. Just make sure to put me out of my misery before then. Now lets find a way out of here" Marvin urged, his shoes clicking along the concrete as he held his MP5 tightly as the others started to follow toward the nearby sewerline.
The Alleyway behind the clock-tower 2:48 a.m.
The manhole cover slid to the side, iron scrapping along pavement as the deserted alleyway loomed with darkness. The dirty door to the building was slick with rain while a dead body leaned against the wall. The lack of a head made it harmless as a back light burned under the awning.
A head appeared seconds later…looking for danger before hauling himself upward. Staying in a crouch as he aimed the elephant rifle into the darkness, Elliot waved up his comrades as undead wails carried in the night. The skyline glowed…buildings burning as Wendy and then Rita appeared.
The blonde officer moved toward the door, knowing it was their salvation as the clock tower stretched into the night like a gothic spear. Turning the knob, it clicked open as Rita moved in with professional swiftness.
Wendy followed, her hands still clutching the .357 as the stench of sewage water clung to her pants. Nothing had been down there in the sewer aside from a few dead leeches…but the smell had been horrible. And she was tired…so fucking tired.
"It's clear" Williams whispered as her pistol rigged flashlight illuminated the way.
"Good" Wendy quipped as she rubbed her eyes. Hands shaking from exhaustion…burnt adrenaline and a day of terror, she tried to keep it together as Rita walked forward across dusty floorboards.
They creaked…a wail of ancient nails while the other three adults slid inside before closing the door.
The hallway turned right, a ninety degree corner that Rita swept wide. "Nothing. Just a door" Walking forward, it gave her entrance as it opened to the main hall of the old building. Valuable artwork lined the walls as multiple doors led in different directions. But there was no sign of Leon…or Jill…or anybody as the five started to fan out under the chandelier.
Wendy's eyes blurred…her stance unsteady as she staggered forward on legs burning with exhaustion. She had pushed herself beyond the limit…and now she was crashing. The girl wavered…barely on her feet with the last ounces of energy ebbed away.
The door to her right creaked open, a hiss of hinges as she tried to raise her weapon to guard against whatever it was. It opened fully, revealing a blonde woman in dirty, burgundy pants as she held a shotgun at the ready.
Allyssa stared in disbelief at the five…dirty, exhausted, and beaten survivors…and let out a small smile.
"You made it? You all made it?" she asked as she turned to Wendy with a sense of joy and relief…and the girl collapsed.
"WENDY!" Ashcroft cried out as she ran over, her joy snatched away as Rita started to check for some hidden wounds. Finding none, she pressed a finger to her neck.
"Her pulse is strong…I think she must've passed out. It's…been a nightmare since we got separated" William's explained to Allyssa who nodded in complete understanding.
"Help me get her to the church. You can fill me and the others in" the reporter ordered as Marvin picked up the young woman with tender care. Looking down at her young face, the officer promised then and there he would keep this girl alive. The girl who was braver than ten men…who fought…and conquered her fear…and who asked for nothing by trying to save his life.
Her head lolled, hanging loosely as the lieutenant walked slowly, following Allyssa and the others to the nearby chapel as relief filled their hearts.
"We made it…we made it to the clock tower. And in a few hours…we can escape this hell" Ada whispered in hollow joy as she followed the others to rest and safety…
And done! Longer chapter than I expected! But how did you like that leech man? Pretty pesky, right? Now before you ask…I did think of having them fight the Hunters. But dammit…they needed a break. So I just had them make an appearance…for now *EVIL CACKLES*
Still, if your familiar with the games…I'm sure you can guess who stops by next chapter. Or maybe not? Who knows!
Still, I hope you all enjoy and give some positive love for this story and chapter!
Ada: FINALLY! I can see that sexy officer of mine!
Jill: Ahem! He's mine. First dibs
Elizabeth and Claire: YOU CAN'T CALL DIBS!
Wendy: Shut up! I'm passed out you lust filled bitches!
This is thehappy signing off!
