With the backup also came zombies. Cameron and the rest of the team watched on top of their truck as many others pulled into the parking lot bringing a shit load of zombies with it. Strangely enough there was also a bucket truck, the kind that was used to fix power lines. "My idea," Tony said with a rather smug smile. Cameron decided to wait until later to ask what it would be used for. The next couple of hours were spent killing all of the zombies. When that was done, all the trucks were positioned with the rear facing the main entrance of the hospital.
Cameron scaled down his truck in search for Harry, when he was suddenly slammed against the side of it, and a pair of lips mashed onto his. "I'm so sorry," Becky said, weeping and keeping her face close. "I should have come. It was horrible being over there and not knowing what was happening."
"It's okay," he assured her, brushing her hair back and kissing her. "I missed you." Cameron couldn't help but go back in for another make out session to inhale Becky's intoxicating scent, seeing as for the past several days all he could smell were rotting corpses. And it was a miracle that she was into it because he hadn't showered or brushed his teeth in as long a time.
There was a loud and false coughing sound, and Cameron and Becky immediately backed off from each other. "Robinson, get back to your post. Status, Marsh," Harry ordered, as Becky left.
Biting his lower lip, he said, "The ground floor and basement have been cleared. So far we have four dead and one wounded."
"One wounded?" Harry asked, a bit confused.
Nodding, he led Harry to the inside of the truck.
"What in the holy hell happened?" Harry said, when he saw Jim was tied up.
"He got a little desperate," Cameron explained. "But he at least came to his senses by the end of it."
"So why his leg?"
"Got shot."
"By who?"
"My bad," Andrea said, poking her head down the hatch.
Harry looked pointedly at Cameron. "Did you order her to do that?" He shook his head. "Well, Andrea, I'm afraid you'll be spending a week in holding once we get back."
Her jaw dropped. "What about Jim? He pulled a gun on Cameron!"
"Yeah, well, I say you shooting him was punishment enough."
Andrea looked at Cameron pleadingly, but he just raised his hands in defense. "Hey, you're probably lucky that that's all you're getting." Cursing under her breath, Andrea retracted her head and they could hear her stomping around up top.
Shaking his head, Harry removed the gag from Jim's mouth. "Are you gonna cause anymore problems?"
Jim shook his head. "I'll behave. I'm sorry about what I did earlier."
"Alright, just see if you can make yourself useful—I don't care how." Jim's bonds were cut but he was denied any weapons.
"So four dead?" Harry asked solemnly as he changed the subject. Cameron nodded, and Harry patted him on the back. "Couldn't be helped, Marsh. This was a dangerous mission to begin with, so consider it lucky it was so few."
Cameron rubbed his eyes. "So what now?" he asked tiredly.
"Well, I suppose we clear the upper levels, and after that we load up all necessary hospital equipment whether or not it's bolted to the floor."
"Gonna be a bitch clearing the upper levels," Cameron commented.
Harry smirked. "Trust me, it won't be a big a bitch as you might think." Before Cameron could ask any question, Harry hopped out of the back of the truck, and said as he closed the doors, "Get back up top."
A few minutes later Cameron found out what the bucket truck was for. Tony had a pretty satisfied on look as one person got into the driver's seat, and other got into the bucket. As it drove to the end of the building, Cameron noticed that the bucket was able to rise higher than more conventional ones.
"You see, the only way to get to the upper floors would be to take the stairwell…not a good idea with all those monsters roaming the halls up there," Tony explained, as the bucket rose near the first window of the second floor. "So when I contacted command I proposed this idea."
The man in the bucket raised a rifle and shot off a couple of rounds. He let out a sharp whistle, and a few seconds later zombies began trickling out of the window one by one. Cameron watched in amazement how zombie after zombie fell down to the pavement below. He thought that all those zombies would've been taken care off when the windows were shot out in the first place—but he didn't take into the account that the doors to most, if not all, of the room were closed.
It was getting on in the evening, so Cameron didn't get a clear a view as he might have liked. Still he did notice that not all the zombies ended up splitting their skulls open. But it was no problem for the gunmen on the nearest truck to pick off those that survived the fall.
When the zombie spill slowly came to a stop, the guy in the bucket raised his rifle again. He began firing off round after round, presumably to finish off the remaining monsters inside. Then the bucket truck moved on to the next window and the guy fired a few more bullets to take down the room's door. That time there was no zombie spill, so the truck moved on.
The same procedure was done at every single window on that side of the hospital, only getting a zombie spill every so often. The bucket was raised, and the same thing was done to the third floor. Eventually the fourth floor was done as well. With that side of the hospital done, Harry ordered the bucket to the north end of the hospital where the whole process was started over again.
It took all night to do that to every side of the hospital. In the morning Harry formed a couple of teams to be set up at every stairwell so that they could take care of the remaining zombies undoubtedly left in the hospital. Orders were to leave any unopened rooms alone if they most likely didn't contain any necessary equipment. With Cameron were Cole, Nick, and Andrea. Each had at least three fresh magazines.
"Team two in position," Cameron said into his radio.
Over the next few minutes the rest of the teams confirmed that they were ready.
"Shit!" someone cried over the radio. "Be advised—infected in the stairwells. Man that was close."
"Ready?" he asked them. Receiving nods, Cameron shot off the door lock and hinges. They raised their rifles as the door fell backwards and crashed to the floor. That generated some echoed growls from above, and they waited. Less than a minute later some zombies came tumbling down the stairs to come after them. It was no problem as they were picked off with well-placed headshots.
After a few seconds, Cameron signaled for them to proceed up the stairs. Slowly and ever vigilant the four of them went up step by step. One was never too careful in zombie country.
When they reached the door to the second floor, Cameron once again shot off the lock and hinges. And again they waited just outside the doorframe for any potential zombies. None came after a minute so they proceeded forward.
The halls and rooms with windows were practically empty, except for some crawlers and former patients that were tied down in bed. A quick bullet or a knife did the trick. Just as they were ordered, they skipped places such as conference rooms, break rooms, and closets despite the scratching and banging caused by the zombie menace behind those doors, which had Xs carved in just to make sure no one opened them. When they did come across a closed room that likely had useable supplies but also had zombies in it, it was a simple matter of taking down the door and picking off the things.
Every so often they'd run into another team that was also traversing the halls. Whenever that happened they would quickly explain where they've been and the spots zombie killing took place. During one of those run-ins Cameron saw that Becky was part of the group. Information was exchanged, and before the teams separated, Cameron gave Wesley, the one in charge, a look that clearly said, Don't you DARE let anything happen to her! The man got the message loud and clear.
Eventually the other teams started calling in through the radios that they finished sweeping their section of the second floor. Cameron did the same. Orders were now to head back to the stairwells and proceed to the third floor.
It was the same drill. Cameron and his team simply kept walking at a slow steady pace, keeping their rifles up.
"HELP!"
The scream came from down the hall. Cameron saw as Kat sprinted around a corner towards them, and immediately behind her was a small stampede of zombies.
"Hit the floor!" Cole shouted in panic.
She did so without question, and the team immediately began to firing off round after round. The bullets flew over Kat, and hit the pursuing zombies. The four of them made sure to take out any that got too close to her, and soon enough they were all taken care of.
Once done Cole wasted no time in rushing forward to her. "You okay?" he asked, checking for any bites as he helped Kat sit up. She let out a sob and nodded. Kat then threw herself on him, and she and Cole were soon making out.
"What happened exactly?" Cameron asked after giving them a bit of time.
Kat wiped her tears and stood up. "There was a room that was labeled for medical supplies, so my team decided to clear it out…. Only we underestimated how many of the fucks were in there." She leaned into Cole's shoulder. "Doug, Red, Jorge—they're gone."
Eventually she composed herself enough to lead the way back to where she was, and there they discovered the remains of their comrades being feasted upon. The zombies were quickly dispatched, and the three bodies were each given a bullet to the head. Cameron called in the location of the remains, and Kat joined the team as they continued to scour the floor.
It was without further incident that the rest of the teams cleared the third floor. The same went for the fourth. There were a shit load more zombies on the rooftop, but it was decided that there was no point to bother with them. The door was barricaded for good measure, and except for some certain rooms the hospital was declared clear.
Like Harry had said, all vital equipment started being loaded. And even if something was bolted down it was torn right from the floor. Henry Clayton was present to make sure that they got everything that they need or might need at some point in the future. The man was like a kid in a candy store.
It took over a day to make sure that everything they'd ever need right down to the last roll of toilet paper was loaded up. Some trucks even had to leave for Yuba and come back because it had been filled to capacity. The hospital was checked, double checked, and triple checked for any supplies, seeing as there was no way they were going to risk returning.
Once everything was loaded, Harry gave a rather surprising order, "Burn this building down." Almost immediately gas was being siphoned from some of the abandoned cars in the parking lot, then spilled all over the ground floor. One match later and the fire started spreading.
A little while later Cameron got into the cab of the truck he initially came in, and the convoy began rolling home. The convoy left the parking lot turning right to go south. It was decided before hand that they'd take the most direct route out of the city, even though it would take a bit longer to get home. The hope was that any pursuing zombies would get left behind and wouldn't be able to follow them back to Yuba.
The thought of thousands of zombies on their doorstep chilled everyone to the bone.
Suddenly a voice came over the CB radio: "Uh, Harry, we've got a bit of a situation back here."
"What?" said Harry's voice.
"Well, I'm looking at my mirrors and we have some buses on our tail."
Cameron and Tony quickly glanced at each other in confusion, and there was a pause before Harry said, "Any zombies?"
"Including the ones we already attracted? A shit load."
"All trucks are to come to a stop. All leaders go up top."
After all the trucks hit the brakes, Cameron grabbed his rifle before climbing through the hatch. What fun, he thought, wondering what was in store for them now.