"I can't do it," Lovino whispered. "I can't do it."
"You can, Lovi, it's going to be OK," the Spaniard's hand brushed Lovino's trembling back gently. "If we can make it as far as the surgical ward, we'll be fine."
Lovino slapped Antonio's hand away weakly, "don't promise me things you can't guarantee." Lovino tried to stand up again, and then promptly dropped to the ground on trembling legs, "those things have tricked you more than once."
Antonio's eyebrows knit together in annoyance, "I won't let it happen again, Lovino." Antonio grabbed Lovino by one arm and pulled him gently into a standing position. "I would sooner throw myself in front of a horde of them than let y-"
Lovino – despite his deteriorating strength – punched Antonio with all of his remaining strength in the shoulder, "don't say such stupid things, bastard."
Antonio touched the area Lovino punched with a wince; the Italian was strong, much stronger than Antonio had anticipated. Though he couldn't stand yet, and he seemed to be getting sicker from all the running, he was still a powerful man. "It will be much safer if we both go out together."
"Why?" Lovino almost screamed, holding himself back in fear of alerting the wandering creatures beyond the dispensary doors. "I can't stand, I'll only slow you down," Lovino glared at Antonio through his dirty hair. "Get the stuff out of the surgical ward then bring it back."
"Lovi," Antonio said in a pained voice. "If I leave you here, I might not be able to get back to you."
"I can fend for my own," Lovino spat. "And I thought I told you to stop calling me that."
"Or worse yet," the Spaniard continued, disregarding Lovino's complaints. "Something will happen to you when I'm gone."
Lovino, looking into the man's watery eyes, couldn't believe what he was seeing. The man in front of him was about to cry over the prospect of him dying. Lovino was a complete stranger to this man, and Antonio was a complete stranger in turn. He wanted to know what it was that that made this man so protective over him. Was it the fact that he was a nurse, and didn't want to see his patients harmed?
That was probably it.
"Lovino, please."
"Don't 'Lovino, please' me, asshole," Lovino pulled away from Antonio's steadying hands and almost collapsed to the ground. Before he could fall, however, he caught hold of a cabinet and held himself up. He ignored his trembling legs in favour of shooting another glare – which was becoming harder and harder to do as he looked at the nurses' sad expression – at the Spaniard. "If you try to bring me out there, I'll scream. Then where will you be?"
Antonio closed his eyes and sighed, "Lovino, I know you don't want to die." He opened his eyes again and flashed Lovino a small, encouraging smile, "I'm scared too."
"Who said I was scared?" Lovino spit out.
"I'm terrified," Antonio began, again choosing to ignore Lovino's argument. "Dead bodies walking around, eating people," Antonio looked up at the ceiling, almost as if reminiscing. "I never thought I would live to see something like this." He laughed quietly, "my brother, João*, used to always tell me that I would be the first person to die in this kind of scenario."
"I'm surprised you haven't died yet," Lovino spat. "You're being so fucking reckless."
"I might die," Antonio said as if it were the easiest thing to say in the world. "But I'm not going to let you die, not after everything you've survived so far."
"You idi-"
Before Lovino could finish scolding the Spaniard, he picked Lovino up from where he was standing and hiked him over his shoulder like a football player would. Not the most comfortable hold, but the most convenient one for running. "You can scream all you want, but I won't let them get to you."
Lovino was rendered momentarily speechless.
With several hard kicks, Antonio successfully knocked the shelves and cabinets blocking the door. They clattered to the floor noisily, and made Lovino cringe. Would the sound alert the others outside?
"You're crazy," Lovino said. "You're really fucking crazy." And, before Lovino could protest any more, Antonio whipped the door to the outside open. Lovino closed his eyes and cringed, waiting for the sound of the oncoming horde.
The hall was completely empty, except for a few tracks of blood left on the floor outside of the dispensary. The door they had just been behind was covered in blood as well, and if closely inspected, one would find small pieces of loose flesh clinging to broken pieces of the door. It was gruesome sight, but Lovino tried his best not to think about it.
Lovino felt Antonio breathe a short sigh of relief at the emptiness of the hallway, and he himself did so in response. It didn't do anything to calm Lovino down, but if anything, it was better than being chased down by a horde and killed. He would accept that little gift.
Antonio looked around a few times, looking for any signs of the creatures that has chased them down. There was nothing, not a sound.
Lovino's hearing became hypersensitive as they began walking down the hall. Every little sound, every little creak, every little breath would not go unheard by Lovino's ears. The adrenaline pumping through his veins kept him on edge, unable to settle down. But the terror was not the worst part about being inside the hospital.
The silence and the anticipation were the worst parts.
Lovino swore that he could hear his own organs working inside his body, and the sound of his blood coursing through his veins. The silence was so heavy that he could hear the sound of the hair on Antonio's head rustling every time he moved even the slightest bit. Being quiet enough to hear a pin drop was an understatement for the silence on the hospital floor.
When they reached the exit door that lead down to the surgical ward, Lovino's hands tightened around Antonio's shirt, balling up the fabric in his tight fists. He was afraid that when they came to the bend in the hallway, the others patients would be waiting for them. He was afraid that this time they wouldn't be able to run away. He squeezed his eyes shut and listened, waiting for the erratic breathing of one of the dead patients. He was listening so intensely that he almost screamed when Antonio patted his back with his free hand.
"It's OK, Lovino, we're almost there." Antonio gripped the handle of the door tightly and swallowed hard, "just a few more steps and were there."
Lovino nodded his head despite not being able to see Antonio's face properly from his current position. He didn't ask the obvious question of what they would do if they surgical ward was overrun. Lovino was certain that Antonio had asked himself the same thing already. There was no time for questions though, they either had to take their chances or die from starvation.
When the door swung open they were met with a frigid gust of air and a smell so pungent and rotten it made them gag. The smell alone made Lovino want to ask Antonio to go back. And, as if Antonio himself was contemplating the same thing himself, he backed up a few steps with his free arm held over his nose. "I don't know what's down there that could make such a smell," Antonio said, voice muffled by his arm. He seemed concerned.
The fact that Antonio himself was so worried did nothing to help Lovino keep his mind off of their situation. In fact, Antonio's worry made his heart sink and his ears ring. It made Lovino wish that he had been killed by one of the soldiers' way back in his room. The only thing that was keeping him going at this point was the possibility that Feliciano was still alive and safe somewhere.
Lovino held his own arm up to cover his nose, much like Antonio, and held his breath. He would persevere, even if it killed him. That was the only choice he had at this point, anyway.
Antonio walked into the exit, closing the door firmly behind himself, and immediately looked over the railing to see what was producing such an awful smell. But, even with the light from the hall, they could see nothing. The exit was completely barren; void of all life. This was an even greater cause for worry for the both of them. It meant that it had to be coming from something on the floor beneath them.
"There are small fridges in the surgical ward," Antonio said, trying to encourage Lovino. "They usually keep them there for patients that get hungry in the middle of the night, or when the nurses aren't right on hand."
"I thought you just started working here," Lovino said. "How the hell do you know all of this?"
"Well," Antonio said, "there are some things I can remember, and some that I can't." Antonio smiled to himself as a fond memory came forward. "I remember this about the surgical ward because, when I was being shown around, I remember a little girl running to one of the fridges and trying to force a Popsicle on her recovering mother." Antonio laughed as he took the stairs two at a time, "kids are so cute."
Lovino grumbled despite the sweet image that came to his mind of a young Feliciano, "I hate kids."
"I'm sure you don't 'hate' kids, Lovino," Antonio patted him on the back again. "Hate is a really strong word, you know?"
"I know," Lovino said confidently. "I know it's a strong word, and I'm saying I fucking hate kids."
Antonio didn't laugh out loud, but Lovino could feel his back shaking from the laughter. It made Lovino himself want to laugh along with him. His chuckling was cut short, however, when they came to the exit for the surgical wards floor. "This is it, Lovino," instead of the tremble of laughter, Lovino could feel the tremble of fear in Antonio's back. "We're here."
Antonio opened the door slowly, rather than quickly like the one on the floor two stories above. The smell was the first thing that caught them; of course. It was definitely coming from the surgical unit. The only thing they were worried about at this point, however, was whether or not the bearer of the smell was dead or not.
Antonio carefully peaked his head into the room, holding his breath so he didn't gag at the smell coming from the room. He looked from side to side until his eyes happened upon the source of the smell, lying in a bed at the corner of the room. He reached into his pocket and gripped the screwdriver he still had hidden, readying himself for an attack.
An attack didn't come, however. They weren't attacked because the corpse lying in the corner of the room was already dead, long dead, judging by the smell coming from it.
Antonio's eyebrows knit together in confusion when he walked into the room, looking down at the dead patient in the bed. Judging by the smell and the deterioration of the corpse, the person had been dead for at least five days.
The outbreak had only happened one day past.
"Is it OK?" Lovino asked, kicking his feet a little to get the Spaniard's attention.
Antonio had been so caught up in the corpse that he had almost completely forgotten he had Lovino still hanging over his shoulder. He promptly turned away from the corpse and walked toward the chair sitting in front of the observation computers. Antonio put Lovino down carefully and directed his attention toward the corpse.
"Holy shit, is that sti-"
"Whoever that was died a long time ago," Antonio said, scratching his chin. "I just don't understand why the corpse has been down here for so long." He looked at the corpse for a long time, trying to judge what had happened without actually approaching it. The only thing that broke him out of his stupor was the sound of Lovino's stomach growling.
Antonio turned around and favoured Lovino with a large smile, "hungry?"
"Obviously," Lovino said. "I haven't eaten in fucking ages."
"I'm hungry too," Antonio walked over to where Lovino sat and picked him up again, instead this time he positioned him on his shoulders with his legs wrapped around his neck. "We need to scope this place out, anyways."
"You fucking pervert," Lovino punched the top of Antonio's head half-heartedly, too tired and hungry to protest any longer. "I'm only wearing this gown."
"I know," Antonio said. He looked up at Lovino through dark lashes, "I wanted to see how red your face could turn." Antonio laughed, "and by the looks of it, very red."
"You dirty bastard," Lovino said, digging his heels into Antonio's chest as he tried to will the embarrassing blush off of his face.
Antonio continued laughing as he walked around a corner and in through a door that lead to a room with an operating table. They both stopped what they were doing in favour of staring at the body on the floor.
It was the body of a soldier, lying dead in a pool of his own blood. And, judging by the blood spattering the ceiling, he had chosen to take his own life.
Lovino averted his eyes, swallowing hard. The sight was too dark for even him to take.
They both remained silent until loud static cut through the silence in the room, followed by a voice on the other end.
They both looked at each other, then Antonio quickly reached for the walkie-talkie on the man's hip, and turned it down. The static was so loud he was worried that it had alerted some of the infected, so he made sure to lock the door to the operating room.
Antonio held the walkie-talkie up to his ears, and listened. It was a recorded message, but it wasn't from any of the military bases. It was from a person, a regular person.
"This is Heracles Karpusi, I'm not a soldier but I am from the outside of the hospital. I'm looking for any survivors. I have a few survivors with me," the voice stopped for a moment, as if contemplating something. "There are seven of us. We think we can help, if you are willing to help in return."
Antonio let out a relieved huff, "I'm so happy, someone else is still alive out there."
Lovino shared his sentiments, and nodded for him to message back.
Antonio held the walkie-talkie up to his face, praying that the people on the other side were still there, and prepared to speak. But. before he could do so, a loud bang from the operating room door almost made him drop the precious radio. Lovino and Antonio held back twin gasps, both trying to remain as still as possible so as not to alert the creatures.
The banging grew louder.
"It's no use, Antonio, those fucking things can smell us," Lovino pulled on Antonio's hair to wake him up. "Let's just go back to the bed rest room and lock ourselves in."
Antonio did so without protest, but first he leaned down and picked the small pistol up from where it lay beside the dead soldier.
Lovino was right, those creatures could smell them through the walls, being quiet was no use any more. He ran through the door, almost crashing into the computer monitors and put Lovino down into the computer chair before locking the door behind them. When the click of the lock snapping into place broke the silence in the small room, they both sighed, not in relief, however. They both knew that the hospital was completely overrun now.
There was nowhere left to go.
Lovino hadn't even realized he had started crying until he felt his hot tears dropping onto his cold skin, streaking his pale flesh. He ducked his head down so Antonio wouldn't see, but he was too late. Antonio was next to him in an instant, hand patting his trembling back. "It's OK, Lovi, we'll get out of here alive."
"How do you know that?" Lovino looked up at Antonio through bleary eyes. "This place is swarming with those things, and there's nowhere left for us to go any more " Lovino sucked back his tears, "those god damn people can't do anything to help us; if armed soldiers couldn't do it, then they certainly can't." Lovino almost regretted what he said, until he realized Antonio's confident attitude wasn't disappearing, in fact, it was morphing into something else.
"Those soldiers were murderers, Lovino." Antonio's fist clenched where it was positioned on Lovino's back. "They were punished."
Lovino was shocked at Antonio's sudden change in character, but didn't have time to comment when the Spaniard brought the radio up to his mouth and began speaking in a frantic voice. All semblance of his past murderous rage disappeared.
"I hope someone is still there," Antonio whispered frantically. "I know you called in a long time ago, but we were trapped."
No answer.
"My name is Antonio Carriedo; I was trapped in the dispensary of the hospital with a patient," a loud crash, louder than the others, rang through the surgical ward. Antonio's tone became even more hurried. "We escaped the dispensary and went into the surgical ward, but it's not as safe as we thought it would be," another abnormally loud crash cut Antonio off. "The only good that came out of this is that I found a weapon, and of course this radio…"
Antonio pulled the radio away from his mouth, patting Lovino's back as his sobbing became more erratic. He was beginning to panic again. "It's OK, Lovino, I won't let us die here."
To both of their surprise, someone finally answered. "You said a patient, are you a doctor?"
Antonio was so happy that there was still someone out there, so happy that he had to take a moment to contain his excitement. When he finally deemed himself calm enough, he answered, "No, but I am a registered nurse."
Antonio heard another voice trying to speak on the other side of the radio, but it promptly stopped when the man he was currently talking to shushed whoever it was that was trying to speak.
After a moment, the voice began speaking again, "what is wrong with your patient?"
Antonio thought it was strange to be asking questions about his patient, but he answered despite this, "he has severe pneumonia." Antonio had to bring his voice down, the crashing sounds coming from outside were becoming increasingly louder. "When the soldiers started killing everyone, not just the infected, I hid in a secretary's desk. When I came out, I got chased down by a bunch of the infected people, and by chance ended up in a room with a completely untouched patient. I was so happy." Antonio's voice went from frightened to happy as he began talking about finding Lovino alive. "He's doing so well, I think he'll be able to walk properly soon."
"How old is your patient?" The voice asked him, almost cautiously.
"My patient," Antonio said, confused about all the questions being asked about his patient. He shook his head and answered despite this, it was no time to be playing head games, "oh, he's still a very young man, so he's getting better very quickly." Another crash rang through the surgical ward, much louder than the last few. Antonio himself gasped, and Lovino cursed. The creatures had gotten through the first set of doors. They needed to hurry, one round of bullets wouldn't do much for them. If anything, shooting a gun would make their situation worse.
The remained still and quiet, but knew that it was no use. The creatures would pick up their scent soon enough.
Suddenly another voice came through the radio, a voice that did not belong to the man that Antonio had been previously speaking to. "What is your patient's name?" The voice screamed, frantic, into the radio. The person was so loud that Antonio had to pull the receiver of the radio away from his ear.
"My patient's name?" Antonio's eyebrows quirked as he brought the radio back to his lips. More questions about his patient. "Why would yo-"
Without warning Lovino's hand shot out and snatched the radio out of Antonio's hand.
"Wait, Lovino, what's wrong?" Antonio reached out for the radio, but Lovino had it up to his lips before he could stop him.
"Feliciano?" Lovino asked, voice trembling as he tried to hold back his tears.
Antonio's let his hand drop, and his mouth along with it. It couldn't be, they couldn't be so lucky. Nothing like that could possibly...
"Lovino!" The voice screamed through the radio, so pleased that he was sure the person on the other end was jumping up and down. "Lovino, I thought I lost you, I thought you were dead."
Antonio couldn't help the smile that tried to spread on his face. If anything, Lovino finding out that his brother was still alive was more motivation to get out of the hospital alive.
"Stupid brother," Lovino cried into the radio. "I thought you were dead."
A bang on the door of the room they were occupying stopped the rejoicing quickly, however. The creatures had finally sniffed them out.
"Lovino, what is that banging sound?" Feliciano asked on the other end. "Please tell me you're somewhere safe right now."
Lovino was quiet until another bang told him that they didn't have much time. The metal of the door was already bending under the pressure. "I'm not going to lie to you," Lovino said, watching Antonio eyes move from him to the corpse on the other side of the room. "We're not safe at all." Lovino moved his mouth away from the radio, "what the hell are you doing, Antonio?" He watched as Antonio leaned down and laid his hand on the corpse's body.
Antonio turned around, sizing Lovino up carefully. "I have an idea."
Lovino rolled his eyes and returned to the radio, finally answering his brother's frantic questions. "It's alright, Feli," Lovino glared at Antonio, but his eyes were pleading with him at the same time. "Antonio has an idea."
Lovino was about to say something to calm his brother down again, but his thought process was completely ruined when he witnessed Antonio stabbing into the corpse with his screwdriver. That wasn't the worst of it, though, because as soon as Antonio made a decent sized hole in the body, he forced both of his hands into the corpse's body, and ripped it's flesh apart.
Lovino was horrified, and without even realizing it, screamed directly into the mouthpiece of the radio. "What the fuck are you doing?"
Antonio didn't answer; he only continued pulling the corpse apart with his bare hands. He was completely covered in blood from the waist down, and his arms were a gruesome mess.
"Stop that, what's w-"
Antonio, without a word, walked over and smeared the contents of the corpse's body all over him. Lovino wanted to scream at him, he wanted to run, but the only thing he could do was lean over the chair he was sitting in and gag – unable to puke because he hadn't eaten in almost two days.
Antonio walked away from him, observing his work. When he seemed satisfied, he turned back to the corpse and continued covering his own body in blood.
"Just trust me, Lovino," Antonio said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, as he covered his chest in the thick fluids.
"-vino, Lovino, Lovino, please answer me!"
Lovino brought his trembling hand up to his mouth, and finally spoke into the radio. "I-I-It's fine… I'm fine." Lovino watched in shocked horror and Antonio walked back over to him and began slathering more blood onto him. This time running his blood soaked hands through his hair. And, even though Lovino was completely appalled by it, he trusted whatever was going through Antonio's head.
Antonio leaned in close and whispered, "listen."
Lovino tried his best to calm his heaving chest, and willed away the haze that threatened to take over his mind. And when he finally came back to himself, he realized the banging on the door had completely stopped. Though he could still hear the sound of the creatures on the other side of the door, they seemed to have completely lost interest in them, or rather…
"They lost out scent," Antonio said.
Lovino's eyes widened when he realized how that had happened. Antonio had slathered the blood of the dead patient on the both of them, and that had warded them off. He wanted to tell Antonio that he was brilliant, he wanted to thank him, but he was too stunned to say anything to him.
"I had a feeling it would work," Antonio said, looking down at the mess of blood on the both of them. "Those things only started trying to come into this room when we walked in, and they seemed to have no interest even with the two bodies lying on the floor." Antonio stretched his arms above his head, "now that I think about it, when I was being chased they never even paid attention to the bodies on the floor."
"Why?" Lovino finally asked.
"I don't know, Lovi," Antonio said, scratching the back of his head then stopping quickly when he realized his hands were still covered in gore. "I can only assume that it's because they don't want to eat anything that's already dead."
"That's sick," Lovino said.
"I know it's sick, but haven't you noticed?" Antonio hunkered down in front of Lovino. "They don't eat each other."
The people on the other side of the radio started speaking, but this time it wasn't Feliciano talking. "You're right," the first man they had talked to said. "I don't know why I didn't think of it the way you did."
Lovino could hear the triumph in Antonio's voice, "because I'm a nurse."
The line went dead for several moments on the other end; they were probably trying to think of how to continue. "What floor are you on right now," the man asked.
"Fifth."
"Fuck," the voice cursed on the other end. "You're still pretty high up there."
"I know," Antonio said. "But we didn't have much trouble getting from the seventh to the fifth."
"You fucking liar," Lovino said.
The voice on the other end actually cracked a laugh, "your patient has quite the mouth on him."
"I know, but it's OK, I still like him," Antonio smiled.
Lovino rolled his eyes and looked away from the Spaniard, finding his unbreakable good attitude completely unbearable.
"Good," the man on the other end stated with his mouth farther away from the radio, responding to something someone else was saying to him. "Do you know what time in the day it is, Antonio?"
Antonio cocked his head to the side as he tried to remember the light of the day. However, he found that he couldn't remember whether it was light out or not. "I don't really know what time it is any more," Antonio answered honestly.
"It's starting to get light out now."
"That's wonderful for you, bastard, but how does that help us exactly?" Lovino asked.
The voice on the other end laughed again, "we're going to help you get out of the hospital, that's how it helps you." The voice on the other end continued, "they seem to be bothered by the light, and when they're in pursuit, they stop quicker. At night, however, they are very persistent."
"How could you help us?" Antonio asked, confused. "It's not like any of you can see what we're about to walk into."
"I'm not sure," the voice on the other end began. "But when I was out looking with my binoculars, I saw a van."
"And?" Lovino asked, already becoming short with the man on the other side of the radio.
"It was a surveillance van."
I'm sorry for how late this chapter is, but I've been really busy preparing for a public speaking competition coming up in my school. The competition itself is only after March Break, but I'm buried in other school work and university applications along with the competition. Being a senior blows.
I'll still have another chapter out next week though, so hang in there!
* João is Portugal's fan-made character.