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“EMS”
by Chris McWilliams
James
and Drew had been working together as emergency medical technicians at the
hospital for years and by now had become almost like brothers.
The stress of the job and the kind of horrors and tragedies you see on a
daily basis have a tendency to forge close friendships as you work together to
deal with them.
At
this point they were just starting the evening shift and while James was up
front taking his turn monitoring the radio Drew was stretched out in the back
having a smoke (he KNEW it was bad for him and TRIED to quit but just couldn’t
so he settled for making peace with what his medical training told him was
happening inside his body) and waiting for them to be called to duty.
Drew
had his eyes half open, half closed, just laying there smoking and listening as
the radio hummed with the sounds of various voices.
SUDDENLY,
Drew notice a shadowy shape slowly walk it’s way over to him.
As it got closer he was able to make it out, “Hey!” the figure said
followed by the sound of radio static coming from the front of the ambulance.
Yawning Drew slowly sat up as he replied “Hey Ana.”
It was Ana, a nurse that worked at the hospital.
The two of them had dated a long time ago and while it hadn’t worked
out they had remained friends, he even went to her and Luis’ wedding nearly a
year ago.
As
Drew stood and walked over to Ana (dropping his cigarette on the pavement and
stomping it out with the heel of his work shoe) to talk some more the ambulance
radio suddenly crackled to life once more but this time he heard the dispatcher
call out their number and James said, “Let’s go.
It’s starting early.”
“Great,”
Drew said, glancing at Ana who merely gave him the understanding look of a
fellow medical professional, then he sprinted for the ambulance driver’s seat.
“Let’s go! Let’s
go!” James said as he moved through the back of the ambulance to close the
doors and prepare their equipment for what they would find.
Drew
jumped into the driver seat and slowly pulled the ambulance out, clicking on the
siren as he prepared to accelerate into the streets of Everett Wisconsin.
***
When
they arrived on the scene they were greeted by a cop named Kenneth Hill, at
first glance he could be an imposing figure, being such a large man but BOTH
James and Drew had worked with him before and KNEW him very well.
After
a brief greeting he said, “I was called here because of some sort of fight,
someone in the area said that a gang of men were attacking a woman.”
“Was she sexually assaulted?” Drew asked, he had seen that kind of
thing WAY too many times in his career.
“No.”
Kenneth said, “That’s the really strange thing.
She WASN’T raped or robbed.
Some guy chased them off but all they were doing was… biting her.”
Then he added, “that’s why I called you, she has multiple bite
wounds… they look bad… like she has been attacked by a pack of wild animals
or something…”
When
James and Drew reached the woman Drew couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The woman, a girl really, barely eighteen if she was a day, was lying on
the ground totally out of it (which was PROBABLY for the best) all over her
face, limbs and body were what looked like circular bite patterns, the size was
consistent with a human mouth.
The
worst thing about it though were the wounds themselves, Drew had expected bite
wounds like he had seen many times before, teeth marks, maybe SOME blood but
THESE bites were totally different.
Kenneth’s words ‘wild animals’ came to mind and Drew decided that
about summed it up. The
bites had chunks of FLESH missing like an animal ripping into the flesh of
it’s prey.
As
James and Drew kneeled down to tend to her wounds like a well-oiled machine
James asked Kenneth, “PEOPLE did this?
YOU’RE SURE?”
Kenneth
looked sad for a second and said, “Yeah.
We’ve been trying to keep a lid on it for the time being and contain it
but shit like this has been happening ALL OVER TOWN and it’s only getting
worse.” Just then
Kenneth’s radio came on and he moved back to respond.
James
and Drew looked at each other for a moment.
“You ever see anything like this?” Drew asked, KNOWING that James had
gotten his medical training by joining the Army and WAS STILL a reservist and
that he had been a medic in the Gulf War in the ’90’s.
“No,”
James said, “never seen humans that bite out whole chunks of flesh, but
that’s not the worst part.”
“It’s not?” Drew asked puzzled, “Then… what is?”
James looked around, “I don’t see the flesh they bit out of this poor
girl anywhere around here. So
unless they SPAT it out LATER they MUST have eaten it.”
The
very thought made Drew’s stomach turn, “you don’t really think that do
you?” “I don’t
know,” James, said, “I just KNOW I don’t see the flesh anywhere around
here and if they didn’t assault her… you know… sexually and apparently
didn’t rob her, then why else ATTACK her?”
Drew
had to admit that the very thought was chilling, and then he recalled what
Kenneth had said about the situation having been going on for a while and
getting worse. Some
kind of roaming band of cannibals, the very idea was too much for Drew.
“They’re
probably on crack or something, just freaked out and started biting her, maybe
the guy who saved her chased them off before they could try and take her
money.” Drew finally
said, not sounding sure but TRYING to BE sure.
“Maybe,” was all James said.
Just
then Kenneth came back and said, “Duty calls, I have to run.
If you need any more information you know how to reach me.
“Yeah,” James said, “you tell that brother of yours hi for me, he
still owes me a couple of beers because of that disaster of a blind date he set
me up on, you know, that Manning chick from the base.”
“I will,” Kenneth said with a smirk, and then he turned to leave.
As
James and Drew got ready to move the girl into the back of the ambulance she
stirred a bit, the first time she had moved or made a sound, they could tell she
was bad off so they quickly loaded her up so they could get her to the hospital
before it was too late.
***
By the time they got the young lady to the hospital and got her squared away they had already gotten ANOTHER call. Apparently, Kenneth had been correct, things WERE getting worse.
From that point on James and Drew were on call constantly. No sooner would they have brought a patient into the hospital and got the staff up to speed on the situation then they would have YET another call, they didn’t even have time to stop for their lunch break.
The thing about it all that was starting to really disturb Drew was the growing number of BITE victims they were taking in. At first, their calls seem to be PRETTY routine stuff with a FEW bite calls mixed in, but by about midnight they were dealing almost totally with bite victims and the BITES themselves were ALL like the ones on that poor young girl, large bites with chunks of MISSING flesh.
***
Around
two-thirty in the morning the constant calls were starting to take their toll on
James and Drew, they were exhausted and starved and desperately in need of a
break so when things SEEMED to quiet down they didn’t hesitate to take the
opportunity to eat and rest.
However
this break was NOT to last long, they got another call.
This time they were called to a house where, the woman who lived there
told them, her husband was very sick.
“He
had what we thought was the flu or something since some time last night.
Some fucker… pardon me, I’m very tired, some GUY tried to rob him on
his way home last night and bit him.”
At that point James and Drew looked at each other, “Did you say bit?”
James asked, curious. “Yes,”
the woman said, “he told me some guy approached him and bit him.
Out of reflex my husband smacked him in the face with his metal lunch
pail and took off. The guy
didn’t get anything and the bite seemed minor so we didn’t bother to call
the police. Then he got the
flu, or that’s what we thought, but it’s been getting worse.”
Then
the woman broke down, “I didn’t know what to do, I wasn’t getting anywhere
trying to treat him here and I couldn’t get him to the car, so I called for an
ambulance.”
“We
understand,” Drew, said, “that’s all part of the job.
Now where is he ma’am?”
“In the master bedroom, I had to sleep on the sofa last night so I
wouldn’t catch it too.” As
she said this she pointed and added, “At the end of the hallway.”
As
James and Drew walked down the hall Drew said, “What do you think, another
crazed cannibal?” “I
dunno,” James, said “CRAZED at least.
These calls have only been INCREASING since we started the night shift.
I HOPE the police can get a handle on this shit SOON!”
“Me too,” Drew said “ me too.”
When
they reached the door Drew tapped on it lightly and said, “Sir, we’re
E.M.T.s. Your wife called us
to check you out and maybe take you to the hospital.
Is it OK if we come in?”
There was only a loud moan in reply so James and Drew decided to just go
inside.
James
turned the knob and slowly opened the door tapping on it again and softly
saying, “Sir? Sir, are you
alright?” Again, there was
no response other than moaning.
When
they entered the room they found the husband on the bed, he looked awfully pale
and seemed to be covered in sweat, then before they could reach him he started
to convulse and hyperventilate like he was having some kind of seizure or
something.
When
they saw this James and Drew ran over to start tending to him.
However, they quickly learned that by this time there was just nothing
they could do. They
tried everything they could think of but in the end the seizure stopped of
it’s own accord, but the man LOOKED really BAD.
Drew
pulled out his stethoscope and started to check the man’s heartbeat.
Drew checked and checked but he couldn’t find his heartbeat ANYWHERE.
Meanwhile,
James was trying to check the man’s blood pressure and was having a similar
problem; he couldn’t get a reading.
Then, using his index and middle finger he tried taking the man’s pulse
and quickly discovered that he couldn’t find one.
Finally
James looked over at Drew and said “no blood pressure, no pulse.”
Drew looked back and said, “no heartbeat either.”
“Ok,” James said with a tinge of sadness in his voice, no matter how
he tried to distance himself or seem unemotional he still always had at least a
little sadness in his voice when they lost one.
“You get out to the ambulance and get on the radio, make the calls, get
the wheels in motion and I will tell the wife.” He added.
James
turned to leave the room with Drew right behind him.
Before EITHER of them got very far they both spotted movement out of the
corner of their eyes. Turning
back around to face the dead man on the bed, they saw that he was NOW sitting
up. At first Drew
recalled his brief stint, as a young man, working in a morgue, where he learned
that due to muscle contractions corpses COULD do that, in fact he had learned
that normally some of the tendons were cut in order to STOP this kind of thing,
but that COULDN’T be the cause of THIS, the guy JUST died and that took time.
Then
a chill went through Drew’s body as the man that had APPEARED so recently to
be dead turned his head and looked at him with oddly golden eyes, eyes that had
no sign of life or focus.
Then the man let out a horrible, inhuman, scream and attempted to jump on
top of Drew.
Just
then James’ battle training kicked in and he was able to intervene on behalf
of his partner and push Drew out of the way just as the would be attacker
jumped, causing him to crash into the nearby wall.
A
rain of knickknacks on a shelf hanging on the wall fell and hit the floor making
a lot of noise. The
attacker jumped up inhumanly fast and for a second seemed confused, trying to
figure which of the paramedics to attempt to attack next.
Seemingly
NOW aware that James proved the more formidable of the two (not to mention the
closest to where it stood), the attacker apparently had decided to take him out
first and started to run James’ way.
Totally unarmed James KNEW he was going to have to rely on his
hand-to-hand skills.
Just
then there was a loud knock at the door.
The man’s wife had apparently heard the racket made by the falling
bric-a-brac and picked this moment to come and investigate.
As
she knocked on the door the attacker that had been her husband stopped dead in
his tracks and making an impressive turn of direction (the phrase ‘on a
dime’ popped into Drew’s head) ran toward the door.
At
that moment the wife, not hearing a response to her knock opened the door slowly
saying, “are you all right in there?”
As
she slowly entered the room she got a glimpse of the attacker that had, until
recently, been the man she loved and let out a loud yell that prompted the thing
to let out another yell of it’s own and to pick up speed.
Before ANYONE could react the attacker had reached the woman and grabbed
her, pushing her to the side AND down on the floor.
James
and Drew ran to help the woman but by the time they had reached where the two of
them were NOW on the floor the attacker had already chomped down on the
woman’s throat causing her to let out a weak and wet gurgle of a scream as the
attacker, like some kind of THING, pulled it’s head back removing a chunk of
flesh with strings of tissue trailing behind like gooey cheese on a hot pizza.
As
the thing lay there chewing on the flesh it had bitten off, Drew recalled what
James was saying before about cannibals and another chill ran down his spine.
In desperation Drew looked around and found a bag of golf clubs in a
nearby corner of the room.
Running
over he grabbed a pair of the heaviest clubs he could find and running back he
handed one to James and moved a safe distance away so they could swing without
chancing a hit to each other.
By
this time the attacker had apparently swallowed the flesh it had bitten off and
was NOW going in for seconds.
For her part the wife already had a huge chunk of her throat missing and
was bleeding out as she lay there rasping for help.
Seeing
this enraged Drew who took his golf club in hand and with accuracy that, until
that very moment, he had not KNOWN he had, swung his club at the attacker.
The club hit the attacker in the shoulder and pushed him aside, but other
than that didn’t seem to have any REAL effect.
As
the attacker had done before he hopped up from the floor with an inhuman speed
and turned his attention to Drew who, much to his surprise and displeasure
realized his attack had done the attacker no REAL harm.
James
was about to come to his aid when he got a good look at the expression on
Drew’s face, that was when he KNEW Drew could handle himself so he left him to
it and turned his attention to the injured wife.
The
attacker glared at Drew with those cold dead eyes for a second then started to
charge his way. As
soon as Drew saw this he swung his club again, this time aiming for the
attacker’s head. Drew’s
blow hit hard enough to knock the attacker back on the floor.
As
the attacker hit the floor he started to twitch, reminding Drew of the
convulsions the attacker had been in before.
Walking over to the attacker Drew watched as he convulsed for several
seconds. Not seeing an end to
the horrible thrashing Drew raised his club one last time and used it to beat
the attacker’s head in and that seemed to do the trick, the attacker was gone.
As
Drew turned he saw James working on the man’s wife.
She had lost a lot of blood from the huge bite on her throat and Drew
could tell even from where he stood that she was in need of treatment and FAST.
Drew
ran over to assist James in his work and once the pair had managed to stabilize
the woman as much as they could there they carefully moved her out into the
living room area. They
hadn’t brought their stretcher in (not sure if they would NEED it or not) so
Drew volunteered to go and get it and call in what happened while James stayed
with the wife and tried to keep her alive.
James
agreed, telling Drew, “Don’t tell the dispatcher about what happened with
the woman’s husband, we will call Kenneth and tell him about it AFTER we have
tended to her. Don’t
worry about getting in trouble, I will back you all the way that the man
attacked us AND his wife, the physical evidence is on our side no matter
what.” The unspoken
undercurrent of that last part was EVEN IF THE WIFE DIES THE EVIDENCE WILL BACK
US UP.
Drew,
who didn’t feel like messing with all that at the moment simply nodded and ran
outside to retrieve the stretcher and radio dispatch so they would be ready and
waiting, time was of the essence with this case, as it often was.
Drew
reached the ambulance and hopped inside, grabbing the radio microphone he pushed
the talk button and said, “Dispatch, dispatch… we have a female late
twenties, early thirties with a serious neck wound, she lost a lot of blood…
we’re bringing her in now so you should be ready with some O neg blood.
Copy?”
There
was nothing but static. Drew
was puzzled, no matter what was going on in the hospital there SHOULD be someone
working dispatch, there was ALWAYS someone working dispatch.
Drew tried again, “I repeat… we have a female late twenties, early
thirties with a serious neck wound, she lost a lot of blood… we’re bringin’
her in NOW so you should be ready with some O neg blood.
COPY?”
Still NOTHING, something about the whole situation just didn’t FEEL right to Drew, there was something SERIOUSLY wrong at the hospital. In frustration Drew tossed the radio microphone aside, he would have to try again later to get through.
Drew
decided to get the stretcher; they would just have to hope that WHATEVER WAS
going on at the hospital wouldn’t slow down helping that woman.
Climbing
out of the ambulance Drew jogged to the back and opened up the doors.
Pulling the stretcher part of the way out of the back he popped the legs
down and started to pull it the rest of the way out.
Suddenly, Drew heard a noise.
Letting go he turned around. Before Drew could make out the shape in front of him it was on him and he was flat on his back. Having discarded his golf club weapon when leaving the house (he didn’t THINK he would need it now that the situation was over) he was now unarmed.
Drew was pinned to the ground, luckily for him he was near the open back end of the ambulance and despite the half in, half out stretcher, he was able to reach just inside. He KNEW there were some tools if he could just reach them.
Meanwhile,
the wild attacker on top of him continued to struggle to move closer to him,
Drew noticed with some discomfort that the attacker was trying to BITE him, just
like the guy inside the house had done to his wife.
JUST WHAT THE FUCK WAS GOING ON, he thought as he struggled for his life.
TRYING
to hold his attacker at bay with one hand WHILE at the same time reaching as far
as he could with the other hand Drew was finally able to pull out something.
It was a large pair of medical scissors, mostly used for cutting off
clothes or strips of gauze.
Grasping
them firmly in his free hand, which was awkward because it was his left hand and
he was, by nature, RIGHT handed, he aimed the scissors for the attacker’s
neck.
With
all his might he stabbed the scissors into the man’s throat and was stunned
when there was no effect. He
couldn’t believe WHAT he was seeing.
At very least the man SHOULD be reacting in PAIN but there was NOTHING.
In the end Drew concluded the man must be ‘on something’.
Remembering
how effective the club to the head had been on the man in the house Drew quickly
pulled the scissors out of the wound and in desperation as the attacker moved
closer and closer, wearing down Drew’s strength, he jabbed the scissors inside
the ear canal where he KNEW they would lodge into the attacker’s brain.
He KNEW this would kill him but what choice did he REALLY have, it was
pretty obvious that this FUCKER planned to KILL HIM.
Once
the scissors were shoved in the attacker’s ear and the mad man was dead Drew
was now able to flip the attacker over and get out from under him.
Looking down he saw that despite the inhuman characteristics he shared
with the man in the house, there were also signs that this attacker used to be a
normal man, the kind of man that could be seen on the streets of any normal city
ANYWHERE in the country and that gave Drew the chills even more than the inhuman
side of his attacker. Drew
pushed the body out of the way and finished getting the stretcher.
As
he quickly wheeled the thing over the cement walkway of the house Drew
couldn’t HELP but wonder EXACTLY what was going on tonight.
He couldn’t see how any NORMAL person could become some kind of nut
job, flesh-eating attacker like the two people he saw tonight.
He also couldn’t help but WONDER HOW ANYONE, NO MATTER THEIR CONDITON
could survive a pair of scissors to the throat like that last attacker had, Drew
KNEW that should have KILLED a normal man without having to drive them into his
brain.
Just
as Drew got to the front door of the house, which he had left open, he heard a
scream, the horrible inhuman scream of those attackers.
Momentarily pushing the stretcher aside Drew ran inside just in case
James needed any help.
By
the time Drew got inside however it was too late… James was standing over the
body of the woman, her head beaten in with his golf club weapon.
“What
happened?” Drew said stepping inside as James turned to see him coming in.
“I don’t know,” James, said in an odd distant sort of voice like he
was trying to protect himself from what was going on so he could remain calm and
deal with whatever was happening around them.
“I
was tending to the lady, trying to keep her alive and suddenly she started to
convulse and hyperventilate like her husband had… then she was gone.
Then a second or two later she jumped up and tried to attack me… she
was DEAD but then she jumped up and tried to attack me.
I had no choice but to defend myself.”
Then
James looked up at Drew and said, “You KNOW I had no choice…. You KNOW,
don’t you!?” “I
know,” Drew, said simply, “I was attacked by ANOTHER one outside.”
“What!?” James said, surprised.
“That’s not all,” Drew, said, “I TRIED to radio dispatch and I
couldn’t get anyone. Something
bad is going down not just here but at the hospital, fuck… all over town it
seems.”
Suddenly,
James snapped to… “We NEED to get back then, find out what’s going on, TRY
and help IF we can.” “Yeah,”
Drew said, “but we had better hurry, whatever is happening is bound to be
getting worse by the second.”
“Ok
then,” James said handing Drew HIS golf club weapon, “let’s get going
then.” Drew
nodded and the pair of them ran outside to the ambulance.
***
The drive over to the hospital was a nightmare. Not only was the traffic totally out of control (it looked like a lot of people had been encountering the same sort of situations that James and Drew had and were attempting to get out of town, which didn’t seem like too bad an idea to Drew) but also EVERYONE was ignoring their siren.
While James did the driving Drew sat in the passenger seat TRYING over and over to get SOMEONE on the radio, to no avail. The only reply he continued to get to his messages was static and dead air.
As he was driving Drew noticed that James appeared to be in deep thought. After a bit James glanced over at Drew and said, “I have a theory about what’s going on Drew… it’s kind of crazy but it FITS everything we’ve seen tonight.”
For some reason that Drew couldn’t figure out, hearing James say that made him oddly nervous. “What’s the theory then?” “I think the attackers ARE dead.” James could apparently see the look of disbelief on Drew’s face but quickly continued before Drew could say ANYTHING… “THINK about it. That guy in the house was DEAD… we KNOW he was DEAD. We checked: he had no heartbeat, no pulse, no nothing. However, that didn’t stop the fucker from getting up and trying to ATTACK YOU! Then when I intervened he TRIED to attack ME, then his wife came in…” Drew considered what James was saying, it SOUNDED nutty, like some late night horror movie and he WANTED to say so but James also HAD a point.
“Then,” James continued “you go out and get the stretcher and TRY to radio dispatch. You GET attacked too and no one is answering at dispatch. Meanwhile, the wife DIES... I KNOW AS SURE AS I’M SITTING HERE SHE WAS DEAD AND YET SOMEHOW SHE GETS UP AND TRIES TO ATTACK ME. I do everything I can to fight her off but she’s like some wild animal and the ONLY thing that saves me is when I bash her head in.”
“So,” Drew said, unsure of any of this completely “let me get this straight. These roving bands of cannibals we have been talking about all night are really DEAD. They go around biting and eating on people who then die and become like them and SINCE they’re DEAD the only way to stop them is to bash their heads in.”
“It’s JUST a theory but it FITS.” James said earnestly. “Ok,” Drew said, “IF that’s true then the hospital is PROBABLY over run with these THINGS since we have been bringing them in all night, all of the ambulances have been.” “Yeah,” James said, “which means we could be walking into a big mess, I for one thought we should prepare ourselves for the possibility.”
Drew was STILL unsure: On the one hand it all sounded so NUTS. However, on the other hand, as James had said it did all fit what they had been seeing and Drew KNEW James wasn’t one to crack under pressure and wasn’t prone to wild fantasies, he was the MOST down to earth person Drew had EVER known.
“Ok,” Drew said again, “for the time being let’s say you’re right. These attackers are dead and are somehow up running around attacking people. How do we deal with it?” “I don’t know,” James, said, “I guess we SHOULD just be careful and aim for the head.”
By this point they had reached the hospital, the time for talk had passed. James pulled up out front and the two of them jumped out, looking around and keeping their golf clubs handy, just in case they were attacked again.
As Drew followed James inside he looked around and realized they were parked pretty much where they had been when they got that FIRST nightshift call and realized that while it only been HOURS ago it SEEMED like YEARS.
James led the way inside and when Drew entered behind him the sight that met his eyes took him aback. The whole reception area of the hospital looked like some sort of whirlwind had passed through. The waiting area’s furniture was all tossed aside and EVERYTHING was in disarray.
The most disturbing thing about it all was the blood. There was blood all over the walls and on the floor in great puddles. “What the fuck happened here?” Drew said in a tone of
shock and concern. “If I were a betting man,” James said, looking around “I would guess the same thing that happened to US at that house, only on a MUCH larger scale.”
Drew shuddered to think about multiple THINGS like the one he had dealt with in the house, or the one that tried to attack him on the street. He could tell that in large numbers there would be little chance of fighting them off.
Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a sound. Both James and Drew froze and stood quietly, straining to hear and identify the sound that broke the deathly silence that hung in the air along with the smell of blood and DEATH.
Then they heard the sound again, it was a voice, the sound of someone talking. Maybe there was someone alive after all.
Drew, letting the thrill of the possibility of survivors of this shit, over ride his judgment started to charge toward the sound of the voice. James, alarmed by this action, chased after Drew trying to catch him and warn him to proceed carefully, however, the damage was done.
By the time James was able to reach out and grab Drew by his shoulder to stop him he was just outside the room the voice was originating from. From where the pair NOW stood they could actually make out what the voice was saying “… once more, the police are reporting to us tonight that the riots that had started in the bar and restaurant district and had been previously characterized as the actions of ‘drunken youths’ has at this hour spread all over town and is now being called, by unnamed sources in the police, race riots….”
It was pretty much at this point that they BOTH realized the ‘voice’ was nothing more than a radio someone had left on in the nurse’s break room. Drew looked at James and in a low tone said, “What do you think, should we check it out?”
James looked back at Drew and said, “Yeah, there may be someone in there in need of help and maybe the radio can tell us EXACTLY what the hell is going on and what to do about it!”
Drew thought he had a point so he simply nodded and slowly opened the door. As he did they got a good look at the inside of the break room.
It looked a lot like the main area of the hospital they had already seen, only not as bad. SOME of the furniture was over turned and there was SOME blood but only in small patches here and there. Then in the center of the room they saw the table that the nurses USED to sit around when on break, having their meal, snacking or just trying to de-stress.
Sitting right in the center of the table was the source of the voice, a small portable radio, it looked like some people had been sitting in here listening to it when the shit hit the fan here. The chairs were over turned but there was no blood. James could almost see what happened in his imagination: a group of nurses and others were sitting around the table listening, then they heard the commotion outside and got up so quickly to try to run and help that they knocked their chairs over.
As for the shape of the rest of the place, it was most likely, that when things went bad outside SOME of them ran back in here and were followed by those THINGS. Which, James quickly realized, tensing up, meant there could STILL be SOME in here with THEM.
James quickly scanned the room, trying NOT to look worried (he didn’t want to alarm Drew), but DIDN’T see anyone or anything, at the moment.
Deciding to relax his guard, just a bit, James picked up one of the chairs and sat down. Drew watched this and quickly followed suit, once seated they returned their attention to the radio broadcast.
All the time they had been in the break room the man’s voice had continued talking but James and Drew had ignored it TRYING to keep their guard up against whatever they might encounter in the room, but NOW they were able to listen and what they heard was NOT good news.
“Police and local military out of Fort Pastor are instructing all citizens to make their way to rescue stations throughout the city. IF you cannot reach a rescue station or CANNOT travel simply STAY where you are, Fort Pastor has formed search and rescue teams and in the words of General Waller ‘just stay put, my men WILL find you…’ The current list of official rescue stations is as follows: Fort Pastor… Saint Verbena…”
“Ok,” Drew said, “looks like the thing to do is hop in our ambulance and make it for a rescue station… that church Saint Verbena isn’t THAT far away.” James seemed to consider the situation, “agreed,” he finally said, “BUT, we need to find SOME kind of weapons other than golf clubs AND we need to check out the rest of the hospital.”
Drew couldn’t really argue with that, after all he and James BOTH worked with these people day in and day out and were friends with them and wouldn’t want to leave ANYONE behind, especially if they were hurt and in need of medical treatment, that was AFTER all their JOB. However, on the other hand he KNEW searching this place like James was talking about was risky. Finally Drew said, “then I guess we should get started, time’s a wasting.”
Just as James and Drew stood up and were about to leave the break room to get on with their search they heard a noise, it was a person moaning from the far corner of the room.
The pair tensed up but they KNEW they had to check it out, it DIDN’T sound like one of those attackers but it DID sound like someone who was hurt, maybe badly.
Drew and James cautiously moved toward the sound of the moaning, which by now was increasing in volume and frequency.
When they finally reached the source of the noise they found a man in a hospital gown and wearing slippers. They didn’t SEE any obvious marks and he DIDN’T look like one of those THINGS so James and Drew approached.
As soon as they got close, the man, seeming to notice them for the first time, tensed up and moaned, “Stay away from me you nut jobs.” As he said that he produced a small scalpel, which he was brandishing as a weapon.
“It’s ok,” Drew said, TRYING to calm him down like he would any injured patient who was ALSO agitated, “we’re paramedics, we’re here to help you NOT hurt you.”
“Oh thank God!” the man said, nearly in tears. “I was being chased, came in here to hide but as I ran over here I slipped or something and fell head first into the corner. Must have knocked myself out because the next thing I know I have a really fucked headache and I see you guys heading right for me.”
By this point James and Drew were kneeling on either side of the man examining him. While they looked him over James asked, “Why didn’t the THINGS chasing you attack YOU?” “I don’t know,” the man said, “Maybe they saw me laying here and THOUGHT I was dead, or MAYBE someone else attracted their attention instead.”
“Do you know what happened here?” Drew asked treating a bump on the man’s head. “Not really,” the man said, “all I know is that the shit seemed to start in the emergency room. People had been streaming in and suddenly a bunch of them went nuts and started to attack.”
“At first, hospital security told us patients to stay in our rooms, but that didn’t last. Apparently, the situation just kept getting worse and worse. At one point they sent people around to evacuate those of us that could move, I over heard one young security guard saying that the attackers were spreading all over the building and something about they were getting as many people out as possible so it would be easier to guard the ones who COULDN’T be moved.”
“I was on my way out with an armed escort when we made the mistake of passing this way, that’s when we were attacked. The armed escorts shot the attackers over and over but it didn’t do any good, then they were the first to go down. The rest of us panicked and scattered, and you know the rest.”
“Shit!” James said under his breath. “You said you had ARMED escorts?” Drew asked. “Yeah,” the man said, “WHY?” “Do you think you could take us to where they fell?” “WHAT FOR!?” The man asked, obviously agitated, “We NEED to get out of here!”
“Yes,” James said, “but we need WEAPONS too, what you saw here is only a small PART of what’s going on. What happened here is happening all over town. We’re PLANNING to LEAVE here, to head to a safe place at Saint Verbena BUT we’re going to need weapons to make it. Now can you show us or not?”
“Yes… at least I think so…” The man FINALLY said. “Good,” James said, “Let’s get you up then.” James and Drew helped the man to stand up SLOWLY and as soon as they felt he was able to stand on his own they let go of him.
“So,” Drew asked, “What’s your name and what ya’ in for anyway?” The man looked slightly embarrassed and said, “You can call me Henderson. As silly as it sounds now, I was in for some plastic surgery. I’m a salesman and lately I’ve been feeling edged out by younger men, it IS a young man’s game so I was going to have some work done, try to get a more youthful look.”
“Oh,” Drew said, “ Well, I’m Drew and THIS is James, just as well you were in for something minor like that. This would be a bad time to have some serious medical condition. Whenever you’re ready show us the way.” Henderson nodded, and started walking with James and Drew on either side of him out of the break room.
Once they got outside the break room Henderson looked around a bit as if recalling what had happened to him, mentally retracing his steps, then he pointed back, deeper into the building and the trio started walking.
As they walked Henderson concentrated on showing them the way he came from, while James and Drew focused on keeping their eyes open for any of those THINGS.
“Here we are,” Henderson said after leading them around for a while. “This is where you and your group were attacked?” James asked, sounding somewhat unsure. “Yes,” Henderson said empathically “this is the spot!”
James and Drew looked around but didn’t see any bodies, there WERE signs of a struggle and blood but that was it and you could find that in just about any part of the hospital they had seen thus far. “You’re sure?” Drew asked, “This is where the armed guards were killed?”
“Yes,” Henderson said, starting to sound agitated, “I DON’T KNOW why the bodies aren’t here. Maybe the guards crawled off somewhere before they died or something…” James and Drew BOTH KNEW why the bodies were gone (as much as they HOPED they were wrong). They BOTH started looking around TRYING to be ready for anything.
Then they BOTH heard a sound awful and unfortunately familiar: the odd scream the attackers let out before charging their prey, but this time it was coming from all around them, some of it was just the echo of the sound but the rest was the THINGS themselves BUT they couldn’t pin point where the sound was coming from.
Then they saw them, three security guards, or what USED to be security guards NOW they had the same cold dead golden eyes and the same animalistic madness of the THINGS themselves. The security guards charged toward the group ready to pounce.
James and Drew raised their golf clubs and although by comparison it was something of a feeble weapon, Henderson held his blade at the ready, with a look that said he was unsure HOW the guards were still around and WHY they had turned on THEM. As the things moved into range James and Drew (mindful of each other’s location) began to swing their clubs.
Drew’s first swing ended up going wild and missing his intended target completely, however his second made contact. Unfortunately, it only hit the attacker in the arm, which, other than the momentum of the hit, had no REAL effect on the THING before him. However, Drew was able to recover from the bad hits and finally take another swing.
This time the club hit home right on the side of the head, he heard the sickly distinct crack of bone as the club connected and knocked the would be attacker to the floor. At first he wasn’t totally sure the hit had been hard enough but suddenly he started to see a slow puddle of blood form with the THING’S head at it’s center and realized the blow had done it’s work.
James had ended up being somewhat luckier in that he got a hit right away, HOWEVER, his luck wasn’t totally good. As he was swinging the thing was able to partially block the hit (most likely it was totally by accident, since NONE of the others had made such an attempt before). While the ‘block’ didn’t STOP James’ swing it DID manage to slow it down so instead of crushing the THING’S head outright it instead knocked it to the floor.
However, the thing didn’t stay down there for long, it was starting to jump back up when James ran up and with a surge of anger and adrenaline he took the handle of the club in both hands and swung it DOWN on the thing’s head like a giant hammer. THAT hit did it, James heard the telltale crack of the skull and saw the THING fall and realized it was done with.
Henderson however, wasn’t so lucky, by it’s very nature his weapon was a close up type weapon so he was unable to do anything UNTIL the attacker who was going after him ran up to him and grabbed hold of him. Now the THING had him pinned against the wall and was about to try and BITE him.
In a blind panic Henderson took his blade and plunged it into the attacker’s stomach. It made something of a mess but elicited NO response from the mad man pinning him to the wall.
Henderson pulled his blade back and dimly realized that it and his hand were now covered in blood and what looked like guts from the man and wondered how he could ignore such a wound.
Then Henderson in a flash of inspiration decided to follow the old saying and ‘go for the jugular’. Of course it was more or less at this point that he realized he wasn’t really all that CLEAR on where a jugular was, for the first time he WISHED he had paid closer attention in school.
Deciding quickly to just take a guess Henderson jabbed his weapon into the man’s neck then as an after thought he moved the scalpel across the neck in an attempt to cut the attacker’s throat. Much to Henderson’s surprise the only reaction this received was slowly trickling blood, blood that SHOULD have been flowing out in streams.
Sadly, it was at this point that the attacker reached out and grabbed the hand he was using to hold his weapon and chomp down on it, ripping the flesh out and causing blinding and intense pain, for a split second Henderson was light headed and found himself oddly thinking, as he saw his blood flowing NOW THAT’S HOW BLOOD IS SUPPOSED TO FLOW…
Then before he KNEW what was happening the man attacking him fell over to the right and Henderson SAW Drew standing next to him with his golf club in his hand. “SHIT!” he dimly heard Drew yell as things went black.
***
Then NEXT thing Henderson knew he was waking up and saw vague shapes standing over him. At first he was startled but when he tried to move his right hand he found that it no longer held his weapon and that moving it caused him intense pain.
Then one of the shapes spoke, “Mister Henderson… please relax…” it was James, “you’ve been bitten, the THING took out a good chunk of your flesh and you passed out from the pain and the blood loss. We managed to staunch the wound and fix you up as best as we could, but you NEED to relax.”
Seeing no other alternative Henderson did as the James shape told him and sure enough after a few minutes his head AND his vision started to clear. He saw James and Drew standing over the bodies of their attackers, they were searching the bodies for their weapons.
“What are you doing?” Henderson croaked, still not fully clear-headed. “What we came here to do,” James said, “find their weapons and whatever ammo they were carrying so we can get to Saint Verbena’s.” Oh yes Henderson was remembering the church just a few blocks from where they NOW were.
“Damn,” Drew said quietly to James not wanting to alarm Mister Henderson, “NONE of them have their GUNS on them.” “Yeah,” James said, “I WAS afraid of this, they wouldn’t have gone down without a fight when they caught whatever it is the attacker’s had they must have discarded their weapons, I was just hoping MAYBE one of them still had their gun, or maybe a spare.”
“But,” James continued leaning toward Drew and whispering, “we have a bigger problem.” Drew stealthily glanced at Henderson, “Yeah,” he said “I know. IF your theories are correct AND at this point I’m willing to agree with you, Henderson is going to catch whatever it is and BECOME one of them.” “Yes,” James said “and worst yet, we have no idea WHEN and no way to treat it. We MAY have to put him down.”
“Wait!” Drew said, “We can’t do that. We’re not even SURE your theories are correct. Shouldn’t we let this take it’s course, just to be sure?” James seemed to consider the question and said, “I don’t know, seems risky. However, maybe we should focus on finding the lost guns BEFORE we consider the options in regards to Mister Henderson.” Drew simply nodded.
James looked around some more then turned to Drew and resuming his normal speaking voice said, “You keep an eye on Henderson there and remove these guys’ holsters and gun belts, I’m going to look around the nearby area, see if I can find where they dropped their weapons.” “All right.” Drew said as he kneeled over the body of the nearest security guard and started to do as James suggested “Just be careful” he added as James went to carry out his search.
James nodded and pulled a flashlight from one of the guards and started to shine it around the floor looking around all over the area where Henderson said they had been attacked. The flickering overhead tract lighting was enough to get around by but to look for the guns he would need the additional light.
As luck would have it he found one of the three guards’ guns right off the bat. After inspecting it a bit he found it had one bullet left in the chamber, otherwise it seemed to be in perfect working order.
The second gun was much harder to find but he DID finally spot it between a potted plant and the wall, it looked like when it had been dropped it had skidded over there and laid there untouched since. This one was half empty but otherwise still seemed to be in working order.
James spent the next several minutes TRYING to find the last of the missing guns but kept coming up empty. He had looked everywhere he could think of but couldn’t find it ANYWHERE.
Finally he returned to where Drew was watching over Henderson and handed him a gun while Drew gave him a gun belt and they reloaded the weapons to full. “I wasn’t able to find the last gun though,” James, said, “NOT SURE we need it,” when he said this he nodded toward Henderson saying he wasn’t sure he was in any condition to USE a gun. “But,” he added, “we should probably have as many as we can get, never know.”
“Good point,” Drew said, “you take over Henderson here and I will take a look, maybe it just takes a fresh pair of eyes.” “I have a better idea,” James said “we will BOTH go.” James leaned in and said, “Mister Henderson… How ya’ feelin’”
Henderson opened his eyes, which looked glassy and unfocused…. “I don’t know…” he muttered, “I’m feeling kind of woozy…” James scowled, looking concerned. He looked back at Drew and saw Drew SHARED his concern, HE WAS GETTING WORSE FAST, IF THEY DIDN’T ACT SOON IT COULD BE TOO LATE.
“Mister Henderson,” James started again, “Drew and I have to go look for something, we won’t be far away, IF you NEED anything you can yell for us and we can be back in a second. OK?” Henderson DIDN’T seem as if he really UNDERSTOOD what was being said but he DID nod. “Also,” James said, “I’m leaving our golf clubs right here next to you,” at that point he took Henderson’s good hand and laid it on top of the handle of one of the clubs, “if anything tries to attack you USE THEM.” Again Henderson nodded without REALLY showing any sign of comprehension.
Slowly James stood up and walked over to where Drew was standing, handing him a flashlight to aid in the search, “It’s going to happen isn’t it, you were right?” Drew asked. James nodded, “Looks that way. Wish I hadn’t been. I guess it COULD be SHOCK, could be a concussion from hitting his head on the wall.” James didn’t sound convinced and AT this point Drew wasn’t convinced EITHER.
All they COULD do for the moment was find the last gun and deal with whatever happened next as best as they COULD. Turned out that with them both looking they were able to finally locate the last gun. It had apparently skidded across the floor when dropped and was laying just inside a nearby hallway.
As Drew walked over to pick it up he heard a noise, like light footsteps. Suddenly, feeling a chill move up his spine Drew attempted to shine his flashlight in the direction of the noise but quickly realized he wasn’t sure where it was coming from.
As Drew bent over to pick up the lost gun a hand reached out and grabbed him around the wrist. Startled Drew yelled and tried to pull back only managing to reveal his attacker.
It was the young woman they had brought in BEFORE, the one who had been unconscious and covered with bite marks, now she was up and moving around BUT, she was acting like the THINGS who attacked her and NOT like a human.
Drew blinked a couple of times in disbelief then attempted to pull his hand away. For some reason he couldn’t manage to break her death grip OR pull away. The sight of her before him, her bite covered face in his memory, her bite covered face RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM and his inability to get free started to cause Drew to panic.
The girl-thing started to pull Drew closer in a horrible mockery of a lover pulling her man in close for a kiss, but before she could get Drew TOO close James ran up behind him and without a word took aim and shot her right between the eyes.
As the thing fell Drew could feel her grip loosen, as soon as he felt free he pulled his arm back and absently started to examine it closely. There was NO damage but he could STILL feel her strangely cold and stiff grip on his wrist and could see red marks where the THING applied pressure, even now (as the blood flow returned to his wrist) he could see the marks fade, but he was SURE he would ALWAYS have the memory of her grip.
“Are you alright?” James asked now standing in front of him, resting his hands on Drew’s shoulders. “Yeah,” Drew said absently, “bitch just took me by surprise.” He TRIED to sound braver than he REALLY felt and tried not to let on how freaked out he was by what he saw. “You see WHO she was?” Drew asked glancing at the now prone body on the floor.
“Yeah,” James said with a tone of sadness in his voice, “best NOT to dwell on that. Let’s just get back to Henderson and…” Before James could finish the two of them had turned around and found themselves face to face with NOT only Henderson but a whole bunch MORE of those THINGS. THE GUN SHOT MUST HAVE ATTRACTED THEM James reasoned as he saw them, he also reasoned they were out numbered and no matter HOW many guns or how much ammo they had that it would be a waste of bullets and time to TRY and fight this mess off (not to mention every shot would RISK attracting more).
“Get to the ambulance NOW!” James shouted as he tried his best to lay cover fire for their retreat. “What about searching this place for survivors?” Drew said shooting a couple of attackers who were getting uncomfortably close for his liking.
“I would say,” James said hurriedly, WANTING out of there, “that judging by what we’ve SEEN here there are NO SURVIORS.” Drew didn’t want to admit it but James was probably right, with as many of these fucked up attackers running around as there SEEMED to be it was unlikely ANYONE was STILL alive.
“Ok,” Drew said, “let’s get back to the ambulance then.” There was no more NEED for discussion, almost as one they fired into the crowd of attackers then turned and ran as fast as they could for the hospital’s front door.
Luckily, the door wasn’t THAT far away, but the attackers were right on their tails the whole time, forcing them to occasionally stop and shoot some down, reload and shoot some more.
Finally, they reached the doors and were able to get outside. “Get to the ambulance!” James shouted as soon as they were outside. Drew and James ran as quickly as they COULD to reach the ambulance but the mob from the hospital was STILL close behind them, in addition, they had picked up a few stragglers who had been OUTSIDE the building.
Drew jumped into the driver’s seat and James made his way to the passenger side. As James was climbing inside one of the attackers, turned out it was that Henderson guy, grabbed James by the leg.
James kicked as hard as he could with BOTH feet to get his leg free to no avail. James quickly repositioned himself inside the cab of the ambulance so he could shoot the fucker between the eyes, but before he get off a clean shot the bastard CHOMPED down on his ankle.
Pain seared through James as he felt the teeth chomp down followed by the feel of the flesh being ripped out and the hot, wet blood pouring, “Son of a bitch!” he shouted as he took his shot and splattered Henderson’s brains and blood all over the THING directly behind him.
Kicking away Henderson’s body James pulled himself inside the ambulance and slammed the door shut. “DRVIE… DRIVE… DRIVE!” James shouted, prompting Drew to start up the ambulance and peel out of the parking lot, taking something of a perverse pleasure out of running over some attackers who were dumb enough to stand in his way.
While Drew TRIED to get them to Saint Verbena (as they had originally planned) James tended to the bite wound on his ankle. He didn’t like the look of the bite and the pain he was feeling only made matters worse.
James was pissed, they BOTH KNEW what was coming, what a bite from one of those THINGS meant, HE was going to catch whatever was driving the fuckers mad and was going to become JUST like them.
“Shit!” Drew said angrily, “every street I try to take to get us to that Saint Verbena place is either clogged with cars and junk or crawling with those THINGS, the fuckers are everywhere AND we’ve gotta DEAL with that leg man!” “I’M dealing with the leg,” James said grimly “but we BOTH know ultimately WHAT has to be done. You’re going to have to kill me NOW!”
“What!?” Drew said, shocked, “NO… No fucking way man, I’m NOT killing you!” “If you don’t,” James said, “I will end up TRYING to kill you.” “NO,” Drew said angrily, “I DON’T BELIEVE THAT!” “Come on man,” James said, “we’ve seen it, Henderson was the proof.”
“That doesn’t prove DICK!” Drew said, “we will reach Saint Verbena SOON and I can treat you. WE WILL GET THAT WOUND CLEANED UP AND WHATEVER THOSE FUCKERS ARE PASSING ALONG WON’T GET YOU. I WON’T LET IT!”
James KNEW HE was right and that Drew was just being stubborn, he MUST have KNOWN James was RIGHT and just refused to accept it. NOT that he could blame him; he just wished he hadn’t waited to deal with his OWN situation. He didn’t want to just blow his own head off without some kind of explanation to Drew and NOW he was already too weak to do it himself… he just had to hope that maybe what he told him would sink in before it was too late…
***
By now it was morning, early but still morning, James was getting weaker all the time but Drew wouldn’t budge and do what he was asking, he just had to hope he had enough time to FINALLY convince him.
“OH MY GOD I DON’T BELIEVE IT!” Drew said. James, who was now lying in the back, too weak to sit up managed to say, “What’s that?” “I have been trying to get through this mess to that church, I’m not much closer but I ended up right down Ana’s street, the house that her and Luis got after they got married. I’m going to swing by, see if they need help, maybe she can work on your leg while I drive.”
“NO!” James said coughing… “You KNOW what NEEDS to be done, just PLEASE do it.” “Not that SHIT again. NO! You’re going to live DAMN you!”
As Drew turned onto Ana’s street he didn’t notice that James began to convulse, he was too busy trying to remember which house EXACTLY was their house so he didn’t hear the sounds…then James was gone.
James lay still for a few seconds but not much more, and then he was up. Just then Drew said, “My God there she is in her yard!” That was when the James-thing in response to Drew’s voice turned around and attacked him.
As Drew struggled with the THING that USED to be James, he lost control of the ambulance. He couldn’t see where he was going but as he struggled he felt a thump and for a split second he was afraid he had run over Ana.
Then the James-thing sunk it’s teeth into Drew’s throat and the pain and blood blocked out everything else as his foot convulsed on the gas peddle causing the ambulance to accelerate for several yards until it hit the curb, flipped, crashed, then finally burst into the flames.
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