Beautiful Death (Bella Morté Trilogy Book 1) (33 page)

“Rosa’s asking for you,” one of the nurses said, popping her head in the door.

Tessa turned and looked at her, cringing at what she saw. It was obvious the woman was sick. “You should go and lay down somewhere. I’ll put someone else on the floor to see to your patients, but you can’t tend to them when you feel just as badly as they do.”

“I’m okay, besides there’s no one else to put in my place. Everyone has this. I think you’re the only one that doesn’t. Go to Rosa. She’s not looking good at all.”

Standing, she walked out of the room down the hall into the nurse’s break room. Opening the door, she stepped in. The woman inside laid on the couch, dripping sweat, pale, with bloodshot eyes. Her arms were scratched and bleeding. She looked like death was just waiting for her to give in. Rosa was the first to show sickness in the hospital.

Tessa sighed as she stood by the couch. “Hey there, how are you doing? Do you need anything?”

Rosa Luis was the woman who trained Tessa and her best friend. She had been sick for a week with no sign of getting better. “I don’t know, Tess. I don’t think I’m going to survive this. My head is killing me. I can’t stop sweating, and my sight is cloudy.”

“I think you just have a virus.”

“I think you should get out of the hospital.”

Tessa shook her head. “I’m not leaving you here alone. I’m the only one not sick, I think.”

Rosa sat up. “I have this craving for blood.”

She blinked, looking at her in shock. “You have a craving for what?”

“I can smell your blood rushing through your veins.”

“Rosa, you’re probably just hallucinating because of the fever.”

“No! I’ve tried fighting this craving for hours and I’m about to give in. I know what a vampire feels like since I really just want to tear your fucking flesh open and drink your blood.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“I have to do this. Please, just get
out
of the hospital, Tessa. Go now. Soon they’re all going to do this.”

“Let me get you something for the pain.”

“No!” She yelled, growling, leaning closer to Tessa, while gripping the back of the couch so hard her knuckles turned white. “You have to get out of the hospital before you can’t leave. Please, Tessa. If you’ve never trusted me before trust me now and do it!”

“Okay. I’ll get out, but what about you?”

She growled. “Get the fuck out now! I can’t fight this much longer and I want to rip your fucking head off!”

Tessa turned, racing for the door. She looked at Rosa one last time. Her friend opened her own vein and sucked on her wrist. Blinking, she rushed out, leaning against the door, crying. Screaming down the corridor caused her to jerk her head in that direction, looking for the source. She watched as a man grabbed a woman, and ripped off her head, drinking the blood. Another patient came over and started fighting over her, eating her flesh. Bringing her hand to her mouth, she stifled the scream and the urge to puke, and slowly crept backwards out the front doors.

Grabbing her keys, she fumbled with them in her hands. Slipping on the asphalt, she practically crawled to her van. Opening the driver’s side door, she fell in closing the door and locking it behind her. Seconds later, the horde flowed out of the hospital, looking like a stampede of wild cattle. They trampled over each other to get outside. They ran off in different directions, in separate groups going the same way.

She and her husband had gone round and round about tinted windows. She didn’t want them and he did. She finally gave in and was never more thankful than she was now that she let him win that argument. She tried to call Bob from her cell phone, only there wasn’t any service, not even for texting.

People poured out of every exit, wearing hospital gowns, while others weren’t wearing any clothing at all. Some were doctors, nurses, and she gasped as she saw Rosa rushing out in the mix. A pregnant woman staggered out with the crowd, and looked very sick, hair slick with sweat, eyes bloodshot, in the stages of labor. She screamed for help, holding her stomach as she staggered, falling from one car to the next. She fell over the hood to the ground, writhing in pain. Her stomach trembled as the baby moved. The horde had run off and the woman was alone, lying on the ground in pain.

Tessa reached into her medicine bag pulling out the hypodermic needle. She had to help her in her time of need. She put her hand on the door handle. She watched her, and then froze. Slowly pulling her hand back, she clamped it over her mouth to stop from screaming.

The woman grabbed her stomach and her screams vibrating the tinted windows. She writhed, pulling bloody hands away. After the horde left, the silence was deafening. Tessa heard tearing as a little hand ripped through the stomach. The hand ripped through the woman’s flesh like it was nothing but paper. She screamed. Her yells for help growing louder as her son climbed his way out. He pushed his other hand through. Next was his bloody head. He pulled himself out of the hole he created with blood oozing down each of her sides. When he emerged, he had a hold of her insides in his hand, sucking on it like a bottle.

The woman tried to get away from the monster. She staggered backwards, screaming for help, blood oozing from her body. The baby ripped and tore at her insides. Blood splattered the ground and the woman. She reached up and grabbed the baby, throwing him away from her. He was still connected by the umbilical cord, so when she tossed him away, he bounced back like a paddleball. She tried to stand to get away from him, but the gaping hole in her stomach spilled her innards out with every step. She reached in ripping the cord out with her hands, but she was too weak from loss of blood, and fell backwards to the ground, trying to crab crawl away.

The more she tried to get away, the more he came after her. When a newborn is born, they barely have the strength to lift their head. This one launched on top of his mother like a wild animal, reaching into her stomach, pulling out her intestines, ripping them out like weeds in a garden. He scattered her innards, sitting on top of her dying body, slurping them in. When she was dead, he waddled off to the woods.

Rob cringed. “Oh shit, who knew parenting could be so hard.”

Dani glared at him before turning back to Tessa. “Go on.”

“It was horrible. I drove until I ran out of gas.”

Nell shook her head. “Oh my word. That’s just horrible.”

Dani stood. “You’re safe here. We can protect you. However, everyone works here. Since you’re a nurse, we’ll put you in Squad C. I hate to throw this on ya first thing. You just gettin’ here an’ all, but we all have our own duties. It’s a tradin’ world now an’ you have medical trainin’.”

Tessa nodded. “Oh that’s fine. I’m good with doing my fair share.”

“Good. You’ll stay on the roof. Get yourself a shower, clean clothes, an’ get some sleep for the night.”

“Thank you. I like living on a roof. They don’t look up here.”

Nell nodded. “That’s damn good to know.”

Twenty-Six

Each one took turns watching her through the window. Frank was on watch for about an hour when he rushed into the break room. Looking pale and panicked, he motioned for them to follow. “Hey guys, something’s wrong with Candice. Ya need to come see this.”

It didn’t take long for the room to clear out as everyone raced downstairs looking in, fighting for position.

Pressed against the back wall, she looked chalky-white, pale with blood-shot, wild eyes. Sweat dripped down her face, and her hair was slick with oil. She lightly beat the back of her head against the wall as she half-growled, but didn’t say a word. Glaring at each face that appeared in the window, she snarled with an upturned lip.

Justice looked in at her. “Candice, what’s wrong?”

Grabbing the rifle off the floor, Zach walked towards the door. “It’s time.”

Turning, Brandon glared at him. “It’s time for what?”

“She’s suffering and it’s time to end it.”

“What the fuck are you talkin’ about?”

“I don’t want her to suffer.”

“You’ll have to go through me to get to her. I don’t like the look in your eyes more ‘an I don’t like what she’s doin’.”

“It’s time to put her out of her misery. Why make her suffer just to die tomorrow? It makes no sense to me. Do you make a dog suffer when you know it’s dying?”

“Well, one thing, she isn’t a dog! Second, I believe it was you who kept harpin’ on us about how she’s a fighter an’ will fight this. Hell, give ‘er a chance by givin’ her all the time she needs before ya decide to kill ‘er off.”

Shaking his head Trevor stood next to Brandon. “Dude, I’m not sure what the fuck you’re thinkin’, but I’ll be damned if I let you kill her.”

Zach shook his head, pointing through the window. “Look at her! She’s suffering! She’s banging her head against the wall, and sweating with this wild look in her eyes.”

Justice joined the other two. “I call bullshit! You shoot her over my dead body.”

“She’s my fiancée. It’s cruel to make her go through all this for nothing.”

Brandon pointed to the stairs. “Then take your happy fuckin’ ass outta here! If you can’t watch, then don’t, but you’re not shootin’ her while she still looks like she’s fightin’ this thing!”

Justice shook his head. “I promised her no one would do anything to her until it was needed an’ it’s not needed.”

Zach cocked the rifle, pointing it between the three of them. “Move out of my way. I decide what’s best for her.”

Reaching forward, Trevor pushed the rifle out of his face. “Dude, you’re not thinkin’ about what’s best for her.”

Brandon crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t see her sufferin’. I see ‘er fightin’ and ya need to let ‘er be.”

Hearing all the ruckus, Rachel popped her head down the stairs to see what was going on. When she noticed the standoff, she gasped, before turning and racing back up the stairs.

Zach sighed. “Guys, I don’t want her in this pain.”

Justice growled. “You think killin’ her is the best idea? I’ll take full responsibility for ‘er, since it seems to be too much for you, an’ you’re not comin’ anywhere near her.”

Walking over and joining the others, Frank stood in front of Zach with his arms crossed as well. “Zach, you my boy an’ all, but your logic is fucked up right now. It’s not happenin’.”

Brandon glared at him. “I’ll beat your ass rifle or not, an’ you better be prepared to shoot me.”

Zach aimed the rifle right at Brandon’s nose. “Move or I swear I’ll shoot all four of you to get to her.”

Trevor scoffed. “Yeah that makes a whole lotta sense. You better be prepared to shoot then, cause we’re not goin’ a fuckin’ place!”

Grabbing the barrel of the gun, Brandon pulled it to his forehead. “Then pull the fuckin’ trigger, big man. I dare you.”

Before he could follow through with his threat, Montana, Sophia, and Rachel ran down the stairs. Montana rushed over to Zach, taking the rifle out of his hands, and shoved him backward against the wall. “Boy, what has gotten into you!”

Sophia walked over and slapped him across the face. “Have you lost your mind? Snap out of it!”

“She’s suffering, Sophia,” Zach told her as he pointed in the window. “I can’t watch her dying!”

“Then don’t watch!” Turning him, she pushed him up the stairs. “Let’s go get some coffee an’ a cigarette.”

“I don’t see why I have to leave.”

“Because you’re the one causin’ the trouble.”

Sophia and Zach walked up the stairs with Rachel trailing behind them.

Turning, Justice looked at the others. “Wow, I thought he was gonna shoot us.”

Brandon held up his shaky hand. “I know! Look at this. It’s like I had way too much coffee an’ I’ve barely had a drop!”

Trevor looked at Candice. “I don’t know what he’s talkin’ about. I mean, sure she looks like she’s strugglin’, but she doesn’t look like she’s sufferin’.”

“Yeah, she hasn’t tried to attack anyone, so she’s on the right path there.”

“She’s not eatin’ herself either.”

Frank nodded. “She just looks like she’s ridin’ this storm until it passes.”

Grabbing a chair, Justice pushed it back to the wall. “No one but us watches her. I don’t trust that fucker anywhere near her.”

“I agree. He’s a loose cannon.”

Brandon exhaled. “He comes near her again, I swear I’m gonna beat his ass… gun or not.”

Holding the rifle, Montana sighed. “I think we should take him off watch duty too. He’s just too much of a firecracker right now. He needs to gain control before we trust him like ‘at.”

Trevor pointed to the corner. “I’m gonna get my sleepin’ bag an’ camp out in ‘at corner right there.”

Frank sighed as he looked in the room. “She’s sweatin’ a lot.”

“Maybe that’s what she needs to fight this thing to release the poison from the virus.”

Candice stared out the window at them, as she slowly beat her head against the wall. If they could read her thoughts, they might have let Zach shoot her. Meanwhile, upstairs Zach, Sophia, and Rachel sat at the picnic table with a cup of coffee. Each one had a cigarette, smoking it quietly.