Authors: L A Taylor
EIGHTEEN
Julie saw Gary staggering out of the main door that led to the morgue, so helped him to a seat inside the waiting room before finding Hazel. She had just finished doing her rounds when a breathless Julie appeared in front of her.
“I need you to come with me now. Gary’s not well,” Julie gasped.
“Hey, Julie, calm down and take a deep blast of air.” Hazel held the young nurse’s arm as she breathed in deeply. “Now tell me again what you just said, but slower.”
Julie controlled her emotions and explained what’d just taken place. Hazel was surprised to see Gary in a traumatised state when she reached him because he’d been fine when she’d spoken to him about half an hour ago. All Gary could see in his mind was the sight of those evil beings, and now looked like a petrified, lost, little boy. He wanted to shut his eyes and sink deeply into another one of those daydreams, but he’d no chance of achieving it. Hazel sat next to him. “Talk to me, Gary. Tell me what’s wrong. Are you in pain?” She glanced down, noticing his footwear was missing. “Where are your trainers? Where’d you leave them?”
Gary let out a distraught stare whilst pointing toward the door. The reality kicked in and he burst out crying. Thick, fast tears now streamed down the sides of his face.
“Look, I can’t help you unless you talk to me,” Hazel said.
An unexpected burst of shouting spilled out of Gary’s mouth. “Don’t let anybody go to the morgue. The dead have come back to life again and they killed Colin. They’ll kill us all if they escape.”
The speech rushed from his lips, but the impact frightened the women. Julie seemed more affected, but Hazel had her own assumptions on Gary’s state of mind. Her first reaction being a drug related one.
“What are you trying to tell me?” she said, shaking him. “Colin’s dead. Is that what you’re telling me?”
Gary didn’t answer back for at least ten seconds.
“Promise me…you won’t…go…down there,” he stuttered. He grabbed onto Hazel’s arm with a strangle-like strength and would end up hurting her if he didn’t let go.
“I promise I won’t go there, but I need you to tell me more about what you saw.”
The words messed with his emotions and the stress from his lucky escape was now too much for his body to deal with. He fainted. Hazel released her arm and looked over at Julie.
What’s he going on about? And were there dead bodies roaming around inside the morgue?
she wondered.
Julie helped her lie Gary down on a small sofa that was situated nearby.
The final answer on Colin’s condition was still unknown, but both women would be stupid to go down to the morgue to find out. Hazel didn’t know what was going on, but knew Gary would be out of a job if he was on drugs. She couldn’t get anything out of him at this time so had no choice but to inform the police about this. She might regret it and look as stupid as a penguin wearing a dress, but it needed to be done.
Julie was given the task of phoning the police while Hazel thought of other important issues. The young nurse rang the station and spoke to George. “One of our workers reckons there’s dead people come to life down in the morgue and they may’ve murdered someone.”
George burst out laughing. This information was too silly for him to take seriously. He shouted over to Wayne and repeated what he heard, but the sergeant didn’t react in the same way; instead, was stunned by the news. Blake was still at the station and George’s stupidity had probably blown it for Wayne’s latest story about the deaths of the Smythes, but luckily, Blake wasn’t listening in on the conversation. Wayne glared at George, and if he was Medusa from Clash of the Titans then George would’ve been turned to stone. The old officer sheepishly handed over the receiver, then joined Blake as Wayne apologised to the worried caller. “Tell me what happened?”
“Gary told Hazel that dead people were walking around in the morgue. She’s worried because he’s collapsed. What do we do?”
Wayne knew that Mike wasn’t around so he had to act like the chief and be professional over this.
“Keep the area around the morgue clear and don’t let anybody go down there. I’m coming over to check it out.”
Another member of staff headed for the same door that led to the gruesome and twisted figures as the nurses discussed the situation. He opened it and slipped past. His name was Clive. He was a young college student with long, greasy, dark hair. He’d been working part-time in the Pathology Department for a few weeks. It fitted in nicely to his routine, as he studied during the day.
He walked along the corridor, entered the lift and closed the large, metal shutters, but the screeching noise triggered the recently immobile creatures into action and they were on the move again. Clive was on his way to the morgue to drop off some blood samples for Colin, but the zombies smelt his arrival long before he arrived.
The nineteen year old sensed something wasn’t quite right as soon as he exited the lift.
Why are there bloody footprints everywhere?
he wondered.
He continued, thinking someone might be playing a trick on him, so walked to the main entrance with a cheeky smile, ready to surprise the practical joker. He waited for something to happen, but nothing did. There was a turning coming up and it was there that he thought the prankster would be waiting for him.
He neared the corner with a tiptoeing approach, sucked up enough air to produce an explosive roar, then jumped out shouting: “YAAAAAAAAHHHH.”
In front of him stood three, un-dead humans. The recent attempt at scaring now backfired, as the poor man was left stricken with an attack of fear swallowing up his body movements.
Vincent was only three feet away from Clive when the scream came, and it sent a ringing through the dead man’s eardrums, confusing it. “YAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH,” the reply came from the copycat zombie who still had Gary’s I-phone in its hands.
Clive dropped the blood samples. The eager strangers watched the red liquid splash at different angles as the test tubes crashed to the floor. One of the zombies rubbed a finger over the escaped juice and slowly entered the grotesque digit into its mouth. The tingling, sweet aftertaste began again and the hunger button was switched back on.
They moved closer to Clive, but couldn’t grab him. He was numb to speak, but was able to think. Vincent now blocked the route that he came from, so the safest place was the morgue room.
Clive slipped passed the slow beings and entered the chosen room, closing the door on the strangers once he was inside. Clive, now agitated, searched for something heavy to jam against the door, but had no chance of attempting this without the zombies getting in, so, sat and pushed his back against it, hoping his bodyweight would be enough to stop the trio of filth from entering. The zombies slammed hard against the wooden obstacle. It hurt Clive, and he didn’t like this one single bit. Crazed, sadistic groaning sounds slipped underneath the crack of the door, penetrating the shaking man’s breathing pattern. It was evident that these beasts weren’t going to give up easily.
Clive was too involved in finding a way of stopping the zombies from smashing the door against his back to notice what was on the ground next to him. He slowly looked down to witness a sticky puddle of blood surrounding him, and the seat of his trousers became damp.
He now stared in the direction of Colin’s work desk and seriously contemplated on rushing over to use the phone, but the only thing stopping him was the fear of moving.
The chewed up body twitched. The virus had taken effect, waking it again. The twisted shape moved its head from side to side, snapping teeth together as it did so. Clive desperately tried kicking out at the latest member of the freak show, but struggled to maintain full control and stop the others from sneaking in.
The zombie grabbed his right ankle, using the body-part in an attempt to close in on him. This movement caused Clive to sway his attention away from blocking the door and the ugly monstrosity now became top priority.
“What the hell are you doing with my leg?” he shouted, trying to shake off the beast.
Clive clenched a fist, and with no time to think, punched the head of the creature a few times. The pounding motion forced it to release the grip. His next move was to push his footwear into the face of the awkward pest. If this creature could still read then it would see the shoe-maker’s symbol just before the foot crashed against its forehead. The zombie rolled across the room as the kick cracked its jaw. The door opened slightly. The power of the three corpses was too much for this one man to hold off now, so Clive needed a fast plan.
He scanned the area for an escape route, spotting an extremely large, white sheet covering one of the tables, the ends touching the floor on all sides. He manoeuvred away from the danger-zone and hid under it. He now watched the blackened shadows of the unclothed zombies from beneath the cloth barrier as they walked back into the room. Clive listened closely to the shuffling noises of their movements and the growls that escaped their mouths, so sussed that they were communicating with each other, but gulped nervously after spotting a bloodline leading to his hiding place. He’d left behind a bum-shaped, crimson coloured pattern on the tiles, but so far, the creatures hadn’t noticed.
He had the perfect opportunity to make his escape now they were back inside, so raced out from under the table, catching the zombies off guard. Clive shot past them and neared the door, but un-noticed by him, the pain in the arse, chopped up zombie had reached out, gripping onto one of his shoes. This time he wasn’t so lucky. He fell backwards, cracking his head against the floor and completely knocking himself out. It must’ve been another minute before he re-opened his eyelids. His head throbbed. It felt like someone was drilling inside his brain, but he was able to see. He knew he should move, but couldn’t do it. His legs wouldn’t respond to his commands.
Clive witnessed two figures sitting either side of him, and they seemed to be eating some kind of meat.
The canteen wasn’t open until the morning, so how did they get this food?
he thought.
Clive’s eyesight drifted to the area around his legs as puddles of blood formed. It didn’t belong to any of the creatures. The shock from the bump on the head had placed his body in a mild state of temporary paralysis, but now the pain was on its way. These monsters tore, bit, and ate the flesh from his limbs while he bellowed from the excruciating, sickening throbbing. The noises produced echoed along the hallways until drifting to the upper part of the hospital.
Wayne entered the building, closely followed by Jason. He was looking forward to wiping out some of the creatures behind Nash’s death. They timed it just right as the torturing squeals were still faintly heard.
Hazel and Julie rushed out of the waiting room to meet up with the officers. “Did you hear the screaming?” Hazel nervously asked.
“I think everyone in the hospital heard it.” Wayne wasn’t impressed to hear that someone else had been attacked. “I told Julie to make sure no one went down to the morgue.”
The young nurse raised a hand. “I’m Julie, and I don’t know why anyone else went down there.” She was determined to stick up for herself but knew she was partly to blame for what happened. “I placed a sign on the door and I’ve been keeping an eye on it.”
She truly believed in the words. Everything had been done to perfection, but even perfection had a way of letting you down.
“So how come someone’s screaming?” snapped Wayne. Julie was put on the spot and wasn’t coping.
How can he go from being a supportive helper on the phone, to this?
she now thought.
“I don’t know.”
Hazel wasn’t standing for this verbal questioning from the sergeant. Her staff member didn’t deserve the third degree so interrupted the man, telling him to back off. After a swift thought, Wayne left the young woman alone and concentrated on sorting this latest mess out. After a few serious words with his partner, was ready to face the unexpected.
The nurses stood back. Wayne reminded them to keep everyone away, and then fighting a feeling of dread, he and Jason slipped through the doorway to continue the mission.
“Right, let’s get this sorted out quickly and efficiently. I don’t want you shooting like a madman because we don’t know if anybody’s still alive down there,” Wayne said, as the door closed behind them.
There was no need for a reply. Jason knew what was needed of him. He checked his weapon, making sure it was loaded, then followed Wayne until reaching the stairs leading to the level they required.
The officers stood close to each other upon reaching the bottom of the staircase. The monotonous noises made by the zombies increased with each step they took. They halted. There were no visible signs of the creatures but trails of blood, including bloody footprints were enough evidence that they were nearby.
Gary’s I-phone was spotted lying on the ground. Jason picked it up, placing it inside his jacket pocket. Both men neared the corner where Clive had bumped into his killers. Wayne cautiously peered around it, witnessing a mutilated body. Sitting beside the corpse was one of the monsters. It had torn both eyes out of the dead man’s face and was trying to place them into its own, empty eye sockets. This latest victim of the zombie brigade wasn’t going to return as an un-dead corpse because one of the mad freaks had broken into the person’s head, removing the brain.
Wayne turned around to face his partner. He stuck up an index finger, indicating that one of the monsters was up ahead. He then plucked up courage and jumped out of his hiding place. Jason did the same, backing the other man up. Wayne aimed his gun at the creature. The beast couldn’t see what was about to happen to it. However, it did know that someone was nearby, as the smell of human flesh alerted its angry side again. A nasty snarl rasped from its mouth.
Wayne fired a bullet smack bang into the centre of the exbanker’s forehead, causing the insides to splatter against the wall behind it. “Well, that’s easy,” he said, smiling with relief.
The officers walked past the two corpses, but Jason suddenly turned around to face the blood-splattered mess of a zombie. He still had a touch of anger as he thought about Nash again, so pretended that the zombie was still alive.
“Hold on, it isn’t dead. I just saw it move.”
Jason placed his gun tip against the blood soaked head of the corpse, pressing the trigger before Wayne could respond. ‘BANG’... Another hole was placed inside the monster’s forehead. This time the side of its face caved in. If the first shot didn’t alert the other walking dead then this one was sure to.
Both officers remained with their backs facing the morgue entrance so didn’t know, or suspect at this time that there were more of these creatures nearby. Jason stepped back, but Wayne remained close, feeling confused as to why his partner would shoot the beast again.