Dark Realms (66 page)

“No!” screamed Sara as he fell to the
ground, blood streaming out of the large hole in his skull. She
rushed over to him and lifted his hand to her cheek.

I knelt down next to her. “Sara, it wasn’t
Kevin anymore,” I said softly. “His soul wasn’t there. He was gone
before we even got here.”

She looked at me, her eyes full of misery.
“Do you think that makes it easier? Two days ago, I left him here
to die, alone. If I would have listened to my heart and stayed with
him, he’d still be alive.”

Bryce stepped towards her
and touched her shoulder. “No, if you would have stayed here with
Megan, both of
you
would have been killed. You didn’t even know about the side
effects of the vaccine until it was too late. Kevin would have
probably still received it and you’d be dead, along with Megan and
your unborn child.”

Sara touched her belly and lowered her eyes.
“Maybe, but he’s still gone and I don’t know if I will ever forgive
myself,” she said huskily. Sara stood up and took one last look at
Kevin before she hurried out of the room.

Chapter
Twenty-Three

The ride to the St. James Hospital was very
solemn. Kristie didn’t ask any questions and even Eva had the sense
to keep her mouth shut.

Zombies were everywhere and they were
getting more violent. Older and newer ones wrestled each other,
trying to feed. It was maddening to watch. I closed my eyes to
block out as much horror as I could as we drove. I’d seen enough in
the last couple of days to give me nightmares for the rest of my
life.

As we neared the hospital, I prayed silently
that my mother was alive. She’d been armed with a gun but I still
didn’t know if she’d been attacked by the soldier she’d been trying
to save or someone else. I was tearing my hair out to know the
truth, and soon I’d be closer to it.

When we finally approached the hospital’s
parking lot, it was crawling with zombies. Most of them wandered
around in a muddled state, not doing much of anything. Others, who
appeared more grotesque and rancid from decomposing, acted like
rabid dogs. I watched in horror as they also attacked each
other.

“This is totally revolting,” whispered Eva,
turning green.

I couldn’t agree with her more; it was worse
than any horror flick I’d ever watched on television, and it was
real. Blood and body parts covered most of the pavement of the
hospital parking lot. It was like a bloody aftermath of an
explosion, only this devastation was much more than any of us could
have ever imagined.

“Careful on the left,” pointed Bryce. A
group of zombies were snarling and tearing each other apart.
Thankfully, they hadn’t quite taken notice of us yet.

“Jesus,” mumbled Kristie as the SUV struck a
zombie who’d stepped into our path. The sound of the zombie’s
corpse crumbling under the tire made me gag. “Sorry, this isn’t
easy, driving through this shit.”

“Kristie, you’re doing fine,” reassured
Bryce.

He was right. There really was no way to
avoid driving over the gore in the parking lot. The sound of bones
crunching and loud thuds was enough to drive me mad. “Do you have
any music? CDs?” I asked Kristie.

“Hey, great idea! In the back, under the
seat,” she said.

I pulled out her CD collection, which
consisted of a lot of older bands. I pulled out a CD of Metallica,
which seemed appropriate for the moment.

“Haven’t heard this one forever,” she said.
She stuck it in and the sound of heavy metal blared through
speakers.

Eva scowled. “Don’t you have anything
else?”

“It beats the sound of bones smashing under
the tires,” I said.

Eva scowled and looked out the window.

We were going very slowly towards the
hospital entrance and some of the zombies were starting to take
notice. Before I could say anything, two zombies rushed the side of
the SUV and started scratching at the darkened windows.

“Can’t you go faster?” cried Eva as one of
them stared at her through the window. It let out a horrendous
screech and Eva practically jumped out of her seat.

“Sorry, I wish I could,” said Kristie, her
hands tight on the wheel.

We were going very slowly, in fact some of
the zombies were staggering faster than we were driving.

“Shit,” muttered Kristie as more zombies
began surrounding the truck.

“Can’t you shoot them?” whined Eva.

“No, we aren’t wasting our bullets on
hundreds of zombies too stupid to even find a way in here. We need
ammunition for when we’re on foot,” I said.

“Bryce, how in the world are we going to get
into the hospital when they’re following us this close?” asked
Sara.

“Look,” I said, pointing to the emergency
entrance. “There are some people with guns getting ready to do
something.”

As we got closer, about five military
soldiers ran outside of the emergency doors and started picking off
the zombies that were following us. As we got closer, one of the
men motioned us over to a separate ambulance entrance, big enough
to drive the SUV into. Once inside, they closed the door and
approached us cautiously.

“Have any of you been vaccinated lately?”
asked a tall, humorless-looking soldier holding a gun.

“No, sir,” replied Bryce, raising his hands
in the air. “None of us have.”

The soldier nodded and then introduced
himself. “I’m Captain Brent Lufkin. Does anyone here need medical
attention?” he asked, looking specifically at Sara who’d stepped
out of the truck holding a hand over her protruding belly.

“No, not yet anyway,” said Bryce. “We’re
here to try and locate a couple of people.”

“Really, who?” asked the Captain.

I spoke up. “Veronica King, the news anchor,
and my mother, Kristen Wild.”

“Well Veronica King left a couple of hours
ago to help pick up some survivors who’d radioed in. She should be
back within a few hours. Got to say, that woman surprised the hell
out of me. She’s as tough as nails.”

“What about Kris Wild? Have you seen her?”
interrupted Bryce. “She’s fairly tall, light brown hair, somewhere
in her forties. She would have arrived with a wounded soldier.”

He shook his head. “Kris Wild? Sorry, it
just doesn’t sound familiar but you’re welcome to take a look
around,” he said. “We have over one hundred survivors. Most of them
are staying close to each other in the children’s wing of the
hospital. Come on, I’ll show you.”

The hospital had generators, so luckily
there was electricity. As we neared the children’s wing, I noticed
many of them eating warm meals and talking quietly to one another.
Surprisingly, there weren’t many children around.

“I wonder what happened to the children that
were in this wing of the hospital,” I said softly

He shrugged his shoulders. “Not sure.”

The captain turned to me. “Most of the
children that were already staying in the hospital received the
vaccines. We had to place them in special holding cells so they
wouldn’t harm anyone.”

“They’re still here?” asked Kristie.

He nodded. “Yes, they are. Unfortunately
some of them are getting so violent that we can’t get near them
without the risk of getting bitten.”

I shuddered. “You’re just keeping them
locked up until they die?”

“On the contrary, we’re studying them to
find out if we can halt the process or find an antidote. We’ve had
some communication from the CDC in Atlanta,” he replied.

“There are still researchers left from the
CDC?” I asked in shock. “I would have thought they’d all gotten the
vaccine.”

“Not all of them agreed with vaccinations
either,” he replied, “lucky for us.”

“
Do you mind if I take a
look around?” I asked him. “I need to find out if my mother ever
arrived. Maybe someone else saw her.”

“Go ahead, I’ll ask around for you, too.
Don’t forget to check some of the private patient rooms,” he
replied.

We all split up and began asking around.
Bryce said he’d check some of the patient rooms in Urgent Care.
Curiously enough, Eva volunteered to tag along with him and he
reluctantly agreed. I trusted him but there was no way in hell I
was going to allow her back home with us later. I crossed my
fingers that Veronica would come back soon and take her daughter
off our hands.

~~~

I started checking the rooms in the
children’s units, hoping beyond hope that maybe my mom was there,
resting. Unfortunately most of them were unoccupied and the few
that had people in them hadn’t heard anything about my mother, so I
decided to venture farther away from the children’s unit. As I
approached the birthing wing, I heard a man talking in one of the
rooms. The tone of his voice sounded familiar and my heart skipped
a beat. I rushed towards the sound of his voice.

“Ever hear of knocking first?” drawled the
soldier, who was on his cell phone. He wore only a pair of army
pants and a bandage around his shoulder.

“Austin!” I cried. “Thank God! I’m so glad
to see you.”

A huge smile lit up his face. It was the
soldier my mother had rescued! Words couldn’t express the joy I was
suddenly feeling. If he wasn’t a zombie, she had to be still alive,
somewhere.

“How in the world did you make it here?” he
asked, hanging up his phone.

“I got a ride,” I said, looking around.
“Where’s my mother?”

The smile on his face fell away and he
sighed. “She’s not here.”

“I see that. Where is she? “

“Your mom went for help,” he said.

“Went for help? What do you mean?” I asked,
stepping closer to him.

“She went to find special help for your
sister.”

My heart soared. “My sister? She’s here,
somewhere? I don’t understand. Where are they?”

He shook his head. “Not anymore, they’re
both gone. You’re mom picked up your sister from her girlfriend’s
house yesterday, and they ran into some trouble coming back; zombie
trouble. Here,” he said, walking over to the counter where he
lifted a piece of paper. “She wrote you this letter. I was going to
try and get it to you.”

I snatched it from his hands. My own began
to tremble as I read the letter.

Dearest Cassie,

I pray that you get this letter and you are
okay. I’ve tried calling you but I realize the power is out
everywhere and your cell phone is more than likely dead. I have
Allie; I picked her up as soon as I found out about the zombies.
When I finally found her, she’d been attacked and wasn’t doing very
well. She had a high fever and her body was racked with seizures,
it was very frightening. I quickly brought her back to the hospital
where they were able to finally lower her fever, but there was
nothing more they could do for her. They suspect she is turning
into one of those creatures now and suggested that I bring her to
Atlanta, where scientists are working on an antidote. They even let
us catch a lift with their medevac helicopter unit. And that’s
where we’re heading now.

I hope that you’re safe and that you get
this letter. I love you so much and I wish I could be with you
right now. But your sister is very sick, and I have to do
everything I can to find help for her. I have to try and save her.
I know you’ll understand, my Wild One.

All my love,

Mom

P.S. I will try and contact you when I’m in
Atlanta. Try and get your cell phone charged if you can. I have
been given one to use by the Army and will keep trying to call
you.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

I closed my eyes and released a heavy sigh.
Although I was relieved that both my sister and mother were alive,
I held no illusions of there being a happy ending in all of this,
especially if we were still separated and my sister was turning
into a zombie.

“Now what?” I mumbled to myself. I sat down
on a stool and put my head in my hands.

“I reckon you could just stay here and wait
for your mother to call,” he replied.

I lifted my head and faced him. “No, I have
to get back home with my friends. Besides, there are so many
zombies attracted to this place, seriously, I don’t feel all that
safe here.”

Austin nodded his head. “Okay. Well then I’m
coming with you.”

I stood up. ”What do you mean…you’re coming
with me?”

He knelt down next to me and placed his
hands upon my shoulders. His eyes reminded me of warm caramel.
“Your mother saved my life. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know what
would have happened. I made a promise to her that I’d find you and
help protect you. I’m not breaking that promise.”

I pulled away. “Thanks, Austin, but I can
take care of myself. I made it here, didn’t I?”

He shrugged. “Well, yeah you did. But you
haven’t made it out of here alive just yet. Come on, Cassie, let me
help you. If anything, I can help you get in touch with your mom. I
know where they’ve taken her.”

My eyes narrowed. “What about your family?
Don’t you have anyone at home that might need you?”

Austin smiled and folded his arms across his
chest. “Well, darlin’, my family lives in Texas and it doesn’t look
like I’ll be traveling there anytime soon. In fact, I just radioed
my brother and they’re together and holding up okay, so far. So,
the answer is no, there’s nobody who needs me at this moment as
much as you do.”

I pointed. “What about your shoulder?”

“It’s doing better. They stitched it up and
it’s tender, but I’ll survive.”

“I thought for sure you were bitten by a
zombie.”

He shook his head. “I was shot; a woman. I
don’t know, she may have thought I was a zombie.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, if you
want to tag along, I guess that would be okay. We could always use
an extra shooter.”