Dead and Forsaken (10 page)

The horde of forsaken followed him
to the ambulance. The female patient was still strapped to the
gurney as they shambled toward her. She was defenseless. “Nooooo!”
she screamed as they moved closer. “Save me dear God!”
The gurney was a buffet table and she was the main course. Her cries
for help rang out in the darkness unanswered.

“
MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH!”

The carnivorous forsaken devoured
all her flesh, fat, and muscle. Sucking and wheezing noises were the
last sounds she made as she struggled to speak. Soon she was
unconscious on the gurney bleeding profusely. Three piles of blood
soaked bones littered the ground after a few more minutes. The
trainee was hurt but thanked God that he was alive. He used his
t-shirt to stop the blood flowing from the bite wound on his arm.
His uniform was drenched in blood.

“
We can’t just leave
him out there to die!” a nurse cried.

“
He got bit by one of those
things so he is dead already!” I said.
From the top of the rig the
trainee could hear them moaning below.

“
GRRRRRR!”

The
scent of his blood was carried by the night breeze. He was a
helpless animal surrounded by predators. We wanted to help him but
anyone bitten was going to die anyway. He was an innocent victim but
now he was going to wake up a killer.

“
What if there is a cure?”
asked a patient.

“
The only cure for what he
has is a bullet in his head!” I barked.

People trying to go home to
their families were caught up in all the mayhem on the streets.
Crowd suppression efforts by the police were rapidly becoming
ineffective. The attacks grew more intense as the creatures entered
the densely populated parts of the city. Explosions rang out and
fires blazed. Large plumes of black smoke rose into the air. Phone
communications and cell towers were knocked out. In this
neighborhood people were running in every direction. Crying children
trailed close behind their nervous parents. They were the most
precious members of our community. Several people had to leave their
other family members behind. All of them hastily packed up their
vehicles and pulled off. Soon our parking lot came alive with
action. The chaos hand an impact on the entire community.

Thousands
of people crowded into churches, synagogues and mosques. From all
over south Phoenix people flocked to our hospital. They arrived in
pickup trucks, car, and several SUV’s! The parking lot was
packed. They unloaded the injured bloody bodies of their friends,
family members and total strangers. The backseats and truck beds
served as a gurney. It looked like a street scene after an attack
from my times in Afghanistan and Iraq. They only made it a couple of
feet before they saw the killer mob lurch out of the building. Even
though they appeared to be alive their soul and everything that made
them human was now gone.

“
GROOOWWWL!
GROOOWWWL! GROOOWWWL!”

Some
of them tried to get back to their cars, while others banned
together and fought back. They pulled innocent civilians out of
their vehicles and ate them for being in the wrong place at the
wrong time. The forsaken ripped their throats and some people had
their faces devoured. The large group of neighborhood youths fought
back armed with bats, hammers, sticks, and pipes. Some of them also
had small caliber handguns.

“
Kill those bastards!”
shouted a fighter.

One
man tried to fight them off using and old ceremonial marine saber
but he was quickly overpowered after it broke.

“
I'm going to send all you
bastards back to hell!” snarled his friend.

They
had defended their hood in the past from other gangs but tonight
they fought for the right to live. Gang members that once terrorized
the neighborhood became its only protection! They bashed in rotting
heads and blew out undead brains. At first it looked like they
would have an easy victory. That changed after the forsaken
continued to lumber out of the shadows reaching hungrily for the
living. Their wide open glossy eyes never blinked. The helpless
people tried to scatter but were circled.

“
GRRRRRR!”

“
Look out! There are more
of them coming out the building.” A woman yelled.
She looked back to see more decrepit and bloody
creatures lurch towards her. It didn’t take long for them to
finish her off. The bites from their teeth caused pain to flow
through her body like electricity.

“
Crap man. There are more
than I thought!” a man screamed.

“
Get off the street
people and Lock your doors!” yelled another homeboy.

A war raged twenty feet from the
hospital entrance. The bangers threw rocks and bottles at the
forsaken. The local gang leader in charge knew his hommies were
outnumbered and they could not repel such a large force of forsaken.
He opened his trunk and pulled out a looted case of Absolut vodka.

“
What are we going to do with
those?” asked a young gangster.

“
Light them up with these!”
he screamed. “Make all those motherfucker's burn!”

“
I got something for your
punk ass!” he yelled.

The
young gang member lit the rag and threw the Molotov cocktail to buy
some time for his people to escape. He blew up a Honda civic and set
a group of ghouls on fire! Flames shot out from under it as the gas
tank exploded. It flew into the air and landed on its side. The rest
of his homeboys tossed cocktails too and joined in on the fun. The
wall of flames temporarily held their attackers back. Unfortunately
the noise drew the rest of the forsaken out of the surrounding
houses. Those kids fought hard but they were unorganized. They fired
wildly into the crowd but the shots went wide or just hit the beasts
in the upper torso. In minutes their cars were overwhelmed. The
flesh hungry killers pounded on the doors before breaking out the
windshields and side windows. Some of kids scrambled for cover as
the others fired off several more shots in rapid succession. The
attackers showed no hesitation or fear. The bullets cut through the
dead flesh and punctured their rotten bones. One of the bangers
dropped his gun during a struggle with an overweight forsaken woman.
He got free from her grasp but was attacked by a forsaken male
before he could recover his pistol.

“
GROOOWWWL!”

“
Shoot
those motherfuckers!” he screamed. “Aim for their
heads!”

The
rest of his buddies fired at the forsaken from behind their
temporary cover. A look of desperation came over their faces as they
started to run out of bullets. Soon the intense battle left them
with a lot of seriously injured people. The waves of slow moving
forsaken kept coming. The massive horde plowed its way through the
gang. The gang leader pulled a nineteen eleven from the small of his
back and began to fire until the clip was empty. He was unfazed by
all the death and destruction going on around him. This was his hood
and he was either going to save it or die trying. The leader popped
out his second magazine and reached for a third. Then he fired his
gun in the air.

“
Come get some you ugly
puto's!” he screamed.

A
large group of forsaken lumbered after him. He lured them away from
the hospital to give his men a chance to escape. The leader stopped
occasionally as he ran to fire his gun.

“
POP!
POP! POP!”

The
leader made it to the liquor store on the next block before his luck
ran out. He was surrounded by seven corpses. All of them had been
shot multiple times. The leader was able to fend them off for a
short time before being ripped in half. His remains were found in
front of the store. The only thing left untouched was his head. An
empty pistol was found next to him.

Just down the block a large group
of people was hiding inside a dry cleaner. They spent their time
holding onto each other and praying.

“
Let’s get out of
here!” cried a short man.

He had seen too many of his friends
being murdered and wanted to keep the rest of them alive.
The other panicked citizens knocked the injured ones down
and climbed over them to get away. Some of them tried to crawl but
did not get far before the savages found them. The rest of the group
rushed toward the ER but was cut off by the dead. Several of them
managed to get back to their vehicles. One man tried to save his
family by hiding in his car. A couple of the forsaken were following
close behind them. Once they caught up they started beating on the
car door and windows. The man tried to hold the door closed by the
handle but he was not strong enough. His family was screaming in
terror as the door was pried away. The rest of the undead mob broke
out the windows and started grabbing the family.

“
They are not going to make
it are they?” a voice shouted behind me.

Multiple
sets of hands pulled the family outside one by one as they
disappeared into the crowd.

“
Get back! Get back! NO!”

We
could hear them yelling and screaming for the pain to stop.

“
We have to open the doors!”
a man pleaded.” We have to let them in!”

The
cries of distress and agony were also getting closer. A couple of
people in the ER were upset. I told everyone stay away from the
doors.

“
If anyone tries to open
those doors they will get shot!” I scolded. “Don't you
people understand what's going on? Don't you get it? Anyone that
gets bit by one of those things is going to die and when they get
back up their going to try and kill us. Your only obligation right
now is to survive.”

I
paused for second and looked back outside then we heard the chorus
of moans.

“
GRRRRRR!
GRRRRRR! GRRRRRR!”

“
We are not going to be able
to save everybody no matter how much we want too.” I said.

“
He is right!” said
Maria. “If those zombies or whatever they are get in here then
we are all dead! Instead of arguing lets figure out what to do
next!”

Unaware
of what was happening upstairs in the hospital a nurse went
downstairs to the morgue to make copies of her deceased patient's
chart. She got to the morgue door and found it unlocked. Without
thinking she opened the door and went inside. There was a noticeably
strong chemical smell. Two additional doors were inside the room.
One had a big red sign that said “Autopsy room only medical
personnel may enter.” The other door said “Cold room bio
hazard inside!” The other room held the remains of several
cadavers lying on metal tables. White sheets covered the bodies. She
was thankful that the paperwork for the deceased patient was on the
desk like always. Understandably she didn't want to spend any more
time in the morgue than she had too. The nurse was singing country
music to herself to keep from being scared. She hated to have to
come down to the basement. She began copying the paperwork and
didn't notice the morgue freezer door open behind her. Just over her
shoulder a pair of fingers reached around the door and a figure
emerged from the cold mist. The singing nurse didn’t hear the
figure stumble and stammer towards her. She only turned around after
the freezer's cold air sent shivers up her spine.

“
GRRRRRR!”

The
creature quickly overpowered her and bit down hard on her left
shoulder

“
GNAAAW!”

Blood
streamed down her shirt as she screamed in agony.

“
Stoooop!”

She
pulled free from his grasp giving her time to run towards the door.
Her blood covered hand fumbled over the knob.

“
Please open up!” she
cried.

After wiping her hand on her pants
she was able to pull the door open. The terrified nurse looked back
only to see a second figure emerged from the freezer. She made it
into the hallway and closed the door before collapsing from the
shock and pain. As she starred at the door in disbelief it was
pulled open by multiple sets of hands. Her eyes filled with tears as
she pulled herself up to her feet. Her heart pounded fast and her
breathing was heavy. She clutched her wound and ran down the hall to
the housekeeping supervisor's office.

“
Will somebody help me?”
she begged.

The supervisor heard her voice
echoing down the concrete halls. She got up from her desk and opened
the office door. She turned the corner and stepped into the
darkness. She could see the injured nurse moving down the hall then
suddenly something grabbed her by the shoulder. The nurse spun
around and her attacker’s hands found her neck. The twisting
motion caused her to lose her balance and she fell sideways hitting
her head on the wall. The nurse pushed off the wall with her hands
and surged backwards. Her attacker was knocked to the ground so now
the supervisor could finally see him. She realized that it was Jose
the transporter. His skin was bruised and lumpy. There were dark
stains on his scrubs and his nose was missing. His lifeless eyes
burned a hole through her. The look in his eyes had housekeeping
supervisor petrified with fear. She called out to him but got no
response. The only sounds he made were deep throated and
unintelligible.

“
Uuuhhhggg!”

Jose had gone crazy. She thought
about heading toward the stairwell exit but he was back up on his
feet blocking the path. Safety was just a few feet away but it might
as well have been a mile. She tried to run past Jose but he grabbed
a hold of her. The nurse came up behind him and hit him across the
face with a broom handle from the office to help her. She raised the
broom handle as Jose lurched forward. He opened his mouth wide and
produced a loud gurgled moan.

“
GRRRRRRR!”

The
tip entered his mouth just as he fell backwards. The crazy man
tripped over her feet and was impaled on the broom as it hit the
concrete floor. The handle pierced the roof of his mouth and exited
the back of his head puncturing his brain.

“
What the hell is going on?”
asked the supervisor. “We have to get out of here!”

“
It's okay, he's dead.”
said the nurse.

“
I'm not talking about him!”
responded the supervisor.

They
both could hear the footsteps of someone moving toward the open
morgue door. The head of the first figure poked out the door and
then rigidly turned towards the two women. His eyes were glazed and
sinister. The movements of the deformed group were stiff and
deliberate. The supervisor stared down the corridor.

“
What are you people doing
down here?” she asked. “This is a restricted area!”

The
new batch of emerging ghouls shuffled and tripped down the hall
towards them.

“
We have to get in the
office!” begged the nurse.

The
supervisor pulled the nurse into her office and locked the door. The
office was really just a glorified closet but there was nowhere else
to go. Right away the women could here strange noises coming from
the other side of the locked door.

“
GRRRRRR!”

Seconds
later the door began to tremble as the creatures pressed against it.
The nurse began to scream but was silence after the supervisors hand
covered her mouth. She clamped down tightly even after the nurse bit
down into her hand. Neither of them could comprehend what was
happening. The supervisor thought they would go away but the hungry
beasts were determined. The lead monster held up a clenched fist and
pounded the door. With the help of the other beasts he reduced the
wooden door to splinters and sawdust.

“
BAM!
BAM! CRASH!”

“
GROOOWWWL!”

“
Eeeoooeeeooo!”

Their
screams did not last that long. Both of the women’s voices
pierced the darkness and then fell silent. Their deaths were
instantaneous. The killers stumbled out the small room with blood on
their chins and empty eyes. A couple of hours later the supervisor
lurched out of the room with part of her arm and trachea missing.
She was trailed by the nurse whose lips and stomach were injured.
They both followed a trail of bloody footprints down the hall.

******

Hernandez watched in
horror from the first floor security office. The slow paced but
carnivorous hoard overran the first floor killing and eating the
sick and the healthy. The cameras picked up victims trying to crawl
or stagger away. Most of them were in pain and could only move a
couple of steps before stopping. He called the hospital operator and
told her to go on the overhead paging system and tell everyone to
evacuate the building. The order to evacuate came a few seconds
later complete with alarms and flashing lights. It was delivered
three times to make sure everyone in the building heard it. After
wards Hernandez starred at all the monitors hoping that everyone
would make it out alive. The murderous mob of forsaken was still
killing and eating everyone. Pieces of flesh along with bones made
it look like a butcher’s shops floor. The hospital staff
upstairs treated the evacuation like it was a fire drill. We had
seven floors and over three hundred occupied beds. Many of them had
serious illnesses and other conditions. Everyone stayed off the
elevators and used the stairs. It took some them a long time to get
their patients down the stairs. Congestion slowed the decent as
people tried not to trample each other. Patients with oxygen tanks
and electric monitors had to stay on their floors.

Once they were outside they rushed
for their cars or ran in the opposite direction of the advancing
horde. Only a few of them made it out the parking lot.
The forsaken ripped
their clothes off to get to the tender flesh underneath. All over
the hospital panic alarms were going off. When Hernandez answered
them all he got was screaming and pleas for help. One of the alarms
was from a behavioral tech trapped on the third floor. The man was
in a room with some kids from pediatrics and a couple of nurses and
doctors.

“
Hello! Hello can you hear
me?” he asked.

“
I can hear you, sir. How can
I help you?”

“
Dude you have to get us out
of here!” he responded. “Those things are everywhere!”

“
Don't worry sir. We're going
to help you.”

The
man told Hernandez they were about to evacuate the building when a
group of creatures stumbled off the elevator. Their skin was
punctured and pot marked by nasty bit wounds.

“
GRRRRRR!
GRRRRRR! GRRRRRR!”

Suddenly
people started running. A wall of dead flesh was coming at them. An
overweight doctor tried to get away but weighing almost four hundred
pounds he was quickly chased down. The man watched as outstretched
hands grabbed the doctor by the back of his lab coat. He tried to
pull himself away but they jumped on him and began biting and
mauling him.

”
CHOMP!”

They
caused injuries to his head and back. The B.H.T tried to pull him
away from them but was unsuccessful. They ripped off the doctor's
hands, nose and eyelids. The B.H.T and the other survivors rushed
back down the hall. With the help of the other adults he was able to
get the rest of the children back inside the ward and barricaded the
doors. A group of three forsaken sunk their teeth into the doctor's
skin and tore him to pieces.

“
GROOOWWWL!”

They
also managed to attack a nurse carrying one of the patients. The
rest of the staff wanted to help her but it was too dangerous to go
back outside. The attackers clamped their mouths and leathery lips
down on the nurse’s skin.

“
Please! Please help us!”
she screamed.

“
GNAAAW!”

They
ripped off her lips and lower jaw as pool of blood formed around her
body. Hernandez told them he would send help when he could. Loud
moaning filled the background of the call as the three monsters
mauled the small child still left in the hall.

“
I want my daddy! Daddy,
please help me!” she screamed.

“
GNAAAW!”

Her
shrill screams caused Him to fall down to his knees. Hernandez's
tried to control his breathing but felt himself choking up. The
assault was primitive and barbaric.

“
GNAAAW!”

Strips of flesh and layers of fat
were torn away from all the bodies. It looked like they were
scavenged by wild animals. Tears streamed from his eyes and he could
hardly move.
The
screaming stopped a few seconds later and then Hernandez's heard
loud banging.

“
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

The B.H.T moved away from the door
as it began to tremble from the undead monsters hammering against
it.

“
Find something to block the
door! You have got to keep them out!” Hernandez pleaded.
The staff moved some beds in
front the weakening door but they could not last long without a
rescue.

“
Don’t leave us
here dude!” he begged.

“
I will send help as soon
as I can!” Hernandez promised.
“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

“
Mommy! I want my mommy!”
whimpered the children.

“
CRASH!”

“
Run!” yelled a male
voice.

New
mothers and staff cradled several squirming infants in their arms.
Hernandez herd children crying and the horde rushing through the
door. He could hear their small voices calling out and beckoning for
help he couldn’t give them.

“
Get everyone the fuck out of
there now!” screamed Hernandez before the call ended abruptly.