Dead and Forsaken (14 page)

I heard the sounds of nervousness
from everyone in the room. The survivors grasped the enormity of
what was happening around them. The faceless voices of the survivors
came from every dark corner and dim hallway.

“
Why is this happening to
us?”

“
This is the end of the
world. We are all going to die!”

“
Please do not let me
die. I am not ready!”

“
Let me out of here. I
can’t take it anymore.”

“
The cops are going to
come. I know it. They have to come!”

“
We are not going to make
it are we?”

The darkness was a confessional box
and they all had something to say. I moved around in the quietly
trying to calm everyone down. Most of the survivors felt stress,
anxiety, and grief. After a night like this it was easy understand.
Dr. Sanchez and the rest of the staff tried to treat their physical
and emotional wounds.

“
Our only hope to live
through the death, doom, and darkness of this night is to ask Jesus
Christ to come into our lives.” proclaimed the pastor.

A nurse fell down to her knees and
sat on the floor. She cried out and started praying in Spanish. Then
she went back to English.

“
God please don't let me
die like this.” cried Carmen. “Grant us protection and
deliver us from this evil.”

Her accent was thick but she was a
lot more intelligent than she let on. Maria knelt down next to her
and gave her a hug. In the past I had seen them eat lunch together
and they seemed close. She tried to comfort her friend and ease her
pain. The generator finally kicked in after twenty one minutes with
a reassuringly hum. The essential emergency functions also came back
on line. We plugged one of the TV’s into an emergency outlet
to see what had caused the black out. Fox was off the air so we
watched ABC. The terrified newscaster tried to hold it together
emotionally while he gave his report.

“
A
large passenger plane was en route from Tucson when the pilot
reported a crazy man attacking other passengers and the flight
attendants. The man bit and scratched them like a wild animal until
blood squirted and flowed from their wounds. His words were muffled
and unintelligible. Most of the passengers retreated to the back of
the plane while several other courageous people tried to help subdue
the man. He broke free from them and started pounding on the cockpit
door. Screams and shouts could be heard by the tower over the radio
right before they lost contact with them.

A short time later the plane
shot over the runway and destroyed more than a dozen power lines and
utility poles as it descended nose first into the heart of the city.
Pieces of concrete, steel, and glass flew through the air. The
crash occurred just outside the Fox 10 news station. Most of the
people inside did not make it out alive. The buildings walls were
blown outward and the ceiling pan caked inward. The Phoenix police
headquarters was also completely destroyed. A fire roared through
the structure leaving several hundred officers inside dead.

Witnesses
confirmed that a massive wall of fire swept through the wreckage
illuminating the sky and engulfed the surrounding neighborhoods. The
large amount of jet fuel contributed to the spreading fire. Clusters
of city blocks have lost power placing more than twenty thousand
Phoenix residents in the dark. Many of the displaced residents had
nowhere else to go they just held their faces in their hands and
cried. There was little or nothing that could be done to save them.
Trapped residents were suffocated by a thick cloud of toxic smoke or
turned into ashes by the scorching fire.”

After the broadcast Dr. Black
suggested we were now in survival mode and some of us were not going
to make it. It was a cruel thing to say but it was true. We had to
figure out how 0to get all the patients out of here alive.

“
What if we just left
them here and save ourselves? They are just dead weight anyway. What
type of quality of life can they expect to have anyway? We can get
away while those things attack the patient’s.” Dr. Green
proclaimed. “So far we have been lucky but we have to make
smart decisions!”

“
We can’t do that!
We have an obligation to take care of them!” Dr. Black
declared.

“
That was before tonight
sir. Now my only job is to stay alive and if I can do that by using
a couple of welfare recipients as bait then that’s what I am
going to do!” responded Dr. Green.

“
Those so called welfare
patients pay our salary!” said Dr. Okonkwo. “Don’t
be so shallow!”

“
The patients don’t
pay for shit! Their insurance does. And most of these free loaders
get free health care.” yelled Dr. Green.

“
Regardless of how we get
paid these people are our responsibility.” declared Carmen.

“
It is survival of the
fittest and the responsible thing would be to put them out of their
misery!” Dr. Green responded.

“
That would be murder! I
got into medicine to save lives not take them!” yelled Dr.
Okonkwo.

“
We make life or death
decisions every day and sometimes people die. What makes tonight
different?” boasted Dr. Green. “Doctor I know what
triage is but what you are talking about is playing God.” said
Dr. Sanchez. “The nature of our job requires that we make a
series of ethical choices with the patient’s best interest in
mind.”

“
I am an O.R. surgeon!”
explained Dr. Green. “People come to me dead and lifeless and
I pull them back from the light. So yes I am God!”

“
You're not God! What you
are is a pompous son of a bitch!” screamed Carmen. “Shallow
cowards like you are only concerned with your own well-being!”

“
You can believe what you
want to believe!” he shot back. “But when people are
looking for a miracle I'm the only show in town! All these poor
degenerate assholes are probably waiting on the government to come
hand out a rescue just like they do welfare checks!”

Carmen was so upset she started to
cry. The doctor's open mocking of God made her distraught and
ashamed. She was a Christian but she felt herself hating him. The
pastor walked past her and rubbed her back. He reminded her where
true strength and healing comes from.

“
It is okay my child. Do
not be upset. As for you my son the laws of man will send you to
prison if you break them but if you sin and break the laws of God
then you will burn in hell. John 7:18 says that a man who speaks
about himself seeks only his own glory. If he speaks only about the
glory of God he speaks the truth.”

“
Listen here whatever you
call yourself. I don’t believe in God or that crap your
spitting!” said Dr. Green. “I have seen people beg him
to save their life or the lives of their loved ones and they still
died.”

“
You may not believe in
God but He believes in you my son. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord! You can
experience His love or taste His wrath.” shouted pastor
Harrell.

Dr. Green threw his hands up in
the air and walked off. Meanwhile I was thinking that if we could
get to communications I could get more ammo and raid the confiscated
weapons locker for more weapons. So many people in Arizona carry
guns and knives that confiscated weapons are going to end up at the
hospital. They would check in and still have weapons on them. The
weapons in that cabinet might give us a fighting chance to get out
of here. We just needed a group of volunteers willing to make the
trip. I pulled out my radio to call Hernandez and let him know what
I was thinking. Right on cue the radio chirped into action and I
heard him yell.

“
Kevin I can hear them!
They're right outside the door!”

“
How many are we talking
about?” I asked.

“
I don't know for sure.
All my monitors were knocked offline and have not rebooted yet.
There are too many of them out there to count!” he answered.
“Don't worry! The walls are concrete and the glass is
bulletproof.”

That was true but I knew the door
was wood just like the rest of offices on the first floor. The
hospitals first floor was just remodeled and some dumb-ass pencil
pusher decided to take out the thirty year old rock solid steel
doors to each room and put in some imitation oak knock offs. The old
doors were ugly but they were secure. The new doors were supposed to
help clean up the hospitals public image. Never mind the fact that
doors are supposed to keep people out. The decorative doors were
located every few feet along the now brightly painted hallway.
Hernandez grabbed a flashlight and shined it through the bulletproof
glass.

“
What the fuck?”

He jumped back as the light
revealed the gruesome disfigured faces of a large forsaken horde. He
stared at faces that were scared, pale and bruised. Some of them
were missing eyes, ears, noses, and lips. The flashlight caused
their mutated milky white eyes to glow. They wore filthy scrubs and
hospital gowns dripping with blood. Crimson smears stained every
part of the glass they touched.

“
BANG! BANG! BANG!”
They had made it to the door and were now trying to
force their way in.

“
Kevin I don't think this
door is going to hold!”

“
Find something to brace
against it man!” I pleaded.

The mob pounded on the wood door
causing dents and clawed on it leaving scratch marks and broken
finger nails. Others hurled their rotting frames against the door
over and over again.

“
I already did bro but
the door is still shaking loose from its hinges.”

“
You can't give up man!
You have to fight!” I told him.

“
Face it man. I'm not
getting out of this room alive.” Hernandez stood in front of
the door feeling understandably uneasy. Then he asked me to tell his
wife and kids that he loved them. I told him he could tell them
himself. Suddenly the noise in the background changed.

“
Dammit!” I yelled.
We both knew what had happened.

“
BLAM! BLAM! CRASH!”

The horde had smashed in the cheap
wood door! A piece of wood the size of a dinner plate was dislodged.
Various size splinters flew through the air. Then one arm slipped
inside followed by another and another. Their arms swung wildly
searching for a meal just out of reach. Soon larger sections of the
door were violently pried and shoved aside as the first creature
entered the room. He had long dirty blonde hair with cuts and
bruises on his face. Fresh blood was soaked up in his beard like a
sponge. The smell of his decomposing body was horrible and
sickening. The rest of the weakened door offered little resistance
as all of his friends shamble in behind him.

“
Their everywhere man!”
cried Hernandez.

“
GRRRRRR! GRRRRRR! GRRRRRR!”

“
Oh yeah bitch I got
something for your ass right here!” he boasted.

I heard shooting for almost a
minute mixed in with cuss words and some Spanish. The next thing I
heard were my friend's tortured screams.

“
No! No! Noooooo!”
“GROOOWWWL! GROOOWWWL! GROOOWWWL!”

At least thirty of the soulless
forsaken creatures poured into the room moaning and falling over
each other. Most of them were in various states of decomposition. A
pungent stale odor followed them. Outstretched hands and open mouths
formed a deadly roadblock. The monsters ransacked the room as they
lunged at him and hurled themselves forward.

“
POP! POP! POP!”

Hernandez was overwhelmed by bites
but could still fire his gun.

“
POP! POP! POP!”

He was bleeding severely after
losing so many chunks of flesh.

“
There are too many man!”
he cried. “There are too many!”

He popped in another magazine and
continued to fire.

“
POP! POP! POP!”

Every ghoul he killed fell to the
ground and created a mound of dead flesh but the mob continued to
push through the doorway.
“GROOOWWWL!”

The rest of them climbed over
their friends and attacked Hernandez. One beast latched onto his arm
then bit down hard on his hand. It began twisting its head back and
forth throwing him around like a rag doll. Several fingers were
severed off just below the knuckle.

“
CHOMP”

“
Ahh! Get off me!”

Ruptured blood vessels sent blood
flying. He fell backwards on the desk while scrambling to reach more
ammunition and fractured his arm. The back of his head also caught
the corner of his chair and cut into his skin.

“
Uhhooowww!”
Hernandez's body was covered in a blanket of hands and teeth
that tore at his flesh.

“
GNAAAW”

Seconds later I heard the last
screams of my friend echo over the radio.

“
Aaaiiihhheee!”

He screamed in agony as their
knife-like fingers cut into his back and drool coated teeth ate him
alive. His death was painful and grotesque. The pain pushed him
toward unconsciousness as the beasts pealed patches of skin from his
body. Then they pulled part of his spine out his back. He laid there
paralyzed but still alive. His blood sprayed across the room as he
watched his own organs consumed. The last thing I heard was a
gurgling sound before the radio died.
I
yelled out his name one more time then threw my radio against the
wall in frustration when he didn’t answer.