Surviving The Dead: Heartland Zombie Apocalypse Vol. 1 (26 page)

Screech … screech … screech. 

“Which way Juan?”, Blade asked.

“This way it is not far.”, Juan directed.

As they approached the mechanical room the strange scratching noise became louder. Soon they realized it was coming from the morgue, across the hall.

“What do you think that is?  Rats?,” suggested Willis.

“Its the dead tryin to claw their way out of the slab”, responded Lup.

They entered the mechanical room and as soon as it was determined the room was free of any dead, Juan set to work on the generator.

“How long?”, Blade asked.

“Thirty minutes minimum, more if there is a problem.”, replied Juan.

As soon as Juan felt he let the battery charge enough he started the manual restart process on the generator and a few minutes later it sputtered to life and the lights flickered on.

“Lets back out of here quick.”, ordered Blade.

With the hall lit up the dead were now able to navigate their way to the sounds of activity.  As the men left the mechanical room swarms of dead were closing in from both directions.  They were able to slow them up a bit by dropping the lead ones, but the exit to the stairway was already blocked.  They concentrated their fire towards the exit quickly clearing a path towards the door.  Nearly deafened by all the gunfire, Blade waved them forward.  Blade and Willis took up positions at the door as the rest of the men filed up the stairway.  The swarm following them snapping at their heels like rabid dogs.  Blade the last to enter the stairway shot a Dee point blank and it crumpled into the doorway making it impossible to close the door.

“I'll be right back”, called out Lup as he bolted up the stairs.

Meanwhile the men turned the body sideways and strung a chain to the door and started playing tug of war with the dead that were trying to pull the door open.  Lup raced back down the stairs with the chainsaw he retrieved from the back of the truck.  Lup started the chainsaw as he cleared the last few steps and began cutting the body in half.  The chainsaw coated Lup in blood, gore, and bone chips, but quickly separated the body in two.  As Juan pulled the upper half of the body clear of the doorway, Lup ran the saw up the door frame hacking off limbs and fingers of the dead trying to get in.

Lup smiling, with blood dripping from his chin, looked at Juan, “So who's the punta now?”

Juan pulled a shop rag from his pocket and handed it to Lup, “We are fortunate indeed you were here my friend.”

After breakfast Doc Linderman gave the Lexington refugees clearance to join the community at the compound.  As they made preparations to leave, Lou went to speak to Crystal, “Do you know what is going to happen to Brittany.”

Crystal shrugged, “Near as I can tell her only family has passed, so we'll have to find her a foster family.”

Lou looked nervously at a spot on the ground as he spoke, “If there is no one else she is close to, I mean I don't know how folks would feel about a geezer like me lookin after a little girl, but I'd do right by her.”

Crystal placed a reassuring hand on his arm, “Let's talk to Pastor Jim a minute, he seems to have a pretty good understanding of his group.”

With meager belongings packed up and most of the people loaded up to move on, Alice took a final look around to assure herself that the structure was left secure in case they had need of it again.  Before Pastor Jim was helped aboard the school bus Crystal made him aware of Lou's offer to be a foster parent to Brittany.

“It may sound odd with us living the past couple of months in the schools cafeteria, but Brittany's mom kept the two of them pretty much isolated.  I'll talk to Sue Anne, but we all saw how tight the two have become.  I doubt anyone would make a fuss.”, Jim said.

On the short ride back to the compound Mac prepared the refugees, “We don't get to see new faces and there is not a lot to break up the routine, our folks are going to be real curious about you.  When we arrive we'll get your room assignments and by the time your settled lunch should be ready and we will all start to get to know each other.”

A middle aged man with grizzled hair and beard stood up, “I'm Ben Wisegar and this is my wife Elanor, what if me and my wife don't want to be part of this group of yours.”

Mac shrugged, “That is your choice friend, we'll stock you up as best we can, but it is a dangerous world out there and tryin to grub out an existence always lookin over your shoulder is a tough row to hoe.  I don't know what your concerns are.  We're not offering anybody a free ride.  We require that you participate in the community, but you will have a say as to what that is.  Give us a chance and if you decide you can do better on your own that is your decision.”

A number of people turned to Ben and his wife, some concerned that Ben could mess things up for all of them.  Others just couldn't believe Ben would even consider heading out into the world on his own.

“Everybody let Ben be.  I've spent enough time with these people to know that a certain amount of skepticism of strangers is warranted.  These folks are willing to give us a fair shake and I say we give them the same.”, stated Pastor Jim.

“Blade we finished up the houses and businesses.  What is the status on the hospital?”, Amy asked

Blade grunted, “That friggin hospital is a damn nightmare.  Nooks and cranny's everywhere and a Dee in every one.     I know the Doc wants supplies from there, but damn.”

“So what's the plan man?”, Amy asked.

“The plan is we keep trying to make a dent in things and evaluate at the end of tomorrow.”, Blade answered.

“You got it boss.  Tell me what I need to do.”, Amy replied.

Hank's patrol was assigned the emergency exit stairway.  Hank posted three men at each of four emergency exit doors.  Using a drill and sawzall they cut a hole about eight by eight in each door.  This allowed them to see into the hallway and if a Dee peered through the hole it was met with a sharpened pipe to the eye.  Whenever the immediate area of the door was clear two men would enter the hall blow a whistle to attract the dead and standing back to back fire at the dead advancing towards them.  Once the dead got to close they got back to the stairwell and the third man of the team would chain the door shut again.

Amy's patrol got the emergency room entrance.  There were easily two hundred dead visible in the waiting area.  Access to the emergency room was through a security checkpoint.  Overnight they had enclosed the drive-up entrance with fencing with a long chute at the center.  This morning they removed the outer doors to the security entrance and Amy rigged the inner doors with explosives.  Once she blew the doors the dead would flood out into the fenced enclosure.

Willis' patrol was positioned at the main entrance.  The doors to the main entrance had been chained shut so that the automatic openers didn't function when the power was returned.  The drive-up to this entrance had been similarly fenced off as the emergency room.  There were very few dead at this entrance so Blade volunteered himself to unchain the doors and get out of the enclosure quick.

Lup and Juan were stationed at the emergency room entrance to provide a couple of extra guns when the dead came spilling out.  Amy understood that both Juan and Lup were good at thinking on their feet, but had never seen them in action.  She positioned them where she could keep an eye on them and they were least likely to be a danger to her patrol.

“Nobody fires until I say so.  We don't want them bunching up near the doorway or anywhere on the fence.”, Amy commanded.

“Fire in the hole.”, she called.

Juan and Lup exchanged glances both of them were expecting a bigger explosion.  Then as the dead pushed against them the doors they slowly fell back dragging a couple of the dead along.  The two men realized Amy had set just enough of a charge to blow the hinges.  With the exit now open the dead flooded into the enclosure.

Amy held the fire command until there was a mass of dead in the enclosure.  Juan and Lup were positioned at the far end of the center chute and were the last to see any action.  They had crept past the dead in the past to bring supplies to the high school. However,  having to stand and wait as these dead shambled down the chute hands outstretched ready to grasp, and jaws slobbering and snapping ready to bite, was a nerve wracking experience.

“Juan you ready for this?”, Lup asked.

“Si.”, Juan replied calmly.

“Yeah that's what I figured.  Uhh, me too.”, Lup replied.

“Then fire my friend.”, Juan said as he let loose a hail of bullets.

Soon enough the tide of the dead coming out the entrances slowed to a trickle and then stopped all together.  By mid morning Blade made the call to take a small team in to sweep the first floor and had Amy do the same from the emergency entrance. 

“Hank stick close to that emergency exit in case we need to get out quick”, Blade radioed.

Halfway through and finding minimal resistance Blade requested a report, “Landers check in.”

“Yes Mom.  We found some strapped to their beds and a couple trapped in a bathroom, but otherwise clear, we are going to keep moving your direction.”, Amy replied.

“Roger that. Proceed to the emergency exit we'll connect there.”, Blade responded

Once all three patrols were joined at the stairwell exit Blade laid out a new plan, “Hank I think we can step this up a bit.  We'll send half your patrol up to the next floor with Landers and her patrol, the other half will go to the top floor with me.  I want you two take two men and do a recon of the basement.  There are no patient rooms, just the kitchen, cafeteria, laundry and pharmacy.  I want you to just make an initial assessment.  Understood?”

“Yes Boss.”, Hank replied.

Elise Baker was a dour middle aged woman.  In most any conversation with her it was a fair bet she would say, 'If it weren't for bad luck I wouldn't have no luck at all.', or her favorite fall back, 'I swear I was born under a dark cloud.'  Normally she worked the night shift at Tri-county hospital.  Unlike most she preferred working overnight, business was normally slow at the hospital.  As a bonus she could make someone else miserable by waking them from a sound sleep to take their vitals , or if she was real lucky a blood sample.

The day the outbreak hit she had drawn the day shift for the week.  When the dead started to rise and turmoil erupted in the hospital Elise muttered to herself, 'Like I always said if it weren't for bad luck.'.  Elise ducked into the elevator and kept her finger pressed on the emergency stop button listening to the dead and living claw at the elevator doors all the while she was screaming, 'Go away.'.  She passed away from lack of water shortly after the power went off.  When her corpse reanimated, craving flesh, it found itself trapped in this dark small box.  The thing that had been Elise Baker sat in the dark and waited.

Hank had perked up at the mention of the pharmacy and was eager to get to the basement.  Hank's son suffered from migraines. Without the right medications, almost every week the boy would spend a day or two in a dark room racked with pain.  Hazel with her herbs was able to reduce both the duration and severity, but little Henry still suffered.  Every chance he had Hank would check medicine cabinets or pharmacies, but so far was not able to turn up the needed medications. 

The hospital pharmacy located in the basement was Hank's last best hope to find medicine for his son.  When given the go ahead Hank selected two men, Clive and a big farm boy they had nicknamed Bull to accompany him.  The three moved down the stairs and when they reached the basement emergency exit, Hank peered through the cut out in the door.  Seeing no activity Hank removed the chains from the door and the three moved into the hall. 

The pharmacy, directly across the hall, was to tempting for Hank.  Both Clive and Bull had been on enough outings with Hank that they understood when he pointed at the pharmacy sign.  Hank tried the pharmacy door and found it locked.  Bull slipped a pry bar from his pack and popped the lock.  They moved in formation, but found the room empty.  A few minutes of searching and Hank secured the migraine medicine and syringes.