Day 20: Endless Night

“What about him?” Troy asked, motioning towards the guard.

“We need to take care of it,” Matthew replied.

“Take care of him?” Avery asked. “He was conscious and talking a second ago.”

“Yeah and Lorelei was just sitting there complaining about her face. If he’s been bitten, he will turn. It’s as simple as that. I’m not taking any chances with my life.”

“Yeah but…”

“How about this,” Matthew interrupted Avery’s rebuttal, “We put it to a vote. All in favor of seeing if the guard can be saved, raise your hands.” Natalie, Troy and Matthew’s hands remained at their sides and he nodded. “Majority rules.”

“Fine, but you’re doing it,” Avery sighed and backed out of the room.

“I’m ok with that.” Wiping his blade on Lorelei’s shirt, Matthew took one step forward and promptly ducked. The guard had regained consciousness and gotten to his knees. Aiming his weapon, he fired at Matthew who threw himself beside the desk.

Another shot rang out and the others quickly dove for cover. “You’re not killing me!” Homer yelled as he fired a third shot into the hallway. “Stay back unless you want a gut full of lead!”

“Fuck me, he’s shooting at us!” Troy shouted the obvious. “Since when do security guards carry guns?”

“Since we had a man walk in off the streets and put a bullet in three nurses and two doctors to get to one of the patients in the ER,” Natalie answered. “The victim came in with a gunshot wound to the neck he was critical but stable. Twenty minutes later the shooter came to finish the job.”

Matthew listened and waited. He heard the sound of the magazine eject from the gun and before the guard could reload a second, he was on his feet. Racing across the desk, he kicked the weapon away from the man and tackled him to the ground. “Please! Please!” Homer begged. “Don’t kill me.”

Matthew stood, snatched the gun from the floor and pinned the man against the wall. “Were you bitten?”

“What?”

“There is a lot of blood leading into this room and even more in the other hallway. WERE YOU BITTEN?”

“Yes!” Homer yelled. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“It means, you’re going to become one of them!” Matthew yelled, holding the man beneath him as he continued struggling against the floor.

“That’s crazy! I feel fine. Look at me! I’m not sick, please,” he pleaded. “I don’t want to die.”

“I’m sorry. But there’s really no other way to be sure.” Backing up just enough to reach his knife, Matthew closed his eyes, said a silent prayer and stabbed Homer through the back of his skull. The man stopped fidgeting and a dark, red puddle formed beneath him. “Hey, Natalie! Get in here, I want you to see this.”

She came quickly and knelt over the desk where Matthew was. “Take a look at this. Does that seem normal to you?”

“No. His blood was already starting to coagulate inside of him. I think that might be the virus or whatever this thing is that’s turning everybody. It’s definitely blood-borne. So far we’ve seen it contracted through saliva in bites but…if those things were to scratch you, it could very well cause infection as well. Now, everyone is different but…depending on when he was bitten, we could establish an approximation for when you actually turn.”

“It’s just too bad you can’t ask him,” Avery sneered and walked back out the door.

“Is there a cure?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a doctor and I really don’t know what it is for sure.”

“I’m willing to bet it’s some government experiment,” Matthew said.

“Conspiracy much?” Troy replied.

“Hey, you have NO idea the shit I’ve seen. Me and the other Cabot Creek Survivalists…”

“What a surprise, you’re part of a militia,” Troy rolled his eyes.

“Look you…”

“Stop it!” Natalie shouted over both men, stepping between them to give them some distance. “This isn’t getting us anywhere.” Pulling open the desk drawer, she shuffled the contents around until her fingers touched on a small brass key. “Yes! This opens one of the family waiting rooms up here. Let’s get there and get safe and then we can figure out what to do.”

“Great idea. I think we should hit up that café you mentioned first,” Matthew suggested. He grabbed the extra magazine off the security guard’s belt and tucked it into his pocket before starting after the others. They made it to the administration wing without incident and went to work gathering what food and supplies they could find, but it wasn’t much.

“When you said café, I immediately thought at best deli sandwiches and at worst day old doughnuts,” Troy started as he came around the corner with a box in his hands. “I never once thought someone would have beaten us to the punch!”

“What? There’s no food?” Natalie asked, looking through the box of tea bags and coffee grounds. “Now what are we going to do?”

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