Day 24: Incurable

A loud crash echoed through the empty hallway and everyone turned. “What was that?” Natalie asked.

Matthew stepped in front of her, hand clutched on the butt of the guard’s gun, he moved closer towards the door. “Hello?”

“Are you serious? You don’t go shouting ‘hello’ when you’re investigating noises!” Troy groaned. “Are you expecting them to reply? They don’t talk!”

“What is it?” Avery asked as Matthew snatched open the door to the storage locker.

“A stairwell.”

“Wait, you’re not seriously thinking about going down there are you?” Avery asked, watching Matthew check the load on his weapon and step inside the door. “You have no idea what’s down there!”

“Hence the reason I’m going to see,” Matthew sighed and started forward. Troy dropped the crate to the countertop and he and Natalie followed down after him. The stairs led to an employee’s only section of the hospital where the laundry and maintenance rooms were located. At the end of the hallway was an elevator. The lights indicated it was headed to the basement.

“Shit! Something’s in there!” Avery said, backpedaling towards the stairs. “We need to get out of here. This is stupid.”

“As stupid as it would be to go upstairs and starve to death? If someone else is alive in this place, we need to figure out what kind of threat they pose.”

“And what makes you think whatever’s in there is still alive?”

“Because last time I checked, these things weren’t smart enough to use an elevator,” Matthew snarled, watching Avery sniveling beside the door. “It’s up to you whether or not you follow us. Feel free to stay here by yourself but if not, man the fuck up and let’s go!”

The elevator stopped in the basement and slowly the group exited. Retrieving his knife from his boot, Matthew handed it to Natalie and instructed her to stay at his side. “Where is this?” Troy asked, keeping his head down as he moved.

“The morgue,” Natalie replied.

“Great,” Avery huffed. “Perfect place for us to die.”

“Will you shut the hell up?” Matthew snapped. “No one’s dying down here.”

“Yeah, ok. Just remember you said that.” As Avery trekked behind, the cuff of his shirt caught on a loose nail and he screamed, bumping into a tray of medical tools and knocking it to the floor. The loud bang and clinking metal had a chain reaction as just in front of them, a door slammed shut and the sound of a lock clicked into place.

“STAY BACK! STAY AWAY!” A voice shouted from the other side of the door.

“Hey, we’re cool man, everyone’s cool,” Matthew shouted back.

“No, nothing is cool. Don’t come any closer, I mean it.”

“We’re just trying to help. We didn’t know anyone else was in here,” Natalie tried, taking a step forward. Matthew placed an arm around her waist and gently pulled her back, keeping her out of harm’s way.

“How long have you been down here?” Matthew continued moving forward. “Are there any more people with you?”

“I SAID STAY BACK!”

It was then the group noticed the security camera in the corner of the hallway. The man was keeping an eye on them. “Look, man, we’re not going to hurt you. We just want to help,” Troy said.

“There’s no help for me; not anymore.”

“What does that mean?” Matthew asked.

“Those things…they…it’s incurable. It got Arnold. I watched the fever grow until it finally overtook him. But I put him out of misery. I did that for him.” Something rattled behind the door followed by a loud thump. A bullet exploded through the glass and Matthew fell back, pulling Natalie with him.

“AVERY!” Natalie shouted, watching him fall. Immediately, she rushed to his side but it was too late. Blood poured from his head and his eyes rolled back.

“I’M SORRY, I-I DIDN’T MEAN…” another shot erupted and Matthew charged forward. Kicking the door in, he was met with a gruesome scene. The man had swallowed his gun and blood and brains was splattered against the wall.

“Shit,” he sighed and turned his back to the sight.

“He’s gone,” Natalie said, looking up at him.

“That makes both of them,” Matthew replied.

“Damn, I guess he was right,” Troy said, frowning. “He did die down here.”

Matthew turned, re-entering the morgue. Collecting a sheet, he tossed it over the coroner’s body and grabbed the gun from his side. “Here,” he said, handing it to Troy. He tossed his bat, checked the magazine and nodded.

Stepping closer to the freezer, Troy opened the door marked “Arnold.” A thick cloud of frozen air billowed out and evaporated. “Oh shit!” he yelled and jumped back as the frozen, partially eaten, corpse fell from the freezer. Food wrappers, rodent feces and the stench of death quickly followed. “Geez. I guess we know where the food went.” A scratching sound echoed above them and everyone turned.

“What was that?” Matthew asked, looking up at the ceiling.

“It sounded like something crawling through the AC vents,” Natalie responded.

“Shit, do you think rats or other animals for that matter could, you know, carry the infection?” Troy asked.

“It’s very possible,” Natalie replied. “Even before the outbreak, there were diseases that were very transmissible from animals to humans.”

“So if that’s more rats…” Troy said, letting the rest of his statement hang in the air.

“Those vents run the entire length of the hospital. If something’s in there, they could find us no matter where we go,” Natalie replied.

“She’s right,” Matthew sighed. “I hate to say it, but I don’t think we’re safe here anymore.”

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