Left 2 Die: Part 7
Left 2 Die: Part 7
“Get in, get in!” Luke tried to reach out and grasp the last bits of unconsciousness but something pushed him into a crumpled position. He heard one door after another shut loudly; three in total and then he heard the moans that finally snapped him out of the daze the drug had put him under.
“What’s going on?” He curled up beginning to kick the people who had now joined him in the backseat of the car. The man was not happy about it in the slightest.
“If you don’t stop I swear I’ll beat you to a bloody pulp, regardless of what Dr. Oliver said.” Luke’s mind ceased fighting long enough to finally look at the person sitting next to him. William, looking no worse than the last time they had seen each other, sat with a very relieved look coming over his face. Something pounded on the car windows, and moaned hungrily. It was very dark except for the celestial bodies in the night sky and the city was pitch black, but Luke knew that zombies had the car surrounded. Movement in the front seats made him scream only to have whoever was sitting there groan inwardly.
“Can we go now?” said the stranger in the driver’s seat. The car began to shake as more bodies were clawing at the exterior trying to get in. A small woman in the passenger’s seat who was visibly shaking failed not to shriek, “Please!”
“Give me the keys, Bill!” Luke caught a sheepish look pass over the older man’s face as he fished out the keys from the many pockets of his heavy jacket. Luke just looked around horrified, his mind slowly regaining a semblance of normal processes. The engine whined on and the man hit the gas sending them jerking around the car as he gleefully ran over their pursuers.
“Who are you people? And where is Reid?”
“Well aren’t you just a ray of sunshine.” The driver responded hitting another zombie with a whoop of joy. Luke looked around noticing how cars in front and around the hospital had been forcefully moved to have a way for vehicles to move around with more ease. The car sped as quickly as possible away from the hospital, as chaos overran the streets. There were groups of men and women fighting off a hoard of roaming zombies in the streets as they tried to flee to safety. From the headlights of their hurtling car Luke noticed lab coats and camouflage uniforms. He turned back to William, seeing another woman squeezed in behind him, holding onto him for dear life.
With another jerk of the car, the woman at William’s side spoke up. “John, honey, please slow down.”
“Slow down? I’m trying to get us as far away from this hell hole. That we’re bringing her along is just crazy!”
The woman defensively crossed her arms. “I don’t like this idea any more than you do.”
“Well then we’re in agreement and you can just get out of the car!”
“John!” William could barely contain his anger, “Drive the car and shut up!”
“She helped them! They killed Maggie! We’re supposed to just let that slide? We should tie her to a lamp post and…”
“John!” Even with the warning from half of the people in the car John did not have time to avoid the stop light. Luke could just watch in horror before he was thrown forward. He ended up crumpled on the floor of the car something hard digging into his back, and another person collapsed over him. The woman, Sara if he remembered correctly as John’s wife, was not responsive as he tried to push her off of him and whatever he had landed on was slowly breaking skin. He needed to move.
“Anybody alive?” He shouted and only got half alive moaning as a response, which could have easily come from friend or foe. He shifted around until he could squeeze his hand into the space behind him. Something hit the window near his side of the car and some glass fell into his face. Craning his head back he saw the window shattered and being held together just by a thin dark film. Beyond it stood a shadowed figure curiously looking at the car. His arm twisted into a very strained position, and the pain was a sure sign that he shouldn’t be twisting his newly healed arm that way. There was no other choice as the woman had his other arm pinned to him and impossible to move. There was another groan, but this was from someone in the front seat. It sounded like William. How he had ended up there was anybody’s guess, Luke was just glad he sounded alive.
“Is everybody ok?” He grumbled, but Luke still could not see him.
“Your daughter is breathing but she’s crushing me!” Luke whined as his arm finally reached something metal. Running a finger across the shape he instantly knew what it was. His pistol and the M16 were slowly cutting their shapes into his back. He somehow moved them off to the side, and was relieved to feel Sara stir above him. She put a hand on his chest trying to haul into a sitting position, and it was cracking his sternum. Finally he just pushed her off, and she rolled over onto the seats groaning softly, “Dad”.
The figure outside had brought along some friends who were now straining the thin sheet of glass, and raining more pieces on his head. Taking the pistol he aimed and shut his eyes. He was sure he hit something because not only glass, but globs of blood hit his face. He moved into a sitting position, wiping his face with a sleeve as the car began to be rocked by the zombies that were approaching in droves. They needed to escape this death trap.
“Does anybody else have any weapons?” Sara responded by pulling out a pistol from her jacket pocket, her head still firmly held in one hand. William just grumbled in agreement as he tried to get a response from his son-in-law still slumped over the slowly deflating air bag. They needed time to regroup so slinging the automatic over his shoulder he kicked the door open knocking some clambering zombies out of his way.
He drew their attention and ran a couple paces away to get them away from the car, before unloading the automatic in their faces. He had no ammo that he knew of so this was a last ditch effort before they got the hell out of there. He was easily drawing attention to himself, even as more shooting was happening all around the hospital. He was getting too much attention and ended up fighting hand-to-hand to knock back the crowding monsters that were on him faster than he could dispose of them. Knocking one back with the end of his gun, he was too late to feel a zombie grapple him from behind. The arms were tight around his neck, the fingers digging harshly into his skin. Painfully they drew blood. He couldn’t do much but struggle, trying to fling the thing over a shoulder.
Bullets seemed to whiz by his head, and the zombie released his hold collapsing into a pile on the ground. Turning back towards the car he saw the passengers out and ready to go, but his gaze lingered on the dark skinned woman who now had an automatic in her hand. She looked haggard and extremely frightened but she held the gun like a pro, her hands still enough to shoot at such a distance, with great accuracy. Luke’s heart stilled long enough for him to angrily shout, “Never aim at a survivor,” He stopped short, as he approached the small woman dressed in scrubs and a lab coat. “Doctor,” He looked around frantically as the blood in his head began to rush, and the absence of his doctor became all the more pronounced. “Where is Dr. Oliver?”
William ran past with a semi-conscious John slung around his shoulders, “This is not the time. We need to get to safety.” Sara followed her father, weapon raised, diligently watching her boys’ backs and taking out zombies as she went along. The doctor avoided his gaze as she hurried behind the reunited family, but Luke grabbed her arm.
“Where is he?” She didn’t look at him; instead her eyes darted around frantically. For a second they landed worriedly at the hospital, and that was all Luke needed.
“Where are you going?” She exclaimed. Her voice strained against a thick accent.
“Reid,” Was all he said. He was fed up with all of this and it was time he ended it. This whole experience had taken his emotions and blended them into a fine liquid that was slowly pulsing through his veins filling him with a potent mixture that was quite unstable. He heard William try and call him back but it didn’t take long for him to give up. He had gotten what he came for. He had no claim in this fight anymore. As he felt the small women pull at his arm, her words not registering at all in his tunneled mind, he had a second of doubt.
Near death they say that life flashes before your eyes. Memories of his family and Noah were running in a loop, stuck on fast forward. But not one pleasant memory of Reid. What memories could they have? They had known each other for a week.
So what was he really trying to save?
He whipped the butt of the gun at anything that approached knocking them out of commission with broken skulls. It was like his mind was on auto-pilot, and he could surrender to it or break down. Chaudry, was that her name? She would not give up, and go back to the other survivors, she stubbornly held onto Luke, even when he tried to shake her off. As his muscles began to ache and his mind’s reel of memories began to burn out he caught her words, “mustn’t! I promised him we would leave the city. We need to get out of here.”
“Reid should know by now I don’t listen to him?” She let go and Luke pulled in front of her.
“Well I will.” He looked back, feeling time was short for some reason. She was holding up her automatic, but now it was shaking as she aimed squarely for Luke’s heart.
“I don’t know what he told you, but he’s wrong. I’ve been wrong.” He walked away, and just heard the woman choke a protest. Soon she was trudging alongside him. They spoke in low hushed tones, but only about the sudden lack of creatures. A couple of shots continued to ring out in the distance, but only the truly dead lay sprawled on the ground at their feet. The woman pulled long strands of black hair out of her face, her eyes never focused on one thing, and instead they raced beneath her lids.
The hospital was not completely dark, he noticed as they made their way around a man made car blockade to the entrance. Whatever generator the hospital had, they had found a way to keep it running for over a month. It meant keeping energy usage at a minimum, and as they made their way through the dark lobby, only one light in the distance remained. It was not enough for them to avoid the scattered remnants of the old hospital. Luke thought he had stumbled around the nurse’s station but he could not be sure. Soon Luke could only rely on Chaudry as she numbly walked through the halls, head hung low, but still expertly maneuvering around crash carts, and wheel chairs. It wasn’t long before they were up seven flights of stairs and Chaudry had begun hyperventilating.
“Are you alright?” He touched her back, but she swatted his hand away.
“I...” She heaved a giant breath, “I can’t… I don’t want to… him!” He heard a door higher up the flight heavily close shut, and Chaudry let out a cry. Luke raised his weapon the sound of footsteps coming closer to them, almost completely drowned out by the now hysterical cries. Channing came down the stairs in an almost flourish, and was smiling. When he saw Luke and the gun in his face, he had just smiled bigger. He went to embrace the doctor but Luke got in his way.
“Now, now, Mr. Snyder we wouldn’t want someone to get shot.” He fearlessly touched the barrel of the automatic and lowered it. Luke was trembling, and he wouldn’t admit to himself that he was frightened. He moved towards Chaudry, turning her to face him. She struggled weakly, but ultimately gave in to the touch.
“I knew you’d come back, Neeti, my beautiful girl.” He kissed her softly, even as she continued to sob quietly.
“Where is Reid?” Channing turned with a dangerous look on his face not having liked being interrupted from the intimate moment.
“Give me your weapons, and I’ll give you your doctor.” Chaudry cried a little louder at the command, as if telling him not to comply. He gave the automatic to the doctor and Channing pointed it back at him, “I said weapons, Mr. Snyder.”
“That’s the only one I have.”
“Bull shit. Neeti?” She stayed unusually quiet, and that in and of itself was damning enough. “Give me whatever other weapon you have?” He sighed and pulled his pistol from the hem of his jeans. The doctor looked satisfied, with two guns in his hands, and motioned for him to climb. Luke heard distant crashes far from outside the hospital and he wondered if all the people who he had seen fleeing earlier had been military personnel and hostage doctors.
They seemed utterly alone within the facility, the only souls in miles. Finally the doctor directed them onto one of the floors. There were more lights turned on here, and he could see they were on a lab floor. They passed rooms with large paned windows, showing the inside of large rooms. All the rooms were empty, but all shockingly were torn to pieces. Where counters and equipment once stood now deep scratch marks filled the walls, or whole chunks of wall were smashed to bits. One room’s wall had been torn down, as if a car had run through it. The corridor opened up into a large hall and at the far end was a figure collapsed against the wall.
“Reid!” He exclaimed. He couldn’t restrain the immediate response to go to him, and the doctor did nothing to stop him. As he approached he could see he was a bloody mess. Someone had pummeled him, leaving dark purple bruises on the visible parts of his body. They were busted and seeping blood. His face had gotten a hell of a treatment. It was bloated and when he looked up at the call of his name, one eye was swollen shut. Luke looked back at Channing who was massaging a clearly blood covered knuckle looking quite pleased with himself.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Reid rasped in what could have been taken as a shout, but the finger like bruises on his neck seemed to indicate he could not voice much more than an elevated whisper.
Luke was at a loss for words, staring in horror at the person he had come to reluctantly care for tied up and beat passed clear recognition. He pushed past the bile that choked up his throat and responded with his gaze averted. “I owed you one.”
“No, you didn’t.” Luke’s gaze snapped back to him feeling tears sting at his eyes. Channing had been hanging back, watching with a sick amusement but quickly chided as Luke went to undo the crude extension cord Channing had used to bind Reid.
“Come now Luke, it’s time to end this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A cure, a vaccine!” He cheerily responded. “Bring in the infected.” From a side door two soldiers emerged holding on to a man in a straight jacket. Another soldier followed close behind, but went straight for Luke. Luke backed away, but there was nowhere to run. The soldier stopped a little ways away, waiting to pounce if Luke decided to run.
“Luke, I tested your blood and there was something different. I had already postulated that survivors have stronger immunities to the virus,”
Reid interjected, “I postulated that,”
Luke couldn’t believe Reid was still giving lip in his position and Channing didn’t like it either. He continued with a sever edge to his voice, “But I believe that your blood produces the right anti-bodies to combat the disease completely.”
“On what grounds?” Reid spluttered sounding alarmed and sending chills up Luke’s spine. Channing rolled his eyes.
“Shut him up will you.” He ordered the soldier who stood near Luke. He fiercely knocked Reid in the mouth with his gun. Luke could only flinch, watching the blood seep from Reid’s already bruised mouth. They were outmanned, and had no weapons. He had grossly underestimated the situation. Whatever stupid plan Reid had cooked up on his own had gone wrong, and now he had thrown himself into the mix and failed just as miserably. His hands shook at his side, and it was the smallest of motions that reminded him of what he had in his pocket. Maybe. Maybe he could let William know just how dire the situation was.
“Your turn will come soon enough Oliver. You will be the control in my little experiment. Get the syringes ready with our sample Chaudry.” The soldiers took the writhing zombie into another room and obediently the small doctor followed.
“Neeti! Don’t do this, please!” Reid shouted in between spits of blood, but at the sound she had hurried along.
“You think the world owes you. The great Dr. Oliver! What do you know? Where do your loyalties lay, doctor? Not with your country, you’ve made that abundantly clear.”
“Not to you!”
“No of course not, I am a hack in your eyes correct?”
“More like a blemish on the world’s ass.”
Channing’s hands clenched and he was visibly shaking now. Rubbing a hand roughly against gruff stubble, he grossly spit, “To whom then? Young boys?”
Reid just laughed. “You’re one to talk about taking advantage of people. Look what you’ve done to Neeti. She’s a leading researcher in artificial organ technology. In the span of a month you have her polishing test tubes, and I do mean that as a euphemism for sucking your dick!” Channing raised the M16, approaching with a menacing glare.
“I haven’t done anything to her that she hasn’t wanted herself.”
“Really? She wants to stand around and watch as you willfully infect people?”
“They die so that others may live! If we could find resistant antibodies we could inoculate future generations, we could stop this.”
“You ask me where my loyalties lie. Where yours should, with the people you swore to protect. What may have started as a legitimate search for the cure became a race to outdo me. Why do you think I left? Maybe if you weren’t preoccupied with getting to an answer before me maybe this facility would have accomplished something. You’ve thrown it all away and for what!?”
“It’s not about you Reid! Not everything is about you!” Reid scoffed, but didn’t respond. “That you just walked back to me is a bonus. Him, on the other hand,” He pointed at Luke, “Wait; what are you doing?”
Luke had hoped Reid would continue to take up the doctor’s attention, and he had backed away into a shadow trying to contact William. Losing all subtlety he just began shouting, “William we’re trapped on the tenth floor of the hospital….” The soldier tackled him into the ground. The yellow device slid out of his grasp clattering onto the floor, with only static coming through. Channing handled the M16 with an awkward flourish as he unloaded bullets into the walkie-talkie. It was of little comfort that Channing was a terrible shot; it only took one bullet to make the device useless.
“Get in, get in!” Luke tried to reach out and grasp the last bits of unconsciousness but something pushed him into a crumpled position. He heard one door after another shut loudly; three in total and then he heard the moans that finally snapped him out of the daze the drug had put him under.
“What’s going on?” He curled up beginning to kick the people who had now joined him in the backseat of the car. The man was not happy about it in the slightest.
“If you don’t stop I swear I’ll beat you to a bloody pulp, regardless of what Dr. Oliver said.” Luke’s mind ceased fighting long enough to finally look at the person sitting next to him. William, looking no worse than the last time they had seen each other, sat with a very relieved look coming over his face. Something pounded on the car windows, and moaned hungrily. It was very dark except for the celestial bodies in the night sky and the city was pitch black, but Luke knew that zombies had the car surrounded. Movement in the front seats made him scream only to have whoever was sitting there groan inwardly.
“Can we go now?” said the stranger in the driver’s seat. The car began to shake as more bodies were clawing at the exterior trying to get in. A small woman in the passenger’s seat who was visibly shaking failed not to shriek, “Please!”
“Give me the keys, Bill!” Luke caught a sheepish look pass over the older man’s face as he fished out the keys from the many pockets of his heavy jacket. Luke just looked around horrified, his mind slowly regaining a semblance of normal processes. The engine whined on and the man hit the gas sending them jerking around the car as he gleefully ran over their pursuers.
“Who are you people? And where is Reid?”
“Well aren’t you just a ray of sunshine.” The driver responded hitting another zombie with a whoop of joy. Luke looked around noticing how cars in front and around the hospital had been forcefully moved to have a way for vehicles to move around with more ease. The car sped as quickly as possible away from the hospital, as chaos overran the streets. There were groups of men and women fighting off a hoard of roaming zombies in the streets as they tried to flee to safety. From the headlights of their hurtling car Luke noticed lab coats and camouflage uniforms. He turned back to William, seeing another woman squeezed in behind him, holding onto him for dear life.
With another jerk of the car, the woman at William’s side spoke up. “John, honey, please slow down.”
“Slow down? I’m trying to get us as far away from this hell hole. That we’re bringing her along is just crazy!”
The woman defensively crossed her arms. “I don’t like this idea any more than you do.”
“Well then we’re in agreement and you can just get out of the car!”
“John!” William could barely contain his anger, “Drive the car and shut up!”
“She helped them! They killed Maggie! We’re supposed to just let that slide? We should tie her to a lamp post and…”
“John!” Even with the warning from half of the people in the car John did not have time to avoid the stop light. Luke could just watch in horror before he was thrown forward. He ended up crumpled on the floor of the car something hard digging into his back, and another person collapsed over him. The woman, Sara if he remembered correctly as John’s wife, was not responsive as he tried to push her off of him and whatever he had landed on was slowly breaking skin. He needed to move.
“Anybody alive?” He shouted and only got half alive moaning as a response, which could have easily come from friend or foe. He shifted around until he could squeeze his hand into the space behind him. Something hit the window near his side of the car and some glass fell into his face. Craning his head back he saw the window shattered and being held together just by a thin dark film. Beyond it stood a shadowed figure curiously looking at the car. His arm twisted into a very strained position, and the pain was a sure sign that he shouldn’t be twisting his newly healed arm that way. There was no other choice as the woman had his other arm pinned to him and impossible to move. There was another groan, but this was from someone in the front seat. It sounded like William. How he had ended up there was anybody’s guess, Luke was just glad he sounded alive.
“Is everybody ok?” He grumbled, but Luke still could not see him.
“Your daughter is breathing but she’s crushing me!” Luke whined as his arm finally reached something metal. Running a finger across the shape he instantly knew what it was. His pistol and the M16 were slowly cutting their shapes into his back. He somehow moved them off to the side, and was relieved to feel Sara stir above him. She put a hand on his chest trying to haul into a sitting position, and it was cracking his sternum. Finally he just pushed her off, and she rolled over onto the seats groaning softly, “Dad”.
The figure outside had brought along some friends who were now straining the thin sheet of glass, and raining more pieces on his head. Taking the pistol he aimed and shut his eyes. He was sure he hit something because not only glass, but globs of blood hit his face. He moved into a sitting position, wiping his face with a sleeve as the car began to be rocked by the zombies that were approaching in droves. They needed to escape this death trap.
“Does anybody else have any weapons?” Sara responded by pulling out a pistol from her jacket pocket, her head still firmly held in one hand. William just grumbled in agreement as he tried to get a response from his son-in-law still slumped over the slowly deflating air bag. They needed time to regroup so slinging the automatic over his shoulder he kicked the door open knocking some clambering zombies out of his way.
He drew their attention and ran a couple paces away to get them away from the car, before unloading the automatic in their faces. He had no ammo that he knew of so this was a last ditch effort before they got the hell out of there. He was easily drawing attention to himself, even as more shooting was happening all around the hospital. He was getting too much attention and ended up fighting hand-to-hand to knock back the crowding monsters that were on him faster than he could dispose of them. Knocking one back with the end of his gun, he was too late to feel a zombie grapple him from behind. The arms were tight around his neck, the fingers digging harshly into his skin. Painfully they drew blood. He couldn’t do much but struggle, trying to fling the thing over a shoulder.
Bullets seemed to whiz by his head, and the zombie released his hold collapsing into a pile on the ground. Turning back towards the car he saw the passengers out and ready to go, but his gaze lingered on the dark skinned woman who now had an automatic in her hand. She looked haggard and extremely frightened but she held the gun like a pro, her hands still enough to shoot at such a distance, with great accuracy. Luke’s heart stilled long enough for him to angrily shout, “Never aim at a survivor,” He stopped short, as he approached the small woman dressed in scrubs and a lab coat. “Doctor,” He looked around frantically as the blood in his head began to rush, and the absence of his doctor became all the more pronounced. “Where is Dr. Oliver?”
William ran past with a semi-conscious John slung around his shoulders, “This is not the time. We need to get to safety.” Sara followed her father, weapon raised, diligently watching her boys’ backs and taking out zombies as she went along. The doctor avoided his gaze as she hurried behind the reunited family, but Luke grabbed her arm.
“Where is he?” She didn’t look at him; instead her eyes darted around frantically. For a second they landed worriedly at the hospital, and that was all Luke needed.
“Where are you going?” She exclaimed. Her voice strained against a thick accent.
“Reid,” Was all he said. He was fed up with all of this and it was time he ended it. This whole experience had taken his emotions and blended them into a fine liquid that was slowly pulsing through his veins filling him with a potent mixture that was quite unstable. He heard William try and call him back but it didn’t take long for him to give up. He had gotten what he came for. He had no claim in this fight anymore. As he felt the small women pull at his arm, her words not registering at all in his tunneled mind, he had a second of doubt.
Near death they say that life flashes before your eyes. Memories of his family and Noah were running in a loop, stuck on fast forward. But not one pleasant memory of Reid. What memories could they have? They had known each other for a week.
So what was he really trying to save?
He whipped the butt of the gun at anything that approached knocking them out of commission with broken skulls. It was like his mind was on auto-pilot, and he could surrender to it or break down. Chaudry, was that her name? She would not give up, and go back to the other survivors, she stubbornly held onto Luke, even when he tried to shake her off. As his muscles began to ache and his mind’s reel of memories began to burn out he caught her words, “mustn’t! I promised him we would leave the city. We need to get out of here.”
“Reid should know by now I don’t listen to him?” She let go and Luke pulled in front of her.
“Well I will.” He looked back, feeling time was short for some reason. She was holding up her automatic, but now it was shaking as she aimed squarely for Luke’s heart.
“I don’t know what he told you, but he’s wrong. I’ve been wrong.” He walked away, and just heard the woman choke a protest. Soon she was trudging alongside him. They spoke in low hushed tones, but only about the sudden lack of creatures. A couple of shots continued to ring out in the distance, but only the truly dead lay sprawled on the ground at their feet. The woman pulled long strands of black hair out of her face, her eyes never focused on one thing, and instead they raced beneath her lids.
The hospital was not completely dark, he noticed as they made their way around a man made car blockade to the entrance. Whatever generator the hospital had, they had found a way to keep it running for over a month. It meant keeping energy usage at a minimum, and as they made their way through the dark lobby, only one light in the distance remained. It was not enough for them to avoid the scattered remnants of the old hospital. Luke thought he had stumbled around the nurse’s station but he could not be sure. Soon Luke could only rely on Chaudry as she numbly walked through the halls, head hung low, but still expertly maneuvering around crash carts, and wheel chairs. It wasn’t long before they were up seven flights of stairs and Chaudry had begun hyperventilating.
“Are you alright?” He touched her back, but she swatted his hand away.
“I...” She heaved a giant breath, “I can’t… I don’t want to… him!” He heard a door higher up the flight heavily close shut, and Chaudry let out a cry. Luke raised his weapon the sound of footsteps coming closer to them, almost completely drowned out by the now hysterical cries. Channing came down the stairs in an almost flourish, and was smiling. When he saw Luke and the gun in his face, he had just smiled bigger. He went to embrace the doctor but Luke got in his way.
“Now, now, Mr. Snyder we wouldn’t want someone to get shot.” He fearlessly touched the barrel of the automatic and lowered it. Luke was trembling, and he wouldn’t admit to himself that he was frightened. He moved towards Chaudry, turning her to face him. She struggled weakly, but ultimately gave in to the touch.
“I knew you’d come back, Neeti, my beautiful girl.” He kissed her softly, even as she continued to sob quietly.
“Where is Reid?” Channing turned with a dangerous look on his face not having liked being interrupted from the intimate moment.
“Give me your weapons, and I’ll give you your doctor.” Chaudry cried a little louder at the command, as if telling him not to comply. He gave the automatic to the doctor and Channing pointed it back at him, “I said weapons, Mr. Snyder.”
“That’s the only one I have.”
“Bull shit. Neeti?” She stayed unusually quiet, and that in and of itself was damning enough. “Give me whatever other weapon you have?” He sighed and pulled his pistol from the hem of his jeans. The doctor looked satisfied, with two guns in his hands, and motioned for him to climb. Luke heard distant crashes far from outside the hospital and he wondered if all the people who he had seen fleeing earlier had been military personnel and hostage doctors.
They seemed utterly alone within the facility, the only souls in miles. Finally the doctor directed them onto one of the floors. There were more lights turned on here, and he could see they were on a lab floor. They passed rooms with large paned windows, showing the inside of large rooms. All the rooms were empty, but all shockingly were torn to pieces. Where counters and equipment once stood now deep scratch marks filled the walls, or whole chunks of wall were smashed to bits. One room’s wall had been torn down, as if a car had run through it. The corridor opened up into a large hall and at the far end was a figure collapsed against the wall.
“Reid!” He exclaimed. He couldn’t restrain the immediate response to go to him, and the doctor did nothing to stop him. As he approached he could see he was a bloody mess. Someone had pummeled him, leaving dark purple bruises on the visible parts of his body. They were busted and seeping blood. His face had gotten a hell of a treatment. It was bloated and when he looked up at the call of his name, one eye was swollen shut. Luke looked back at Channing who was massaging a clearly blood covered knuckle looking quite pleased with himself.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Reid rasped in what could have been taken as a shout, but the finger like bruises on his neck seemed to indicate he could not voice much more than an elevated whisper.
Luke was at a loss for words, staring in horror at the person he had come to reluctantly care for tied up and beat passed clear recognition. He pushed past the bile that choked up his throat and responded with his gaze averted. “I owed you one.”
“No, you didn’t.” Luke’s gaze snapped back to him feeling tears sting at his eyes. Channing had been hanging back, watching with a sick amusement but quickly chided as Luke went to undo the crude extension cord Channing had used to bind Reid.
“Come now Luke, it’s time to end this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A cure, a vaccine!” He cheerily responded. “Bring in the infected.” From a side door two soldiers emerged holding on to a man in a straight jacket. Another soldier followed close behind, but went straight for Luke. Luke backed away, but there was nowhere to run. The soldier stopped a little ways away, waiting to pounce if Luke decided to run.
“Luke, I tested your blood and there was something different. I had already postulated that survivors have stronger immunities to the virus,”
Reid interjected, “I postulated that,”
Luke couldn’t believe Reid was still giving lip in his position and Channing didn’t like it either. He continued with a sever edge to his voice, “But I believe that your blood produces the right anti-bodies to combat the disease completely.”
“On what grounds?” Reid spluttered sounding alarmed and sending chills up Luke’s spine. Channing rolled his eyes.
“Shut him up will you.” He ordered the soldier who stood near Luke. He fiercely knocked Reid in the mouth with his gun. Luke could only flinch, watching the blood seep from Reid’s already bruised mouth. They were outmanned, and had no weapons. He had grossly underestimated the situation. Whatever stupid plan Reid had cooked up on his own had gone wrong, and now he had thrown himself into the mix and failed just as miserably. His hands shook at his side, and it was the smallest of motions that reminded him of what he had in his pocket. Maybe. Maybe he could let William know just how dire the situation was.
“Your turn will come soon enough Oliver. You will be the control in my little experiment. Get the syringes ready with our sample Chaudry.” The soldiers took the writhing zombie into another room and obediently the small doctor followed.
“Neeti! Don’t do this, please!” Reid shouted in between spits of blood, but at the sound she had hurried along.
“You think the world owes you. The great Dr. Oliver! What do you know? Where do your loyalties lay, doctor? Not with your country, you’ve made that abundantly clear.”
“Not to you!”
“No of course not, I am a hack in your eyes correct?”
“More like a blemish on the world’s ass.”
Channing’s hands clenched and he was visibly shaking now. Rubbing a hand roughly against gruff stubble, he grossly spit, “To whom then? Young boys?”
Reid just laughed. “You’re one to talk about taking advantage of people. Look what you’ve done to Neeti. She’s a leading researcher in artificial organ technology. In the span of a month you have her polishing test tubes, and I do mean that as a euphemism for sucking your dick!” Channing raised the M16, approaching with a menacing glare.
“I haven’t done anything to her that she hasn’t wanted herself.”
“Really? She wants to stand around and watch as you willfully infect people?”
“They die so that others may live! If we could find resistant antibodies we could inoculate future generations, we could stop this.”
“You ask me where my loyalties lie. Where yours should, with the people you swore to protect. What may have started as a legitimate search for the cure became a race to outdo me. Why do you think I left? Maybe if you weren’t preoccupied with getting to an answer before me maybe this facility would have accomplished something. You’ve thrown it all away and for what!?”
“It’s not about you Reid! Not everything is about you!” Reid scoffed, but didn’t respond. “That you just walked back to me is a bonus. Him, on the other hand,” He pointed at Luke, “Wait; what are you doing?”
Luke had hoped Reid would continue to take up the doctor’s attention, and he had backed away into a shadow trying to contact William. Losing all subtlety he just began shouting, “William we’re trapped on the tenth floor of the hospital….” The soldier tackled him into the ground. The yellow device slid out of his grasp clattering onto the floor, with only static coming through. Channing handled the M16 with an awkward flourish as he unloaded bullets into the walkie-talkie. It was of little comfort that Channing was a terrible shot; it only took one bullet to make the device useless.