PRIME (35 page)

“Maybe.” Tech nodded. “We’ve had the virus, so our senses are probably heightened too.”

“What if it kills us too?” Simon asked softly. Tessa squeezed his hand.

“Then we don’t have anything else to worry about.” Dodge clapped Simon on the back and forced a grin. Everyone be ready,” Dodge ordered. “This is going to get messy.”

*

There were a dozen zombies in the entrance way of the hospital and another five in the waiting room. Alice and the others cut through them quickly. It wasn’t until they reached the hall behind the no admittance door that they ran into problems. The hallway was too narrow for the guns to be much use except in the most desperate situation. They took the zombies on hand-to-hand as they forced their way down the hall.

“Ian, duck!” Alice cried and the boy dodged the hands of the zombie, leaving them to close on empty air where his throat had been. Ian stood and dug his knife into the side of the zombie’s head. There was a sickening crunch as its skull caved under the impact. It crumpled to the floor, and Ian brought the knife down into its skull a few more times for good measure.

Alice kicked the leg of the zombie that was trying to tear her throat out and heard the satisfying snap of bone. It fell to one knee, giving her a chance to jam her knife into its eye. She pulled out her knife and moved forward without looking back. Another one reached for her, and she dug her knife up through its jaw before he had a good grip. She didn’t see the third coming from the side. Its dirty nails tore her shirt and got her into a bear hug. Up close it reeked like weeks old trash. It brought its mouth towards her throat; teeth snapping for a bite of flesh. In a panic, she head butted the thing. It backed away, momentarily stunned. She saw a hand wrap around its neck. A blade flashed in the dim light, slicing through its throat and severing the spine before letting the thing drop.

“Come on.” Zero took her arm and pulled her forward. They caught up with Cale and Quigley, heading for the lab.

“We gotta move,” Ian said to Grace as Alice and the others disappeared around the corner.

Grace nodded and started sprinting after them. Up ahead, Quigley rounded the corner, returning for Grace.

“We’re good,” Grace called. “Keep moving.” Quigley nodded and turned the corner again just as there was a crash behind Grace. She turned back.

A door leading to another hallway had just crashed open, spilling a half dozen zombies into the hall right beside Ian. His eyes widened as hands gripped his shoulders and tugged him back. Grace lifted her gun without worrying about ricochet and fired two shots down the hall towards him as she ran to help. The two zombies who had a hold of him fell back and Ian took a few steps before one of the fallen zombies grabbed him around his ankle. Ian crashed to the floor, crying out as teeth dug into his calves.

“Ian!” Grace reached the boy and grabbed his hands, trying to tug him free. She let out a scream of anger and frustration.

It was no use; the zombies had swarmed the moment Ian fell. They covered his body, tearing through his skin. His screams blended with the liquid squish of teeth and nails through flesh until blood filled his mouth, cutting the sound off in a gurgle.

One of the zombies was reaching for Grace before she could get back on her feet.

Grace’s scream brought the others to a halt. They rushed back the way they had come. Quigley was in the lead as they rounded the corner. Grace was on her feet, a zombie pulling its way up her body. She beat frantically at it, trying to free herself. Either she had lost her weapons or forgotten about them. Quigley skidded to a stop and lifted his gun just as the zombie tore into Grace’s arm below the shoulder. He took aim and squeezed the trigger once.

The zombie fell back, taking a chunk of Grace’s arm with it. Grace stumbled backwards in shock, staring as blood flowed freely from the wound. An apple sized piece of her upper arm was gone. Quigley grabbed Grace before she could sink to the floor and pulled her towards the others.

“Go, go, go!” Quigley yelled. They turned and ran back the way they had come.

The hallway in front of them was blessedly free of zombies, and they hurried to the third lab. The door was wide open and welcoming.

They ran into the lab, and stopped short. The room was thick with zombies. Alice couldn’t shake the feeling that these zombies had known they were coming. They’d waited for them. It was worse than Cale had described. The zombies weren’t only functioning, they were planning. Any fear the realization might have brought was trumped by a desperate need to fight for her life. The others were a blur. Alice felt Zero let go of her arm. She pushed the zombie in front of her, shoving it off balance so it tumbled backwards. The thing fell to the ground, pulling another zombie down with it. Without giving herself time to think, Alice lifted her foot and brought it down on the first zombie’s head. It took two tries. The feeling of its skull cracking beneath her foot sickened her..

She stomped on the other one the same way and moved towards Zero as he jammed his knife into the soft jaw of a female zombie and shoved it away. He lost his grip on the blood slick handle of his knife and it fell away as Zero, now weaponless, turned to face another zombie. It lumbered toward him and Zero backed up, hands flailing for a weapon. Alice moved quickly, putting herself between the zombie and Zero. It was Alice’s height with tangled hair to its shoulders. She wrapped her hand in the zombie’s long hair and yanked. It fell to the ground and she brought her foot down on its skull.

“We gotta get down now,” Cale called from the top of the stairway. He had shoved the door open as far as he could, and at the moment there was a clear path from them to him. Behind Alice and Zero, Quigley was doing his best to fend off the zombies without letting go of Grace. He was failing miserably. Alice looked for Ian, but didn’t see any sign of him. She hoped he was already heading down the stairs with Cale.

“Go.” Zero shoved Alice toward Cale and hurried back toward Quigley. He grabbed a pen from a desk and punched one zombie in the cheek with it, and then again in the eye. The thing stumbled backwards, blinded. He took Grace from Quigley. Together they hauled her toward the stairway as the zombies followed behind them. Zombies poured in from the hallway, picking their way over the fallen.

Cale hurried down the stairs, Alice right on his heels. He lifted the radio to his mouth. “We’re right outside your door, and we got some bad company.”

Inside the basement lab, Dodge stared numbly at the radio. Help was right outside the door. Everything they had waited for was only feet away, but he couldn’t decide if they should open the door. As long as the door was closed they were safe. His eyes ticked toward the machine. The green light was still dark. If he didn’t open the door though, whoever was outside the door would die, of that much he was certain.

“Open the door,” Simon shouted, his face as panicked as the man’s voice had sounded.

“We can’t.” Dodge could feel his own panic rising and he fought to push it back. “You heard him; the zombies are right behind them. If we open that door, we’ll be letting death in.”

Simon strode up to Dodge, eyes blazing. Though he only came to Dodge’s chest it felt as if he was staring him in eyes. “If you don’t open that door they will all die, and it will be your fault.” Simon spoke softly, but with a force that Dodge couldn’t ignore. “My sister will die, and it will be all your fault,” Simon continued, his voice rising. “Now open the God damn fucking door.”

Dodge stood, floored for a moment, realizing it was the only time he had ever heard Simon swear. Simon was still up against him, breathing heavily, barely containing his rage at Dodge for not immediately opening the door.

Dodge gave him a small smile. “Alright.”

He pushed past Simon and sprinted to the door. He swiped the key card and took a hold of the handle. “Everyone remember to cover Tech.” Dodge pushed open the door, letting hell inside.

For a frightening moment, it seemed like the door wasn’t going to open. It felt painfully obvious to Cale that they would all die in the small stairwell so close to safety, but with no hope of being saved. Then the door swung open. The children fanned out, giving them room to get inside. Before they could get the door shut, the zombies were flowing through as well. Zero dropped Grace against the wall and spun to face the zombies.

Dodge quickly realized he should have armed the kids with knives. The guns were going to be little help, but it was too late. When he saw Tyson and Red beating the hell out of a zombie with their guns, he smiled. He turned and swung his gun at a zombie. He caught it hard enough in the jaw that he heard it snap. Its lower jaw hung loosely. He hit it again.

Alice could see Simon, but she hardly recognized him. It wasn’t just the dirt that covered his face, or the way his hair had grown wildly. It was in the way he moved and way he handled himself. He still looked like a child, but every time she glanced at him, he seemed older. He fought side by side with a young girl. The girl beat the zombies to the ground with a bat and Simon pressed the barrel of a handgun to their skull and fire. It immobilized the zombies without risking a ricochet. She saw others adopting this technique. Soon she and Zero were working together to thin the flow.

Tech knelt by the machine, hitting his knees and muttering for the green light to turn on. He glanced up at the mayhem around him and froze, fear overwhelming him. All around him the other kids and the grownups were fighting furiously. A pile of zombie bodies was growing on the ground, but it didn’t seem like they were getting anywhere. For every zombie they took out, one or more forced their way through the door. He shook his head, forcing himself to focus on the light again.

“Shoot him,” Tessa yelped.

The zombie she’d been beating finally fell to the ground. Simon was over him in a moment. He stared at the zombie, could it really be? The zombie looked like his dad with the same dirty blond hair and stubble of beard. Simon’s heart hammered. Was he looking at his dad?

“Simon, shoot it!” Tessa cried as the thing started to sit up. He pressed his gun to the creature’s skull. For one more second, he paused, wondering if he was holding the gun to his dad’s head. It didn’t matter anymore. He squeezed the trigger. Blood and brain matter exploded from under the thing’s skull as Simon stepped away.

Tessa spun, looking for the closest zombie to target. The butt of the gun came out of nowhere. It was on a back swing, but still held plenty of force. Her head rocked as the gun connected with the side of her skull. She took a step back, stumbled over a fallen zombie and fell backwards. Her head collided with the wall, a sick crack echoing through her head as the room started to fade around her. Tessa fumbled up to touch the wound. Pain sliced through her and her fingers came back sticky and red, just as she had feared. Her hand dropped, even though she was trying to hold it up. The room went black.

“Tessa!” Simon lurched towards her as she slumped against the wall. Fingers tangled in the back on his shirt and tugged him backwards. He spun and found himself facing a zombie. Without a thought to hurting anyone else, he fired a shot into the thing’s head and turned back to Tessa. Another zombie was dragging her out the door. Her head left a bloody trail along the floor that other zombies dropped to lick up. Simon climbed over them, desperate to catch Tessa.

Alice saw Simon trying to fight his way through the door and ran after him. There were too many out there. Even if he made it to the stairway, he would never escape.

“Cale, stop Simon,” she called.

Cale was closer to the door. He beat at the zombie he was fighting and gave her a confused look. Alice pointed after Simon; Cale nodded. He got the zombie to the ground and stomped twice on its head. When it was still, Cale lurched toward the door.

Simon was almost to Tessa when he felt hands grab him. He began to kick wildly. Simon jerked around, ready to fire, but surprised to see it was one of the men Alice had brought. Simon kicked again. He didn’t want to shoot the guy, but he wasn’t opposed to doing some harm if it meant he could go after Tessa.

“Let me go,” Simon cried.

“It’s not safe out there, Simon,” Cale tried to soothe him, though the way he was shouting couldn’t have soothed anyone. The kid was panicked, but Cale wasn’t about to let him die. Zombies began to notice them.

“She’s gonna die,” Simon cried desperately. “She’s gonna die like everyone else.” Simon couldn’t help the tears that fell. He could just see the sole of Tessa’s shoe disappearing at the foot of the stairs and all his hope was going with it. Simon let the man drag him back to his chest and begun punching him furiously.