Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) (22 page)

  
I was suddenly certain that something
else
was going to go wrong, something far worse than the
brutal assault,
recently dislocated shoulder
,
and ugly blister I
had recently endured
. The three people with me seemed to feel the same as no one moved. They simply stared at the assortment of
beautifully shining
medical
buildings.

   “Should we wait till dark?” I asked quietly.

  
“I don’t think it matters,” Lloyd answered.

   “I just want to get this over with,” Jenna breathed. “We’ve come so far.”

   I swallowed heavily and managed a small nod. “Yes, we have.”

  
Lloyd began to make his way slowly down the hill. Bret and Jenna followed him; I reluctantly took up the rear. My gun was strapped around me again, but the weight I had once found reassuring now seemed like a mere toy. I had seen what those things could do, I had
felt
the pain they were capable of inflicting. A pain that I could still feel tingling through the very marrow of my bones
, a pain I
knew I
would never forget
.
It
was
not
like
having
a sprained ankle or broken bone,
or even a torn ligament,
it was a memory
that w
ould not fade
with
time and would haunt me for the rest of my days.

   No wonder that man
Cade and I had seen on the street (the only we know to have been unfrozen),
had been awakened by the brutal assault that the creature had inflicted upon it.
Cade had attempted to awaken Peter
, his old boss,
by burning him
,
but it h
ad failed. I understood why now. T
he brand I sported
on my shoulder
was nothing compared to the
lingering pain from when
that
thing
had forced its
way
into my body.
The
people
were frozen, completely immobile
to us
, but that kind of pain was
something that we could never manage to inflict
no matter how hard we tried
. Of
that I was certain
.

   What I wasn’t certain of was whether The Frozen Ones were dead or not. The
man that had reawakened was proof that they
had originally been alive, trapped within their own bodies, but that had been over a month ago. They may still be frozen, immobile statues, but they had to be dead by now. Didn’t they?
They hadn’t eaten, hadn’t gone to the bathroom
;
hadn’t even
breathed
in so long
.
B
ut could they
somehow
still be alive? Possibly even aware of their surroundings?

   I shuddered at the thought; goose
bumps broke out on my flesh. For a moment the world lurched and swayed, my stomach heaved violently
at the thought of being trapped like that
.
It was the worst thing I could ever imagine happening to me. The endless torture they were enduring if they were aware of their surroundings. I’d rather be dead.

  
I didn’t want to die.

   The thought slammed into me. For the first time I realized that it was completely true. I had been going through the motions, surviving because it was expected, hoping because there had been hope to have,
but all the while there had been a deadened hole inside of me. There had been an emptiness that kept me teetering on the edge of a dark precipice. The hole, the emptiness would always be there, I knew that. But I wanted to live, I wanted to
survive
.
I wasn’t ready for this to be the end
and I was very afraid of what the hospital held for us
.
I should be elated we had reached our goal, I was nearly certain that we wouldn’t be leaving the building.

  
Tears burned my eyes and throat;
I kept my head bowed as I watched every step I took carefully.
I didn’t realize we had made it to the bottom
of the hill
until the ground leveled out before me. The day was growing
steadily
darker
.
Lloyd stopped to survey the buildings, his eyes narrowed as he knelt
to
rest one hand upon the ground.

   “Does anyone know the layout?”

   “I’ve been here once
before
,
when my mom’s friend had a baby. If you want to know where the maternity ward is, I’m your guy.”
   Lloyd scowled at Bret before turning his attention back to the hospital. “Bishop said that the
pathology and laboratory department
s were
where we
woul
d find the things we need
. They’re probably located in the main building, basement.
Hopefully,
”
I added.

   “Now that is useful info,” Lloyd muttered.

   We slipped silently through the darkening day, hurrying through the deepening shadows as we stayed low and scurried across the ground.
Lloyd reached the doors first
.
H
e didn
’
t hesitate, as I would have, before plunging into the dark interior. Bret followed swiftly behind but Jenna balked slightly before disappearing
after
them.

   I took a deep breath and plunged forward, half afraid that something was going to snag me as soon as I stepped inside. Instead, I entered a world o
f utter chaos and destruction. I skid to a halt
behind Bret
;
the squeak of my sneakers
on the linoleum floor
as loud as a gunshot
in the eerily silent hall
.
I winced involuntarily, bracing myself for something to come rushing at us out of the dark.
Nothing moved, nothing stirred; there was nothing left to make a sound.

  
“What the hell?” Jenna whispered.

 
The hall was a mess. There didn’t appear to be one inch of floor that wasn’t littered with some type of debris
.
Papers, medical tools, clothes, blankets, mattresses, pillows, and so many
other
numerous things covered the floor that it was hard to differentiate one from another.
It looked as if a bomb had gone off
, but I knew it was something far worse and far more sinister
.

   “My God,” Jenna breathed her hand flying to her mouth as she came to the same
sickening
realization that I just had.

   It wasn’t a bomb that had gone off in here, but a feeding frenzy that had left th
e halls devoid of any life, devoid of any hope
.

   “Let’s get this over with, quickly.” Lloyd’s words made sense, but no one moved.

  
I didn’t want to
move through
the blood
that splattered the walls and floor
, didn’t want to
pick my way through
the discarded clothing
; didn’t want to touch the remnants of the dead.
I wanted to close my eyes and block out everything before me,
but
it was now
seared
permanently
into my mind
. I did not want to hear the resounding screams that had once filled this h
a
l
l
, but they echoed
through my mind
. I was shaking as I took a step back.
The blood, the horror, the massacre that had occ
urred here nearly drove me to my knees beneath the crushing weight of despair that was trying to consume me.

   The pain. Remnants of it lingered on the blood streaked walls. Remnants of
i
t
pulsed
with a
n answering rhythm
in the
very
marrow of my bones. The horrendous agony of what the
se people
had experienced
w
ould
forever
be
absorbed into the sterile white walls
of this institution
.
The place felt haunted, as if the lost souls
were
trapped
here
.
F
orever
ensnared
within the last horrifying moments of their lives.
I could feel
their
lost
souls brushing against me;
feel their
misery and torment
as they remained caged within
this awful place
.
For eternity.
They’d
had no chance, no hope of escaping
. Whatever had swept through here had been rapid and it had been devastating.
And it had relished in hurting them.

  
Almost as bad as the lingering agony
,
and lost souls
,
was the smell. The copper tang of blood
filled the hall;
it was potent within my nostrils and on my tongue. T
here was something rotting
somewhere
, multiple something
’
s
probably,
m
ultiple t
hings that I did
not
want to see.
Jenna was so pale
that
the blue veins in her eyelids were
sharply
visible
.
H
er lips were nearly the same color as her face
as they trembled
;
her eyes were filled
with unshed tears
.