The Demented Z (Book 2): Desolation (Book 2) (12 page)

Infected outside began rushing the window.
  Several let out loud huffs, calling to those
around them. There was a loud smack as
all the bodies slammed into one another trying to enter through the
window. Several infected spilled through
the opening and crashed down on top of Zeus and Suit.
  The dog let out a loud
yelp
and began trying to backpedal out from under the pile.

Tom dropped the phone handset and began to climb out from
under the desk. His rifle barrel caught
on the edge of the desk. Dropping a bit
lower, he got free. He quickly drew his
revolver and stood.

Infected continued to spill through the opening.
  Some had gotten caught up in the jagged
glass, ripping open their flesh. Dark
blood spilled from wicked wounds. Zeus’s
black and brown rear end still protruded from the growing mound of bodies.

Hesitating briefly, Tom debated whether he should leave the
dog and make a break for it. Not only
did he feel close to the dog, like they shared a long friendship, but a dog
could also be a very useful tool. Rather
than fire a shot and draw more attention, Tom rushed over to Zeus and grabbed
him by the tail. With a hefty tug he was
able to pull the dog out from under the infected.

Once freed, Zeus immediately snapped at the nearest
infected, biting into a woman’s exposed leg.

“No!   Zeus Come!”
  Tom shouted as he turned for the office
door. Racing through the doorway, Tom
was glad to feel Zeus brush past his legs.  
Tom tried to slam the door closed, but one of the demented had already
covered the short distance and had part of his body blocking the door.
   Using his shoulder and legs, Tom desperately
tried to get the door to closed.
  A hideous, filth covered arm reached through
the opening, trying to grab Tom. There
was a
thud
and the door rocked back
toward Tom several inches.

Zeus came back and began barking loudly.

Tom was not sure if the dog was barking at the demented or
at him in an attempt to get him to run for it.  
The door continued to shake as the demented shoved and banged at it from
the other side. Tom’s boots began
sliding across the tile floor.    With one
final shove, Tom broke away from the door and made for the housekeeping utility
room. Zeus turned and rushed ahead of
him.

The door burst open behind Tom and slammed against the wall
with a loud crash. Infected spilled
through the opening. With the door no
longer propping them up, the first ones scattered to the floor.
  Their brethren showed no sympathy, climbing
over their bodies in a rush. Angry
growls filled the small space.

Racing around the shelving, Tom was startled to see Eddie
waiting there, weapon drawn. Tom would
have bet everything he had, which wasn’t much anymore, that Eddie would have
split the very second things went bad.  
“Help me push this.”   Tom shouted
as he rounded the corner.

Both men shoved against the steel shelving.
  It was surprisingly heavy loaded with
cleaning supplies, but with dogged determination it began to teeter.
  A final grunt of exertion from Tom, and the
entire unit toppled over on top of the initial wave of demented.
  The blockade would only slow the
onslaught. More demented were already
beginning to climb over the shelving.  
Scattered supplies, shelving rails, and the reaching arms of the
demented trapped beneath made for difficult climbing.

“We gotta jet.”
  Eddie shouted.

Racing away from the shelving and its chaos, Tom said,
“Everyone’s alive, but trapped up in O.R.”

“O.R.
  That’s up on top.”

Tom continued sprinting down the hall, never slowing to go
back into the mechanical room for a retreat.  
“How do we get there?”

Eddie surged ahead of Tom and Zeus.
  “This way.”
  He said before flinging the door open and
racing out into the hallway. Nearly falling
over a tipped over office chair, he skidded to a stop when he saw a couple of demented
rushing down the stairwell. Raising his
pistol, he fired of several rapid shots.

Pop.
  Pop.  
Pop.

Tom skidded to a stop directly behind Eddie.
  His ears rang from the blasts.
  Movement out of the corner of his eye caught
his attention just enough for him to turn and see a beast of a man barreling
his way from around the corner of the hall.  
His .357 roared in the narrow hallway, making Eddie’s 9mm sound like a
cap gun. Tom’s first shot obliterated
the side of the man’s face, spinning him sideways, crashing into the wall.

Before the body even slid all the way to the floor a
completely naked woman rushed around the corner.
  Her large breasts bounced awkwardly as she
rounded the corner. Her broken jaw hung
slack below a pair of red, hate filled eyes.   
Trying to growl in anger, her face contorted but only
a flat moan escaped.

Tom swung the revolver over and pulled the trigger.
  With a roar, the muzzle flared and kicked,
sending the round slamming into her shoulder.  
She twisted sideways but barely slowed.  
The sharp crack of Eddie’s pistol sounded from next to Tom.

“There are too many.”  
Eddie shouted.

In addition to the demented that continued to charge down
the stairs, Tom could hear feet pounding on tile from the hall that led to
housekeeping. Some of them must have
traversed the fallen shelving and were now barreling their way.
  They were staying in one place way too long.
  All the gunfire would just keep drawing more
infected. Even if they had unlimited
ammo they would eventually be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
  With the limited ammo they had it would on be
a matter of minutes at best.

The naked woman continued to rush their way.
  More demented were
beginning to rush around the corner in her wake.
  Tom took quick aim and fired another
round. The bullet caught her just above
the left eye, sending her sprawling to the floor.
  Her bare skin made an unusual chirping sound
as the body skidded to a halt on the hard floor.
  “We gotta get
moving.”   Tom shouted.

Eddie continued to fire toward a group of infected in the
stairway.

“Screw the stairs, let’s take this.”
  Tom shouted as he ran toward what looked like
a service elevator.

A couple more pops from Eddie’s pistol and then it ran
dry. He was going for another magazine
when there was an incredible boom from someone slamming into the housekeeping
door.   The dark clothing covering an arm
and shoulder could be seen through the rectangular window.
  Eddie was horrified to see the door handle
begin shaking. He turned and ran after
Tom.

Reaching a large metal sliding door, Tom pulled on the brass
handle.

From behind him Eddie shouted, “This only goes to the main
floor.”

“I don’t care.”   Tom
said while sliding the door open. Beyond
the outer door was an accordion gate.  
Tom thought those were only in the old movies.
  The rickety contraption clinked and rattled
as Tom slid it open. Just as the gate
slammed to the side there was a loud grunt directly behind Tom.
  Turning to see what had happened, he saw with
horror that Eddie had been tackled to the floor by a man in flower print swim
trunks. Tom could hear more demented in
the hall behind him.

Eddie let out a loud scream.

Not having time for a better option Tom pointed his revolver
at Swim Trunks and gave the trigger two rapid pulls, hoping neither shot would
find Eddie. The demented no longer
moved. With a grunt, Eddie rolled the
lifeless body off.

Tom was just turning back toward the elevator when he sensed
someone rushing him from behind. He
started to hunch down, bracing for impact.  
The demented lunged for him, desperate to rip him to pieces.
  Hitting Tom, its momentum carried him up and
over Tom’s crouched form. Tom was nearly
knocked off balance, but was able to regain his footing.

Eddie got back to his feet just in time to yell, “Look out!”

Spinning around, pistol raised, Tom pulled the trigger as
soon as he saw a large form directly in front of him.
  The shot hit the young man in the chest at
point blank range. He crashed into Tom,
sending both of them sprawling to the floor.  
The weight knocked the wind out of Tom’s lungs.
  He gasped, straining to suck in oxygen.
  An image of dozens more demented racing down
the hall toward them flashed through Tom’s head.

Eddie kicked the limp body off of Tom and reached a hand out
to help him up. Tom quickly took it and
got to his feet, still working to catch his breath.
  The hall in front of them was packed with
demented racing their way. The sounds of
utter chaos filled the narrow space.  
Running for the elevator, Tom raised his pistol to take out the demented
that led the charge. All he got was an
ominous click. He had speed loaders in
his utility belt, but knew he would never reach them in time.

Tom followed Eddie into the dark confines of the service elevator.
  Not seeing the handle to the outer steel
door, Tom instead grabbed the accordion gate’s handle and slid it closed.
  Just as it slammed up against the metal
frame, the first few demented crashed into it from the outside.
  Their arms thrust through the openings,
trying desperately to get a hold of their prey.  
They growled and screamed in rage.

“Hit the button, hit the button!”
  Tom shouted.

Eddie desperately searched in the darkness.

Tom reached out, holding the gate in place to keep the
demented from sliding it back open.

Finding the buttons, Eddie hit the one labeled ‘2.’
  Nothing happened.

“Hit it!”   Tom
screamed.

Eddie continued to pound on the unlit button.
  “I am!”  
The button clicked rapidly, but the elevator remained in place.
  Eddie screamed out in anger and kicked the
panel.

Dozens of demented pressed up against the gate.
  Faces pressed and squeezed into the holes,
trying to get closer to Tom and Eddie.  
Their arms reached through, making the gate look like some grotesque
demon wall straight out of hell. The
hall light was nearly blotted out by their grotesque bodies.
  The weight began to bend the steel gate
inwards. Tom let go of the handle to get
further away from the reaching hands.

“Service elevator’s not on e-power.”
  Tom shouted over the loud growls.
  He looked up to make sure there was a ceiling
access. Holstering his revolver, Tom
pointed up and said, “Boost me.”   With
sudden realization he added, “Zeus...crap, we lost the dog.”

“Haven’t seen him since the shooting started.”

Tom hoped the dog made it out.

With Eddie’s help they were able to flip open the hatch,
allowing it to swing down on a pair of hinges.  
The opening stared back at them, pitch black, but a beautiful sight in
their current predicament.

The accordion gate groaned loudly.

Tom hoisted himself up through the opening.
  Immediately reaching back down, he grabbed
Eddie’s outstretched arms and helped him through the hatch.
  No sooner did Eddie get out of the elevator
than there was a loud crash as the gate snapped and the horde of infected came spilling
in.

The hatch door still hung open.
  Tom wished he could get it closed if for no
other reason than to block out the furious shrieks and growls of the demented.
  Fumbling with his utility belt, Tom was
finally able to get a hold of his flashlight.  
He clicked it on and the space was immediately filled with wonderful,
white light. Steel
cables, black with grease, extended up into the darkness.

“We can’t climb those.”  
Eddie said.

Shining the flashlight around, Tom found conduit and metal
bracing along the walls and the door that led to the next floor.
  It was only a few feet above the top of the
elevator. “We don’t need to climb.”
  Tom aimed his flashlight a little higher and
could see a small window with checkered security glass.
  No light spilled through the opening.
  Tom wasn’t sure what that meant.

Using the cement door sill, Tom stepped up so he could peer
out through the window. Tom could see
nothing through the window; it was blocked by something on the other side,
explaining the darkness. “I can’t see a
thing. We’re going to have to just go
for it.”   Tom said.

Eddie glanced down and said, “Has to be better than here.”

“We’ll see.”   Tom said
before grabbing the handle to slide the large door out of the way.
  He hesitated and then said, “Let’s load
up.”   He drew is revolver, flipped out
the cylinder, and emptied out the spent brass.  
The casings clanged to the metal roof of the elevator.
  This angered the demented and they roared
their protest with loud growls. Using
one of his two speed loaders, Tom filled the cylinder and locked it back into
place. Tom noticed Eddie was just
slapping a fresh magazine into his pistol.  
Preferring more capacity, Tom holstered the revolver, and grabbed the
AR15 off of his back. “That’s
better...let’s rock.”

Once the door was out of the way they found a large desk had
been stood on end and shoved up against the door to the elevator.
  Someone had built a barricade and it was
likely done when they first fortified the hospital.
  The elevator did not function anyways.
  There was a loud screeching noise as Tom
tried to shift the desk to one side of the hall.
  Tom peeked around the desk.
  Surprisingly the hallway was empty.
  He could only see a small section of hallway
before it split to the left and right out of sight.

“Anything?”
  Eddie whispered from behind him.

Tom shook his head. His
heart pounded in his chest. Entering
into the unknown was so much more stressful than being thrown in the chaos of
battle. The surge of adrenaline was
wearing off and now he had to go back out into the midst of the infected.
  Choices like these were a nightmare, but they
had no other options.