AUGUST 21, 2024
Ruby opened the windows, permitting the cool air into the room in which they hid. She inhaled and almost gagged. The breeze wasn't the same as it used to be. It wasn't fresh or soothing as it once was, instead, the rotten stench of the undead crept into her nostrils reminding her that the world now belonged to them — the zombies.
Ruby stood firm after she laced up her purple and black combat boots. Armed with her bow and arrow, she was ready to leave the hospital.
It had been exactly thirty-four days since the outbreak began and thirty days since the rescue team came and airlifted the most critical patients to a more secure and equipped facility. They promised they'd be back for the remaining survivors a few days later. It had been a month and there was still no sign of them.
Ruby began to lose hope that the rescue team would return and transport them to safety.
She strung her bow and aimed it at her target out the window. It was her dentist, Patrica, who was now one of the undead. She still wore her gown as she tangled with the hundreds of zombies gathered around the building. Ruby pulled back the bow and inhaled deeply, then she slowly exhaled as she released the arrow. The arrow spiralled through the air down below, hitting its target right through the forehead. Patricia fell to the ground as the other zombies mindlessly trampled her.
Ruby restrung her bow a dozen more times, hitting her targets perfectly every time. She now thought of her bow as a part of her — as if they had become one. In her hands the wood of the bow was her fingers, the string was her muscles and the arrows represented her heart and her will to live.
"How much longer will the rescue team be?" Sasha wondered out loud.
Ruby sauntered away from the window and over to Sasha, who was sitting by Dr. Weston's bed. He was still in a coma and even though he was considered to be somewhat critical, the rescue team refused to take him when they learnt he was a part of the plane crash that brought the virus.
"Don't you see Sasha, no one is coming," Ruby declared. "We can't stay here another week. I doubt the backup generators can go for so long." Things at the hospital got grim after the power went out in the city two weeks ago. The hospital's generators were running out of juice.
"Ruby, I understand your concerns, but if we leave here, where would we go?" Sasha asked.
"I don't know. Anywhere will be better than sitting here waiting to be zombie chow. The hospital's not safe, Sasha. The first floor is overrun with those creeps and if Carla and Tashell don't come back with food then —"
"Keep your voice down," Sasha snapped at her. They looked at the seventeen survivors that were held up with them on the third floor. "You don't wanna freak the others out."
"Fuck — you're right. I'm sorry. I'm just tired of sitting and waiting to be rescued."
"I know and Tashell and Carla will find food. They have to," Sasha prayed.
Meanwhile, Tashell and Carla were down on the second-floor scouring the hospital rooms for food. Anything that people may have brought their sick family members. The cafeteria was overrun on the third day of the outbreak so, with minimal weapon and manpower, the girls boarded off the cafeteria and made do with what they found in the rooms of the hospital wings.
"You think Adrian is ok?" Carla asked worriedly. They hadn't heard from him in two weeks since the cell towers went down.
"Adrian is one tough cookie. He'll be fine," Tashell assured her while walking quietly towards room 204. She pushed the door with her sword.
"You love him, don't you?" Carla questioned as she guarded their rear with her gun pointed behind them.
Tashell paused then turned to face Carla whose back was towards her. Tashell grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, so she could look into her eyes. "Why would you say that?"
"I see the way you look at him sometimes," Carla confessed.
"It's not what you think, Carla," Tashell sighed. "Whatever I felt for Adrian is long gone. I'm not gonna lie I thought I liked him more than a friend once, but after seeing him with you, I realised you two were meant to be."
"Do you mean that, Tashell?"
"Of course Carla. You're one of my best friends, I would never do anything to betray you."
Carla pulled Tashell in for a hug. "You know he was in love with you once, right?"
"Carla please —"
Carla pulled away from the hug and giggled. "No, it's ok. He told me. He said you are his first love, and he told me he would always love you, but he realised that you weren't for him."
"Adrian said that?"
"Yes," Carla smiled. "I was jealous of you two at first, especially the little jokes you two had going on, but after a while, I saw that you are like brother and sister."
"Yes, we are. You have nothing to worry about."
"Tashell, duck!" Carla yelled as she saw a zombie coming towards Tashell from behind.
POW! Carla squeezed the trigger and put a hole in its head. The brain matter splashed all over Tashell's back.
"Eew," Tashell whined as she wiped some goo from her hair.
"Let's search this room and get back to the others. I have a bad feeling," Carla said as she and Tashell cautiously stepped inside room 204.
With no other zombies in sight, they searched the room. "Look," Tashell called to Carla as she found a six-pack of fruit cocktails. There was also four bottles of water, three one-litre bottles of cranberry juice and two packs of brown puddings. Tashell threw them in her backpack.
"Here, I found these too," Carla spoke as she handed Tashell some bread and saltine crackers.
After Tashell threw those in her bag, the two girls exited the room and decided to hurry back to the others.
Suddenly, the double doors to the second floor busted open.
A chorus of growls and hisses were heard, followed by the chaotic draggings of feet scraping against the cold marbled floor.
The girls gazed in fear when they saw the group of undead rushing towards them; Arms stretched and clawing, teeth-gnashing and cold eyes focused on them. Carla pointed her gun and popped off a few shots, killing three of them. "Carla there're too many, we have to run," Tashell said as she yanked on Carla's shoulder.
Carla and Tashell turned around and ran towards the double doors leading to the third floor.
Tashell kicked it open and waited for Carla to come through.
"We can't leave the doors like this. We need something to jam it," Carla stated.
Tashell scurried the area with her eyes until she saw a metal walking stick. She grabbed it and pushed it through the handle of the double doors. "There, that should hold them for a while," Tashell said out of breath.
The zombies pushed and smashed their bodies against the jammed doors. "I wonder what made them come to the second floor all of a sudden," Carla marvelled, then she looked down at the gun in her hand. "Fuck!"
"What is it?"
"It's the gunshot. They heard it when I shot the first one," Carla scowled. "I should have known they'd follow the noise."
"Come on, let's go back to the others."