I closed my eyes and breathed slower.
I tried my best to relax.
It was a new virus, advertised as nothing more than a simple flu. People died, and it spread, and more people died.. The government flaunted that it had it under control.
Then the unthinkable happened. The dead opened their eyes, and with a blood-curdling roar, stood back up as quick as lightning and began running around, leaving blood, devastation and even more death in their wake.
The door rattled in its hinges. I could hear moans and groans from behind it. The walking dead strained at the blockade in an attempt to recruit us to their ranks.
“Shh…” I placed my index finger to my lips, as my eyes met with Bill’s. The kid, barely even ten, stifled his sobs as he held his own mouth with his hands, while his eyes were wide as saucers.
“We’re going to be fine, kid.” I lied. With my back against the door to aid the barricade, I scanned the room we were in. We were in the third floor of the City Medical Center. It was the highest floor. The room was an office of sort. Someone, or something, must have been in here already for the place was a disheveled mess. There were blood-stained papers scattered on the table, there was a computer screen smashed on the floor. On the cabinets were books with titles connected to the medical field covered with broken glass from the window.
The bashing on the door became stronger. It felt like being smashed in the back with a hammer.
I looked down on my companion.
“We have to get out of here.”
I looked around at the room again and ran to the cabinets. It was as high as my shoulders. I pushed it, and it moved a bit. It was heavy. Perfect, I thought.
I strained at moving the cabinet which screeched as the steel legs grated against the white marble floor. I took three or four nudges before I managed to get the cabinet by the door. I was exhausted, but adrenaline was giving me strength.
With the door secured. I jogged back to the broken window, our only means of escape out of the hole we got ourselves in.
My heart nearly dropped when I saw that there was nothing between the window and the earth below.
The window was large enough to let a grown man like me hop over and out of it with no problem. The issue is the descent to the ground. Either I end up with broken bones, or die and become zombie food.
I scratched the window exit off of my choices and opted to wait out the death that was knocking at the door.
Either they walk out of there and me and the kid would be able to walk out of the door safely, of the swarm the door and smash in.
Either way, we would have to wait.
An explosion rocked me awake. I felt something cold by my pants leg, and quickly stood up when I realized that Bill had been drooling on my pants.
Groggy, the kid rubbed his eyes as he muttered complaints for waking him up.
I wanted to argue back, but my rumbling stomach answered first.
“Shh… quiet.” I placed my index finger to my lips as I strained my ear to listen to what is on the other side of our barricaded door.
“Do you hear that?” I spoke in a hushed voice.
“I don’t hear anything…”
“Exactly!”
I hurried to the side of the cabinet, and as much as I can, kept it from making a sound as I pushed it a bit away from the door. I cracked it open just a bit to peek outside. There wasn’t anything by the door.
Hope surged from deep within me. For a moment, I could not help but smile at our predicament. I moved the heavy cabinet back once more and managed to open the door large enough for me to squeeze through.
I peeled my eyes, and through the darkness, I could make out the silhouette of furniture scattered about on the floor. It would seem that the place was rid of the undead. It took my eyes a bit of time to adjust. A noise behind me nearly made me jump, but it took my brain a moment to realize that it was the kid with me who was trying to get out of the safety of our barricaded room.
“Stay in there,” I hissed. “I still can’t say if there’s any more of those things on this floor!”
“But I’m hungry…”
My stomach rumbled again in agreement. Thinking fast, I recalled seeing a vending machine down the hall. We could raid it for some quick supplies to replenish our energy. Perhaps then, my brain would be working better and get me more sane ideas on how to survive.
My heart sank when I saw the vending machine already broken into. It seems either someone else had the same idea as me, or zombies eat candy, too, and I just didn’t receive the memo.
I poked around the vending machine and found a small bar of chocolate. I split it to two, and handed the half to Bill.
As I chewed on my half of the chocolate bar, I scanned the hall for anything I could use for our expedition outside. Outside – the word sent chills down my spine. There were no undead in this floor, but that could mean they are outside. I also have some concerns over the explosion I heard earlier.
I grabbed a folding metal chair, folded it up, and tied it to my arm like a shield. The most I could find which I could use for a weapon was a steel pipe I saw lying around on the floor.
We were on the third floor. We have two floors to go before we could get to the streets.
Staying here in the hospital was definitely not the best choice. We were low on supplies. Hunkering down here would be similar to starving ourselves to death. We have to find food, at the very least.
“Stay close to me, kid… Here we go!”
—End—
I started to write this story in February 4, 2020, when the NCov-19 began to be reported as an epidemic. I have been watching a few zombie movies and series with viral origins lately, so I had the start of this story to work on at least.
Sometime during March, though, NCov-19 became a global pandemic. I had second thoughts completing the story, not only because I ran out of ideas and was unsure about the direction I would take the story, but also was unsure regarding publishing a content like this during these times.
However, I realized this is just fiction. Also, in this times when a lot of us are in quarantine, pandemic-themed, and also apocalyptic-themed films have been trending. Heh.
Anyway, I hope you are doing well and I hope you liked this short story. Comments are very much welcome!
That is all for now, see you later and have a nice day!
Jomz Ojeda’s Blog 