The Downward Spiral Book 1

Chapter 7. Dead Silence

On the way to the hospital, I was hoping to see some sign of life.

But during the entire drive, the streets remained bare. It wasn't bustling with cars, no obnoxious people yelling at each other in traffic, no joggers running down the sidewalks, nothing.

I swallowed hard when I saw another body in the middle of the road and my heart started beating a mile a minute. I held back the cry of surprise and maneuvered around it quietly to avoid it. I wasn't in the mood of waking up and dealing with another one of those freaks.

However, the path I took towards St. River Hospital, more and more decaying corpses were starting to appear.

Lily tried calling her mom's phone repeatedly but it kept going to voicemail. I asked her to call 911 next to possibly reach someone who was, you know, around to possibly fill us in on what happened last night. It was ringing and ringing but one answered.

Cars were lined up near the hospital's emergency entrance. As I pulled up behind the last one, I shut off the truck and observed the tall glass building. I was already getting bad vibes from this place from how quiet it was but I turned around in my seat and reminded myself that we had to do this for Lily.

When I looked at her and my brother, their faces were stoic, gloomy, and downright depressing to look at. No one was eager to jump out after what we experienced. I wasn't either but I went ahead and put on a false smile to lighten the mood a little.

"Well, shall we go in then?"

Silence.

Lily or Ray didn't even acknowledge me. They reluctantly slid out of their seats and closed their doors in my face without even giving me an answer. I let out an exasperated sigh and climbed out too.

We headed over to the automatic clear glass doors and stood in front of the black mat to activate it, it didn't budge.

I waved my hand in front of my own reflection repeatedly and it slightly moved out of place before sealing up again.

"Do you think the power is out?" Lily inquired, stomping her own wedges down on the rugged carpet with me to get it to move again.

"Maybe, I'm not sure though.."I replied, scratching my head.

"No, I think the door is jammed." Ray said and squatted down to take a closer look at it.

"What makes you sure, nerd?" I teased.

He glared at me through his glasses before turning back and studying the door. "Because dumbass, we all saw it move a little, even if it was just an inch. If the power was out it wouldn't budge at all." He replied making it sound like it was obvious.

Lily's face went pink at the realization. I folded my hands across my chest and scoffed. "Well then, maybe there's an emergency button we can push to force it to open or something then."

"That's exactly what I'm looking for, genius."

"Oh grow up. I'm going to watch our backs while you handle that then." I huffed and stormed off. It was taking all the energy in the world not to fight with Ray in this kind of situation but that little turd always knew how to piss me off in a matter of seconds.

I tried to take my mind off him by surveying the rest of the area. The parking lot was filled up with cars, like people should have been inside, yet it was already midday and we haven't seen a single person.

Alive anyway.

Was this what they were keeping us from seeing yesterday? If it was, why did it look like no one did anything to stop it? Or managed to get away from it?

When I started to turn around, my eyes landed on an empty wheelchair in front of me. Another corpse was laying on the ground inches from it like he toppled out of it. I blew out a last ring of smoke from my cigarette before heading towards it and grabbing it by the handlebars.

"Any luck?" I asked while dragging it behind me.

Lily turned to say something but Ray interrupted with a frustrated "no" and stood up.

"So what should we do now?" Lily asked nervously.

"I don't know, maybe there's another way we can get in? Maybe we can go around or-"

Before Ray could finish his sentence, I picked the heavy chair up over my head and then chucked it at the door, shattering the glass completely. Shards rained onto the floor and a loud alarm went off around the place.

Ray slowly turned to look at me.

"Are you mental woman!?"

Lily nodded, her eyes wide. "He's right, we can get arrested for breaking and entering and then fined for the door!"

"Good. We haven't seen a single person for hours anyway. Maybe this will finally attract someone here so they can tell us what the hell is going on."

I step carefully through the doorway, leaving them standing with their mouths open yet again.

They knew I was right.

My tactics may be more rash than most but I was trying to find some answers. With this loud ass alarm going off, it should at least draw some attention down here and bring someone who is actually alive.

But as soon as we made it to the reception area, we were disappointed again.

Every single nurse, doctor and patients were face down on the tile floor, dead.

With this sight, I was sure Lily was running out of hope quickly. I just hope she's prepared for the worst.

"So stairs or elevator?" I asked.

We turned to Lily for an answer but she was staring at the elevator door. There was a bloody handprint on the buttons that trailed down the wall to the floor where a pair of dead bodies laid.

"Stairs it is then." I mumbled to myself and led the way to a fire exit across the room. I glanced over my shoulder to see Ray gently tug Lily along with him.

The loud ringing was growing obnoxious the closer we got and I covered my ears, turning my power walk into a sprint and jogged to the door, shoving it open.

We rushed into the narrow concrete stairwell and headed up the rickety metal handrail. There was a slight buzzing from the light fixture but I was grateful enough that the room muffled the alarm outside.

"Which floor does your mom work on by the way, Lily?" I asked, holding the door open for them. I let it close behind me and we climbed up the stone stairway.

Lily was trembling on each step she took, the will to fight zapped from her as we made it to the second floor.

"I...I don't remember." She stuttered.

Great. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of spending my entire day going through all nine floors for her mom, so I was praying it was one of the first few.

"Do you remember what department she works in?"Ray piped in.

Lily thought for a moment and then nodded her head. "Yeah, she's a plastic surgeon."

I could see the same gawking expression I made pass through Ray's face at the mention of her occupation. Dang, that would definitely explain the house and the expensive looking car.

"So what, you guys are loaded then?" I blurted and Ray elbowed me in the ribs.

"Well, yeah Sarah. Who do you think has been paying for all our concerts, posters and merchandise? She's done all of that for us. For me. It's always been just us." Her voice turned to a whisper. "My dad passed away of a heart attack when I was only five and my brother has been out in the marines this whole time. So.."

Lily stopped talking for a moment and I saw a teardrop stain her ghostly face before she stepped up the stairs two at a time. "Come on," She said quickly wiping her cheek, "Lets keep going."