Two Summers Ago, the World Went to Shit

Chapter 13: Dead Man Walking

Chapter 13: Dead Man Walking

     Yet again, I'd been left alone in this hospital bed to sit and think about every horrible outcome that could happen to Bailey. I was beyond ready to be healed so that I could easily go to see my daughter, see what was going on, and be with Bailey, by his side no matter what. I knew that a zombie apocalypse would have its unexpected turns and disasters, but I really wished Bailey's first instinct wouldn't be to run straight towards the threat. I needed him here; I needed him to be safe and to look after our daughter. Without my brother, Bailey was my sole protector, and he was also Grace's.
Caleb and Jackson were everything I needed originally. I trusted them with every ounce of me until Opfer. I trusted them, and I needed them to trust me and my feelings. But when it came to Opfer, my feelings weren't validated. Now Caleb was either dead or lost somewhere in this shithole world, but if I ever saw him again, I'm sure he'd continue to be what I needed. He'd never let me down again. I was sure of that. Jackson—I wasn't sure what he would be if we ever reunited. I certainly didn't want him to be dead. I did care about him, but he really hurt me. I never imagined in a million years that he would be the kind of guy to cheat, especially after all we'd been through and how he acted when he was with Sophie. There was just no explanation for what I walked in to with him and Lucy that day. None.
Jackson was once the man I wanted to survive this with, but I think I was always meant to be with Bailey. The universe was trying to tell me something with meeting him at the bar to somehow finding each other again in the midst of the war we were in to now escaping Opfer and surviving in this hospital. And this hospital, god, it was supposed to be my fresh start. I had a job waiting for me, a chance to do what I loved and studied so hard for when things were somewhat normal. Then, Jackson stayed by my side while I recovered from being attacked and told me he loved me when we were getting ready to go home that day. This hospital was supposed to be my future, but now it was a combination of my past and present. I constantly wondered what my life would look like if none of this zombie shit had ever happened. He'd never had met Lucy, and I wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed worried about Bailey being attacked by a dead man walking.

     Several minutes had passed since Bailey ran out of the room, and I could still hear commotion from down the hallway. I couldn't imagine that the threat was from the zombies because they'd have to hitch a ride on the elevator or climb some stairs to even get up here, which, knowing this world, it wasn't impossible, but there was just no likelihood that was what happened. I wanted to investigate, you know, just peep my head out of the doorway, nothing crazy. Surely I could handle that. So, I mustered up the courage to try to get out of bed again, only this time, I stepped over the wires and obstacles and didn't face plant the floor. I still felt aches and pains, but I could tell that I was slowly recovering which made me happy.
I carefully inched towards the door that Bailey left open. When I looked down the hallway, I didn't see anyone; I think they were all in the other wing. The floor we were located on was primarily where everyone in Rudy's group, as well as my little group, slept because this was once the surgical and intensive care floor where most patient rooms were tucked away into two perpendicular hallways.
    I could still hear the disturbance, but I knew it had to be coming from the east wing considering I was in the west. I slowly took steps out into the hallway, easing towards the abandoned nurse's station. What I once heard as screams turned into sobbing, loud and hysterical sobbing. Speaking from experience, that usually indicated that the incident was over and all that would be left was the aftermath.
     I continued towards the nurse's station and as I reached the tall edge around the desks, I grabbed on to rest a minute. I looked down the other hallway and saw puddles of blood and splatters up and down the floor tiles and on the walls. My stomach twisted because that much blood would definitely indicate that someone was dead. My heart sank at the thought of losing someone, even someone I'd just met among Rudy's group. We were all each other had, and there was a strength in numbers for our stability and mental states.
     A few seconds later, Bailey surfaced from the far left room of the hallway, and I immediately took a deep breath of relief. He looked defeated and worried, hurrying over to me as soon as he'd seen me standing there, leaning up against the nurse's station. His hands were painted red with blood and his clothes had stains on them as well; it was hard to tell if the blood was his or someone else's.
"Sammi," he began as I interrupted.
"What happened? What's going on," I asked worriedly.
"I-I don't know. Rudy turned into a zombie. He-he turned, but I don't know how this could have happened."
"Are you okay? The blood," I started.
"It's not mine," he said half heartedly smiling, trying to comfort me.
I rubbed his cheek softly as he took a deep breath.
"Rudy attacked his girlfriend while she was asleep beside him when he turned. She tried to escape, but she didn't make it far. I did my best to save her, but she bled out on the floor," he said discouragingly as he inhaled deeply.
"Oh my god," I said quietly, trying to comprehend what'd just happened.
"Come on, you need to get back in bed," he said worriedly, yet stern, nodding his head in the direction of my room.
I frowned. Yes sir, I thought sarcastically.
He grabbed my arm and helped me walk back towards the room. As we were about halfway there, the girl I'd seen sitting beside him in the cafeteria that day ran after us.
"Hey, wait up," she said as she hurried to catch up to us.
"Bailey, can I talk to you for a minute," she asked intensely.
We stopped and were now face to face as we'd turned back in her direction.
She had true red hair, a full face of freckles, and deep green eyes. She was calm but panicked. I could tell something was wrong by the expression on her face and evidence of previous tears, so I was anxious to see what she wanted to tell Bailey. It seemed like she was put off by me being there during the conversation. I got the sense that she was hoping I'd go on to my room, but instead, I hung back with them to hear what she had to say. She'd given me that same look that Rudy did that night, so it made me wonder if it had something to do with that. I just didn't know how.
Looking at her, she must've been in the room helping during Rudy's attack because she also had some blood on her that was slowly drying from a bright red to more of a brownish red as time passed. I expected her to be more emotional by losing her brother; I know I would've been. But, she held herself together, and I just got this feeling that they were preparing for this. I know I sound crazy, but I'd be a train wreck if my brother died out of nowhere in the middle of the night. It was all odd.
She looked at me and then darted her eyes back to him before he spoke.
"What's wrong," he asked.
"I think I know what happened to Rudy," she said catching her breath.
Bailey raised his eyebrows and swallowed deeply. He moved his hand to mine and squeezed gently.
"Okay," he said with slight confusion in his tone.
"Sammi, you don't know this, but I'm Rudy's sister. I didn't say much that night at dinner because I wanted him to have the opportunity to meet with you without me intruding. I've met Bailey a few times, so he knows a little bit about me and my brother. But, I've been with him since right before everything started going to hell."
I gave her my full attention as she continued talking to me and Bailey.
"I was with him here on the day it happened," she said looking around.
The girl took a deep breath as Bailey and I tried to think of where this story was going, eagerly waiting on her to continue.
"You're going to think I sound crazy, but Rudy had been in the emergency room here the day it all happened. He was a mechanic, and when he was at work that day, he'd cut his arm really bad and needed stitches. He called me, and I picked him up and drove him here because we shared a car. They insisted that he get a tetanus shot, but he'd just gotten one a year or so ago," she said furrowing her eyebrows.
"I mean, they practically forced him to get the shot, but you only need one shot every ten years. He knew he didn't need another one, but the nurse didn't really give him an option. After he got the shot, the nurse left, and we'd been in the room waiting to be discharged."
"What are you saying," Bailey asked with a serious tone in his voice, shaking his head in confusion.
"I think they were giving the virus to people way before they starting killing them. I think they made people believe that routine vaccinations and shots were necessary and encouraged but really they were a ploy to infect people under the radar or even while they were unconscious."
After she said this, my heart sank, chills shot all over my body, and I began breathing heavily, on the verge of hyperventilating. My head started throbbing, and my vision went black. Before I knew it, I'd collapsed to the floor.
Bailey tried latching on, but it caught him off guard. I was now lying on the floor unconscious with Bailey and the girl beside me trying to make sure that I was okay. They both shook my body trying to wake me. Bailey placed his sweaty fingers against my neck to check for a pulse. He let out a sigh of relief once he felt one. Bailey desperately called out to Ryan who was nearby in one of the rooms close to mine. After a few long moments passed, Ryan appeared in the doorway of his room, rushing over to me once he'd seen that something was wrong. I'm sure time had stopped for Bailey as I was constantly giving him cause to freak the hell out. It wasn't intentional, but I was scared to death. I was terrified at what I'd just heard about Rudy.
Once Ryan was by my side, Bailey tried to gather his thoughts; he was so flustered.
"What happened," Ryan asked worriedly.
"She fainted. I don't know what happened," Bailey said frantically.
"It seemed like she might have been having a panic attack or something," the girl pitched in.
     Ryan got down on his knees in the hallway alongside Bailey as he began examining my condition. He looked down and then back up to Bailey. Somehow, there I was again, the damsel in distress. A couple of minutes had passed, and I finally began to regain consciousness, squinting up at Bailey, the lights too bright for my eyes. He brushed my forehead gently, relieved yet again that I was okay.
"What happened baby? Did you get dizzy from standing up," he asked sweetly.
Hesitantly, I lied, "Uh, yeah, I think I just got lightheaded."
I looked away when I said this. I hated to lie to him, but I wasn't quite sure what to think right now.
     I felt the cold, dusty tile underneath my palms and worked to sit myself up before standing. The two of them grabbed my arms and eased me back up before the girl looked over at me, glaring past my eyes, like she could read my mind, like she knew I was hiding something. I tried to deflect and act oblivious to her stare. Maybe she'd let it go.
     Carefully, we'd made it back into the room where I'd made my way back into bed. My heart was racing; I was anxious, and I knew I would continue to be anxious until I faced what I'd been fearing since the girl had given us her thoughts on Rudy's infection. I couldn't tell Bailey until I knew for sure, but how could I get downstairs without someone noticing that I was gone? It was like I was constantly being monitored, under 24-hour surveillance or something. I needed to go down there. It was the only way I could rule out what I now feared to be my fate.