Wither With Me

CHAPTER 35 - DISEASE

The shaking of the door continued at regular intervals as William tiptoed closer to it. It rattled in place, unable to move thanks to the webbing of obstacles keeping it shut.

The noises were repetitive, but they weren't violent. They didn't even feel intentional, as if whatever was on the other side was accidentally bumping itself against the door, over and over.

William gulped. In the back of his mind, he knew what to expect, but he couldn't manage to make sense of it.

Upon closer inspection, the glass windows on the door were completely blocked by wooden boards. No matter how hard he tried, he found himself unable to see what was on the other side.

'This was done on purpose... They specifically wanted to block the view, didn't they...?'

Despite how dense the barricade was, William noticed some small gaps in between the boards. Most of them were tightly overlapped on top of each other, but certain areas had room underneath. Not enough to look through, but enough to slide something thin through.

He reached for his pocket, and pulled out a cellphone. He was glad he remembered to charge its battery before leaving the apartment building. The phone slid easily under the wooden boards. He made sure the camera flash was enabled, and snapped a picture behind the barricade.

...

'I fucking knew it... What the hell...!?'

As he walked back towards the group, he was met with anxious gazes. One of them unsettled, another one curious, and the last one, nervous.

"W-What is it...?" asked Claire.

"You, pipsqueak." he said, looking at Ethan. "Go back to the elevator. You'll find someone there. Now."

"Y-Yes, sir...!" replied Ethan, running away without protesting.

Once the boy was gone, William raised his phone in their direction, exposing the picture he had taken. Nobody said anything, but their faces were painted with horror.

"I think you have some explaining to do, Marcus. I thought this place was safe, you told us it was safe... but a shambler nest doesn't sound too safe to me."

"..." Marcus' face was brimming with guilt. He refused to look William in the eye, and his mouth contorted in a twisted grimace.

"You're gonna stay silent? Again!? You should be fully aware of all the things that can go wrong here, damn it. Because it fucking happened already."

'This place is massive, and it houses an equally large community. If new people have been flocking to the hospital, by now it probably houses way more survivors than the subway ever did... Shit, if there's an outbreak and this nest gets disturbed, those people will be cornered like rats! There will be no escape! It'll be that incident all over again, but worse...!'

"Marcus... You said you wanted to help people, right...?" said Claire. She stood up from the floor and beat the dirt and dust off her clothes. "I think every bit of information we have will help all of us make better choices. Wouldn't that be the best way to help everyone right now...?"

Marcus kept his silence for a short while, then sighed.

"Alright..." he said. Was he finally agreeing to speak up? William sure hoped so. "We... The Army has been in this hospital before."

"The Army...!?" William put away his phone and listened.

"Yes. It used to be our main command center in the city, until we ended up moving somewhere else. It had a big laboratory, it could hold plenty of resources and personnel, it was easy to defend... And, as strange as it might sound, that shambler nest is the best defense this building has."