Wither With Me

CHAPTER 41 - REINFORCEMENTS

The commotion in the waiting room had subsided. They had stopped shooting. They were no longer beating each other up, arguing among themselves, or throwing threats and insults. Some were wounded, groaning in pain. Others weren't so lucky, their still warm bodies resting lifeless on the floor. However, nobody paid any attention to them. Instead, they stared at one another, bewildered.

"D-Does anyone else hear that...?"

"Where is it coming from!?"

A rumbling noise in the distance. Unrecognizable at first, it quickly sent a chill down everyone's spine when the realization hit them. It was nothing but a reminder of the harsh world they lived in.

"Aren't...? Aren't those screams!?"

"It sounds like shamblers!!"

"Is it coming from outside...?" a man approached one of the windows.

"Stop!" Marcus yelled at the man. "Everyone, get away from the windows!!"

"What... is going on...?" mumbled Stella.

She was still resting in his arms, breathing heavily. The gunshot wound in her abdomen was a nasty one. No vital organs were hit, but the blood loss was significant. She insisted on putting up a tough front, but it was to no avail. She wouldn't survive without proper treatment. Marcus had done everything he could to stabilize the wound and stop the hemorrhage, yet it wasn't enough. All his medical expertise was useless without the right tools.

"Don't talk, please." said Marcus.

'Damn it, the hordes have reached the hospital already...!? They must be piling up down on the street. It won't be long until they climb all the way up here...! Usually, the nest would prevent this from happening, but it won't work if it's agitated!'

"Listen up, everyone! We need to leave this place at once!! We've got to move somewhere deeper, away from the outside walls!"

"Who the fuck are you to be giving us orders!?" almost immediately, someone stood against him.

"A-And what about those soldiers...!?"

"Listen to those sounds, for god's sake!" said Marcus, giving them a frustrated stare. "Do you really think this is the time to be having an argument?"

Nobody disagreed.

"Help the wounded! Come on!" he ordered, while helping Stella stand up.

They seemed to listen to him, assembling around the fallen ones. Marcus couldn't say he wasn't surprised. The shambler threat must have unearthed some specks of common sense.

"Ugh...!" Stella let out a pained grunt. "Fuck... And I was the one who wanted to keep things under control... A goddamn idiot, that's what I am..."

"Seriously, stay quiet."

Lending her his shoulder for support, Marcus walked out of the room and followed the hallways towards the inner areas of the hospital, with everyone else behind him.

The group was met with a new source of noise, this time coming from inside the building. A noise that grew louder and louder as they got closer to the stairs ahead. The big barricade blocking the stairwell seemed to be breathing. It swelled and bulged, shaking back and forth as if something was pushing it rhythmically from the other side. A symphony of banging and scraping seeped from the gaps in the blockage, paired with familiar cries and squeals. A blue aura surrounded it.

"Shit! Everyone, go back! This way is—!!" Marcus' words were cut short by the crushing sound of the barricade falling apart, with pieces of wood and metal spilling around the floor as a wave of dozens of shamblers forced its way into the corridors.