Wither With Me

CHAPTER 43 - SMOKE

"This is the one! Come on, help me pry it open!" said Connor. "The rest, bring something to burn! If it's burnable and not glued to the floor, bring it here! And don't make unnecessary noise!"

Claire watched as he deployed what seemed to be the last of his white gas canisters, and then searched for something to wedge into the elevator doors. If her mental image of the hospital's layout was correct, that was the same elevator shaft they had used to move up and down the building. Two men stayed to help Connor with the doors, while the other three volunteers wandered off into nearby hallways.

'Okay...! Let's get to work!'

The echo of her footsteps was her only company as she ventured down those corridors. She wondered at what point had she overcome her fears. At any given moment, she could turn a corner and run directly into a crowd of wandering shamblers, which now occupied several areas of the current floor, mainly around the stairwells. Still, she was somehow willing to face the danger by herself.

The image of Nora and Lilian embracing each other came to her mind. They both smiled. Surrounded by conflict and unrest, it was an image of peace. A moment of respite after years of abuse and torment.

'I won't sit back and watch you struggle. I refuse. Nora, you made me realize something. I've lost my family, my friends, everyone... But thanks to you, I think I can move on. You've filled that void, even if only a little. I don't care if I have to put myself in danger anymore. You made it this far, and I'll make sure you make it even farther!'

She reached the patient room wing, a long hallway full of doors. After taking a quick peek into some of them, she spotted at last something that caught her attention. One of the rooms was full to the brim with boxes, torn mattresses, and random junk. Among all the trash, there was a laundry cart loaded with very dirty bed sheets.

"Ah! This should do nicely!"

She kicked the rubbish out of the cart's way and pulled it out of the room. The wheels, rusty and stuck in place after being still for so long, dragged themselves along the floor making a grating noise until they finally began spinning.

After backtracking her steps, Claire saw the elevator doors wide open. She pushed the laundry cart towards the opening, where a man was using a lighter to set a pile of clothes on fire, before kicking them down into the depths.

"I brought something!" she said.

"Oooh, nice one, lady!! Leave it here, go look for more!" said the man as soon as he saw her haul.

Connor came running around a corner, carrying a hefty tower of documents and folders, which he immediately dropped into the shaft.

"Someone needs to go gather some wood! Any wooden furniture will work! We need the fire to last long enough!" he ordered.

"Wouldn't plastic be convenient too!?" said Claire. "It should produce lots of fumes...!"

"Right! Plastic is lighter than wood, can you handle it, lady!?"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Before turning around and leaving in search of more materials, Claire noticed a faint orange light creeping up from the bottom of the hole.

'Come on, come on...! Looking good!'

For the next couple of minutes, she did nothing but run back and forth. Office chairs. Trash cans. Bags of gloves, syringes, and other medical supplies she found in a cabinet. An unopened box of face masks. A stretcher she had to drag across the floor. Thankfully, hospitals had plenty of plastics lying around.