Still breathing | Original story

Chapter Twenty Four: No words left

Word count: 1522

Just past the car park we stood on was the hospital, a boring white building with no sign of life. We trudged up to the front, blood smeared over the surfaces inside and a handful of files lay trodden on the ground. We all exchanged nervous glances as we opened the glass door and walked over to the front desk. Abandoned was the only word that came to mind to describe the place, utterly abandoned. Dust particles filled the air heavily, I could see them falling all around me.
There was an arrow pointing towards seemingly locked doors, all of us raised our weapons as we made our way over. On the door, in bold writing, a word read: 'Safe!'
I would've laughed at that if I wasn't so nervous about what was behind the doors. I watched Archie reach for the handle and with each inch closer my heart pounded out of my chest even more. He pulled it open in one quick motion, like pulling off a plaster. We were ready for something to charge out... but we weren't ready for what we found in there. Obviously, this once safe zone had turned into something horrific. Bodies lay in a mass of blood and weapons, bite marks layered their flesh. Limbs lay without bodies to accompany them. Both infected and humans lay together in one filthy pile of death. Neither of which would come back.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," Lily spoke quietly and ran away from the room. We heard the front door close behind her as she went out for some air.
"I'll make sure she's alright," I heard Logan say as he ran out after her. And so there was four. Four living souls left in the safe zone. Six living souls anywhere near the safe zone.
"Let's get out of here," Archie said as he led us outside. As I got to the door I took one look back and saw pictures on a board. One lay on the ground, soaked in blood.
I saw the board above read: 'Those who made it.'
"I'll be a minute," I told the group.
"Make that a second, we don't know what's in there," Archie called back but I had already begun to walk away. I passed the white desks that held smashed up computers, one lay in my path. My feet echoed through the corridors, the sound of crunching glass followed but there was nothing around to hear it apart from fallen bodies.
I got closer to the pictures, the corridor looked darker and became a claustrophobic space ready to consume me. I knelt down and was about to look at the board littered with pictures when I was brought back to the dangers as Lily shouted for me to run. I looked ahead but nothing was there except for the same dark corridor. Confused, I spun around to ask Lily what was wrong when I saw them. Nine infected coming my way. Archie tried to back through the door but a few of the infected had seen him and were diverting his way. More outside appeared, alerted by the moans of the infected. They trapped Archie out and me in. I tried to get up but tripped up over my new tracksuit bottoms that were slightly too big and my weapon skidded across the floor. I ran to get it when the sound of glass smashing rang through the hospital. I continued towards my weapon but there was banging behind one of the doors and the sound of wood splintering filled my head.
I left the weapon and darted into a room on the other side of the hall instead, twisting the lock sharply into place. I couldn't see much but I distinctly made out a toilet. I banged on the walls in panic. Nothing but solid brick, there was no other way out. I was trapped.

Crunching glass was the only sound I could hear over the moans and it sent a jolt of electricity through my body. My head snapped to the door as I heard the repetitive tap of footsteps sound outside. I looked at the red pull-cord beside the disabled toilet and thought of how ironically placed it was, I needed much more than assistance. I sat down on the toilet and rubbed my eyes, it had to be a dream. It couldn't end like that, not after everything I'd been through. I'd only just found Logan and the world was so cruelly tearing me away from him again.
The walls seemed to be closing in and the air was so thick I could barely breathe. I pushed myself up against the door as the infected outside began to pound against it. It was like being at the shop but I knew they would actually make it in. The sound of the door coming apart was all I could focus on. It wouldn't be long.
I saw a ray of light shining from the side of the toilet, it was tiny. I closed my eyes tightly before taking a chance. I tried to punch through the small window but the double glazing deflected my punches easily. Pain spasmed up and down my arm at every hit. The warm air seemed to consume me until nothing but pure panic was left. Every minuscule punch I made seemed to result in the infected loosening the door a little more. I had to get out. The others had to come back for me
"Like Tyler did?" My mind taunted me, "or like Jack did? In the end, they'll always abandon you... and now you're going to die alone."

I stood away from the window, completely exhausted. If I wasn't going to escape, I might as face my death head on. What more was there to lose?
I slowly turned my body around and closed my eyes, breathing deeply, hoping to disappear. My eyes flung open when the door came crashing down. I stayed frozen. One came into the room, sniffing the air. Slowly another followed. It spotted me and sniffed my face, it's revolting breath hitting my nose as it did so. Up close I could see flesh in its teeth. After a moment, it bared it's teeth at me in a growl and I was sure it was going to attack me. I was ready for it.
That's when I heard bodies dropping outside and an arrow flew through the air and landed in the infected's skull. It fell to the ground and there my friends stood. Soaked in blood but they were there. They had saved me. Caleb stood over one proudly, knife at the ready. My eyes trailed over to Logan who was about to walk through the door when Archie beat him to it. He held my face and examined it, my heart was still beating fast and it wouldn't seem to calm down.
"I'm sorry we took so long," he told me, "are you bit? Jesus Christ are you okay?" He asked as he checked my neck and rolled up my arms. I said nothing, I just stared at the infected on the floor. The one with an arrow through its head. The one that hadn't attacked. I couldn't help but wonder why I wasn't dead. I was grateful that I wasn't but I couldn't stop thinking why. Anyone else would've been dead, I know, I've seen them attack before. The one in the shop hadn't hesitated and neither had the one in the tunnel.
"Are you alright?" Archie asked me comfortingly. I just nodded and he cautiously put a hand on my shoulder. "Come on let's get you out of here," he whispered.
My feet moved accordingly and he steered me through the door. I watched Logan grab my weapon from where it had landed. Before I left I looked back down on the dirty floor. I saw the picture board from earlier laying a few feet away. I started to move away, Archie let go of me but he didn't leave the hospital, not that time. I glanced at the picture but I didn't know the ones that were in it. I titled my head up and that's when I saw it. The board had once held a second part:
'Those who made it' and 'Deceased'. I walked closer to the deceased wall and there they were. It was an old photo, probably taken from dad's wallet, but they were my parents. I held the photo between two fingers and examined it. They were gone. They really were gone. Why were they taken here? Why hadn't I kept my phone on when he called? So many things could've happened differently.
"Your parents seemed nice," Logan said, recognising them from the times my dad drove us to school. It set off a chain reaction of sadness and sorries.
"I'm sorry for your lose," Jasmine said. But what was she sorry for? She didn't even know them, she never even met them. She didn't have to be sorry. I dropped the picture on the floor and walked away without saying a word. My family was gone, what more was there to say?