H λ L F - L I F E: Bishop's War✔️

CHλPTER 08: Communications

"Damn, it's really starting to hurt again," Steven moaned.

"Shh," Eric replied, pistol in hand. He'd heard a zombie somewhere up ahead, down the long, white-metal corridor. As soon as they'd entered the medical wing he'd gone on edge for three reasons. The first being that it smelled like a hospital, and he hated hospitals, the second being that he could smell blood and death, which he hated for obvious reasons. The third were the noises he was hearing. It wasn't just a zombie, but something else.

That awkward sound headcrabs made.

The way ahead was at least well lit, stretching away from him, the walls giving way to doorways every now and then.

"Where is this?" he whispered.

"Patient rooms," Vanessa replied. "They should be clear, but...honestly I didn't exactly take the time to check them all out."

Eric frowned, considering it. Steven was in pain. "Where's this treatment? What is it?"

"Nanotechnology," she replied.

He twisted around and stared at her. "...what?" he asked finally.

"An extremely rudimentary form of nanotechnology. They have some in dispensers around the place for emergency situations. I used up basically all of it trying to deal with the victims and we didn't have much to begin with, but there's still a little bit left, I think. It's at the end of this hallway, then down another hallway to the right."

Eric sighed, then nodded. "Fine. Follow me, stay close, pay attention."

"Got it," she said, raising her shotgun.

He got moving. Some of the doors were open and he did a quick check of each one in passing, finding them mostly untouched and empty. They managed to make it all the way down to the end of the lengthy hallway, coming to a crossroads area. The way to the left led to a tram station, which would be useless.

"Where do these go?" he asked, pointing ahead and to the right.

"Ahead is surgery, right is ICU and emergency room," she replied. "We're heading for the emergency room."

"Got it."

The hallways were clear, but as they began moving down the right corridor, that same zombie groan came back to him, louder this time, much closer. Eric saw an open door to the left, the ICU. He held up his fist, then moved forward, pistol out. As he moved closer, a shadow fell across the door, and then a zombie lurched out. It wore a ripped, bloodstained labcoat and moaned wildly as it lurched for him, reaching with long-fingered, sharp hands. He put three rounds into its head, and popped off another two shots at the second zombie that lurched out behind the first. He lowered his pistol, but then heard a strange gurgling sound that he remembered belonged to the headcrabs. It was coming from inside the ICU.

He approached cautiously when he realized it wasn't going to come out to him. Tense, his heart pounding, he stepped in, and shouted. The headcrab was perched atop a rolling medical cart barely five feet away. It launched itself at him and he barely managed to duck down. The thing let out a sound of pain as it smacked into the door and bounced into the hallway. A deafening shotgun blast sounded and when he finished scoping out the immediate area and slipped back out, he saw that the headcrab had become a smear of blood and chunks.

"Good shot," he said, still dazed from the near-death experience.

"Is it safe?" Vanessa replied.

"Let me check the emergency room," he answered, and headed off that way. He would want to do a more thorough search of the area, but this would have to do for now. He came into the room and found...a bunch of corpses. A baker's dozen were spread out across the area. All of the beds were taken up, covered in sheets, and a few more were covered in bloody sheets along the far wall. He realized that Vanessa must have done most of this herself. Moving quickly around the immediate area, checking in all the little niches and shadowy nooks he could find, Eric finished securing the area. "Okay!" he called, "secured!"