Hatchetfield Stories

Silence

I was going to do Whumptober but I have been really unmotivated for the past few weeks but the Paulkins wedding made me want to write :)

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
-Injury
-Medical stuff

-------

Becky was running through the halls of the hospital. She had been hiding under a table since about an hour after her shift started, when one of her colleagues had strangled a kid to death. When he had left and she felt like it was safe, she had checked for a pulse. Dead. Becky was terrified, but it became even more terrifying when she saw that same child dancing in the waiting area, not even ten minutes later.

She didn't know what had happened, but something was very wrong. It was now 11 PM, her shift would've ended hours ago, but she had been too scared to move. Screams, singing, and gunshots were all she had heard for hours, but it had been silent for a while now.

Becky ran through the halls, looking for any sign of life. Sure, the screams she had heard were terrifying, but the silent, dark rooms scared her even more.

She heard voices, and they were coming closer. They weren't singing, but Becky ducked behind a trolley anyway, not taking any risks.

"I thought I heard footsteps," one of the voices spoke. Becky held her breath.

"And you decide to go in that direction? Did you forget that we're in the middle of the fucking apocalypse or something?"

Becky recognized that voice. Emma Perkins, whose sister married her boyfriend. She sounded like she was in pain. Becky looked at them. Emma's leg was impaled by a rebar, and a man carried her. Her blood wasn't blue like the stains she had seen on the floor, so it assumed it was safe. She revealed herself, clearing her throat, only to have Emma point a gun in her direction.

"Becky Barnes," Emma breathed, her hands tightly around the gun.

Becky put her hands up in the air. "Woah, Emma, I'm not one of them!"

"Prove it." She took the safety off the gun. "Sing something."

So she sang. She didn't know the name of the song, but she knew she had danced to it with Tom when they went to prom together.

Emma nodded, putting the gun away.

"How are you still alive?" the man asked, struggling to hold Emma. Emma screamed in pain as he tried to get a better grip.

"I was hiding. I have no clue what's happening," Becky said as she grabbed an abandoned wheelchair and helped the man put Emma in it. It was meant for a child, but she still fit in it.

She led the two to an empty room, and helped Emma sit on the table. "Um, okay... Let me help you with your leg."

"Fuck no! I'm not letting Becky fucking Barnes near me."

"Come on, Em," the man said. "It's the only way to survive."

"Fuck off, Paul!"

Paul looked at Becky, who shrugged. "I can't help you if you don't let me. I'll get some supplies while you make up your mind, okay." She smiled at Emma, who rolled her eyes.

Becky walked out of the room and to the nearest storage room. She grabbed some supplies to stitch the wounds, as well as some antiseptic, painkillers, and antibiotics.

When she walked back into the room, Emma was holding Paul's hand tightly and her eyes were squeezed shut. Becky could tell she was in a lot of pain.

"Will you help us, please?" Paul asked. Emma grunted.

"Of course," Becky said, laying the supplies on the table. She inspected Emma's leg. "Okay, I'm going to pull the rebar out, but that will hurt, so I'm sure Paul will let you squeeze his hand." She was used to working with children, and she really didn't know what to say to adults.

Emma cried out as Becky's fingers closed around the metal pipe. She pulled it out slowly, careful to not damage the already shattered bone further. She put one hand above the injury to hold her still as Emma's body shook.

Paul was mumbling to her, telling her it was okay, and that she was doing great. Emma just gripped his hand with both of hers as tears streamed down her cheeks.

When the pipe was finally out of her leg, Emma was panting. "Fuck! That hurts!"

Becky chuckled sadly. "I'm sorry, Emma." She put the rebar down and grabbed the bottle of antiseptic. "This is going to hurt, but it won't be as bad as what you've just been through." She poured a bit over the wound on the outside of Emma's thigh, and moved her leg so she could clean the other wound.

"I'm not a doctor, much less a surgeon, so I won't be able to actually fix up your leg, but I'll stop the bleeding so they can properly treat you when we're saved." She didn't add that she didn't know if Emma would make it much longer without a blood transfusion, and that she had no clue how to do that.

"Okay," Emma groaned.

Becky started stitching the wound on the inside of her thigh. "Emma, can you tell me what happened? It might distract you from the pain a bit."

"Helicopter crash..." Emma mumbled.

"And how did that happen?"

"The military was going to save us, but the pilot was one of those zombie fuckers."

Becky nodded, continuing to ask questions as she stitched both of the wounds. After she was done and had given Emma some painkillers and antibiotics, she gave her permission to sleep.

When Emma was asleep, Paul spoke up. "Thank you. You should get some sleep too, I'll wake you up if something happens."

Becky nodded, and soon fell asleep in one of the uncomfortable chairs.

*** *** ***

She had been awake for about an hour when Emma woke up. Paul was already sleeping, and an uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"I'm sorry," Becky eventually spoke. "I know you don't want me to be with Tom, and I get that you think I'm trying to replace Jane, but I'm not. I just... I just never stopped loving him."

Emma nodded. "Tom deserves to be happy, and so does Tim. If you're the one that makes them happy, I won't get in the way. I just miss Jane."

"It'll get easier. I work in a hospital, I've seen many kids die. Their siblings often don't know how to cope."

Emma smiled sadly. "I should've come home earlier."

"Hey... It's not your fault."

"I know..." Emma mumbled, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I came back to Hatchetfield after she died, and I never befriended anyone. Then I met Paul. I thought that it could be something that would work out, and then, boom, a fucking apocalypse."

Becky chuckled. "You'll make it out. We'll make it out."

"Thanks, Becky."

Becky smiled. She was glad they could be friends, or at least not hate each other.

After all, they did have to survive the apocalypse together.