Paradise Lost: Tales of the Dead Tropics (3 page)

"Catch!" I hollered and flung my pole like a javelin towards Ken. Without waiting to see if he caught it, I turned and ran for my life. The doors loomed ahead, 50 meters, 40...If I could get through, I could bolt it and get help.

A raspy growl echoed through the hall just behind me.
Oh God.
30 meters.
Please God.
A door suddenly opened at the side and a bloody figure stepped through. I cried out and veered away from it. I caught a glimpse of ashen skin and a half chewed face. I banged against the far wall and fell over an overturned chair. The woman lurched at me, hands clenched into claws. From the corner of my eyes, I saw the other maniacs moving towards me. I grabbed the chair and heaved it at the woman in desperation. It didn't even slow her down; she reached down and grabbed my ankle. Screaming, I kicked violently at her face with my other foot until she released me. Scrambling to my feet, I pelted desperately towards the doorway.

20 meters. Suddenly the doors flung open and the wonderful sight of our security men greeted me. I pushed past them as they spread out across the hallway. "There are people down there that need your help!" I gasped. "Please hurry."

"Don't worry, miss" An older man smiled at me. "We'll have this under control soon."

I clutched his arm. "They're completely insane! They're eating people!" He blinked and patted my hand reassuringly before moving off.

I drew back and tried to control my trembling limbs. I took in the scene. The woman missing half her face was reaching for a young security guard who pointed his weapon and shouted at her to stop. Two other maniacs were being circled by two armed officers while another two continued down the hall. I prayed that they were in time to save Ken and Emma.

Suddenly a shot rang out. My head snapped around to see the young security guard had fired a warning shot above the woman's head.

"What the hell, Jack!" The security officer standing next to me, yelled out. "These are patients! Use your taser!"

I watched on as the guards fired their tasers - with absolutely no effect. And in those precious wasted seconds, the maniacs reached out and grabbed the officers. The woman sunk her teeth eagerly into the young guard, Jack's arm and tore a chunk out. He screamed in disbelief and tried to fend her off. Further down the hall, the two guards were grappling with the two maniacs that I suddenly recognized as the miners I'd seen brought in.

Cries rang out as the struggles became increasingly desperate. The maniacs ripped into any part of the body they could reach- hands, ears, neck.

"Do something!" I shouted despairingly at the officer beside me. A quick check identified him as as the officer in charge. "Biggs!"

Biggs shook himself and pulled his gun out. "Shoot, shoot! Defend yourself if you have to!" He strode forward and and tried to find a clear shot. The woman with a jagged hole where her lips once were, pulled Jack close and sunk her teeth into the his cheek. He screamed again but seemed helpless to fight her off. Biggs pulled her away and aimed his gun at her. "Don't make me do this, lady."

She bared bloody teeth at him and lunged forward. He shot her in the chest. She stumbled back a few steps then moved towards him again. In incredulity, he shot her again. Again she reached for him. Desperate, he pointed his gun at her head and pulled the trigger. The woman collapsed instantly like a marionette, a bloody mess where her head had been.

The senior officer stared at her fallen body in disbelief. Around him, panic took hold as shots rang out without effect. "They aren't stopping!"

Horrified, I watched the older officer who had comforted me, drop his gun and stagger towards us. His yells became garbled and blood poured from a ragged wound in his throat.

Do something!
Stepping forward, I yelled at the top of my voice. "Shoot them in the head! It works!"

Another guard took up the cry. "Go for the head!" A cacophony of gunshots followed as the three standing men desperately targeted the maniacs' heads.

As the noise died away, the officers stood surrounded by the corpses of the maniacs. They gazed at each other, stunned into somber silence. Suddenly, the sound of a woman's scream brought my head up sharply. Emma! She ran towards me from the far end of the corridor, waving her arms frantically. "Run! Run!" Behind her, I heard shots being fired and then Ken and the security guards came bolting around the corner. They were looking over their shoulders and yelling, "Move! Move!"

In the moment of frozen inaction that gripped me and the others, I saw them - a throng of blood-splattered creatures staggering around the corner. It is an image that will forever be burned in my memory. A doctor with arms that ended in bloody stumps; a security guard with intestines dragging on the floor; a young dark-haired woman with a gaping hole where her abdomen once was. Doctor Wilson stumbled behind her, oblivious to the gaping hole in his chest. One of the guards turned and fired wildly at them. A bullet slammed into the chest of a middle-aged woman in a nurse's uniform. She fell back into the crowd. And then she stood up.

"Help the wounded!" Biggs yelled, snapping everyone out of their paralysis. "Get going!" He grabbed the Jack's arm and pulled him up. We followed the other guards carrying the older injured man through. I rushed back to hold a door open. I waved at Emma and the others. "Come on!"

She was so close, I could see the flush on her cheeks and the terror in her wide eyes. Not far behind her were the men and oh, so close, too close, were the monsters. Their missing limbs slowed them down, thank god, but they kept coming...

"Hurry, Emma." I murmured and held my hand out to her. Her eyes met mine and she reached for me. I closed my fingers around hers and swept her into a tight one-armed hug as I continued to hold the door open.

"Am I safe?" She whispered pleadingly.

"For now." I answered truthfully as I watched the boys drawing closer over her shoulder. And then they were through, and the guards were bolting the doors shut.

5

A gurgled cry drew my attention. The older guard was lying against the wall. The nurse in me kicked in. I grabbed a kit from the nearby counter and hurried over to examine them.

"Call for help" I snapped at Biggs as I ran by. Kneeling by the older man, I struggled to stem the flow of blood from his neck but I saw the light of life already fading from his eyes. Within a minute, he was gone. I stood up. "I'm sorry. He's gone." I quickly moved over to the young man. His wounds were more serious but not immediately life threatening. I worried that he was going into shock.

As I knelt beside the lad, Emma moved to join me, her red hair falling over her face. "You saved my life, Lori. I can't believe that you risked your life like that!"

I shrugged, embarrassed, as I worked on the boy. "Momentary madness."

Emma grinned, and with a professional eye, quickly assessed the situation in the room. Her smile faded as her eyes settled on the dead guard.

"How long has he been dead?" She pointed.

I frowned, puzzled. "A few minutes. Why?"

Emma stood up, agitated. "You've got to get him out of here. Now!" Her blue eyes appealed to the other guards. "The ones who have been bitten turn quickly when they die. Hurry, we don't have long!"

Even as she spoke, I saw the dead man's eyes snap open. His lips peeled back and he lunged at a blond guard near him, sinking his teeth into the man's calf.

"Get him off, get him off!" The guard screamed, fumbling with his gun. Biggs stepped forward, coolly pressed his gun against the side of the dead man's head and pulled the trigger.

Biggs turned an icy blue eye on me. "Either you are a shitty nurse who can't tell when a man is dead, ma'am, or I just iced a corpse. " He closed his eyes briefly. "I don't suppose there's much chance you're a shitty nurse, is there?"

I shook my head wordlessly, pushing myself to my feet. "He was gone."

Biggs sighed and turned away. "Not sure how I am going to explain this away if there is an inquiry. Then again, not sure there's any way to explain any of this..."

He passed Ken as he gathered his remaining able officers for a conference.

"Thanks." Ken's sensitive face was drawn and pale. "That stick allowed me to hold off Jan...those creatures until the officers arrived."

I accepted his thanks with an awkward nod. It was hard to feel proud when I had abandoned them and run like hell.

The stocky sandy-haired guard (I privately nicknamed him B1, with his pointy head and spiky hair) sent to make a call trotted back from the nurses' station, looking unsettled. "I can't raise anyone in admin, or down in ER, the office..."

Biggs scowled. "Everyone's spread so damned thin today. We've been dealing with outbreaks of aggression all over the hospital in the last hour -" He stopped abruptly as the same appalling thought occurred to all of us.
What if this was happening all over the hospital?

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, folks." He turned to a bald man calmly chewing gum. "Jim, go get a visual on what's happening downstairs in ER."

Jim nodded and turned to go.

"And make it quick."

Jim snorted. "Count on it."

My head was spinning. Surely we were overreacting. There was no way this craziness could be happening all over the hospital?! Emma looked pale. Ken murmured, "Just a few of those creatures took out our whole staff and security guards. If this disease has spread..."

"We don't even know if it is a disease." Emma said without conviction.

"Disease, mass hallucination, act of God. Whatever it is, it kills people and then brings them back with an addiction for human flesh."Ken said dryly. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it would be bad if it has spread."

Emma shuddered. I wrapped a protective arm around her. "We are all aware of what's at stake here, Ken." My thoughts raced. What about the children's ward? ICU? Most of the patients in this hospital would be unable to defend themselves!

Ken deflated and looked sheepish. "Sorry. Bit stressed."

I couldn't help myself. I laughed out loud. "That's seems the understatement of the day."

Ken grinned and Emma giggled nervously.

The sound of moans filtered through the doors. We sprang up nervously. "We need to move." Emma's voice trembled. "There are so many of them. What if they get through?"

"We need to know what we are dealing with before we go anywhere." Biggs came over to stand in front of Ken and Emma. "Fill me in on what happened up here. The more I know, the better I can deal with the situation."

Emma nodded and took a deep breath, watching the doors anxiously.

"I was lucky." She smiled a little, aware of the irony of that statement. "The miners died within minutes of each other. We left them on the trolleys while we cleaned up. I was in the next room getting supplies, but Alana and Jan were in the room with the bodies..." She swallowed and looked away. "I heard them screaming and when I ran in, Jan and Alana were on the ground and two of those monsters were
eating
them, chewing on their faces, their stomachs."

Emma squeezed her eyes shut as the memories slid over her. "I ran back into the supply room and locked the door. They came after me and banged on the door for a while. I just prayed and prayed and then I heard them move away. They were making grunting sounds, like they'd gone back to ...eating. And then the screams from the other rooms started." She shuddered. " I hid in the cupboard until I heard Ken calling my name."

Ken's mouth tightened. "I was in the men's when it started. When I came out, the others were already dead or dying. That's how quickly it happened. When I trying to get out, I saw Jan and Alana dead on the floor and the supply room door shut; I thought maybe, just maybe, Emma was still alive." He looked at her with a half smile. "I had to know for sure."

She returned his smile. "I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life. I might never have let you go if I hadn't seen... "

"What?" Biggs tried to urge gently.

"Jan and Alana. They sat up." Tears filled her sapphire eyes. "No noses, lips, cheeks, stomach but they got up without any sign of pain." She bit her lip. "I
knew
that they were dead. Yet there they were...walking."

Ken continued. "When I felt her body tense, I turned around, and they were coming at us." He shook his head at the memory. "Thank God their faces were so messed up that they couldn't see very well 'cos they tripped over some boxes. I just grabbed Emma's hand and ran right past them."

Biggs frowned. "So your walking dead theory is all based on those nurses having more resistance to pain than you? Jesus."

"No!" Ken exclaimed. "We saw others - hell, Brian was dragging himself along the floor - and he'd been torn in half." Ken choked and looked away.

"Go look through the door window, Biggs, if you didn't get a good look earlier." I said steadily. "But I think you already know the truth in your gut."

For a long moment, no one said anything.

"Yeah." Biggs answered heavily. "Okay, then." He turned to leave.

"Biggs." I said, unsure of what to say but knowing I had to say something. "One of the paramedics was bitten this morning. He began showing all the same symptoms as these things, shortly after. It's probably nothing to worry about." I hastened to say. "The majority of people who are exposed to an encephalitis virus never go on to develop any symptoms but we really need to get these guys treated. Just in case."