The car sped down the cracked road tires crunching over broken glass and gravel. The sky was a dull gray now the thunderclouds over the horizon. Matthew drove. Jackson sat in the passenger seat his eyes fixed on the road ahead and was spaced out.
"You okay man?" Matthew asked.
Jackson didn't answer right away.
Then his breath hitched.
He turned away and started to sob a little. "I keep seeing their faces." he whispered. "The old man. The crawler... I didn't even flinch."
Matthew didn't speak he just drove.
"I don't know who I am anymore." Jackson said. "I kill them, and I don't feel anything. Not fear. Not guilt. Nothing."
Jackson shook his head. "That's not normal. That's not human."
Matthew reached over and put his hand on his shoulder. "You did what you had to do."
Jackson wiped his face with his sleeve and went back to looking out the window.
Neither said anything else. They kept driving in silence until they pulled into the hospital lot. The sign was tilted. Glass doors shattered. The stench of blood was strong in the air.
"Let's get what we came for" Jackson said voice low.
They both got out the car and put on their bookbags Jackson held his knife and Matthew grabbed his bat he got from Sofia. The hospital towered over them four stories of crumbling concrete. A rusty wheelchair lay on its side near the entrance one wheel still spinning from the wind.
Jackson and Matthew stepped through the broken door's weapons drawn.
Inside, the air was thick and metallic heavy with decay. Faded posters hung on the walls. "Wash Your Hands! " And "Flu Shots This Fall!" A child's stuffed rabbit was laying in the corner stained with blood.
They walked down the corridor. The waiting room was empty with blood all over.
Matthew glanced around and whispered. "What floor you think the meds are on?"
"We need to look for a floor map" Jackson said. "We should check Pediatrics. Then Pharmacy."
They walked up to the reception desk. Behind it a body slumped in a rolling chair with its jaw torn off. On the wall above was the floor map Pediatrics was on the 4th floor. They then walked towards the elevator.
The elevator was dead, of course. Jackson pointed up the sign that was pointing towards the stairway. Mathhew looked then looked back then nodded. The continued to walk slowly till.
He heard it.
Shuffling.
Slow. Uneven.
Jackson looked around the corner.
Matthew gripped his bat. "One?"
Jackson nodded. "For now."
He moved ahead first his breath silent the knife tight in his hand. Just around the corner a nurse stood... Or what used to be a nurse. Her spine bent at a wrong angle limbs twitching. Her head tilted as if listening. She hadn't seen them yet. Jackson inched forward. His blade flashed up swift and clean. One stab straight through the neck then twisted up through the brainstem. The nurse crumpled to the floor.
Matthew swallowed hard. "Jesus…"
Jackson breathed out through his nose. "Let's move."
They crept forward. Past gurneys. Past dried pools of blood and claw marks down walls. Past what looked like a failed barricade of chairs and stretchers now crushed inward. They were now Infront of the doors that led to the stairways.
The stairwell reeked of mildew, rot and blood. Light from a cracked skylight spilled in, just enough to see the steps. Jackson led the way knife drawn. The silence was thick. Every creak of the stairs felt too loud. They made their way up as they were passing the second-floor door Jackson froze. Low growling noises came from the other side of the door. Jackson put his finger to his lips and shushed Matthew.
BANG!
The door busted open.
Two infected tumbled out. Their skin pale and peeling with their mouths gaping wide with rotted teeth.
Jackson didn't think he shoved Matthew back and charged.
One leapt toward him Jackson caught it midair driving the knife deep into its head twisting the knife. The second one slammed into his side knocking him against the wall. The infected got on top of Jackson he quickly held the knife out putting it in its mouth trying to push him off.
"Matthew!" he yelled struggling to keep it back. "Run!"
Matthew stood frozen, bat clenched in his hands, eyes wide.
Jackson struggled as the second infected came in through the doorway charging at him.
"RUN!"
Matthew stood there frozen. He didn't want to kill... He couldn't bring himself to end something that looked so human. Time moved slow but he his will to protect was strong. His sense of justice was always there. He needed to save his family that's the only thought that was in his mind. Something clicked inside of him, and he charged.
The bat swung wide and cracked hard across the infected's skull. Its bone crunched. The thing stumbled then Matthew swung again even harder. The second blow caved in its head, and it dropped.
Jackson shoved the other one off finishing it with a final stab through the eye. He stood panting, blood on his hands.
Matthew stood still gripping the bat breathing fast.
Then he exhaled eyes wide but full of adrenaline. "Shit…"
Jackson looked at him, expression unreadable.
Then he nodded once.
"Good job."
Matthew wiped his forehead. "I see how you been feeling," he said. "That adrenaline? That fear? The way they go limp..."
"It's kind of exciting, isn't it?" Jackson muttered quietly his eyes wide with a giant grin on his face.
"What?"
His face quickly went back to normal. "Huh?
"Nothing I thought you said something."
Jackson looked confused. "Let's keep moving."
They continued up the stairs passing the third floors door and finally reaching the fourth floor. Jackson opened the door the fourth floor was chaos. Doors hung half open gurneys flipped over dried blood streaked across the walls with bloody handprints. The hallway was dim. Jackson and Matthew crept forward.. The air smelled worse up here closer to rot... closer to death.
Then came the noise.
Growling. louder and louder. It was three infected. They came out from side rooms one a nurse with its face half torn another a security guard missing an arm the third a teen still wearing a hospital gown jaw slack and eyes full of maggots.
Jackson didn't wait. He lunged at the nearest one, stabbing clean into the guard's throat. He twisted and yanked then spun around and knocked the teen off balance. Matthew moved too bat raised. He slammed it down on the teen's back sending it sprawling. He stomped its head into the tile once. The infected was still moving under his foot. "Oh god... Stop moving please." Then stomped again completely smashing its head in blood splashed out then the infected stopped moving
Jackson turned just in time to catch the nurse lunging for him. He plunged his blade under its chin, lifting it slightly as its body twitched. Matthew looked up just in time to see it. Jackson.
His face twisted in the moment. Eyes wide. Mouth wide in a crooked grin. For a second... just a second, he looked like he enjoyed it.
Then it was gone. Jackson dropped the body and turned away like nothing happened.
Matthew hesitated, watching. The bat hung low in his hand.
"…You, okay?" he asked softly.
Jackson didn't answer. Just walked ahead.
They reached the Pediatrics center.
It looked completely trashed. Crayon drawings still clung to the walls. "Dr. Skibidi says WASH YOUR HANDS!" and "You're So BRAVE!" But the floor was littered with broken IV stands and collapsed shelves.
"Alright let's do this quickly Matt"
Matthew nodded then hit the supply cabinet with the bat breaking the lock. Inside was antibiotics, acetaminophen, antihistamines, ointments, and fever reducers.
Jackson threw his bag on the floor and stuffed it all in. He also grabbed extra gauze, scissors, thermometers anything that seemed useful.
Matthew opened the mini fridge it was still cold. Inside was juice boxes and Pedialyte. He carefully placed them in a separate pouch wrapping them in a kid's sweatshirt.
"That everything?" Jackson asked.
Matthew nodded. "Yeah. Let's go quietly."
But Jackson stopped for a second.
He looked at the tiny crayon drawing taped to the wall near the fridge. It was a drawing of a Father and son. Smiling. Holding hands in front of a rainbow.
He stared at it eyes blank.
Then ripped it down and crumpled it.
"Let's move," he said.
Jackson and Matthew moved fast and quietly. Each footstep sticked slightly against the blood slicked tile. The lights above flickered every few seconds. Their bags were heavy with meds and they were tired but adrenaline kept them moving.
Then Matthew spotted something.
A small glass cabinet tucked into a corner near an old nurse's station. It was sealed tight with a digital padlock.
"Hold up," he said. "Might be morphine or stronger meds in here."
Jackson looked back. "Let's just go."
"I can break it open."
"We should hurry home it will be night soon."
But Matthew had already raised the bat.
Jackson glanced and noticed something "Matthew, WAIT NO—!"
CRACK.
The lock shattered.
For one second, there was silence.
Then
ERRRNNNNNK—ERRRNK—ERRRRNK!
A piercing alarm rang blaring through the entire floor. Red lights above the doors started to flash.
"Oh, fuck me..." Matthew muttered backing up.
"Fuck we gotta go!" Jackson snapped as he grabbed the morphine.
From down the hall came the first scream. Then another. Then dozens.
Doors slammed open. The infected burst out from rooms, stairwells, vents. Nurses, patients and security guards all charged full speed.
Jackson grabbed Matthew's arm. "RUN!"
They bolted down the hallway slipping on the tiles as the sound of feet... dozens of pounding footsteps came pounding behind them. They ran to the stairwell ahead but it was already full of infected crawling up some already spilling onto their floor.
"Shit! Fuck! This way!" Jackson yelled turning hard and shoulder checking open a supply room. The door flew open, and they dove in and slammed the door shut.
"F-fuck man what do we do?!" Matthew was gasping out of breath heart pounding out of his chest.
"Block the door!" Jackson grabbed the metal shelfs and pushed it infront of the door. Matthew stacked supply boxes anything to block the door. The pounding came fast. Screams. Growls. Nails clawing at the metal... But it held... For now.
They collapsed against the opposite wall panting sweat dripping down on their foreheads. Outside the alarm still blared. They sat there for over a hour but it felt like forever the alarm eventually stopped and the scratching and pounding of the infected slowed a bit.
Then…
It stopped.
All of it.
The pounding.
The growling.
The noise.
Silence.
Matthew looked up confused. "Why'd they stop?"
Jackson didn't answer. He was staring out the tiny window a sliver of the sky visible between broken blinds. He got up and moved the blind and looked out the window.
"A... blood moon?" Jackson whispered.
The moon had risen but it wasn't normal. It was Red. Blood red. Like a gaping wound in the sky. The clouds around it twisted unnaturally and then the sky started to rain blood.
"What the fuck? Is it raining blood?" Jackson's face contorted with fear.
Matthew shifted uneasy. He opened his mouth to say something, but—
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—
A loud screech that sounded like nails against a chalkboard like a scream of a thousand souls. It wasn't just loud it sank into them vibrating their bones infecting their minds with fear.
They both trembled falling to their knees. They both clutched their heads. It was pure primal fear, and it shook them to their core.
Outside, the infected screamed back but it was different now. They were angry feral they started rampages smashing into the walls and howling. Jackson looked at Matthew eyes tears pouring down both of their faces their lips trembling. He didn't speak. He couldn't. Neither of them could.
The night dragged on, hour by hour.
They didn't sleep.
They couldn't.
Every creak in the walls every thud from the hallway outside set their nerves alight. The infected didn't just walk around they screeched, banged, and whispered. Sometimes it sounded like they were right outside the door. Sometimes… it sounded like they were inside the walls. Jackson sat with his knees pulled to his chest his eyes bloodshot fixed on the floor. His knife rested in his lap blood dried on the blade.
Three hours passed.
The air had grown colder but sweat covered their bodies. The scent of blood filled the room. The hospital... The world.
"I think we're in hell..." Jackson finally muttered his voice hoarse. barely audible "Maybe we died… and this is it."
Matthew sat there shaking he didn't answer. His hands trembled in his lap. He hadn't let go of the bat.
Something looked like it skitted across the ceiling above them fast They froze again. Neither breathed.
D̷̠́.̷̖͑.̵̡̭̣̐.̶̜̂.̸̰͍͛̀̚Ì̵̭̥͚Ỉ̷̘̞I̵̞͂Ĩ̴̙.̷͎̞̠̀̚.̶͖̘̰̀͠.̸̢͉͋̕ͅẸ̵̲̭̑̊̇Ḛ̴̯̾Ë̷͖́̈̉Ë̶͍͍́͝E̵̚͜E̵̚͜E̵̚͜Ḛ̴̯̾E̵̚͜E̵̚͜E̵̚͜E̵̚͜!
A scream tore through the entire building. It was not human. Not infected either. It sounded... Wrong... Like something just started learning how to use its voice.
Jackson pressed his back harder against the wall. His heart hammered like it wanted to burst from his chest. "What the fuck is out there man…"
Time was slow. Reality felt warped. The blood moon never moved. It just hung there outside the window... casting everything in a red hue. They sat there never moving until they both felt a sharp pain in their chest and their head. They both passed out knocked out cold.
Outside, the red moon pulsed in the sky while blood rained down. something started to shift and change inside the humans who were left in this world... And something new became to change in the infected they were evolving.