All That's Left (The Walking Dead FanFiction)

Chapter 34

The automatic sliding glass doors leading into the hospital have already been shattered. The shards of glass crunch beneath my feet and I can't help but envision the chaos that must have ensued when the outbreak started. I imagine patients running in their hospital gowns, trampling over one another; soldiers pointing their weapons in an attempt to enforce some level of control; people dying and coming back to life; glass shattering, tables breaking, doors destroyed, as people try to escape.

I wonder how many lives were lost.

Rick takes the lead and we follow close behind. Hundreds of papers are scattered on the ground. Tubes and syringes surround the floor. We step over a few dead bodies. It smells awful. Like rotting flesh and sour milk.

We all freeze when we hear it: shuffling footsteps that can't be human.

A little girl emerges in the hallway. She groans as she walks towards us, her head twitching slightly. None of us move. It's upsetting to see a little girl like this. Before we can react, a shot is fired. Sinclair stands behind his gun as the bullet penetrates perfectly in the center of her head. She falls to the floor. Her head cracks against the linoleum. I'm always surprised at how quiet the silencer makes the gunshot.

Rick shakes his head and then we continue moving forward. Some of us aren't as quiet as others. I want to turn around and scream at the man behind me. I can't remember his name. He doesn't look where he's stepping and manages to walk on nearly every item on the floor.

He's going to get us killed.

Rick maneuvers the hospital halls effortlessly. I want to ask if he's been here before and if he knows where he's going or if he's just following his gut. Odds are the pharmacy's on the first floor. The hospital is huge and I don't know how long it will take us to find it. Rick turns a corner before quickly back tracking and knocking into me.

"2," he murmurs.

He eyes Sinclair.

The two men go around the corner while the rest of us wait in the hallway. The groans of the infected echo down the empty hall and then I hear nothing. Rick and Sinclair return. Rick nods, motioning for us to continue following. We hear more moans as we continue to navigate the hospital. My heart hammers in my chest. Nobody has any idea where the sounds are coming from. Everything inside me screams to turn around. To go back home.

Rick faces us. "Around this corner is the pharmacy. Bill, Charlie, Jeff, Macy-look for the amoxicillin. Jacob, Sinclair, Vince-help me keep a lookout."

We each do as we're told. I follow Bill, Charlie, and Jeff to the pharmacy. Pill bottles are scattered everywhere. Ripped pieces of paper crunch under my heels. Broken glass from the windows reflect in the sunlight. A dead body is sprawled across the counter. She was a pharmacist. Her white lab coat is stained in her blood.

I hop over the counter and immediately begin scanning the shelves. I don't know where to start. There's hundreds of bottles on the shelves and a hundred more on the floor. I start grabbing random containers. I should have asked Jonah what other types of medication he could use. It's a waste to leave them all here but I don't know what to take.

I hear Charlie and Jeff behind me as they start looking. Jeff's footsteps are louder than my heartbeat. I almost say something. Daryl's face floods my thoughts. I don't know what to do if we don't find it.

I find oxycodone and shove bottles of it into my backpack. I shuffle through bottle after bottle, my heart sinking with every label I read. I fight back tears. If I don't find anything he's going to die. If I don't look hard enough he's going to die. And if he dies, I'll die with him. My hands start shaking. I can't find it.

I can't find it.

I decide to move. I'm looking in the wrong place. I head farther back into the pharmacy, passing Jeff on the way. I give him a small smile and once my back is to him, he grabs me. Before I can scream, his hand smothers my mouth. He shoves me against the back wall. My gun drops.

"Say anything and I'll kill you." He clicks the safety off and crashes the barrel into my head.

He towers over me as his brown eyes become wider. He's at least a hundred pounds heavier than me; I don't know how to fight back. With his face this close to mine, I realize that I recognize him from somewhere. My heart hammers in my chest. I rack my brain for any idea as to why he shoved me against a wall and put a gun to my head.

"You're immune," he murmurs, his lips grazing my ear. "I heard you tell your boyfriend and I heard you tell Dr. Jonah. You're gonna come with me and we're gonna find the tools Dr. Jonah needs to test you with to make a vaccine. And if you make a sound I'll-"

His massive body goes limp and he falls to the floor. His blood begins pooling at my feet.

"What happened?"

Across the room I see Sinclair heading towards me, holding a pistol equipped with a silencer.

I take a deep breath, gasping for air. "I don't know. He just attacked me."

He stops a few feet in front of me and scrunches his nose. "The biters will smell the blood soon. I'll tell rick we need to leave."

"No," I argue. "We need to find the medicine. We can't leave here without finding the medicine."

He produces a smug smile. "Already got 'em."

"How did you-"

"Just let me put the bottles in your backpack and let's leave all right?" He places a lanky arm on my shoulder and spins me around. I hear my backpack unzip and the four pill bottles rattle when they reach the bottom.

Before I can respond, Sinclair runs back to Rick. His name is on the tip of my tongue when I realize it would be a bad idea to yell here. I turn to look at Jeff's body: it's almost like I've grown numb to death and blood. I should feel some remorse for his death. Another death means another battle won for the infected. Another countless victory for a battle sometimes I think isn't worth fighting for anymore. I pick up my gun off the floor.

"Macy-" Charlie's eyes widen. "What happened? Why is my brother dead?"

I hadn't noticed it before, but now I see the similar brown eyes and broad shoulders. My heart drops to my stomach. The pool of blood keeps getting bigger and bigger.

"He tried to kill me," I explain. "There wasn't anything I could do. I-"

Charlie shoves his gun in my face. "Drop your weapon!" He commands through gritted teeth.

I do as he says. "Charlie, please don't do this."

The medication is in my backpack. I have to get to Daryl. I can't hear anything over the sound of my heartbeat ringing in my ears.

"We were just hoping you could give us a vaccine," Charlie says as tears flood his eyes. "That's all we wanted. You didn't have to kill him! You-"

Another gunshot. Charlie lays helpless at my feet. His blood begins to pool.

I'm going to throw up.

Everything feels like it's in slow motion. I feel like I'm not really here anymore. I can only smell blood. I can only see blood. I think someone is next to me. I think it's Rick. Or Sinclair. I'm not sure. Whoever it is, he pushes me forward and somehow I'm back outside at the car. I'm sitting in the passenger seat and Rick keeps trying to get me to speak. I killed those two people. It was my fault they died. It's like no matter where I go, people end up dying. And it's all my fault. If I hadn't have gone they'd still be alive.

Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up!

-Jaimie