𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 | 𝘙𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘎𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴

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"GO! Cass, you have to go!" Sophie urges me desperately, but I shake my head, tears streaming down my face. Tears stream down my face as screams and gunshots reverberate through the hospital corridors, each horrific sound deepening the pit of dread in my stomach.

My heart sinks as I look down at my best friend, her hand clutched on her stomach just under her ribs, where she was just bit a minute ago. The monster that doomed her fate lies dead after I stabbed it between the eyes.

It used to be a person. A real person, that I just killed.

Oh god.

Panic begins surging through my body realizing what I've done. Sophia glances weakly up at me, slumped against the wall, blood oozing down her blue-grey scrubs. The sight of my best friend, bleeding out right in front of me, breaks my heart. I glance over at the exit, where doctors and nurses are barreling through, sunlight streaming around them as they escape. A hand grasps my forearm, and I jump, looking back down at Sophie.

"You. Need. To. Go." Sophie chokes out, a mix of pain and determination in her dark brown eyes. I sob uncontrollably, shaking my head in frantic refusal.

"I can't leave you Soph, I can't let you become one of them!" I cry, my lip trembling, the weight of realization slamming into me. She's going to die.

The dreaded sounds of shuffling feet and groaning start to fill the hall, my head whipping over to see a large group of the undead shuffling towards us from the opposite side of the hallway, drawn to the smell of Sophie's blood.

My eyes widen in panic. "Please, Cass. Go!" Sophie implores, tears staining her cheeks. I bite my lip, glancing at the swarm of undead patients and then back at Sophie.

I can't let them get her.

But there's no way I can get her out with me.

Dread washes over my body as I realize what I have to do.

I drop to my knees in front of Sophie. "Okay, I'll go. I'll get help. Everything will be just fine okay? We're going to be just fine," I reassure her softly but I can tell that the fever is already starting to take over her body. She just nods groggily to my words, barely able to open her eyes, visibly relaxing as she realizes I'm going to get to safety.

Leaning in, I embrace her tightly for the last time. "Goodbye Sophie," I whisper, swiftly driving my concealed scalpel into the back of her neck with precision, sparing her from further suffering. I let her go gently, a sob racking my body as her lifeless figure slumps to the ground, her curly black hair concealing her eyes. My closest friend. Gone.

My heart pounding against my ribcage, I turn and before I can convince myself otherwise, take off down the hall away from the wave of the dead. Shoving open the exit door, the brilliant daylight blinds me for a moment. I glance back over my shoulder only to witness the undead surrounding Sophie, devouring her flesh.

I choke on a heart-broken sob, knowing that Sophie would be glad to have kept them off me. To have given me that moment to get away.

Turning around, I sprint into the parking lot, my grief and anguish merging into a gut-wrenching sob. I make it about ten feet before my body gives way to a mix of despair and repulsion, and I vomit on the unforgiving asphalt, tears steadily streaming down my face.

Slowly and carefully, I release the pressure on the BP cuff, watching the needle fall down the dial, waiting to hear that first heartbeat. I finally hear it faintly at 83 and Carl's diastole heartbeat follows at 58. My heart sinks. He's getting worse.