Kids Never Die

Chapter 15: The Echo

I took deep breaths and watched my heart pound. Morgan had finally opened his eyes and there were no more flesh eaters in sight. Kyra wast keeping track of the surroundings and sketching out what we had past. Morgan had been drenched in sticky, red blood from the dismembered hand.

My left hand ached and I could my heart beat, throb through the torn skin. I held my wrist tightly, hoping to cut off blood flow and go numb. The pain burned through me and sent pulsing up my arm. It was almost unbearable. But I sustained a strong posture.

"Let me see your hand." said Sam.

"I'm fine." I replied and pulled my arm tighter to myself.

She shook her head. "No your not. Let me see your hand."

I turned in my seat and extended my arm to her. She carefully removed the wrappings that were stained with blood, and she looked at my hand. There was a gap of skin and muscle missing that was about three inches wide and stretched from the bottom of my wrist to the knuckle of my index finger on the back of my hand. You could see the bone of my hand, and many blood vessels that had been split open. It was a gruesome display.

Sam cringed her teeth. "I could fix you up," she said, "but I'd need proper tools."

"Like what?" I asked.

She looked up for a moment, then back to me. "Some tweezers, a needle. Thread. Maybe some gauze. Other things to help with infection."

"Where could we find those things?" I asked.

"Maybe a dollar store or something?" Suggested Angela.

"No, you wanna go to a pharmacy. Thats medical supplies" interrupted Emilee.

Kyra looked out the window. "Guys, why not a hospital?"

"Where would we find a hospital?" Asked Morgan.

"Look" she pointed down the road. "Theres a small town down the road, Gavin will obviously stop if there are pliable supplies."

"Good work Kyra" I smiled.

When we arrived in the town, just as Kyra had said, Gavin was stopped. His motorcycle was propped up against a gas station and he was searching through car windows. Morgan pulled the car to the side of the road and we all exited

"Find anything?" Asked Sam.

"Ye" he answered, "a couple swiss army knives and some nice mountain rope."

"Good work." I said.

Kyra looked down the road. "Looks like theres a hospital up ahead."

"Lets go!" Shouted Angela.

Sam, Angela, Morgan, and I ran down the road. The rest followed Gavin in search of materials. When we reached the hospital, the automatic door was not working. Morgan kicked in the glass and we all climbed through.

The lobby was dark, minus a few flickering lights that made the surroundings erie. Shadows of unknown sources painted the walls.

"We should find one of the patient rooms, thats probably where the supplies will be." Said Sam.

"Alright, sounds good, but we stay together." We all nodded.

We made our way down a small hallway and tried each door. Most were locked, but finally at the end of the hall way, a door had been broken open so we entered.

"I don't like this." Morgan gripped the taser tight in his hand. I pulled the pistol from my pocket.

"You and me both" I assured him.

The room was pitch black and the window had been boarded up. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed in and the floor was littered with plaster and dust. We all maneuvered our way through to the cabinets against the wall.

From the corner of the room emerged a voice. "No body move." It was a young woman's voice, no older than sixteen.

Morgan and I turned quickly. Sam clung to my arm and Angela appeared as if she had seen a ghost.

"Drop your weapons" the voice called.

"We outnumber you." Morgan answered.

There was a gunshot and Morgan was knocked off his feet. "Shit!" He yelled. "She shot me in the foot."

"I won't ask again" the voice was angry. "Drop your weapons." I threw my gun on the ground and rose my hands.

"Against the wall" the woman said.

I turned against the wall and felt a gun held to my back. I spun around quickly and pushed the gun to the ground, whilst still in her hands so she let off a few shots. I took the gun in my grip and shoved the girl with my arm. She tripped over Morgan and fell to the ground. I picked up my gun off the floor and aimed both at her.

Suddenly, the lights flickered a moment and Morgan caught a glimpse of her face. She appeared young and her face was littered with freckles. She had almost an afro of frizzy red hair.

"Sadie?" Asked Morgan.

"Morgan?" She replied. She sounded angry again.

"You two know each other?" Asked Sam.

"She's my cousin." Morgan struggled to his feet. I wrapped his arm around me to support.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sadie yelled.

"Surviving ass hole. How about you?" Asked Angela.

Sadie rolled her eyes. "I was hiding from zombies, but thanks to you they're already on their way."

We could hear the moaning and screeching down the hall way.

"Lets get the supplies and go." I gestured to the cabinets.

"Theres too much in the way." Sam kicked around. "Someone small would have to go through."

"Damn it." I shouted. I punched the boards over the window and broke a hole through. I looked at my fist a moment, then back to the window. Through the hole, I could see Katie.
"Thats it," I told myself. I began to knock the boards off. "Katie!" I got her attention and gestured her over.

She sprinted to the window, and Nick followed. I helped her through the window into the building. "She'll be alright." I assured Nick, who waited outside. The zombies moaning was getting louder and closer.

"Katie, can you get to that cabinet in there?" I pointed under some debris.

"I can try." She fell to her stomach and crawled past a pool of Morgans blood, into the area with the cabinet. She opened it and threw out a few first aid kits. I gave them to Sam and Angela and helped them out the window. Then, I slid morgan through the opening, careful not to injure his leg. Sadie made her own way out.

I hit the ground and gestured for Katie. "I'm stuck!" She called. I looked at the door. Zombies were already peering into the room. I looked back to Katie with tears in my eyes.

"I... I don't know if I can get you." I tried to lift the debris and clear it but to no avail. She smiled at me.

"Its okay" she nodded. "I was gonna die anyway, let me do it right."

"I'm not leaving Katie." I shook my head. She pulled the gun out if my hand and began to shoot at the zombie behind me.

Then she held the gun to her head. "Yes you are." She whispered and pulled the trigger. Blood splatted all down my face and shirt, and stained her light brown hair.

"No." I whispered, and I repeated, progressively getting louder. "No, no, no." The shot she fired seemed to echo, echo forever. I stood up and jumped out the window. I could still hear the shot, echoing its loud boom across the dead silence of the country side. I rubbed my head.

"Where's Katie?" Asked Nick. I looked at him and closed my eyes.

He shook his head, then laid down t0 cry. He sat with his head buried in his hands and he sobbed.