Day 806
Night hits the sky, creating an aura around the tower known as the hospital. It feels as though thunder is about to hit despite there being no rain. It's just one of those times where you'd think thunder would strike the sky. Your shoulder is still in pain from the graze you got, but Julia half-heartedly patched you up with bandages and water before you went out on your journey. But Julia didn't come with you for this journey. In fact, barely anyone did.
Sky is by your side, holding your hand. Fiona is on your other side, her eyes narrowed on the building ahead. The doors are sealed shut, as are the windows. There's no way for you to peek inside and count the amount of Howlers. There's two reasons why Howlers are so dangerous. Well, more than two, but two major ones. The first reason is they're hard to see. They have naturally darker skin and blend in with the night sky. The second reason is they're hard to kill. Like Behemoths, Howlers take a lot of ammo to take out. Combining that with their sheer power, speed, and camouflage means they're near impossible to kill. Maybe the Ranglers have a right to take people to try and help defend their camps from these monstrosities.
Howlers evolved from zombies, but they sure as hell don't feel like zombies anymore. They're creatures of the night birthed from the Moon itself. At least, that's what you think. Fiona probably thinks they're from Hell, and Sky... who knows what she thinks anymore.
"Are we ready?" Fiona asks, holding an assault rifle.
Your weapons stash isn't the strongest in the world, but you took your best weapons for this mission. Sky can only handle a pistol, but you needed her here. As much as you don't want her here because of how young she is, she's the only one who can open the hospital doors. By that you mean, she's the only one small enough to go in the window above the doors to slip inside and open them.
"Never," you reply, going to the doors and kneeling. The window above it is so tiny, you doubt even Sky can fit. "Alright, up you go kiddo. But don't drop down without making sure there's no Howlers. We need you. If it comes down to it, you know what to do?"
"Run back home and don't look back."
"Right. You leave our asses. Emotions or not, you can-"
"Mourn later, mission first. I get it."
You let her get on your hands, and you hoist her up to the window. She climbs on the frame and peeks inside. It's the only window not boarded up because of the last time you were here to check on it. You pried the boards off to peek inside, but Howlers awaited you.
Sky cracks the window open, peeking down. "I don't see anything."
"I doubt they'd be here. That one window brings in sunlight, so they probably avoid it since it's the only place that gets light. Go ahead and let us in."
Sky obeys, plopping down and working on the door with her knife. She's experienced enough to know the basics of lockpicking. Fiona taught her, so that makes sense. Speaking of Fiona, the woman approaches you, and you glance at the scar on her neck on instinct. She freezes at your eyes, you sighing.
"Sorry," you say, averting your gaze, "I shouldn't pry, but didn't you get that scar because of-"
"I don't want to talk about it," she says, the door opening to prevent you from anymore awkward conversations. "But yes. Scavenge mission gone wrong. We lost two people that night, and I still didn't even see it. I didn't have a chance to: I was running."
"I'm sorry for saying anything, let's just get a move on." Right as the words left your lips, Sky came out to wait there for you. There's a part of you that wishes Ves was here. But it'd be stupid to bring along the kid who could mean the future of humanity. So, it was a good decision to make him stay and help Katherine and Jungkook with Jimin's recovery. Speaking of, you're still not sure how to feel. It's like your mind is drifting. The idea that Jimin might die hasn't hit your brain yet. It's better to get this mission over with. The faster you do it, the faster you don't have to worry about your boyfriend being in pain.
Fiona doesn't reply to you. She slips inside and pats Sky on the head for a job well done. You mimic the action, Sky not reacting to either of the movements. For good reason, though. Howlers can be anywhere. With it being night, not even retreating to the entrance would be safety anymore. There's no sunlight to use as a haven.
The hospital appears as though no one's been in it since the 1980s. There's more dust than floor, the darkness uncanny. The flashlight Fiona turns on isn't enough to light the area. No lights are on. There's only the single beam of light protruding from the dark stick Fiona's hand is wrapped around.
You take out yours, Sky doing the same. However, the added light is nothing compared to the abyss of darkness littering the hallways before you. With no other option, the three of you investigate the lobby. There's no medical supplies this early on (of course), meaning you'll have to keep going. One thing's for sure: no one wants to talk.
Sky and Fiona have their mouths sewn shut, their eyes wide and on the hallway you're creeping towards. The receptionist desk on your right has a dead body on it, almost a skeleton. There's bits of flesh oozing off the dusted bones, the body not yet fully decomposed. You hold in a vomit at the sight. It doesn't help that there's mice crawling around, and one is on the skeleton, munching away at the remaining body parts.
When Sky goes to look, you force her head away. She refocuses on the path ahead. On instinct, you get in front of her and stalk your way down the hall. Nothing yet. No noises other than the squish of your moist socks inside your broken shoes. Fiona's soft breathing is the next noise you hear. Her breathing is jagged, coming out through her mouth rather than her nose. It's like there's something in her lungs despite that not being the actual case. Sky's breathing is quiet unlike Fi's. And yours, quite frankly. Only your air rushes out through your nose rather than your mouth.
As you go deeper, you observe many hospital beds outside the rooms, some barricades made against doors. With the threat of Howlers being so large, you didn't stop to consider other zombie variants as well. And that's what makes you halt. Fiona does the same, Sky almost bumping into you.
"What is it?" Sky whispers.
"Look out for Deadbaits. We haven't seen any zombies yet, and I don't trust that. Not in a barricaded hospital. There's gotta be something around here."
"As nice as that is, they're the easy ones. What's your plan for Howlers?" Fiona asks.
Shit. You wish you asked Jimin for help with this. Not when he got shot, but before all this madness. How did anyone deal with Howlers? The best bet was shooting until it died. But the problem with that is Howlers don't die. Well, they do, but it takes so many bullets, you'll be better off dead after the dust settles. So what do you do?
"Do you have a lighter?" you ask. She shakes her head, but, she lights up after a moment and slides her backpack down on one of her elbows. The zipper falls, and she takes out an object with a carmine shade. "The hell is that?"
"A flare," Sky says before Fiona can. "If they're scared of the sunlight, why wouldn't they be scared of flares?"
"That's what I was thinking with a lighter. We can rip off our pieces of our clothes and light them on fire if it comes down to it. Where the hell did you get a flare?"
"Scavenging mission a while back. I kept it in my bag ever since. Sorry to hide it from you guys, but you never know when you'll need supplies like that to stay alive."
"It's alright, I'm sure as hell not complaining. Let's keep moving, I don't want to be here forever. The longer we're here, the more Jimin suffers without meds." No one raises a complaint. You guide them down the halls with your tiny flashlight, the beam bouncing off the walls that were once white. Now they seem like pig guts. There's a hickory tint to them mixed with the familiar hue of maroon. It blends together to create a new color resembling mahogany. But as you keep moving, that slowly shifts from the wood-like shade to nothing more than specs of vermillion cloaking the wallpaper. Or what's left of it.
Fiona keeps her knife on her, crouching to check the floor for any signs of Deadbaits. There's none. That's another thing you won't complain about. One less problem to worry over. "It feels a bit empty," you say in a whisper, peeking around the next corner and shining your light down the pit of darkness. Nothing's down there. There's not even any sounds of life. Or lack thereof, you should say. Howlers are terrifying, but the one advantage is that they're loud. You'll most likely hear them before you see them.
"I don't like this at all," Fi replies, and there's a wordless agreement between the three of you that what she said is a shared emotion. She points to above you, "There's holes in the ceiling."
"This world gets stranger by the day," you say, scanning over the enormous holes leading to more darkness.
You're brought out of your thoughts when a droplet of water pitter-patters out of a pipe, tapping on the ground to form a pool in front of you. You avoid it, fearing making any noise louder than a few decibels at most. And that's what brings you to your next challenge. The first room that's not barricaded.
All of you freeze in front of it. You're not that deep in the hospital, but that doesn't change how terrifying this is. You go to open the door, holding your weapon in front of you. The moisture on your palms digs into the knob, crafting noises in your head that aren't really there. And you finally gain the courage to open it, only for it to refuse to budge. Locked.
Fiona grunts and continues down the passageway. Sky shrugs, quick to follow her with you going last. More time passes as you go. More locked doors, and none of you having the balls to try and barge it down or force it open with a knife. Most of them aren't even locked. There's just barricades set up from the other side blocking you off. So you continue, twisting and turning in the maze until you reach what you feel is the very end of the hospital.
"There's nothing here," you say as you come to a stop in front of yet another door. "No zombies, no Deadbaits, no Howlers. Where would they have gone? We've searched almost the entire hospital."
"It's possible they vacated because there's no food here," Fiona says, grabbing the door.
To everyone's surprise, this one opens. A hush falls over you as the door creaks, screeching in agony as it opens. Once it stops its motion, Fiona crouches and goes inside. Her flashlight shimmers, yours and Sky's doing the same. It's a storage room. Your Hail Mary.
Fiona rushes in, you doing the same and shutting the door behind you when Sky's secured inside. A sharp aroma of burning flesh and blood hits your nostrils, all three of you covering your noses from the stench. Well, looks like someone didn't have a good time in here. You don't wish to find that body, but you check the floors anyway in case there's any Deadbaits. You find none. Meanwhile, Fiona inspects the interior and follows the desks shoved around the room until she gets to the cabinets in the back. There's shelves upon shelves of untouched supplies, Sky filling her bag with all the bottles, surgical supplies, and IV bags.
This space is larger than any of the others you've seen (not like you've seen much). It's about as big as the damn lobby, the vicinity including metal shelves packed with containers of bandages and more. You get to work with shoving everything inside your bag, finding more flares and furrowing your brows. This seems a bit too good to be true. Flares and medical supplies? Granted, you can see why a hospital would have flares. In case of an emergency like this, or because a survivor ran in here and stocked up. There's countless reasons. But that doesn't make it feel any less ominous.
Sky stops midway through grabbing an IV bag, the item hanging in her hands. You shine the flashlight on her to scan her for any signs of injury or shock. You find one of those two things: shock. Her lips are parted in an 'o' shape, her eyes expanding to the point where you think they'll burst from her head. "What is it?" you ask, coughing from the smell of the room.
"You said there's no food here for Howlers," she says in a mutter, her voice masked in quivers and cracks.
"What about it?"
She raises her finger, the joint trembling more from each of the tiniest movements she makes. You follow her point until you find a Deadbait lying not far from you, hidden between the layers of shelves in front of you. "That," she says, and you shake your head.
"It's too far to do us any damage. Just don't go over that side-"
"It's cut in half." You raise your flashlight to get a better look, and that confirms Sky's words. The Deadbait is split in half. Not from the upper body to the lower. No, that would be too easy. It's vertical, starting from the top of its head and down to where its private parts once were. Now it's split perfectly in half like a mirror. A reflection of what it used to be.
"What the fuck is wrong with this place," you mumble, but Sky's tears alerts you to something else.
Fiona comes over, placing her bag on the ground. "Hurry up, I don't want to be here any longer."
"Fi, Y/n," Sky says, her breath picking up until she hyperventilates.
"What?" the two of you ask in-sync.
"There is food here." She pauses, her eyes flickering back to the Deadbait. "We aren't seeing any zombies for one reason."
Your eyes widen, "They're eating the zombies..."
A shrill punctures your eardrums, your lungs filling with a deep breath of what feels like acid, but in reality, it's just the sudden strength of the putrid smell whacking your face. And next comes the figure. It drops from the ceiling, and Sky's screams has you grabbing your assault rifle, whipping it forward. There's a flashlight attached to it, you dropping yours to instead turn on the one on your weapon.
And what awaits you has your heart leaping to your throat.
Fiona clamors as a clawed hand grabs her and picks her up, her levitating several feet in the air above you. Sky's yelps continue, and you search for the source. The thing holding Fiona. But it's far to late. Another claw joins the first, and a substance splatters on your body. Just like the Deadbait, Fiona is ripped in half, her wails halting in-sync with Sky's.
Fiona's two halves drop, and instead the eyes of a monster stare back at you. Spikes penetrate its shelled back, the darkness of its skin matching the shadows surrounding it. The two claws it has is dripping with black and maroon matter, the liquids sinking into its flesh and seeming to merge with it. So that's how it feeds. It touches blood, and it gains the nutrition.
The Howler shrieks and roars from the glory of its kill, and more roars sound off in the distance. The pain of losing Fiona, especially in such a gruesome manner, doesn't outweigh the adrenaline shooting straight into your veins. You swipe your weapon upwards, the monster stalling to continue its victory celebration.
Its skin is covered in a tar-like substance to help it blend in, two arms and three legs, tentacles jutting out from the sides of its legs. The tentacles reach out and snatch both sides of Fiona, writhing her around until the floor is nothing more than a sea of her blood.
Sky lights one of the flares from inside the box, and the thing snarls from the fire. "Stay back!" Sky bawls, sobbing as she pulls you back. You manage to grab Fiona's fallen bag, swinging both that and yours over your shoulder before taking off out the door. Sky follows while holding the flare, her flashlight dropping on the terrain as you go.
The Howler seems to teleport out of the room that's how fast it moves. It lands on its three feet, bellowing at you with its wide mouth before dashing down the checkered path. You strap your AR over your shoulder as best you can, ripping off a piece of cloth from your arm with your teeth. "Here!" you yell, grabbing the flare from Sky and lighting the cloth on fire.
With a second fire lit, the Howler lets you know its disapproval for the substance. You shift on your heel and drop the fire on the ground, the Howler whimpering at the sight. Its cut off from you for now, but you need to hurry, there's more on the way. "Where do we go?!" Sky asks.
"This way!" You grab Sky's hand while she holds the flare in her other, sprinting and turning corners. You pant and keep going, but it's only a matter of time before you're caught. If not here, then outside. But you'll cross that bridge when you get to it. Now is the time to act on what you can control.
"Y/n, the ceiling! They're coming from the ceiling!"
You peek up in time to see nothing above you, but as you run, you notice holes. The same holes Fiona noticed before. And after, there's movement inside them. "Run! Faster!" you shout, and she obeys, running in front of you with the flare. You rip off another piece of clothing, preparing to use it if necessary. Right as you burst into the lobby, you freeze. One cloth isn't going to do the trick.
10 Howlers are waiting for you.
You step back, Sky doing the same. When you turn to run in the other direction, a Howler smashes into the wall at the end of the hallway, yawping at you the whole way. That you can prevent, so you light your cloth on fire and set it down, the monster hollering at you for the action. It cowers away and squawks at the source of light, the tentacles dancing around its body tapping at it in curiosity. It gets burnt, and the thing yelps in horror.
The other 10 Howlers are waiting patiently by the door, the moonlight from the outside painting them in an ethereal lighting. Their skin is full of slime despite being covered in hardened shells, and their figures go from thick on top and bottom to slim in the middle where their stomachs are. Or, you're assuming that's their stomach. You can never be sure with these things.
With no other option, you light another flare and approach with sweat falling off your face. Your hands shiver, the Moon taunting you to see more of the beasts in front of you. They're about fifteen feet away, the one behind you still stalled by the cloth. You can hear its cries, the tentacles it has still burning. You can smell it from here.
The Howlers pass their judgement onto you, their claws swaying back and forth. Right as you're about to give up, the doors to the hospital snap open. Sky jumps from the sudden racket, and the monsters whip around in time for a cloaked figure to step inside. A noise that sounds like gas hits your mind, and not even a moment later and before the Howlers can attack, a burst of flames spews free.
Bawls and squalls reverberate down the chasms of your flesh, goosebumps forming crevasses on your arms and legs. The Howlers fall one by one thanks to the flames, raw terror flashing in the whites of their invisible eyes. Each one falls more and more, claws popping out of their gigantic hands and landing on the lobby's floor. The one that's behind you bounds away, whining the whole way out. And all this happens while you and Sky stare.
A single figure steps forward. Or more like limps forward. But that's not the end. Yet another figure runs inside, this one much more recognizable than the cloaked one.
"Jungkook?!" you shout, and the bunny-like man peeks up, his leather jacket shimmering in the light of the Moon. "What the fuck?!"
The cloaked one falls to their knees, panting. Jungkook kneels and takes the massive device off of the stranger, and that's when you realize it's a flamethrower. Why the fuck does Jungkook keep appearing with the biggest weapons on the planet? Actually, that's not true. This time, someone else did. Jungkook takes off the hood of the cloaked body, and your eyes widen at the sight.
Jimin.