Chapter Ten
*Where is Nathan?
Meaghan didn't go far from me. I didn't mind. After the near fatality, I wasn't about to wander around by myself either. We were both on edge and as much as everyone else was. I wanted to relax. I wanted to be at ease. I couldn't. I kept my bow out and loaded. I had no idea when the next heard of zombies would come by or when a rogue would stumble out of nowhere to try and eat our faces. Meaghan's guns were out and ready. Liza had her AK-15 up as she peered about. A few of the guys rummaged through cars as we walked by. I didn't understand why. We had picked everything clean years ago. Nothing but death and destruction remained in the ruins. Meaghan wouldn't stop fussing with her guns. She always liked them better than melee weapons. She said they were more accurate and deadly, but I disagreed. How much deadlier can you get than a steel tip going through the center of your forehead? It didn't matter though, either way they were both effective at taking down an undead.
"It's so creepy around here," Meaghan whispered before biting her lip.
"I know."
"Do you think the hospital is still standing?" Liz asked.
"I don't see why not. They didn't demolish it," I said, listening to every sound that bounced around us. It would take more than a few years and neglect for it to crumble."
Taz popped up from behind a car and nearly scared us to death. "Since this place covers three blocks and is twelve stories high, do you know where he'd go?"
I recovered myself and shot him a nasty look. "I have a few ideas on where he may be."
"Why didn't he tell you he was coming out here?" she asked, as the once magnificent hospital came into view.
"He knew I would object to it. He knew that this was a guaranteed suicide mission. It was idiotic for him to leave the city limits without more people." I shook my head at the thought of the once timid doctor trekking through undead infested wilderness.
Meaghan raised her guns ready to shoot a zombie venturing out of an office building that was on Fifth Avenue. "Don't. The noise will draw them out. I'll get it."
I aimed and let the string go. A quick ping and the arrow soared through the air connecting with the intended target. The thud of an object falling against a car and hitting the ground let me know it was down for good. I crept around the car and saw the body lying in a pool of black blood, the arrow struck right above the left temple. I yanked it out and nocked it again waiting for the next undead.
I stood at the bottom of the long hill that led up to the main entrance of the hospital. It was so weird not seeing students, doctors, nurses, and other various people walking up and down.
The nursing students' dorms were painfully quiet.
"For this being zombie central, there aren't many zombies," Meaghan whispered, as we walked up the horrendously steep hill.
"I know. It's odd." I had a bad feeling. The infestation started here. The undead were, in a manner of speaking, born in this hospital. How could it be virtually deserted?
"Where are they?" Liz pondered.
"Maybe they moved on? I guess it's ridiculous to think that zombies would just stick around here." Taz told her.
"Do you think she is still here?" Meaghan asked.
"I'm not sure. The last time I saw Becca she was strapped down to some bed trying to eat my face." I closed my eyes as flashes of my sister crossed my mind. Her straggly hair, cloudy eyes, and fierce disposition were the last memories I had of the once beautiful girl.
Meaghan put her hand on my arm. She knew it was a sore subject for me.
She smiled lightly before continuing up the hill. "I'm sure she's at peace now."
"Who would have done it? Hm? I didn't. Nobody has come back from being out here. She's one of those things and she's out here somewhere." Liz inquired.
"Let's go find Nathan," I said through clenched teeth.
In one smooth motion, I drew the string to my face. I closed my left eye and slowly breathed in and out.
"Emma?"
"Shh."
Taz turned and saw the undead half a car away from us. His eyes grew as large as saucers and his mouth opened in a silent scream. Before a sound could escape his lips, I released the arrow. It zipped past him and jammed into the zombie's head. The body fell against a police car that was turned sideways in an apparent attempt at blocking off the street. It didn't do a good job at blocking anything.
"I fucking hate this place! This is so ridiculous! If Nathan isn't dead, I'm going to kill him myself!" Taz screamed.
"Shh," Meaghan whispered.
"Calm down." I walked past him up the hill.
"Don't do that again," he said, chasing after me.
I shrugged my shoulders at him. "It was going to bite you."
"You could have at least warned me, Emma."
"Sorry."
"You have issues." He yanked my arrow out of the undead's skull.
"Don't we all?"
"You have more than most people."
"I promise I'll be better once we find Nathan. Okay?"
"Yeah, sure."
The rest of the hill was covered in various military vehicles, police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks. It was the government's brilliant attempt at keeping this thing under wraps and from spreading. Obviously, it didn't work. At all. It only took a few days for the virus to overtake Pittsburgh. It was out of the hospital within a matter of hours.
I motioned for Meaghan to follow me and for the rest to head further up the hill. We crept along the hummers and other emergency vehicles just waiting for a horde to attack. I felt something crunch under my feet. Looking down, I saw I'd stepped on a skull. I jumped back and closed my eyes hoping nothing heard it. I peered over the hood of the ambulance we were next to and looked around. In the driveway of the hospital a group of them milled about. They didn't seem to move with any determination. They bumped into each other, moaned, and kept on doing what they were doing.
"They're so thin and nastier than usual," Meaghan said quietly.
"I think they might be starving." I watched the zombies with interest. They did move a lot slower than the ones we saw outside the city.
"How?"
"I guess not finding any meat."
"Why don't they eat each other than?" she asked.
"Perhaps it's because they're dead. The flesh is rotting and not appetizing to them."
"Do you think they honestly care if their meat is fresh or not?" She rolled her eyes at me and shook her head as though it were a completely ridiculous thought.
I shrugged my shoulders. "They might. I don't know how the mind of an undead works." "It doesn't. It's dead."
"Then maybe they just don't like dead flesh. Do you like rotting meat?"
"Well no, of course not."
I pulled the arrow back and released it as I exhaled. Meaghan took aim and pulled the triggers before I could stop her. I spun on my heels and glared at her. Of all places to use a gun, this was not it.
"Oh no," I groaned, backing up.
We watched as zombies stumbled out from everywhere. They didn't leave, they were just not moving. I paused for a moment and watched in wonder. These zombies weren't a coordinated group to begin with, but these ones bumped into one another a lot more. They seemed to take a longer time processing, if they could process things, the fact that they bumped into another zombie.
"What's wrong with them?" Liz asked, stepping up next to me.
I shook my head. "I don't know. They're different. There's something wrong with them."
Taz walked past us and jammed his knife into one of their heads and pulled it out fast. Black liquid oozed from the wound as the undead sunk to the ground.
"It smells awful!" He held his arm up to his nose and gagged.
"They're rotting."
"What?" Liz asked.
"They're rotting. The undead are, well, dying." I knelt next to the decomposed body that Taz just put down.
The smell was truly something awful.
They'll be easy to get through. Very easy.
Meaghan stood next to me, holding onto my arm as we stared up at the hospital.
"I'm sure they put her down."
I winced at the thought of such a horrible thing.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It would be the kindest thing if they did."
My heart still ached for my long dead sister. Her last words still haunted me.
It's a weapon. Not a virus. They lied to us.
I still hadn't figured out who they were or what weapon she spoke of.
Taz elbowed me as he walked past, heading up the hill, drawing me from my daydream.
"No place to stop, Em. Let's go."
"Right."
An old military Humvee was overturned halfway up the hill, full of bullet holes and covered in blood. A low snarl came from somewhere within the armored vehicle.
Poor bastard.
I looked through the window and grimaced at the sight. A man, still in what was left of his uniform, lay pinned beneath a large crate of some sort. His flesh had almost completely fallen from his skull, revealing dark sockets of nothing. His hair clung to the few patches of skin left on his head and the rest was skull. For the first time in a very long while, I gagged. I reached for my knife, planning on climbing in and plunging into his head, or what was left of it when the loudest bang rang out beside my head. The sound reverberated through my head causing my ears to ring.
"Meaghan!" Taz screamed, pulling me back.
I couldn't focus on anything. I couldn't hear anything. I held my ears as the ringing slowly turned into a roaring moan. Zombies stumbled from everywhere. They'd never left the area, they just weren't moving.
My mind went to Nathan. How did he make it through such hell? I couldn't help but think about when the outbreak happened. How we made it out of the hospital I was about to go back into.