29.

We tiptoed into the building, expecting to find ghouls at every turn. Instead, we found ourselves exploring the annals of an abandoned insane asylum. The rooms were mostly empty save for an occasional antediluvian restraint table bolted to the floor, which was littered with brittle plaster that had broken free from the crumbling walls. At first, we moved slowly through the pitch-black rooms, with only the warm glow of the lasers to guide our path. After failing to run into a zombie for a good ten minutes, we started moving faster and faster until we reached the end of the western wing.

“This is weird,” I said.

“I know. They couldn’t have just packed everything up and left,” Celeste said.

“Even if they did, the building wouldn’t be in shambles.”

“Perhaps the hospital is located in the other wing,” Alex suggested.

“I hope so. We better go find out,” I said.

We worked our way back toward the other wing. As we walked through the lobby at the center of the building, the clock struck the hour. The thundering bell rattled our bones. We all took a combative stance as if we were under attack, then stood and laughed at the absurdity of the moment. When the clock stopped chiming, the reverberating echo was replaced by howling emanating from somewhere beneath us.

“You hear that?” Celeste asked.

“I do,” I said. “Where’s it coming from?”

“I don’t know.”

We stood in place, listening carefully before we moved toward the source of the sound. The wailing led us to towering white drapes that appeared to be covering a very large window. I grabbed the cloth and yanked it back, unveiling a door that was slightly ajar.

“A secret passage,” Alex whispered.

“Come on . . . follow me,” I said, putting my hand on the door.

“Why?” Alex cried. “We know what’s in there.”

“We’re here to find the hospital, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“If they’re trying to stop the outbreak, then what’s the one thing they need to have in the hospital?”

“Patients.”

“Bingo. Let’s go.”

I pulled the door back and leapt into the doorway, ready for anything. Instead of zombies, I found a dimly lit stairwell.

“Okay, let’s go down. Careful with those lasers behind me, okay?” They nodded.

There weren’t more than twenty stairs. At the bottom, they met a concrete hallway that ran to the left. I stood at the corner, my back to the wall, and waited for my companions to catch up. Once they did, I spun around into the hallway. A crowd of zombies at the other end of the hall had their backs to us. They were gathered around a large steel door, screaming and scratching at it in agony. Most wore gowns, but some were soldiers, and others wore the uniforms of medical personnel. Alex opened fire abruptly with his machine gun, which immediately got the ghouls’ attention and sent them running toward us. Alex turned and ran back up the stairs, and Celeste and I followed. I looked behind as I rounded the corner and saw what I thought was a face peering through the viewing window on the other side of the door. When I got to the top of the stairs, I slammed the door shut, and then stood panting with my back against it.

“What was that, Alex?” I inquired.

“I don’t know. Fighting?”

“Like the enthusiasm, buddy, but you can’t be going all Rambo on us. We need to work together.”

“What’s Rambo?”

“Of course. It means wild . . . commando, you know? We need to work as a team.”

“Got it.”

“There are a lot of them down there,” Celeste said.

“I know, and we’re going to have to take care of them because there’s somebody on the other side of that door.”

“How do you know?” Alex asked.

“I saw someone looking through the window.”

“I didn’t see anyone. How do you know it wasn’t one of them?”

“Because, I just know. Besides, why would they all be jonesing to get in there if all there was, was a freak on the other side?”

“He has a point, Alex.”

The zombies had followed us up the stairs, and now they were going to work on our door.

“All right, Al, you get the door, and Celeste and I will do the honors,” I said.

We readied our lasers, and as soon as Alex pulled the handle, we made quick work of the zombies on the other side. Blood, brains, and entrails saturated the carpeted steps. We walked gingerly among the carnage careful to avoid still-moving torsos and heads.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, several zombies were still clawing at the other door. A man behind the window waved at us. We returned the gesture and then pulled back around the corner.

“I guess they weren’t ready to give up on him,” Celeste whispered.

“I think we should sneak up behind them and take them out,” I said, “but we have to use our bayonets cause we don’t want the lasers hurting that guy on the other side.”

“They won’t cut through that steel,” she said.

“I know, but what about the glass?”

She nodded.

“No shooting either, Al. Look, there aren’t many more of them than there are of us, so we should be fine. Let’s move quickly before they know we’re here.”

We raced down the hallway with our weapons at the ready. Only one zombie heard us coming so I charged in his direction and thrust my bayonet into his eye. Celeste stabbed her target in the back of the head and then hit another attacker with the butt of her rifle and finished him off once he fell to the ground. Alex made an instant kill to the back of the head as well, but he was too overcome by the experience to react quickly to the creature next to his target. It turned and grabbed him by the shoulders, but I thrust my bayonet up underneath its chin before it had a chance to bite him.

With our enemies vanquished, we had a moment to pause. Alex was as white as a ghost.

“You did great, buddy,” I said. He nodded slightly. “Looks like I still owe you one.”

As I patted him on the shoulder, Celeste noticed the dried blood on my sleeve.

“Royce, are you injured?” she asked.

“Where? Oh, that? Nooo, that’s just from when I was helping Mike.”

“Oh, good.”

Dodging that bullet made me anxious and self-aware. I noticed that I was sweating profusely. I told myself that it was just adrenaline from the fight, but I couldn’t be sure.