The Dying Breed

Moving on

I sat with Melissa's now lifeless corpse for what felt like an eternity. In reality, it had been about 15 minutes. Still sobbing, I could barely bring myself to think about anything other than Melissa. I had no idea what to do with my life without her in it, but I didn't have long to think about that.
  There was a loud crash from another room on this ward and I heard the all too familiar shuffling and shrieks of another one of these things; A small part of me just wanted to sit here and let it eat me but something, I don't know what made me stand up and pick up the baseball bat that was lay at Melissa's feet. I felt angry and a thought crossed my mind of what if this thing was the one that turned Melissa into one of them! I began moving slowly towards the corridor and gripped the bat.

I wasn't wrong, one of those things had managed to get a door open from one of the rooms and had made its way out. It was the guy that had been staring at me through the glass as me and Clara had made our way down the corridor. This zombie seemed different, it's motioned seemed confused and groggy as opposed to angry and snarling but one thing remained clear. I had to strike first before it changed its mannerisms and became the angry snarling beast I'd become familiar with over the last few hours. The zombie was just staring into the distance facing the main door to the ward. It's back to me and if ever there was an opportune moment to get my shot in then this was it. I crept as lightly as I possibly could trying not to make any sudden movements or noises that would alert this bastard to my presence. With each step my emotions were getting more and more intense. I could feel my anxiety rising, adrenaline rushing and heart pounding all through a mixture of anger and utter fear.

  I'd gotten close enough now that a good swing would probably kill this thing. But I hadn't acted quickly enough as the creature began to turn around, it's blood red eyes made contact with mine and I found myself now staring death in the face. I charged and swung in a now or never scenario. It was kill or be killed. For context I'd never killed anything in my life, I was the shy type of guy growing up and would never harm a spider let alone another person whether they be dead or alive. As the bat connected with the zombies skull it dropped down in a heap.

The noise had alerted the creatures in the other rooms and the eerie silence soon turned to loud snarls and hands banging against glass and wooden doors. It was time to leave this ward and Melissa behind. I was still fighting my emotions. My heartbreak hadn't disappeared it was still very much there I just knew I had to keep going through some bizarre need to survive. Maybe, maybe it was Melissa telling me I needed to. Who knows, but I couldn't stay on this ward I needed to get out of here and find Clara. I'd said some horrible things to her and she had stormed off out into the hospital alone.

Remembering what Clara had said that her husband worked on ward 404. It couldn't be too far away from here. I slammed my hand onto the release button for the ward doors and made my way out into the main corridor. But I wasn't alone anymore. The horde that had followed us up the main staircase had made their way through and we're now roaming the hall. This was bad. They were everywhere and then one caught sight of me. She was missing half of her cheek where it had been chewed off by another one of the zombies. Her once ginger hair was stained with either her own blood or the blood of one of her victims. Might have even been a mixture of the two. Then came the almighty snarl which echoed through out the hall and there was only one thing I could do in this situation seeing as there were far too many of them for me and my now trusty baseball bat to handle. RUN!

I began to sprint as fast as I could in the direction I was hoping would lead me to ward 404 and hopefully the direction Clara had gone. My medium build stature proved how unfit I was. With each stride I felt my body becoming more and more out of breath and I could hear them gaining on me. Their footsteps getting louder and closer, I couldn't look back I had to keep going otherwise I was definitely their next meal. I could hear every snarl, every undead breath they were taking. I continued looking up in the hope of any signage that would point me in the direction of ward 404 but with the undead hot on my tail I couldn't slow down to get a good look at my surroundings. But then, I saw it, a sign pointing to my left that read "404 ICU". I sprinted left and kept going hoping I'd I'd put enough distance between myself and these things that I might be able to give them the slip but I was wrong, they were still behind me getting closer and closer, if they caught me I was definitely about to become their next meal.