Annihilation

Chapter 2 - Finding Patient 247

TATIANA'S P.O.V

My name is Tatiana. I am 17-years-old.

I sat in the waiting room of the local hospital, waiting to visit my friend Lyndi.

Lyndi has been my best friend since we were in nursery. I haven't seen her since the ambulance took her away.

It was a hot, Wednesday morning, the summer sun beaming down on our sweating bodies. It was PE class, and at the time, we were doing long distance running. Lyndi complained of feeling sick and feverish, so I took her inside to the office. I'm the space of an hour; she threw up, passed out and suffered extreme hallucination. She was taken by an ambulance, never to be seen again.

"Hey, T," Dyson whispered in his Indian accent. I snapped back to reality. "Here comes the nurse."

"Tatiana is on her way," the nurse said, smiling. But there was fear behind her eyes. Deep and terrible fear.

The nurse scurried away out of sight. I frowned at Dyson, unsure of what had just happened.

Dyson is my other best friend. He moved from New Delhi when he was about eight. Since then, the two of us and Lyndi have gone around in a solid group of three.

"What's wrong?" Dyson asked. He ran his hand through his dark hair, which right now, was stuck up on its ends.

"It was the nurse," I mumble. Wasn't it that obvious? She was panicked about something.

Dyson's head turned to his left as a groan was heard from behind the wall. It didn't sound very good, like a groan of someone in pain.

Dyson opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the scream of what could only be a lady from the same direction.

I sprung to my feet, clutching my rucksack. School had just finished for the summer, finally giving us some time to visit Lyndi.

Dyson copied me, jumping to his feet. In size, I'm about 5"6, whilst Dyson stands at least half a foot taller than me. The two of us walked down the corridor, careful as not to venture too far away and get ourselves lost.

The moaning noise was louder as we proceeded down the empty corridor. If it wasn't for the noises erupting from the room, you'd think the entire ward was empty.

I looked at the door. 'Patients 235-255."

"Isn't Lyndi's number something like that?" I ask Dyson, scratching my head.

"I think so," he replied, pushing the door gently, trying not to make a noise.

I peered through the gap Dyson had made by opening the peeling door. Something seemed wrong.

From what I could see, there was a lot of liquid and smoke in the room. Not foggy smoke and water, but a weird purple gas that could be smelt from outside, and red, oozing liquid. Blood.

I pushed the door open, the rusty hinges squeaking from the force. The nurse who had just come to tell us about Lyndi was on the floor. Her chest had a gaping hole in it.

I jogged over to her pale body, in awe at the wound she had received.

"What happened?" I ask, almost yelling.

"Shh," the nurse said, attempting to lift her finger to my lip. "They'll hear you."

"Who?" Dyson asked, making his way towards the nurse and I. The nurse was almost swimming in a pool of her own blood.

"The z-"

A groan was heard from behind us. A loud, monstrous groan.

I grabbed Dyson's hand and darted under a hospital bed as a bloody man walked in. He looked at the nurse on the floor, bit into her arm and left. The nurse squeaked for help.