Sanctuary

Chapter 3

Slowly, his anxiety grew more and more to worries. And the worrying would not stop. The more the village came near, the more strange it became. Like at the airfield, there was no commotion whatsoever. No traffic, no lights, no people on the streets. Small fires here and there the further they approached the village center, newspapers flying around, ...and no one to be seen. No traffic. Only cars they could see were damaged ones. Forget that. On the street they just arrived, there were 3 corpses on the walk side. Seemed to be a three headed family. Poor bastards. What happened to them? What was going on? Eben accelerated towards the hospital.

They arrived in front of the hospital and panic started to grow in everyone's hearts. No ambulances there, no people... that's if you did not regard some widespread corpses lying around in pools of blood. The car's came to a halt. Eben turned to Tim:

"You remain here and watch over our "guests", I'll take Jan with me to assess the situation inside the clinic. I'll send Laura to take the driver's seat. At the first sign of trouble, head for the trailer camp with both cars. Jan and myself we'll find a way to join you once the air has cleared. It is possible that whatever happened at the airfield also happened here. Town seems abandoned, but we cannot be sure of that." Tim nodded.

Eben left the car, took his tire iron lever from the trunk and went to Jan's car. Jan stepped out, assuming what would follow, his lever already in hand. It had already helped them once this day. Eben told Laura to go to his car and Nina to take the driver's place in this one, and telling both to get the hell out if something seemed dangerous. Both nodded and took their designated places.

"Ok, let's check this clinic out. We should keep as quiet as possible, signs only. Whispers in case of emergency" Eben said to Jan. "Same thought here" Jan replied.

Both sprinted over the flight of stairs and halted in front of the doors. Normally the doors should slide by themselves. But with no electricity, it did not happen. Jan pried the door open using his lever. Eben slid first inside. No lights, except the emergency guiding lights, running on the back-up diesel generators. It was quiet. Too damn quiet. Here and there where tossed medical tools, stretchers, the occasional blood splatter on the walls and on the ground. Eben stopped and whispered to Jan:

"No help to find here for our wounded passenger and also no one to report to. We should assume the same happened here as it did at the airport, whatever this means. But for sure it means there are "infested", if that's the right word, people here. And they could also be aggressive. So let's gather some medical supplies quietly without drawing any attention to us and get the hell out from here". Jan nodded in acceptance.

Luck seemed to be smiling upon them as they passed two corridors without stumbling upon any of those people and found what seemed to be the infirmary. One quick look through the small window in the door confirmed it was empty. They entered and begun to search for supplies. They managed to gather IV bags, bandages, needles and medical grade sewing thread, antibiotics, disinfectant and some pain killers. Eben spotted a refrigerator with blood bags. Not knowing what blood type the women in his car was, he began searching for blood type zero, universal donor. Seconds later he spotted the required bags, grabbed one and stood still. A growl came from the floor, opposite direction they just came for. It was time to leave. He signaled Jan to drop off the search and leave for the cars. Luckily, the grown came from another hallway to the right, so they could get out of the infirmary without any visual contact. They were already on their way back to the cars when a growl from the next hallway brought them both to a sudden stop. Eben risked a quick view.

"It's one of the guardians. Damn. We need to get past him. We should sprint and take him by surprise. Try to push him against the wall, I'll rip of his walkie-talkie, could match the one Maja has, could come in handy. Then throw him down and we sprint for the cars. We head for the trailer park first, it's pretty isolated in the hills and woods, should buy us some time to figure things out. Agree?" Jan nodded again. Eben counted to three with his fingers and gave the go signal. Jan sprinted first, Eben followed. Seconds later the bloody and half disfigured guardian was pinned down against the wall and Eben stripped him off his walkie-talkie and his police baton. The guardian growled as loud as he could. Other growls came to life from nearby rooms.
"Let's go" Eben shouted. Jan wrestled with the guardian trying to put him down. The guardian turned his head and manage to bite Jan in his left arm. Jan let a painful cry out. Eben swung the police baton and hit the guardians back. He let loose of Jan's arm and fell growling down. Jan and Eben sprinted towards the exit, slid through the half opened door and went for the cars. Both Laura and Nina saw them sprinting and instinctively started the engines. Tim and Maja opened the left hind door of each car, so Jan and Eben could get in. Fast. Behind them, on the stairs there was already a growling mob following them. Same behavior like on the airfield.

Seconds later both cars left the hospitals, tires screeching, heading for the presumable safety of the place they left few hours ago. Both anger and worries could be read in any of the two car's passenger's eyes. None of them said a word. Eben was the first to break the silence:

"Any of the two woke up?"

"Our man in the trunk is still out cold. The woman on the front seat mumbled something, all I could understand was a name. Thomas. She then faded away again. Laura says she has started to have fewer. She needs medicine as soon as possible. Did you manage to get some?"

"Yes, we have IV's, antibiotic, painkillers and some blood for here, for starters. Also stuff for suturing the wound, as I can see the bleeding did not stop" Eben said with regret in his voice, while he checked again for her pulse. It was getting weaker, not that it was ever strong since they met. Then Eben continued to talk:

"As far as we canassume, whatever transforms these people into mindless wandering and aggressivebeings, is not airborne. All of us were more or less exposed. Jan and myselfeven more and so far we seem to be ok. But now I'm worried about Jan. He wrestledan infested guardian inside the hospital and was bitten in his left upper arm.The wound should heal without scars, let's hope the "madness" does not transfervia saliva either..." Eben sighed. "We cannot afford an outbreak in our camp".Tim and Laura agreed. Both looked blank into the distance.