The Last Alive

Chapter Fourteen- Still Trying to Find Nathan

Chapter Fourteen

Still Trying to Find Nathan...

The past seemed so far away. Carefree days of going out without worry. Though my life was never carefree and without worry. Now, things were even worse.

"What the fuck? What the fuck!" I screamed as the zombie held onto me, sinking its teeth deeper into my shoulder.

"Emma!" Meaghan pounded on the glass from the other side of the door.

"Stay there!" I hollered back, punching the zombie in the face as it clawed and bit at me.

I wriggled my right arm out of the leather jacket I was wearing and worked on the left. I took a deep breath, grabbed the knife out of my boot, and rammed it underneath his chin. The zombie's grip on my shoulder loosened as the gooey, black blood dripped down my hand. It slumped to the floor and just to be sure it was really dead, I jammed my knife down in the skull.

"You were bit!" Taz shouted at me.

"No shit, Taz."

"What do we do? What do I do?"

"Stay where you are." I pulled down the shoulder of my shirt to examine the wound. I ran my hand over my smooth skin. I nearly peed myself, there was no bite mark.

"But you were bit! One of us has to shoot you! How are we supposed to shoot the Police Chief?" Liz look wild eyed and panicked.

She was usually the calm one of the bunch.

"Stop before you pass out. And police chief? Of what? Three streets and a few abandoned buildings?"

"But you're going to turn!" Meaghan blubbered, pulling out her gun.

"Girl, I swear if you do not put that pea shooter away I'm going to smack you."

"But you're going to turn into an undead," she sobbed.

"No I'm not." I turned my left side toward her and pulled my shirt down. "See, no bite mark."

"How?"

"The leather jacket took the damage. The jacket is ruined, but it saved me from being bitten."

"It did?" Taz asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I swear."

Meaghan bit her lip and looked down. Liz pursed her lips and Taz furrowed his brows searching my face for any sign of lying. I knew they were trying to decide if she had to kill me or if I was telling the truth.

"Meg, if you don't believe me come take a look. I won't bite."

"Fine." She left her safe vestibule and tentatively approached me.

"You have to get closer than five feet away."

"I can see you fine from here," she replied.

"If I was turning why am I still okay?"

"Maybe it's taking its time."

"With how hard that thing chomped on my shoulder it should have taken off a nice chunk. You know that would only be a matter of minutes from infection to zombification." I rolled my eyes at her.

"You can never be too careful." She watched me pick the leather jacket up. "You're not putting that back on are you?"

"Yeah, it's cold. Plus if another undead bites me, they get a mouth full of leather."

"It has zombie slobber on it." She crinkled her nose at the now offensive garment.

I shrugged my shoulders and put it back on. I stooped down near the zombie and wiped the sticky goo off the blade of my knife. I stood and continued down the hallway cautiously. Nathan had to be somewhere around here, and if the place still crawled with zombies he wouldn't have made it too far into the hospital.

"Are you serious about still going in there?" Liz asked still standing by the door.

"Yes, of course. Nathan is somewhere around here. I can't just leave him to face whatever fate he would face being here alone. Plus we've already come this far."

"I can't, Emma. I just can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

She bit her lip and looked down at the ground. "I can't go in there."

"Alright, stay here then. The glass is pretty thick, and you should be safe."

"You're leaving me?" Panic filled her voice. "Alone?"

"Liz, you can come or you can stay. We're going to find Nathan."

"I'm not staying alone."

"I have to. I have to go find Nathan. I'm not leaving this hospital without him."

She sighed and sat down. I picked the scared kitten up off the floor and opened the door to the vestibule. "Keep it safe."

"What are you naming him?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe Oak. Since we did find him here. Or Lucky." I scratched the kittens head, shut the door, and headed into hell.

"I'll stay with Liz," Meaghan said, taking the kitten from me.

I nodded and looked to Taz.

"I'm going with you, Boss."

I nodded back. I hadn't been back in the hospital since that day. Not since Becca turned. Not since life as everyone knew it was over. I kept the knife out; completely unsure what I would run into. I came to a cross roads and peaked around the corner. One zombie stood there. It didn't move. It just stood there swaying back and forth.

What the hell is wrong with it?

If it wasn't the hallway I needed I would have kept going. I crept along the wall trying to stay behind it. I watched as the body twitched and it lifted its head moaning a bit.

Can it smell me? Do I smell differently than they do? Of course I do, they're dead. I'm alive. Rotting flesh stinks, I don't stink.

Before it had the chance to turn and bite me, I rammed my knife into the back of its head, and the gross undead slumped to the floor in a pool of black goo. This one was particularly smelly. It was a stench of death mixed with something else that was just horrendous.

"You nasty thing," I muttered under my breath as I stepped over the body.

The long hallway led to the main lobby. A long-abandoned Starbucks was in the corner next to the closed gift shop. The glass windows were broken, and I didn't dare look inside. There were blood stains all over the floors and somehow on the walls. I stayed near the old coffee shop watching as a few zombies stood around. I had never seen them act so strangely. Two of them swayed back and forth while a third kept walking into a wall.

"What the hell is this?" I asked quietly.

Taz shrugged while the Undead all stopped moving.

Shit.

I held my breath hoping they would just ignore me or not notice me. After a few minutes they went back to their swaying and walking into walls.

So weird.

I walked past them and to the stairs without a single one attacking. They were much more sluggish than the undead outside, not that any undead was particularly fast. It's really quite easy to out run them, but when they're in a pack you're shit out of luck.

"Nathan?" I called up somewhat quietly hoping maybe he was in the stairwell.

No Nathan. I heard a moaning from somewhere above me, but I had to forge on. I had to find out where Nathan was.

What if that was Nathan?