Twenty Nine

Angie raced down the hallway, Park and Kristen behind her. The fire alarm kept up its shrill clanging, all throughout the hospital. Smoke was coming from the hallway behind them.

"How much further?" said Park from behind.

"Not much," said Angie. "Just around the corner is the..."

And she stopped.

Park and Kristen drew to a halt behind her. "What?" said Park.

Angie stepped around the corner. "The maternity ward."

Park and Kristen came up beside her.

A small room stood just to Angie's right. She stepped inside.

"I forgot," she said, cold dread creeping over her. "I can't believe I forgot."

A group of white hospital cribs stood in the room. The three closest ones rocked slowly from side to side.

Park and Kristen stepped in after her. "Forgot what?" said Kristen, her voice raw and thick.

Angie stepped over to the cribs and looked down. "The Wilson triplets."

In the cribs lay three identical infants. All three were gray with clouded eyes. They worked their toothless mouths open and closed. They fumbled at the air around them.

And Angie couldn't hear it over the loud and constant fire alarm, but she could tell they were moaning.

"Shit," said Park, looking down over Angie's shoulder.

"Oh god," said Kristen, stepping back. She put her hand over her mouth. "Oh god," she said again, muffled by her hand.

"How'd they die to begin with?" said Park.

"Who knows," said Angie. "They've been alone in here most of the night. Could have been anything."

"Oh god oh god oh god," Kristen kept repeating into her hand.

"Fuck if that ain't awful," said Park quietly.

They both looked at the babies in silence. Smoke built up in the hall outside and the fire alarm blared.

"Come on," said Park. "Let's go."

"No," said Angie, shaking her head. "I can't leave them like this."

Park looked at her. "They're already dead..."

Angie snapped her gaze to Park. "Do you have any children, Parker?"

Park looked at her for several seconds. The alarm blared and Kristen sobbed into her hand. "Yeah," he said finally. "Yeah I do. Haven't seem them for a long time, but yeah."

"Could you leave them in this state?"

Park looked at the cribs, then back at Angie. He nodded and took the rifle off his shoulder.

Angie shook her head. She felt like crying but pushed the tears back. "No. We're almost out of bullets, right?"

Park frowned and re-shouldered the gun. "Yeah. Just what do you have in mind?"

Angie swallowed and popped the lid off the remaining jug of alcohol.

"Oh god!" said Kristen from behind them.

Angie looked at Park and bit her lip. He looked at her and sighed. "Better than just leaving them like this."

Angie nodded and turned back to the cribs. The babies thrashed around and kicked their gray legs. They blinked their clouded eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered down to them.

Then she poured the alcohol across all three cribs. The babies showed no reaction to the splashing liquid.

She took out Park's lighter. "We are sure they don't feel pain, right?"

"Pretty sure," said Park.

Angie took a breath and flicked the lighter on.

"Oh god oh god oh god," said Kristen.

Angie held the flame to the edge of the sheet hanging out of each crib. Flames quickly engulfed all three. The babies showed no reaction. They continued to move around slowly, chewing with their toothless mouths at nothing.

A few moments later the babies were still.

Then they were lost in flames.

Angie turned to Park and Kristen. Park's face was blank. Kristen was looking at her with wide, accusing eyes.

"Let's go," said Angie, dropping the empty jug and moving for the door.

Twenty Eight

Maylee guided the car through another bend in the road. It was a little easier than before. She was getting the hang of this. She smiled to herself. See, I'm not a kid anymore.

Dalton was looking out his side window, watching trees speed by. He turned to her. "How much longer?"

"Not long at all," said Maylee.

Dalton nodded. "Okay, I'll get the bat so we won't forget it this time." He crawled around in his seat, reaching into the back.

Maylee shot a quick look over at him, then back at the road. "Hey, your seat belt isn't on!"

"So?"

"Put it on right now!" Maylee turned the wheel, going through another bend.

"I'm just getting the bat!"

"Dammit, Dalton!" she said. She took one hand off the wheel and pushed him back into his seat. "Put it on!"

He glared at her, then started to reach for the back seat again.

"Now!" Maylee yelled, doing her best Mom impression. Dalton sat back in his seat, looked at Maylee, then reached for his seat belt. He put it on and stuck his tongue out at her.

Maylee smiled and went around another corner.

Three corpses stood in the middle of the road.

Maylee and Dalton screamed as the headlights washed over the corpses. Maylee panicked and wrenched the wheel as far to the right as she could. The car screeched, slid down the road sideways, and flipped over.

For a moment all Maylee knew was the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass. And Dalton screaming.

Then her senses were too numb to know anything.

Then, slowly, they came back. She was upside down in her seat, hanging from the seat belt. Dalton coughed next to her.

Oh god, she thought, looking upside-down at the glass strewn across the road and smelling the burnt rubber of the tires. I am just a kid. What the hell am I doing?

She heard the sounds of feet shuffling to her right. The corpses were coming.

"Dalton?" she said. "Are you okay?"

"I think so."

Maylee fumbled with her seat belt. It detached and she fell to the top of the car. Her head banged against the ceiling. It smarted but she did her best to ignore it. The corpses were getting closer. She could hear them.

She got up to her knees and reached across Dalton to his seat belt. He seemed to be okay.

"Told you to wear this," she said, quietly.

She undid the latch and caught Dalton as he slid out of his seat.

A pair of legs appeared just outside the broken windshield.

"Shit," she said, easing Dalton down. "We gotta get out of here."

Moaning came from over the car. With a "pop" and the sound of flesh tearing, the corpse dropped to its knees. It was a woman in a flower-print dress. She moaned through cracked lips and reached for them.

Maylee turned to her window just in time to see another corpse crawling toward it. It was a man covered in scrapes and cuts. He reached out, clawing at her.

Dalton screamed from behind her. Maylee turned to see that the woman almost had him. She looked past Dalton to see his window was still shut. The car was too wrecked to even think about trying to get it open.

"Back seat!" she yelled, pulling him into the back and clear of the reaching corpses.

The woman at the front of the car climbed into the car after them. Her dress caught on a piece of glass, slowing her down. The woman grunted and tugged, reaching for Maylee and Dalton.

Dalton picked up the bat and swung it at the woman's hands. Maylee kicked at the back window. The window cracked but didn't give.

The corpse at the side window stuck its head inside. It bit and hissed at Dalton. Dalton swung the bat into the corpse's face, then back at the reaching woman. "Hurry!" he yelled.

Maylee kicked the back window a second time. Cracks spread through the glass but the window held.

The corpses up front and to the side reached back at them. Dalton furiously swung the bat from side to side.

"Dammit!" Maylee yelled, kicking the back window with all her might. The window gave. The window shattered outward.

Maylee pulled her leg back and turned to tug Dalton toward her. "Come on!"

They both crawled for the opening in the glass. Wait, Maylee thought as they crawled, weren't there three corpses in the road?

A rotten arm reached down from above and into the broken window. It caught Dalton by the hair and he screamed. Maylee could hear the corpse groaning from atop the overturned car.

Dalton pulled free and smacked the hand with the bat, nearly hitting Maylee in the head in the process.

"Watch it!" said Maylee.

The woman from behind them groaned and Maylee heard glass break. They looked back and saw that she was free of the glass. She was crawling into the car.

"Shit!" Maylee turned back to the grasping hand. She grabbed hold of it and pulled it toward her as hard as she could. The arm caught on the glass of the broken back window. Maylee tugged harder and the skin of the rotten arm tore and snapped. She fell back, the arm in her lap. She flung the arm aside and grabbed Dalton.

"Now!" she yelled, pulling him with her. They crawled out of the car, avoiding the rotten stump where the arm had been.

Out on the street, they stood and looked around. The car was in ruin. A corpse was atop the car, hissing at them. It had no arms. Apparently Maylee had broken off its last one.

"Serves you right!" she said.

"What?" said Dalton, looking around.

"Nothing," said Maylee, taking the bat from Dalton. She slammed it down on the corpse's head. The rotten head collapsed and the corpse fell forward, still. The other two corpses were crawling around in the car.

"Now what?" said Dalton.

Maylee looked around. She pointed the bat toward the woods. "The hospital should be just over the hill that way. If we take a shortcut through the woods, we should still get there pretty fast."

Dalton looked at the woods, then back at Maylee. After a few seconds, he nodded.

Maylee frowned down at him. "Are you scared?"

"No!" he glared at her.

"Well I am," she said. "But let's go anyway."

And with that they turned and ran into the woods.

Twenty Seven

The cafeteria was in flames behind them as Angie and Park rushed down the hallway.  Kristen and Mr. Paulson followed.

"Shit," said Angie, stopping and turning back to look. "We really have to hurry now. No way we're putting that out."

Alarms went off all over the hospital. A splitting, piercing ringing.

"And this is when the sprinklers would be going off?" said Park, looking around.

"Yeah," said Angie. "Come on." She turned to look back at the others. Kristen was walking toward her.

"What?" said Angie just as Kristen balled up her fist and punched her.

"Don't you ever fucking treat my father that way!" she screamed.

Angie dropped the jugs of alcohol she was carrying. She flashed red and shoved Kristen away. "Back off, bitch! You want to beat my ass, wait 'til we get fucking outside!"

"Hey!" yelled Park. "As much as I love a good cat fight, we really really need to fucking get!"

Kristen glared at Angie. She rushed her, slamming her into the wall and grabbing her hair. Angie screamed and rammed her knee into Kristen's stomach.

* * *

"Come the fuck on!" said Park, yelling at Angie and Kristen. Mr. Paulson watched as his daughter and Angie fought in the hallway. He could feel the heat from the cafeteria behind them, even though it was a good twenty feet.

He said nothing, looking at Kristen's pale face. He knew the look. She was spent. It was the same look she had when she'd spent all day caring for him. The same look she had when Sam would go off by himself and do whatever the fuck it was he used to do.

He looked at Angie as she struggled with Kristen. The bitch had almost got him killed. Maybe he was asking for it. Maybe he wanted it. He should have died years ago. Did people think he liked being a tired old man who couldn't even fucking stand up anymore? Did people think he liked sucking away at his daughter's time? He could barely get to the toilet himself anymore. How long before he had to wear a goddamned diaper and lay on the bed while his daughter changed him?

He heard groaning come from the cafeteria. He wheeled himself around to look. Down the hallway corpses were approaching through the flames.

He turned back to the others. They were arguing with each other.

He started to say something, then shut his mouth. Fuck it.

Fuck this.

He looked one last time at Kristen. I'm sorry, he thought.

He wheeled the chair around to face back toward the cafeteria. He pushed the controller forward and moved toward the door. The corpses were just starting to emerge.

"Here I come, fuckers," he said. With his free hand, he reached behind himself and pulled the tube from his oxygen tank. He heard the slight hiss of the nozzle next to his ear.

The corpses saw him coming and groaned in welcome. Mr. Paulson reached over his head and twisted the regulator open as far as it would go. The oxygen blasted him in the back of the head, the hiss of it almost drowning out the groaning of the corpses.

"Dad?" came Kristen's voice far behind him.

I'm sorry.

The corpses closed in on him. He fished out his lighter, held it up to the oxygen nozzle, and lit it.

* * *

The explosion shook the hallway.

"Dad!" screamed Kristen, rushing toward the fireball.

"No!" Angie grabbed Kristen and pulled her back.

"Let me fucking go!" Kristen screeched, struggling with Angie.

Flames leapt across the ceiling and walls. Corpses groaned. Kristen fell to her knees, sobbing. "Dad!"

Angie looked up ahead and her eyes grew wide. "Everybody down!"

She and Park dropped to the floor. Angie pushed Kristen over to lay flat. "Let me go!" Kristen yelled.

Mr. Paulson's wheelchair flew over their heads, slamming into the wall to their right. Flames from it coated the wall and shot up over their heads.

"Come on!" yelled Park, climbing to his feet.

"No!" yelled Kristen, reaching toward the cafeteria. All Angie could see up there were flames and the outline of corpses. "Dad!"

Angie grabbed Kristen's shoulders and pulled her to her feet. "Come on!"

"Dad!"

Angie turned Kristen around and pushed her forward, down the hallway. She bent to get the jugs of alcohol. One was too close to the flames. She grabbed the one she could safely get and stood.

"Come on!" she yelled.

She and Park ran down the hallway, Angie dragging Kristen with them.

Twenty Six

Maylee drove as fast as she dared through the dark. Trees appeared and disappeared in the headlights.

"Slow down," said Dalton.

"Can't," she said. "We gotta get there. We gotta help Mom."

The road they were on was empty. No cars and few houses. They were almost outside of town now, running along the back-road shortcut Mom had taken to work before the old bridge closed. If they could get across the old wooden bridge, then it would be a short run down another back road to the hospital.

Maylee knew she was driving too fast. She couldn't help it. Her chest was pounding from the first bridge. I almost got us both killed, she kept thinking.

She could hear Dalton squirming in his seat next to her. She could sense it. She knew she should slow down.

"Can't," she muttered again, mostly to herself. "We gotta help Mom."

She rounded a bend and suddenly the bridge was there.

Both she and Dalton gasped and she slammed on the brakes.

The tires screeched and the car slid from side to side but eventually stopped a few feet from the bridge. Dalton was leaning as far forward as his locked seat belt would allow. He sat back and rubbed his shoulder. "Ow, Maylee!"

"Shhh," said Maylee, looking out at the bridge. A chain was tied from one post to another, blocking the way. A sign hung on the chain. In the headlights, Maylee could see that it read Unsafe, do not use. Future site of historical marker.

"Crap," said Dalton, looking out the window. "How are we supposed to get across?"

"It's just a chain, Dalton," said Maylee, undoing her seat belt. "We're lucky. Mom says eventually there'll be a big concrete post blocking the way. And there'd be no way we could move that. But we should be able to move a chain."

Dalton undid his seat belt. "I'll help."

"No, you'll stay here."

"Come on, Maylee. I can do it. It looks clear out there, anyway."

Maylee looked out the front window and sighed. It did look clear.

She pressed the control switch and her window slid down with a whir The cool night air blew in with no stench of bodies. She listened.

It was quiet except for typical night noises. Insects chittered. Leaves and grass rustled in the occasional breeze. No screams. No moaning.

"It's fine," she said after a few moments, breathing out. "So okay. I guess you can come. Just hurry. Let's get the chain unhooked, then get across."

She opened the door, leaving the engine running. Stepping out, she took another look around. Everything still looked clear.

Dalton got out and shut his door. He rubbed his arms. "It's cold."

"Yeah," said Maylee. "Come on, let's hurry."

She stepped over to the bridge, Dalton following. The chain ran from one wooden guardrail post to the other. Maylee walked over to one post and looked. The chain was simply wrapped around it and hooked with a nail.

"Wow," said Dalton, looking with her. "Low budget."

"Told you," said Maylee, smiling in the dark. She nodded across the road to the other post. "Go unhook that one."

Dalton nodded and trotted to the other side. Maylee grabbed the chain on her side and pulled it off the nail. She unwound the chain and looked over to Dalton. "Got it?"

"Got it," said Dalton, holding up his end of the chain.

A corpse grabbed Maylee from behind. Maylee gasped. She saw Dalton's eyes grow wide.

"Maylee!" he yelled, running toward her.

The corpse behind her groaned and pulled her into the woods. Maylee screamed and kicked, reaching back to push at the corpse's head. She felt slimy, cold skin and heard the corpse moaning and working its jaws. Maylee still gripped the chain and it dragged on the ground in front of her. She thrashed her head around, avoiding the thing's mouth.

The chain caught on a thick tree root. Maylee saw her chance and yanked herself forward, using the chain as leverage. She slipped from the corpse's grasp and fell to the ground. She spun around and looked up.

The corpse was an old man with a bloated belly and rotting skin. A portion of his throat was missing, and Maylee could see the cords in the man's neck moving up and down as he gnashed his teeth.

"Maylee!" yelled Dalton, careening out of the darkness. He screamed as he ran straight into the corpse.

The corpse groaned and wrapped its arms around Dalton.

Maylee clambered to her feet and looked around frantically for a weapon. Why had she left the bat in the car? The chain in her hand would have to do.

The corpse bent in to bite Dalton's throat. Maylee swung the chain over her head and whipped it at the corpse. The thick metal links caught the corpse in the cheek. It grunted and stepped back, letting go of Dalton. Dalton screamed and ran over to Maylee.

Maylee was mad now. She swung the chain again at the corpse, this time harder. The corpse grabbed at them and the chain whacked off two rotten fingers.

"Maylee, come on!" said Dalton, pulling her back toward the car.

"Not yet," she said. She twirled the chain round and round over her head. She gave it as much slack as the tree root behind her would allow. The corpse reached for her. She grunted and whipped the chain forward.

 The chain wrapped tightly around the corpse's arm. The corpse kept moving toward her, oblivious to the chain.

"Shit," she said. "Okay, let's go."

They both turned and ran through the trees toward the headlights of the car. She could hear the corpse groaning behind her. It sounded further and further away.

Dalton, ahead of her, reached the road and ran for the car. Maylee reached the road and turned around. The corpse was still far behind them. It was tugging at the chain, which was still wrapped around its arm and caught on the root.

She smiled and flipped off the corpse. Then turned and ran back to the car.

Dalton was already inside and shutting the passenger door. "Come on!"

Maylee flopped into the driver's seat and slammed her door. Her window was still down and she could hear the corpse groaning and the chain rattling.

She put the car into drive and started forward.

As soon as they hit the bridge she heard loud groaning and cracking. She stopped.

"Shit," she said.

"Was that the bridge?" said Dalton, looking around.

"Yeah," said Maylee, swallowing. "Yeah it was."

Wood cracked underneath them. She heard something hit the river below with a splash.

"Crap, Maylee," said Dalton. "Let's go back."

Maylee shook her head. "No, we've lost too much time as it is. We have to get to Mom."

She eased the car forward. The bridge creaked and shook, but held.

She eased the car to a stop and looked at Dalton. "There, see? We'll just go slow and..."

With a groan, the bloated old man appeared just outside Maylee's window. His arm was missing.

Dalton screamed. The corpse reached its remaining arm into the car. Maylee fumbled with the window control, hitting the door handle instead. The door swung open, knocking into the corpse. The corpse's arm hooked around the door as it swung out.

The corpse slammed into the wooden guardrail. The rail snapped and fell away. The wood under the driver's side rear tire gave way and the car slumped to one side.

Both Maylee and Dalton screamed as the car leaned out over the river. The door dangled out over the water, the corpse hanging from it. The corpse groaned and bit up at Maylee.

More cracking came from underneath them. The car rocked. Dalton was still screaming.

Maylee turned in her seat and kicked down at the corpse's head. It bit at her shoes as she slammed the soles into the corpse's face. She grunted and kicked down as hard as she could.

With a horrible tearing sound the corpse's torso came free of its remaining arm. Still biting up at Maylee, the armless corpse fell to the river below and vanished with a splash.

The car shook as more wood fell from the bridge. Maylee reached out over the water - willing herself not to look down - and grabbed the door handle. She slammed the door shut. The corpse's arm snapped as the door closed on it. The remains of the arm bounced off the bridge and down into the water.

"Hurry!" said Dalton. Maylee heard more cracking and groaning. Wood was falling into the water so fast there were almost no breaks in the sound.

Maylee slammed on the gas and the car raced forward. The car bounced as wood fell away underneath it.

The headlights lit up the chain across the other end of the bridge. They both screamed. Then Maylee squared her jaw. There was no other choice. She gunned the engine more and the car picked up speed.

The car hit the chain and Maylee's heart leapt when it snapped. The car reached pavement just as a huge chunk of the bridge fell away into the river. Maylee screeched to a halt. The second chain and sign flew away from the front of the car, clattering to the road.

Both Maylee and Dalton looked over their shoulders. The bridge gave a final groan and collapsed into the river.

"We're in so much trouble," said Dalton.

"I think the world has more things to worry about right now," said Maylee. She turned back and gave the car gas.