Then he could be useful again, maybe even find a lab that was still operational and continue his work. He ran to the other side of the building knowing there was another roof access door. Stopping just before the door he pressed his ear to it, listening carefully for any noise, he slowed his breathing to hear over his heartbeat. Nothing, but the sound of the chaos outside was heard.

  The only way down was this door. He opened the door and remembered he still held a flashlight. The light revealed an empty stairwell before him. He slowly crept down the stairs, making sure to stay quiet. By the time he reached the third floor a stench had assaulted his nose, causing him to gag.

  He knew that smell well; decaying bodies. While learning his field he had been introduced to taking samples from corpses, and he had grown accustomed to the smell. But this was worse than anything he had ever smelt before, as though there were hundreds of decaying bodies. He wondered if it was the infected or people who had just died from lack of medical care.

  He made it to the landing on the third floor, covering his nose with his arm in an attempt to stop the horrid smell. It was so strong it was making him dizzy. The stairs in front of him tilted back and forth. He felt his stomach turn as his body could finally no longer take it. He felt the burning acid of his stomach race up his throat and onto the ground.

  The small amount he threw up burned his throat and made a sickening slapping noise as it hit the hard concrete stairs. Loud gagging and little moans of discomfort emanated from him. He fell back against the railing and sat down. He still felt queasy, but no longer had to throw up. After a few moments of resting, he decided he needed to keep moving.

  Dr. Fumio reached down and picked up the flashlight that had rolled across the landing. Standing up, he shined the light down the stairs and saw they were empty. His stomach gurgled and moved, a small moan escaped him. At least, he thought it was him.

  Another moan echoed through the stairwell, and its origin was close enough to make his hair on the back of his neck stand up. He quickly spun around, bringing the light up with him. He illuminated an infected man, still wearing his hospital gown. Something had torn the man's left side open, but it had been quite a while since it happened.

  He backed away from the infected man, wondering where he had come from. As he wandered into another infected man, this one in a doctor's coat, emerged from the darkened interior of the third floor. He noticed the door was removed entirely from its hinges. He quickly began to go down the stairs, his shoes making far to much noise with each step to feel comfortable.

  It didn't take long until the infected noticed the noise and began to shamble towards him. He stopped worrying about making too much noise at that moment and ran down the stairs, occasionally skipping two at a time. He made it to the ground floor and reached for the door. He yanked on the handle, but it didn't budge, someone had locked it from the other side.

  He looked around the small area at the bottom of the stairs and only found abandoned medical equipment. However, behind the medical equipment, the glare of glass caught his attention; it held a fire extinguisher. He shoved the equipment out of the way and used his elbow to break the glass. Pain shot through his arm, but he ignored it.

  He grabbed the extinguisher and felt its weight in his hands. It had just enough weight to maybe bust the door handle off of the door. He aimed it at the handle and swung. The door handle didn't budge and only dented a little bit. He swung again, this time with more force.

  It still did little to the handle. Dr. Fumio gave it one last swing, putting all of his strength behind it. The handle bent a little, and he tried to push on the door. It was still stuck tight. He began to panic knowing the infected were still on their way down after him. He looked back up the stairs and couldn't see the infected yet, but he could hear them.

  Quickly he set down the extinguisher and began to shove the medical equipment in front of the stairs. It would give him a little longer before they got to him. He picked up the extinguisher and resumed to hitting the handle. After four more swings, the handle began to droop, and it was loose. He raised the extinguisher high above his head and swung with his full body weight, and it finally gave, falling to the ground.

  He looked back to see how far the infected were away from him and they had made it to the last set of stairs. He wasted no time shoving the door open and continued through. In one hand he held the extinguisher, and the other the flashlight. He quickly checked to make sure the hall in front of him was clear. Only trash and more abandoned medical equipment remained in the hallway.

  Dr. Fumio walked briskly down the hall, careful not to step too fast in fear of running into another group. He was at the back of the hospital, so he knew he would have to make his way to the front if he wanted to make it out of the hospital alive. The hallway he was in currently was very long and consisted of offices that doctors once used. Most doors were closed, but the ones that were open he quickly went past them.

  After a couple of minutes, he could see an intersection in the hallway and began to slow down. As he approached it, he started to hear a faint noise. He crept to the intersection and looked around each corner. He looked first to his right, which was empty and led to radiology according to the sign that hung above the door. He turned to his left, which was where the sound was coming from. A short distance down the hall his beam of light met with the grizzled face of an infected woman. He pointed the flashlight down as fast as he could and caught a glimpse of a lot more infected.

  Breathing heavily in a slight panic, the surprise of so many infected that close gave him quite the jump. He calmed himself down and forced himself to think. Which way was the main entrance? He was certain down the hall where all the infected were at, was the direction he needed to go. He could try to continue down the empty hall in hopes that there would be another way to the main entrance.

  The thought of trying to find another way didn't interest him what so ever. After all, the other stairwell had infected in it too, and that's the direction the empty hallway led. He had to find a way past the infected. He knew they were attracted to noise, so he thought maybe if he threw the extinguisher down the empty hall it might be enough to lure them all past him.

  It was risky, but he knew that if he didn't, he was stuck. He didn't want to be stuck in a hospital filled with infected. Dr. Fumio took a deep breath and hoisted the extinguisher above his head. Hoping to make a distraction, he aimed his throw down the hall. He watched as it went further and further away from his vision until he couldn't make it out anymore.

  A loud metallic thud of the extinguisher hitting the floor filled the hall, followed by an echo. The extinguisher kept rolling after it hit the ground, creating, even more noise. It finally came to a rest when it knocked something over with a loud crash. He hugged the wall as he heard the sea of moans coming towards his direction. Dr. Fumio prayed that they didn't come down his hallway, and only followed the noise.

  Chapter 12

  It felt as though his heart was going to beat right out of his chest; his fear and adrenaline had entirely kicked in. Dr. Fumio watched as the massive shape of the infected poured out from the hallway, luckily his prayers were answered; the infected marched from where they were right towards the sound. He watched as the moving blob became more distinguishable as less and less infected came from the hallway.

  After what felt like an eternity, no more infected emerged from the hall. He still held no notions of thinking that the hallway was completely safe, so he carefully snuck to the intersection in the hallway. He quickly peeked around the corner, not using his flashlight, and didn't see anything in the dark. He used his flashlight to light up the hallway and found it was empty.

  However, it was covered in trash, blood, and a very unsettling feeling. Dr. Fumio crept down the hall, his shoes sticking to the dried blood smeared everywhere. The hallway was lined with many rooms with numbers next to them. It was a ward, where resting patients once waited for their doctors. Now it was a nightmarish playground for the infected.

  Many of the doors were caved in and broken. The infected had wasted no time in trapping those poor souls in their rooms waiting for an onslaught of infected. Now that there wasn't a large group of infected it was oddly quiet. Dr. Fumio was still on edge; his body was still pumping adrenaline through his veins, so much that he began to sweat. He slowly and carefully walked down the hallway, occasionally checking the rooms to make sure there was no infected inside. Everything was going well until he reached yet another intersection.

  He stopped to read the signs and found that he needed to head to the right and began moving down the hall. It was another ward, but this one, unlike the other one, was not empty. Many of the doors were closed or had objects in front of them, and for a good reason. Many of the rooms contained infected who wandered within their rooms. He briskly walked down the hallway not wanting to disturb the infected. He came upon a set of double doors that blocked his way.

  Dr. Fumio tried the doors, but found them blocked; looking through the small window he could make out some medical equipment was in the way. However, he was sure he could push the medical equipment out of the way. He moved to the door and shoved. It opened a small crack before it met resistance. He stopped and listened to make sure he hadn't alerted an infected.

  It was all quiet, so he pushed again against the door. It slowly and begrudgingly began to move. Whatever was on the other side of the door was extremely heavy, but he still was able to make it move. He stopped once a loud screeching noise came from behind the door. Whatever it was that was blocking the entrance began to rub against something.

  Dr. Fumio heard the infected behind him begin to beat on the doors and the ones that were already open start to make their way to him. He pushed with all is might again and got the door opened just barely wide enough the fit through. Shoving his way through the small gap, he got his feet stuck, but quickly pulled them free before completely slipping through the door. It slammed behind him, and he quickly grabbed the object that was blocking the entrance, which turned out to be a hospital bed, with the brakes on, and shoved it against the door. He tried pushing as much stuff as he could alongside it; anything he could find to stop the infected from getting out or following him.

  Once he felt it was secure enough, he leaned against the wall catching his breath and began to use his flashlight to look down the hall. It quickly turned into many small rooms, and he could see a nurse station further down. As he stood catching his breath, a noise made him perk up. Something rolled across the floor towards the end of the hall. It sounded like someone had kicked it.

  Dr. Fumio wasn't done with the infected as he had hoped. A small group of infected came towards him from where the nurse's station was, about seven of them. He looked around him for any weapon he could use, now wishing he hadn't thrown the fire extinguisher earlier. Most of what he found was too small and required him to get too close, or it was too big for him to use. His attention fell upon a gurney, and he quickly thought about using it as a ram.

  If he pushed it quickly enough, he could shove the infected out of the way and knock them down. He pulled the gurney away from the doors and lined it up with the first infected. Dr. Fumio took a single deep breath and then began to push. He picked up more and more momentum until he was at a full sprint. The gurney connected with the lead infected and shoved him to the side.

  Dr. Fumio felt like Moses parting the red sea; the infected that were in his way were shoved aside into the other infected. The plan worked like a charm, as he made it past the last one of the group he let go of the gurney. It hit one of the infected and fell on its side in front of him. He quickly tried to dodge it but wasn't fast enough, and his right foot caught on it.

  The flashlight went sailing through the air and landed further down the hall. He landed hard and felt dazed and confused, but knew he had to get up quickly. The infected weren't quite up yet, but that wasn't any reason to wait around. He started to get up, but the light that was coming from his flashlight in front of him had suddenly become dark. Then it was back again, but only for a moment.

  His brain caught up with what his eyes were feeding him; something was walking in front of the light. That something was more infected heading his way. He began to panic, knowing that there were infected behind and in front of him didn't leave him too many points of escape. The nurse's station was on his right, and he quickly went behind the desk and hid. Dragging feet and moans filled the hallway, and he prayed that they didn't see he take cover behind the desk.

  Dr. Fumio begged for this never-ending nightmare to be over; he felt so tired and drained, that he wanted to give up. The voice in his head said otherwise; it told him to wait until the infected had passed and to try to make a run for it. He was so scared that his body felt as though he was standing in the rain from how much he was sweating, as well his chest hurt from how fast his heart was beating.

  He didn't dare move until he was ready. Ready was when he was sure there wasn't a group of infected on the other side of the small wooden desk he was hiding under. Dr. Fumio breathed slowly trying to calm his nerves, but it did little to help. The dragging feet and the moans came from both the left and right from where he was hiding, and he couldn't see any infected, but it was too dark to make anything out. He slowly poked his head out from under the desk and saw movement on the left.

  Dr. Fumio quickly went back under the desk, as he heard the distinct sound of feet dragging closer to where he was. Holding his breath, he hoped he hadn’t been discovered, by one of the infected. A foot appeared on the left, shortly followed by another. The pair of feet stopped moving right in front of where he sat hidden. He was afraid that the infected could hear his heartbeat since it was so fast. He was trapped under the desk, infected right next to him.

  Chapter 13

  The infected stayed where it was, not moving. He began to worry that the infected would never leave and he would have to fight his way out. As the time passed his worry became more of a reality. His muscles started to cramp from how he was sitting awkwardly under the desk. He felt a jolt of pain shoot through his legs, and they began to quiver. He tried grabbing ahold of his legs to give them extra support, praying that he didn't collapse.

  Time continued, and it became harder and harder to hold his spot. His body screamed in agony to move, and yet he couldn't. He begged silently in his head for the infected to move along and forget that there was any noise from where he was. Finally, his prayers were answered; close by, he heard something fall to the ground with a clatter and the infected blocking his way moved towards the sound.

  He wasted no time stretching his sore muscles, giving them the much-needed blood flow. He quickly poked his head out from under the desk and saw no infected on his side of the desk. Inching out from underneath, he tried to make out where the infected were. His natural night vision had adjusted to being able to make out the infected with detail.

  There were several infected just on the other side of the desk, and he quickly leaned down, and out of their sight. He waited a few seconds before slowly looking again, seeing the infected were heading down the hall on his right. He quietly crept alongside the desk to the left side hoping to make a break once the last of the infected made their way past him. The last two shuffled by the desk and he quickly began to walk down the left hallway.

  He couldn't remember which direction he needed to be heading, but at this rate, he didn't care just as long as he made it away from the infected. The hallway was quiet, which he liked because it meant that he had less chance of running into infected. It was also devoid of doors which meant it led to another part of the hospital and wasn't part of the ward. He felt the wall, using it to guide him along.

  Eventually, his hand hit something that was sticking out from the wall. He felt it and discovered it was a sign, one that said ICU. The Intensive Care Unit meant that he was back towards where the original stairwell was. He sometimes left the hospital from the ICU since there were usually fewer people about when he left in the early morning hours.

  The ICU was the last place he wanted to be, though, as his studies of viruses told him. Anytime an outbreak occurred people poured into hospitals trying to get treatment. It was even most likely worse combined with the fact that the infected bit people. It would be the point where the most people flooded into the hospital, bringing the infection with them.

  Dr. Fumio continued forward, hoping that it hadn’t filled with infected, but unwilling to turn back around. The hallway was dark but started he was determined to make it outside alive. He wandered down the hall until he came upon the sliding glass doors that separated the ICU from the rest of the hospital. The doors were left open, which made it easier for him to make it through.

  He slowly went around the door and began to hug the wall again. It was still too dark to make anything out really, but he knew that eventually once he got to the actual ICU lobby itself, there would be some natural light from outside. The hallway finally opened into the familiar ICU ward; it was a small square with rooms all around it, and in the middle, there was nurses’ desks and supply closets. He stuck to the left side and began to try to make it through the ward itself and into the waiting area on the other side.

  Every time he came to a door that led into a patient's room, he quickly walked forward until his fingers grasp the other side of the doorframe. He repeated the process until he got to the corner of the room and began to work his way down the hall. Dr. Fumio was almost there, once he got to the waiting room the outside was just through a set of doors. About a third of the way down the hall his fingers felt something slightly gooey, and he pulled away from the wall momentarily in disgust.

  It had felt like something had dried on the wall but hadn’t completely solidified yet. Dr. Fumio reached back outwards for the wall only to grasp something soft and not like a wall at all. He realized what it was he was grabbing when he felt something grab him in return and moan. An infected was in the doorway, and in the dark, he could only make out a blob in front of him, but he knew what it was.

 

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