Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 39

The boat lurched as many hands pulled at it. 

"One, two, three..." Mike counted quietly.  I propelled myself forward as hard as I could, over those pale eyes in the water, and hit the water a good six feet away.  Immediately, I kicked my feet and surged away as fast as I could.  Desperation leant strength to my arms and legs and within seconds I had reached the cooler dark channel in the middle.  Mike  passed me and, with a glance at me, headed downstream.  Even knowing that the river was probably too deep for the zombies, I expected to feel a hand or teeth on my legs at any moment.

We stayed in the river for several more minutes until we reached a dense stretch of mangroves unlikely to be accessible to humans - and, therefore, zombies.  We swum to the side of the bank and heaved our wet bedraggled bodies out of the water.  I collapsed on the bank, panting.  Just when it seems I could not be more frightened, life seemed to be determined to prove otherwise.

"Come on." Mike said, readjusting his wet pack.  "We haven't got far to go."  Yeah, right.

For the next half hour, we struggled through the mangroves until we reached the creek which in turn led us past the shopping centre where our bike was parked. We stayed low as we made our way along the river bank.  The highway bridge stood empty and silent.    As we drew parallel to the centre, we crawled to the top of the bank and peered across the road.  The park still crawled with corpses.  They staggered and bumped against each other as they wandered aimlessly across the park and along the road.  I gazed yearningly at the spot I knew our bike was waiting for us but I knew that it would be ridiculously dangerous to try to navigate the corpse-infested streets at night by bike.  We had already discussed it and decided to follow the river home, even though it would take another hour. Another hour that Sarah was without treatment.

Sighing, I turned to Mike. "Can we at least try to contact the house from here? See how everyone is? Surely the walkie talkie will be in range?"

"Yes.  Unfortunately, walkie talkies don't take well to a dunking."

"Oh." I replied in a small voice. "Forgot about that."

Mike's voice softened as if he could read my thoughts.  "I know it feels like we've been away all night, Lori, but it's been less than four hours since we got the call from Emma.  Sarah will be fine."

He was right, I realised, feeling my spirits rise a little.  I smiled tentatively at him.  "The sooner we get going, the sooner we'll get there, I guess."

We followed the freshwater creek, staying below the top of the bank.  As the creek wound its way closer to the road, we could hear the sounds of the dead dragging their feet nearby.  It was unnerving, knowing there were so many corpses within touching distance.  If they chose to look over the bank's edge...It was a relief to enter the cover of the trees which lined the river as it passed through the suburbs, even though it meant we had to move more cautiously.  While the thickets along the river hid us well, it meant they could hide other things also.   

The silence struck me all over again.  No cars driving by, no planes overhead, no radios and tvs blaring, no babies crying - just total stillness marred only by the moans of zombies.  Even the birds and crickets seemed to have fallen silent.  I shivered and edged closer to Mike's solid presence.  As the river meandered its way closer to the road, I peered through the trees.   The hint of moonlight shining through the overcast night revealed a few corpses standing on the lawns of darkened homes or wandering down the road, endlessly searching for something.  Us, a voice whispered insidiously.

A sudden crashing through the trees ahead froze us in our tracks.  Something blundered through the shrubbery with all the finesse of a mad bull.  My heart stopped for a moment as I realised it was headed straight for us.  Mike pushed me against a thick tree, covering my body with his.  We stood perfectly still, trying to blend in with the shadows as a dark shadow floundered nearby, seeming to trip over something.  I heard a plethora of panicked curses as the man struggled to pick himself up.

All around us, the bushes erupted as corpses bludgeoned their way towards the poor man.  Everywhere I looked, I saw dark shapes.  Mike instinctively pressed harder against me, making it difficult for me to breath.  The man screamed in panic and thrashed through the shrubs towards the creek.  Hurry, I urged him silently, get to the creek.  Unfortunately, the sounds he was making were moving diagonal to the creek.  Was he disoriented or reluctant to get in the fast flowing water, I wondered as I strained to follow his progress.

Mike tensed, and with the pressure of his body, forced me to slide slowly around the side of the tree.  I realised that one or more corpses were approaching our tree.  My heart started pounding in my chest as the awareness that we were surrounded hit home.  The shape of a dead man pushed through bushes to stand beside our tree.  From the corner of my eye, I could see the hook shape of his nose and the white gleam of his eyes as he stared into the darkness.  He was so close that if he turned even two inches, he would see us.  For the longest horrifying minute, we stood in a frozen tableau, just waiting... and then the corpse lurched forward after the man who was still frantically crashing through the trees and shrubs.

Trembling all over, I released my breath slowly.  There were still other corpses nearby.  We remained motionless as we waited for the dead to stagger away in the wake of the unseen man.  Only after we had heard no further sounds of movement around us for several minutes, did we relax.  I drew deep, gasping breaths in.  Mike was still pressed against me as he looked over my head at our surroundings.  As the terror receded, I started to feel uncomfortably aware of his body along the length of mine, the feel of his thigh, his muscled arms on either side of me, his breath in my hair... glancing up, I caught the gleam of his eyes as he looked down at me quizzically.  My cheeks flamed as I realised he could probably feel my heart racing. 

"Lori?" He breathed my name questioningly, and the way he said it made my loins melt.  There was so much yearning in his voice, so much left unsaid.  He cared for me, I suddenly realised with wonder.  Not just as a friend and comrade in arms, but as a woman.  It was a feeling he would never act on, and yet I suddenly wanted him to act on it.  Desperately.   For the first time in my life, I didn't want to plan out tomorrow, I didn't want to be in control.  I just wanted to lose myself, to feel alive and whole again in the arms of a man I desired. 

I reached up tentatively and stroked Mike's cheek.  His eyes widened and he sucked in his breath, standing motionless, as I ran my finger lightly over his eyes, down his nose and along his lips.  My fingers curled around his neck and pulled his head towards mine.  His lips hovered hesitantly above mine for an unendurable moment.  I arched yearningly against him, my eyes pleading with him in the dark. Just let us have tonight, Mike. There may not even be a tomorrow.  As always, he seemed to hear my thoughts.  His uncertainty disappeared as his arms closed around me.  He brushed his lips teasingly against mine.  I could feel the hint of a smile on his mouth.  The touch of his firm lips set my nerves alight throughout my body.

"Mike..." I groaned breathily, achingly.  I quivered like an excited puppy when his hands tangled in my hair and drew my head back, exposing the long line of my neck.

"So soft," He breathed as his mouth painted a delicate path down my neck. "Your skin feels like silk..."

"Mike..." I pleaded, feeling giddy with the scent and feel of him as his lips made their way back up my neck, over my cheekbones and down...  The tip of his tongue traced the outline of my mouth, sending a shiver of desire through me.

Oh.  The utter delight of his lips over mine.  The kiss went on and on, filling my senses till all I could feel was the gentle firmness of his mouth, the slightly rough brush of his cheek, the sweetness of his breath.  I moaned softly as he deepened the kiss, drawing me in with his need, his hunger for me.  I had forgotten it was possible to feel this way...so delirious, lost, intoxicated with the feel of holding your beloved close.

A distant scream broke the hypnotic spell we had woven around us.  It came from the direction the man had taken.  Sadness flooded me.  He had been so panicked and confused...he had never really stood a chance.  I looked back up at Mike who had pulled away a little.  The moon had risen overhead, dimly lighting the grove around us. 

He cleared his throat.  "We should get going."

I nodded, still feeling his kiss burning on my lips.  He hesitated for a moment and then leaned forward to look intently into my eyes. "You're everything I ever wanted in a woman, Lori.  Courageous, passionate, funny...I've spend my whole life looking for you and when I find you, you belong to someone else.  How's that for ironic?"  His eyes searched mine and I guess he found the answer he was looking for.  He nodded and smiled wryly.  " 'Such is life.' "

I swallowed, my heart and mind in turmoil, as he moved off through the dense trees.  I wanted to reach out to him but I couldn't even begin to talk to him about what had happened when I felt so confused.  Silently, I followed him.

Relief flooded me as we crossed the bridge and saw the house still intact.  However, the number of zombies surrounding the house had swelled fourfold.  The ground beneath and around the house was thick with dark swaying bodies.  I kept my fingers crossed that the steep tangled rainforest on the hillside would continue to deter them from blocking the back entry. 

We crossed the road further up the street and made our way quietly up the mountain till we were directly above the house.  It was hard going feeling our way through the thick rainforest in the dark and I was sweating profusely by the time the house came into view.  Cautiously, silently, we moved down the mountain towards the back door.  Pausing frequently, we listened for sounds that didn't belong in the rainforest.  Like dead people.

Mike slipped up to the back window and flicked his Maglite torch on and off.  A minute later, we were inside the house surrounded by familiar, smiling faces, softly lit by candlelight.  Michele and Jessie wrapped their arms around me tightly as other hands patted me on my back and shoulders.  I gripped the kids tightly and grinned widely at the people surrounding me.  It was the best possible homecoming ever. 

"Last time I'm sending you to the shops." Emma declared cheekily. 

"Ah, come on, Em." I responded.  "We just got a little sidetracked, is all."

Mike snorted, busy trying to fend off the delighted licks of Lizzie who had jumped in his arms. "That's an understatement."

Kaye shooed us into the living room.  "Eat first and then you can tell us all about it."

I pulled off my backpack.  "Food would be great but first I need to get these antibiotics into Sarah." I looked questioningly at Emma.

"I've been treating her with fluids but the fever is still present.  The sooner we get the antibiotics into her, the better." She agreed.  I followed her into the kids' bedroom where the four toddlers were sleeping.  Sarah was flushed and restless even in her sleep.  A pang went through me anew at the sight of her shortened arm, but, I reminded myself, she was still alive and that's all that mattered, ultimately.  Emma set up the intravenous line for the antibiotics while I sat down beside my baby.  Sarah stirred and opened her eyes. 

"Mummy!" She smiled.  "Miss' you." 

Tears blurred my eyes as a wave of fierce, possessive love gripped me.  "I missed you too, baby."  Bending forward, I kissed her hot forehead. 

"Allie 'nock me over." She pouted, making me laugh.  Dobbing is an art mastered young.

"Bad Allie."  I shook my finger scoldingly at the bunk above us.  Sarah giggled, and wriggled in her bed.  I grinned and tucked the sheet in around her.  "Now go to sleep, rugrat.  You'll feel a lot better when you wake up."

Emma was watching me as I rose.  "One day this will make a great bed time story."

"What's that?"

"How mummy braved zombies to get the medicine she needed."

I shook my head.  "You have no idea."

In the living room, MIke was hoeing into a simple meal of baked beans and scrambled eggs while holding his audience captive with the tale of our adventures. It smelt so good that my mouth instantly watered.  Kaye saw my face and rose from the table.  "Coming right up, old girl."  Mike looked over at me with a warmth in his eyes which instantly brought a blush to my cheeks.  Of course his sharp eyes noted it and his lips quirked in amusement, which I decided to ignore.  I didn't even know how to begin with dealing with my rash, impulsive behaviour, so I was just...avoiding it entirely.  Pulling up a chair, I promptly devoured the meal Kaye placed before me in record time.

I was content to let Mike finish filling the others in on the events of the day.  Pushing back the plate, I sat back contentedly and looked around at the group.  On my left, Ken stood behind Emma's chair with his hand touching her shoulder; across from me, Michele, Lucas and Jessie sat wide-eyed around Mike, with Lizzie the chihuahua jumping from lap to lap, while Kaye brewed some strong coffee in the nearby kitchen.  They all appeared spell bound by Mike's dry rendition of our 'adventures'.  Zombies, crocodiles, soldiers - maybe one day it would sound exciting to me, too, instead of a bloodcurdingly terrifying memory.

"There were zombies in the water?"  Emma shivered.  "God, I would have died from pure fright."

"Not high on my list of activities to repeat.  Ever."  I agreed, with a blandness to equal Mr. Cool across the table. 

"So the army is bugging out?" Ken questioned, a frown on his face.  "What does that mean for us? Are we supposed to just sit tight while they let this virus burn itself out?"

Emma's eyes widened.  "Of course not!" She glanced around the table.  "It doesn't mean that, does it?  They wouldn't just leave us.  There are still people alive in this town!"

Mike looked around the table, his face growing unusually serious.  "It's worse than that, I'm afraid."

"Worse than that?!" Emma squeaked.  "What's worse than that?!"  Somehow, I didn't want to know the answer to that question.

Mike sighed and rubbed his closely shaven head, a sign I had learned meant he was stressed.  "Anders confirmed to me that something big is going down in the morning. Something that is causing a ruckus amongst the big boys."

"Your bomb theory again." I said flatly.  I had been afraid that was what he and Anders had been discussing...

"Bombs?" Kaye looked from me to Mike incredulously.  "You think they are going to drop bombs on us?"

"'Fraid so.  And, folks, we really don't want to be here when that happens."

"This Anders friend of yours," Ken asked quietly.  "Did he hear about the bombs firsthand or is this just army gossip?"

Mike looked at Ken appraisingly.  "Anders has many contacts in key positions and, put together, their information paints a pretty clear picture. It would be foolish of us to dismiss his information as just gossip."

Ken's brow furrowed.  "Fair enough.  What kind of bombs are we talking here, Mike?"

Mike looked a little grey. "There are a few options - fuel to air, maybe - but the word is that they are planning an attack that will...annihilate... this problem, permanently."

Ken was the first to understand what he was alluding to.  "You're actually suggesting our government is going to nuke us."

I gasped.  Surely that wasn't what he meant!  But the silence that greeted Ken's statement was deafening. 

"The government would never allow it." I argued.  "The backlash..."

"They can't let this virus get out, Lori.  It has destroyed this town and an army in less than two days! Imagine what a virus like this could do to the country - or even the world.  In the face of a threat like that, we are acceptable losses."

Tales of the Dead Tropics -chapter 5

"How long have we got?" Biggs barked, doing a quick count of his remaining bullets.  I exchanged a long look with Emma.  I knew she was thinking of all the people we'd worked with every day, just as I was.  Was it possible that they were all dead - or one of these creatures?

Jim raise a brow.  "Five minutes if we're lucky.  The stairs were proving a bit of an obstacle but I wouldn't count on that stopping them for long."

"Right."  Biggs turned to look at all of us.  "Considering the loss of communication, we have to assume most of the hospital is lost.  We need to concentrate on getting out of here alive now."

"If we get to the roof, there's a ladder on the side we can use to get down."  Emma spoke up eagerly.  There were nods all around. 

"Okay, let's head to the elevator." Biggs snapped.

I snorted. "Oh I don't think so."  He turned to glare at me but I met his eyes defiantly.  "Think about it.  We have no way of stopping the elevator from stopping at any of the above floors.  If the upper floors are lost, as you put it, we could find ourselves being delivered straight into the arms of those monsters."  Just the thought of it caused a shiver to run down my spine.

Jim grinned appreciatively at me. "She's got a point there, Biggs." 

Biggs grunted a reluctant acknowledgement.  "Stairs it is, then.  Let's go!"

As our small group headed in the opposite direction to the ER, I couldn't help glancing nervously over my shoulder.  The thought of being trapped in these narrow halls with those creatures made me feel sick.  I blocked the thought and focused on where we were going.  The hallway was really only wide enough for three people walking side by side.  Biggs and Jim were cautiously leading the way followed by Emma, Ken and me.  Behind us, the injured man was being assisted by another officer while B1 and his mate were keeping a close eye on the corridor behind us.

Up ahead,  I could see the surgical wards looming.   Biggs and Jim slowed down as we approached the doors and brought their weapons up.  Biggs nodded at Jim, who slid along the edge of the wall and carefully peered around the wall.  I held my breath as he pulled back again.

"Looks clear.  Five patients lying in bed. "

Biggs nodded.  "Move on, folks."

"Wait!" I grabbed his arm.  "We can't just leave them here!  They're sitting ducks."

The sudden compassion in his eyes made my heart contract.  "There's nothing we can do for them.  They can't get out of bed and we can't protect them.  Our ammunition won't last five minutes in a confined space like that."

Emma suggested.  "If we lock the doors..."

Biggs glanced at her.  "You know those doors weren't designed to withstand significant pressure, like a horde of dead people pressing on it."

"It will at least give them a chance." I said grimly.

"Well, you'd better hurry!" yelled B1.  "Here come the fucking zombies!"  I jerked around to see a mass of dark figures appear at the top of the far stairs.  They dragged, stumbled , lurched and fumbled over the steps.  It occurred to me that it would have been an amusing sight in normal circumstances.  Then the momentary humor fled as the creatures appeared to catch sight of us.  Like a locust plague, the mass of torn figures surged down the hall towards us.

The others bolted down the hall.  "Come on, Lori!" Emma called desperately over her shoulder as I hesitated.

"Damn it!" I grabbed the doors and pulled them shut, flicking the lock.  I sent up a quick prayer that the ...zombies ...were too stupid to work out how to work the lock and then ran after the others.

Oh God.  Another ward.  A quick look behind me turned my guts to water as I saw the horde was catching up.  The pressure of the zombies pouring up the stairs seemed to be forcing the front ones to move faster.  Some fell and were trampled, but not enough to stem the flow.  I knew I didn't have time to lock all the doors and to my shame, I kept running past the wards.  I starting screaming over and over  "Lock down!  Lock down!" in the hope that any remaining staff or able patients would lock the doors.  I knew that the doors wouldn't withstand a determined onslaught by the zombies but with their current focus on us, maybe it would be enough.

I caught a glimpse of a startled nurse standing at the door to the Oncology ward.  "Lock the doors!" I yelled at her.  "Lock down!"  I don't know if she listened to me.  I hoped she did.  Nurses are trained to react quickly and ask questions later.

Ahead of me, the group slowed as we reached a T-junction.  The fact that we had seen no sign of the zombies so far filled me with hope that we might make it to the roof without trouble; that maybe the problem wasn't even widespread and that there was a perfectly legitimate problem with the phones.  However, the sight that greeted us as we turned the corner dashed that hope as if it had never been. Blood pooled on the floor and dripped down the walls.  Sheets lay scattered on the floor of the ward across from us.  I caught a glimpse of a bloodstained mattress hanging off a bed.  The complete absence of movement or sound made the scene surreal. 

The stairs waited temptingly at the end of this suddenly endless corridor.  Behind us, the sussurating moans of the zombie horde brought an image of a pine forest I had grown up near; the sound the wind made as it blew through the tops of the trees.  Haunting. Mournful. Unstoppable. I shivered.   

Beside me, B1's mate (B2, I nicknamed him immediately) looked over his shoulder anxiously. "What should we do?"

Before anyone could answer,  slow moving figures started emerging from the wards ahead of us.  By the pyjamas they wore, they were - had once been - patients.  Now they stared at us with empty, implaccable eyes and the ugly pallor of the dead.  I barely noticed the gaping wounds that marked their bodies as they moved towards us.

We backed into a tight circle, trying to keep an eye on both sides of the corridor.  "Any ideas would be welcome, guys." I joked, trying to calm my panicked breathing.  I could hear Emma sobbing quietly behind me.

"Nothing for it but to shoot our way through this group, I reckon."  Jim said dryly, nodding at the figures ahead of us.  "A handful of them, a handful of us.  Seems a fair fight."

B1 emitted a high pitched laugh.  "Oh yeah, real fair.  Except the only thing that puts them down is a bullet in the brain!"

The wounded young man suddenly spoke up for the first time since he'd received his injuries.  "Someone take my gun."  He held it out towards us.  "My arm is...burning.  I, I don't think I can shoot."  I noted with alarm the flush in his cheeks.  Ken stepped forward and took the gun, checking it in a surprisingly professional manner.  "Let's do it." 

"Wait!" I cried.  Crossing the hall, I opened the janitor's cupboard and pulled out a broom.  Holding it at an angle, I snapped it with my foot and handed one half to a startle Emma.  I quickly removed the broom head and smiled grimly as I wielded the jagged piece of wood like a dagger.  "Now I'm ready."

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 4

A gurgled cry drew my attention.  The older guard was lying against the wall.  The nurse in me kicked in. I grabbed a kit from the nearby counter and hurried over to examine them.

"Call for help"  I snapped at Biggs as I ran by.  Kneeling by the older man, I struggled to stem the flow of blood from his neck but I saw the light of life already fading from his eyes.  Within a minute, he was gone.  I stood up.  "I'm sorry.  He's gone." I quickly moved over to the young man.  His wounds were more serious but not immediately life threatening.  I worried that he was going into shock.   

As I knelt beside the lad, Emma moved to join me, her red hair falling over her face.  "You saved my life, Lori.  I can't believe that you risked your life like that!"

I shrugged, embarassed, as I worked on the boy.  "Momentary madness."

Emma grinned, and with a professional eye, quickly assessed the situation in the room.  Her smile faded as her eyes settled on the dead guard.

"How long has he been dead?" She pointed.

I frowned, puzzled.  "A few minutes.  Why?"

Emma stood up, agitated.  "You've got to get him out of here.  Now!"  Her blue eyes appealed to the other  guards. "The ones who have been bitten turn quickly when they die.  Hurry, we don't have long!"

Even as she spoke, I saw the dead man's eyes snap open.  His lips peeled back and he lunged at a guard near him, sinking his teeth into the man's calf.

"Get him off, get him off!"  The guard screamed, fumbling with his gun.  Biggs stepped forward, coolly pressed his gun against the side of the dead man's head and pulled the trigger.

Biggs turned an icy blue eye on me.  "Either you are a shitty nurse who can't tell when a man is dead, ma'am, or I just iced a corpse. " He closed his eyes briefly.  "I don't suppose there's much chance you're a shitty nurse, is there?"

I shook my head wordlessly, pushing myself to my feet.  "He was gone."

Biggs sighed and turned away.  "Not sure how I am going to explain this away if there is an inquiry.  Then again, not sure there's any way to explain any of this..."

.

He passed Ken as he gathered his remaining able officers for a conference.

"Thanks."  Ken's sensitive face was drawn and pale.  "That stick allowed me to hold off Jan...those creatures until the officers arrived."

I accepted his thanks with an awkward nod.  It was hard to feel proud when I had abandoned them and run like hell.

The stocky blonde guard (I privately nicknamed him B1, with his pointy head and spiky hair) sent to make a call trotted back from the nurses' station, looking unsettled.  "I can't raise anyone in admin, or down in Emergency, the office..."

Biggs scowled.  "Everyone's spread so damned thin today.  We've been dealing with outbreaks of aggression all over the hospital in the last hour -"  He stopped abruptly as the same appalling thought occurred to all of us.  What if this was happening all over the hospital?

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, folks."  He turned to a bald man calmly chewing gum.  "Jim, go get a visual on what's happening downstairs in ER."

Jim nodded and turned to go.

"And make it quick."

Jim snorted. "Count on it."

My head was spinning. Surely we were overreacting.  There was no way this craziness could be happening all over the hospital?!  Emma looked pale.  Ken murmured, "Just a few of those creatures took out our whole staff and security guards.  If this disease has spread..."

"We don't even know if it is  a disease."  Emma said without conviction.

"Disease,  mass hallucination, act of God. Whatever it is, it kills people and then brings them back with an addiction for human flesh."Ken said dryly.  "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it would be bad if it has spread."

 Emma shuddered.  I wrapped a protective arm around her.  "We are all aware of what's at stake here, Ken."  My thoughts raced.  What about the children's ward? ICU? Most of the patients in this hospital would be unable to defend themselves! 

Ken deflated and looked sheepish.  "Sorry.  Bit stressed."

I couldn't help myself.  I laughed out loud.  "That's seems the understatement of the day."

Ken grinned and Emma giggled nervously.

The sound of moans filtered through the doors.  We sprang up nervously.  "We need to move."  Emma's voice trembled.  "There are so many of them.  What if they get through?"

"We need to know what we are dealing with before we go anywhere."  Biggs came over to stand in front of Ken and Emma.  "Fill me in on what happened up here.  The more I know, the better I can deal with the situation."

Emma nodded and took a deep breath, watching the doors anxiously.

"I was lucky." She smiled a little, aware of the irony of that statement.  "The miners died within minutes of each other.  We left them on the trolleys while we cleaned up.  I was in the next room getting supplies, but Allana and Jan were in the room with the bodies..." She swallowed and looked away. "I heard them screaming and when I ran in, Jan and Allana were on the ground and two of those monsters were eating them, chewing on their faces, their stomachs."

Emma squeezed her eyes shut as the memories slid over her.  "I ran back into the supply room and locked the door.  They came after me and banged on the door for a while.  I just prayed and prayed and then I heard them move away.  They were making grunting sounds, like they'd gone back to ...eating. And then the screams from the other rooms started."  She shuddered. " I hid in the cupboard until I heard Ken calling my name."

Ken's mouth tightened.  "I was in the men's when it started.  When I came out, the others were already dead or dying.  That's how quickly it happened.  When I trying to get out, I saw Jan and Allana dead on the floor and the supply room door shut; I thought maybe, just maybe, Emma was still alive." He looked at her with a half smile.  "I had to know for sure."

She returned his smile.  "I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life.  I might never have let you go if I hadn't seen... "

"What?"  Biggs tried to urge gently.

"Jan and Allana.  They sat up."  Tears filled her sapphire eyes.  "No noses, lips, cheeks, stomach but they got up without any sign of pain."  She bit her lip. "I knew that they were dead.  Yet there they were...walking."

Ken continued. "When I felt her body tense, I turned around, and they were coming at us."  He shook his head at the memory.  "Thank God their faces were so messed up that they couldn't see very well 'cos they tripped over some boxes.  I just grabbed Emma's hand and ran right past them."

Biggs frowned.  "So your walking dead theory is all based on those nurses having more resistance to pain than you? Jesus."

"No!" Ken exclaimed. "We saw others - hell, Brian was dragging himself along the floor - and he'd been torn in half."  Ken choked and looked away.

"Go look through the door window, Biggs, if you didn't get a good look earlier." I said steadily.  "But I think you already know the truth in your gut."

For a long moment, no one said anything. 

"Yeah." Biggs answered heavily.  "Okay, then."  He turned to leave.

"Biggs." I said, unsure of what to say but knowing I had to say something.  "One of the paramedics was bitten this morning.  He began showing all the same symptoms as these things, shortly after.  It's probably nothing to worry about." I hastened to say.  "The majority of people who are exposed to an encephalitis virus never go on to develop any symptoms but we really need to get these guys treated.  Just in case."

He absorbed this new information silently and then shook his head.  I heard him mutter as he strode away, "I knew I shouldn't have got out of bed this morning."

It seemed to take forever but it was probably only five minutes later when Jim returned.  He entered the room at a trot, which immediately sent my alarm bells ringing.  I sat up, heart beating faster.  "Time to relocate, folks." He said, in his deadpan way.  "We've got dead people heading our way.  Most of the ER, if I am not mistaken."

Tales of the Dead Tropics -chapter 3

Instinctively I hit the security alarm beside the door before racing into the ward.  The hallway was completely deserted.  Images flashed across my eyes like snapshots.  A  mop in a pool of water.  A chair overturned.  Records spilled on the floor.  Coffee cup smashed. Bedding spilling off a trolley. What had happened here?

My ears were assaulted by the sounds of people's panicked cries ahead of me.  My heart began to thump.  I reached over and picked up the mop.  Quickly I unscrewed the head, leaving me with a solid piece of wood to wield, if I needed to.  And I had the feeling I would need to.

I sent up a quick prayer that security would respond soon and started to move down the hall.  The screams had stopped to be replaced by even more disturbing sounds.   Thumps, bangs, whimpers and growls merged with cries of pain and terror.  Swallowing convulsively, I clutched my pole tightly and peered around the corner.

A sight beyond imagining lay before me.  It was a few seconds before my brain could even make sense of the images it was seeing.  But when it did register, I couldn't breathe.  Bodies lay scattered along the length of the hallway.  Five, six? Hunched over the closest ones were three blood-covered men.  For a moment I thought they were trying to help the fallen individuals and then the truth dawned on me with horrifying clarity.  They were eating them.  I blinked rapidly to clear my eyes but still they continued to tear chunks out of the fallen bodies and chew the meat with such relish, that bile rose in my throat.  Their pale skin was splattered with the blood of my colleagues! The blood was in their hair, their clothes, their nails.

A groan drew my eyes to the victim closest to me.  It was a man laying on his back.  The man - no, not a man, no human being could do that -  the maniac  had his head buried in his victim's chest, ripping pieces of flesh off with his teeth.  Oh my God, he was still alive.  His eyes fluttered as he moaned again.

Slowly I pulled back.  For a long moment, I stood pressed against the wall paralysed.  I was terrified of moving, for fear the maniacs would hear me.  Then a new sound.  A door slammed and footsteps ran up the hallway towards us. A feminine cry of despair as whoever it was realised what she had run into.  I took a deep breath and forced myself to peer around the corner again.

Emma, dear bubbly Emma, stood a few feet from the scene of the carnage.  Beside her stood a young man whose face was vaguely familiar(Ken?).  Slowly he reached over and grasped her hand and started to edge backwards and the maniacs stopped their dining to stare at them.

Behind them, a young woman came through the doors, and then another.  With a sinking feeling in my gut, I saw the now familiar pale shiny skin. 

Emma glanced behind her and cried out again.  They were trapped and they knew it.  Without thinking, I flung myself around the corner.

"Hey!  Come and get me!"  I waved my pole and jeered in a foolhardy attempt to distract the maniacs long enough to allow Emma and Ken to escape.  "What are you waiting for, you ugly bastards?"

As the maniacs rose clumsily to their feet, I felt a thrill of satisfaction that my plan had actually worked and they were coming after me.  Then - sheer terror. They were coming after me.  Shit, shit, shit. 

"Catch!"  I hollered and flung my pole like a javelin towards Ken.  Without waiting to see if he caught it, I turned and ran for my life.  The doors loomed ahead, 50 meters, 40...If I could get through, I could bolt it and get help.

A raspy growl echoed through the hall just behind me.  Oh God.  30 meters.  Please God.  A door suddenly opened at the side and a bloody figure stepped through.  I cried out and veered away from it.  I caught a glimpse of ashen skin and a half chewed face.  I banged against the far wall and fell over an overturned chair. The woman lurched at me, hands clenched into claws.  From the corner of my eyes, I saw the other maniacs moving towards me.    I grabbed the chair and heaved it at the woman in desperation. It didn't even slow her down; she reached down and grabbed my ankle.  Screaming, I kicked violently at her face with my other foot until she released me.  Scrambling to my feet, I pelted desperately towards the doorway.

20 meters.  Suddenly the doors flung open and the wonderful sight of our security men greeted me.  I pushed past them as they spread out across the hallway.  "There are people down there that need your help!" I gasped.  "Please hurry." 

"Don't worry, miss" An older man smiled at me.  "We'll have this under control soon."  

I clutched his arm. "They're completely insane!  Cannibals."  He nodded and patted my hand reassuringly before moving off.

I drew back and tried to control my trembling limbs.  I took in the scene.  The woman missing half her face was reaching for a young security guard who pointed his weapon and shouted at her to stop. Two other maniacs were being circled by two armed officers while another two continued down the hall.  I prayed that they were in time to save Ken and Emma.

Suddenly a shot rang out.  My head snapped around to see the young security guard had fired a warning shot above the woman's head.

"What the hell, Jack!" The security officer standing next to me, yelled out.  "These are patients! Use your taser!"

I watched on as the guards fired their tasers - with absolutely no effect.  And in those precious wasted seconds, the maniacs reached out and grabbed the officers.  The woman sunk her teeth eagerly into the young guard's arm and tore a chunk out.  He screamed in disbelief and tried to fend her off.  Further down the hall, the two guards were grappling with the two maniacs that I suddenly recognised as the miners I'd seen brought in.

Cries rang out as the struggles became increasingly desperate.  The maniacs ripped into any part of the body they could reach- hands, ears, neck. 

"Do something!"  I shouted despairingly at the officer beside me.  A quick check identified him as as the officer in charge.  "Biggs!"

Biggs shook himself and pulled his gun out.  "Shoot, shoot! Defend yourself if you have to!"  He strode forward and and tried to find a clear shot.  The woman with a jagged hole where her lips once were, pulled the young officer close and sunk her teeth into the his cheek.  He screamed again but seemed helpless to fight her off.  Biggs pulled her away and aimed his gun at her.  "Don't make me do this, lady."

She bared bloody teeth at him and lunged forward.  He shot her in the chest.  She stumbled back a few steps then moved towards him again.  In incredulity, he shot her again.  Again she reached for him.  Desperate, he pointed his gun at her head and pulled the trigger.  The woman collapsed instantly like a marionnette, a bloody mess where her head had been.

The senior officer stared at her fallen body in disbelief.  Around him, panic took hold as shots rang out without effect.  "They aren't stopping!"

Horrified, I watched the older officer who had comforted me, drop his gun and stagger towards us.  His yells became garbled and blood poured from a ragged wound in his throat.  

Do something!  Stepping forward, I yelled at the top of my voice.  "Shoot them in the head!  It stops them!"

Another guard took up the cry.  "Go for the head!" A cacophony of gunshots followed as the three standing men desperately targeted the maniacs' heads.

As the noise died away, the officers stood surrounded by the corpses of the maniacs.  They gazed at each other, stunned into sombre silence. Suddenly, the sound of a woman's scream brought my head up sharply.  Emma! She ran towards me from the far end of the corridor, waving her arms frantically. "Run!  Run!" Behind her, I heard shots being fired and then Ken and the security guards came bolting around the corner.  They were looking over their shoulders and yelling, "Move! Move!"

In the moment of frozen inaction that gripped me and the others, I saw them -  a throng of blood-splattered creatures staggering around the corner.  It is an image that will forever be burned in my memory.  A doctor with arms that ended in bloody stumps; a security guard with intestines dragging on the floor; a young dark-haired woman (Oh God, was it Jackie?) with a gaping hole where her abdomen once was. One of the guards turned and fired wildly at them.  A bullet slammed into the chest of a middle-aged woman in a nurses's uniform.  She fell back into the crowd.  And then she stood up.

"Help the wounded!"  Biggs yelled, snapping everyone out of their paralysis.  "Get going!"  He grabbed the young man's arm and pulled him up.  We followed the other guards carrying the older injured man through.  I rushed back to hold a door open.  I waved at Emma and the others.  "Come on!" 

She was so close, I could see the flush on her cheeks and the terror in her wide eyes.  Not far behind her were the men and oh, so close, too close, were the monsters.  Their missing limbs slowed them down, thank god, but they kept coming...

"Hurry, Emma." I murmured and held my hand out to her.  Her eyes met mine and she  reached for me.  I closed my fingers around hers and swept her into a tight one-armed hug as I continued to hold the door open.

"Am I safe?" She whispered pleadingly. 

"For now." I answered truthfully as I watched the boys drawing closer over her shoulder.  And then they were through, and the guards were bolting the doors shut. 

Tales of the Dead Tropics -chapter 2

By the time I clocked in, there were four patients being examined in the cubicles and three more waiting in the triage room. The first lot of encephalitis patients had already passed through and been moved to an isolation ward.  However, I had been informed that several more Mossman miners were now showing symptoms and were currently being transported to the hospital. 

As I checked the status of available beds on the computer, Emma dumped records on the counter beside me with a heavy sigh.  "How much longer have we got on this shift?" 

"Let's see." I glanced deliberately at my watch.  "Our shift started half an hour ago so...only eleven and a half hours to go!"

She heaved another dramatic sigh as she reknotted her auburn hair. 

"Why? Got somewhere else to be?" I asked, amused.  Emma's chaotic love life had been the source of much vicarious entertainment for me over the years.  Blue eyes widening innocently, Emma leant forward with a cheeky grin.  I could feel another ear-burning anecdote approaching.

Dr Wilson hurried by and beckoned to us for assistance.  The ER doors opened and Dave and Bob, the paramedics, hurried in with one of the encephalitis patients. Big Dave had a rough bandage wrapped around his left arm while Bob had a wad clamped over a neck wound. As the wiry paramedic passed on the details of his patient to Dr Wilson, I got my first good look at the patient.  A man of about forty, strongly built, he was fighting his restraints, tossing his body to and fro as he moaned.  As he turned to face me, a shiver went down my spine.  If the eyes are the window to the soul, then this man had lost his soul. It felt like I was looking into a vacuum.  No sign of recognition, of emotion, or even a glimmer of humanity.  I had never seen such emptiness - at least not in a living person.

Without blinking, he continued to emit a low moan.  Emma patted his hand hesitantly.  "You will be fine, sir.  Just relax."   With a sudden twist of his body, he lunged across at her, teeth snapping violently together.  Emma jerked away with a startled gasp.  Groaning, he sank back on the gurney.  "Watch it." Dave glanced over. "This guy has already taken a chunk out of both me and Bob."

"I'm having trouble finding his pulse."  Dr Wilson mumbled, a frown of concentration on his wrinkled face.  He turned back as Bob completed his report.  "This patient presented with a high fever, severe headache and confusion.  He went into cardiac arrest half an hour ago.  We successfully revived him but he began displaying extreme aggression and irrationality.  As you can see, he managed to get a couple of bites in before we were able to physically restrain him.  Skin is cold and clammy, pupils fully dilated, temp is..." Bob hesitated. "low.  Sedation was unsuccessful."

Dr Wilson frowned. "Unsuccessful?"

The paramedic shrugged. "Two doses - no effect."

The doctor raised his brow but didn't comment on it further as he headed off with the patient to the isolation ward.  Emma and I watched in bemused silence as the patient continued to struggle down the corridor. 

"What do you make of that?"  Emma asked. 

I shrugged noncommittally, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in my gut.  "Encephalitis has been known to make people aggressive."

She looked at me incredulously. "And did you see his eyes?!  And what about his skin - so grey and  slack, like it was suddenly too big for his bones.  Creepy!"

Looking sideways at her, my lips twitched.  "Is that your professional diagnosis?  Creepy?"

She flicked a rude gesture at me in response.

A yell jerked our heads around, to see more encephalitis patients being wheeled in, also struggling against their restraints.  Another bleeding paramedic called for assistance. Nurses and doctors hurried over.  I got a glimpse of blank eyes, bloodless skin and clawed hands as the trolleys passed by.  Emma raised her eyebrows at me as she hastened after them, promising further discussion over coffee later.

I shook myself and walked over to Dave as Bob was led into a nearby examination room.  "Come on, let's take a look at that arm."  Dave obediently allowed himself to be led into a room and sat thankfully on a bed.  

"Never seen anything like that before in my life." He muttered.

I glanced at him as I gathered my supplies.  "Really?  You know encephilitis can cause aggression and confusion."

Dave shook his head.  "This is something else.  This guy tried to eat me."

I laughed as I sat down beside him.  "Come on, Dave.  Never heard of a virus turning people into cannibals!"

The big man shrugged.  " Yeah, well, I'm the one who had to watch this guy chewing on the piece of flesh he tore from my arm.  He was drooling and chomping and watching me the whole time like I was a giant piece of meat dangling just out of reach...it was freaky."

I shuddered.  "Quit it, Dave.  That's gross."  I pulled away the bandage and whistled.  The patient had managed to tear a seriously thick chunk out of Dave's arm. "You are going to need some serious stitches, my friend."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that."

We sat in silence for several minutes as I cleaned the wound.  Dave clearly had something on his mind as he kept clearing his throat and opening his mouth to speak, then shutting it.  Finally, I sighed in exasperation and met his blue eyes firmly.  "Just spit it out, for goodness sakes."

Dave straightened his shoulders decisively.  "Lori, that guy was dead."

"Yes, I heard you say he had a cardiac arrest and you revived him.  What about it?"

He looked a little embarassed.  "The thing is we didn't succeed in bringing him back.  We'd given up.  Then he just opened his eyes and attacked us."

"Okay." I frowned. " Odd, but spontaneous revival has happened before."

Dave met my eyes. "I saw the heart monitor.  Even when we were struggling to strap him down, the monitor remained flatlined."

I blinked.  "Well, it had to be broken."

"Yeah.  That's what I thought.  Until I talked to the other guys over the cb and found that the same thing had happened to them.  What are the odds that all the monitors in all the ambulances were broken?"

****

When I left Dave, I was feeling a little worried.  He had started to run a mild temperature.  Bites are notoriously full of bacteria.  After giving him  a dose of antibiotics, I made him promise to go home and rest.  He assured me that he would head out after checking on Bob.

As I made my way down the hall, I ran into Emma.  She was bouncy with wide eyed excitement.  "Those miners are completely insane, I'm afraid!  It took six of us to get them into in the isolation beds.  A couple of the nurses even got bitten, nothing serious, mind you. Now we've all got to wear protective gear around the patients."  She chattered on eagerly as an avid audience of nurses grew around her. "We can't even sedate them; nothing seems to work.  Poor things seem to be mad with the pain."

"What's the treatment plan?" A nearby nurse asked.

Emma shrugged.  "Standard procedures but it will take a while to see if it is working.  In the meantime all we can do is try to make them comfortable."

"Anyway, I have to get back." She looked over at me.  " Meet you at lunch, Lori?"

" You bet. You know how I love cafeteria food. Highlight of my day."

Laughing, Emma wagged her finger at me.  "Still living on the edge, I see."

I returned to the office and took a quick look at the board.  Several people had presented with symptoms of possible encephalitis but that always happened when an alert went out.  People started seeing serious symptoms in the common cold. 

The sound of a rough cough startled me.  I was surprised to see Bob leaning against the doorway and alarmed to see how unwell he looked.  I hurried over and pressed my hand to his forehead.  It was burning hot.  His eyes seemed bleary as he tried to focus on me.

"Hey Lori, I think maybe that bugger gave me some nasty infection..."

"That, or you're on the grog again."  I took his arm firmly and led him back inside.  He lay down gratefully on the bed.  "How long have you been running this fever?"

"About half an hour, I suppose.  And I've got a hell of a headache."  He groaned. "I've been trying to find someone to give me some damned pills so I can go home to bed."

I sniffed derisively even as my thoughts raced through the possibilities.  Could this be encephalitis?  Could it even develop this quickly?   "You're not going anywhere, mister, at least not until you've been seen by another doctor."

Bob moaned in protest. "What did I do to deserve that?!"

I poked him lightly. "If you can still make jokes, there's hope for you yet."

I left him dozing while I hunted down a doctor.  Dr Bennett stood at the nurse's counter filling in a form, and with a little persuasion, agreed to examine Bob.   As I went to follow her, she shooed me away.  "The triage nurse could do with some help.  The waiting room is filling up with neurotic parents and hypochondriacs who are convinced that they've got this encephalitis bug."   I gritted my teeth and left her to it.  Truth be, there was a backlog of sniffling, groaning patients in the waiting room now, and I knew that Bob was in good, if irritating, hands.  I'd always found Dr Bennett with her Margaret Thatcher hair and condescending attitude a pain but I couldn't fault her expertise.

After sending home two patients with the cold and referring  another patient who actually could have the virus, I noticed a sudden flurry of activity as nurses and doctors rushed past my door.

"Excuse me." I murmured to the young girl I was with and hurried out.  In the hallway, there seemed to be struggle going on.  I heard a groan that sent a chill down my back.  The young girl peered around me.  "What's going on?"

I glanced down at her.  " I don't know.  Probably nothing but I am going to check it out.  Stay here."

She nodded obediently and backed up. 

I had a lump in the pit of my stomach as I heard that drawn out moan again.  It couldn't be.  As I neared, I saw that the staff had someone pinned on the floor outside Bob's room.  Dr Bennett stood near by, her perfect hair mussed, face flushed and deep scratches on her cheeks.  She glanced up at me and acknowledged silently what I had dreaded: it was Bob struggling on the floor under two men and two women.

"What happened?" I rushed forward to help them.  Dr Bennett grabbed my arm and pulled me back.  "Sudden aggression, disorientation...he tried to attack me and then a nurse."   

I opened my mouth to respond when there was a scream of pain from one of orderlies.  "The son of a bitch bit me!"  He leapt up clutching his neck and I saw Bob looking up at me.  But it wasn't Bob.  Gone was the sardonic, wiry man I had worked with for years and in his place was ...blankness.  With the pasty skin and the dead eyes,  I knew without doubt that he had been infected by the same virus that had ravaged the miners. 

Bob's empty eyes shifted to the woman holding his left arm.

"Don't let him bite you!" I called out. " He - he might be infectious!"

The woman squealed and released her hold, scrambling back.  The remaining two men struggled to hold Bob down as he grunted and writhed and snapped viciously at them. "Hey, I can't hang on much longer!"  One of the men pinning down Bob cried out.  "Jab him with something, will you?!" 

Dr Bennett grabbed an injection off a nearby trolley and pumped the full syringe into his thigh.   "He should be out in a couple of minutes." She said with satisfaction.  I knelt beside her, pinning down Bob's convulsing legs.  "Dr Bennett, if this is the same virus as the encephelitis patients, sedation probably won't work."

"Where the hell is security?!" Dr Bennett yelled before turning to me in irritation.  "Well, we can't very well sit on him indefinitely, can we? Go find security, will you?  He needs to be properly restrained before he hurts someone else or himself." 

I ignored the flare of anger and edged around Bob cautiously.  As I passed the injured orderly, I paused to tell him to disinfect the wound and get checked out immediately by a doctor.  If this was the virus, it had taken less than two hours from the time of the bite for the infection to reach Bob's brain.  That was impossibly fast.  Maybe Joe was right about the threat of an epidemic, after all.  I suddenly wished I could talk to him. I feared a doctor would treat such a suggestion with ridicule.  After all, maybe Bob had been exposed on an earlier job.

I hurried on.  For some reason, there was not a single security guard on the floor.  I decided to head upstairs to the isolation ward.  Chances were the guards had been called in to deal with more outbreaks of aggression. 

There was no one at the outside nurses' station, odd in itself.  Nibbling on my lip tentatively, I pushed the doors open.  The silence that greeted me was unnerving at first, but the sound I finally heard chilled me to the bone.  I didn't know what I was listening to at first but as it got closer, I suddenly realised what it was.

Screaming.

Panicked, desperate screaming getting closer and closer.