The Infirmary Read online

better shape compared to his roommates, but there none the less. Sarah's breath caught in her throat with emotion. Taylor's skin still held some pinkness, not as rotten and oatmeal gray as the others, less bloated. His throat was split wide, like a twisted, ruby red smile. The gown, similar to Sarah's, remained intact, and still born his name drawn with a Sharpie yet was stained with dried blood. Teeth marks in a variety of stages of healing covered his formally well toned body. Sarah couldn’t help but look at her own teeth mark covered arms and flinch.

  With a quivering lip, Sarah said his name and caught his attention. She had heard he was here, that was one reason she had escaped but she had no clue he was infected. His face stared at Sarah with the slightest hint of recollection of their former relationship. His right eye was missing; the deep cavern was all she could focus on. The whole room of living dead were heading toward her, hunger on their minds yet all Sarah could do was pick more faces she knew.

  Darren was there, missing both his arms, green, putrid teeth snapping loudly. Judy was there as well, her generous breasts completely eaten away, leaving deep red holes that exposed her rib cage. Judy’s breasts had probably been an ample meal for her starving new companions or even the ravenous crows that waited for the right moment to swoop in and grab a piece to go. The crows themselves looked somewhat naked, feathers missing in several areas, probably infected as well Sarah thought. Although from what she had overheard there was no evidence the disease spread to animals but Sarah saw the proof sitting neatly above her.

  It was too much, the final straw that broke her sprit. Sarah found herself letting go, ready to accept her fate. She would die with these monstrosities rather than at the hands of the ones from the laboratory. She’d die with her former friends and people she hadn’t known rather than with the ones she had known since the start. Sarah hoped Taylor would reach her first, hoped he would remember her and end it quickly rather than the alternative of her being torn apart slowly. She would watch her former friends and the strangers filling their bellies with her flesh. She wondered how long it would hurt before shock set in, how long it would take to free her from the intense pain she lived daily.

  Taylor naturally moved faster than the others. It made sense since he was whole, not yet missing needed extremities. He was so close, Sarah felt his hot, foul breath on her face, felt his rough hands dig into her wrists, felt him tilt her head back to rip open her throat. Sarah closed her eyes, praying. She was ready. Suddenly Taylor's head exploded, shattering Sarah with skull fragments and brain matter. The shot had hit him right between the eyes, an expertly aimed bullet. Sarah knew immediately what had happened. Two more shots exploded the heads of the next closest zombies before a pair of gloved hands yanked Sarah back and away from the doorway of the infirmary. She was no longer in the midst of the ones shed come so far for.

  Sarah fought the gas mask faced soldier, kicked him, screaming but he never loosened his grip. "Let me go, let me stay with them, let me die!" Sarah repeated which brought more zombies to try and come towards the live humans but they were quickly shot as well. There were masked men with pistols surrounding her, trudging up memories she had long suppressed. People cried out as the doors were shoved closed and a new board was screwed into place. Same as the one Sarah had taken down. She fought, kicked, wanted to be with the dead, wanted to be dead. She knew it was a fruitless struggle. The last thing Sarah saw before the rifle butt slammed into her temple was the words abandoned being repainted over the door that had held so much promise.

  Sarah found herself dreaming the same dream she always had. She was young, big blue eyes wide and darting up and down the crowd. Her father was screaming, fighting the masses to reach the gates. Her mother held her hand tightly, crying uncontrollably as people pushed and shoved. There were men in white hazmat suits and gas masks ahead, they had guns. Sarah saw her father bleeding, the chunk of flesh torn away by an insane man who had attacked them moments ago. The man had bitten her mother as well, tearing a chunk of cheek away, revealing the teeth below. Sarah’s mother tried to stanch the blood flow with a shirt but it was swelling quickly. Her father had knocked the stranger down and stomped his head in with rage Sarah had never known him to possess. Sarah still had the slick blood splattered on her arms. All she had thought during the attack was that the man looked strange, emaciated and twitching.

  The men in suits stood steadfast at the gate and were bringing people to safety, to the CDC stations the radio had announced. There were fortresses where the creatures would be unable to access. That’s where Sarah's family was heading, to safety as the radio had promised. There was food, water and safety at these stations and they had waited hours to get toward the gate. When they finally made it to the front, ducking the sunflower colored police tape, Sarah was snatched from her mother’s grip. The men in suits called out "infection! Infection" when they saw her parents. Screaming, tears and snot running down her face, hands outreached and fingertips brushing her mother’s skin, it was the last time Sarah ever saw her parents.

  Suddenly fluorescent lights burned Sarah's eyes as she blinked into awareness. She felt groggy, nausea swept over her yet she could not turn her head to vomit, nor could she move her arms. Her head throbbed and the room spun and came in and out of focus. Sarah knew the lights above her well. Realization didn't take long to sink in, she was back in the lab, the place she had desperately tried to escape and failed. The walls were dirty and blood streaked, some dried, some still tacky. It was the observation room and she was strapped to the exam table, she could tell by the cold metal that strained her back with its dented middle.

  The voice came through the speaker system, as it always had and always would. "It’s ok Sarah, your safe now" the voice sounded soothing, strangely comforting but that tone wouldn’t last. "You’re the only one immune Sarah; you’re the only one immune to the Devcon virus! Why would you jeopardize all our research with such a stupid stunt? Sarah it’s been eleven years, why would you escape when we've come so far? You and the others know you’re the only chance for a cure, for a final solution to the Devcon virus" the voice was aggravated now, the razor edge of its words was clear. Sarah lay there silently as it continued.

  "I know Taylor's loss was devastating but he was one of the lab rats, you knew that in the beginning! You knew eventually he'd be used; you should have never gotten so close with him. They are ALL lab rats Sarah, all but you. Your special but we allowed you all to mingle to keep things as normal as we could. But that's all different now. From now on you will be housed alone, thus reducing your stress and interaction with the rats. I'm sorry Sarah but welcome home" and with that the buzz of the intercom cut away. The voice would not return, it would let her suffer instead. The point was clear, her immunity would be her undoing. Her gift would be her curse. She would die here, only not like the others, she would die slowly, under bright lights and surrounded by needles.

  Sarah lay there and lost the last thing she treasured. She actually felt her mental grasp on reality finally fray, like a sweater finally becoming unwoven. Sarah imagined her sanity rose from her body like a wisp of smoke, leaving her a cold shell as it dissipated. Sarah laughed, a crazy, last resort laugh, she’d never escape, she’d never see the others again. They would think she made it to the infirmary and its safety, they would continue on without knowing her true fate. There was no Neverland, there was no freedom and now there would be no more whispers of hope from her co-prisoners. The last words she ever spoke again slipped through her lips. "Abandoned"