A Zombie Story

Chapter 4: Reunion

August 6th, Sunday, 11:30 a.m., Eldorado Hospital.

Finn got out of the car and limped towards the hospital.

‘What the heck was that thing earlier?’ He wondered. ‘Though I’m grateful and all but that must be the mutation thing, huh.’ Then he paused to catch some breath. ‘Ha! Why must everything be painful? Why must that thing have to end so fast?’

Like he expected, the place was completely vacated. Having been abandoned for almost three years, it had started to slowly deteriorate, becoming an empty and decaying structure.

The air hung heavy as he limped through the entrance, carrying the musty scent of neglect. The reception area, once a bustling hub of activity, was now a desolate space filled with overturned chairs and a faded, disheveled reception desk.

He limped further into the hall. Rusty gurneys lie discarded in twisted angles, covered in tattered white sheets. His footsteps echoed but rather than wasting time scanning the area, he started searching for painkillers. But alas! He wasn’t a doctor and he didn’t know shit about hospitals so he ended up wasting time anyway.

To his surprise, there weren't any zombies inside the building. He found it intriguing.

‘As quietly as possible. As quietly as possible.’ He chanted inside his head.

That was when he heard the desperate knocks banging from the ward three doors away from him. It was padlocked. “Is anyone there? Hey! Open the door, please!”

‘Ah, sh*t! What is he thinking?’

That surprised him.

“Anyone, please! Whoever you are outside. Open the door, please!” The voice repeated and Finn thought it sounded familiar.

“Stop shouting, you idiot! The f*ckers’ll hear you.” He hissed. “But before I help you, d’you know where the painkillers are? I’m dying here.”

“Oh,” the man’s voice suddenly turned crestfallen. “You got bitten, didn’t you? If you are then—then forget about me. Don’t free me anymore.”

‘What the heck?’

“Oi!”

‘Damn! I would react the same way too if I were him but heck! I can’t die yet!’ He understood where the man was coming from but he was desperate.

“I’m—I’m not a zombie… yet.” He said. “Look. I wasn’t bitten. They f*uckin’ ate me, bro! My ribs are exposed right now and some bones in my limbs are showing and the pain is killing me. I’m probably down a few pounds right now with how much flesh they took but you see, I gotta survive for at least 10 hours, man. Gotta see my brother for the last time, you see. Still haven’t paid him for the gelato I stole in his fridge.”

The man made no response.

Finn was ready to lose hope when the man had spoken up after a while. “When were you bitten?”

‘Does he mean the time?’

“I… I think, uh, a quarter to ten? Last night?”

The man was silent once more so Finn thought he needed to be more convincing.

“I’m not feeling weird, I swear.” That was a lie. “I am totally fine except for the pain. All I need is the painkiller. I promise.” Again, another lie. He just single-handedly killed a horde of zombies and he wasn't gonna say that.

“Over twelve hours, huh.” The man finally said. “I see. I am a doctor. I can help you. The key is in the adjacent room to the left. They said they hung it on the faucet in the toilet.”

Finn could only offer a silent thank you.

He got the key and opened the door and when he thought nothing could surprise him anymore, he was wrong. Because the man he had been speaking to was someone he was intimately familiar with.

“Dr. Martinez?” He was the doctor he grew up with. An orthopedic surgeon, to be specific. He was the one who treated Sam from patellar tendon tear in his right knee.

Finn couldn’t believe his eyes. He never expected to see someone he knew. It gave him hope that his brother was still alive out there, somewhere.

Dr. Martinez was still the same person as Finn remembered. Only… Once clean-shaven, his face now bore a rough, unruly beard. His gray eyes were fiercer and he had more wrinkles. He used to smell like he just bathed with antiseptic solution but now, he was all sweaty and haggard and just looked overly tired and he was struck with terror with the mere sight of Finn.

The shock and horror in his eyes, the slight tremble of his hands… Making Finn more painfully aware of the severity of his situation.

Dr. Martinez stammered as he desperately searched for words to express his horror and disbelief. “Finnegan,” he uttered. His voice trembled with fear and pity. “What—What happened to you? It’s unthinkable!”

Finn just smiled at him, tired, and weakly said, “Yeah. I wasn’t very lucky.”

***

August 6th, Sunday, 12:41 p.m., Eldorado Hospital.

“I don’t think any amount of ibuprofen will help you at this point.” Said Dr. Martinez to Finn as he inspected the injury. “But I’ll see what I can do. The mutated rabies needs about 48 hours to incubate. Sometimes they need less than that depending on the person but anyway, I’ll be back.”

Dr. Martinez left and headed somewhere. And as Finn lay there on the x-ray room bed, his vision started to go dim. The pain in his side was killing him, even breathing alone was hard. If anything, he was surprised he even reached the hospital at all. And also, Dr. Martinez insisted he treat him in the x-ray room as it was very hard to break into with its reinforced door and all plus it was on the ground floor.

A couple minutes later, Dr. Martinez finally arrived holding a cardboard box full of medical stuff. “I’m sorry, Finnegan. I really can’t do anything about the, well… rabies. I could only do so much. I’m sorry.”

“Just let me say my goodbye to Sam and I could die at peace. I’ve no hopes of surviving this. I’m pretty much a walking dead in a few hours anyway.” His vision was turning blurry by the second.

“Well,” Dr. Martinez tried to sound cheerful. A poor attempt, really. “Would you look at that! I’ve stumbled on some local anesthetics and even a few opioids. Quite the hospital we have here, wouldn’t you say?”

Finn caught onto his charade and went along with it. “Oh, thank goodness! That's amazing news, Doc. Nothing like a free drug in the apocalypse. Will the opioids help me with my pain?”

Dr. Martinez chuckled. “Well, Finnegan, I must say I’m hesitant to recommend these. They may make you feel like you’re floating on a cloud, but trust me, I don’t want you seeing things like ripping off my flesh.”

Finn just smiled and uttered a silent thank you before he completely blacked out. He woke up with a torso dressed properly and the pain was significantly reduced.