Chapter 17

There had always been this idea, in the real world, of someone's guaranteed safety. Not from the natural, no, not even the greatest scientists or politicians in the world could completely safeguard against the natural. But there was this idea of safety from the supernatural. That, those in power would always protect us from the things we could not handle ourselves, that, because something like what I was witnessing before me had never happened before, then that means that it could never, would never happen. And so as I saw some unknown monster gnawing on a piece of human flesh, I physically felt a sort of defeated feeling wash over me. My hands dropped to my side. The colors of the forest faded around me. And I almost didn't want to move.

But I saw Mino stalk up onto the road towards the creature. It noticed her almost immediately, dropping the hand onto the floor with a splat. It let out a nasty snarl and began sprinting like a deranged animal towards Mino. Drool and blood soaked spit splashed against the pavement as I ran, the hand holding the sword rising up to strike Mino. When it got in range it sent a downward slash towards her, aiming directly for her head. Almost effortlessly, she took one step to the side and thrust her own sword, taken from her belt, into the neck of her assailant. The flesh must've already been weak, but its head went flying immediately, and its body collapsed onto the asphalt skidding for a few feet before stopping.

A trail of blood flowed from where Mino had cut its head off and from where the body skidded on the ground. Mino grabbed an end piece of her shirt and slowly wiped all the blood off of her blade in one swipe. She slid the clean blade back into her scabbard, the leather compartment hanging off of a loop by her side. She turned towards the direction of the hospital, before looking over her shoulder at me and saying "I don't know what you're thinking right now, if you didn't realize the danger humanity is in. But snap the fuck out of it. We haven't lost yet, so let's go." She began running down the road. I stared after her for a few seconds before shaking myself out of my self-sorry state and continuing after her.

As we passed the silent ambulance, I tried to get a peek inside without pausing in my running. All I could see before the inside slid out of view was a blood soaked bed, along with the legs of somebody sticking out from the driver's compartment. I shuddered in sympathetic agony for whoever was in that ambulance. "Wha-What the hell are these things?!" I meant to say this more to myself than to anyone else, but Mino heard me. "Shamblers, as we refer to them. Or, if you wish, zombies, though there are a few distinct differences."

I stared at her back before running slightly faster to fall in step beside her. "Zombies? Like, zombies zombies?" She looked exasperated at my phrasing and continued, "Yes, zombies. But like I said, there's differences. For one, these guys are smart. They know how to use weapons and tools, that's why the other one had a sword. And secondly, they're usually controlled by some more powerful entity, usually referred to as 'The Swarm'"

I kept huffing and puffing as I tried to control my breathing before asking the question, "What does The Swarm look like?" Her expression turned cold and stoic. She clenched her jaw before uttering the words, "You'll know when you see it." And with that, she increased her speed to get ahead of me. I didn't bother trying to keep beside her.

Due to our increased pace, the hospital was quickly getting bigger and wider in our view. The road ahead was silent, nothing was moving, nothing was breathing. Even the birds that could normally be singing in the trees were silent. As we got closer and closer, I noticed a road veer off to the right, separate from the main road. When I looked down it, I saw an entrance into the building, along with a big awning that read E.R. in bold red, neon letters.

Mino turned back to me and said in hushed tones, "You take the E.R. entrance and clear each floor on that side of the hospital. If these monsters came from the ground floor, then the staff most likely retreated upstairs." She turned to me with an amused look. "You should be quite familiar with this section of the hospital, no?" And she took off towards the main entrance.

I shook my head at her comment, cracking a slight smile. It really shouldn't be funny, but with everything happening, laughing at my own pain was the best course of action. I continued down the side road towards the E.R. entrance. It was shaped like a roundabout, the doorway to get inside being on the inside of a middle divider. I crept over said divider, unsheathing my sword in the process. The blade shone with a pale light in the afternoon sun.

Reaching the double door glass entryway, I reached out to grasp the handle. I would usually expect an automatic door, but if the electricity is out, then that would explain it. But just as I was about to yank the door open, I noticed a dark red handprint on the other side of the door on the handle. My eyes then caught a trail of blood that at first was splattered on the side of the wall directly inside the building, before the trail continued inside. I couldn't see that far inside, so anything past a few feet was dark. Even the covering my eyes from the sunlight trick didn't work very well here.

With a deep breath, I tried to calm my racing heartbeat beating harder and harder in my chest. I raised my sword before slowly opening the door and stepping inside. It shut with a resounding thump. And I was left with fear crawling in the back of my throat.

Inside, there were ten of those monsters, the shamblers, all chewing and suckling on different human bodies littered down the hallway. The sounds of crunching and eating were sickening to my ears, and the sight of the tendons and nerves being pulled off of the bodies and sucked into their mouths like spaghetti almost made me throw up on the spot. But the shutting of the door alerted all ten of them to my presence. As one, they all stood up and turned to look at me, their faces turning into snarling monstrosities.

I readied my sword in front of me and steeled my nerves. This was going to be a very long day.