Day 356 - Untitled Zombie Story Chapter 9.3 - (1,520 words)

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UNTITLED ZOMBIE STORY

By Wayne Webb

Chapter 9.3

The offices and consulting rooms on the ground floor were mostly empty around him and James scouted around looking for a way out through a window or an exit door of some kind. The complex, such as it was seemed overly secure for a hospital of any kind, public or private.

He crossed from room to room in his open back hospital gown and found nothing in the way of exit or egress from his situation. A closet close to the rear corridor next to the stairwell, a door he passed earlier without a second glance, yielded a step closer to freedom, it had a janitorial uniform inside on a hook, and a nametag with an ID attached. A closer inspection would not help him but a casual glance would give a passing resemblance.

He changed in the corridor, no idea why he had been stripped and put naked in a bed, sedated and knocked out with some frequency, but now he was out and in disguise while the rest of the staff all appeared to be in crisis mode out in the foyer.

He had no socks nor shoes but some rubber work boots for wading through spills were in the closet too and he could slip inside them, they were a little big but not so much that he could not walk comfortably in them. He hoped for a hat of some kind, a brimmed baseball or truckers cap he could pull down over his eyes would have been perfect, but not there to use. It was possible of course that a hat pulled sown over the eyes in the dark of night would make less of a disguise and more of a beacon signal to look at him, the man trying to hide in plain sight.

He came back to the main door and looked through the tiny gap once more and the discussion among the people there was agitated and aggressive, he could hear them arguing clearly about some event. There was no context for their discussion but flying accusations about blame and safety, the breach of a wall or perimeter of some kind put the tension high in the air.

At first he recognized no one at all, but then he had to do a double take as he saw his brother in the crowd. He bit back a yell to his brother; the noise dying in his throat and making a small but unheard exclamation that thankfully didn’t carry. That was definitely Derek, but he looked uncomfortable and out of place in this room, the whole situation far too tense and Derek was inching towards the exit, the one on the other side of the Foyer, James had to guess it was a wing similar to the one he was in.

He tried to signal him, catch his eye but he could not be more visible to him without being more visible to everyone. After a while of hoping that he would look this way it was time to look for a way to distract or upset things so that he could get to his brother while everyone else was looking elsewhere.

There was a commotion from the Foyer again, raised voices in anger and shock. The tide had turned somewhat to concern and fear, James could hear it now, the worry, confusion and demands were plain as day, regardless of not having the context of the conversations.

“Everybody just calm down now!” A strong commanding voice cut through the hubbub of the crowd, and that voice drew James back to the door. There was a woman in a white coat that everyone was looking at in silence, when she opened her mouth to speak James knew by the commanding tone that she was either in charge or used to being obeyed.

“These things have happened before and they will happen again.” She lectured them like they were spoiled children crying over the unfairness of life.

“This was sabotage!” An angry voice rose up from the crowd, but James could not see the man speaking.

“You don’t know that.” She countered dismissively.

“You don’t know that it’s not!” came a different voice, this time from a man in front that James could see, his chin stuck out defiantly.

The demeanor of the woman in the lab coat changed and she rounded on the man she could see. “You know nothing Robert. Nothing. Don’t get up on a high horse about security and sabotage when you are just acting out of fear. We contained the problem quickly and got everyone back safe again in minutes. If this was sabotage, and I highly doubt that, it was the work of the most incompetent and ineffective terrorists in the history of sabotage.”

She raised her hands and stepped back, no longer shouting at the man she called Robert and addressing the whole crowd again in a more placating tone. “I don’t believe it was intentional. I believe it to be stupidity. Incompetence. A mistake.”

“Not everyone.” Came another voice, this also in the front row and from a woman more self assured and calm, she looked neither belligerent nor angry, but determined to make a point.

“Excuse me Patricia?” the woman asked back, with more respect than she showed others previous.

“You said, Sarah, that everyone was safe, back safe you said. Everyone.”

Sarah did not reply, but she did look chastised and blushed a little under the unfortunate spotlight she was now in.

Then James saw something wholly unexpected. Derek stepped into the focal point of the group and raised a hand to speak, not waiting for permission but politely gesturing regardless. “That is hardly fair Patricia. Dr Sarah is speaking broadly, the poor …” He looked over at a gurney with a sheet over it and then James knew what they were all talking about, there was a body under a sheet on that gurney. “This was an unfortunate accident and the real person to blame is unfortunately the victim. “

There was a gasp and Derek stared down the crowd as that settled in.

“Who are you?” Robert, the man that Sarah had berated before saw his chance to get some self esteem back by barracking at Derek. Of course he had no idea who he was and that seemed like a good way in.

“Panic.” Derek said to Patricia and then everyone as a group again. “Panic. She froze. Against all training and all common sense, she froze. If she had taken even a few steps more this would have been a different outcome. You need to pay attention to what you have been told to do in these situations.”

James could tell that Derek was bluffing, he recognized in his brother that look when he was pushing beyond what he knew, with guesses and confidence that would bully himself through too many situations before this one. Never one as bizarre and off kilter as this, but there it was.

“Who the fuck are you?” Robert challenged again, his arms crossed in front of his chest he puffed himself up higher, fuller and ignored the conversation started between Sarah and Patricia who were now watching this interchange.

“Robert Pearson! That is enough. Tom here…” Sarah had stepped into the slowly closing gap between the men and jabbed a finger into the man’s chest, sending him back on his heels uncertainly at her sudden aggression. “.. Tom here was the only one reacting like he was trained to. He was the one taking what he had at hand and thinking strategically. He beat off the machines, he stood his ground, and he saved those men’s lives!” Sarah pointed at two bandaged men who were looking less sheepish now at forgetting how to defend themselves and standing in support of what the Doctor was saying.

“I didn’t think that…” Robert started but that was all he got out.

“No you didn’t think Robert. The only one who thought properly and effectively was Tom.”  Sarah rounded on the group now, Robert effectively dismissed and Tom’s hero status assured, even though no one in the crowd knew who he was, the endorsement of their leader effectively sealed the man that never existed into the collective consciousness of the group.

“Tom saved all your lives, if you don’t know him you should get to know him because he is the man that you want at your side when the shit hits the fan like it did tonight. Whoever made the mistake, whoever didn’t do their job? They contributed to the death of this poor … what was her name again?”

There was a mumble and general consensus of ‘Lisa’ from the group.

“Tom?” James whispered to himself and rocked back on his heels, trying to stretch his legs. He had gotten pins and needles in them from staying crouched by the door for so long, but he had been entranced by the drama unfolding beyond the door he was hiding behind, and his brother’s mysterious role in it as this “Tom” person.

What the hell was going on?