Ward Z Read online

  Before I can finish, she takes a stumbling step toward me and opens her mouth to let out a loud, violent hiss. I take a step back and pull the door shut, and seconds later I hear her banging on the other side, trying to get through.

  "What the hell was that?" Anthony asks, standing next to me. "I've been working here for fifteen years and I've never seen anyone look so bad. Did you -"

  "I saw," I say firmly, struggling to keep the door shut as Cally tries to get it open from the other side.

  "Did you see Emma?" June asks. "It's all my fault! I told her to stay in there with her mother!"

  "I don't think that's her mother anymore," I reply, "and no, I didn't see Emma. She was calling out from the bathroom." I look down at the door handle and realize that, while Cally is desperately trying to break through, she hasn't actually tried the handle once. It's as if she doesn't understand how the damn thing works.

  "You have to get her out of there," June continues, with tears in her eyes. "That poor girl must be terrified!"

  "Join the club," Anthony mutters. "What the hell's happened to her?"

  "I don't know," I reply, as Cally finally stops trying to get the door open. Moments later, there's the sound of her banging on the bathroom door again, and Emma screams in the distance. "We have to... We have to find a way to bring her down. We have to stop her somehow."

  "No kidding," Anthony replies. "Does anyone know what works on zombies?"

  "Don't be so fucking stupid," I snap, turning to him. "For God's sake, do you realize the panic you could cause on this ward?"

  "Then what did we just see?" he whispers. "It sure looked like a zombie to me."

  "Zombies are the preserve of bad horror films," I continue, incensed by his immaturity. "Whatever has happened to this woman, even if I can't explain it right now, it's certainly nothing to do with zombies. I swear to God, if I hear that word again, I'll lock you in a room until this is all over. I will not have panic spread through this ward."

  "But -"

  "Get me a syringe," I say, turning to Nurse Jacobs. "Fill it with as much morphine as you can. Hurry!"

  While she runs back to the examination room, I ease the door open and little and peer through to see that, sure enough, Cally is still trying to break down the door to the bathroom. In fact, she's starting to literally rip away the door-frame. I'm pretty sure Emma will be okay for now, but sooner or later Cally's going to get through, even if she has to tear the whole wall down.

  "We have to get out of here," Anthony says. "They can't keep us locked in here, not when there are z..." He catches himself just in time. "Not when this is happening!"

  "I think all of this is precisely why they have to keep us locked in here," I reply, watching as Cally starts ripping away one of the wall panels.

  "You think they knew this was going to happen?"

  "I think they suspected," I mutter.

  "And they didn't try to stop it?"

  "I imagine they were too late," I reply, "and anyway, now that we're trapped in here, I guess we're a perfect little fishbowl. They can observe us and then eventually when it looks like it's getting out of control they can..." I pause, realizing that I should probably keep some of these thoughts to myself.

  "Huh," Anthony replies. "Now who's spreading panic?"

  "Here!" Nurse Jacobs shouts as she comes running back, holding out a syringe filled with morphine. "There's enough in there to kill her."

  "I don't want to kill her," I reply, taking the syringe and looking back over at Cally. "I just want to knock her out."

  "How are you going to do it?" Anthony asks.

  "I guess there's only one way," I say, taking a deep breath before pushing the door open and stepping into the room. My heart is racing, and I know this is insane, but I can't just keep the door shut and hope that Cally gives up out of sheer exhaustion. She doesn't seem to be able to move too fast, and her limbs don't seem very well coordinated, so I figure I should be able to get the drop on her just fine.

  "Don't go in there!" Anthony hisses, but I push the door shut so that he doesn't attract Cally's attention.

  So far, so good. Cally seems to be so focused on breaking through to Emma, she hasn't noticed that I'm here. With the syringe in my hand, ready to use, I step over the mess on the floor and slowly come up behind her. There's a kind of hissing, snarling sound coming from her mouth, and her fingertips are red-raw from her attempts to get through to Emma; it's almost as if Cally doesn't care that she's hurting herself in the process.

  I step closer and hold the syringe out, ready to slide the needle into the back of her neck. Nurse Jacobs was right when she said that there's enough in this syringe to kill her, so I figure I should just use half and hope that it's good enough to knock her out. If I get it wrong, though, she could turn on me and attack. I hold the syringe closer, and she still hasn't noticed me, and finally I realize that the longer I delay, the more risky this becomes. After a moment's pause, I do it.

  The needle slips effortlessly into Cally's neck and I immediately push the plunger. She doesn't react immediately, but after a moment she starts to turn and look at me. Panicked, I end up pushing the plunger all the way, delivering the full dose to her, and then I let go of the syringe and take a couple of steps back.

  Reaching around, Cally pulls the syringe from her neck and looks at it, with an expression of confusion on her face as if she's never seen such a thing before. After a few seconds, she drops the syringe and turns to look at me.

  "Cally," I say firmly, backing away toward the door and hoping that she won't rush at me. "Can you hear me? It's me, Andrew Page. We've -"

  Suddenly she takes a step forward and lets out another deep, bitter hiss. She takes another step, but one of her knees seems to give way and she slams down to the ground as the morphine courses through her system. A normal person would have been completely out by now and well on the road to death; hell, an elephant would be rolling over by this point, but Cally's merely struggling and, so far, she only seems to be slowed by the drug.

  Figuring that I don't need to wait for her to be knocked out completely, I make my way around the edge of the room, taking care to stay as far from her as possible. She tries to turn and watch me, but the morphine is really bringing her down now and although she reaches out toward me, she clearly can't get back onto her feet. All she can do is continue to hiss.

  "Emma!" I shout, banging on the bathroom door. "This is Dr. Page! I need you to let me in immediately!"

  I wait, but all I can hear from inside is the sound of Emma sobbing.

  "Emma," I continue, keeping an eye on Cally and watching as she starts slowly crawling toward me. "Emma, open this door!" I shout. "It's me! I'm here to help you! Everything's going to be okay, but you have to open the door!" Realizing that I should probably try to sound less angry, I make an attempt to soften my voice. "Emma, it's Dr. Page here. It's okay. You're safe, but you have to open the door."

  Silence.

  "Emma!" I shout as Cally gets closer and closer. "Now!"

  After a moment, I hear the lock being turned, and I quickly pull the door open. To my shock, I see that there's blood all over Emma's neck and clothes, and she seems to have a large, open wound on the side of her lower jaw. She looks pale, too, and it's clear that she's lost a lot of blood.

  "It's okay," I say stepping forward and picking her up before turning and stepping past Cally. I hurry over to the other side of the room and pull the door open.

  "Oh God!" June shouts when she sees Emma's injuries. "What happened to her?"

  "Get her to the examination room," I say, handing the child to Nurse Jacobs before realizing that maybe Emma shouldn't see Nurse Aubry's corpse. Sure, the child is probably already traumatized, but there's no need to send her completely over the edge just yet. "Actually, take her to my office. I'll be there in a moment." Seeing the look of stunned terror in Emma's tearful eyes, it occurs to me that I should probably say something to comfort her. "It's okay," I say, "I'm going to make
sure that your mother gets better."

  As Nurse Jacobs carries her away, I turn and see that Cally is slowly crawling toward me, although she seems to be having more and more trouble staying awake. It's as if she refuses to give up, forcing herself to keep moving.

  "What the holy fuck happened to her?" Anthony says, standing next to me. "She looks like a damn... well, you know what she looks like."

  "Zombies aren't real," I reply firmly. "This... whatever it is, this is real. I need you to keep the door shut -"

  "No way!" he says, taking a step back.

  Grabbing his arm, I pull him over and push him against the wall. "I need you to keep the damn door shut while I go and make sure that little girl doesn't bleed to death," I tell him, "and then I'll come back and we'll deal with Cally Briggs. Do you understand?"

  "I can't -"

  "Either you hold this door shut," I say firmly, "or I'll push it open and throw you in there with her, and then I'll hold the damn thing closed." I wait for him to reply. "Well?" I shout. "What'll it be?"

  Emma Briggs

  Mummy did this to me.

  Dr. Andrew Page

  "You were very lucky," I say as I continue to clean Emma's wound. "No major damage, although you'll have a scar. Still, all the cool people have a scar. Isn't that right Nurse Jacobs?"

  "Don't worry," Nurse Jacobs says, holding Emma's hand. "Everything's going to be fine."

  The wound in Emma's neck is deep and serious, but she's going to survive. Her jugular wasn't damaged, so although she lost a lot of blood, it wasn't enough to cause major concern. She'll be feeling light-headed and a little weak for a while, but eventually she'll heal up. I'm more concerned about what might have entered her body when her mother bit her, and by the fact that the poor kid's almost certain to have major psychological issues. Assuming she ever gets out of here alive.

  "You know that wasn't your mother, don't you?" Nurse Jacobs continues, with a soft, reassuring tone to her voice. "Not really, anyway. You mustn't be scared, sweetheart. We're going to find out what's wrong with her and we're going to make her okay again. Aren't we, Dr. Page?"

  "Sure," I reply, even though I have no idea whether any of us will ever be okay again. I can't say it in front of Emma, but I highly doubt that there's any kind of magic cure that'll help Cally Briggs. Whatever's wrong with that woman, she was clearly on the verge of death, and if she doesn't keel over soon, I might have to take matters into my own hands. Then again, if Cally is a live specimen, maybe I should take the opportunity to learn more about her. This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

  "You're being very brave," Nurse Jacobs says, smiling at Emma before flashing a concerned look in my direction.

  Glancing down at Emma, I realize that she's been staring straight ahead, as if into space, ever since we brought her into my office. She hasn't flinched, hasn't really reacted at all, since I started cleaning the wound in her neck, and as I grab a bandage, I can't help but worry that the little girl has withdrawn entirely following the horror of her mother's violence. After all, she had a sizable chunk of her neck bitten away before managing to lock herself in the bathroom. Some things are just too horrific for us to ever truly get over them, especially when we're young, and I'm worried that Emma might be damaged for life.

  "You're going to need stitches," I say as I place the bandage against her neck, "but I need to see if we have any. Until I can rustle some up, I'm going to place this bandage over the damage and you need to be careful to make sure that it doesn't come off, okay?"

  I wait for a reply.

  "Emma," I say after a moment, "are you listening to me?"

  "Emma, sweetheart," Nurse Jacobs adds, kneeling in front of Emma and holding her hands. "Can you hear what Dr. Page is telling you?"

  Slowly, Emma turns and looks at Nurse Jacobs, and then at me.

  "I have to go and take care of something," I say after a moment.

  "I can sit here with Emma," Nurse Jacobs continues. "I think maybe she'll find it easier to talk to me if we're alone."

  "She's in shock," I point out. "She might not talk at all. Not for a while, anyway. Don't try to force her. Just make sure she's comfortable and keep her in here for now."

  "We can't stay like this forever," Nurse Jacobs replies. "Sooner or later, they have to let us out of here. People are starting to get hurt. I mean, what the hell even happened back there? Cally Briggs isn't a monster!"

  "I'll see what I can do," I reply, "but for now, we just have to sit tight."

  "What if Cally Briggs isn't the only one?"

  "She is," I say firmly. "For now, anyway. I'm going to -" Suddenly realizing that Emma is listening intently to our conversation, I flash a forced smile. "I'm going to go and see if I can help your mother, Emma. Does that sound good? I think that maybe I can put her back to normal. Wouldn't you like that?"

  She stares at me blankly.

  "Wait here," I say, before gesturing for Nurse Jacobs to follow me out of the room. Pulling the door shut once we're in the corridor, I turn to her. "That little girl is in shock," I tell her. "She's at serious risk of a major psychological breakdown."

  "But -"

  "Her mother attacked her," I continue, "and tried to bite a hole in her neck. That kid is now damaged for life, but we can still make things easier for her."

  "Why bother?" Nurse Jacobs replies. "It's not like any of us are going to get out of here, is it?"

  "Of course we are," I reply, keeping my voice low in case we're overheard. "There's a solution to this problem, and we just have to find it."

  "There's no way they'll let us out," she hisses.

  "They will! I'll make them!"

  "What if..." She pauses. "What if she's got it?" She waits for me to answer. "You said it yourself. Cally Briggs bit her daughter. What if she transferred the disease into her? What if -"

  "She's showing no symptoms," I point out.

  "Neither did Dawn Aubry until a few hours ago."

  Sighing, I realize that she's right. "We'll keep an eye on her," I say after a moment, "but all the evidence so far suggests that the disease, or whatever it is, spreads far more readily once the host body is dead. Emma has only been around a live specimen. We still need to focus on working out what the hell's actually happening."

  "Any clues?" she asks, sounding as if she's given up hope.

  "Maybe," I reply. "Listen, once I've left, can you do me a favor? Take Emma somewhere safe. Take her to June Carey, maybe, and tell them that whatever they do, they need to stay in their rooms. In fact, get the master-key from Dr. Gerrold's desk and..." I pause for a moment as I try to work out whether I'm doing the right thing. "Lock them in," I say eventually. "Lock all the patients in their rooms, do you understand?"

  "But -"

  "Just do it! There's going to be a whole lot of panic pretty soon, and that's going to make things a thousand times worse!"

  "But we can't lock them in their rooms!" she replies, as if it's the most horrific ideas she's ever heard. "It's inhumane! We need to -"

  "The army locked us in here," I reply firmly, "and we're going to lock the patients in their rooms. End of discussion. Now that Dr. Gerrold's dead, I'm in charge here, and I need to have the patients out of the way. They'll be safer in their rooms, and far less likely to get dumb ideas and try to take charge. Don't forget, people are dumb, especially in crowds. We can't have mob rule."

  "And what about Cally Briggs?" she asks.

  "I'm going to operate on her," I reply.

  "Like you operated on Dawn Aubry?"

  "It'll be different this time," I tell her. "I know what went wrong last time and I can make sure it doesn't happen again. We can't just sit around and hope that someone else comes up with a solution. The army locked us in here with these things, so we might as well try to save ourselves, because I can assure you, no-one else is going to bother."

  "Fine," she replies wearily. "I'll take Emma to June Carey."

  "And when you've done all of that," I cont
inue, "go to the storage room and see if there's any iodine left, and then bring it to me in the examination room. I'll deal with the rest."

  Once she's gone back into my office to see Emma, I turn and start making my way back toward the main part of the ward. Checking my watch, I realize that it's almost exactly three o'clock, which means that General Kent should be available to talk at the door. Stopping at the corridor intersection for a moment, I figure that Anthony should be able to deal with Cally Briggs for a little while longer. Right now, I need to find out whether the military knew that this would happen all along. If they did, then maybe they've got some more information that they'd like to share. After all, I'm pretty sure they've already decided to kill us all.

  I need to prove them wrong.

  Emma Briggs

  I can still feel her teeth in my neck, biting down hard and then pulling back, ripping the flesh away. I can still feel the hot blood pouring down my skin.

  Dr. Andrew Page

  "You sound a little paranoid," General Kent says, smiling as he stares at me from the other side of the door's glass window. "We expected as much. Cabin fever -"

  "This isn't cabin fever," I say firmly, trying to hide my anger. "Cally Briggs is out of her mind. Her body has begun to deteriorate, and she attacked her own daughter. She damn near bit her neck in half. Do you understand? People are getting hurt and they're going to start dying. One of my nurses is already dead and there'll be more soon, so I need to know everything that you know about this disease."

  "What makes you think I know anything about it?" he replies.

  "Why else would you be here?" I ask, just as John Lincoln appears behind General Kent. "I need to know what's happening," I continue. "For God's sake, I'm a doctor! I specialize in cancer! Maybe I can help, but you need to fill me in! It's patently obvious that you know more than you're letting on, or you wouldn't have come here in the first place!"

  "I'm sorry," General Kent says with a faint smile, "there's no -"