Ward Z Read online

  He pauses. "So what's a painless and quick way to die?" he replies eventually, turning to me. His voice is trembling now, as if he's finally realized that death is inescapable for all of us. "I don't want to wait for the place to blow up. I want something instant, something that doesn't hurt. Just a sudden cutting out of the lights, you know?"

  "I'm afraid I don't know of anything," I reply calmly, as I place the tumor and its cord into a sample container and seal the lid. This damn thing might just be my ticket out of here.

  "Come on," he continues, with tears in his eyes, "there must be something. You're a doctor, for Christ's sake. Don't know you some kind of trick? A drug? A type of gas? Just something that makes it quick and easy."

  "I don't think death can ever be quick and easy," I reply. "Not when you know it's coming." Heading to the door, I pause for the moment and look back at him. "An old friend once told me something," I continue. "I dismissed it at the time as philosophical bullshit, but now I'm not so sure. He said that everyone, even the most committed atheist... Everyone, right at the end, believes in God, even if only for a fraction of a second. I told him he was an idiot, that he was being some kind of romantic moron, but..." I pause for a moment, seeing the fear in Anthony's eyes. "It's just an idea," I say finally. "Something to think about."

  "So you're saying I should pray?" he asks.

  "Hell, no," I reply with a faint, forced smile. "I'm just saying that there's no easy way to die."

  Heading out of the room, I make my way quickly along the corridor. It's as if, suddenly, everything is starting to come together and the truth is crystallizing, becoming clearer and more obvious. I can still fix this whole mess. As I reach the main door, I find that most of the patients have scattered, leaving only June behind. Wheezing and groaning, she looks up at me as if she expects me to help her, but the truth is, there's nothing I can do for her now. However, I'm fairly sure that she can still be useful. I have to be arrogant again, for the sake of humanity, and somehow I think it might not be too difficult.

  "I got you the iodine," says a nearby voice.

  Turning, I see that John Lincoln is standing on the other side of the door, staring at me through the glass. In his hands, he has a small bottle of reddish solution. Of course, the iodine isn't really very important any more, but I don't need to let him know that. Not yet, anyway.

  "A parting gift?" I ask.

  "Sure," he says with a faint smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't -"

  "Let's cut all that shit out," I reply firmly. "If you think you can contain this thing, you're wrong. I have no doubt that you're going to destroy this hospital and everyone in it, and I understand why that's the only option. At the same time, I think you need to recognize that there's still a lot you don't understand about this condition. I'm assuming you haven't had a chance to study the tumor close up? You haven't actually seen it, or the creatures that it creates?"

  "Is this your last-ditch attempt to argue your way off the ward?" he asks.

  "It's a last-ditch attempt to help," I tell him, holding the sample container up. "I extracted this tumor from the body of one of the patients. It excreted a toxic venom in the process, but I managed to save most of that. It's all in here. Just be aware that if you come across one in a live person, the tumor will release its venom if it feels that it's being threatened. It's a rather spiteful little thing, and it would apparently rather destroy its host than let it go. Like it or lump it, I have more experience with these things than anyone else on the planet."

  "Put the container on the floor," he replies, clearly fascinated by the prospect of getting his hands on the specimen. "When I open the door, slide it across. In return, I'll send you the bottle of iodine."

  "Sounds fair," I say, placing the container on the floor.

  "Gentlemen," General Kent says, entering the hallway behind Lincoln, "as much as I hate to break up this love-in, I'm afraid it's time for the final withdrawal. We need to clear the site completely by the one-hour mark."

  "How are you going to finish us off?" I ask, my eyes fixed on the iodine bottle in Lincoln's hands.

  "Do you really want to know?" General Kent asks.

  "I'm curious."

  "There'll be a missile strike," he replies, "followed by a series of controlled bombs that should destroy everything within a three-mile radius. It'll be very quick and entirely painless."

  "And will you do that to the next location where this thing appears?" I ask. "And the one after that? And so on, until you've destroyed the whole world?"

  "We're hoping to make sure things don't get that bad," Lincoln replies, placing the bottle of iodine on the floor.

  "I hope you succeed," I tell him.

  "Open the door," Lincoln says, turning to General Kent. "It's okay. Full precautions have and will be taken. We need that sample, and it can be isolated effectively."

  "Are you -"

  "Open the door," Lincoln says again, his frustration starting to show. "I want that sample. It could be the key to defeating this thing. The more we know about it, the better chance we have. It's science, not military firepower, that's going to save us in the long term."

  Clearly not convinced, General Kent nevertheless steps over to the door and begins to unlock the mechanism that has been keeping the ward sealed shut.

  "If you try anything -" Lincoln starts to say.

  "I won't," I reply firmly. "I know you'd have me shot. I'd rather stay alive in here for the final hour. I mean, an hour's a long time, right? I could get a lot done in an hour. I'd just like to ask that you re-open the phone lines, at least in my office, in case I need to let you know anything. I'm planning to trap one of the creatures and maybe perform a live autopsy. I'd hate to make a great discovery but have no way of letting you know."

  "I'll see to it that the line in your office is opened," General Kent says, pulling the mechanism away. "But only for one call. Don't think for a second that we're going to let you starting phoning people up left, right and center."

  "I wouldn't dream of it," I say, placing my foot next to the sample container. "Ready?"

  "Ready," Lincoln says. "But -"

  "If you let me come with you -" I start to say.

  "Not going to happen," Lincoln replies firmly.

  "But if you -"

  "The offer was rescinded," General Kent says, interrupting him. "Orders from the top."

  "Those people don't know what they're doing," I reply. "I was wrong to turn you down before. It's not that I'm scared of dying. I just need to contribute to the -"

  "We'll have to manage without you," Lincoln says. "Now are you going to let me have that sample, or do I have to leave empty-handed?"

  Realizing that this approach isn't going to work, I take a deep breath. I'm not beaten yet, but I know damn well that it'd be suicide to try rushing through the door. "You can have it," I tell him. "For your information, the patient was an elderly male who'd been suffering from leukemia."

  "I'll take that into consideration," he replies.

  As soon as General Kent has opened the door, I kick the sample container over to Lincoln. He, in turn, kicks the bottle of iodine toward me, and as soon as the swap is complete, the door is sealed shut and locked again. Picking up the bottle, I'm already trying to work out if there are any other ways for me to get out of here. I'm so close to a breakthrough, but an hour might not be long enough.

  "Make sure the phone-line is reopened in my office," I say after a moment.

  "You have my word," General Kent replies.

  "You know there's still a danger from that thing," I say, watching as Lincoln picks the container up. "Just by holding it, you -"

  "I know," he says firmly. "But it's a price worth paying if it means that we can stop this thing before it gets out of hand."

  "I wish you luck," I reply. "I'm also insanely envious of your opportunity."

  "I'll make sure that your work is credited," he says. "There's -"

  "Time's up, ladies," General Kent barks. "Unless yo
u'd like to go in there and join him, Dr. Lincoln?"

  "Go on," I say, putting my hands in the pockets of my lab coat, hoping that no-one will notice that I'm starting to shake with fear. "Get out of here. I've only got an hour left, so I can't stand here yapping. There's work to do. If I can't get out of here and save the world, I want to at least know that there'll be some posthumous glory."

  "You still want to win the Nobel prize?" Lincoln asks.

  "I want them to rename it after me," I say with a smile.

  With that, I turn and walk away, heading along the corridor until I reach the door that has been sealed shut with an ax. Peering through the small window, I realize that there's no sign of Dominique Ribery, which means that she must have wandered off to another part of the ward.

  After a moment, I glance back at the main doors and see that there's no sign of Lincoln or General Kent either. They're left, which means that the countdown must have begun. There's just one hour left, but an hour's all I need. Maybe I'm being arrogant again, but I'm convinced I can find a way to defeat this thing. By the time the missiles arrive, I should been able to call Lincoln and tell him the solution, and I might even be able to prove to him that he needs to get me the hell out of here. I'm not down just yet.

  First, though, I need one final live specimen.

  Emma Briggs

  With the last piece of furniture pushed away from the door, I stare at the handle. I keep expecting the creature to burst through at any moment, but so far there's no sign of it. Maybe I was right after all. Maybe it got bored and wandered off. I guess there's only one way to find out for sure.

  Slowly, I turn the handle, before waiting a moment longer, just in case there's a sound from outside.

  Silence.

  I wait again.

  Silence.

  My heart is racing, and I know I should be brave. Then again, maybe everyone was wrong. I'm clearly not brave. If I was brave, I wouldn't be scared.

  I pull the door open, just enough to peer out into the corridor and see that there's no-one nearby. The whole place seems completely empty, almost as if it's been abandoned.

  I take a deep breath.

  Pulling the door open all the way, I wait, just in case the nurse attacks. After a moment, I lean out and look both ways, and to my relief I realize that there's no sign of her. I don't know where she went or why she stopped trying to get into the room, but right now she seems to have left me alone. Taking a step out into the corridor, I look along at the door in the distance and realize that I need to make my way toward the ward's main entrance. Once I get there, I can tell someone that I'm not supposed to be here, and they'll have to let me out.

  I walk carefully, trying not to make a sound. After a couple of steps, I reach down and take my shoes off, so that they can't squeak against the floor. As I keep going, I listen out for any sound that might indicate the presence of the nurse, but as I get to the next door, I realize that the silence is actually quite scary. After all, while it's good that the nurse isn't around, I should be able to hear other people. I'm starting to worry that while I was in the office, this whole place was abandoned. What if I've been left behind forever?

  Pushing the door open, I look through into the next corridor and realize that there's still no sign of anyone. I want to call out, to see if someone responds, but I'm terrified of attracting the wrong kind of attention. That nurse must still be around here somewhere, so I need to avoid doing anything that might make her come and find me. It's not like she could have vanished into thin air.

  I start walking along the next corridor. I wish I could be brave, but I'm not, so I still feel scared. When I get to the next intersection with another corridor, I look in all four directions. There's still no sign of anyone, and to be honest, I'm starting to feel a little lost. I assumed it'd be easy to find my way back to the main part of the ward, but so far -

  Suddenly there's a noise in the distance.

  I stand completely still, waiting, not even daring to breathe.

  The noise was brief, like a kind of soft bumping sound, maybe like a person brushing their shoulder against a wall.

  I wait.

  Silence.

  After a couple of minutes, I decide that I need to keep moving. Picking a direction at random, I make my way along the next corridor, desperately hoping that at some point someone might come and save me. I keep looking over my shoulder, just in case that nurse comes back, or maybe even Mummy. I just hope that maybe we're allowed to leave now, and that I can go home to Daddy. With the -

  I hear the noise again, and it sounds as if it's getting closer.

  Turning, I look back the way I came, but I don't see anything.

  I open my mouth, wondering whether I should call out, but finally I decide to stay quiet. There are plenty of other things that could have caused that noise, so I need to make sure I don't panic.

  Brave people don't panic.

  Brave people aren't scared.

  Brave people keep quiet.

  Hurrying along the corridor, I reach the next door and push my way through, but there's no sign of anyone and I find myself starting to wonder if I'm completely lost. I never even knew that the ward was this big, but I guess I only ever went to Mummy's room before, and now I seem to be in some kind of supply area. Making my way forward, I push my way through another door and find that I've reached a large room with lots of shelves, and each shelf has a load of boxes stacked high. I take a few steps forward, hoping that there might be another way out, but finally I realize that there's no way to go other than back the way I came. This is just a dark store room with -

  And that's when I realize that I can hear the door squeaking behind me as it's slowly pushed open.

  I stand completely still for a moment, not daring to turn and look.

  There's a faint ringing sound in my ears.

  I wait, desperately hoping that I'm wrong.

  Slowly, I turn and see that the nurse has found me. She's taking staggering, unsteady steps forward, but she's towering over me, staring with horrifying intensity. For a moment, I'm frozen in place, my eyes wide as I look up at her sunken yellow eyes and her slack jaw, which hangs open to reveal a set of bloodied teeth. She must have found someone else to feed on for a while, but now she's back for me.

  "No!" I shout, ducking out of the way as she swings an arm at me. I bang hard into a shelf, causing it to wobble as I push myself away and run over to the far wall. Turning to look back, I see that the nurse is shuffling toward me. She clearly can't move very fast, but with all these shelves, it's not going to be easy to get to the door and escape. I try to run around her, but she reaches out to me and I'm forced to head down one of the aisles, losing my footing in the process and slamming down hard against the floor.

  I immediately get to my feet and run along the aisle, but when I get to the end I realize that there's no other way out. The shelves are bolted to the walls, and they have grilles over the back. As the nurse continues making her way toward me, I look up and realize that there's a small gap at the top of each shelf. Grabbing hold of the highest part I can reach, I start pulling myself up, desperately hoping that I can make it in time. At the last moment, however, I feel the nurse's hand grab my leg and she pulls me hard. I try to hold on, but I lose my grip and fall, landing so hard on the floor that my head bounces slightly. For a fraction of a second, I feel dazed, until the fear kicks in again and I turn to see that the nurse is still holding my leg, staring down at me as if she's ready to eat me.

  "Go away!" I scream, trying to twist free as she opens her mouth and prepares to bite into my leg. "Leave me -"

  Suddenly there's a whir of motion behind the nurse, and some kind of large metal object slams into her head, severing it completely and sending it spinning across the aisle until it hits a shelf and bounces back down to the floor next to me. I scream, as the nurse's hand loosens its grip on my leg and I'm able to crawl away. Looking back, I see that blood is pouring from her neck stump, and seconds later sh
e's tugged backward and pushed down to the floor, clattering against the shelves.

  "It's okay," Mummy says, hurrying toward me with a metal pipe in her hand. "It's me!"

  I try to crawl away, terrified that she's going to bite me again, but I quickly reach the wall at the end of the aisle and realize that there's nowhere to go. Turning, I look back at Mummy and see that she's coming closer. She looks pale and weak, but not quite as white as before. There's a lot of blood on the front of her hospital gown, though, especially around the right side of her tummy.

  "Emma -" she starts to say.

  "Don't come near me!" I shout, before looking over at the door. "Help!" I scream. "Help me!"

  "Emma, it's okay!"

  "Help!" I shout, trying to get past her before realizing that I'm trapped. Hurrying away from her, I find myself backed into a corner, with nowhere else to go. "Please don't hurt me," I whimper, with tears in my eyes. "Please, don't hurt me again..."

  "It's me," she says, her voice sounding tense with pain. "I don't think we've got long, sweetheart, so you're going to have to be very brave and listen to everything I tell you." She reaches a hand out toward me. "You need to come with me. I have to get you out of here before it's too late and before -" She gasps and clutches her side for a moment, as if she's in agony. "There's no time," she whispers. "Emma, you have to trust me. You have to come with me right now! I think I know how to get you out, but we really don't have much time!"

  Part Eight

  Evolution

  Dr. Andrew Page

  The first incision is the hardest, as the scalpel blade slices through the skin. Blood begins to seep from the wound, but there's no time to stop and wipe it away, so I let it flow down my belly while I make the incision longer. The pain is almost strong enough to make me stop, or even to make me black out altogether, but I figure that this is my very last chance to get an answer.