Chapter 130: You Are the First

Chapter 130: You Are the First

Emily blurted out, "So, where we headed?"

"To my crib."

James's voice was all low and serious, "Just got the place fixed up. It's safe, got enough grub and water to last us a while. If we’re lucky, we might just ride this out."

Isabella was shaking, "Are we bouncing now?"

"Not yet."

James shook his head.

He heard a bunch of heavy footsteps stomping around upstairs. That meant a whole lotta zombies were up there. He didn’t need to check; he knew they were close and could come down any second.

"There's too many of 'em. Probably everyone in this hospital's turned. Just the three of us? No way we’re busting out."

James wasn’t kidding.

He knew his own limits.

With his mutant powers, he could take on dozens of zombies, no sweat. But zombies don’t fight fair.

They swarm. No matter how tough James was, he couldn’t handle a mob all at once.

From the basement, he’d figured out his max.

Three, maybe four, tops. Any more, and he was toast.

Plus, he had to think about getting tired and worn out.

If the whole hospital was infected, there could be thousands of zombies.

Just thinking about it was freaky.

The inpatient wing was smack in the middle of the hospital. From the window by the nurse’s station, you could see the plaza below, jam-packed with people. They moved all stiff and jerky. Even from up high, you could hear the screams.

Those were the sounds of folks running for their lives or getting caught by zombies, making their last human noises.

Emily pulled out her phone again, but still no signal.

"We gotta get the word out. Let folks outside know, so they can come save us."

James was racking his brain, trying to keep the girls calm, "The phone signal being out is probably just bad luck. Maybe the zombies messed up the signal tower. Or something else. Anyway, let’s find a spot to hide first, then figure out how to bail."

Emily thought for a sec and then said, all serious, "How about the broadcast room on the third floor? They’ve got a ton of electronic gear there. Even if the network’s down, we can still try the radio."

James raised an eyebrow, "You know how to work a radio? Why didn’t you say anything before?"

Emily gave a modest smile, "I used to be into Morse code, so I looked up some stuff online. I’m not an expert, but I know a bit."

James nodded, "Alright, third floor it is. But hold up, there's something else."

He walked over to the medical cart, grabbed a sealed disposable syringe, and ripped it open.

Emily followed, watching as James pulled out a plastic test tube from his pocket, stuck the syringe in, and drew out some clear liquid. She asked, curious, "What’s that?"

James didn’t answer.

He grabbed an alcohol swab, cleaned a spot on Emily’s left arm, found a vein, and injected the liquid. As it went in, Emily felt this weird sense of calm wash over her.

Her crazy sugar cravings started to fade.

It turned into just a normal thought, not some obsessive need.

Her body’s sugar hunger wasn’t as intense anymore, replaced by a regular old hunger from her stomach.

Out of nowhere, Emily started craving pasta and roast chicken. Just thinking about it made her stomach growl.

She hadn’t had lunch, and she was starving.

James watched her face and eyes like a hawk.

He was super nervous, scared even. It wasn’t until he saw that Emily’s eyes were still clear and her complexion was the same that he finally relaxed.

Holding Aaron’s body in the basement and seeing those two immunity serums, James had a sudden realization.

I should never have gotten involved with Emily like that.

In the heat of the moment, James had totally forgotten—or maybe never even thought about—the fact that he was a virus carrier.

Even though a mutated infected wasn’t a zombie, it still carried the risk of spreading the infection. Just like an HIV patient, as long as there was no exchange of blood or bodily fluids, he wouldn’t infect anyone.

From the night he took Emily’s virginity, she had been infected.

James’s bodily fluids were loaded with the virus.

James had never noticed the changes.

He just felt like he had forgotten something super important.

Luckily, Aaron had whipped up that immunity serum just in time. Even though Aaron had said on his deathbed that the serum couldn’t turn an infected person back into a regular human, it was still effective against the virus. It might ease or change the nasty symptoms Emily was dealing with.

A few minutes ago, Emily’s eyes had started getting all bloodshot.

James had seen the same thing happen to Michael and Andrew.

Emily had mentioned she was suddenly into eating sugar, but James hadn’t felt any of that “nutritional food” vibe from her.

He figured if this kept up, Emily might turn into a zombie. But after giving her Aaron’s serum, her symptoms had clearly gotten better.

Aaron hadn’t been lying.

He really was doing research. The reason he was so against James taking out Hestia and William was because he wanted to use them for more studies on infected cells.

James felt super lucky to have snagged that serum at the last minute, saving Emily’s life.

But there wasn’t much serum left.

Now, there was only one dose left.

James didn’t need the serum himself.

According to some mysterious dude online, mutated infected folks were way better off than zombies. They had special abilities that regular people didn’t, but still looked and acted mostly human. So, Aaron’s serum should be used for regular folks who hadn’t been bitten by zombies, or for people like Emily, who were somewhere between zombies and infected, leaning more towards zombies.

Austin from Sunflower Valley, who Aaron and James had dealt with, was in this boat. He got bitten by a cattle thief, the virus hung out in his body for weeks, and he started craving sugar before eventually turning into a zombie.

That last dose of serum was like gold.

James glanced at Isabella standing behind Emily, picked up the steel pipe at his feet, and said calmly, "Alright, let’s roll! We’re heading to the broadcast room on the third floor."

Such a precious serum should go to those who need it most. If this was a priority list, Isabella wouldn’t be at the top.

James wasn’t sure if what he was doing was right.

He just felt like this chaos was only getting started.

Maybe the cops and military would shut it down quick! But who knew what was coming next?

He had dropped a ton of cash renovating his place and stocking up on food and water, all to prep for a situation like this.

The more strong folks he had around, the better.

With this immunity serum, he could keep them close and safe.

The staircase was wide, with bloodstains splattered all over the empty steps.

A guy in a gray jacket lay face down at the stairway corner. He must’ve fallen while trying to escape from upstairs, smacked his head on the wall, and died instantly.

The zombies that followed didn’t spare him; they’d gnawed his body clean. His clothes were ripped open, his soft insides devoured, leaving his ribcage exposed. His arms were shredded, and the muscle left on his legs and feet was barely a third. The dude’s face looked oddly peaceful, with a trickle of blood running down the side of his nose, dried up, like a creepy exclamation mark on his pale face.

The three of them slowly made their way down the stairs.

James led the way, gripping a steel rod.

Isabella clutched a big pair of medical forceps, barely daring to breathe.

Emily brought up the rear, holding a kukri knife, cautiously watching their surroundings as they descended.

The smell of blood in the air was overpowering.

No one knew how many people had died today, but it was definitely a shocking number.

The ground was littered with pieces of flesh, limbs, and bloodstains. Several zombies, stripped of their surface muscles and internal organs, had just been turned by the virus. Their thin bones couldn’t support their body weight, but they didn’t give up on the three living people in front of them, crawling on the ground with their mouths open. In the light, their mouths could be seen mutating, their teeth becoming sharp.

James used the most brutal method, smashing the heads of these zombies one by one with the steel rod.

After passing the stairway corner, they reached the third floor.

The windows were closed, and the hallway was stifling. The humidity from the evaporated blood made James feel nauseous. Holding the steel rod in one hand, he had just stepped off the stairs when a zombie lunged at him.

It was a woman. Or rather, she had been a woman. She wore a light blue flight attendant uniform, her figure still pretty good, the tight skirt outlining her curves. Maybe because the tightness was too much, dirty blood continuously flowed from between her legs, soaking her stockings and high heels.