CURE (A Strandville Zombie Novel) by Frisch Belinda

Author:Frisch, Belinda [Frisch, Belinda]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-06-03T04:00:00+00:00

28.

Two nurses stood on either side of the room and ushered the patients through the lobby. Nervous visitors spilled out as fast as the elevator could cycle them.

“We have to take the stairs.” Billy clutched the photograph of Allison Zach gave him to help find her.

John chewed the side of his thumb and smeared his lower lip with blood. “I don’t think Frank can make five flights.”

Billy stepped inside the stairwell. “Frank, whadd’ya say?”

“I’m fine. If I can survive a pacemaker and quitting smoking, I can climb a few stairs.”

Billy shrugged and started the ascent. How far had the others gotten? He took the radio silence as a sign they hadn’t reached the ward, but they weren’t in the lobby so the diversion must have worked. The fire was out, but things were going smoothly. Maybe too much so. He wondered why Nixon continued the evacuation after the trucks had left. The closer he got to the fifth floor, the more nervous he became about security. The whole thing was starting to feel like a trap. If Allison was there, Nixon wouldn’t have left her unguarded. Billy stopped at the fourth floor landing and took the Bowie knife from the sheath on his leg.

“You two comin’?” Billy looked over the railing at John and Frank who were a flight behind.

“Frank needs a minute to catch his breath.” John twisted off the top and handed his water bottle to Frank.

Frank took a small sip, coughed, and cleared his throat. “I’m all right.” He pushed past John and resumed his climb.

Billy took the last flight two stairs at a time and waited by the fifth floor door. He looked through the window into the hall. Plastic sheeting hung from the ceilings and the floor was only partially tiled. A pile of countertops leaned against the wall, waiting for installation and the room across the hall appeared to be some kind of storage unit, piled high with medical equipment.

Not the kind of place to keep a patient, but he’d check.

“John, wait with Frank. I’ll look an’ see if Allison’s here. There’s a wheelchair in that room over there.”

John smirked. “Is it for Allison or Frank?”

Frank shoved John hard enough to knock him off his footing. “I can still kick your scrawny ass.” He opened the door and grabbed the wheelchair, using it to steady himself as he made his way down the rugged hallway terrain.

Billy tightened his grip on the knife handle and zigzagged left to right, checking each of the rooms. Most were under construction, not a bed in them. Some weren’t even dry walled. “I’ve got a bad feelin’ about this.”

“She’s not here,” John said.

Billy pushed aside the final plastic sheeting and groaned. Two beds sat side by side. They were freshly made and the room had been recently cleaned. A floral arrangement drooped on the windowsill and Billy read the card. Get well soon. All my love, Zach.

“She ain’t here now, but she was.”

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