“He’s a zombie now, not Kevin,” I said.
Tears streamed down her face as Sara stood staring at the man she’d fallen in love with. He was now just an animated corpse, devoid of any human emotion. Shaking her head in sorrow, she raised her gun and pointed it at his face. “Oh, God,” she cried, her hands trembling. “I…I…can’t do it.” I watched in horror as she dropped the gun, leaving herself vulnerable to the zombie, who was prepared to leap at her.
“Watch out, Sara!” I yelled, raising my gun.
Kevin lunged towards her, his mouth open and arms outstretched. Before he reached Sara, there was a loud explosion and he was blown backwards by the impact of Bryce’s bullet.
“No!” screamed Sara as he fell to the ground, blood streaming out of the large hole in his skull. She rushed over to him and lifted his hand to her cheek.
I knelt down next to her. “Sara, it wasn’t Kevin anymore,” I said softly. “His soul wasn’t there. He was gone before we even got here.”
She looked at me, her eyes full of misery. “Do you think that makes it easier? Two days ago, I left him here to die, alone. If I would have listened to my heart and stayed with him, he’d still be alive.”
Bryce stepped towards her and touched her shoulder. “No, if you would have stayed here with Megan, both of you would have been killed. You didn’t even know about the side effects of the vaccine until it was too late. Kevin would have probably still received it and you’d be dead, along with Megan and your unborn child.”
Sara touched her belly and lowered her eyes. “Maybe, but he’s still gone and I don’t know if I will ever forgive myself,” she said huskily. Sara stood up and took one last look at Kevin before she hurried out of the room.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The ride to the St. James Hospital was very solemn. Kristie didn’t ask any questions and even Eva had the sense to keep her mouth shut.
Zombies were everywhere and they were getting more violent. Older and newer ones wrestled each other, trying to feed. It was maddening to watch. I closed my eyes to block out as much horror as I could as we drove. I’d seen enough in the last couple of days to give me nightmares for the rest of my life.
As we neared the hospital, I prayed silently that my mother was alive. She’d been armed with a gun but I still didn’t know if she’d been attacked by the soldier she’d been trying to save or someone else. I was tearing my hair out to know the truth, and soon I’d be closer to it.
When we finally approached the hospital’s parking lot, it was crawling with zombies. Most of them wandered around in a muddled state, not doing much of anything. Others, who appeared more grotesque and rancid from decomposing, acted like rabid dogs. I watched in horror as they also attacked each other.
“This is totally revolting,” whispered Eva, turning green.
I couldn’t agree with her more; it was worse than any horror flick I’d ever watched on television, and it was real. Blood and body parts covered most of the pavement of the hospital parking lot. It was like a bloody aftermath of an explosion, only this devastation was much more than any of us could have ever imagined.
“Careful on the left,” pointed Bryce. A group of zombies were snarling and tearing each other apart. Thankfully, they hadn’t quite taken notice of us yet.
“Jesus,” mumbled Kristie as the SUV struck a zombie who’d stepped into our path. The sound of the zombie’s corpse crumbling under the tire made me gag. “Sorry, this isn’t easy, driving through this shit.”
“Kristie, you’re doing fine,” reassured Bryce.
He was right. There really was no way to avoid driving over the gore in the parking lot. The sound of bones crunching and loud thuds was enough to drive me mad. “Do you have any music? CDs?” I asked Kristie.
“Hey, great idea! In the back, under the seat,” she said.
I pulled out her CD collection, which consisted of a lot of older bands. I pulled out a CD of Metallica, which seemed appropriate for the moment.
“Haven’t heard this one forever,” she said. She stuck it in and the sound of heavy metal blared through speakers.
Eva scowled. “Don’t you have anything else?”
“It beats the sound of bones smashing under the tires,” I said.
Eva scowled and looked out the window.
We were going very slowly towards the hospital entrance and some of the zombies were starting to take notice. Before I could say anything, two zombies rushed the side of the SUV and started scratching at the darkened windows.
“Can’t you go faster?” cried Eva as one of them stared at her through the window. It let out a horrendous screech and Eva practically jumped out of her seat.