I rushed to the window. The bird folded its wings and plunged toward the lookout man. He must have noticed a shadow, because he dove and, in a blur of motion, reappeared under a tree by the residential house. So that's what [Leap] looked like from the outside.
The seagull had two more targets. It went for the second man, probably preferring the larger meal to snack on. Its wings threw a massive shadow over the street. It dove and emerged with the wirling man clamped firmly in the sharp, yellow beak. Its flight wobbled when the prey fought back, but the bird didn't care. It dipped and rose, already working to swallow him, each chomp of its jagged teeth opening new bloody wounds on the struggling man.
I did hate the bastard for being rude, but no one deserved to go in such an awful way.
The lookout man pulled the struggling woman into a side street under the roof overhang.
Finally, the man's wiggling legs disappeared, and the seagull flew back toward the hospital. Up close, the bird's size was staggering. The wings spanned at least fifteen feet tip to tip, body far larger than it had seemed while preening.
I turned away from the window, pressing my back against the wall, coming face-to-face with Andy. He was as pale as a ghost. The grey work uniform added some blueish undertones to his drooping cheeks.
It's really unhealthy to lose this much weight this fast, my stunned mind brought to the forefront.
"How are we going to get out?" Andy asks a more important question.
I looked away, and my gaze fell on the cute slippers with animal faces. I walked forward and picked up the ones with the penguins. There was a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the kit we took from the car shop, and I sat on a small stool by the till to sanitize my feet.
"Chloe, do you hear me?" There was a panic in Andy's voice.
My brain was working on something that wouldn't make me sound like I was raised by serial killers. Because the first thing that came to mind was that I just had to run a little bit faster than him. That would totally be insensitive.
"We'll come up with something. One step at a time, Andy." I finally said.
Wiping my feet, I was particularly careful to get all the goo, dust and flakes of someone else's blood. The brown splotches of dirt totally ruined the look of my French pedicure.
It was hard to stay optimistic, or even sane, after what we'd just witnessed. My mind drifted like a car on black ice, thoughts moving forward but finding no traction with solid reality.
Finally, when my feet were clean, dry and packed in new slippers, we pillaged the gift shop. Or what was left of it.
I found just a few packs of dried fruit and nut snacks in the corner of the shelves. There weren't many edible items left lying around. We drank our fill of water to make the backpacks lighter, when a useful thought popped into my mind.
"Feathers burn well, don't they?"
I pulled the can of flammable spray out of my backpack and showed it to Andy. That lightened his mood a little. We've set out to continue our scan of the building.
We were nearing the end of the second floor with still no sign of the hospital pharmacy. The first floor remained an option, but was it worth the risk? And what if the pharmacy was in the basement? Down where they usually kept the morgue? My mind flashed to something Andy had said about zombies in some towns.
I turned to ask him, but movement caught my eye. Something white shifted in the shadowed portion of the hallway near the exit sign's red glow.
A person. They wore a long white coat, like a doctor's. As they stood, I saw a body lying at their feet.
The doctor must have noticed us, because they said, without turning our way.
"I came too late. There was nothing to be done."
"Are you a doctor?" Andy asked hopefully.
The person turned and walked a little closer to us. They had shoulder-length blond hair, a lean middle-height figure, and were wearing something blueish under the coat, maybe scrubs. I still wasn't able to tell if they were a man or a woman in the dim lighting.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The silence stretched uncomfortably.
"We're trying to find a doctor," I explained. "His mother was bitten by an animal and needs help." I hesitated, uncertain if they were reluctant to get involved in something beyond their expertise. Some doctors couldn't handle actual injuries. They only knew how to read scans or deal with mental health stuff. "Would you be able to help us?"
"Yes, I can help with that." The person nodded.
"It's a few blocks away," Andy added.
"I will follow you."
"I'm Andy, this is Chloe. What is your name?"
"You can call me Iris."
So, a woman's name.
"Should we deal with the bird now, or do you want to check other floors?" I asked Andy.
"We should get home as soon as possible, so… The bird?" He didn't sound eager, and I wasn't excited about the perspective of fighting a flying monster either.
"Ok, let's find some fire extinguishers. I don't want the plan to backfire."
Andy chuckled at my pun. Iris remained still as a statue. The woman was giving me serious uncanny valley vibes, and I wondered if my brain was so fried from everything that had happened that I'd be afraid of every new person from now on.
It took us some time to find an extinguisher in one of the patient rooms. A lot of the wall holders were already pillaged, just sticking out along the hallway, like bright red decorations.
The stranger followed us silently from room to room, gliding through space in a way that had me tracking her every move. Each step was graceful and deliberate, their feet landing perfectly in spots clear of debris. Her hair barely moved. Having spent years studying exercise science and body mechanics, I knew the kind of muscle control that required.
But it was her skin that really bothered me. It had this quality, like something AI filter would generate if you asked for a healthy look. A radiant glow without a single blemish. I couldn't even see any pores. Her eyes were perfectly white too, like she'd just used those blood vessel-constricting drops.
And the clothes... Yes, they looked like scrubs and a white coat. But they were pristine and flowy, almost like silk.
"You are staring," Andy bumped my shoulder, when we were exiting a patient room.
"Hm…" I made sure to miss a step to fall a little behind Iris. "You don't think she looks odd?"
"The doctor?"
"Yep," I nodded.
Andy just shrugged.
He was probably right. We had more important issues to deal with.
I stuffed the flammable can in my pocket. It was a good thing I borrowed Andy's pants, and not his mom's. They were baggy and required a belt, but it made the pockets extra roomy.
My spear and fire extinguisher were with Andy. My [Leap] was off cooldown, and I felt as prepared as I would ever be.
Seagulls had a great reaction, but like every bird, they should have a blind spot directly in front of their head.
We went up the stairs through the door at the end of the hallway, where we met Iris.
This close, I could see the body Iris was bending over in more detail. It was a woman with two puncture wounds on her purple, swollen face. The colour reminded me of the bite on my hand, like something venomous had bitten her right on the cheek. The body didn't smell yet, and looked fresher than those we found in the hospital beds.
I wondered if she'd been part of the group from the break room. That would explain the lookout man's red-rimmed eyes. Everyone were loosing people they cared about left and right. Being on my own always had a lot of advantages.
I opened the door under the red exit sign carefully. The lights were out, and I had to use a flashlight we found at the car shop to see what was out there. I carefully scanned the entire flight for spiders. And only when I was sufficiently sure it was empty, I stepped forward. Andy was following me. Iris was walking at the back.
The rooftop door was a heavy metal one. I tried the handle and found it locked.
"Do you have keys?" I asked Iris.
She waved her head, making her silky hair ripple, like a water surface.
I looked back at Andy. He lifted his pry bar and looked at me in question. It would create a lot of noise and alert the bird to our approach. I didn't doubt that the bird's reflexes were faster than mine. The element of surprise was our biggest advantage here.
"Let's try a different one in case it was left open?" I suggested, and he seemed to agree.
We went back to the second floor and used the stairs on the opposite side of the building. We also searched the nursing station on our way through the second floor. There was a keycard, stuffed in an empty thermos cup, but no physical keys. And the door to the roof didn't have an electronic lock panel. I still pocketed the card. I was officially turning into a hoarder.
We carefully went up the other flight of stairs, and I almost jumped in elation when we saw that this door was propped open with a pack of cigarettes.
I froze in front of the propped door, squeezing my left hand on a can and my right on a lighter. I pressed the metal button, checking, just in case, and a warm flame light lit the gray backside of the metal door. I could hear Andy and Iris' breathing behind me. But I felt alone in this moment. It will be just me and that monster out there. Fighting to the death. My knees felt soft, and my heart was beating in my chest, like I just ran a marathon. It had to be done. And I was the only one with the skills to do it.
Andy placed a hand on my shoulder.
"We will be right behind you," he said. "If anything happens, I can always throw a fire extinguisher into its head. It's heavy, and I'm good with my aim."
I took in a shaky breath and pushed the door open with my shoulder.
Chloe's Deck (4/10):
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Blue Card: [Leap]
Instantly leap forward up to 6 feet. Beware of obstacles. Cooldown 30 minutes.
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Blue Card: [Heal Wound II]
A medium burst of healing for a single target area you touch. Cooldown 1 hour.
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Green Card: [Spear]
Basic proficiency with spear weapons. Grants +5% damage and improved accuracy when wielding spears.
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Green Card: [Poison Tolerance]
Dulls the worst poison effects, giving your body time and chance to fight it. Does not work on lethal poison dosages.