The Hospital Apocalypse: My Patients Became Monsters
Chapter 1
Heavy rain slammed against the high glass windows of the Emergency Department.
Raindrops pounded like small hammers, blurring the streetlights outside. Inside, the main hall was total chaos.
Every bed was filled, and extra stretchers lined the hallway walls. Cries of pain and aggressive shouts echoed off the tile floor, cutting through the constant noise of blaring medical alarms.
Rachel Adams wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her gloved hand. She had been running on feet that burned for six straight hours.
A sudden, unexplained wave of patients had flooded through the doors since late afternoon, and every single one of them shared the exact same terrifying symptoms.
She leaned over a gurney, pressing two fingers firmly against a young man's cold wrist. His skin felt like ice, literally like touching a block of frozen meat.
'His pulse is almost gone,' Rachel thought, her stomach tightening into a hard knot.
She clicked on her penlight and shined it into his eyes. His pupils were blown wide open, completely covering the colored rings of his irises.
Standard IV fluids had failed to raise their body temperatures. Emergency drugs hadn't stabilized their dropping heart rates. Nothing the medical staff tried was working.
"Rachel!" a voice yelled over the noise.
Rachel turned her head to see Derek standing near a curtained bay a few yards away.
His face was pale, his forehead dripping with sweat as he pointed with a shaking hand toward the heart monitor above a bed.
An elderly man lay on the mattress. His skin had turned a sickening shade of dull grey, his lips dark blue.
Before Rachel could even take a step toward the bed, a high-pitched, continuous beep pierced through the room.
The line on the cardiac monitor went completely flat. Zero beats per minute.
"He's flatlining!" Derek shouted, his voice cracking with fear.
Rachel didn't hesitate. She sprinted to the side of the bed, placed her hands on the middle of the old man's chest, and began hard, rhythmic compressions. One. Two. Three. Four.
"Get the crash cart!" she called out urgently. "Derek, set up the paddles!"
'Come on, stay with me,' Rachel thought, putting all her weight into each push against his sternum. 'Breathe.'
Derek didn't move. He stood frozen in place, staring up at the screen. The monitor stayed completely silent except for the flat, endless drone tone.
Five seconds passed. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. The red line never twitched. The old man's chest remained hollow and motionless beneath her palms.
Rachel leaned down to check his neck for any sign of a pulse, her own breath coming in shallow gasps.
Suddenly, the flatline alarm cut off.
The old man's eyes snapped wide open.
Rachel gasped, freezing right above him. The man's pupils were so huge his eyes looked like solid, pitch-black glass. He didn't blink. He didn't gasp for air.
Instead, his thin lips pulled back into a wide smile. It stretched far past a normal human expression, showing pale gums and yellowed teeth.
'What is wrong with him?' Rachel thought, cold panic spiking through her chest.
Before she could draw back, the old man moved with terrifying speed. His thin, bony arm shot up, grabbing a nearby nurse by the collar of her scrubs.
The nurse let out a startled scream as he jerked her violently down toward the bed.
"Hey! Let go of her!" Derek yelled, reaching out.
The old man opened his jaw impossibly wide and buried his teeth deep into the side of the nurse's neck.
A sickening tear echoed through the small bay, followed immediately by a blood-curdling shriek.
Bright red blood sprayed across the white sheet and splashed over Rachel's face and arms.
The nurse thrashed wildly, beating her fists uselessly against the old man's shoulders, but his grip was like an iron clamp.
"Help me! Please, get him off!" the nurse sobbed, her voice choking on her own blood.
"Get off her!" Derek screamed. He grabbed a heavy metal tray from a cart and slammed it hard against the side of the old man's head.
The metal bent on impact, but the old man didn't even flinch. He ripped his head backward, tearing a horrific piece of flesh straight from the nurse's throat.
The nurse collapsed onto the floor, clutching her bleeding neck as dark liquid pooled fast across the tile floor.
Panic exploded throughout the Emergency Department. Patients scrambled out of their beds, knocking over IV poles and metal stands.
Doctors and nurses fled toward the main exit, screaming in pure terror.
Two security guards rushed through the hallway doors, batons drawn.
"Get on the ground right now!" the lead guard shouted, stepping toward the bed.
The old man swung his legs over the edge of the mattress and stood up. His joints made loud, sickening cracking sounds with every step.
When the guard reached out to grab his arm, the old man grabbed the guard by his bulletproof vest with a single hand and threw him effortlessly across the bay.
The full-grown man crashed through a glass divider wall, shattering it into a shower of sharp fragments.
Rachel backed away slowly, her hand pressed against her racing heart. 'He shouldn't have that kind of strength. He was dead seconds ago!'
Suddenly, the overhead lights flickered violently.
The bright fluorescent tubes sputtered out, plunging the hospital into a deep, dim red emergency glow.
Heavy metallic thuds thundered through the entire building.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
The automated security system engaged all at once. Heavy metal panels slid down over every exit, window, and emergency stairwell.
Rachel turned and ran toward the main doors, but the thick glass sliding panels slammed shut right in front of her.
A massive metal lock sealed tightly over the frame with a loud mechanical click.
"Hey! The doors are locked!" a man screamed, pounding his fist against the glass.
Rachel pulled her smartphone from her coat pocket with trembling hands. The signal bars at the top of the screen flickered wildly before completely disappearing. 'No Service.'
"My phone lost signal!" someone else cried out from the dark. "I can't call out!"
Every computer monitor, heart screen, and television hanging in the hall flickered. Then, all the screens turned black at the exact same moment.
A second later, bright white text appeared across every single screen in the building:
[UNKNOWN INFECTION DETECTED.]
[HOSPITAL QUARANTINE ACTIVATED.]
[NO PERSON MAY LEAVE.]
Rachel stared at the bold letters, her hands shaking at her sides.
'This isn't an ordinary infection,' she thought, cold dread flooding through her veins. 'This isn't a disease.'
A low, rasping noise echoed behind her.
Rachel turned around slowly.
Near the center of the room, the elderly patient was sitting back up on the floor.
His neck was bent sideways at an impossible angle from the guard's blow, but his pitch-black eyes remained fixed on the terrified survivors.
His wide, terrifying smile hadn't faded at all.
Rachel backed up until her shoulder hit the cold frame of the main entrance glass doors.
Her lungs burned as she tried to swallow down her fear, but a movement caught her eye from outside.
She turned her gaze toward the glass doors leading out to the street.
Through the heavy rain pouring down the outside of the glass, a tall, dark silhouette was standing on the front steps.
It hadn't been there a moment ago. It stood completely still in the dark, staring directly back at her through the rain-soaked glass.
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