C8 Horror show

To have at least something to defend himself with, Markus had taken the battle mace out of the big aluminum box from the Defender’s trunk. The weapon consisted of a solid wooden handle of about sixty centimeters in length and a massive starshaped head made of iron.

Whoever this thing hit, they would not be getting up for a long time. Nonetheless, Markus was hoping that it will not come to that because he honestly doubted that he would find the courage to do what had to be done.

The distance between the parked vehicles and the arched barracks was covered quickly and yet it had been enough for his heart to be in his mouth again. For a moment he thought about taking one puff from his medication but decided against it for now.

Things had quieted down in the green barracks, which was even worse than the rampage before. Maybe the corpse had broken through the front door already and was now roaming the area.

Carefully and silently Markus was walking alongside of the barracks in order to reach the front side so that he would have a good view of the stone building, where the doctors usually stayed. The scene on the concreted area was chaotic. Like they had been dumped pieces of clothes and shoes were lying around everywhere, in between, bags, helmets and other stuff were scattered.

The container in front of the black barracks was still open. Torn in to pieces five or six bags were lying inside of the container, from which black charred arms and legs were sticking out. An extreme smell of decay was lingering above all of it. The remaining bags were torn open and were lying empty on the floor. To look at the corpses inside the bags was one thing, but it was worse to see the empty bags not knowing where their contents were now.

Basically he did not really want to know that but he looked over his shoulders several times nonetheless because his mind successfully created invisible shapes of fear, which were sneaking up on him from all directions. With hands trembling with fear he sneaked along until he reached the edge of the container, even though he was extremely reluctant to approach the decaying flesh another meter.

But it had to be done in order to get an open view of the concrete building. The noises came directly from the front of his target. Markus thought that he heard whispering voices. The infected normally did not talk to each other, at least according to the rumors, and his resurrected Russian had not spoken either.

Just above the ground Markus carefully peered around the metal edge of the container. A small group of people had gathered in front of the main building. There were two of the nurses in dirty but still white gowns, standing with their backs to him. Four soldiers were standing a little more to the right apparently waiting for something, because two them were repeatedly teetering back and forth. And then there was a man in civilian clothes.

There was also someone he recognized – Helmut from the green barracks, a slim, tall Saxon with a perpetual red nose and thin blond hair.

But why was he still here?

This thought ran through Marcus’ head. He was pretty sure that Helmut had left for home yesterday. But it did not matter, as apparently he had been wrong about that. Markus could also make out a doctor standing beside Helmut.

That could definitely be Doctor Schneider.

They were all standing around two naked bodies, which were lying lifeless on the ground. A man and a woman. Their snow white skin was covered with bloody cut marks. The woman’s hands were blood red. Her head lay sideways and her swollen tongue hung out of her mouth. Underneath her was a big puddle of vomit. Her open eyes were looking directly at Markus.

Markus winced and withdrew quickly behind the corner. It looked like they were all waiting for something. Again this hushed muttering of their raspy voices. Markus was thinking. His first impulse was to march across the yard towards the people and to ask for help, but something was not right here.

Something smelled fishy about the whole scenario. Curiosity drove him back to the front of the corner so that he could have a closer look at what was going on. Now the doctor was on his knees, touching the man’s belly with both hands. He wore blood smeared rubber gloves. When the doctor lifted his hands he pulled something long, brownish out of the man’s stomach in the process. Markus recognized immediately what it was. Those were clearly the man’s bowels in the doctor’s hands. Hot bile was suddenly inside Markus’ mouth and he had to bite his hand so that he would not groan in horror or simply vomit on the ground.

Only after the entire bowels were distributed on the ground, slithering back and forth like eels did the doctor stand up again. Markus had to concentrate in order for him to notice something other than his own blood, which was running wild inside his body. He had to hear and see what was happening there, at all costs.

The doctor turned to the civilian and spoke to him with a hushed, raspy voice. He was too far away in order to understand any of it. Markus stayed where he was. Finally Helmut nodded, looking down at the corpses. It did not escape Markus that the soldiers became more and more agitated.

Meanwhile all of them were teetering back and forth. Crouched down and filled with fear, Markus walked around the container in order to observe the assembly from a different vintage point.

What he saw changed the whole scene completely. Until now he had only seen the people from behind or from the side but now the picture of horrors unfolded before him. They were all smirched with blood, particularly the soldiers who were standing to the side, their empty grey faces were staring into nothingness with pale eyes. The same slime was running out of their mouths as had been running out of Dimitri’s mouth – a mixture of blood, pus and spittle.

The group surrounding the doctor was a totally different matter. The nurses were dirty as well, feces were running down the dress and onto the shoes of one of them, which did not seem to bother her. Their faces were distorted into ugly grimaces and one could read anger and pure bloodlust in them. Markus recognized the woman on the left but could not remember her name, just that she had taken his blood two days ago. Her smeared lab coat was wide open, the dress underneath was torn and her bare breasts were exposed. Directly underneath them was a horizontal bloody cut. The dress’s material was completely drenched in blood.

Worst of all were their mouths because they were wide open, permitting their tongues to writhe aimlessly, like grey worms. Snot and spittle were running freely here as well, coating their lower faces.

Marcus was trying hard to think. If the soldiers had met the same fate as Dimitri, meaning they were infected first and then they had died or had been killed (which he thought possible judging by this image) then the resurrection would have to be the direct consequence of the death caused by this sickness.

Even if this was completely impossible, which it was, he still could not deny the evidence right in front of his eyes. Markus did not expect to awake from this nightmare, no matter how hard he wished for it.

Right, which means that the others have been infected as well, but are currently still alive. At least that is what he could judge from his position.

No, that was not good at all. Not good at all, because this should not be possible. Humans getting infected by other humans, get sick and then they go crazy. And in the end they die because there was no antidote. So far, this makes a sick kind of sense.

But why the hell do they get up again and continue to murder, regardless if, like with Dimitri, their necks have been broken or not? That was completely out of the question, an impossibility, and yet still a fact.

Markus looked around the corner once more, because the dead were shuffling their feet in excitement. Almost like kids, whom some kind of surprise had been promised. The naked woman on the cold ground, gutted and dead, was moving suddenly.

She turned her head and sat up with a long labored groan, stood wavering with dangling arms and guts hanging out between the others. They had made room for her.

That was too much. Markus literally tilted behind the protection of the container and sat on his knees vomiting like crazy. He vomited until it only tasted bitter and a large puddle of bile was spreading before him. Hastily he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and stood up with shaking legs because it had gotten noisy on the other side of the container.

A short glance was enough to know what was going on. His retching had not gone unnoticed.

The hunt for him had begun.