-Chapter 9-
-POV Madison Clark-
Seeing how easily he had killed all those things and watching the way he held his weapon, I was afraid that if I gave him an answer he didn't like, he might shoot me.
I was about to respond when Travis stepped in and said: "We don't have time to—"
Calvin fired just beside Travis's head, who froze completely, terrified. Then Calvin said:
"I'm talking to your lady. Are we even? Yes or no?"
"Calvin," said his father, and I could see in his eyes that he was afraid of what his son might do.
"Yes," I shouted, terrified of seeing Travis's head with an extra hole if I didn't tell Calvin what he wanted to hear.
"Cal, what the fuck are you doing?" Nick said, confused.
"Ask your mother," Calvin said before turning to Liza and urgently asking:
"How the hell do we get out of this fucking trap?"
I caught Nick's eyes, silently asking me what was going on, but I shook my head, signaling that we would talk about it later.
'He's not going to take it well that I wanted to abandon his "best friend" here, especially now that he's come back to help us,' I thought, dreading the conversation we'd have.
"This way, let's go to the infirmary, Doctor Exner will help us," Liza said, taking the lead of our group.
---
-POV Calvin Jasper-
As we moved toward the infirmary, I kept sneaking glances at the soldier we had captured.
I couldn't stop debating internally about what I should or shouldn't do.
I may have killed zombies all week, but I didn't want to kill more men than necessary, even if it was actually quite easy in the end.
'Nothing like the first time… one squeeze and then nothing,' I thought, remembering how easy it had been to blow out the brains of one of the three soldiers who had been brutalizing Christopher and Alicia.
"Don't kill me," the soldier whispered, in a voice only we could hear.
I didn't reply, but I motioned for him to keep moving.
'If I kill him now, I might lose a useful asset. It's all of us against the dead now,' I thought, before adding inwardly: 'But if I don't kill him, I might as well stab myself in the back in case he ever betrays me one day.'
"We're here, this is it," Liza said, snapping me instantly out of my thoughts.
I nodded and said: "Alright then, do what you have to."
She nodded, then opened the doors and went inside.
I followed close behind, and I was clearly not ready for the horror in front of me.
'This is a fucking graveyard,' I thought, staring at hundreds of makeshift beds holding hundreds of corpses, all sharing one single feature.
'A hole in the skull.'
"Doctor Exner, we need to get out of here," Liza said, looking at the doctor slumped in her chair, pulling me out of my stunned state in front of this graveyard.
"You should have left when I told you to," said the woman, who looked like a mix of Caucasian and Asian.
"Help us," Travis said before adding: "You can come with us. We need your help."
"And where will you go once you're outside?" asked the doctor, desperate, clearly having lost all faith in humanity.
"There has to be someplace," Travis said, in a hopeful tone that rang hollow to me, because it seemed a little naïve as a way of thinking.
'Even if we don't find one, then we'll have to create one, by force if necessary,' I thought.
The faint ember still lingering in Doctor Exner's eyes went out, and she said in a dark, hopeless tone:
"There's an exit. Go through the intensive care unit, you'll find a staircase. It will take you to the basement. You can get out, but you'll have nowhere to go."
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone started leaving, but I stayed behind, thinking. I tried to remember: when in the series had a real doctor of her caliber ever been found? And up until what I had watched, I couldn't recall anyone.
'She's a precious resource, I can't let her die, even if it means fewer supplies for the rest of us,' I thought.
"Cal," Nick said, waiting with my parents for me.
I signaled them to go on, and I stayed behind with my prisoner and Doctor Exner, who both stared weakly at me, with empty, lost eyes devoid of will.
I crouched down to be at her level and said: "I understand and respect your decision to take your own life, even if I find it very cowardly of you, knowing that many people could still be saved thanks to you. But I won't let you end your life like this."
"Why?" she asked me, eyebrows furrowed, almost indignant.
"Because I need a doctor, and it seems you're the only survivor," I said, looking at her seriously.
"I don't want to," she said.
"I'm not giving you a choice," I retorted.
"I can end my life whenever I want," she said, glaring defiantly at me.
"If you say so, but at least you won't be doing it today," I said, standing up and motioning for her to do the same.
She kept glaring at me, so I said: "I can knock you out too, but I don't want to hurt you."
After a few seconds, she finally let out a deep sigh, then said:
"Either way, we're all going to die… but I want you to promise me you'll finish me off if there's no hope left. I don't want to be eaten alive."
I nodded and said: "If it comes to that, I'll put a bullet in you so you won't be devoured. That's my promise."
She exhaled softly once more before pretending to leave, my prisoner following close behind.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
She turned around, confused, and frowned.
So I gestured to everything around us and said: "I doubt we'll ever find an infirmary this well stocked again. I've got several vehicles with some room left inside, including a van. Take everything you think is important, and I'll wrap it up in a sheet."
She looked at me for a few seconds before finally nodding, then started giving us quick instructions on what we should take with us and what was redundant.
And while she gave directions to my prisoner, whom she called Anthony, I stuffed a few small things into my inventory.
'Ventilators, monitors…'