Apokalypsis | Book 6 | Apokalypsis 6 Morris, Kate (cheapest way to read ebooks TXT) 📖

Roman clipped the second radio onto his belt on the other side of his waist and kept moving. Even if they were all in the cafeteria, and Jane was dead, he had to know. He couldn’t just abandon hope, or her.

They were definitely in there, and they were no doubt eating because they were also fighting over food from the sounds of it. A skirmish was in the making as the same two kept emitting horrible noises, almost challenging type sounds. Then a fight ensued because one came flying out of the cafeteria onto her back, sliding on the floor and hitting the wall as if pushed there by another. It was not deterred, however, and jumped with that fascinating yet terrifying lightning speed to its feet and ran back in. It seemed to Roman as good a time as any to hurry past the wall of glass covering the entire length of the cafeteria that faced the inner hallway where he was sneaking.

Just as he was about to sprint past, something caught his eye in the dark. A figure, small and childlike, scurried on all fours out the other end of the cafeteria, an open exit door most likely. They were literally crawling away in a hurry. At the end of the hall was a window where guests could sit on a bench and look out at the hospital grounds below. There was also an elevator. They seemed to be going in that direction.

The thing lifted a hand and hit the button on the elevator, which seemed too advanced for these crawlers. A thick clump of hair fell from its hoodie and caught the moonlight. That unmistakable coppery glint he’d know anywhere. It was Jane.

Unfortunately, Roman wasn’t the only one who heard the elevator ding when it ascended and stopped in front of her. One of those things came running out of the cafeteria. She was about to be run down.

Left with no choice, Roman pulled his gun and fired off a round at a full run towards her. Jane was low on the ground, crawling into the elevator when he’d pulled the trigger, so he knew he wouldn’t hit her unless it ricocheted. However, the loud report drew the attention of the cafeteria goers, and they all collectively screamed at once as their comrade fell to its death, slamming into that big picture window at the end of the hallway and leaving a long blood smear as it slid to the floor.

Roman picked up the pace and sprinted for the elevator. He jumped inside, hitting hard against the wall with his shoulder. It was just in time as the doors began to swoosh shut. However, his body hitting the sensors of the threshold caused the doors to open back up, which was not what he wanted. He hit the “close” button like a maniacal grandmother slapping buttons trying to get the matching fruits to line up on a Vegas slot machine. He needed some of that Vegas luck about now. He’d have none of that tonight, though.

One of those things ran past the elevator door and hit the wall with a hard thud. Then it pivoted and tried to join them in the elevator by grabbing onto the door frame, which was going to block it from shutting again. Jane screamed but cut it off midway as Roman shot the crawler. He knew she’d been startled by his very appearance because she’d been trying so hard to sneak out of there. His ears were ringing from the report of the gun inside the small elevator space.

Now she was pressing the “close” button like a crazy person over and over again, mimicking him. Roman was forced to shoot two more of those things as a woman and man ran toward them as if to leap aboard. Luckily, they were struck hard and lurched back into the crowd of monsters all headed their way. The doors swooshed closed, and he sighed hard.

The only sounds were their heavy, labored breaths as the elevator finally shifted into gear.

“Jesus! Are you okay?” he asked as soon as he could and pressed the button for floor six. Jane didn’t answer, so he turned toward her. “Jane?”

“Huh? Yeah…yeah, okay,” she heaved and even stooped over a minute to place her hands on her knees as if overexerted.

“Good,” he replied. “We need to get off this thing and somewhere safe.”

“Where are the others?” she asked as she stood up again.

“In the surgical ward I took you to earlier,” he said. “I don’t know if we can make it all the way there. Those things are all over that floor.”

“Maybe they’re all over this whole hospital.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he agreed.

She asked, “What’s so great about the sixth floor then?”

“Might be safe,” he answered. “Doctors’ lounges and sleeping dorms for them. I know they lock electronically because they don’t want anyone in that wing bothering the doctors when they’re sleeping.”

He pressed the button on the radio but just got static, probably from the elevator running interference. Hooking it back on his belt, Roman decided to wait until they got to where they were going.

“I gave Elijah my swipe card, but as long as the passcode on the box is the same, I’ll press it in manually.”

“You remember it?”

“Yeah, and the last time we came, it was the same.”

She nodded nervously. The elevator had some sort of emergency lighting on above them. It wasn’t much, but he could see Jane’s lovely face by it. Her eyes were huge. She was stressed.

“Are you okay?” he asked her, turning fully towards Jane, who only nodded. The elevator stopped, and the bell dinged, which made him cringe. “Stay close.”

The doors slid open. They were met with darkness again as soon as they stepped out, and the doors closed behind them. Roman led her to the end of the short hall, about fifteen feet long, and peeked both left and right to see if they were alone.