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

silent and still as those things awkwardly ran past them. At least one of them ran into a nurse’s cart a few doors away in the hall and caused a loud commotion as it sent the cart flying and banging into the wall or tipped over and crashed or both. They waited an extra two or three full minutes before considering going back out. Elijah opened the door slowly and peered again. He nodded over his shoulder to them and exited.

The room across the hall was empty, the door open.

“Where’d she go?” Elijah whispered a bit frantically.

“I swear I saw her go in there,” Stephanie said in the same hushed tone and went into the room to look for Jane herself. “Hey, it opens up into the other hallway, too. She must’ve gone this way to get to Roman.”

“Yeah,” Wren agreed and followed after her.

They turned the corner more slowly this time and checked to make sure it was clear. Elijah led, and she brought up the rear going single file and staying close to the wall.

“Psst!” someone whispered from the shadows. Alex emerged from what looked like a waiting room. Roman was not with him, though.

“Have you seen Jane?” Elijah asked his brother, who was only wrapped in a white hospital towel around his trim waist. He was stark naked except for the towel and was dripping wet.

“No, I heard them, came out and saw some, and hid in here. Isn’t she with you guys?”

Elijah shook his head. Alex took his bag from Stephanie, but she knelt and dug around in it for him. Alex, not being a shy person in general, dropped the towel and pulled on jeans and his work-boots, opting for both in commando style. Wren gave him his privacy but also kept him in her peripheral as he was near a long row of glass windows. Alex then pulled on his hoodie and jacket. He nodded to Stephanie, who zippered his bag quietly closed and handed it to him. Elijah gave him his weapons.

Elijah frowned, “Where’s Roman?”

“What do you mean? I was in the shower when I heard those things. Got out and headed this way. No Roman. He’s not with me. Thought he was in his room.”

“No, he came looking for you ‘cuz we knew you didn’t have a gun,” Stephanie answered.

“What?” Alex asked as he led them further into the waiting room after closing the door softly. “We’ve got both of them missing?”

“I think so,” Elijah answered.

“Shit,” his brother swore as if angry as he paced.

Dixie whined once and got low onto her belly. Wren immediately ducked with her. The others followed suit; the only sounds were the soft, metallic clinking of rifles and gear as they squatted. More shrieks and squeals echoed down the hallway on the opposite side of the wide room, which opened into a different corridor. It must’ve connected two separate wings to give patient families a place to go no matter what they were having done on this floor.

“We can’t shoot them,” Alex whispered as he buckled his belt and holstered the pistol. “It’ll just draw more. Way too loud in this building. We need to find the others and meet up somewhere safer.”

“Where?” Wren asked.

He sighed and thought a moment.

Stephanie said, “Roman said something about the other wing of this floor being for maternity surgery and that the door didn’t open, wasn’t working or something. If it didn’t open for him, it won’t open for those things, right? We’d only have to secure the other entry door, which he said did open with his pass card. The crawlers don’t have those.”

“Yeah, well, neither do we now,” Wren said. “I didn’t pick it up from the table in our room.”

“Shit, me neither,” Elijah stated and looked at his brother, who also shook his head. Stephanie gave a single shake. They’d found two key cards in the employee locker room as Roman had suggested they’d find. She couldn’t believe they were all so stupid to have left them in their rooms. She was pretty sure there were probably a few other items they’d left behind in such a hurry. They hadn’t even settled in for the night yet when it kicked off.

Stephanie whispered, “If we find Roman, we can get in there and hide out the rest of the night. He’s probably got his card.”

“Right,” Elijah agreed. “But we need Roman, and we have no idea where he is. Let me radio him.”

Elijah tried, but Roman didn’t answer.

Alex nodded as if he’d expected that. “He might not be in a place where he can talk right now. Or he forgot his radio in their room. You guys just get to the ward. I’ll find Roman. If you find him or Jane first, use the walkie-talkie and tell me. Turn yours on the lowest number. Don’t want to announce ourselves. Try to avoid shooting if it’s at all possible. If…if you have to, just stab them or something. Stephanie and I will find the others and meet you over there. Know where you’re going?”

“I think so, yeah,” Elijah stated. “Visited one of our teachers last year and took her flowers. Had to leave them at the desk over there.”

“Good. I know where I’m going, too,” Steph said.

Wren was lost. She didn’t even know her way around this city, let alone the hospital. She’d definitely screwed this mission up according to Jamie’s standards of safety. She didn’t have an exit plan. The one time she didn’t, and it was costing her.

“Stay with Elijah,” Alex told her as if sensing her insecurity. She nodded quickly. “Let’s move out.”

They rose as one, and she and Elijah went out the opposite door as Alex led Stephanie out the other. It was so dark that it was hard to see where they were going. The hallway, unlike the other, did not have windows lining it to allow in moonlight, which probably meant it was located in the most interior part of the building. That didn’t