Orpheus Reborn: Meat Wagon, Pt 2 (Zombie Fiction)

As Williams worked on the patient and called in, the police officer gave a shudder.  His body convulsed then lay still.  Williams tried to find a pulse, but couldn’t.  He relayed the info to hospital on the other end of the radio.  Much to their surprise, they were told to not continue live saving activities.  If the man had expired, they were to take the body directly to the morgue.  JD looked at Williams through the rear view mirror and saw he was as confused as JD was.  Williams pulled a sheet over the man’s face, so he wouldn’t have to look at his face and ravaged neck.  Blood quickly soaked through the white sheet.

        With traffic, the morgue was fifteen minutes away. They talked through the pass-through between the cab and back of the ambulance, as JD drove. Williams noted that the whole incident just verified that things were quickly getting out of hand in the city. JD had to agree. They were only about two minutes out and Williams was doing the paperwork, when he saw movement out of the corner of is eye. He glanced up sheet covered body across the compartment from him. In dis-belief he saw movement under the blood stained sheet. "What the??" His exclamation was loud enough to cause JD to look in the rearview mirror. He saw Williams lean across the compartment and grab the sheet. He pulled it down, exposing the body underneath.

        To JDs shock, as soon as the pulled back the body of the expired police officer sat bolt upright. Its arms reached for Williams. JD could hear a raspy growl come from the back of the ambulance, as the body lunged across the compartment for towards Williams. "Holy shi…" Williams bellowed as the body slammed into him, teeth gnashing. The momentum of the officer’s body caused them both to fall back out of JDs view in the mirror. Luckily, JD’s attention came back to the road. He cursed as he wrenched the ambulance to the right. In the seconds he had been fixated on the rear view mirror, the ambulance had drifted across the center line and into oncoming traffic. JD over compensated. His eyes widened as the ambulance barreled towards a parked car. He swung the wheel to the left, in time to sideswipe a minivan, instead of slamming into it full on. He saw a blur in the rear view mirror, and could hear Williams grunt as both he and officer flew to the opposite side of the rear compartment.

        JD’s arms locked straight and he slammed on the brakes. He turned the wheel, as the ambulance started to skid. From behind he heard a scream of pain and terror. He could tell it was Williams. That single thought caused fear to ripple through him. He knew Williams was not the type to do that. The ambulance skewed across the traffic lane and came to halt. In a flash, JD had undone his seat belt and was turning towards the pass-through. As he fully turned, what he saw momentarily shocked him into inaction. The officer and Williams were on the floor, leaning against the back door, with Williams on the bottom. The fingers of one of the dead man’s hands were buried deep into Williams left eye. The wrecked mass of the eye was spread across Williams’ cheek. The policeman withdrew his fingers and stuck them in his mouth. JD could hear a sickening slurping sound. The officer’s head then bent towards William’s neck. Williams looked at JD, with a mixture of shock and pleading. Williams’ head lolled to the side as he lost consciousness.

JD came out of his daze and lunged forward and grabbed the man both shoulders. He pulled the body backwards, trying to save his friend. The man’s body came away from Williams. As they separated, blood sprayed from Williams’s neck, covering the back and side of the compartment. As they fell back, looking upside down at him, the man’s eyes locked onto JD’s. His lips curled, showing its bloodstained teeth. In an instant, JD realized the look on the face was one of feral hunger. ‘Get away from it and kill it, now" ran through JD’s mind.

        JD backpedaled across the cramped compartment. He lost his footing of some loose webbing and fell backwards. The man’s attention had turned from Williams to JD. He fought to untangle himself from Williams’s limp form, and the sheet which had covered him, which was still wrapped around his legs. As the man thrashed to get free, JD scuttled back into the cab of the ambulance. As he watched the officer roll over and start to crawl towards him, JD’s hand fell upon Williams’s kitbag. ‘THE GUN!’ JD could feel its form through the canvas bag.

        Grabbing the bag with his right hand, JD used his left hand to pull himself across the passenger side seat. His back pressed partially against the dashboard, and partially against the door, he pulled the bag onto his lap. In actuality it took mere seconds for JD to unzip the bag, and remove the pistol. In JD’s mind’s eye it took an eternity. As he fumbled with the zipper, he felt a hand grab his leg. He looked down at the blue clad arm. He tried to pull his legs up to his chest, to get out of the reach of the man in back, but only partially managed. The man’s fingers clawed at his leg. He could feel the man pull himself forward. JD could see the bloody claws wrapped around his right calf. The man’s head came into view.

        JD yanked his leg free as the man’s teeth snapped, in an attempt to take a bite of JD’s flesh. JD’s left leg snapped out once, then twice into the man’s shoulder. This caused the man to roll to his side, exposing his chest. JD could see the damage that had been wrought on the man before. ‘There was no way this was happening, the policeman was…should be…is dead’, JD thought. Both hands on the pistol, he racked the slide, and thrust it forward between his knees. He pulled the trigger, twice. In the confined space of the cab, the roar was deafening. JD could see the slugs tear in to the man’s chest. The man was forced back a bit, but started to roll back towards JD, his hands searching for him once more.

        JD’s right leg pistoned out and caught the man in the chest. He pinned the body against the driver’s side seat, and pulled the trigger once more. This time the bullet caught the man above the right eye. A neat little hole appeared, as the man’s head snapped back. Microseconds later, a crimson spray erupted across the driver’s seat and door. JD could feel the hands that were clawing at his leg fall away, and as the body went limp. He could see bits of gray matter splattered across the upholstery and door.

        He turned a bit and pulled the door handle. He rolled out and quickly regained his feet. As he stood, he kept the pistol pointed into the cab, in case there was any fight left in the already dead man. He quickly gained his senses and moved to the rear of the ambulance. He could see blood smeared across windows. As he opened the doors, Williams spilled out backwards into his arms. His face was deathly white, from loss of blood, and he had a jagged tear across his face and neck. His left eye socket was a bloody mess.

        Williams’s mouth moved, as though to speak, but all the came out was a strangled gurgle. JD gently laid him on the ground. "Don’t say anything, we’ll get you patched up and to the hospital. Don’t worry, man, I’ve got your back."

THE END