--Phase 3 “The Panic”--
No, it was not a dream. Okay, then what was that?
Dominique went back and forth, continuing to convince himself that everything that had happened was only a dream. He peered through the window once more, and this time he was certain beyond any reasonable doubt that what he had seen was real and not a dream. He returned to his locker, looked for his phone, and got ready to make an emergency call. Unfortunately, he had no reception.
In this predicament, the first thing that needed to be done was to keep calm. Then he had to take action in order to save himself. He took a deep breath and contemplated his options for getting away. Every janitor in the building was provided with a map of the structure so that they could better understand where to clean and where to go. He went to examine and started to study the floor plan. He needed to locate the exit that was the most convenient and quickest for him and he only saw one direction. Through the side entrance on the east wing!
Dominique took a look at the whole room. He could not just go out without anything to protect him. He grabbed his broom and put the bucket on his head as a helmet. He made use of the broom and even dressed it as a suit of armour. That would prevent the monsters from being able to harm him, right? Even though he used to play video games too much, it did help him in this situation. Who said it was a bad thing to play video games?
He counted to three, Dominique stormed out of his room, quickly closed and locked the door behind him, and then fled away. He had to make sure that no monsters could enter the room. He needed a backup strategy so that, if he could not make it to the entrance, he could at least turn around and wait for assistance in the janitor room. It was such a brilliant idea, he believed.
The monster's pursuit from behind shattered his self-confident train of thought, sending him running and screaming in terror upon hearing their monstrous voices. He made a thousand paces without daring to turn around even once. As he got closer and closer to the exit, the screams gradually stopped. But the door would not budge when he tried to open it. In that instant, he knew it had to be locked from the outside.
Dominique could not believe what he saw when he peeked through the jalousie. Outside, there were lots of people who appeared to be an army dressed in black suits, yet they stood silently outside the door. Despite the fact that he was screaming his lungs out, they did not make any attempt to assist him. Dominique was in tears as he pleaded for assistance and was begging on the door when someone put their hand over his mouth to prevent him from shouting.
A voice commanded, “Don't shout!” and continued, “Or they'll get you...”
When Dominique turned around, he saw Allen standing there. He hugged the doctor. He could not help but cried with relief.
Allen spoke in a hushed tone. “They won't help us. Quick, follow me. As soon as we're in a safe place, I'll explain everything.”
Dominique brushed away his tears as he nodded. He kept silent and was suspicious at the same time, but he followed Allen around like he was a lost schoolboy. He constantly cast his gaze in all directions as he moved in case there were monsters nearby. After a silent minute of walking, they arrived at Allen's office, where he shut and locked the door behind them. Dominique noticed the office looked like a tornado had passed through it. It was not like usual Allen’s office because Allen was always good at keeping things organised. He was meticulous in his attention to detail about cleanliness. Something was not right.
"It's a virus, called S.M.V.” Allen muttered the letters unexpectedly. “Simian Metapneumovirus. It means Stupid Monster Virus.”
In a small gasp, Dominique grabbed hold of Allen's hand. He made no sound as he simply stared at the doctor, still in complete disbelief.
“Okay, sorry.” As he sat next to Dominique, Allen chuckled softly, “I guess the jokes didn't work out. Hehe...” He must have made a fool of himself earlier while he was attempting to joke around. He calmly observed Dominique trembling in terror. He wondered if that was how he looked in the past. Trembling in terror alone. Allen admired Dominique's courage to remain calm under pressure. Everyone would be deathly afraid if they were to experience this kind of terrifying thing for the very first time. Dominique felt his back being touched by his friend's hand as the attempted to calm him down. “They won't hurt us here.”
Dominique took a deep breath, trembling at the thought of being all alone and being attacked by one of the monsters, then crept to the door and pleaded for assistance, but no one helped him. Even though he was shaking with fear, he started to feel a little bit better. As he brushed away the last of his tears, he mustered the courage to ask, “What exactly are they?”
Allen took a few seconds to compose himself before explaining. “They are known as the undead.” He paused and stared at Dominique, curious to learn how he was handling the information. When Dominique did not respond, he continued, “To put it simply, this hospital is being attacked by S.M.V.” Dominique remained mute and stared at him in shock as he spoke these words. Allen had to pause to catch his breath. Even while he did not appear to be panicking, his heart was definitely beating very quickly.
“I've read many articles, but I couldn’t find what S.M.V stands for. But I read that when a human is infected by a virus, it not only kills them, but it also uses their body as a plaything to spread the disease by biting other humans.” Allen reassured that they would be alright if any of their saliva did not enter the body systems. “If we get bitten, though, we'll turn into them in less than an hour.”
Dominique made a frown as he attempted to process the information that had just been relayed to him. He had seen too many zombie apocalypses on film and in video games, it was difficult for him to believe it was happening in his life now. He made a pact with himself that if he got through all of this alive, he would watch more movies and play more games in order to improve his ability and skill to survive in a variety of different situations. “Is there any cure?”
Allen did his best to respond without giving Dominique false hope by saying that there was a treatment, but only to those who were in the transforming stage. “Once they've entirely transformed into that monster, there is no way to save them. And the only way to stop them is to shatter their brains.”
“So, are we going to be rescued?” Dominique asked. “The police? SWAT? Army? They're going to pull off something good, aren't they?”
“The army you saw outside will eventually send someone in to rescue the survivor. We just have to wait,” stated Allen. He shifted his gaze to his right a bit and a little smile broke out on his face. His pale skin made his cheek appear rosy. For a brief period, Dominique believed Allen was daydreaming before his gaze returned back to him. Allen warned, “Don't even think about trying to get outside alone. They'll kill you right away even if you aren't a zombie.”
“Doctor Allen, how do you know so much?” Dominique questioned. He gave Allen a wary look. How did Doctor Allen acquire all of this information? What was the timid expression he just made before? “You couldn't learn this from reading an article...”
The fact that Allen did not answer but smile and laugh made Dominique even more wary of him. “You're incredibly brilliant, Dominique. And brave. Graduate quickly and be a great doctor.”
Slowly, Dominique nodded. He understood he was not in a position to ask more questions. Suddenly, there was a terrifying noise coming from outside that was banging on the door. Dominique swore that he was on the verge of wetting his pants.
Allen uttered a groan and said, “Damn it, they found us.” He moved at the speed of light, used a little knife to cut the carpet up and remove it from the floor. When Dominique discovered a secret compartment beneath the floor, he could not believe his eyes. Allen removed the box from its hiding place and opened it, bringing the contents into full view of Dominique's astonished gaze. There were many types of guns, tons of bullets and grenades inside the box. He had continuously seen too many startling sights and his eyes felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets at any second. Is there anything that could be more startling than this?
“Protect yourself,” Allen told Dominique and handed him a handgun. If only this were a dream, thought Dominique. He had never even touched a gun before. Well, he did but only in the game, and it did not count. However, Allen's tone was so relaxed and natural, as if he just came out from the game. “Don't forget to aim for the head.”
Dominique was at a loss for words. His mind was in such a state of shock and was working so hard to process everything that his brain forgot how to make him communicate. However, he was aware of what to do. The bullets were reloaded into the gun and now prepared for use at any time. Not to mention that he put the remaining bullet in his pocket without needing to be told what to do. Allen was taken aback by it.
“I...played way too much of that video game,” Dominique admitted while Allen laughed at his admission. The oncologist pulled out a shotgun and a bagpack, reloaded them, and they were ready to depart.
“Should I be worried that we're going to storm out into the sea of monsters like this?” Dominic shuddered at the thought of his own plan.
“No, it'll be like digging our own grave. Follow me,” Allen said as he made his way through his cupboards and opened a hidden side door that Dominique had never seen before. He was surprised to learn that a doctor's private office could conceal so many items and secrets. It seemed as though they had been sent to a separate hospital.
After squeezing through the narrow opening, they found themselves in some sort of tunnel. Allen mentioned that he made and remodelled his room himself in case of an emergency. Dominique chose not to press Allen about it any further despite the fact that it sounded like he knew something terrible like this would occur. If Allen really did know that something like this would occur, it would mean that he knew what to do, and anyone who followed him would have a good chance of surviving.
At the tunnel's end, they emerged to find that they were in the west wing of the hospital. To be more specific, in a doctor's office and they were welcomed by a loud, startled voice.
“What the hell are you doing here, janitor?!”
When Dominique turned to search for the source of the voice, he found it coming from the doctor he met in the cafeteria earlier.
“Are you kidding me?! Is that a gun?” The voice of Doctor Benji was a mix of shock and terror. “Are you trying to kill me because I called you a ‘freakin' janitor?”
“Of course not!” Dominique answered. He himself was still having trouble believing what had just taken place, he was at a loss for words as to what to say. “I... Uh...” He always avoided speaking to other doctors at all costs, especially if he was required to explain something to them. He turned his head to Allen, hoping Allen could help him.
“Benji. Doctor Benji, do you notice anything strange around here?” Allen asked after looking at the doctor’s name tag.
“Of course! You two!” Benji pointed at them and glared angrily. “You two are the only ones who seem out of place!”
Allen signalled for Dominique to wait inside while he went to check on things outside. There were no zombies, simply a few nurses and doctors assisting the patients. Everyone was busy and working quickly like usual. Allen guessed they were in the emergency section.
“Doctor Benji, you're coming with us,” Allen said as he dragged the surgeon along with Dominique, and made sure to conceal their guns before doing so.
“Are you two kidnapping me?” Benji dared to ask. It was obvious from his expression that he did not understand what was happening.
“Of course not. You’ll help us to lock the west wing. We can’t allow the zombies to get us from the east wing. We’ll make the main building disconnected,” Allen explained his plan, but Benji still did not get it. He must have thought Allen was a maniac or imposter doctor. “Just wait and see, you’ll know soon enough.”
“Is this some kind of a new game?” Benji asked.
Dominique let out a sigh of disbelief. Benji shuddered as Dominique said, “Well, absolutely, but our life is the bet.” Benji was certain at that time that these two were either insane or that something terrible had in fact taken place. Maybe there were more of them in the east wing. Then he remembered that Nathan also was in the eastern section of the building!