When I got to the hospital I ran through the front door to the main desk. I got more than a few looks of concern from the other patients waiting there.
“I’m looking for Jackie McCormick,” I said before the receptionist had a chance to acknowledge me.
She was a petite girl with her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She didn’t look a day over sixteen and if I hadn’t been on the verge of a heart attack from panic I probably would’ve been more curious about how she managed to get a job there.
She looked through some files and said, “They moved her to room 323 on the third floor just about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Okay, thank you,” I said before rushing to the elevator.
“Wait…” I heard the receptionist call behind me but I ignored her.
I pressed the button repeatedly. The doors were not opening and increasing the aggressiveness in which I hit the button wasn’t making a difference. I couldn’t let any more time pass than necessary so I decided to take the stairs.
I ran up the three flights taking two stairs at a time. Finally I reached the third landing completely winded. I worked out a fair amount but it seems to make no difference when it comes to climbing several flights of stairs.
Out of breath and half insane, I made my way down the hall to room 323. There was no one around. It was eerily quiet in the corridor. All of the rooms doors were closed. It looked like the corridor had been deserted.
I twisted the knob and though it was unlocked I was met with a lot of resistance from the other side. I pushed on the door but it didn’t budge. I put my whole body weight against the door and pushed with every bit of strength that I had.
I managed to get the door open enough to get my body through. One of the hospital beds had been pushed up against the door. I found that very strange but it wasn’t the strangest thing inside that room.
Nothing could’ve prepared me for what lay in front of me. There was blood everywhere. It looked like a murder scene in one of those gruesome horror movies Adam always made me watch with him that I couldn’t stand.
It wasn’t just blood but what were very obviously human insides. There were limbs strewn around the floor. Just beyond the hospital bed blocking the door was a man’s forearm and hand. I recognized the gold wedding band on the third finger that matched my own set that I wasn’t wearing and felt incredibly nauseous.
There was another person’s leg in front of a chair that judging by the bloodstained white pants, must’ve belonged to a doctor.
That’s when I finally noticed a low munching sound coming from the corner of the room and there I saw what was the cause of the destruction.
A little girl was kneeling on the floor, eating the remains of someone. I made my way around the bed and as I stepped forward, my foot landed on broken glass. It crunched loudly beneath my weight.
The little girl turned her head slowly to look at me. I knew without a doubt that this little girl had once been Jackie but she no longer looked like herself. Her skin was grey and her eyes were dead. Her teeth were a dark yellow color. She looked as if she’d been in the grave for days, maybe years, yet she was sitting there looking at me. She had muscle tissue from the person she was eating hanging from her mouth that was dripping blood on to the floor. I’d never felt so sick in my life.
“Jackie?” I whispered.
She seemed to recognize the name and the fear I probably should’ve felt as she began to stand and limp her decomposing body towards me never came.
As she quickened her pace, I felt frozen in place. I was too confused to make a move. She began to growl at me as she got closer but I still didn’t move. I couldn’t. I could only look into the dead face that once belonged to my little girl.
“Jackie?” I said again barely audible.
She reached out to grab me but when she was within inches a loud bang cried out into the room. The bullet went into the front of her head and black blood flew up into the air as she fell backwards to the floor.
“NOOOOOO!” I screamed.
Though that creature was no longer my little girl, she had once been. Maybe something could’ve been done to save her.
I ran to her side and knelt by her lifeless body. She smelled like decaying flesh and had blood all over the blue dress I had dressed her in that morning. I could feel my heart shatter into pieces. My head was blank from the confusion.
I put her head into my lap and stroked her hair. I was crying violently and felt my body shaking uncontrollably.
I don’t know how long the doctor tried to get my attention. I didn’t see him walk over to me. I didn’t notice him kneel down on the other side of her body. I was lost. Too far gone in my grief.
I saw his lips moving for a minute before I finally heard his baritone voice as he said, “Mrs. McCormick.”
He noticed the change in my expression as his words finally broke through whatever invisible bubble my mind had put around me.
“I’m sorry I had to do that. I’m very sorry this happened.”
“You didn’t have to shoot her,” I whispered.
His face looked pained, “There was no other way. She was not savable.”
“You don’t know that,” I said holding her closer to me.
He sighed, “Mrs. McCormick there was really nothing that could’ve been done. What happened to your daughter
