Chapter 2 : A Powerful Instinct

Two days later, Calvin was in front of Doctor Simmons who gave him all the explanations about what was happening outside and he thought he was going crazy when he understood what the young woman had just told him.

 Calvin: So if I understand correctly, people outside have become cannibalistic living dead who hunt down all the living to eat them and that if we get bitten or scratched by them, we become like them. They are also occupying the hospital building and we are stuck here on the top floors. Is that it, if I understand everything correctly?

 D. Simmons: That's it. Oh…we also have a little more food and running water. Thanks to solar panels we still have electricity.

 Calvin: Thank you for your valuable information but what I just heard makes absolutely no sense.

 Dr. Simmons: We all thought that before we saw people and loved ones being devoured before our eyes. My father was on the hospital board and I watched him get eaten in front of me before Dawn and her two teammates brought us to safety here.

Calvin : I'm sorry. 

He looked at the woman's sad expression and decided to change the subject. 

 Calvin: You are quite young and pretty. What is your full name and age?

 Dr. Simmons: Dr. Lise Simmons, I am 27 years old this year.

 Calvin: Calvin Lincoln, 20 for about two months and a drug dealer since I was 13.

 Lise: Why are you doing that?! Drugs are evil and destroy lives. Dawn said you killed two men when you were brought here, these aren't your first murders are they?

 Calvin: Doctor, I didn't know my parents and I had to manage very young to get by with the occasional help of my cousin. When you're a young black man with no money in the United States, the chances of getting anything legally are virtually impossible. We don't all have a father who is a member of a board like some privileged people.

 Lise: No...I didn't mean that...I'm sorry, I wasn't judging you.

 Calvin: I did bad things, doctor, why shouldn't I be judged. You have done nothing wrong, there is nothing wrong with being privileged whether you are white or black like me, little white people with a story like mine I have already seen and they are even worse sometimes their stories. Being privileged is a good thing when you use that privilege well. I had a friend in LA, a little white guy named Nick. He was from a good family but he fell into drugs and very quickly I became his dealer.

 Lise: Did you sell drugs to your own friend?

 Calvin: You can believe me, I didn't want to. On several occasions, without his mother's knowledge, I tried to connect him with detoxification centers but he didn't want to get out of his addiction so I became his provider. For his safety.

 Lise: I'm not sure I understand.

 Calvin: I couldn't let this guy go to any drug dealer. We're not good people and Nick could get killed with these guys for the slightest mistake given how confused he is. Yet even I am sure that I will have ended up killing him...this environment, it takes away all the moods of an individual and we become monsters.

 Lisa: I don't know what to say.

 Calvin: Oh yeah, to answer the other question, these weren't my first murders. However, I can swear to you that I have never killed innocent people and that it was always to defend myself.

 Lise: Why are you so frank with me.

 Calvin: You're a pretty cool white girl. With what you told me, you still continued to take care of a comatose criminal like me.

 Lise: I just did my-(interrupted)

 They heard commotion outside and that put them on alert when even from this room, they heard noises coming from outside.

 "THEY ARE COMING IN!! QUICKLY ! »

 *BLAM*

 *BLAM*

 *BLAM*

 They heard screams and gunshots outside the room as Lise remained frozen and in a daze as Calvin tried to undo his handcuffs.

 Calvin: Doc, you need to help me take these handcuffs off.

 Lise: I...I...I can't, the key...Dawn.

 Calvin: Then go ask her, we'll both die if these things you told me about get in and I can't defend us.

 He touched the lock of the handcuff and immediately, several series of information came to his knowledge and he looked around a little where he saw some documents attached with a paper clip.

With his free hand, he took the documents, unfolded the paper clip and began to pick the lock with the piece of metal to free himself from it in 4 seconds under Lise's surprised eyes.

 He had barely freed himself when Dawn entered the room with one of her colleagues with a shoulder injury before closing the door to the room while outside echoed the screams and cries of people who were being devoured.

Calvin approached and Dawn pointed her gun at him, putting her finger to her mouth as if asking him not to make any noise before lowering the gun.

 Amanda, Dawn's co-worker whose wound was actually a bite did her best to contain her moans of pain and they laid him down on the second bed in the room.

Lise approached Dawn who asked her to do something to treat Amanda and Lise rummaged around the room only to find a few tablets, some medical suture thread and a large pair of metal scissors.

 Lise: (whispers) That's the only thing, I have nothing else.

 Dawn: You have to do something. Shepherd must not become one of these monsters, there is surely a way.

 Calvin also started looking for things and they were clothes, he was completely naked under his hospital gown but he couldn't find anything. They stood there waiting quietly and Amanda soon started to develop a fever while Dawn wiped away her sweat.

 « These things, how do we kill them? » Calvin asked Lise who was sitting next to him as she was on the verge of tears because of fear.

 Lise: according to what they said on the radio, they had to damage their brains.

 Calvin: Don't worry doctor, we'll get through this.

 "I don't wanna die..." She said before she started sobbing which made a bit of noise and an angry Dawn looked towards her but Calvin calmed her down. For some reason, his Instinct kept him very calm.

 Calvin: How many survivors were there before?

 Lise: *sniff* With you, there were thirteen of us.

 Calvin: (whispers to Dawn) Lieutenant, approximately how many of these undead came in.

 "A little over twenty...maybe more now" she replied dryly, wiping the sweat from her comrade's forehead.

 He got up and walked over to the window, sliding it open to notice a ledge just below. He had an idea and turned towards the two women before coming to take the large pair of scissors as well as a timer which.

He was able to find it while looking for clothes earlier, he had understood very well thanks to Dawn that monsters were attracted to sound so he moved closer to the window and climbed over it.

 Lise: What are you doing !!!!!!?

 Calvin: Shut! I'll be right back.

 He only stayed at the railing by his window before looking down at a small balcony upstairs below them which had a fairly low railing and dropped down to land silently on the balcony with a balance and control that made him seemed natural, he strangely knew what his body was capable of instinctively and didn't ask too many questions.

He walked towards the large glass door that led to the office where he saw one of the zombies wandering there, he was wearing a SWAT uniform with his MP5 rifle hanging on him by the strap and Calvin saw part of his face. devoured by the zombies, that's when he really realized what Lise had told him.

 "What the HELL !! How could something like this happen?!" He began to ask himself a whole series of questions but first he had to act.

He slid the glass door open before slowly moving behind the zombie and stabbing its head in the temple from behind.

He ignored the terrible smell and the rotting blood almost everywhere before going to close the office door before returning to the zombie he had just killed.

 There, he thanked his luck before undressing the corpse without even asking questions and 6 minutes later, Calvin was wearing the deceased's SWAT equipment, he had two full magazines for his assault rifle and two more for his pistol Glock 17.

He sincerely thanked the deceased but also his luck before reopening the office where the zombies outside saw him and he ran back to the balcony while the, walkers entered the office and in one big leap , Calvin managed to reach the railing of his bedroom window where he climbed up.

 The women saw him and initially panicked before realizing it was him.

 Lise: Where were you? I thought you were dead too...

 Calvin: No, I went to see something and was lucky enough to come across this equipment. Now after seeing what I saw, I definitely have a plan.

 Dawn: Did you loot this equipment from one of the Devourers? Give me the assault rifle.

 Calvin: Go get yours.

 "I'm not going to repeat myself…" Dawn wanted to point her gun at him but Calvin already had the MP5 aimed at her.

 Calvin: There's a silencer on my gun lieutenant, one bullet in your head and it'll be over. I know I'm a criminal but here the circumstances are different and we have to help each other to survive. If unfortunately you want to hinder my survival then I will kill you without any restraint. We have enough problems as it is so either you help, or you stay in your corner but I have no obligation to listen to your orders.

 He lowered his gun and came near Lise.

 Calvin: Lise, do you know how to shoot?

 Lise: I learned but I never tried it on anyone.

 Calvin: There is a beginning to everything so take this (hands over the Glock 17). You have to defend yourself if you want to survive, but that's in an emergency. I have a plan and if it works then we won't have to use it.

 He took one of the IV stands in the room (the things that look like coat racks) and tied the suture wire tightly to it. The other end of the wire was attached to the timer, it looked like a grotesque fishing rod with the timer as bait.

He set the countdown to 30 seconds before passing the end through the window and saw the timer attached to the long wire protrude over the edge of the balcony below.

 *DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING*

 The 30 seconds were over and the timer went off downstairs while making a lot of noise downstairs, which attracted more and more zombies downstairs.

Those on the other side of the door also began to slowly move towards the source of the sound on the floor below.

Dawn and Lise looked down to see what Calvin had as a plan and saw the zombies downstairs moving closer to the balcony so they could grab the timer but they started falling off the building because the balcony railing was low.

 "It works…" Calvin said with relief before reeling in his bait to set it again but for 10 seconds and he repeated the operation again and again and dozens of zombies fell into the void being attracted by the noise.

He really didn't know how, but his gut told him that walkers would be attracted by sound. It really intrigued him, but everything felt really natural to him.