Chapter 3

" We will take him to the emergency ward."; said Aldrin who was also busy checking downstairs.

"Why do you think that will save us?"; Brian enquired.

"Because I worked here."

Brian had a surprised smile on his face. He looked at Clad. She was surprised and was in complete disbelief.

" Seriously? I thought you told me you were a soldier."; Brian said this looking around.

" Well, that was easy to explain."; Aldrin replied.

" So now you're a doctor."

" No, I was an attendant."

" So can you cure him?.";Clad asked impatiently.

" Maybe, I don't know."

" What do you mean? You told you work here.";

Brian was getting angry.

"Worked - that's past tense.

I told I worked here - not anymore."

"Aldrin, I know you can do this. I trust you." ; Clad said soothing her.

" Yeah, OK."

"So where is it?" ; asked Brian.

She thought for sometime and replied.

" Sixth floor."

" Oh that's great.

Can someone please tell me why put an emergency ward in sixth floor?"; Brian

exclaimed.

" Oh -

maybe you can rather prefer one at ground floor.

It's more safe, right?"

Brian just shook his head and agreed

" Fine."

Clad went to open the door just when one of the creature jumped over her. She fell on the floor and the creature was going for her neck. She tried to scream but its hand blocked her mouth. Brian picked up a chair and hit it on its head. It fell to a side and was growling. Aldrin pulled Clad to safety. Brian took out his gun.

The creature raged at them just when Brian pressed the trigger. Bullet hits it's belly and throws him off. Gerald was lying unconscious on the other side of the creature. Creature saw him. It turned back. Saliva was dropping from his cheek. The creature was on it's four limbs. It went for Gerald. Brian was just able to take a single shot and fortunately it hit the spot or that's what they thought.

Brian picked Gerald up and was racing to the sixth floor. They reached the floor and saw it was at the end of the hallway. They looked around for any possible signs of danger and marched slowly towards the emergency ward. Aldrin stopped and stood gazing at the door behind others. Everyone stopped and looked at her with a questioning face.

"What? What happened? ";Brian breaks the silence.

" Shit! How could I forget about that?"; she said it with a disgusting face.

" Forget what? "

" Can't you see?

There is a number lock on the door.

You need a four digit code to unlock it."

" What? Who put a number lock for an emergency ward?-

Can you remember that code? You used to

work here." Brian looked at her impatiently.

She thought for a second.

" Even if I remember they might have changed the code."

" Let's just hope for the best."

Clad was looking at Gerald's wounds when she saw one or two creatures staring at them. She could see her fiery red eyes and half dead walks. Brian was the second one to notice and warned Aldrin.

Brian turned to Aldrin.

" You need to open it now."

Brian took out his gun and started to fire randomly at them. He was a terrible long ranged shooter.

Aldrin went on with her work.

" OK. Let's see -

3-3-4-5"

Display showed 'access denied'.

" Was it 3-2-4-5 or 3-3-5-4?

Guys. We have a problem here."

" What do you think we're doing here - napping?" Brian said trying to aim at the nearest one.

" We just have one more trial and after that the whole alarm system in the building will set off. And we will be in the circle of fire."

" We believe in you.

Just go with your instincts."; Brian tried to

help her.

Aldrin stopped thinking for some moment

and gazed at her lucky band on the wrist.

She turned towards the door and took a deep breath and went for it.

3-3-5-4

The whole alarm system went crazy and started to make the most irritating noise they could ever imagine. Brian just went for it and broke open the door. He fell on the ground but was able to gather his coordination back to quickly pull Gerald out from the danger zone and got into one of many room in that ward. They closed the door behind them.

They were breathing heavily. Clad took out her inhaler and took a quick one or two breaths.

" I'm sorry. I'm very very sorry." ; Aldrin cried.

" It's OK.

They probably would have changed the code.

It was dumb of me to believe that they

wouldn't change the code."; Brian apologized.

Gerald was in agony. Infection on his leg has started to grow. It almost happened three days before. If he didn't get good medication it will be fatal. Aldrin without wasting much time was looking if there is anything useful. They were fortunate enough to get into a hospital or the case would be much severe. She found some medicines and ointments. She took out some bandage from the cupboard.

They quit banging after some time. They might thought that it may be a waste of time.

Clad screamed at a face who was staring at them through a small window on the door. Brian covered it with a piece of cloth. Aldrin cut open Gerald's jeans to find the pivotal point of infection. A big tree trunk was seen piercing through his fibula. She tried to put pressure on those parts. But it was of no use since it just sank deeper and deeper into the flesh. She spreads the ointment across the effected area and gave him some steroids.

" What are you doing?"; enquired Brian.

" This steroids will act as painkiller.

He can't go through that sort of a pain.";

Aldrin replied.

" But -

you know what you're doing, right?"; Brian was

worried.

" I hope so

You guys have to take a huge faith in me."

" Yeah...OK."

She went along with her work. First she tried to cut the extension of that trunk. Then only she can totally remove it. She asked Brian to lift his legs up and asked Clad to put pressure at the site. Gerald was still up. Giving him anaesthesia would be very dangerous. It needed a professional for that kind of accuracy. Even with the steroids he still can feel it. He was growling.

After almost a hour of work they were able to successfully remove it from his leg.

It was fully covered in blood. He need at least a month rest to walk properly again but at least the situation didn't get worse. They praised her work and Gerald was so thankful to them for not to leave him behind. He was feeling better even with the infection and that was a good sign to them.

They still didn't know how to survive this judgement but they are still happy with short term of harmony and peace and just hoping that they can at least sleep tightly.