Chapter 4 #3
This is just how Ginger is. She latches on to a topic and can’t seem to let it go.
Human rights aren’t the only thing she’s obsessed with.
She’ll also go on and on about the phases of the moon and the life of Abraham Lincoln.
It’s odd, but you get used to it. Her obsessive demands for her rights almost always end in disappointment, but not this time.
To my surprise, Nurse Patrick actually hands Ginger his cell phone.
What kind of alternate universe is this?
Ginger snatches the cell phone from his hand, hardly believing that her whining actually worked.
She punches in the numbers quickly, and I watch her face fall.
Silence on the other end. She begins breathing heavily, short and fast. She slams the cell phone into the unforgiving floor, shattering the screen. This is why we have rules.
She isn’t finished though. Ginger storms toward the discarded bedpost I had tossed to Nurse Patrick. She grabs it and stomps behind the staff’s station, and I brace myself for the noise as she takes a heavy swing at a line of computer monitors, making an awful crash with each swing.
Mr. Josh moves toward Ginger with his hands up in an attempt to de-escalate her. But my eyes flash toward the pile of bodies near the dayroom. Diamond’s arm twitches. Did I imagine it? Tracy’s eyes fly open. I’m not imagining it.
As if they were brought to life by the sound of the shattering computer monitors, Tracy and Diamond stand up.
Fresh black foam froths from their mouths and noses, dripping down their chins.
Their empty eyes scan the hallway. I hear a tiny scream escape from someone behind me, and then eight horrified faces duck back into their rooms.
I sweep the area, looking for the other bedpost. I find it right where Mr. Josh carelessly left it, leaning against the meds cart, and I make a note to keep it in my hands at all times from now on.
I run toward my weapon with everything I have, slide across the linoleum, and snatch it just as Tracy begins moving toward Ginger and Mr. Josh.
Tracy lets out a bubbling screech that sends chills down my back, and then she lunges at Ginger.
I plant my feet and intercept her, swinging my bedpost and catching her in the jaw.
She bounces off the nearby wall with a thud, then snaps her head toward me, her loose jaw swinging sickly a moment behind.
I have her attention. She takes two steps toward me, and I use the bedpost to sweep her legs.
What used to be Tracy clumsily tumbles to the floor, never taking her milky eyes off me.
With her head at my feet, I swing the post like a golf club, connecting with the side of her face, and I feel her cheekbone give way, but it’s not enough.
She keeps coming, crawling on her belly, reaching out for me, spilling black bile as she pulls herself forward by her fingernails, making a hair-raising scraping sound.
I step back and take a deep breath in. I let the bedpost rise over my right shoulder and use the momentum of my entire body as I swing, this time aiming for the back of her head. It’s enough. With a sharp crack, her body goes still.
I feel absolutely giddy, but this time I quickly swallow the giggle before it reaches my lips. I wait for Mr. Josh to lay into me, but there’s no one near the staff workstation. Where are they? It only takes a second to find out. I just have to follow their screams.
I run toward Tasha’s room and arrive to find Mr. Josh and Nurse Patrick grunting as they try frantically to pull Diamond off Tasha, but it’s easy to see their efforts are too little too late.
Tasha is no longer putting up a fight. Her throat is an open pit.
Her eyes stare blankly at the ceiling. She’s long gone.
Olivia, Octavia, and Haley lie nearby with similar wounds and matching empty expressions.
Cat, the sole survivor, cries helplessly in the corner, cradling her bleeding arm.
Five. Diamond got five girls, and these idiots haven’t even managed to stop her.
It seems impossible, but Diamond keeps a vise grip on Tasha and appears completely unbothered as Mr. Josh uses my spare bedpost to swing hopelessly at Diamond’s back while Nurse Patrick pulls at her legs.
She can’t weigh more than a hundred and fifty pounds, but they still seem to struggle.
I make a mental note of it. These things are impossibly strong. “Get back!” I yell.
Thankfully, Mr. Josh and Nurse Patrick listen. I step up, get as close to Diamond as I dare, and bring my bedpost down on the back of her skull with a satisfying crack. She goes still. I exhale sharply, and then I look up from the mess and lock eyes with Nurse Patrick and Mr. Josh.
“You have to go for the head.”
Behind us, Cat’s cries are more persistent, and we all turn our attention to her. She’s as good as dead, but none of us acknowledge it. Nurse Patrick leads her away, offering to bandage her up.
Diamond, Tasha, Octavia, Olivia, and Haley lie still. With Ms. Michelle and Tracy, that’s seven dead in less than an hour. Add Cat’s imminent death, and it’s eight. More than half of the girls and a third of the staff.
“It was the noise,” Mr. Josh whispers numbly, interrupting my mental math.
“The what?”
He grabs my arm and pulls me into the hall away from the bodies before continuing. “The noise! You told me Keisha heard a gunshot in the park last night. January’s screams. The computer monitors shattering. Loud noises are waking them up.”