"It seems that for a long time no person has been here alive or infected."
In the lobby of the hospital's outpatient department, the originally smooth mirror-like tiles were now covered with thick layers of dust. The floor was covered in long-dried bloodstains, almost invisible, as well as leaflets scattered everywhere in addition to medical devices.
Looking at the scene in front of him, you can imagine what kind of chaos this place was when the Cordyceps fungus burst.
Colbert knelt down, ran his fingers over the dust on the floor, rubbed it between his fingers, then looked down the hallway where there were no footprints and expressed his judgment.
On either side of it were more than twenty heavily armed soldiers, their guns pointed at the surrounding blind spots or corners to prevent infected people from appearing at any time.
One of the soldiers with the rank of sergeant stood behind Colbert and said in a low voice, "Sir, what should we do next?"
"Um..."
Hearing the soldier's question, Colbert slowly got up, took his chin, pondered for a while, and decided to explore the place first.
"I noticed from the outside that the outpatient department has six floors, in addition to a basement and an underground parking lot. We will organize teams of six people; Each team will be responsible for checking two floors, including the underground parking lot. Don't forget to wear gas masks. Here we are going to inspect everything with great care."
"Yes!"
After receiving the last order, the sergeant did not hesitate. He turned around and began giving orders to the surrounding soldiers and assigned the captains of each squadron.
Not long after, eighteen soldiers, led by their respective captains, trotted into the two corridors to the left and right. Then, the sound of combat boots treading the stairs, quickly going up and down, was heard from inside.
After the three groups of soldiers left, there were still six soldiers left in the lobby of the outpatient department. Colbert nodded to them and said, "Start the search. We must ensure the safety of this place as soon as possible. We can't keep people waiting too long outside!"
He then personally led the team, organizing a meticulous search of every room and corner of the outpatient department's lobby. He left no place uninspected, making sure there were no possible hiding places for humans or infected.
The living room area is not as spacious as the floors above. It's not particularly big. Even just walking around won't take more than a few minutes. Even if it is necessary to enter all the rooms, the team only needs less than a few minutes. The entire search was completed in half an hour.
But in most clinic rooms there is nothing unusual except debris on the floor, chairs that fell to the floor, and dust in the room.
Only a few rooms were blocked off by things inside. After questioning and confirming that no one was inside, the soldiers opened the door from the outside and basically all of them were filled with decomposing human corpses that may have become a breeding ground for fungi.
These people should have fled to this room to avoid being chased by the infected when the germ broke out, but the infected outside hadn't left yet. They did not lack the courage to risk their lives and in the end they all died of hunger.
"No problem here, let's go to the second floor."
After opening the door to the last room, Colbert walked in and looked at the twisted corpses. After confirming that there was nothing abnormal, he left the room and led the soldiers directly to the second floor.
But just as he was halfway there, he seemed to remember something, and immediately stopped, turning his head to look at the door at the end of the hallway, which was the long hallway that led to other buildings.
Colbert thought for a while, although the snowstorm outside made his visibility of the surroundings very low, judging from the simple map he had just looked at, the scale of the entire hospital would probably not be small, and they would not be able to really look for all the squares, besides, an outpatient department is enough to accommodate everyone.
Thinking of this, he pointed to the last two soldiers and said, "You two stay and block all the exits except the door."
He then led the remaining four soldiers to the stairs and made his way to the second floor of the outpatient department.
Compared to the hallway below, it can be said that the second floor is more cluttered. The intricate hallways connect dozens of rooms, and the dozen hospital beds make the room, which is no longer spacious, even narrower, they were so congested that they had to step over them.
Continuously opening the doors on both sides of the hallway, Colbert quickly walked down the hallway as if he were downstairs, not worrying about an infected person suddenly appearing.
But at that moment, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew over his face from the left side, immediately attracting his attention.
"Huh? This is..."
It was a window that was not properly closed and the cold wind kept coming in through the small hole. But what really caught his attention was the corpse sitting under the window, head down.
Unlike other places with corpses, this room is open, and judging by the fact that it hasn't decomposed yet, the death time of this corpse is obviously longer than that of the corpses below. The preliminary judgment is that he recently died about a week ago.
Colbert rushed into the room and looked at the corpse. He had a gun in his right hand and had a hole in his head. It seemed that he had committed suicide.
Then he turned his head and looked at a twisted, tattered notebook and a package placed on the left side of the body. He bent down and picked up the two things without hesitation.
Upon opening the package, Colbert discovered that it was actually filled with various medications. He raised the corners of his mouth slightly and handed it to the soldier behind him.
But just as he was about to look at the notebook, instructions from other soldiers' equipment came from the walkie-talkie he was carrying:
"Sir, all the places on the first floor have been searched and no traces of infected people have been found. However, the entrance to the underground parking lot is blocked and it will take a long time to clean everything. We request to go outside and open the door of the express to enter the underground parking lot."
"Has it been blocked?"
Hearing the news, Colbert couldn't help frowning and thinking about it. Under normal circumstances, I would choose to clean the intersection first. After all, even if something happened, I could deal with it better and be more cautious about stability.
But he looked out the window at the rows of vehicles on the street and felt a little tangled. Every minute they spent here, the people hiding in the cars outside would continue to freeze for another minute. After an hour of walking, many people are not in good condition if they do not find a place to stay warm...
Squinting, Colbert took a deep breath and thought to himself that there was nothing unusual about the lobby of the outpatient department. Now it seemed that there was no danger on the second floor. There were no signs of infected people coming out. people upstairs. It seemed that there were indeed no infected people here.
"It should be fine..."
Hopefully, he picked up the walkie-talkie and said, "I understand, you can go out into the outside world and into the parking lot from there, but if you encounter any problems, you should let me know immediately." "
"As you command, sir!"
Colbert retrieved the walkie-talkie and rubbed his temples. I didn't know why his head had been hurting for a moment.
But he still shook his head, suppressing the sense of discomfort, and planned to go to the military doctor for a checkup after the search was complete.
Colbert focused again on the notebook in his hand, reached out, and opened it. Who knew who had broken a large part of the contents of the front, and a small part on the back was also stained red with blood, making it impossible to clearly read what was written on it.
In the notebook you can only clearly see the last pages:
"On November 3, 2013, Mike's condition worsened again, and with the weather getting colder, his situation became critical. Without antibiotics, you won't survive long. I don't understand why Steven insists on carrying this; it's dragging us all down. We can barely stay alive!
"November 4, 2013, damn it! In fact, they accepted Joyce's proposal to go to the hospital for that guy. They were all infected. I really can't understand Steven. Seeing them do it feverishly, I made a decision, and I'm thinking if I should solve that burden beforehand..."
"November 5, 2013, damn it, this pharmacy was empty. It seems that they decided to go to the hospital. Joyce has been taking care of that guy. I couldn't find a good time. Maybe you should take advantage at night when you're all asleep?
"November 6, 2013. I still failed yesterday. Why does Joyce pay so much attention to that guy? Steve and several others had already gone to the hospital to explore the path. Now it's just Joyce and I left here. I'm about to take action, and today may be my last chance..."
"On November 7, 2013, Joyce noticed my intentions and confronted me. We ended up arguing fiercely. Was he really wrong? Although I didn't want to admit it, I knew that I had already crossed a boundary. But this was my last chance, and I couldn't fail. I began to prepare the weapons I had at my disposal. Steven is my brother, and I can't just sit idly by while he takes a chance on his own.
I stared at Joyce harshly, rage burning within me. I gritted my teeth as a decision formed in my mind. This was all his fault, and sooner or later he would have to face the consequences.
"Dead! All dead! My brothers are dead, and it's all because of Joyce, that damn bitch. He escaped regardless of the life or death of others, all for a package of medicine. I should have finished off that jerk Mike too, but I didn't. And she... she still had the audacity to be proud of herself!
But no more. I caught her, tied her up, and threw her into the dark parking lot. I saw how nearby infected people began to enter there. I closed the intersection and listened. Their pleas, their screams full of terror... They made me feel something I hadn't felt in days: satisfaction. Finally, justice."
"I went to the pharmacy to get rid of Mike, but the irony is that his body was already cold. This guy died last night and that bitch didn't say anything !!"
"I buried all my brothers. This room has the best view. I didn't expect it to snow today. The streets are so beautiful without infected people. It's really exhausting to live like this. Goodbye to this damn world..."