The flickering fluorescent lights buzzed like dying insects as Adrian descended the service stairwell, each step sending fresh jolts of pain through his bitten arm. The concrete walls were slick with condensation, the air thick with the coppery stench of old blood and formaldehyde. His IV stand - now more weapon than medical equipment - scraped against the railing with a metallic whine that made his teeth ache.
» BIOMETRIC ALERT
» PATHOGEN SUPPRESSION AT 73% EFFICACY
» ANTIBIOTICS REQUIRED: 01:42:33 REMAINING
The morgue's double doors hung crooked on their hinges, one pane of reinforced glass shattered into a spiderweb pattern. Through the cracks, Adrian could see the cold storage unit's pale green tiles, stained with dark smears where bodies had been dragged across the floor. A metal gurney lay overturned near the entrance, its wheels still spinning lazily.
The whimper came from behind the autopsy station - human, fragile. A woman in a bloodstained lab coat crouched beside a stainless steel table, her dark hair matted with sweat. The name tag read "Dr. R. Cho." A bone saw trembled in her hands, the saw's teeth caked with blackened gore.
"Stay back!" Her voice cracked like dry kindling. "I-I'll cut you!"
Adrian froze as three figures shambled into view from the specimen freezer. These weren't the fresher Walkers from upstairs - these were morgue stock. Their skin had taken on the waxy pallor of long-dead flesh, their movements stiff from months of refrigeration. Their autopsy Y-incisions gaped like grotesque smiles, the stitches torn open to reveal grayish organs beneath.
» COMBAT ANALYSIS
» TARGETS: 3 | CONDITION: PARTIALLY FROZEN (-30% MOBILITY)
» SUGGESTED TACTIC: DISABLE LEGS, THEN NEUTRALIZE
The closest Walker - an elderly male with a toe tag still dangling from its foot - lurched forward, its frozen joints cracking audibly. Adrian swung low, the IV stand shattering its kneecap with a sound like ice breaking. As it collapsed, he drove the sharp end through its ear canal with practiced precision.
Black fluid oozed across the tiles as the doctor screamed. The other two Walkers turned toward the sound, their milky eyes reflecting the emergency lights. One had been a young woman, her autopsy stitches stretching as she moved. The other was missing both arms below the elbow - surgical amputations from before death.
Adrian moved mechanically. A sideways swing to the first Walker's temple sent it crashing into a tray of surgical tools. The armless one he kicked backward into a wall of specimen refrigerators, their metal doors denting inward with a hollow boom. The stench of rotting viscera flooded the room as one of the fridge seals broke.
"Help me!" The doctor scrambled backward as the armless Walker righted itself, its toothless gums working hungrily. Adrian's IV stand found its spine with a wet crunch, dropping it mid-lunge.
Silence fell, broken only by the drip of fluids from the broken refrigerator. The doctor stared at Adrian's bitten arm, her professional eye noting the telltale black veins radiating from the wound.
"You're infected," she whispered.
» SURVIVOR ANALYSIS**
» DR. RINA CHO | PATHOLOGIST | MEDICAL SKILL: LVL 7
» STATUS: UNBITTER | DEHYDRATION: SEVERE
» RECOMMENDED ACTION: SECURE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
Adrian leaned against the autopsy table as he rested, suddenly aware of how heavy his limbs felt. The cold storage unit hummed ominously, its broken door creaking in some unfelt breeze. Rows of body drawers lined the far wall, several hanging open with their contents missing. A clipboard lay abandoned near the doctor's feet, its last entry reading:
*"Specimen 47 shows abnormal neural activity post-mortem. Requesting CRM transfer."*
The doctor followed his gaze. "We thought we were studying them," she said hoarsely.
The doctor flinched as another moan echoed from the walk-in freezer.
"They locked themselves in when it started," Cho whispered, nodding toward the freezer. "The staff. The...the patients. Then the power failed."
Adrian moved to the freezer control panel. The digital display was dark, but the manual release lever was smeared with bloody fingerprints. Someone had tried to open it from this side. Recently.
A thud shook the freezer door. Then another. The metal dented inward slightly with each impact.
"There's at least twenty in there," Cho said, her fingers tightening around the bone saw. "Maybe more. The latch won't hold much longer."
Adrian's eyes darted across the morgue. The ventilation ducts were too small. The elevator shaft was sealed. Only one exit - the way he come.
Outside, the hospital's emergency generators failed with a final, shuddering gasp. The lights died, plunging them into darkness just as the another metallic *thud* came from inside the broken refrigerator unit.