Chapter 18: Edge Walker
As one of the most renowned hospitals in the city, the Avery-Niels Medical Center had always been a hive of activity—patients, families, doctors, interns, and staff. Thousands came and went through its doors every day.
Today, it was still crowded, but with all the wrong people.
Jay stood on the rooftop, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the four-story building's shattered glass front. Below, the hospital's courtyard and lobby swarmed with zombies. The automatic doors sliding open and shut, triggered by the zombies' ceaseless motion.
An overturned ambulance lay inside, streaked in a mess of red.
"It's kind of ironic," Jay muttered.
"What is?" Lexie asked, her scope trained on the chaos underneath.
"A hospital finally kept its promise. But I think it did in the wrong way." His voice was flat, and his face was blank.
Lexie blinked, looked at the building again, and snorted. "You're not funny."
"I wasn't trying to be."
"Sure." She chuckled helplessly.
Behind them, Angela stepped onto the roof. "Sorry. I'm done."
"Oh! Is it settled?" Jay turned to look at her.
She nodded. "Don't worry. It's settled."
"I was hoping they'd talk you out of it."
"Not that easy," she replied, punching his arm.
"Ow."
Lexie watched them and narrowed her eyes. "You two are awfully relaxed for people about to walk into hell."
"I…" Angela took a breath. "How bad is it?"
"Worse than expected," Lexie replied, still scanning through her scope. "I figured we'd see a crowd, but they're all clustered in the front. Lobby and courtyard. There are 150 of them, minimum."
"That ambulance crash must've drawn the others in." Jay pointed to the splintered front glass, and the vehicle flipped inside. Around the hospital, the streets were mostly clear. That was weird, as this was one of the main streets of the campus. There should've been more people going around. "They heard it, swarmed in. Explains the quiet outside."
He paused. Mom... His jaw tensed. She was supposed to have a flight today.
"We could go in hot," Lexie offered.
Jay raised a brow. "You want to take the horde head-on?"
"Okay, maybe not that hot."
"That's better. If something stronger is lurking inside, we wouldn't want to make a scene too soon."
"You think there's a Fehl inside?" Angela asked.
"Well, we have a hospital with four floors and plenty of space for something nasty to be waiting. It's not about if something will go wrong. It's about when." He didn't know what the chance of a Fehl or some weirder thing appearing was. But he was sure they were quite high in an area as big as the hospital. He'd rather go in with the mindset that something could go wrong than be caught off guard.
"Anyway, everything still depends on where we have to go." He turned and looked at Angela.
"The basement," Angela answered. "Central supply, blood bank… We can find everything we need there.
"Underground it is. What are the access points?" Lexie frowned.
"Our best choice is the one through the emergency department," Angela said, pointing at the left of the building. "There's a service hallway that leads to the main stairwell. We can bypass most of the lobby."
Jay's eyes narrowed at the red EMERGENCY sign. "That door's facing the courtyard. If we move toward it, we'll still trigger the front crowd."
"There's also the loading dock," Angela offered. "But it's probably locked. No deliveries at this hour."
Jay exhaled, thinking. Every route had risk. They'd be in a tough spot no matter how they choose to go about it.
"How about I pull them away?" Lexie suggested.
Jay turned to her, eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?"
"We can't sneak past or go loud. That leaves one option," she said, pointing at the obvious. "But if I act as bait, I can drag most of the courtyard crowd toward that building." She nodded toward a short, two-story structure a block away.
Jay frowned. "That's a hell of a risk."
"With what we've observed, I can lose them if I break line of sight. I'll be fine." She pointed at the alley behind the building.
"It's reckless," Angela cut in, clearly worried. "We can figure out something safer—"
"You're not exactly in a position to preach about risky choices," Lexie shot back, then turned back to Jay. "Well?"
Jay stared at her. "What if there's a Fehl in the group?"
Lexie smirked. "That one gave you some serious PTSD."
He didn't answer—just kept his eyes on her.
"I'm serious," she continued. "None of them are moving weird or acting off. No erratic behavior, no unusual pacing, nothing like that. And honestly?" She tapped her chest. "I don't feel any danger from them. We've handled worse."
After a moment, Jay gave a slow, begrudging nod. "Fine. We'll try it."
Angela's eyes widened. "Wait! You're letting her do it?"
"She can handle herself," Jay replied calmly.
"I'm fast. It'll be fine," Lexie said, already prepping herself.
Jay didn't argue. Instead, he held out his hand. "Give me your rifle. I'll cover you."
Without hesitation, Lexie handed it over and stripped off any extra gear. She brought up her status panel and quickly allocated her newly earned stat points.
"Alright." She bounced on her foot and stretched her arms. "I'm good."
Jay gave her a small nod. "We'll be right behind you."
"See you soon." Lexie grinned, gave a mock salute, and leapt off the rooftop without a second thought.
"Hey!" Angela rushed to the edge, only to see Lexie flipping mid-air, landing effortlessly, and breaking into a smooth jog. "Holy…"
Jay dropped to one knee beside her, already tracking Lexie through the rifle scope.
Two zombies turned at the sound of movement. Lexie didn't even bother with them. She veered around and let them trail behind her.
"She'll be fine," he said without looking up.
By the time Lexie reached the courtyard, a trail of undead had already begun forming behind her.
Without slowing, she vaulted onto a parked ambulance, landing with a light thud. Hands on hips, she shouted, "HELLO MOTHERFUCKERS. Who wants to play?"
The words hit like a lightning bolt.
For a heartbeat, the entire courtyard fell silent, hundreds of heads snapping toward her in eerie unison.
Then, chaos. A tidal wave of snarling, groaning bodies surged forward, crashing into the ambulance with enough force to rattle it.
Lexie smirked. "So you can hear us. Good."
She stood tall, completely unfazed as the swarm lunged for her.
"Come to Mama," she whispered, then stepped off casually and landed right onto the head of the nearest zombie.
It staggered under her weight, frozen in momentary confusion. Too late. She'd already leapt again, bouncing across heads and shoulders like a gymnast on a living obstacle course.
"Is she out of her mind?" Jay muttered from the rooftop, tracking her through the scope. Zombies below whipped into a frenzy, their roars rising to a deafening crescendo. But it was working.
On the hospital's third floor, a few heads peeked from behind windows. Their eyes wide, caught between awe and horror as they watched Lexie dance through the chaos below.
"That's enough." Lexie landed smoothly on solid ground. She turned and ran, not at full speed, just fast enough to stay ahead, keeping the horde snapping at her heels.
"All right." Jay lowered the rifle and turned to Angela. "Grab her gear. We're moving."
"Will she be okay?"
Jay gave a curt nod.
Angela scooped up Lexie's equipment. Before she could say anything else, Jay wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Wha…!" Her protest turned into a startled yelp as Jay leapt off the roof. He landed in a controlled crouch. It was less elegant than Lexie, but solid enough.
"What is wrong with you maniacs?!" Angela gasped, clutching at his shoulder. "Stairs exist for a reason!"
"This is faster," Jay grinned, already sprinting toward the hospital without putting her down.
Meanwhile, Lexie and her fan club bolted into a side alley. Without missing a step, she leapt onto an AC unit, vaulted up a fire escape, grabbed a ledge, and flipped cleanly onto the rooftop.
The zombies hit the alley wall with furious snarls, jaws snapping as they searched for a way up. Lexie lay on her back, catching her breath.
"Loud bastards," she muttered. Then she crawled to the opposite edge of the roof, checked for any watchers, and dropped down.
In seconds, she was on the move again, heading straight back for the hospital.
Meanwhile, Jay and Angela had already reached the hospital and were waiting behind the same ambulance Lexie used to give her show.
Using that opportunity, he too allocated his stat points. After a few seconds, he grinned and looked at the panel while feeling the newly power flowing through his body.
Name: Jay Williams (21)
Affiliation: Terra (Ω2 Realm)
Race: Human-Type I {Awakened} - Level: 5/100 (2%)
Class: N/A | Profession: N/A
Title: N/A
Status: Focused, Calm
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HP: 250/250 | Stamina: 205/215 | MP: 20/20
Attributes:
Constitution: 20 [+2] (+2) -> 20
Vitality: 13 [+4]
Strength: 22 [+5] (+1)
Agility: 19 [+4] (+1)
Dexterity: 12 [+1]
Perception: 14 [+2]
Mystery: 4
Willpower: 9 [+1]
Wisdom: 7 [+7]
Free Attribute Points: 25 -> 4
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Talent: N/A
Traits: Rational, Attentive
Skills: Close-combat Mastery, Athlete, Cold-blooded
Affinity: Spirit
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"Yo. Didn't miss me too much?" Lexie said, walking up to them.
Jay looked her up and down, confirming she was unharmed. "Looks like you had a lot of fun."
"Yeah." She grabbed her gear and began putting it back on.
"Noticed anything?"
"Third floor has survivors," she replied.
"You're sure?" Angela glanced up, surprised. She was impressed Lexie could notice something like that while outrunning a horde. If it was her, she wouldn't have dared to get distracted by anything else.
"Yeah. Some of them peeked out while I was keeping the crowd busy."
Angela turned to Jay. "Jay, can we…"
He raised a hand, cutting her off. "Mission first. We check it out after."
Angela sighed and lowered her head. "All right."
"Good. Once we are inside, always stay with me. Don't act unless it is absolutely necessary." Jay looked at her deeply.
"Got it."
Without another word, Jay turned and led them toward the emergency department entrance.
As soon as Jay pushed open the door, the sharp sting of alcohol and disinfectant hit them.
"Ugh, I hate hospitals," Lexie muttered, gagging. Her enhanced senses made the stench almost unbearable.
As they talked, the few zombies inside had already dashed toward them. Easy targets. Jay and Lexie took them down before they could raise any wave.
Angela led them quickly through the emergency wing to a secured service corridor.
With a swipe of her access card, the door clicked open, and they descended the stairwell.
Unlike everywhere they had been before, the basement was plunged in an eerie and unsettling silence. As if it were in a world of its own.
"The morgue's on the left. Central supply and the blood bank are right," Angela whispered, leading them toward the latter. "We'll hit central supply first."
Jay nodded, but his eyes kept scanning. His frown deepened with each step.
"I don't like this place," Lexie muttered. "Let's grab what we need and get the hell out."
Soon they walked into the central supply.
A few moments later they stopped as a corpse came into their view. But it was different. Not like the bloody and chewed-up one that zombie left behind them.
It was desiccated. Wrinkled skin like leather, muscles dry and caved in, completely drained of moisture.
"Whatever sucked him like that had a great time."