Time ticked away, and the preliminary autopsy report was nearing completion.
Suddenly, a teeth-gritting "creak," as if leather were being forcibly stretched, rang out!
The white sheet covering Joseph's corpse suddenly arched upward at the site of the massive wound on his chest and abdomen!
Immediately after, that arm lifted without warning, then dropped stiffly onto the edge of the metal table with a dull "thud"!
"Ah!" the young recorder let out a short scream, and the clipboard in his hand clattered to the floor.
Watson and the medical examiner looked up abruptly, their pupils constricting sharply.
On the autopsy table, the "corpse" of Joseph Hawkins—disemboweled and with viscera exposed—was slowly sitting up, section by section, in a stiff, puppet-like posture that defied all biomechanics!
From the torn wound, more black, asphalt-like slime gushed out, dripping down the edge of the metal table.
He kept his head lowered, the torn wound on his neck gaping open like a dark hole, and then, that head lifted with bone-chilling slowness.
In the eye sockets, the original eyeballs were gone, replaced by two turbid, sticky masses of white substance, like boiled egg whites, slowly rotating.
Eventually, they "looked" toward the medical examiner, who was closest to him, terrified out of his wits, and frozen in place, unable to move!
A primal fear, stemming from the very instinct of life, instantly seized Watson!
It was not as if he had never faced death, but the scene before him completely shattered his scientific worldview as a doctor; he felt all the blood in his body rush to his heart, only to instantly freeze, leaving his mind blank.
"Roar!" A roar that sounded entirely inhuman, mixed with a gurgling liquid sound, erupted from the depths of Joseph's torn throat!
It thrust out that hand, covered in slime and blood, and with a foul, rotting stench, it snatched at the medical examiner's neck, who was inches away, faster than lightning!
"Move!" Watson's military instinct finally overcame his fear; he roared and used all his strength to shove the petrified medical examiner aside!
That withered, claw-like hand grazed the medical examiner's collar, tearing away a few threads of fabric.
Joseph's head turned mechanically toward Watson, and those two white, viscous masses seemed to "look" his way.
The pushed-aside medical examiner collapsed to the floor, his hands trembling and his teeth chattering uncontrollably.
"Stop him! Use a tool, attack!"
While roaring at the terrified recorder, Watson grabbed a heavy bone chisel from the instrument tray nearby and smashed it hard against Joseph's outstretched arm!
"Bang!"
With a dull thud, the bone chisel hit as if striking tough leather, sinking in slightly, but failing to cause the expected fracture.
More terrifyingly, the black slime gushing from the wound on the struck arm seemed to writhe with a life of its own, quickly wrapping around the impacted area, and the dent was visibly, slowly recovering!
Joseph seemed angered; he abandoned the medical examiner and clumsily tried to crawl off the autopsy table, turning his target toward Watson!
Black slime dripped continuously with his movements, leaving winding trails on the floor.
"No! Don't come over here!"
The recorder finally broke down, scrambling toward the door and pounding frantically on the heavy metal gate.
"Open the door! Open it! Monster! There's a monster inside!"
Inside the morgue, the lights flickered on and off; Watson gripped the bone chisel, his back pressed against the cold instrument cabinet, sweat soaking his shirt, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst through his chest.
He watched as that "thing," wrapped in black slime and exuding the stench of death and decay, closed in on him; those hollow eye sockets, streaming with white slime, were like two abysses leading to hell.
His rationality collapsed completely, leaving only the most primal survival instinct screaming.
What he was facing was by no means any disease or death phenomenon recorded in medical books; this was blasphemy, the most thorough trampling of the laws of life!
Just at this critical moment, the morgue's heavy metal door was suddenly pulled open from the outside!
A young woman appeared at the doorway, wearing a simple white shirt and jeans, with short hair and glasses; she had a lovely face, but it was currently filled with terror and disbelief.
She held a folder in her hand, seemingly there to deliver some documents.
"Jo... Brother Joseph?!" She looked at the terrifying existence on the autopsy table and screamed, the folder in her hand falling to the ground with a "snap."
Hearing this voice, the monster, which had been pouncing on Watson, suddenly froze; its horrific head turned extremely slowly toward the woman at the door, and a sound of unknown meaning, like a whimpering gurgle, erupted from deep in its throat.
This brief stagnation lasted only for a moment.
The next second, a far more violent and desperate malice than when it had pounced on Watson erupted from that decaying shell!
A piercing shriek that tore at the eardrums, mixed with the sounds of boiling liquid and grinding bones, made the morgue lights flicker frantically!
Joseph completely abandoned Watson, who was inches away; his withered, claw-like arm, carrying a foul wind that tore through the air, lunged at a speed far exceeding human limits straight toward the woman standing frozen like a statue at the door!
"No!"
Watson roared and lunged forward to stop it, but was sent stumbling by the foul wind the monster stirred up.
His eyes were wide with rage, and his intuition told him that he could not let this monster get what it wanted, or there would be severe consequences.
The woman's pupils dilated, the shadow of death instantly enveloping her; she even forgot to breathe, forced to watch as that nightmarish body, which had once been her closest kin, lunged at her with a rotting stench.
At the critical moment!
A figure flashed out from behind the woman like a cheetah!
It was Wright Williams!
His face was as pale as paper, and extreme terror almost consumed him, but some deeper courage, stemming from the brilliance of the human soul, overcame his physiological trembling.
He did not try to block that inhuman strength, but instead used all his might to slam hard into the woman!
"Bang!"
The two rolled clumsily to the ground, narrowly avoiding Joseph's lethal swipe.
The withered claw grazed the woman's hair, taking a few strands with it, and slammed into the heavy metal door frame, emitting a harsh scraping sound and leaving several deep gouges!
The monster missed, its fury redoubled; it let out a deafening roar, thick black saliva dripping from its torn mouth, and its turbid eye sockets locked onto Wright and the woman tangled on the floor, preparing to pounce again!
"Look at the camera! Monster!"
Holmes's cold voice came from outside the door, the shotgun in his hand in point-blank contact with the monster's side profile, the muzzle erupting with fireworks woven from pellets and flame.
The monster's cheek caved inward, the turbid white matter in its eye sockets and shattered teeth mixed with blood splattered outward, and its body was knocked back beside the autopsy table.
Watson had somehow circled behind the autopsy table, the heavy bone chisel he had dropped earlier held high in his hand; without a moment's hesitation, he used all his strength to hurl the bone chisel at the monster's exposed back.
"Splurt!"
The bone chisel accurately pierced near Joseph's spine, sinking deep into the viscous, slime-covered rotting flesh; this time, the attack seemed to hit something critical.
The monster's massive body shuddered violently, its forward lunge halted abruptly; it let out a howl of mixed pain and rage, and suddenly turned to swipe its claws.
But Holmes's previous shot had nearly shattered half its skull; having lost its vision, it now seemed capable only of flailing wildly.
"Watson, catch!"
Holmes tossed the shotgun to Watson; Watson leaped, caught the shotgun, landed with a roll to absorb the force, and rose to aim at the monster's regenerating head.
"Bang!"
The monster was knocked to the depths of the morgue, its already ruined head completely shattered.
"Quick! Now's our chance! Get out!"
Watson took the opportunity to scramble up and roar at the petrified medical examiner and recorder on the floor.
Taking advantage of the monster's brief incapacitation, Wright dragged the limp, shell-shocked woman out of the morgue; the terrified medical examiner and recorder scrambled out after them, with Holmes and Watson following closely behind.
"Close the door! Close it quickly!" Watson shouted while firing at the monster.
The heavy metal door was slammed shut with all their might by Holmes and Wright, the heavy bolt falling with a "click," temporarily sealing off the horrific roars and sickening stench inside.
Outside the door, the corridor lights were ghastly white; the woman sat slumped on the floor, her hands tightly covering her mouth, tears streaming silently, her body shaking uncontrollably from violent sobbing and fear.
Wright leaned against the cold wall, gasping for air, his shirt under his trench coat soaked through with cold sweat, his hand gripping the gun trembling uncontrollably; the medical examiner and the recorder were slumped on the other side, their faces drained of color.
Inside the door, the sounds of impact, roaring, and the screeching of twisting metal continued, like the drums of hell beating against everyone's hearts.