The smell of antiseptic hung in the air like a calming antidote to Junming’s mind. It had only been seconds ago that the announcement resounded in the single-story hospital wing that Holland Base had fallen. Junming didn’t want to think about the dozens of lives inside the base that would be lost or the dozens of corpses that may be headed their way. 

He shook his head, his fringe falling over his eyes. He had to focus on the lives that he could save here. He moved to the next bed to check on the patient’s vitals. There was no point lingering on useless thoughts. The shield would protect them, the guards would defend the zone. Everything would be fine. 

“Dr. Yu?” A soft voice piped up.

Smiling, he turned to the girl lying on the next bed. “Alicia, I told you that I’m not a doctor.”

“Well, you have a white coat and a stethoscope around your neck. I think that counts as being a doctor.”

Junming’s soft round eyes twinkled with humor. He laughed. “Okay, sure. How are you feeling today?”

The ten-year-old girl hummed in thought. She rubbed a hand on her stomach and grinned, her smile stretching her chubby cheeks. “I think I’m better.”

“That’s good. We can probably discharge you today. How about that?”

Alicia gave a soft whoop. 

“You’re discharging my daughter?” 

Junming spun around to see the frowning face of a tall woman with high cheekbones and narrow eyes that seemed to bore into his soul. He gulped. “Yes, she’s recovered well, Mrs. Lim.”

Mrs. Lim walked to her daughter’s bed and placed a tin lunch box carrier on the table. She dropped into the chair, her handbag falling from her shoulder and into her lap. Her brows creased even further as she studied her daughter’s complexion.

“Licia, are you feeling okay?” she said, her tone filled with concern.

“I’m okay, Mummy. I want to go home.”

A soft smile flitted across Mrs. Lim’s hard face. “We’ll go home soon and then Mummy will cook your favorite chicken nuggets, okay?”

The little girl squealed in delight. Junming slotted the clipboard into the pocket at the end of the bed when a rumble shook the structure. Equipment fell to the ground with loud clanks and crashes. Machines vibrated on their stands, throwing off their readings. Junming rushed to pick up the IV drips that had fallen to the ground, righting them, and checking that the patients connected to them were fine.

Panicked murmurs broke out in the hospital. A redheaded nurse approached Junming after straightening out the fallen equipment on the other end of the room. Her face was a tad paler, her eyes wide with anxiety. “What was that, Jun?”

“It’s probably nothing,” he assured her despite the worry clawing at him. “Maybe it was the power engineers playing around with a new toy.”

His reasoning seemed ridiculous to him but the nurse bobbed her head in agreement, eager to chalk her fears to paranoia. “You're right, it must be.”

“Come on. We need to calm the patients.”

The nurse hurried to the other end of the room while he covered his side. He wished they had more staff around but not many surviving people were in the medical profession. He had only been a male nurse before the apocalypse but now, he had to step up given the lack of actual doctors. He wished there was someone to guide him on the more difficult cases but there was nothing he could do but read up on textbooks during his time off. 

As he moved down the row of beds, assuaging the patients that nothing was amiss, unease ate at his gut. A rumble of that size couldn’t be good. His eyes darted to the emergency speakers at the back of the wall, half-expecting the evacuation announcement to sound. When he got to Alicia’s bed, Mrs. Lim was on her feet, pacing.

“Can you discharge my daughter now?” she said.

Junming looked down at a terrified Alicia. He pulled his lips into the most unperturbed smile he could muster despite his nerves being as frayed as the patients. “Sure, I could do that but I’m sure everything is just-”

The door to the hospital wing flung open, letting in a blast of hot air. A guard stumbled in, his hand holding his side, blood caking his blue tee. Silence descended on the residents in the wing. The guard swayed from side to side, his lidded eyes searching the room until it landed on Junming.

“Dr. Yu,” he rasped, his feet shuffling forward.

Junming lurched into motion, gesturing to the cowering nurse to help him. They supported the guard on either side, hooking the man’s arms over their shoulders as they led him to an empty bed. The patients leaned forward, listening in with bated breath.

“You have to evacuate,” the guard wheezed as the nurse examined him. “The shield… is down.”

Collective gasps broke out.

“The gates are open. We can’t… hold them back much longer.” 

Junming’s jaw tightened. He looked around at the frightened faces. Some of the patients could only limp. Others were nursing wounds that hadn’t healed. The guard gripped his white coat, staining it with dark blood.

“Go…now.”

“What about your wound?”

“Just…slap a bandage on this.” Wincing, he lifted his shirt to show a small, deep hole in his torso. “Then I’ll be good to go.”

Junming turned to the nurse. “Mei, can you take care of him?”

Mei’s face was ashen but she gave a grim nod. Her lips trembled but she kept her voice calm. “Go ahead and get the other patients ready.”

Junming turned to the crowd of patients looking at him with a mixture of fear and expectation. He cleared his throat and tried his best to project a self-confident tone. “Everyone, we need to evacuate in an organized manner just the way we’ve practiced during drills. Those who are more able-bodied will help those who need assistance. We will proceed in a single file to the ambulance.” 

“This is bullshit,” a heavyset man with the face of a bulldog boomed from the back of the group. “I’m leaving now.”

As the man stormed towards the door, Junming hurried after him. “Sir, please. We need to-”

“My son is waiting for me at home.” The man rounded on him, eyes blazing. “I’m not waiting around for you guys to limp your way to the exit.”

Left speechless, Junming watched numbly as more able-bodied men and women streamed out of the hospital wing. He looked behind him at the remaining patients and Mei who was tending to the guard’s wound. Only the weak and the elderly were left. And Mrs. Lim with her daughter. Eight people to fit into the ambulance, eight people to save.

He gulped. “There’s no need to worry. We can do this if we stick together.”

“What should we do, Dr. Yu?” An old woman’s tremulous voice carried across the room.

“Grab any food or water you can find. I’ll get the first aid kid. Then we’ll move in-” He glanced down at his thinwatch. “-two minutes.”

Everyone snapped into action. Junming rushed to the store room at the back of the wing. He unlocked it with a swipe of his card. Inside, the lights flickered on. He grabbed one of the backpacks hanging on the wall and ran down the aisle, his eyes darting across the shelves of medicine, equipment, and first aid materials. Starting from the back of the room, he tossed bottles and packets into the bag. Anything that he thought would be useful went in. 

By the time he was done, the bag was full. He unslung his stethoscope and threw it in before zipping the bag up. When he emerged from the room, Mei was done with the guard. The man was on his feet, a revolver in his hand. His face was deadly pale like someone on the brink of death but his lips were set in a grim, determined line.

“Let’s go,” he said hoarsely.

Junming looked around at the group of patients. What little belongings and survival items they had were clutched in their arms or slung across their shoulders. He nodded. “Stay close.”

Leading the group, he came to a stop at the exit door. He stopped, his hand on the doorknob. His gaze skittered across a tray of equipment and he made an instinctive decision to slip the scissors off the tray. Clutching his small weapon, he opened the door an inch. Ear-piercing wails and growls filled the air. 

Behind him, he heard the group gasp and whimper at the sounds. Fear and trepidation made him freeze. But a push on his shoulder by Mrs. Lim from behind made him steel his nerves. He pushed the door open and slid out into the open air. 

The chaotic scene stole his breath away. Guards were retreating as they fired on a river of incoming zombies, their numbers dwindling by the second. The familiar iron tang of blood polluted the air. Limbs and brain matter spattered the streets and the buildings. 

A half scream came from behind him before Mrs. Lim clamped a hand over her daughter’s mouth. Shocked into action, Junming crept along the side of the building, the patients behind him in single file, with Mei and the guard bringing up the rear. They reached the back of the hospital wing where he swiped his card at the reader. The shutters to the garage cranked upwards with a loud clang. 

“Shit,” Junming cursed, his head whipping around. 

The noise attracted two running zombies who came barrelling down the alley. The guard picked them off with a fast squeeze of the trigger. He yelled, “Go, go!”

No cajoling was needed. The group scrambled into the garage. Junming tapped a button on his thinwatch, opening the back and front doors of the ambulance. He jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine. A wail sliced through the air.

“No, no, no.” Frantic, Junming tried to turn off the siren. His hands hit every button he could find on the dashboard. Nothing worked.

Mei climbed into the front seat beside him. “Come on!” she gestured to the guard standing in front of the garage, shooting at the incoming zombies attracted by the siren.

Junming tested the accelerator, feeling the ambulance vibrate under his feet. A gasp from Mei made him look up. Two zombies had launched themselves on the guard. A shot rang out in the confines of the garage. 

He blanched. The guard laid dead, the zombies falling onto his body to feast. With their last line of defense gone, the zombies poured in unfettered. Junming hurriedly hit the button to close the back door and floored the accelerator. The ambulance jerked forward, hitting three zombies to the ground. 

Mei clung to the handlebar as Junming slammed the ambulance into an oncoming flood of undead. Gritting his teeth, he brought the vehicle careening onto the road, narrowly avoiding fleeing residents by a hair. As the ambulance slowed around the bend, several thumps came from the ceiling.

“Shit, they’re on top of us!” Mei yelled. 

Junming inhaled sharply. He veered to the right to avoid a burning barricade, throwing off a few of their unwelcome guests on top. His hands spun the wheel like a madman as he tried to bring the teetering vehicle back on track. 

“Watch out, Jun!”

His eyes widened as a child ran out into the middle of the road, chased by a zombie. With no options and no time to think, he did the only thing he could. He slammed on the brakes. The wailing ambulance balanced precariously on its wheels, sliding down the road until it slammed into a lamppost. His head hit the wheel with a resounding smack. Blackness swallowed him.