The jeep bounced, rumbling over the rubble and filthy debris piled on the road.
The vehicle shook violently, its chassis groaning constantly.
The barbed wire welded to the outside of the windows was splattered with dark red, viscous liquid, making the view even blurrier.
The strong, putrid stench was pervasive; even with the windows tightly shut, it seeped into everyone's nostrils.
"Turn left! Into the alley! Shake them off!"
Lynn roared, his body thrown against the car door. The map in his hand was already crumpled, the "safe route" marked on it a joke in the face of the horde of walkers.
He could only rely on his memory and Davis's instincts to guide the way.
Davis slammed the steering wheel, and the jeep's tires shrieked as it skidded sideways into a narrower alley, piled high with dumpsters and abandoned furniture.
The rear of the car scraped against the mottled brick wall, peeling off large chunks of plaster.
In the rearview mirror, a dozen tattered walkers were left behind at the alley entrance, howling in vain.
But more footsteps and howls were converging from the ruins all around.
"Damn it! It never ends!"
Davis cursed, his foot pressed to the floor.
The jeep crashed through the alley, knocking over wooden crates and trash cans, the sounds of twisting metal and scattering garbage constant.
Minshan clutched the first-aid kit tightly, every bump making her nauseous.
She forced herself not to look out the window at the occasional rotten faces that clawed at the barbed wire, instead biting her lower lip and concentrating on inventorying the items in the bag.
She was regretting coming out now.
"Right turn at the next intersection! We should... we should be able to see the hospital now."
Lynn's voice was strained as he tried to recognize the streetscape flashing past the window.
Through the haze, the outline of the main building of the Municipal Jin Memorial Hospital finally appeared.
The walls were covered in charred marks, many windows shattered and dark.
What was more disheartening was that the square and streets around the building were covered with densely writhing figures.
There were hundreds, thousands of walkers, like a layer of foul-smelling moss, tightly enveloping the hospital.
The jeep's engine sound was like drops of oil in a hot pan.
Boom—!
The entire horde instantly stirred, countless rotten heads turning towards the source of the sound. Thousands of hollow, hungry eyes fixed on the speeding jeep, and a deafening collective howl rose to the sky, the sound waves pounding against the windshield.
"Fuck..."
Davis looked ahead, his palms instantly drenched in cold sweat.
"Don't stop, punch through, find the back door, the fire escape."
Lynn's roar was drowned out by the walker's howls. He pointed to a narrow direction on the side of the building that led to the underground parking garage entrance, "Ram through, break the barricade."
"Hold on!"
A fierce glint flashed in Davis's eyes. He floored the accelerator, the jeep's engine roared, its speed reaching its limit, as it charged towards the abandoned ambulance and barricade piled at the entrance.
Boom—!!!
With a violent metallic crash, the side of the abandoned ambulance caved in and deformed, and the jeep's front bumper twisted and broke.
The barbed wire on the windshield groaned and warped.
The immense impact slammed the three people inside against their seatbelts and the car body.
The car was stuck in the broken barricade, white smoke rising from the hood, making a dying sound.
In front of the car, several of the nearest walkers were sent flying, their bones shattering.
But more walkers surged forward, their rotten arms frantically slapping the windows and body of the car, their howls close at hand, thick filth smearing the barbed wire.
"Get out! Quickly!"
Lynn was the first to unbuckle his seatbelt, kicking open the deformed car door and raising his gun to shoot.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The suppressed pistol made muffled sounds, and the heads of two walkers attempting to reach into the car door were thrown back, splattering foul blood and brain matter on the inside of the door.
The smell of gunpowder overpowered the stench of the walkers.
"Roar!"
Davis kicked open his car door.
His thick-backed machete in his left hand swung out, cleaving a lunging walker diagonally from shoulder to waist, its internal organs spilling onto the ground. With his right hand, he grabbed his shotgun, pointing the barrel at the swarming horde.
Boom!!!
The shotgun roared!
Seven or eight densely packed walkers directly in front had their upper bodies explode, shattered bones, rotten flesh, and foul blood spraying backward, temporarily clearing a small area.
"Minshan! Keep up!"
Lynn shouted, firing single shots at the walkers closing in from the side, as more and more surged forward.
Minshan's face was pale. Clutching the first-aid kit, she scrambled out of the back seat, using both hands and feet.
She suppressed her nausea and fear, her eyes cold.
She gripped a slender surgical knife. When a walker, stumbling from a shotgun blast, lunged at her, she sharply slid to the side to dodge, simultaneously plunging the surgical knife precisely into the walker's eye socket.
Pfft!
The blade sank in, and the walker stiffened and fell.
Minshan pulled out the knife, following closely behind Lynn and Davis through the temporary path cleared by their gunfire.
She was no ordinary person to have survived this apocalypse.
"This way! The fire escape!"
Lynn spotted their target—a rusted metal fire escape embedded in the side of the building.
Below the ladder, dozens of walkers blocked the way.
"Davis! Clear the way!"
Lynn roared, reloading his magazine to suppress the flank.
"Get out of my way!!"
Davis roared, charging towards the horde at the staircase entrance.
The shotgun boomed at close range!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each shot sent flesh and blood flying, and his machete slashed left and right, severing limbs.
He literally tore a path paved with shredded flesh and foul blood through the horde, slime splattering all over him.
"Hurry up!"
Davis used his body to hold back the surging horde of walkers, roaring with his back to the staircase entrance.
Lynn grabbed Minshan's arm, dragging her towards the fire escape: "You go first! Quickly!"
He shouted, his pistol firing at the walkers bypassing Davis.
Minshan didn't hesitate, grabbing the cold metal ladder and climbing up.
Lynn followed closely.
Seeing the two climbing, Davis abruptly retreated onto the ladder, aiming his shotgun at the crowded horde below and unleashing another volley.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Flesh and blood splattered below the ladder, temporarily blocking the walkers from climbing.
The three climbed desperately up the steep fire escape, amidst the stench of walkers and gunpowder.
Heavy footsteps and gasps echoed within the metal passage.
Below, the walkers howled like a tide, constantly converging, piling up, and clawing.
Finally, Lynn saw the rusty small platform on the fourth floor.
The platform connected to a heavy, paint-peeling fire door.
"Fourth floor! West side! Quickly!"
Lynn gasped as he climbed onto the platform, pushing hard on the door.
It didn't budge; the door was propped from the inside.
"Get out of the way!"
Davis climbed up, swung the butt of his shotgun, and smashed it with all his might at the spot next to the door lock.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The impact was deafening, the metal Men Ban denting and deforming.
Boom!
With the final heavy blow, the lock, along with the deformed metal plate, broke open, and the fire door sprang inward, leaving a crack.
A stench ten times stronger than downstairs, a mix of disinfectant, blood, and putrid decay, surged out from the door crack, hitting the three in the face.
Lynn suppressed his dizziness and urge to vomit, squeezing in sideways first.
Minshan and Davis followed closely behind.
Behind the door was the fourth-floor corridor of the inpatient ward.
In the dim light, a few emergency lights flickered with a ghastly green glow.
Most of the patient room doors on both sides of the corridor were open.
The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered with a thick layer of dark red, black, and viscous filth.
Countless flies buzzed and swarmed over the filth and decaying corpses.
More walkers roamed the corridor.
Wearing tattered patient gowns or medical scrubs, their limbs incomplete, dragging their intestines, they shuffled and moved on the sticky floor.
The stench was suffocating.
Lynn's intrusion broke the dead silence.
Hiss—ha—!
The nearest walker suddenly turned its head, its rotten face ghastly in the green light, and lunged.
Immediately after, the walkers throughout the entire corridor were startled, turning simultaneously, emitting piercing collective howls. Dragging their broken bodies, they surged out from both ends of the corridor and from the patient room doors, forming a dense pincer attack from front and back.
"West side! Find the independent room on the west side."
Lynn, relying on his memory, shouted, his voice hoarse and distorted, his pistol firing frantically.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But more walkers surged forward!
"Roar!"
Davis's shotgun boomed in the narrow corridor.
Boom!
Several walkers directly in front were blown apart. His left-hand machete slashed backward, severing half the head of a walker from the side, splattering foul blood.
"This way!"
Minshan shrieked, plunging her surgical knife into the temple of a nurse walker that lunged from a patient room.
She pointed to a room deeper in the corridor with a blurry room number that read "West-407," "407! That's it!"
The three stood back-to-back, fighting their way through the corridor of death.
Bullets whistled, machetes hacked, shotguns roared, and surgical knives plunged into eye sockets or temples.
Every step was on sticky blood and shredded flesh.
walkers constantly fell, only to be replaced by more.
Finally, they fought their way to the door of room 407.
The door was ajar, splattered with blackened bloodstains.
Davis slammed the door open with his shoulder, pointing his shotgun into the dim room.
The room was a mess, the bed overturned, instruments shattered, and large patches of dark red bloodstains on the walls.
In the center of the room stood a bed.
A pale-faced, blonde man in a blue and white striped patient gown lay quietly, his chest rising and falling faintly.
It was Rick Grimes!
He was still unconscious.
They had finally found him.