Waking Rick and escaping the hospital
Lynn quickly scanned the hospital bed, confirming that this was the man they were looking for.
Rick Grimes!
He was still alive, but extremely weak.
He noticed the nearly empty bag of nutrient solution hanging beside the bed, its tubing connected to the IV catheter in Rick's arm.
"Min-seon! Check him! See if he can move!"
Lynn's voice was urgent, his gun aimed down the corridor outside.
The walkers' snarls and footsteps drew closer as they battered the warped fire door.
Min-seon said nothing. She rushed to the bedside, pressed her fingers to Rick's carotid artery, and lifted his eyelids to check his pupils, her movements quick.
"Weak vital signs, severe dehydration. This little bit of nutrient solution is all that's keeping him alive." She checked the catheter connection. "He can be moved, but we'll have to support him. He can't move on his own."
"Wake him up! Hurry!"
Lynn urged her on, firing at a walker that had pushed half its body through the doorway.
Bang!
The body fell.
Min-seon pulled a syringe from a side pocket of her first-aid kit-high-potency adrenaline.
She yanked back Rick's sleeve, drove the needle straight into his upper-arm muscle, and quickly depressed the plunger.
"Ugh-!"
Rick's body went rigid, and he sucked in a sharp breath.
His tightly shut eyes flew open. His pupils lost focus for a moment, then focused again, filled with bewilderment and terror.
He coughed violently, a rasp coming from his throat as he frantically scanned the dim, bloody hospital room before finally looking at the three armed strangers before him, all covered in blood.
"Y-you...?"
His voice was hoarse and weak, full of confusion and fear.
"No time to explain, Sheriff!" Lynn spoke rapidly. "I'm Lynn! Outside is full of man-eating dead people. You've been unconscious for a long time.
"We're here to save you. If you want to live, take a weapon and fight your way out with us. Now!"
Shock replaced the bewilderment in Rick's eyes at Lynn's words.
The walkers' snarls outside the room, the heavy stench of blood and decay, and the blood and weapons on the three of them all confirmed what he had said.
"A weapon..."
Rick tried to sit up, his arms trembling.
Davis braced his body hard against the shaking fire door and roared, "Boss! I can't hold it! And there's still the bomb!"
Lynn immediately pulled a spare pistol and two magazines from behind his waist and shoved them into Rick's trembling hands. "Hold it tight! Safety's here. Pull the trigger. Aim for the head!"
He gave quick instructions, then unfastened the fire axe at his waist and thrust it over. "Use this up close! Split their skulls!"
The cold metal and its weight made Rick shudder. He gritted his teeth and gripped the gun and axe, his knuckles turning white.
"Min-seon, cut the IV line! Davis, get ready to move!"
Lynn gave the orders, moving to the door to look outside.
Dark shapes surged beyond the doorway, rotten faces packed layer upon layer beneath the emergency lights.
Min-seon's scalpel flashed, slicing through the connecting tube and leaving the IV catheter in place.
She slung one of Rick's arms over her shoulders. "Sheriff, stay close if you want to live. Put everything you've got into moving your legs!"
Davis took a deep breath and growled, "Go!"
He suddenly stepped aside. Without his support, the fire door burst open under the horde's assault, and rotting bodies poured inside.
Boom!!!
Davis fired his shotgun the instant the door opened, blasting apart the upper bodies of the first few walkers. Shredded flesh and foul blood briefly blocked the surge behind them.
The machete in his left hand hacked down the walkers squeezing inside.
"Move!"
Lynn roared, firing his pistol repeatedly, picking off targets lunging from the side.
Supporting Rick, Min-seon stayed close behind Davis.
Rick stumbled, relying entirely on Min-seon to drag him along.
His face was deathly pale as he watched walkers lunge close with their rotten mouths open, fear and adrenaline surging through him.
Instinctively, he raised the heavy fire axe and swung with all his strength at the head of a walker that had lunged right in front of him.
Squelch!
The axe blade split into its skull, splashing thick, blackened fluid across his face.
Rick's stomach churned. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the axe free. His gun hand was trembling too, but his desire to survive overwhelmed his fear. Copying Lynn, he aimed at another approaching walker's head and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The recoil jarred his wrist numb. The bullet skimmed past the walker's ear and struck the wall.
"Aim for the head! Steady!"
Lynn's voice rang out from behind and to the side as he shot down the walker that had nearly reached Rick.
Davis cleared the way ahead with his shotgun and machete, each blast briefly tearing open the horde; Min-seon followed closely with Rick, using her scalpel to finish off any that slipped through; Lynn brought up the rear, his pistol clearing threats from behind and the flanks while he also watched Rick's condition.
Treading on sticky, slippery flesh and blood, they struggled along the narrow corridor as walkers kept pouring out of rooms and closing in from both ends.
Shotgun booms, pistol cracks, a machete cleaving bone, a scalpel stabbing flesh, walkers snarling, panting, and footsteps all mingled together.
Out of the corner of his eye, Lynn spotted the fire stairwell at the end of the corridor-it too was blocked by walkers, with even more piled below, climbing upward.
"Davis! The stairwell! Clear a path!"
Lynn roared, changing magazines and shooting down two nurse walkers to the side.
Bellowing, Davis blasted his shotgun's last two rounds into the horde at the stairwell, clearing a small gap, then swung the empty gun into an approaching walker's face with a distinct crack of bone.
Hacking with the machete in his left hand, he carved out a foothold at the stairwell entrance.
"Get down! Hurry!"
Davis roared, blocking the stairwell entrance with his body and holding back the surging horde with his machete and brute strength.
Half dragging, half carrying Rick, Min-seon rushed toward the stairwell.
Lynn covered the rear, suppressing their pursuers with gunfire.
Buzz... buzz... buzz...
The deadly countdown's beeping reached Lynn's ears through the gaps around the door and the snarling.
There wasn't much time left!
"Hurry!"
Lynn's voice tore as he became the last to step onto the bloodstained iron stairs leading down.
Above them, the horde poured down like a black tide, rotten arms reaching for their heads and backs.
"Go! Go! Go!"
Davis roared from below, hacking at walkers surging up around the turn in the stairs.
The four scrambled and stumbled down the steep stairs for their lives.
The horde poured down from above, while obstacles kept coming from below.
Every step landed on slippery blood and severed limbs.
As they staggered onto the second-floor landing-
Rumble-!!!!
A deep, thunderous explosion erupted directly overhead-on the fourth floor!
The entire building shook violently. Dust and rubble fell from the top of the stairwell as the shock wave rushed down the shaft.
"Get down!"
Lynn roared, tackling Rick and Min-seon beside him to the floor.
Davis ducked, turning his back toward the blast.
Boom!!!
Scorching air swept down from the fourth-floor stairwell entrance, carrying rubble, glass, metal fragments, and severed walker limbs. Flames engulfed the stairs above, thick smoke billowed, and shattered walker bodies were hurled through the air and crashed down.
The explosion was deafening, the blast scorching. The stairs shook violently.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Coughing, Lynn pushed aside a burning piece of wooden board.
His ears rang, and his vision darkened.
Rick and Min-seon were covered in dust and grime. Davis shook rubble off his head.
The explosion had cleared out the pursuing horde above-they had been blown apart or hurled away.
But the thunderous noise, flames, and thick smoke instantly drew the attention of every walker around the hospital.
Denser, louder snarls rose from the ruined streets in every direction. The entire hospital area erupted into activity.
"Run!"
Lynn roared hoarsely, struggling to his feet and pulling Rick up.
He looked down. More walkers were pouring into the first-floor stairwell entrance, but the explosion seemed to have temporarily opened a path to the exit.
There was no choice.
Supporting one another, covered in blood and dust, the four stumbled down the last flight of stairs and plunged into the hospital's rear courtyard-the shock wave had swept through here, leaving the walkers temporarily scattered, but thick smoke and the air of death filled the space.
Behind them stood the hospital's main building, now a sea of flames and a magnet for walkers.
Ahead lay the horde converging from every direction, drawn by the noise.
They had made it out of the hospital, but more walkers were pouring toward them.