Back in the main ward, Dr. Okafor halted before a set of doors marked with a faded sign.
QUARANTINE. DO NOT ENTER.
She didn’t open them.
"What’s inside?"
"A patient," she said, "he was bitten three days ago."
"Bitten by one of the monsters?"
"He was attacked near the market. His friends brought him here."
Daniel frowned. "Shouldn’t he be dead by now?"
"He should be."
Dr. Okafor finally turned, her expression carefully schooled, and opened the door. "He isn’t."
Inside the room was a modest sized storage space lined with shelves, a single cot and a small chair dominating the center. On the cot lay a man, his right arm wrapped in blood soaked bandages, his eyes closed.
Daniel stepped inside and crouched beside the cot. The skin of the man’s face was sallow, almost gray, and his veins stood out in stark relief against the paleness of his skin.
"What’s wrong with him?"
"He was bitten near the elbow," Dr. Okafor said, "the infection should have killed him within hours, but it didn’t. It... changed him."
Daniel looked over the man’s body, noting the way the skin around the bandage appeared thicker and tougher than the surrounding flesh.
"And now?"
"Now his body is rejecting the infection," she said, "it’s adapting to it."
Daniel stood and turned to face her. "Does he know what’s happening to him?"
"He was lucid when we brought him inside," she said, "but he didn’t understand what was happening. He didn’t realize he’d been bitten."
"He’s still confused?"
Dr. Okafor nodded. "The last two times he woke up, he was dreaming. Waking nightmares, I assume. Then he fell asleep again and hasn’t woken up since."
Daniel looked back at the patient. "Has he shown any other... abilities?"
"Not that we’ve seen."
Daniel turned back to Dr. Okafor. "Have you told anyone about this?"
"It’s not that important," she said, her eyes flicking to the closed door.
"It is if he’s going to wake up."
She hesitated, then shook her head. "We’ve been keeping him sedated. The last time he woke up, he was delirious and aggressive."
Daniel turned to the door, pausing just inside the frame. "Can he still fight?"
Dr. Okafor followed his gaze and gave a short, bitter laugh. "I don’t know, lieutenant. He’s not strong enough to stand on his own, but his body is changing. He might be able to fight, but I wouldn’t bet on it."
Daniel stepped back out into the hallway and turned to face her. "You let him stay here."
Dr. Okafor exhaled sharply. "What would you have me do? Kill him?"
"You might want to."
Dr. Okafor’s gaze snapped to his. "Do you think he’ll become one of them?"
"It’s possible," Daniel said, "and right now it doesn’t matter one way or the other, but it will before long."
She turned and walked away without another word.
Outside the hospital, survivors gathered, watching the proceedings with wary eyes. A man at the front of the growing crowd raised his bandaged hand. "You’ve seen him."
Daniel nodded.
"He needs to die."
Dr. Okafor stepped forward. "He’s still alive."
"He won’t be for long," the man said, "and when he does die, he’ll turn into one of them. We’ve seen it happen before."
"Where?"
The man gestured vaguely towards the windows. "Out there. People who get bitten turn into monsters. That man in there is going to be one of them."
"We don’t know that."
"We’ve seen enough of it to know it’s happening again."
Others in the crowd murmured in agreement.
Daniel took a step forward, placing himself between the survivors and the doors. "Nobody is going to kill anyone today."
The man at the front of the crowd narrowed his eyes. "And who are you to decide that?"
"A soldier who’s seen enough people die today."
"That’s not an answer."
"It’s the only one you’re going to get."
The man didn’t move, but he did turn away, muttering to the others.
Dr. Okafor stepped up beside Daniel. "Thank you."
Daniel nodded, but didn’t turn to face her. "What happens when he wakes up?"
"I don’t know."
"That’s not an answer."
"I know."
The survivors began to disperse, some muttering to each other, others simply turning and walking away. Daniel turned to face Dr. Okafor. "What’s his name?"
"Oluwaseun."
Daniel frowned. "You don’t know do you?"
She shook her head. "I’ve seen a lot of people die today, lieutenant. I don’t have time to memorize names."
Daniel nodded slowly. "He needs to be moved. If he wakes up, we might not be able to stop him."
Dr. Okafor looked past him at the setting sun. "We should leave before night falls."
Daniel turned away, already pulling his radio from his jacket. "I’ll set up a perimeter. We’ll rotate sentries through the night."
"Your men will be exhausted."
"They won’t have to do it alone."
The survivors gathered at the edges of the camp, waiting as Daniel and his soldiers took their positions around the hospital. Musa found him near the entrance, leaning against the wall.
"You know that man was right."
"Which of them?"
"The one who wanted to kill the patient."
Daniel turned to face him. "You think we should?"
"I think we don’t know what we’re dealing with," Musa said, "but I also think you made the right decision. Killing him without understanding what’s happening would be a mistake."
Daniel nodded slowly. "You’re getting soft."
"I’m getting tired."
Musa smiled. "Same thing."
Midnight found Daniel pacing restlessly outside the hospital doors. The city was alive with the sounds of battle, gunfire echoing in the distance as explosions rocked the skyline. He pulled his rifle onto his shoulder and peered around the corner of the doorway.
Monsters.
Dozens of them, converging on the hospital from three directions, a steady stream of the creatures flowing from the darkness. They were larger than the ones he’d fought before, their movements impossibly quick, eyes glowing with an eerie blue light. They surrounded the building, snarling and barking, testing the limits of the sandbag barriers.
Daniel knew what was coming.
"Hold the line!"
His men opened fire, cutting into the mass of monsters with deadly accuracy. Daniel moved to the right flank, his rifle already tracking a pair of the creatures that were pushing forward through the breach.
A single shot rang out from the upper story windows, and Daniel turned just in time to see one of the monsters lunge through the opening. He rolled away, narrowly avoiding the creature’s snapping jaws, and fired a burst of rounds into its chest.
The monster staggered back, but the others spilled through the opening, crowding the doorway in a writhing mass of teeth and claws. Daniel fired another burst and the mass recoiled, several of the creatures falling back on their haunches with gaping wounds in their sides.
Then the firing stopped.
Daniel turned, his rifle tracking the movement of another monstrous figure that was creeping through the opening. He fired another burst, emptying the magazine into its skull, and the thing collapsed in a heap of twitching flesh.
The survivors were pushing forward behind him, rifles raised and ready, but Daniel turned back to the doorway as the last of the creatures fell.
Three of them, counting the one that was currently laying on the pavement, twitching and whimpering.
Daniel crouched down, checking the man’s carotid artery. He was dead, most likely from the rifle shot to his throat, but it wasn’t enough to finish him. Daniel looked around, noting the small group of survivors that had gathered at the edge of the courtyard.
Musa was waiting beside him, already reloading his sidearm.
"Private Adekunle," Daniel said, "help Corporal Bello with the wounded. We’ve got another one on the way."
Two of the survivors dragged the corpse inside the building while the others took up defensive positions around the perimeter. Daniel stepped forward, kneeling beside the wounded soldier.
He was young, barely older than Daniel himself, and his uniform was soaked through with blood. His eyes were open, but a strange fog seemed to hang behind them, and his breathing was shallow and uneven.
Musa crouched beside him. "He’ll live."
Daniel nodded, already moving to the center of the courtyard. The firing from the upper story windows had stopped, and the last of the monsters was dragging itself away from the entrance.
"Let’s go," he said, turning to face the building. "We need to secure the perimeter and set up watch."
The survivors scattered to take their positions, some muttering to each other as they did so. Musa was the last to join Daniel, pulling a bottle of water from his jacket and tossing it to him.
"What now?"
Daniel looked toward the burning city, where distant explosions sounded like thunder. "We find out what’s happening to those people inside."