We went towards the courts and froze at the doorway. There were about a hundred cots covering the gym floor and several aid stations set up around the gym’s perimeter. What spooked us was the copious amounts of blood splatter that covered the cots, the walls, and the floor. Bits of meat were scattered here and there, and under one cot I saw a severed hand. The gym had a huge canvas opaque curtain that separated it into two areas. I turned my flashlight off and Mark did the same.

We heard a shuffling sound. It sounded like it came from the other side of the curtain. I moved along the wall towards the side opening, my footsteps silenced by the rubber floor of the gym. I reached the doorway while Mark checked the aid stations for first aid supplies.

Peering around the corner, I looked into the darkness and didn’t see a thing. I clicked on my flashlight and illuminated about a hundred zombies covering half the floor. The sudden illumination caused the zombies to turn around and they immediately began a chorus of moans that echoed off the walls of the gym. As one, they started for me.

I didn’t hesitate, turning on my heel and running like hell for the stairs, Mark only a step behind. The zombies poured from the gym, clamoring for our blood. Mark and I bolted up the stairs and paused to throw the couches and chairs we had passed in the lounge down to the first landing to try to slow them down.

“Jesus, what the hell happened here?” Mark yelled as we levered a couch over the edge.

“I don’t know, but I imagine they set up a treatment center, not knowing what the virus did, then the first infected killed the rest and the workers too.” I said as I tossed my end.