Quiet Mountain/Chapter 3

This is chapter 3 of Quiet Mountain entitled: Is There A Doctor In The House?

Chapter 3 – Quiet Mountain
“Damn...”

Harry pushed and pulled on the gates to the hospital but it was no use. The large gate was held closed by a rusted old padlock. He took a step back and took another look at the hospital again.

It was about the same size as most hospitals he had seen before but it was different. Very different. It looked like it had been built in the fifties and like no one had set foot in it since then. He could see brownish-orange stains that covered most of the outside walls through the dense fog that lay around him.

He sighed and took a seat leaning against the iron gate. He sat for a few seconds simply staring ahead at nothing in particular before remembering something. He reached back in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He stared at his reflection in the dark screen before working up the courage to turn it one. Much to his surprise it did, and a few seconds later he was staring at his lock screen photo of his wife. His heart ached as he stared at her smiling face. Memories about the time they spent together and of the world before the infection began started pouring into his mind.

The only good thing, the only good thing that had happened to them after the outbreak was having Heather. They had tried getting pregnant before but it never worked out. Not until after the end. But that good memory quickly faded as the memory of what happened after Heather was born popped in his head.

His wife's death.

He wiped away the tears he didn't even know he had and stuffed the phone back in his pants. The promise he made to his wife rang in his head as he rose from the ground. He had promised he'd always protect her. But it seemed like he had already broke that promise. Now his daughter was only God knew where with only God knew who. One thing was for sure. Heather wasn't at this hospital. No way she was.

He took a step forward and immediately noticed something as he did. Across from him was a car parked on the side of the road that had something underneath it. He walked over and crouched low to the ground as he pulled the object out from under the car.

It was a paper. Paper that looked like it had been torn out of a journal or notebook. His eyes quickly scanned the writing and corrected the obvious spelling mistakes in his mind. It looked as though a small child of some kind had written it.

Date: August XX, 1989. Our teacher told us today at school we have to practice writing our names, address, and our mommy's and daddy's phone numbers so that if we ever get lost the police could bring us back home safely.''

Name: Michelle Taylor Address: 1573 Seuss Drive. The rest of the page was smudged and unreadable beyond that point. Harry looked at his surroundings then back to the paper. He couldn't think of any other place to go, so he decided to head there. He folded up the paper and stuffed it in his back pocket before pulling out a map of the town.

He scanned the map until he found the house mentioned in the paper. Luckily for him it was only a few blocks away from the hospital. He folded the map back off and took off in the direction of his destination.

The walk to the house was much harder than he had anticipated. A few of the roads led to more dead ends or were blocked off entirely by walls. But he had stilled managed to get there, albeit by a much longer route.

He entered the house and was amazed to find that it looked normal. Unlike all the other houses and buildings he had stayed in since the outbreak this one was neat. Organized. Two things he had never thought he'd see ever again in a house.

On reflex he made some noise coming in to lure out any infected that might be waiting, but quickly remembered that there were no infected, as far as he knew, in the town. What he had to worry about were those things that looked like infected but were different.

He stepped into the main area and got a view of the entire first floor. The living area was to the left, the bathroom on the right, and a stair case next to the kitchen. His stomach growled as his eyes over the kitchen. Deciding it wouldn't harm anything to get something to eat, he walked into the kitchen and began to search the cabinets for any canned food.

Nothing.

He sighed and turned to the refrigerator. He didn't think that there would actually be anything he could eat in there but nevertheless he decided to check anyway. He grabbed the handle and gave a quick tug, but it didn't budge. He pulled again, this time harder, but it still wouldn't open.

He turned to leave and noticed two pieces of paper resting on the dining table. Two more journal pages. He grabbed them and took as seat as he began to read.

Date: August XX, 1989.

''Daddy was really mad this morning. He couldn't find his keys to the hospital where he works and began to look everywhere for them. His face was really red. Our cat Mr. Mittens threw them up, which made daddy even more mad. He was so mad that he--''

The rest was to smudged to read. Harry placed the paper down and grabbed the next one.

Date: August XX, 1989.

''This morning when we woke up mommy and daddy told me and Stacy that Mr. Mittens ran away. Mommy said we didn't have to go to school today if we didn't want to. But I did even though I was really sad.'' The rest was to smudged to read. He placed the paper down beside the other when a sound like clawing and thrashing began in the fridge startled him. He held his breath as he waited for them to stop. Eventually they did and he decided to see what it was. He walked over to the fridge and pulled on the handle again. This time however, the fridge opened with ease, revealing the inside to be covered in blood.

He took a step back and covered his nose with his hand. There was a terrible odor coming from it, like something had died in there. Just as he was about to close the door he noticed something. In the middle tray of the fridge sat two keys on a single ring. He grabbed them and rubbed away the blood revealing the symbol that all hospitals had on one, and the number three hundred and two on the other. Both keys were for the hospital.

“What the fuck...?” Harry said as he stared at the keys in hand.