Chapter 140 - 128: Doctors, Nurses, Infants, and Pregnant Women

Staring at the dozen or so pregnant women on the ground, their abdomens ripped open, their organs missing. As the bodies began to stir, Flora Bloom and the others moved quickly, burying an axe in each of their heads.

Flora Bloom looked at the zombies on the ground, a grim sweat beading on her forehead. ’We’ll have to be more careful around pregnant women from now on,’ she thought. ’One wrong move, and a zombie infant will burst out to attack. Kill the baby, and the mother’s body becomes a zombie too.’

Mark Sterling and another survivor who had come out with him approached Flora Bloom’s group. The two men walked over to the pile of dead pregnant women and soon identified their wives.

Their babies had become zombie infants, their wives had turned into zombies. Could anyone’s fate be more tragic than theirs at this moment?

"Thank you," one of them said.

With that, Flora Bloom turned to the metal door that required a keycard to open.

"Flora, are we going to open that door?"

Flora Bloom’s sixth sense told her there was something fishy behind this door, and her heart was pounding. But she knew she would regret it if she didn’t open it.

So, the group split up to search the examination room and found a keycard on a dead doctor in a white lab coat.

BEEP. The lock clicked open.

Flora Bloom gripped her axe, taking several steps back as the door opened in case something rushed out.

The expected danger didn’t materialize, even after they’d waited outside for three minutes. Still, the pitch-black interior felt menacing.

"Fat Goose, you go in and scout," Flora ordered.

Big White was clearly unhappy about being ordered in as bait. It gave Flora Bloom a resentful glare, but after receiving an order from Caleb as well, it reluctantly entered the pitch-black infant observation room, looking back with every step.

"KWEH KWEH KWEH."

The next moment, Big White made its unique sound from inside. Everyone turned to look at Caleb.

"Big White says there’s someone inside," Caleb relayed.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Some of the group remained outside while Flora Bloom, Caleb Bloom, and Neal Wallace stepped inside.

Once inside, Neal Wallace, relying on a doctor’s familiarity and intuition with hospitals, quickly found the light switch.

When the lights came on, the entire observation room was revealed.

The observation room was divided into two parts. The first was the nutrition prep room they were standing in, where medical cabinets and refrigerators stored all kinds of baby formula, nutritional supplements, and infant supplies.

Seeing this, Flora Bloom checked the items’ expiration dates, then swept everything she thought she would need in the future—including the cabinets and medicine chests themselves—into her space.

The other area was a sterile room, a place specifically for infants who were born with health problems or were weak and needed observation.

The sterile room was behind a wall, with only a single door for access, next to which was another keycard reader.

Flora Bloom stood before the door to the sterile room, her brow furrowed.

’The maternity ward only has three floors,’ she thought. ’The odds of Joel Bloom being on this level are getting very, very slim.’

Just then, Jade’s voice called from outside the room, "Flora, is your brother in there?"

"Just wait a bit longer, Mom."

As soon as the words were out, Flora Bloom quickly pressed her ear to the sterile room’s door, listening.

"H-help..."

"Is... is someone there?"

"Help... help us!"

’There are really people alive in the sterile room?’ The discovery shocked Flora Bloom.

"There are people alive in there?" Neal Wallace had also heard the voices. "They all sound like women, and they’re very quiet... sounds like they’re extremely weak."

"So? Should we open it?" Caleb Bloom had already reinforced his arms and was gripping the door’s handle, waiting only for Flora Bloom to swipe the card so he could wrench it open.

Flora Bloom hesitated.

The encounter with the pregnant women from the previous room had given her a very bad feeling. "You think there could be more pregnant women in there like before? The kind where you kill the baby only to have to kill the mother, too?"

Neal Wallace thought for a moment. "Probably not. Pregnant women aren’t allowed in a sterile room, only doctors and nurses. Besides, a sterile room is isolated from most outside fungi and bacteria, so their chances of survival are high."

But hearing this didn’t relax Flora Bloom’s frown; it only deepened. "I know that! But the whole world is crawling with the zombie virus. Even if people are alive in the sterile room, what happens when we open the door? Won’t they mutate the second they’re exposed to the contaminated air?"

Flora Bloom’s words made Neal Wallace fall silent. Just then, Cynthia Grant came in and clapped Neal on the shoulder. "You also have to think about the babies in that room. They’re in there because they’re already sick. The moment they’re exposed to the virus, you can bet we’ll have a few more monstrous little zombies on our hands."

As if hearing the conversation outside, the voices from inside called out again.

"Please, open the door. Let us out. We’re starving."

"We’re not zombies! We’re still alive in here!"

Hearing the pleading from inside, the group didn’t know what to do. As long as a person has a single breath left, the instinct for survival will make them cry out for help.

But Joel Bloom’s voice was not among those they heard. This made the hearts of Flora Bloom, as well as the couple Caleb and Jade, grow heavy.

"Are the babies inside okay?" Cynthia Grant asked tentatively.

The voices inside suddenly stopped. A moment later, one spoke again, her voice full of sorrow.

"*Sigh*... They were too small. On just formula, with no breast milk, most of them didn’t pull through."

"The ones who are left... they’re almost... *sigh*."

This made Flora Bloom’s group pause. So, there were still infants alive, if only barely.

’But why didn’t they just open the door and leave themselves?’ Flora wondered.

"Open the door, Dad."

Flora Bloom handed the keycard to Caleb Bloom, telling him to activate the door and then move to the side. She and Neal Wallace stood side-by-side opposite the door, poised for a fight.

With a BEEP, the door slid open to the left. The scene that met their eyes was heartbreaking.

A female doctor in a white lab coat and a nurse were each holding a swaddled baby.

Flora Bloom watched as the two infants’ eyes swiveled to look at her. They were deathly pale, as if from blood loss, their skin so transparent that their tiny blood vessels were visible underneath.

The doctor and nurse holding them were so starved they could barely breathe, leaning against the wall for support. They were emaciated, with sunken eyes and sallow faces.

What surprised Flora Bloom most was that inside the sterile room, the incubators that had once held babies had been pushed into a corner. In their place, two pregnant women were lying on tables, one on the left and one on the right.

Upon seeing them enter, tears of joy streamed down the women’s faces. They clutched their stomachs, too weak from hunger to speak.

Their bodies were so gaunt that they seemed to be nothing more than huge, protruding bellies.

Flora Bloom hadn’t expected to find more pregnant women. Her expression tightened, and she stared intently at their bellies, terrified that a flying zombie infant would burst out at any second.

The door to the sterile room had already closed again after Flora Bloom and Neal Wallace entered. This was to prevent the still-living infants inside from being exposed to the outside air and immediately zombifying.

However, this precaution proved to be completely useless.

Flora Bloom had originally intended to use her Space Spirit Water, to give the two babies a small drink and see if it could help them resist the virus.

But just as Flora Bloom approached the infants held by the doctor and nurse, the veins under their skin suddenly swelled, turning a blackish-purple. Their once-weak but clear eyes suddenly lost their pupils, turning completely white.

In a single instant, the two babies completed their zombification. They suddenly flew up, attacking Flora Bloom and Neal Wallace.