Free Psych Ward Zombies by James Novus

driven the poor lady crazy. She looked like a paranoid lunatic, sprawled on the floor and throwing medical charts at her patients. He turned to Jason on his right, hoping to hear an explanation. Suddenly the nurse’s words hit him like a brick, as he recognized the blood-tinged eyes and hungry scowl he had witnessed with Amber just a few minutes earlier. Eric hesitated, and all four of the patients grabbed him at once. They dragged him to the ground, like hungry lions on a wildebeest. Eric called out in pain, feeling the bites sink into his arms and neck. As his blood spilled out of his body, it took conscious awareness with it. His body relaxed and slumped flat on the linoleum. Eric’s attackers slipped and skated on their hands and knees in the sticky puddle of blood, biting at his corpse.
    Chester had not moved through all this. His body was a hostage of his mind’s indecision. Part of him wanted to run back to B Ward and forget any of this had happened. Another part of him wanted to kick some ass. The latter part won, freeing him to action .
    Chester moved with purpose now. He crossed the width of the corridor to a supply closet and swung open the door. Normally the supply closets in the hospital would be locked, as they contain all sorts of household items that desperate patients could use to harm themselves. With the electromagnetic locks disabled, the household items were available for desperate staff members to harm others. This included things like cleaning chemicals, extension cords, brooms, and vacuum cleaners.
    Chester picked up an extension cord and a mop, tucking the mop under his arm. As he walked toward the mob that was devouring Eric, he made a looped knot on one end of the cord and slipped the other end through the loop. He had created a makeshift lasso.
    He had been standing in the shadows at the far corridor, so the grisly quartet on the floor had not noticed him. Their heads were each buried in Eric’s torso and groin. As Chester strode up behind them, he casually dropped the mop to the ground. In the same motion, he slipped his homemade noose over Jason’s head and gave it a sharp tug upward. Jason was pulled upright, onto his knees. Chester planted one foot in the middle of Jason’s back, forcing him back down. He wrapped the free end of the extension cord around his hand several times and yanked with all his might. The cord cut through the decayed flesh of Jason’s neck, closing in until it snagged on the bony vertebral column. Giving another forceful jerk, Chester pulled the cord all the way through with a loud pop. Jason’s head pirouetted through the air before landing several feet from his body.
    Chester tossed the cord aside and picked up the mop. The other three undead patients rose to their feet to face him. Chester quickly examined the mop handle and then grasped it at both ends. He brought the handle down over his knee, snapping it roughly in half. This left him two pieces, each about two and a half feet long. The break had been tapered, causing both pieces to have sharp, pointed ends. Chester grasped the first piece, which contained the mop head, and shoved the sharp end through the eye socket of the creature nearest him. The ghoul collapsed into a heap.
    Chester held the remaining piece of mop handle like a baseball bat. He made a downward swipe onto the head of one of the creatures. Its skull split like a watermelon. The injured monster stood erect for several seconds, apparently unaware that its head had become a piñata. Then all at once, its legs gave out and it crumpled onto Eric’s partially eaten corpse.
    The remaining ghoul hissed at Chester but did not advance. Instead, it took two steps backward and turned to face the nurse and patients cowering behind the nursing desk. It attempted to climb over the desk toward them, apparently having decided they were easier targets. This elicited a renewed barrage of screams and flying medical charts. Chester stepped forward and grabbed