It’s one of the last places that I want to go, but if Robert Paxton’s daughter is the same Jessi Paxton that I knew in college, then she was pregnant. If she was pregnant then she would have more than likely gone to the Elkhorn University Hospital to have the baby. If that was true, then they would have a medical record on her at the maternity ward. I know it’s a shot in the dark. There are so many factors that could go against me.

What if it’s not the same girl? What if she went home to have the baby? What if she never even had the baby? What if her name was actually Jessi Roberts and not Jessi Paxton and you’re just confused? What if you’re wrong? Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Don’t go into the hospital, stupid! Do you know how many greyskins will be in there? Go on, take a listen. 

I try to ignore my inner voice as I approach the hospital parking lot. I duck behind a car when I see a greyskin in an EMT uniform walking through the forever-stuck sliding glass doors of the ER. I try to remember the inside of the hospital, but I’ve only been here once. When I was a freshmen, I had been playing intramural flag football and some jock decided to play tackle. Well, his tackle broke my ankle and he ended up taking me to the emergency room to get it fixed. I remember he tried to turn it into a silly, romantic moment that would send us spiraling into a life-long love affair like some cheesy chick-flick, but I quickly told him off, using language that would make a sailor blush. Needless to say, we didn’t go on any dates afterword.

I close my eyes trying to remember the layout of the ER, but all I can remember is the waiting room and having to sit there for two hours before someone would see me. I will have to go in and follow the signs like everyone else, I suppose. I’m glad Gabe thought to give me a machete along with the guns. Guns are great, but there is no way I would survive this hospital with them. One shot would be enough to bring about thirty greyskins down on me. Then I would be forced to shoot more. Then more greyskins would come. Here, there would be no end in sight.