by Scott Lee
Connor, Doug and Diana fell to the floor as the jet of water knocked them off balance. The water drenched their bodies for a full ten seconds before it subsided and they were able to regain their bearings. As they got to their knees, a voice echoed down the hallway.
“That’s for making me come to this god forsaken city, bitch.”
The next sounds they heard were those of a hose nozzle hitting the floor and footsteps racing to the stairs.
Connor was the first to his feet, immediately pulling the Twins as he searched the hallway for any threats. As Doug gained his feet, he pulled his sword, a questioning look on his face.
“What the hell was that?” he exclaimed.
“One of Morrow’s men, no doubt,” answered Connor.
“Oh god!! Oh god!! We’re wet! We got wet!” Diana cried.
“Don’t panic. Everyone stay calm,” replied Connor.
Looking down the hallway, he saw a handful of zombies moving their way.
“Doug, you take the two on the right. I’ll take the three on the left. We need to clear this hallway so we can regroup.”
“I’m on it,” said Doug as he moved to intercept the zombies.
Quickly and efficiently the two men eliminated the undead and headed back to Diana. By now, she had calmed down slightly and was leaning against the wall, trying to get a grip on the recent turn of events.
As Connor and Doug met back at door, Connor didn’t stop as he raced forward, heading for the stairwell.
“You two, wait in the lab. I’ll be back,” he said, as he sprinted to the door and disappeared down the steps.
As Doug turned to Diana, he could see the fear in her eyes.
“We’re wet,” she said softly, looking at her soaked skin. “You said we can never get wet. That the ZOMBIE OFF won’t work if we get wet.”
“Don’t worry, Diana. We’ll find a way out of this. Connor is the best at finding a way. Trust me, we’ll be OK.”
“But how will we get out of the hospital? How will we get back to the boat?” she exclaimed, the fear escalating in her voice.
“Calm down. Let’s wait for Connor to return and then we’ll come up with a plan. Just take some deep breaths.”
The two went back into the lab’s entry room, closed the door behind them, and sat down on the couch. Diana put her head between her knees and took a few deep breaths, using her counting method to calm down and focus.
A few minutes passed before the door opened and Connor walked through. Looking at the two, he answered their question before they asked.
“There was no sign of the men when I got to the first floor. My guess is they’re heading for the helicopter. No use in going after them at this point. They have guns. We don’t.
“So what do we do now?” asked Diana. “That bastard washed off the ZOMBIE OFF. How will we get home?”
“We’ll find a way,” said Doug. “We just gotta take it one step at a time. First off, we gotta get out of this hospital.”
“Doug’s right. We can’t dwell on what just happened. We have to stay focused and change the way we do things. If we work together, we can still get out of this.”
Diana saw the determined look in Connor’s eyes, and it gave her some much needed reassurance.
“That son-of-a-bitch drenched us and left us for dead,” said Connor, the anger building in his voice. “He clearly doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.”
With that, Connor turned and headed for the stairwell, Doug and Diana close behind. As they walked, Doug turned to Diana.
“Remember when I said you should see him when he gets angry?” he asked. ‘Well, you about to see first hand.”
Diana just nodded and kept walking, her grip on the M48 tightening with each step.
“Where are we headed?” asked Doug, as they headed up the stairs.
“We need to survey the situation outside, and the best place to do that is from the roof.”
After ascending two more flights of stairs, they reached the 8th floor landing, were they saw two doors. The one door clearly led to the 8th floor hallway, the second, to their left, had a padlock on it and the words AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY printed on it. Walking to the door, Connor checked the lock.
“May I borrow the M48 please?” he asked, turning to Diana.
She quickly handed over the weapon and stood back. Turning, Connor approached the door and sized up the lock. Placing the blade on the lock fixture, he raised the weapon and slammed it down, shearing the metal that the lock had been attached too.
“Damn,” muttered Diana under her breath.
“Pretty awesome weapon, isn’t it?” Smiled Doug.
“Heck yea,” she answered.
Connor pulled the door open revealing a flight of metal stairs that appeared to go to the roof. Climbing the stairs, they began to hear a noise coming from outside. Rushing up the remainder of the steps, they came to yet another door, but this one was unlocked. Opening it, they stepped into a massive, full floor room where maintenance crews could attend to the massive air conditioning unit ductwork and other electrical and venting aspects of the building. As they shined the flashlights around the room, they saw a door on each wall with the word ROOF printed on it. Heading to the door to their right, they found that it was locked from the inside and quickly unlocked it and rushed outside.
Stepping onto the roof, they watched as the helicopter hovered above the adjacent building. As it lingered above the hospital, Conner could see a blonde haired man in the copilot seat looking out the window at them, smiling. Slowly the helicopter gained altitude before racing off to the north. Within seconds it was out of sight, the sound fading beneath the growing moans of the undead below them.
Turning back to the others, Connor saw the look of dismay on their faces as they surveyed the situation. Walking up next to them, he looked out over the perimeter of the hospital grounds. Below them, the number of undead at the wall and fences had tripled, creating a seemingly impenetrable mass around the buildings. Thousands of zombies now surrounded the hospital with more arriving every second. They were trapped.
“Oh my god,” muttered Diana.
“Holy shit,” sighed Doug.
Connor just stared out over the sea of undead, his face full of anger.
“How are we going to get out of here?” asked Diana. “There’s no way we can get past that many zombies.”
Dejected, she plopped down onto the roof, her head on her knees. Doug quickly walked over and sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her.
“Chin up, little camper. We’ll find a way.”
“How do you do it?” she asked, looking at Doug.
“Do what?” he asked.
“Stay so positive. How do you do it?”
“I don’t know. I just do. Beats being negative,” he said smiling.
A brief grin passed across Diana’s face as she looked at Doug, but the smile quickly faded as she stood and looked back over the hospital grounds.
“Oh, and it helps that I hang out with him,” he said, pointing to Connor.
While Doug was comforting Diana, Connor had begun a slow walk along the edge of the wall, looking carefully at the throngs of undead below. When he got to the east edge of the roof, he stopped for a few moments and then turned and walked quickly inside.
Exchanging a curious glance, Doug and Diana raced after him. Inside the building, they saw him heading for another roof door. Reaching the door, he quickly unlocked it and headed out onto the section of the roof that faced north. Moving to the edge of the roof, he stopped and stared out across the street as if enjoying the view. Catching up, Doug and Diana stopped next to him.
“What’s up, pal?” asked Doug, looking down at the seething mass of undead. He saw nothing different from this section of rooftop than he did from the previous one.
Smiling, Connor turned to face his friend.
“I think I just found a way out of her
e.”
Doug just stared at Connor with a bewildered look on his face, repeatedly glancing from his friend to the street and back to his friend again.
“OK. I give. What do you see that I don’t?”
Connor just jerked his head, indicating that he look at the building across the street.
“You know I hate this game, right?”
“Just look,” he said
“I really don’t think we can make that jump,” Doug said sarcastically.
Now Diana was in on the discussion, looking closely at the building.
“It’s part of the hospital complex, isn’t it?” She said.
Connor smiled, nodding in reply.
“Yep.”
“I still don’t get it,” said Doug. “So what if it’s part of the hospital complex? It’s there and we’re here.”
Connor just shook his head. “You ever been to Abington Hospital?” he asked.
Suddenly, Diana’s expression changed, a huge smile crossing her face.
“Yes! I’ve been there!” she exclaimed.
“Great. Would somebody please clue me in on this?” pleaded Doug.
Smiling, Connor pointed to the building.
“That building is part of this hospital, but a street separates the two, just like one of the buildings that’s part of Abington Hospital. The building at Abington is separated from the main hospital by Rt. 611, so they built a hallway underneath the road to transfer patients from one building to the other.”
Doug’s eyes lit up.
“And I’m betting that they did the same here,” finished Connor.
“Well what are we waiting for, lets go find out,” blurted Diana.
Wasting no further time, the three turned and headed back into the building. Once inside, Connor stopped and turned his flashlight beam around the room.
“See if you can find a pry bar. We may need it somewhere along the line. And see if you can find anything else useful.”
The three split up and a few minutes later, Doug hollered out that he had found a pry bar. The three eventually met back at the door, with Doug carrying a red handled Craftsmen pry bar. Diana came back with three jumpsuits, and Connor had a large roll of duct tape and work gloves.
“Good job guys. Now we can get a little better prepared for what’s ahead.”
Putting on the jump suits, the three wrapped their forearms and lower legs with the duct tape and then hooked their weapons back onto their bodies. Feeling much better protected, the three turned for the stairwell.
As Connor reached the door, he stopped and unslung his supply bag.
“Carrying this supply bag is a liability now. Can’t give the zombies anything extra to grab on to.”
Opening the bag, he pulled out the plastic pill bottles and set them on the floor. Next, he cut out pieces of the supply bag and stuffed them into the bottles to keep the pills from rattling. When he was done, he divided them up among the three.
“Hopefully we all make it, but in case we don’t . . .”
Connor left the sentence unfinished. Looking from Doug to Diana, he knew they understood. This increased the chances of the medicine making it back home.
“Now lets see if we can find us an underground hallway,” said Connor.
The three quickly exited the roof top room and headed down the stairs to the basement. Arriving at the door, Connor listened closely to determine if any undead waited on the other side. Hearing nothing, he carefully opened the door a crack and peeked through. The hallway was pitch black, providing no indication as to the presence of any zombies. Letting the door close slowly, he stepped back and drew one of the Twins. Doug, in turn, pulled his sword, tucking the pry bar into his belt. Diana meanwhile, already had her M48 ready.
Opening the door, the three stepped into the dark hallway, flashlights piercing the darkness. To their left were the elevators and to the right was a long hallway, looking very much like any other hallway in the hospital, except it seemed a bit wider. About fifty or sixty feet from the doorway, they could barely make out a set of double doors with windows. Seeing the windows, they immediately covered the lights for fear of alerting any undead that may be lurking beyond.
Nothing moved in the hallway, but as they continued forward, they had the feeling they weren’t alone. Turning off all but one of their flashlights, they tried to minimize the light as they headed down the corridor. Closing to within fifteen feet of the doors, the three got low to the floor and crawled, staying below the level of the glass windows as they reached them. Placing an ear to the metal, they listened.
At first, they heard nothing. But soon, the faint sounds of movement emanated from the dark. A slow, dragging sound that got steadily louder, until finally they felt a smack on the door. Then the sound moved away, as slowly as it had come, until it was gone. Moments later, a new sound was heard, beginning faint like the first. This one was more the sound of slow, plodding footsteps. More than one set. Maybe three. As with the first, the sounds got louder until they ended with multiple thumps on the door, and then slowly, methodically, they faded away. One after another, the haunting sounds of the undead could be heard as they approached the door. Each time the creatures hit the door in the inky darkness, only to return from whence they came.
Minutes passed as the three sat in the pitch-black hallway, with nothing more than the faint light of a muted flashlight to see by. For fifteen minutes the three sat by the door, counting the thumps. Finally, Connor whispered to the others.
“By my estimate, I’d say at least twenty in the hallway, but there’s no way to know for sure.”
“Twenty is a lot better than a thousand,” whispered Doug.
“It’s just an estimate. Could be thirty. Could be forty. Could be fifteen. Only one way to find out.”
“Not like we have a choice. It’s our only way out,” replied Doug.
“So here’s the deal. I’m estimating that the hallway goes for at least forty feet. That gives us a lot of room to work with. Once we open these doors, we have to be quick, and we have to be efficient. We can’t miss.”
“How are we all going to fight and hold flashlights at the same time?” asked Diana.
Another thump hit the door, momentarily startling them.
“We can’t all be in the fray under these conditions. It’s too dangerous. Diana, you need to hang back and light up the hallway. Doug and I will try to split them up and take them out. If we start to get overrun, retreat back to the stairs.”
Standing, Connor stood in front of the doors as Doug quickly joined him. Turning to the two, he outlined the plan.
“Doug, you pull open the right door, I’ll get the left. Diana, we’ll need you to show us what’s on the other side of the doors just before we open them. Can’t have a zombie falling right into us. If the coast is clear, we open the doors and head in.”
Taking a deep breath, he placed a hand on the door handle. Doug did the same.
“Ready?” he whispered.
“Ready,” said Doug.
On their mark, Diana stepped forward, two flashlights in hand. Her fingers had been covering them, allowing only a little light to emanate, but as she approached the doors she spread her fingers slightly, lighting up the windows. Doug and Connor quickly peered through the glass, able to see approximately 10 feet of the hallway. On the other side of the door they could see three shapes shambling into the light. “Now!” Connor whispered.
Together, Doug and Connor pulled open the doors and stepped into the corridor, Diana right behind them. The second they were through the doors, Diana unblocked the flashlights, letting their full beams loose upon the darkness. Holding the lights high above her head, she angled the light at the ceiling, creating a widespread illumination of the hallway. What the light revealed was terrifying.
The hallway was filled with undead for as far as the light revealed. Doctors, nurses, patients and their families . . . they were all
here. And they were all zombies. Men, women and children, with their gray eyes and shredded skin, turned to the source of the light. Half-eaten corpses on gurneys struggled against the straps that had held them in place as they fled the upper floors of the hospital. Zombies with scalpels stuck in their bodies turned to face the three, hungry for flesh. No less than 20 were clearly visible, with more ghostly shapes just outside of the beams.
Connor pulled his second machete and wasted no time as he rushed forward to take out the closest undead. Doug right beside him, the pry bar now in his other hand. With sweeping uppercuts, Conner drove the Twins through the first two zombies, while Doug impaled the third on his sword. Barely breaking stride, the two moved forward again, picking out new targets. Despite their numbers, the zombies were fairly spread out at the start, but as the first of the undead fell, the entire horde turned in their direction. In a matter of seconds, the moans began, horrifyingly loud as the sound echoed off the walls.
Doug and Connor stayed the course, hacking and slashing their way down the corridor. But as they continued on, the mass thickened, and soon, their progress was stopped. In front of them, just at the edge of the light, they could see another set of double doors, but the sheer number of undead kept them from their goal.
The two men had cut down nine zombies, but there were at least 20 more standing between them and their escape.
“Fall back!” yelled Connor.
Diana turned and headed back for the doors, with Connor and Doug close behind. Jumping over fallen zombies, the three reached the safety of the doors and slammed them shut. Thirty seconds later, the first of the remaining horde slammed into the doors, boney hands pounding on the glass. Within a minute, the entire mass was at the doors, trying to break through.
Grabbing a flashlight, Connor examined the door and discovered the secondary locking mechanism at the top that could keep one door locked while the other was open. Slamming the bolts into place, he stepped back, hands on his knees.
“Well that went well,” said Doug, leaning against a wall catching his breath. Got any ideas for what we do now?” he asked.
“There’s too many to take on at once, and the hall is too wide for us to filter them into a manageable line,” said Connor.
“What if we coral them?” asked Diana.
Connor looked at her with a questioning gaze.
“Go on,” he said.
“Well, there are two elevators back there. One of them is bigger to allow for gurneys. What if we were to lure them into that elevator? Then we could make a run for the doors before they catch onto us.”
Connor looked at Diana and smiled.
“You know, that just might work,” he said.
Now Doug spoke up.
“There’s always an escape hatch in the ceiling of elevators. If one of us were to climb up onto the top of the thing, we could easily lure them in.”
“But then how would you get out. You’d be stuck on top of the thing,” replied Diana.
“No, you wouldn’t,” answered Connor. “Two elevators, one shaft.”
“Then it sounds like we have a plan,” said Doug. “The only question remaining is, who’s the bait?”
“Me,” said Connor flatly. “My mission, my responsibility.”
“Ummm . . . actually, there were two questions,” said Doug. “Anyone check to see if the elevators are even there?”
The three looked at each other blankly, then quickly dashed up the hallway to the find out. Rushing up to the elevators, they were relieved to see that at least one of the elevators was there, the doors stuck open. It was the larger of the two. Looking inside they saw that the last group down had hit the emergency stop button to prevent it from leaving, probably to make sure no zombies came down after them. Moving to the adjacent elevator, Connor turned to Doug.
”See if you can pry the doors open.”
Moving to the doors, Doug took the pry bar, bloody and caked with brain matter, and jammed it between the doors. After a little work, he was able to open a small gap, and with Connor’s help they were able to pull the doors open a few feet. Looking inside, they saw that the elevator was gone and the shaft was empty.
“No biggie,” said Doug. “Since we’re in the basement, you can just jump to the floor to escape. Actually makes it a little easier. Just watch you don’t twist your ankle. There are a few things there that could ruin your day,” he said, flashing the light on the floor of the shaft.
“Agreed,” said Connor. “So here’s the plan . . .”
“Good luck. We’ll see you on the other side. Of the hallway, that is,” said Doug, giving Connor a fist pump, a smile on his face.
“Be careful,” said Diana.
“I’ll be fine. Now get going. Remember, watch for trailers when you make the run for it.”
Nodding, Doug and Diana turned and entered the stairwell, letting the door close behind them. Looking through the small window, they watched as Connor headed down the hallway to the waiting horde of zombies. Moments later, he was out of sight, only a faint light visible in the corridor.
Connor walked quickly up to the door, shining the light directly at the window. Hideous faces stared back at him, their mouths chomping at air as they tried to reach the meal that was within their grasp. As he stood there, surveying the horde, the pounding reached a frantic level as the zombies desperately tried to get through the door. Shining the light briefly back to the elevators, he turned and reached for the bolts at the top of the doors. Taking a deep breath, he pulled them down, the doors immediately bowing forward under the strain of the undead pressing on them.
“Not today,” he whispered. Then he pulled the handles and ran.
Doug and Diana were still watching through the window when suddenly they saw the light growing brighter, shaking as it grew in intensity. Turning to Diana, Doug wasn’t smiling this time.
“Here we go,” he said as they crouched behind the door.
Connor raced down the corridor in a dead sprint, reaching the elevator in just a few seconds. Standing at the doors, he turned and aimed the flashlight down the hall at the oncoming horde, which was advancing rapidly in his direction. Stepping into the elevator, he tucked the flashlight in his belt, then jumped and pulled himself into the already open escape hatch. Once he was on top of the elevator, he grabbed the flashlight, leaned his head through, and began yelling as he lit up the lift.
Moments later, he watched as the first of the horde staggered into view. Within seconds, there were a half dozen zombies inside the elevator, all straining to reach him. After another minute, the elevator was full of the dreadful creatures. Below him, the light illuminated a seething, pulsing mass of death intent on ripping him apart.
With the elevator full, Connor stayed in his position above the horde, making sure to stay in their sight. Pulling his knife, he rapped the blade multiple times on a piece of metal, the sound echoing loudly in the shaft. Slowly, he began to count out loud.
Doug and Diana sat huddled behind the stairwell door as dozens of undead moved past in pursuit of Connor. For over a minute they could hear the moans and footsteps as the zombies passed by their hiding spot. Finally, the sounds outside the door ceased as the last of the dead joined the frenzy in the elevator. A minute later, they heard the loud ring of metal on metal, and they knew it was time to move.
Opening the door a crack, they peered out into the hallway. From the light in the elevator, they could see that the corridor was clear for at least 10 to 15 feet. Opening the door, the two squeezed out and quietly started making their way down the hall, weapons in hand. After about 10 feet, Diana turned on her flashlight, shielding the light with her fingers to avoid alerting the horde. Looking ahead, they could see the double doors, one of which was now latched open as a result of the wave of zombies that forced their way through. Moving forward, they could see subtle movement beyond the doors, just outside of the light.
“Stay behind
me,” said Doug.
As he was about to move forward, he heard a noise behind them. Turning, he saw a gruesome looking zombie slowly moving in their direction. The creature was disgusting, a truly loathsome sight as it shambled towards them, every other footstep producing a disgusting squishing sound, like that of a foot inside of a wet sneaker. The abomination was missing half its left arm, and it’s right leg was chewed to the bone at the thigh. The sex couldn’t even be determined, as half the face was torn from the skull. What little clothing still remained was shredded and caked with blood and gore and a large cavity existed where the stomach and guts would have been.
Horrified, Diana staggered backwards, resisting the urge to vomit. Doug, more accustomed to this type of grisly scene, wasted no time as he stepped forward and drove his sword through the creature’s head. As the zombie fell to the floor, he could see two more trailers as they moved down the hall from the elevators.
It became clear that the slow movers had reached the elevator too late to squeeze inside, and when Doug and Diana had emerged from the stairwell, they found easier access to a meal.
“Connor can handle the trailers,” whispered Doug. “Let’s get to the other side before he bails from the elevator. We don’t have much time.”
Turning their attention to the double doors, they continued their trek to the other side, but as they approached the open door, they finally saw what had been lurking beyond the light.
Out of the darkness, crawling along the floor, came what was once a young boy. The child zombie had no legs, but not from being eaten. He was an amputee. His head hung at an odd angle to his body, the tendons of his neck having been chewed away, along with most of the flesh of his torso. The repulsive, sickening sight made Diana turn away, unable to advance. Stepping past her, Doug walked up to the heartbreaking creature and drove the sword deep into its brain, ending its misery.
Diana had regained her composure and was once again lighting the way. As they moved through the doors, Doug realized that the floor actually sloped downward slightly for about twenty-five feet before leveling off again. They realized they must be below the road now.
The passage continued for another forty feet as the two passed numerous undead that were still strapped to gurneys or stuck in wheelchairs. The two dispatched all of them as they moved through the haunting corridor, eager to get through to the other side and get back above ground. Finally, the hallway started a slight incline and soon they came to a second set of double doors. Looking through the glass, they saw a hallway very similar to the other side, except it was much shorter and ended in only a single elevator. Best of all, there were no zombies in sight.
Before opening the doors, Doug whispered to Diana.
“Watch for crawlers when I open the door. You never know.”
Nodding, she stepped back a few paces.
Pushing the door open, they quickly checked for any threats. Seeing none, they latched the doors open and turned to watch for Connor. A few moments later, a yell sounded from the dark, distant hallway. Connor was in trouble!
Connor kneeled at the escape hatch, keeping himself visible to the horde as he counted off in his head. When he reached ninety, he set the flashlight on the edge of the opening and made his way to the edge of the elevator. Looking down, he could see two forms moving in the dim light of the empty elevator shaft.
“Shit,” he muttered. “Nothing’s ever easy.”
Pulling the Twins, he laid flat on his stomach and drove the machetes into the skulls, dropping the two instantly. But when the zombies hit the floor, his stomach sank. One of the zombies fell against the wall and onto a loose piece of metal that they hadn’t noticed before, making a loud clanking noise as it flipped and landed. Instantly Connor was on the move. He had only seconds to react or he’d be swarmed over by the undead.
Leaping from the roof, he landed on the body of one of the zombies and jumped into the hallway. The light from the adjacent elevator lit up the area in front of him and he watched in horror as the back edge of the horde turned to meet him, already blocking his way. Knowing he had no time to fight, he rushed forward, lowered his shoulder and plowed into the zombies like a fullback on a touchdown run. The force of the impact sent two of the zombies flying to the side, while a third was thrown backwards, landing in front of him. Off balance from the impact, Connor fell to the floor, tumbling forward in an effort to stay clear of the zombie in front of him.
As he rolled to a stop, he scrambled to get to his feet as the horde exited the elevator in pursuit. In an instant he was up and running again, reaching for the backup flashlight he had in his pocket. But it was gone, having fallen out in the tumble with the zombies. Now Connor was forced to run in the pitch black of the corridor. As he raced down the hall, he slammed face first into the back of a slow moving zombie, sending it flying into the wall and sending him crashing to the floor. Clambering to his feet, he continued running, praying there weren’t any more undead lurking in the dark. As he bolted forward, he heard a moan just as he felt the dead hands brush against his jumpsuit as he continued his escape.
Connor knew that he was in serious trouble when he literally hit the one closed door of the first entryway, knocking him backwards. Ahead of him, there were gurneys, wheelchairs, and lord knows how many bodies. If he tried to run through blind, he could easily break an ankle, and he knew what that meant under these circumstances.
Looking back over his shoulder, he could see the silhouettes of the horde moving down the hall, and they were closing the distance quickly. Stepping through the open door, he ventured into the blackness as he pulled the door shut behind him. Without the top bolts to hold them, the doors were not nearly as strong. With the sheer number of undead, they’d break the doors open in a matter of minutes, and then he’d be in real trouble. He could see a faint light in the distance and he wasted no time. Cupping his hands, he yelled.
“I need light! Now!”
“What did he say?” asked Doug.
“He said he needs light!” Diana exclaimed as she took off running towards Connor. Reaching the double doors, she let out the full beam of light from the flashlight, lighting up the corridor between the sets of doors. Unable to see Connor due to the slopes of the hallway, she ran deeper into the tunnel. Shining the light in the distance, she could see Connor shielding his eyes from the beam, and behind him she could see the double doors bowing under the pressure of the horde behind it. Pointing the beam at the ceiling, he took off running, just as the doors gave way behind him.
With the pathway now lit, Connor raced forward, dodging bodies and equipment as he bolted for safety. Reaching Diana, he barely slowed as she fell in beside him, the two of them running together back to where Doug anxiously waited.
Crossing through the double doors, they quickly closed them and slid the top bolts into place. Wasting no time, the three moved to the stairwell door and peered through the glass, fearful of what they might see. To their relief, the stairwell was empty. Opening the door, the three rushed inside, making sure that the door closed securely behind them. They were now down to one flashlight, so they moved slowly up the stairs as they headed for the ground floor. Reaching the next door, they turned off the flashlight and peered through the glass. The door exited out into a large hallway, and they could see a door about 15 feet to the right. They could also see that the hallway turned a corner just before the door, and that’s where the light was coming from. For now, the hallway was clear, so they quietly opened the door and slipped out into the passage.
Moving cautiously to their right, they peaked around the corner, weapons at the ready. The hallway continued on for about 20 feet where it appeared to empty out into a lobby. Rounding the corner, they slowly advanced toward the light, watching for any movement. At the end, the hall opened into a large reception area where five zombies could be seen standing at the glass entry doors, trying to get out. Most likely drawn to the sound of the he
licopter, the zombies were unaware of the trio as they walked up behind them. Between the three of them, the zombies were easily dispatched in a matter of seconds. Standing at the doors, they looked out at the street in front of them.
“So what do we do now,” asked Diana.
Looking out the window, Connor let out a deep breath before turning to look at her.
“We step out of the frying pan and into the fire,” answered Connor.