by Radke, K. E.
The door had a key card entry, but it was broken. Before anyone could protest she slipped over the threshold and closed the door behind her. Pinching her nose, the smell of rotten flesh overpowered her senses and she followed a trail of blood on the wooden floor until her eyes reached the end of the short hallway. It panned out into a large living area.
Wyatt’s muffled, concerned voice filtered through the door and it was wrenched open. The putrid aroma hit all three men like a sucker punch to the face. Curses and gagging noises echoed in the cavernous room. She spun around and put her finger to her lips. All three men did as they were told, and she crept forward to peer further inside.
Comfy couches and chairs were settled in groups, each set a different color scheme. A large fireplace was to her left with a bunch of rocking chairs clustered around it. Floor to ceiling glass windows completed the entire back wall so the garden outside could be enjoyed from anywhere in the room. The right side of the room was a mirror image of the left. Only a set of large stairs in the middle of the room separated the two sides.
Her eyes flitted across the ground and followed the dried bloody treads, remnants of footprints layered on top of each other without a path in mind. Frail, desiccated, immobile bodies were scattered everywhere. In chairs, crumpled on the ground, lying on couches—as if they waited for death to take them.
The curiosity pushed through her muddled brain and a question formed. Glancing back at Lincoln, she saw him scrutinizing the scene.
Did these people die from being left to fend for themselves? Or were they infected and eventually died from lack of a food source? Lincoln’s head spun with new questions and theories that he didn’t have time to pursue because they were still in danger. Right across from him in the overgrown garden, several chompers were stranded outside standing completely still.
Phoebe dragged her feet across the floor and entered the living area. She purposely made enough noise to capture the attention of anyone lurking around. Wyatt had to push around Lincoln’s arm, horrified at Phoebe’s reckless bravery. Rushing up behind her, she signaled for him to stop. He ignored her gesture because she was defenseless and stood beside her while keeping his eyes peeled for ghouls.
Standing in the middle of the empty room, she gazed around waiting for someone to pop out of hiding. The lights flickered causing everyone to gaze up.
Five different doorways were spread throughout the living area on the left. Including the one they came from. One door led to the gardens and the other two were recreational rooms for activities.
“Out the back,” Lincoln whispered. “Follow me.” The only one close enough to hear him was Noah, but they passed Wyatt and Phoebe and made sure they followed. Skirting the furniture and moving in a direct line to the left, Lincoln beelined for the huge, empty decorative hallway.
The corridor split ahead, and Lincoln gestured for Noah to take the right. They both peeked around the corner at the same time with their weapons ready. The short hall was just a minor distance before there was a corner to round in order to reach the rooms the residents lived in.
Lincoln knew it was a giant, connected circle, so the older residents wouldn’t get lost if their memory failed them. If he and Noah left at the same time they’d meet in the middle, where the emergency exit door was located.
Down the short entry hall, Lincoln placed his back against the wall and peeked down the next long corridor. All the doors were closed from his viewpoint and nothing moseyed around the hall searching for its next meal. Noah gave Lincoln a nod from his side of the hall, sweat glistening on his baldhead as he took a deep breath. He wiggled four fingers at Lincoln before he scooted away from the opening.
Signaling everyone to his side of the hall, Lincoln whispered, “Noah watch the doors on the right, I’ll take the left. Wyatt keep at our backs, and don’t let anything sneak up behind us.”
Cautiously everyone silently stepped into the long hallway with doors on either side of them. Each one had a number right next to the door, some had decorations. A small box was attached to the wall outside every room that held the mail. All of them were empty.
Smeared bloody handprints framed the walls. Giant, broken pictures sat in pieces on the ground with glass strewn all over the floor. Black limbs festered with maggots were scattered everywhere, most of them were arms with fingers clutched around a sacred heirloom like bibles or rosaries.
Lincoln tried to avoid the bones, cringing every time something crunched under his boots. Thumps and croaks were stimulated behind closed doors hearing the group pass through the debris. The noise pulled their attention in every direction keeping everyone diligent.
No one called for help.
Snapping jaws and hisses trailed them down the long corridor. Doors shook, and Lincoln held his breath every time he heard a doorknob rattle.
Lincoln almost slipped on the debris stopping abruptly in his tracks. Bumped forward by the group behind him, his boots screeched forward on the filthy tile. A small, dark shadow appeared ahead of him and the AK’s barrel pointed at it. He waited for it to come out in the open and took a tenuous step back when the shadow elongated across the floor.
Motionless, they listened to each crushing step when the lights flickered above them. Heavy breathing resounded loudly in Lincoln’s ears for the few seconds they were doused in complete darkness. The light finally flared, revealing a giant woman in scrubs blocking their way. She croaked a grunt, filling the hallway with her massive frame.
Sounds of shuffling feet made Lincoln’s arm tense around his AK. He took another retreating step and made everyone backtrack. His finger settled on the trigger ready to pull at the foreseeable onslaught.
Aiming at the beastly woman’s head, her red eyes were pinned on Lincoln. A new shadow emerged, and his aim diverted to the right at the last second. A shriveled, hunched, little old lady squeezed through the tiny space between the giant woman and the wall, and seemed insignificant in comparison.
She puttered in front of the massive woman. Her dull, gray hair was tangled in a mass of crimson knots that veiled her face. The curve in her back only allowed her a view of the ground, but it was clear she could sense the fresh meat in front of her.
Slowly turning her neck, the veil of gray hair started to part. Bits of her slashed face gradually became visible, and her red eye peeked through the strands. It rolled around until she focused upon her prey. Snapping her teeth with a growl she sidestepped, her feet brushing over jagged pieces of glass and sharp bones. Each stride left behind a trickle of blood and was faster than the one before.
Noah pulled on Lincoln’s arm dragging him backward before he fired. Phoebe and Wyatt were scrambling ahead of them. Pulling his arm free enraged at Noah for messing up his shot, Lincoln skidded to a stop to aim at his target.
A hand pushed down the AK and Noah growled impatiently, “If you shoot now, everything in this building will come running. We’ll be stuck right in the middle of it all without an escape route.”
Gaunt, withering bodies squeezed through the same gap as the hunched old woman and Lincoln conceded to Noah’s reasoning. They quickly ran after Phoebe and Wyatt. The noise was deafening, fists pounded on the walls and made them vibrate as they raced down the corridor. An enraged screech echoed after them and the sound excited the ghouls nearby.
Phoebe slid on one knee gasping for air. Noah and Lincoln pulled her up and Wyatt wrapped his arm around her waist to help her along. A bellowing growl surged down the hall, and stomping footsteps had Lincoln peering over his shoulder at the huge woman charging down the hall like a bowling ball. The giant shrieked like a banshee and toppled over anyone in her way. Frail bodies flew and cracked walls at the sheer force she used to clear a path.
Terror weaved through every cell in Lincoln’s body as he concluded the massive woman would catch him—if not him, Noah. Thoughts spun in his head, each one grimmer than the last to ensure his survival. His eyes found Noah’s peeking back at him. They were both fiercely determin
ed to survive—neither of them willing to sacrifice themselves for the other.
In front of him, Wyatt and Phoebe’s slow pace only made him angrier and more irritable. She was already dying, and the precious seconds she could provide as a distraction could easily be what tilted the scales between life and death. But throwing Phoebe to her demise would definitely send Wyatt’s to his prematurely. Before the egotistic thoughts consumed him, he took a quick survey of his surroundings for another option.
Survival depends on being the smartest man alive in a desperate situation—or just plain, dumb luck. Death is a far better fate than living in an insane stupor of regrets.
Between all the heavy breathing, a doorknob jiggled. Lincoln appraised the doors in front of him and skidded to a stop, trying one. It was locked.
He was doomed behind Wyatt and Phoebe. The massive beast chasing them had already alerted everything in the building to their location.
Trying the next door, Lincoln unholstered his Glock 17 and shot the humpback old woman several feet away. He missed her head in his eagerness to find an open door but heard Noah yell, “Fuck you, you old creepy ass bitch!” With the Desert Eagle aimed, Lincoln automatically ducked as Noah pulled the trigger. Her head erupted like a volcano spewing clumps of gray hair, brain matter, and bone all over the wall, the rest raining down on the floor.
Death in the form of old, gnarled bodies crept toward him. The giant, raging orderly was gaining ground but tripped over a pile of dead bodies. Lincoln’s fourth doorknob turned in his favor and burst open with his fervor, knocking down an old man inside the room. From the putrid smell, Lincoln doubted the man was still alive. His attention swayed from the figure on the floor to glance down the hall. Noah, Wyatt and Phoebe were using his strategy to escape the corridor.
They scrambled from one door to the next and Lincoln pulled his gaze away from them to look in the other direction. Without giving it a second thought, he stood his ground and put a bullet in the heads of the cannibals near him to give them more time before he had to sprint inside the room.
Slamming the door shut and locking it was his first priority. He used his weight and wedged his boots against the door. A flash of pale, translucent skin caught his attention and he did a double take of the ghoul he knocked down.
“Jesus,” Lincoln grumbled under his breath as the grey ass slowly lifted giving him an eyeful of a spilt moon. “Why the fuck are you naked?” He wanted to keep his gaze averted but didn’t want the thing sneaking up on him while he barricaded the door. The man groaned and hissed taking his sweet time to stand up.
Heavy footsteps pounded in the hallway. The entire room vibrated as the raging orderly passed him. Through all the noise he’d heard one other door slam shut.
Disappearing behind a door didn’t stop the orderly from crashing into the barrier. She repeatedly used her entire body as a battering ram, vibrating the walls. Ghouls behind closed doors were active, hissing and groaning to be freed. All the noise had the orderly testing different doors. Desperate for a food source, she randomly picked rooms to break into by following the loudest sounds. None of them broke under pressure. At end of the corridor, she decided to search elsewhere for easier prey.
Lincoln was still barricading the door with his pack on and a knife in hand. While the walls stopped vibrating from impact, he didn’t want to risk leaving his spot. Adrenaline pulsed in his ears while his heart clamored. He waited for the immediate threat in front of him—the naked, old man, gruesomely twisted from his fall—to attack him to satiate his hunger.
The cannibal limped toward Lincoln with a gaping hole in its face. Rotten, black teeth were visible and fell from the hole when he snapped his jaws together. Its slow pace irritated him, but he did not budge from his position in front of the door.
His arm swung out stabbing the old man in the side of the head when he could finally reach him. The body crumpled to the ground at Lincoln’s feet with its legs wide open.
Raising his eyes to the ceiling, Lincoln grunted under his breath and took a minute for himself before his gaze fell upon something no man should ever see unless it was his own at that age.
Kicking the man’s legs closed, all his energy left him, and he slid to the ground. He reached over, freed the knife from its head and wiped the blood off on the saggy, bare skin before sheathing it.
He remained motionless for another five minutes and then took his pack off. The weight off his shoulders only reminded him that he had to put it back on eventually. He left his pack with the AK on top of it near the door while he strode forward and reached the bathroom only several steps away.
Dust had taken over the surfaces, but other than that it seemed clean for a bachelor. Lincoln tried the faucet and the water sputtered before it started flowing. He bent over the sink and washed his hands before gulping it down.
Fingers crawled up his back and gripped his shirt, a wet substance warming his side. Pulling away from the pressure, a head of white hair materialized at his waist. He tripped over his feet awkwardly falling over the tub and caught himself before he fell completely inside.
“Son of a bitch!” Lincoln’s voice rumbled in surprise.
The old woman pounced on him, and he twisted to the left trying to keep her claws away from him. Over the edge of the tub, he fell inside with her on top. The gray, gaunt face stared down at him ready to take a chunk of flesh. Rotten breath hit him first and he automatically raised his arms to try and shield himself from her bite.
FOUR
B iting in several places she gnawed on his arm and slurped over it from wrist to elbow, leaving a trail of slobber in its wake. Awkwardly positioned in the tub with his legs hanging over the edge, he kept his eyes closed as the warm liquid draped over his forearm without pain.
Defeated by an old woman. Lincoln popped one eye open to examine the damage and caught a glimpse of her open mouth before it landed over his elbow—her teeth were missing. Discolored, slimy drool dripped down her chin. Meager hands clutched tightly to him and tried to keep him still as she tried to swallow him whole. He pulled his arm out of her grasp to make sure his skin wasn’t punctured.
Forcefully shoving his arm back into her mouth, she chomped down as hard as she could and viciously shook her head side-to-side trying to tear his flesh apart like a rabid dog. While she was occupied, Lincoln swung his legs into the tub, so he could easily wedge himself out.
Toothless gained better positioning and straddled him. Before her gums clamped over his face he pushed her head away. A long line of drool threatened him from above and he leaned to the right side of the tub as she hovered over him.
Fumbling around in the enclosed space, something suddenly hit him on the side of his head. Terrified another flesh eater was coming in for a snack, Lincoln quickly turned his head and was slapped in the face.
Caught off guard, Lincoln focused on the swinging object and found a nipple. A long, saggy breast swung to and fro slapping him in the face as he held her at bay. Her mouth locked onto his elbow again and he tried to slide from beneath her while her tongue licked up and down his arm.
Noah’s voice sailed through the air, “That’s something I’ll never be able to unsee. You take slobbing the knob to a whole new level. Should I leave you two alone?” He leaned over the tub pulling the old lady’s head back by her hair noticing the open mouth had no teeth.
Understanding dawned on Noah’s face as the hair detached from her head and ended up tangled in his fingers. Disgusted, he flicked the hair off his hand and took a step back letting Lincoln fend for himself not showing the slightest bit of concern.
Noah stopped Wyatt from barging in to help Lincoln, and whispered, “She has no teeth.”
Phoebe stood back against the wall next to Wyatt’s pack with her eyes closed and tried to hide every wheezing breath from Wyatt. As soon as it was quiet, Phoebe had argued with Wyatt to venture out of her own to find the other two and bring them back to him. He refused to stay safely locked in the room, so for hi
s sake, they waited another five minutes.
Noah’s room was easy to find since he’d been closer to them. Four doors down he cracked the door and they all set forth to find Lincoln. If it wasn’t for Lincoln’s loud cursing earlier, they would have passed the room up.
Only half of Noah’s smirking face was visible from Lincoln’s lopsided angle in the tub. “Fuck you,” Lincoln growled and fumbled for the knife on his belt.
Feigning appalled shock Noah said, “I’m not the one letting an old lady make out with my arm and whip me in the face with her tits.” He took his pack off and leaned it against the wall next to Phoebe to give his shoulders and back a break.
“I bet she was popular with the men. That is some serious tongue work,” Wyatt peered over Noah’s head.
Lincoln finally got the upper hand and unsheathed a knife. He held her down and stabbed the naked, old woman in her head. Immobile, the blood trickled into the drain. Breathing heavily, Lincoln lifted himself out of the tub and gazed at Wyatt and Noah viciously.
Noah’s big mouth opened, “Took out the old man to get a play at the—.” His words cut off as he flew across the room knocking Wyatt down. Navy blue scrubs filled the bathroom doorway and thick arms dragged Wyatt past the opening by his shirt. Choking out the words, he yelled at Phoebe to run, not noticing the giant goon completely ignored her existence. Phoebe ignored Wyatt and pried at the giant hand dragging Wyatt out of the room.
Lincoln aimed his Glock 17 and exited the bathroom swiftly making it to the hallway. Phoebe’s body was in midflight when he reached the threshold. She crashed onto the ground and rolled several feet into a wall. Shaking her head side to side, she lifted herself on all fours before Lincoln’s eyes fled in the direction she came from.
The massive orderly was bashing Wyatt’s head against the floor with her back to Lincoln. He fired automatically, the bullet disappearing into the thick, rotten skin. The giant’s head popped up and turned to find the culprit. Beyond her two more ghouls joined them and hobbled down the hallway. Lincoln shot them quickly before they became a problem.