by Mason King
Kendall looked at him with that same empathy he now associated with her normal expression. She squeezed his hand once more and led him back to the door. The gesture said, without words, that there was no time for sulking; there were things to be done.
Downstairs there was a flurry of commotion from everyone. Everyone was moving; even Jamie was helping her dad to pile things in front of the door. They had dressers, bed frames, couches, pretty much anything of substantial resistance piled in front of the door. Hunter watched in quiet admiration of the groups focus and determination. It looked like they had everything under control, so Hunter decided he wanted to get the vehicles ready for an emergency departure, should the need for such occur.
Hunter got to his jeep and took a quick inventory, adding a few cases of water and some non-perishables to the back. He also added several things to each vehicle that could be used as a weapon, as well as putting one of his knives in the glove compartment.
After doing the same to the other two vehicles they had in the building, Hunter was feeling monumentally better. Hunter always felt better when he had something to set his mind to and accomplish.
Kendall, who had been helping the other group, came to check on him.
After several beats she finally asked, “What do you think is going to happen?”
“Best case scenario,” Hunter began, “we’re able to hold off anyone coming in this building for a while. Maybe wait out the entire situation. We probably need to check the news and see if anything else has happened. But worst case…” Hunter trailed off looking at the vehicles, telling Kendall all she needed to know.
Worst case, they would have to high tail it out of there and pray that they made it out alive.
Kendall and Hunter stood together in silence for several minutes. There had been a weirdness between them this entire time. While Hunter, in no way, blamed Kendall for what had happened to Allison, Kendall continued to feel guilty. Kendall was struggling with the fact that she knew Hunter had lost so much but she didn’t know what she could do for him.
“How are you?” She finally asked, hoping to gain some insight on to what Hunter was thinking.
“I’ve been better.” He turned to her, “you?”
She simply nodded. “I’m okay, but I haven’t lost what you’ve lost. Do you want to talk about it?” She pressed.
Hunter actually laughed, “Don’t be such a girl. Of all the things that could be talked about right now, I promise you that my feelings are not at the top of my list.”
When he looked at Kendall and saw that she wasn’t convinced, he hugged her. “Seriously. Don’t worry about me. Not right now. There’s too much at stake.”
Kendall hugged him back and hoped that he was telling the truth.
She broke the hug and punched him in the arm.
“Ouch!” he fake exclaimed, rubbing the spot she’d hit him. “What was that for?”
“For calling me a girl.” She replied, indignant, before turning on her heels and stomping off.
Hunter couldn’t help but shake his head, Kendall had grown on him and he was learning to admire her gumption.
The rest of the day went by uneventfully compared to the excitement of the morning. Everyone pretty much did their own thing; however, they did have one person do rounds every hour around the building to ensure they were all safe. When night came, Hunter was the first to offer to stay awake and keep watch. No one protested, but Elliot promised to take over the next night.
As Hunter stayed awake, he realized how eerie the big building was, especially now that the sun was down and he was the only one awake. While he did his rounds, he continued to hear rustling and groans from outside. The Dead were not giving up. They had long stopped banging and scratching at the front doors, but Hunter knew that meant nothing. They were still working a way to get inside.
After one of Hunter’s hourly rounds he decided to check the roof again. Once secure, he spread out the blanket he’d brought up and laid down, staring at the sky above him. Hunter closed his eyes, and let the sounds wash over him, sinking in to his senses. He could hear the dead, constantly moving, down below him.
A soft breeze ran over his body causing the hair on his arms to stand up. Something felt off. Before opening his eyes, he took a moment to continue to listen and feel the vibrations underneath him. There was a pace picking up within the store. Seconds after opening his eyes Hunter heard the door leading to the roof slam open and his companions poured out one by one, each person in more of a hurry than the previous. Ashley was clutching Jamie to her, Jonathan was behind them both, followed by Brad and Trevor. Kendall and her parents brought up the rear.
“Wait!”
The call came from the stairs leading up to the roof. Jeanne was still down there and it sounded like she and Elliot were yelling back and forth to one another.
“What’s going on?” Hunters’ body had been on high alert already and his adrenaline began spiking.
“They’re inside!” Hunter was surprised to hear Jamie explaining what had happened in her innocent, young voice.
Ashley nodded and hugged Jamie to her even tighter.
At that moment a commotion downstairs caused Kendall and Hunter to rush to the door. Below, they could see Jeanne looking into an unseen area. Hunter was about to go down and help her before Jeanne was knocked off of her feet by one of the Dead. Her screams echoed through the hall as one of them quickly bit into her throat, causing blood to go everywhere.
“Jeanne!” Elliot’s devastated cry echoed up the stairs and he was by her side within seconds. He was able to get the thing off of her and in a momentary lapse of judgment bent down and started to weep. As Hunter was about to yell to Elliot to get up here, he was quickly engulfed by so many dead that Hunter no longer could tell Elliot from the rest of them.
Hunter shut the door and put his back against it. He closed his eyes and counted to ten, only to open his eyes and see that everyone staring at him.
“Good.” He clarified, “They can’t climb.” He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and stepped away from the door. Brad struggled with grabbing a large block of cement that he found on the roof, but was able to get it in front of the door.
“Just in case.” Brad wiped his hands on jeans and walked towards Hunter.
“So what do we do now?”
Hunter looked around the group. All eyes collectively stared back at him, waiting for direction.
It was the dead of night, Hunter was functioning on little to no sleep. “We have 2 options. We can climb down the fire escape and fight our way out, or we can try to make it around to our vehicles and fight our way out.”
Everyone began to look at one another, no one offering any suggestions.
Trevor thought about it before offering, “What if a few of us were able to make our way to the vehicles and could drive them around to the fire escape. Ashley and Jamie don’t need to risk trying to make it through that mess. Inside or down there.” He gestured towards the parking lot where all that could be made out was a mass of writhing bodies in the darkness.
“That could work.” This time it was Kendall.
Kendall turned to her father as well as Brad, Trevor and Hunter, “We could do it.”
“Honey, no.” Frank tried to interject.
“Dad, don’t. If anyone is going in there, I am too. We need as many people as we can. We have no idea what to expect when we open that door, and we have to stick together.” She turned toward the other men, “No one separates. Period. Got it?”
She received nods in return, agreeing.
Turning towards Ashley and Jamie, “You two stay close. Jonathan, you need to stay with them in case anything goes wrong. Mom, that goes for you too.” She barely got the sentence out before her mom was wrapping her in a tight hug.”
She whispered something to Kendall in which she simply nodded in return. They both held up their hands in a similar gesture that Hunter didn’t recognize, and before he knew i
t Kendall was leading the pack. Hunter realized it wasn’t just him who had taken charge of the group; Kendall was feeling just as protective as Hunter was.
“Every bullet counts. Before I open this door take inventory of what you have on you. Inaccurate bullet count could cost you your life.” Frank looked at his daughter in a moment of admiration and pride. Kendall didn’t see it, but Hunter did.
“5…” Kendall started.
Everyone patted themselves down and looked into their magazines and chambers.
“4…”
Hunters breathing became shallow as he unclicked his safety and put his finger firmly on the trigger.
“3…”
Frank gave his daughter a firm squeeze on the shoulder.
“2...”
Brad and Trevor exchanged fist bumps and got themselves in position directly behind Frank and Kendall.
“1...”
Kendall flung the door open and swung her gun and flashlight into the darkness.
Immediately they were hit with the sound of noises from within. Kendall slowly descended the stairs and everyone followed, keeping a few paces behind one another to allow plenty of space to fight.
Mixed with the sounds of shuffling Dead, you could hear each person’s breathing pick up. Franks gun was the first to fire. Kendall abruptly jumped back at the noise before realizing why her father had fired his shot. Looking underneath her, there had been a Biter close enough to take her down. Kendall was about to thank her father when the commotion ensued.
Franks’ gunshot had set off each and every Biter inside. Any that hadn’t realized that fresh meat had entered the building were now fully aware of their presence.
“Go go go!” Kendall screamed before firing off several shots of her own.
The sticking together rule flew out the window. There were dead in every direction and all Hunter could concentrate on was making sure none of their teeth reached his flesh. He shot three Dead consecutively; taking each one down with a clear shot to the head.
The group was able to make a small clearing that allowed them to switch from guns, to hands on weapons. They made their way through the mob, taking down Dead left and right like fields of corn with a samurai sword. While they had turned most of the lights in the building off to sleep, they had left a few on for just this reason. So it was dim, but they were able to see enough.
Wordlessly, they began making their way through the crowd closer to the light. Hunter and Frank were the first to make it to the lighted area and Hunter could see the Dead for the gruesome creatures that they were. It was sickening and made his stomach roll. Each one seemed to be more covered in blood than the next.
He didn’t know if it was because it had been almost 2 days since the initial outbreak, or because he was up close and personal, but it was a mess of open wounds, bite marks, jaws that were opening unnaturally, and movements that were more animalistic than human.
There were not as many Dead in the building as Hunter had been anticipating, and he and Frank soon were the made it through to where it seemed as though no more were coming. They took the moment of freedom to look behind them and see Brad and Trevor not far behind, holding their own.
The last Biter in sight headed straight for Brad, but Trevor intercepted with a hunting knife that he drove directly into the Dead’s frontal lobe. The Biter went still and Trevor retrieved his knife, causing it to fall to the floor in a heap. Brad and Trevor joined Hunter and Frank and the four men looked at the room they were in. Bodies were everywhere. The men were exhausted and you could hear the heavy breathing echoing through the room. One thing that didn’t make any sense, was that Kendall was nowhere to be found.
Frank began to panic, looking through the bodies closest to them.
“Where the hell is she?” Hunter said out loud, feeling unreasonably pissed off at Kendall for not following her own “stick together” rule.
A sound that Hunter knew better than almost anything caused him to turn to his left. He almost fell over in shock to see Kendall behind the wheel of his Jeep, driving straight towards them, destroying the store as she made her way through the mass of bodies that were scattered across the floor.
The 4 men jumped in as soon as she came to a stop and she swiftly jerked the wheel to the right and made a 180, driving back the way she had come. Once back in the warehouse where the vehicles were stored, Brad and Trevor eagerly hopped out of the jeep and each went to another vehicle.
“Okay,” Kendall was on a roll as leader of this mission, so she continued, “You two are going to drive out in front of me and you clear the way so I can make it to the fire escape. Once I’ve made it, park to keep as many of them away from me as possible while everyone climbs down. Hunter, Dad, you guys go in their cars so I can get everyone in the Jeep. Once everyone is safe, we make our way out and follow one another until we can find a safe place to stop. Understood?” Kendall looked at each person waiting for acknowledgement.
Once everyone shook their head that they understood, Kendall exclaimed “Let’s do this, people!”, and once everyone was situated they were on their way.
Brad and Trevor did as Kendall said and the three cars drove to the side of the building, the two men made sure to take out as many Dead as possible. As soon as Kendall made it to the steps she let out several loud honks and peeked her head out, yelling for everyone to come on.
Kendall turned her attention back to the front of the vehicle where her heart quickly sank. Trevor and Brad had done a hell of a job clearing the area, but the dead were coming. Fast. She yelled out again, “Today, please!”
Ashley came down first with Jamie immediately following her. They were, mercifully, going fast enough that Jonathan and Diana were not too far behind. Once Ashley and Jamie were safely inside, with the other two close on their heels, Brad and Trevor started driving their way through the human mass to get the group to safety. Hunter commended Brad on his driving skills before looking behind him to make sure Kendall and her crew were doing okay. Diana was halfway into the vehicle when her ankle was grabbed.
As quickly as the Biter had grabbed her, Hunter’s hand was on the door handle, ready to jump out and help. However, to Hunters astonishment and delight, it quickly became apparent that Diana didn’t need any help. As soon as she realized someone had her, she whipped out a knife and cut clean through the Dead’s hand, causing it to cry out and jerk back. It took her knife with her, but she was able to get herself into the vehicle, and within seconds all three cars were driving away from their infiltrated hideout.
Cheers were heard coming from each vehicle. They hadn’t lost anyone else. Silence quickly followed as everyone allowed themselves a few moments to mourn the loss of the two members of their group. Hunter’s thoughts were with them for several moments before his gears switched to looking ahead. That seemed to be all that he was able to do anymore. Only looking ahead, no looking back. He began to take a mental inventory of their supplies.
Was this life now? Find supplies, shelter, run, repeat?
Brad’s voice cut through his thought process, “We’re in front and I don’t want to stop for at least a few miles. It’s clear now, but they could be following and I don’t want to risk it.”
With that, they drove about a mile and a half away down a completely abandoned road. Cars were strewn all over the place in various states of disarray. For the first time, Hunter couldn’t help but think, this was starting to look like the stereotypical zombie movie.
“This is ridiculous.” He said under his breath, not realizing he said it out loud.
“It is. I never thought we’d see this in our lifetime.” Brad commented.
Hunter looked at him.
“Have you…” Hunter faltered, not sure if it was inappropriate to ask this question, “Have you lost anyone?”
“Yeah.” Brad replied, not returning Hunter’s gaze. Brad’s grip on the wheel tightened, causing his knuckles to turn white.
Hunter had been so wrapped up in what he�
��d lost, he hadn’t even thought about what the others in his group had experienced.
“Where were you? When it happened?”
Brad didn’t respond immediately; Hunter wasn’t planning to push him if he didn’t want to talk about it.
“I was at my parent’s. I was home from college. I didn’t come home nearly as often as I should have and I was on my way out to meet up with some friends, Trevor included. My mom was upset because she said she hadn’t seen me in months and I was choosing to hang out with my friends instead of spending time with her and my dad…” Brad’s voice cracked.
He took a moment and continued, “I was about to walk out the door, not really in the mood to deal with fighting with my mom, and as I opened the door our neighbor ran in. She was already one of those things, and I hadn’t even looked outside before opening the door. Because, why would I?”
“She grabbed me by my shoulders and my dad jumped in and ripped her off of me before she did any damage. As soon as he did though, she bit him…then my mom started freaking out and that caught the bitch’s attention and she attacked her. I just froze. I didn’t know what to do…” Brad was still talking, but tears had started to openly roll down his cheeks. Hunter was completely engrossed in his story. This was the first account, other than his own, that he had really let sink in.
“A car honked outside and it was Trevor, coming to pick me up. I ran outside and as soon as I got into his car he told me what was going on and I just lost it.”
“I’m sorry, man.” Hunter offered. Brad nodded a thanks before continuing, “Trevor doesn’t know where any of his family are. He tried calling his parents and brother and sister but he hasn’t been able to reach anyone. His girlfriend either.”
“Damn. He’s keeping it together better than I would be.”
“It’ll hit him once we stop moving. We’ve had too much to focus on, you know? What about you? You lost anyone?”