by Davis, James
“We aren’t going to be able to hold them off much longer,” Johnny shouted over the rising noise from the group on the other side of the doors.
“I’ll hold the doors. Go find something to hold these doors shut so we can get the hell out of here!” Roosevelt said, using all of his strength to push back on the doors. Johnny nodded and took off in a sprint down the hall. He rounded the corner and spotted a supply closet at the end. He raced toward the far wall and skidded to a stop. Ripping open the door he rushed inside and frantically searched for something, anything he could use to secure the doors long enough for them to get away. He shuffled through a few shelves not finding anything but cleaners and paper towels. He spotted a metal locker and flung open the door revealing several brooms and mops. He tore the wooden handle of the broom from the locker and felt the weight of it in his hand. Deciding it wasn’t strong enough he let it fall to the ground and did the same with the mops.
“Shit!” he screamed as he searched the bottom of the locker, still coming up empty handed.
“Johnny, come on, man, you have to hurry!” Roosevelt’s voice echoed down the hall. Johnny spun around and started ripping items from the shelf.
“Hell, yeah!” Johnny shouted as he spotted a rusty old chain lying near the back of the shelf. He jerked the chain free and sprinted back down the hall. He rounds the corner and saw Roosevelt pushing with everything he had, but the doors were slowly starting to creep open. Johnny ran for all he was worth and slammed into the door with his shoulder knocking the group of growling people back far enough for the doors to slam shut.
“Here, wrap this through the door handles!” Johnny shouted, handing an end of the chain to Roosevelt. He grabbed the chain and started frantically wrapping the chain around the metal handles of the door. Finally, after several seconds he had the chain secure and they were able to take a step back and look at the writhing group of blood-soaked people as they snapped their jaws at them.
“What the hell is going on here?” Roosevelt said as they both stepped back away from the door. Johnny looked over at his friend and said,
“I feel stupid for even thinking this, but they have to be zombies, man,” Roosevelt seemed to think about that for a minute and then shrugged,
“Whatever is wrong with them I don’t want any part of. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Chapter Twenty
3:15 p.m. Christmas Eve 2048
A51 Headquarters
Johnny and Roosevelt ran down the hall toward the entrance of A51 intent on getting as far away from the bloodied monsters as they could. As they rounded the final corner to the front doors, they each skidded to a stop. Tanner Washington or what used to be him was on his knees hunched over the still corpse of a blonde woman. He was steadily taking bites from the woman's long intestines as he pulled more and more from her corpse.
“Tanner, what the hell?” Johnny said, his stomach starting to churn from the constant smacking of lips and crunching of bone. Tanner turned his milky white gaze toward them and a deep growl escaped his mouth as he jumped to his feet and darted toward them. Johnny and Roosevelt took off down the hall as fast as they could away from the monster that was in hot pursuit. Ahead of them a door flew open, Tyler’s face poked out as he waved them toward him.
“Come on! In here!” Tyler shouted before backing out of the way. Johnny and Roosevelt raced inside and Tyler slammed the door closed just as Tanner slammed into it, causing it to bow in on its hinges.
“Follow me!” Tyler said as he ran past and burst through another door that connected his and Tanner’s offices. He slammed the door closed and locked it before sliding a bookshelf in front of it. All three men stood there leaning over, with their hands on their knees gasping for a breath. They could hear the door in the next room splinter and then crash open as Tanner slammed through it and rushed in. Tyler held a finger up to his lips and kept his gaze on the bookshelf. They all watched and waited for the bookshelf to be knocked out of the way as Tanner shoved his way inside the room but it never happened. The undead creature seemed to calm down when it didn’t spot them after entering the room. Johnny stepped over to the window and watched as several of the undead things shuffled out of the building and into the road causing cars to swerve and smash into other cars and telephone poles.
“Did you call the police already?” Johnny asked in a low voice. Tyler nodded.
“Yeah, but I don’t know what good it's going to do. Those things don’t listen to reason and they don’t feel pain,” he replied. Flashing lights caught their attention as several police cruisers pulled up in front of the building. The cops got out of their cars and immediately drew down on the group of undead that was currently snacking on the people inside of the wrecked cars. They could see the cops screaming at the undead but it was pointless.
“There's Erik!” Johnny said, pointing a finger at the front walkway as the Russian raced out of the building toward the cops. The cops began firing on the group of undead but it was no use. They just kept on coming toward them. Two of the cops were quickly taken down as Erik launched himself over the hood of a car at them and clamped down on one of the cops’ arms. The other two cops opened fire on Erik hitting him several times in the chest and groin but it did nothing to stop his attack. Finally, one of the officers raised his aim a bit and put a round in Erik’s forehead dropping him instantly. Recognition washed over the cop’s face as he shouted to the other officer being boxed in.
“Aim for the head!” The cop shouted loud enough for them to hear in the building. The sound of glass shattering sounded in the room next to them as they watched Tanner crash through the window and fall twenty feet to the ground. The impact twisted Tanners body like a pretzel but it didn’t seem to matter as he continued to pull himself toward the action with two broken arms. The last two cops were able to make their way back to their car before the undead caught up to them and they sped off down the street, the wail of the sirens fading off in the distance. Johnny, Roosevelt and Tyler all watched in horror as the dead cops and the people in the wrecked cars started to reanimate. The cops climbed back to their feet and took off down the road, no doubt chasing another victim and the people in the cars were just stuck as the seatbelts held them in place as they tried and tried to break free.
“What the hell is happening! Zombies are not real!” Tyler exclaimed, his calm demeanor now turned to panic.
“Tyler, chill out before you get more of those things up here!” Roosevelt said.
“No man, this can’t be happening! Zombies are not f...,” Tyler started to scream but Roosevelt threw a right hook and knocked him out cold before his voice got too loud.
“We need to get out of here,” Johnny said as he watched more and more of the undead things rise up to their feet and take off down the street. The sound of footsteps raced past the door to the hallway followed by the familiar growling as someone was being chased by one of the undead. A few seconds later a blood curdling scream from a woman pierced the silent room followed by a wet gurgling sound and finally eerie silence.
“I’m not going anywhere yet,” Johnny said as the woman's screams turned to silence. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed his wife's number to let her know what was going on.
“Call your woman,” Johnny said as he listened to the phone ring.
“Baby! Are you home? I’m so excited to see you!” Tracy said, the sound of other people talking in the background coming through loud enough for him to hear.
“Trace, listen to me. You have to get home now! Something is happening and you just need to stay at home away from people. I’ll explain when I get there,” Johnny said, his teeth clenching tight.
“What are you talking about? I'm out shopping with Ruby. I just thought you would be busy after you landed so I thought we would do some last minutes Christmas shopping for you and Rosie. I promise we’ll be home later,” Tracy replied.
“Damn it, no! You have to get home right now! The dead are coming back to
life and eating people, Tracy! Get home right now and wait for me!” Johnny said, annoyance dripping from his words.
“I don’t think I like the way you’re talking to me,” Tracy replied.
“Goddamn it, Tracy, just do what I asked you to do!” Johnny shouted into the phone. Tracy didn’t say a word. She simply hung the phone up and powered it off before Johnny had a chance to call again.
“Shit!” Johnny growled, holding the phone in front of his face as he squeezed the hell out of it with both hands. He turned to face his friend who was now typing as fast as he could on the touchscreen phone.
“You get ahold of Ruby?” Johnny asked.
“No, her phone is going straight to voicemail,” Roosevelt replied, his words covered in panic.
“She’s out with Tracy shopping. We need to get our asses out of here and back to the house like pronto!” Johnny said, now realizing why Roosevelt had been in a rush earlier.
“I have the new Tesla SUV. It will pull right up to the door if we can make it down to it,” Tyler’s groggy voice sounded behind them.
“You scared the shit out of me!” Johnny said after he spun around ready for a fight. Tyler chuckled.
“It’s not me you need to be scared of. Thanks for putting me on my ass, man. Sorry for freaking out on you guys,” Tyler said as he got to his feet. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the Tesla app and tapped a few icons on the screen. Once he finished, he stuck the phone back in his pocket and pointed his chin out of the window.
“Should be here any second,” Tyler added as he watched intently. A couple of minutes later a jet-black Tesla SUV pulled up to the front door and stopped. The undead things running out of the building slowed long enough to see that the truck was empty before sprinting down the road away from the building.
“Think we can make it down there?” Johnny asked, looking from Tyler to Roosevelt. Both men shrugged.
“Not sure, but we have to try, we’re just sitting ducks here,” Roosevelt said.
“I agree. We have to get the hell out of here like now,” Tyler added.
“Do we have any weapons?” Johnny asked. Roosevelt shook his head.
“You know I don’t,” Tyler stepped over to his desk and pulled a key from his pocket.
“I do. It’s not much but it’s better than nothing,” Tyler said as he opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a Beretta APX. He removed the mag and checked the chamber to make sure it wasn’t loaded before handing it to Johnny. Johnny looked the gun over and handed it to Roosevelt.
“So, which of us is the best shot?” Roosevelt asked as he turned the gun over in his hands and then gave it back to Tyler.
“I’ve never shot the stupid thing,” Tyler said. Johnny and Roosevelt looked at one another and then back to Tyler.
“We can both shoot ok. Roosevelt is probably a little better than I am actually. He was in the military,” Johnny said. Tyler handed the gun back to Roosevelt.
“Looks like you’re our guy,” Tyler said. Roosevelt took the gun and shoved the mag back in before racking a round in the chamber and shoving the gun in the small of his back. He looked up at Tyler and then Johnny and said.
“Alright, so what's the plan?”
Chapter Twenty-One
5:49 p.m. Christmas Eve 2048
A51 Headquarters
Roosevelt stepped out into the eerily quiet hallway with Tyler behind him and Johnny in back. The three men peered left and right, seeing no sign of Tanner, or anyone else for that matter.
"Go left," Tyler instructed quietly after ensuring that each direction was clear. They turned left and headed along the wall, down the long white corridor. Several yards later they approached a three-way intersection in the hallway and stopped at the corner, peeking around in both directions.
"Turn right here. There's an elevator just around the corner. It'll be open," Tyler said.
Roosevelt nodded and charged around the corner, the other two men right behind him. He skidded to a stop as the white wall beside him split apart revealing the elevator he and Johnny had entered during their first trip to A51. The three men rushed inside and Tyler reached into his pocket, fiddling around for a second before the doors snapped closed. A second later the familiar jolt signaled that they had begun their descent.
"I don't know what's gonna be waiting for us once those doors open. Stay ready," Roosevelt said, pulling the pistol from his waistband and stepping to the front of the elevator. Tyler jumped as a ding filled their ears and the elevator came to an abrupt stop.
"Ready?" Tyler asked.
"No," Roosevelt shook his head, "But open it up."
The doors sprang open and Roosevelt charged out aiming his gun to each side.
"It's cool," he said, lowering the pistol and letting it hang in his right hand. Tyler and Johnny stepped out behind him. A door to their right opened, revealing the lobby of A51. Roosevelt raised his pistol and charged toward the door. Johnny and Tyler followed.
The lobby was completely empty, but the view outside was a terrifying image. Cars were stopped, bodies roamed the street in groups. What was once a functional city block had become a nightmare straight out of a horror movie over the past hour. Tyler's SUV had pulled up to the curb about twenty yards outside the entrance. A police cruiser with its door open sat on the opposite side.
Johnny scanned the area through the glass, looking for any sign of life, life that wouldn't try to make him their Christmas dinner. The distance between the door and the vehicle was short, but a dozen or more zombies stood in the way.
"I can open the door remotely and we'll have to run for it," Tyler said, pulling out his phone.
"I'll go first, Tyler behind me, Rosie, you stay close behind. Don't fire that thing unless you have to. Open the door about the halfway mark." Johnny instructed.
Tyler and Roosevelt nodded.
"One, two, three," Johnny counted quickly, before bursting through the door.
The sound of sirens previously blocked by the soundproof building filled their ears. Gunshots echoed off in the distance, it sounded like the Fourth of July. The smell of burning oil filled the air as smoke rose from disabled cars. What were regular people only hours ago, scientists, doctors, policemen, were now monsters, roaming the streets and eating anything that moved.
As the men burst out of the doors, the nearest zombie, a tall slender woman lunged at Johnny. Johnny couldn't remember her name, but he recognized her as the A51 receptionist. He stopped abruptly and jumped backwards, almost knocking Tyler over. The woman stumbled, missing her target and throwing herself headfirst into the ground. Johnny switched back into gear and took off.
As they reached the halfway point, Tyler pressed the button and the back-passenger door swung open slowly. Johnny suddenly felt a hand grab at his arm, stopping him in his tracks. The hand pulled with such force, he felt like it might rip his arm clean out of the socket. He turned to see an old, grey haired man that was dressed like a policeman. The man had a gaping hole in his chest and his face was covered in blood. His hands were clenched tightly around Johnny's forearm. A shot rang out and the left side of the man's face all but exploded. Blood sprayed from his face and he fell to the ground, his hands still clenched tightly around Johnny's arm.
Another shot rang out and Johnny turned to see another man, this one dressed in an expensive looking suit, fall to the ground in front of Roosevelt. Johnny pried the fingers away from his arm and let the man fall completely to the ground. He looked around to see Tyler already in the back seat of the black SUV.
"Come on!" Tyler shouted as more of the creatures had been alerted by the gunshot and were now sprinting toward Johnny and Roosevelt.
Johnny sprinted the last few feet toward the SUV, glancing over his shoulder once he reached it to be sure Roosevelt was still behind him. He was. Johnny jumped into the back seat next to Tyler and made room for Roosevelt. Roosevelt briefly stopped next to the policeman's body and reached down to grab at something before stra
ightening up and diving into the seat next to Johnny and Tyler. Tyler tapped his phone and the door closed.
"I've got the jet waiting for us," Tyler informed them, furiously typing on his phone. The car rocked and swayed violently from the impact of the creatures alerted by the commotion. Tyler finished typing and locked his phone, sliding it back into the pocket of his shorts. The dash lit up and the car lurched forward.
“Here, take this,” Roosevelt said handing Johnny a Glock 17. Johnny took the gun and checked it to see if there was a round in the chamber. Seeing brass, he slid the gun under his right leg as the SUV drove down the road obeying the speed limits.
“One of you take over driving this damn thing before those things get in here!” Johnny said as the SUV slowed to stop behind a line of wrecked cars. Tyler climbed into the front seat and switched the truck into manual mode and sped off down the street. The tires screeched as Tyler whipped the truck around several more wrecks and then smashed down on the accelerator. The truck shot forward running stop signs and red lights the entire time. Finally, they hit the interstate and Tyler switched the truck back into auto pilot and turned to look at Johnny and Roosevelt.
“What in the hell happened back there?” Tyler shouted, panic creeping back into his voice.
“Man, calm down. Flipping out is not going to help anything,” Roosevelt said.
“I don’t know but whatever it is it’s turning people into those damn things almost immediately after you get bitten,” Johnny added.
“It’s zombies, man. The damn walking dead!” Tyler exclaimed.
“That's kind of what we were thinking too,” Roosevelt said after glancing over at Johnny.
“Oh, shit, look out!” Roosevelt said pointing at a crowd of people on the bridge they were crossing over. Tyler spun around and grabbed the wheel, yanking it hard to the left to miss a group of bloody, growling people. The truck slid sideways, smashing into several of the zombies before the tires caught causing the SUV to flip into a roll down the other side of the bridge. Crunching metal and shattering glass filled their ears as the SUV continued to roll. The truck finally came to a stop on its side at the bottom of the bridge, blocking off the entire right-side lanes. Blood poured from a gash on Johnny’s head as he groaned and tried to sit up. He couldn't see anything because Roosevelt’s large frame lay on top of him.