“Which one is it?” Sam asked. “We’ll put it down right now.”
“I’m not sure. There’s not really enough light to get a good look.”
“Okay,” James said. “There’s another stairwell down the hall, across from the supply room. We just gotta get what we need, and get out of here.”
Scott nodded. “I heard that.”
They pushed the door open. Sam led everyone down the hall as fast as she could. Aaron stayed near the door just for a moment. The mob of corpses caught sight of the humans and grew agitated. Aaron could see which one was the thinker. A walker that was once a surgeon led the undead, a curious gleam in his one eye. He was missing half his face and part of his jaw.
As Aaron jogged down the hall to catch up, he saw James turning the doorknob to the supply room in frustration. He didn’t know if it was locked or jammed. A corpse took a slow step behind the four of them. It was amazing how quiet they could be when they needed to. They didn’t see it coming.
He stopped in his tracks and nocked an arrow. He drew back and aimed for only a split second, then released. The arrow sailed through the air and hit its mark. Sam let out a small shout as the walker fell to the floor. The walker missed taking a bite out of Larry only by a foot.
Aaron heard noise behind him. He turned to see the mob of about fifteen corpses, led by the surgeon thinker, slowly gaining ground.
“You’d better get that door open,” he called as he joined the group.
James and Scott gave each other a look, then took a step back. They both kicked the door at the same time. It didn’t fly open, but it did crack a few inches. They pushed as hard as they could. Something blocked the door from the other side, but it was finally moving.
They piled into the pitch-black supply room and closed the door behind them. James was the first one in, and tripped over something. Everyone else took a long step to get over whatever it was.
Scott pulled out a candle and lit it. The tiny flame threw shadows on the walls, open racks, and shelves. They saw what was blocking the door.
On the floor near the door were the bodies of two men. There was a gun nearby and an exit wound on the back of both their heads. They were nowhere near decomposed twenty years, maybe around one or two. James guessed they were there for the same reason, looking for drugs. They’d hidden in the supply room and taken their own lives.
They were now trapped, just like the two dead men.
Aaron heard the doorknob start to turn. He quickly dived at it and held it still.
“Scott! James! Move that rack over here!”
They slid the heaviest rack they could move in front of the door. Bottles and boxes fell all over the place. Sam grabbed the dead men by the feet and dragged them out of the way.
“That’ll give us some time,” Aaron said. “But once twenty of them start pounding on the door, we’ll have problems.”
James felt his heart sink. “They came out of nowhere.”
Scott had never been so scared in his life. He’d killed plenty of corpses, but he’d never been in a tiny room with so many on the other side. He could hear their dreadful moans as they pounded on the door. The hair on his neck stood up.
Larry had accepted that they would die today, and he was okay with it. He knew that in the world of the dead, any day could be the last. He was going out like he always hoped, trying to help another person.
James was angry. Aaron’s confident attitude made him believe they actually had a chance. Now he wondered whether Aaron’s time in Baltimore had just made him crazy.
Sam had been in many bad situations in her life. Just a week ago she was trapped alone in the city, until Aaron showed up.
Still, even she had doubts about their survival.
“What do we do?” James asked.
Aaron looked around calmly. “Well, is what we need here?”
James was stunned. “You’re thinking about Travis right now? How about thinking of how to get out of here?”
Aaron only smiled, which was the strangest thing the men had ever seen. Sam had seen Aaron’s odd behavior around walkers before. She wasn’t used to it herself. It frustrated her as well.
But she trusted him.
It’s like they don’t bother him, she thought.
“One thing at a time, guys. Let’s get what we need.”
James shook his head as he grabbed the candle from Scott and studied the shelves. It was hard to concentrate with a fate worse than death pounding on the door just a few feet away, but he forced himself to stay calm. He started filling his backpacks, getting several of everything. He grabbed a few splints, drips and bags, morphine, antibiotics, sutures, antiseptic. He had no idea if the liquids were still good, but a small chance was better than no chance at all.
“Okay. I think that’s everything.”
Aaron nodded. “Good. Time to go.”
He walked past Sam and nimbly jumped onto the second shelf of the large rack against the wall. He stretched up and pushed a tile out of the way. No one had even noticed it was a drop-ceiling.
He held his hand out for the candle. Scott handed it over, then went back to forcing his weight against the rack blocking the door.
Aaron glanced around the area above the ceiling. The space wasn’t that large, but it was sufficient for what he had in mind. There were sprinkler pipes that branched down the halls and offices, but he didn’t think they would hold all their weight.
The walls of the rooms didn’t run all the way up. They could stand on top of them in the dark space above the ceiling, if they were careful.
“Okay, up we go.”
They were hesitant a moment, but the door opening a few inches got them moving.
Aaron helped everyone up one by one. They used the rack shelves as a ladder. Sam was the last one up, and took a quick glance at the space they were climbing into.
“The ceiling won’t hold us,” she said.
“Stand on top of the wall, right here,” Aaron said. “Balance yourself however you can. Larry’s got a hold of a support beam up there. Just lean on him.”
She climbed into the ceiling, Aaron right behind her. Before leaving the supply room behind, he kicked the rack with all his strength, sending it tumbling to the floor. As soon as it landed, the door burst open. Walkers poured in.
The humans all crouched in a line on top of the wall. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but it was better than being eaten alive. Sam could feel her heart beating in her chest. She steadied herself by keeping a hand on Scott’s back. She felt Aaron behind her with a hand on her shoulder. If any one of them lost balance there was a good chance they’d all tumble down.
“I can’t see shit up here,” Larry called back.
Aaron started kicking the tiles out around him for more light, on both sides of the wall. Sam fought panic as the tiles fell on the many corpses below. The supply room was full of them now. They reached up at the fresh food only a few feet away.
Aaron locked eyes with the surgeon thinker. He stood in the middle of the supply room. While the undead around him fought for position, he just looked around, like he was searching for something.
He’s looking for something to climb on.
Aaron tapped Sam on the shoulder. “That’s the thinker,” he said, pointing. “That one right there.”
Sam followed his finger, and for the first time, she actually saw it. She trusted Aaron with her life, but she wasn’t with him completely on the idea of a walker that could think. Even the one he pointed out in the Pit back at Lexington, the one he called Sweatpants, didn’t look special to her.
But this one, she could see it.
It wasn’t so much what the surgeon was doing, but what it wasn’t. He didn’t roar or moan in frustration that he couldn’t reach the humans, like the others. He had a gleam in his eye as he searched the supply room.
He stumbled into the corner and grabbed a chair.
Sam’s eyes grew wide. She could see what it wanted to do. “We have to get moving.”
“Where?” Larry said. “We have nowhere to go.”
“James, where’s the nearest stairs?”
“Back where we came from. Obviously we can’t go that way. There’s another stairwell down the hallway in front of us. But even if we stay up here, they’ll just follow us all the way down.”
Aaron knew he was right. “Alright, when I make my move, you all drop down and take off running. I’ll be right behind you.”
He maneuvered around Sam as best he could. She tried to grab his hand as he went by, but he shook her off.
“What are you doing?”
He didn’t answer. He went around James, then Scott. He had to get to a spot near the hallway outside the supply room.
“I said what the hell are you doing?”
He kept one hand on the support beam Larry was using and kicked a few more tiles out. The hallway was right below him, near the supply room door. Undead were still piling into the room, but a few stopped in the hallway to look up.
He patted Larry on the back. “Okay, don’t stop till you hit the stairs.”
Before Larry could say anything in protest, Aaron dove from the ceiling onto the crowd of walkers near the door. Sam screamed in fear and surprise. Aaron and the undead crashed to the floor.
Larry didn’t hesitate, and jumped down. There was a walker a few feet away that Aaron missed. Larry shot it in the head. He helped Scott climb down, then James. The two of them sprinted down the hallway. Sam jumped down on her own, then pulled against Larry’s hand.
“We have to help Aaron.”
Larry took a quick look at the pile. The walkers struggled to climb to their feet, fighting against their own lack of balance and rotting muscles. To Larry, it looked like they were swarming Aaron.
“We can’t help him. Let’s go!”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her along. He saw James and Scott just getting to the stairwell door at the end of the hall. A corpse tried to lunge at them from a side office, but a shot from Larry dropped it to the ground.
They were nearly to the door when Sam pulled free of Larry’s grip. She gave him a hard look. She was numb, but she was certain of one thing.
“I’m not leaving Aaron.”
Larry grabbed her shoulders. “He’s gone. He sacrificed himself to-”
He stopped when he saw movement from where they had come from. Someone was running toward them, which he knew even the freshest of walkers had trouble doing.
“Holy shit,” he said slowly.
Aaron stopped in front of Larry and Sam. He breathed hard, just a little winded from the ceiling dive. He’d had trouble pulling himself out of the pile of corpses. His foot pushed into one’s stomach as he stood up, and he still had a bit of intestine on his shoe. He leaned over on his knees for a second while everyone just stared at him in disbelief. Sam dropped to one knee and held his face in her hands.
“Aaron?”
“Yes?”
“Are you bit?”
“No.”
“How did-?”
He cut her off with a wave of his hand. The mass of undead led by the surgeon were slowly gaining ground, and there was another group coming from their right as well. “Come on, let’s hit the stairs.”
They moved into the darkened stairwell. James took a step going down, but Larry stopped him. He saw movement right before the door shut, and now they could all hear them, just ten steps down.
“Corpses,” he said.
“Can we fight our way through them?”
Listening for only a second answered the question. They couldn’t see them on the stairwell, but the walkers’ moans told them there were more than they could handle.
“We have to go up.”
They ran up the stairs to the third floor. Aaron peered through the glass window, knowing there were walkers right behind them.
They didn’t see the single walker coming down the stairs from the fourth floor, just a few feet from them.
It jumped on James. The doctor panicked and started screaming. He couldn’t see the walker attacking him. He tried to push back with his hands, and felt his fingers slide into the walker’s eyes. He spun around, out of control.
Aaron moved in to help. James toppled over the railing, taking Aaron with him.
“We’ve gotta move!” Scott shouted.
Larry threw open the door. Enough light spilled in from the hallway to let them see what was happening.
James was all the way over the railing, hanging on by a single hand. His other hand clutched Aaron’s wrist. Aaron had the two backpacks of medical supplies. James had dropped them when they went over the railing. The walker that attacked James had fallen to the bottom, three floors down.
A long way down.
Aaron looked to his left to see the walkers only about fifteen feet away, all gathered on the steps. The stairwell was full of them. They moved in from the first and second floors, their noses full of the delicious scent of fresh meat.
He saw the surgeon in the middle of the undead. Thinker or not, he was hungry.
Larry and Scott grabbed James’ arm and started pulling. Sam held the door open. She fired at a few walkers limping toward them on the third floor. If they didn’t hurry, they’d be surrounded on all sides.
Aaron looked up at James. The doctor’s face was full of pain. He held on with all his might, but his grip was slipping, and Aaron knew it. Larry and Scott had a hold on him, but Aaron felt his wrist slip a bit in James’ grasp.
He knew this was the end of the line. He was angry, and only had himself to blame. Everything could have gone differently, but he wasn’t willing to give up his secret.
Aaron tossed the two backpacks straight up as hard as he could. Scott reached out and caught them.
James’ strength finally gave out.
Aaron fell down the middle of the stairwell. They didn’t hear him scream, or meet his fate at the bottom, because of the sound of the undead.
Sam still held her post at the door, shooting the walkers that stumbled closer. She risked a look back and saw them pulling James over the railing. The undead were almost on them. She waited for the men to pull Aaron up, but instead they moved past her into the hallway.
“Where’s Aaron?”
James was trying not to fall apart. “I’m so sorry,” he said, tears filling his eyes. “I just couldn’t hold on-”
Sam took a deep breath. “Then we go and get him.”
Larry grabbed her shoulders and pulled her inside the hall. He shut the stairwell door, knowing the undead had a tough time with doorknobs. If one of them could think, like Aaron said, then they had to keep moving.
“He’s gone,” he said. “I’m sorry, Samantha.”
Larry knew Samantha was the strongest woman at Lexington. But her face twitched just a little as she fought emotions she wasn’t used to.
“Come on,” Scott said. “We have to get out of here.”
Sam let them lead her through the hospital, but her mind was far away.
Chapter 13
Aaron woke up, but couldn’t open his eyes. The pain immediately hit him, all throughout his head. He tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea washed over him, and he had to lay back down before he vomited. He groaned and tried to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
He felt a hand grab his own. It was warm, so not a walker. Sam? The hand felt too small.
“Charlie? I think he’s awake.”
He willed himself to open his eyes. He looked up at a blurry image of someone sitting next to him. Slowly, the world slid back into focus. A young girl, no more than ten years old, held onto Aaron’s hand. She was a cute kid, even with her dirty face and tangled blond hair.
He tried to sit up again. A man knelt down and put a hand on his chest.
“Whoa there, friend. I wouldn’t move just yet. You’ve been drifting in and out for a half-moon cycle. I doubt you’re ready to be hopping up and down.”
Aaron didn’t bother fighting him. “Where am I?”
“Hell. But I’m sure you already knew that.”
He sat up slowly and studied his surroundings. They were in a moving truck, similar to the ones they used at Lexington. There wasn’t a sliding door to get to the front cab, and the rear door had been removed. In its place was a set of iron bars, welded together and secured to the back decades ago.
It was a mobile prison.
“Do you think you can stand up?” the man named Charlie asked.
Charlie and the little girl both helped Aaron to his feet. He lost his balance for a moment. He had to put a hand on the side wall to steady himself.
Aaron had so many questions. He looked at Charlie. Charlie looked about ten years older than Aaron. He had bright red hair and freckles. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, but Aaron saw why. He had given it to the young girl at his side. He looked frail and malnourished.
“Who are you?”
“My name’s Charlie. This little girl here is Amanda.” Charlie pointed at a teenage boy standing near the bars with his back to them. “The grumpy guy over there is Derek.”
Derek turned his head slightly and gave a short wave.
“Come on, Derek,” Charlie said. “Aren’t you even gonna say hello to the man?”
“Why? He’s just more water we have to share.”
Charlie and Amanda shared a look. Aaron got the impression Derek’s attitude was something they were battling with.
“What’s your name?” Amanda asked.
“Aaron. What exactly is going on here? How did I get here?”
“You’re in a slave camp.” He pointed outside. “These bastards make trips up and down the old east coast, taking people they find, and trading them for supplies. People as property. Kinda makes you sick, doesn’t it? As for how you got here, well, I’m a little fuzzy on that. I can only go by what I hear when these pricks walk by. They found you while clearing out a hospital on the other side of town, near the front lobby where there weren’t many corpses. You were real lucky.”
Lucky, Aaron thought. If they had left me alone, I would have woken up and walked back to Lexington. Now they think I’m a slave.
Aaron had dreams of stumbling through the hospital from the stairwell after he’d fallen onto a pile of walkers. Apparently they were more than dreams.
Dead Living Page 18