Eleanor shot a glance at Robert. “I don’t think we’ve got time to argue.”
As though the flat white worms sensed the approaching dead, they squirmed, twisted, and flipped, unraveling from the body on the slab. They slipped away from the still-jerking flesh, across the table, dropping on the floor.
“Shit!” swore Robert, dancing away from the worms as they slithered like a swarm of tiny snakes toward the door.
“If you’ve got any open wounds,” said Eleanor, stepping away from one heading in her direction, “for God’s sake, don’t let them get near you. I’m guessing they can’t infect the living, but best we don’t take any chances.”
“Damn right,” said Jimmy, skipping out of the way surprisingly fast for a man of his age.
Robert growled in disgust and brought his heel down on one of the worms. The creature crushed beneath his sole, leaving a white gooey smear.
The screams and shrieks of the dead grew closer, and each of the room’s inhabitants glanced uneasily at the door. Through both the glass panel of the door and the window that looked out onto the corridor, there was so far no sign of the dead.
“It’s locked, right?” Kyle asked. “They can’t get in?”
Robert grimaced. “Yeah, the door’s locked, but if Lenny is with them, they might be able to open it.”
“What the hell are we standing around for then?” said Jimmy.
With her still-gloved hands, Eleanor went to push the corpse off the slab. The cold body jerked beneath her palms, and she instinctively pulled back. She’d touched plenty of cadavers in her career but never ones that had continued to move long after dissection. Swallowing her revulsion, she placed on hand against its shoulder and another on its hip and gave the body a shove. It slid from the table and hit the floor with a sickening thud. Even on the floor, the body continued its strange uncoordinated spasms, its arms and legs twitching. More worms unraveled from the body as it jerked.
“Help me move this,” she said, gripping the edge of the table.
The men each took a corner, and dodging the worms still squirming around their feet, they pushed the table beneath the metal grilled vent in the ceiling.
The dead rounded the corner like a swarm of rats in a sewer tunnel. A bloated, recently deceased man led the horde. His eyes were glassy, his stomach distended like a seven months pregnant woman. With outstretch arms and fingers hooked into claws, his purpose took no guessing. Another flanked him, a woman, her hair flapping around the sides of her sunken face in coils of dirty rope. Close behind, another corpse followed, this one undistinguishable in sex. Dried skin hung from its face in flaps, white bone peeking through the decomposed flesh.
“Go! Go! Go!” Robert shouted, pushing Eleanor up on the table.
Eleanor reached up, but her fingertips barely scraped the vent. “I can’t reach it!”
Robert scrambled up beside her. He placed his palms flat against the vent and shoved. The metal grill didn’t budge.
“Hurry up, Robert!” yelled Jimmy. “They’re at the door.”
Eleanor swung her head around to see at least twenty faces of the dead pressed up against the glass. Their hands clawed and battered at the door and windows, leaving smears of rotten flesh and pus across the glass. Their shrieks of fury, though muffled, filled the room.
“Find something to bash it in with!” yelled Robert.
Eleanor searched the make-up of the grill for something that might allow them access. Screws held down the cover.
She motioned with her hand to the tray of instruments she’d used to dissect the body. “Quick, pass me the scalpel.”
Kyle grabbed the instrument and handed it up to her.
The added length of the handle meant she could now reach. She fitted the blade into one of the screws and turned. The screw resisted for a moment and then gave way, winding undone.
“Find me one,” Robert demanded.
Beyond the glass, the horde of dead things piled upon one another, crushing into the narrow space of the corridor, several bodies deep.
With Robert working as well, the screws popped from their threads, pinging to the ground, and the grate became loose.
With a high-pitched creak, the glass of the door began to split.
Robert shoved the grate out of the way. “Come on!” He motioned to Eleanor. “I’ll push you up.”
“No, you need to go first. You can pull the rest of us up. If you’re down here by yourself, we’ll never be able to pull you up.”
It was true. At six-feet-two, he outweighed Kyle by fifty pounds, and Jimmy was too old to pull Robert up. Eleanor would never have the upper body strength.
“Shit,” he swore, but there wasn’t time to argue. He hooked his fingers over the edge of the shaft and allowed both Eleanor and Kyle to boost him up. As soon as he was up, he leaned back down the hole and grabbed Eleanor, pulling her up with him.
The glass creaked once again.
“Hurry!” Jimmy called.
With the awkward motion of a man whose joints had seen better days, Jimmy climbed on the table.
“They’re coming!” Kyle screamed, his eyes bulging in fear.
The gap in the ceiling was only big enough for one person to reach down, so Eleanor had to sit back, allowing Robert to lean through. He grabbed Jimmy’s wiry wrist just as the glass of the door burst inward, the windows quickly following. Glass tinkled like fallen shards of ice.
Kyle shrieked, clambering at the table. Robert pulled, lifting Jimmy off the surface, the older man’s legs dangling in mid-air. The dead swarmed in, barging past each other in their eagerness to get to them.
“Help!” screamed Kyle. “Fucking help me!”
The younger man grabbed hold of Jimmy’s leg, trying to drag him away, to clear the space.
“Hey!” Robert yelled as Jimmy was yanked back down, pulling on Robert’s arms as though he were deep sea fishing and had hooked something big. “Get the fuck off him!”
Kyle’s terror had him in its grip, and he was too far gone to pay any attention. The dead swarmed over him like ants on a candy bar.
The young man’s shrieks of panic turned to screams of pain.
Jimmy kicked and yelled even as Robert tried to pull him up, but the older man’s weight had doubled.
“One of them has got me!” the older man yelled. “Oh shit…”
Eleanor grabbed the top of Robert’s arm and helped him pull. Together, they yanked while Jimmy thrashed and yelled in their grip.
“For fuck’s sake, hold still!” Robert shouted.
“One of them has got me! One of them has fucking got me!”
Eleanor pulled, trying not to hear Kyle’s horrified screams. There was nothing they could do for the boy now. The room was filled with the living dead.
Jimmy’s weight abruptly lightened, and they pulled him up, all falling backward in the confines of the chute.
“Kyle!” Jimmy cried, clambering to his hands and knees and peering back down. The boy was gone. Below them, a sea of dead arms and legs flailed, teeth gnashing. The enraged shrieks of the dead drowned out the boy’s screams, if he were even still alive to make such a sound.
Part Four
They sat back gasping for breath. The dead things would never be able to climb up to the vent. For the moment, they were safe.
Eleanor sat on her haunches, her whole body trembling. She glanced over to see Jimmy folded into two, his face in his hands, his shoulders heaving. She reached out and lightly touched his shoulder, making him look up. His face was wet with tears.
“I’ve been bitten,” Jimmy sobbed. “One of the fuckers got me.”
Seeing tears on a grown man unnerved Eleanor, but she rubbed his back, trying to offer some comfort.
None of them spoke about Kyle, the gaping hole the young man’s absence had left. Eleanor was sure there was nothing more they could have done, yet she couldn’t help wondering if she’d made the right choice by forcing them all to leave the security office. If she hadn
’t, would Kyle be alive right now? Had she made a mistake?
No, she couldn’t think like that. If they’d gotten into the lab, they’d have been able to get into the security booth too. But had it been the screams of the one she’d dissected that had drawn them? If they’d hidden and stayed quiet, would the dead have even noticed they were there?
Tearing herself from her thoughts, Eleanor checked Jimmy’s injury. Teeth marks penetrated the flesh of his leg, a chunk of skin hanging like an open door from his calf. She tore off part of her shirt and wrapped his wound.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You’ll live. But we’ve got to keep moving. I don’t know if those things will figure out a way to get in here, but I don’t plan on hanging around to find out.”
“She’s right,” said Robert. “We need to get to the roof. We’ll be able to get a better assessment of the situation from there.”
“Assessment of the situation?” Jimmy’s tone was too high. “The situation is we’re surrounded by fucking zombies. That’s the fucking situation!”
Robert scowled. “We need to do something. Sitting around crying isn’t exactly going to save us.”
“This isn’t helping anyone, gentlemen,” Eleanor hissed. “Let’s move!”
In the confined space, they hunched on their hands and knees, heads lowered. Robert led the way, with Eleanor in the middle and Jimmy bringing up the rear. Being the largest of the depleted group, Robert struggled most, his shoulders almost wedging when they needed to take a turn, the vents crossing in a T section.
“I don’t feel so good,” Jimmy moaned from behind.
“Just keep going, Jimmy,” said Eleanor, trying to sound more confident than she felt. She didn’t like having him crawling along behind her. They had no idea what happened to someone who had been bitten by one of the dead things, and the thought of him attacking her and sinking his own teeth into her leg stayed at the front of her mind. “We can take a look at you as soon as we reach the roof,” she continued. “We’re bound to come across the vent to the outside world soon.”
She was right. Within five minutes, they hit a solid silver wall. The only option was to head up the square, vertical shaft. Another grate blocked the way about six feet overhead, but beyond the metal, they saw an indigo blue sky with stars that were quickly being put out, one by one.
Eleanor thanked the gods the research center was only single story. If the vent rose up several stories, they’d be fucked.
Relieved she’d thought to pocket the scalpel, she reached into the back pocket of her pants and pulled out the slim, cool metal. She passed the scalpel to Robert, careful to slide between him and the vent, not wanting to accidently cut him in the confined space.
“Here,” she said. “Work your magic.”
Robert took the blade and squeezed himself into the cramped space, wriggling shoulders and arms to reach over his head, standing to his full height. The metal walls pressed in on every side except one, and he reached up, up toward the stars, and put the scalpel to work.
The time dragged by painful slowly while Eleanor waited for Robert to loosen the screws and pop the grate. Jimmy’s presence behind her made her whole body tighten with nerves. His heavy breathing filled the tight space, and his body odor had taken on the rank, stifling smell of rotting meat.
Finally, the small screws pinged to the bottom of the vent, and Robert was able to push the grate out. He hooked his fingers over the edge and hauled himself up and onto the roof. Within moments, his face reappeared, blocking out the sky. Eleanor wriggled herself into the vent, an easier job than Robert had because of her size, and lifted her arms up toward him. He reached down, his warm, strong palms catching around both of hers, and he hauled her up.
Eleanor tumbled onto the roof, gasping in a lungful of relatively clean air. To have the night’s breeze against her face felt better than anything she could remember.
“Guys…” The weak call echoed up the vent, and Eleanor and Robert shared a glance.
“Is he okay?” asked Robert under his voice.
“I don’t think so, but we can’t leave him down there.”
Robert leaned back over the shaft, reaching down to hoist Jimmy up to join them.
The three of them sat on the flat asphalt roof. Above, the sky was beginning to lighten. It was still the early hours of the morning, but at this time of the year, the dawn arrived too soon. Hard to believe they’d been trapped in the building most of the night. In the increasing light, they saw more of the dead, many of them now stumbling around without purpose, a contrast to the fast, driven creatures they’d witnessed before.
“Why the change?” whispered Eleanor, not wanting to be heard.
“I don’t know,” said Robert, frowning. “Do you think the worms only have a certain lifespan? Perhaps they die quickly.”
“Hmmm,” she said, her mind whirring. “The only organisms I know that have such a short lifecycle are ones that have spawned.”
Robert rolled his eyes. “Great.”
Jimmy’s face was white, a sheen of sweat coating his skin. “I don’t feel so good,” he said again, only this time his voice was faint.
Eleanor and Robert exchanged a worried glance.
Past the stumbling dead rose the high solid metal security gates, allowing access to and from the facility. Beyond the high, barbed wire-tipped walls, beyond the locked gates, was freedom.
Jimmy twisted to all fours and vomited on the asphalt roofing, his whole body straining like a cat with a fur ball. When he sat up, he began to cry again.
“I kicked him off me,” he said. “Kyle was only a kid, and he begged for my help, and I just kicked him off.”
Eleanor and Robert shared another glance. Eleanor patted Jimmy’s shoulder, trying not to grimace at feel of his cold, sweat-soaked clothing. The stench coming off him now was almost unbearable, making her want to cover her face with her hand.
“It’s not your fault,” she said. “The only things to blame are those fucking things down there.”
“I should have let him go first. He’d have been faster than me. He would have got up without being bitten.”
“You don’t know that.”
“He was young. He had his whole life ahead of him. Now both of us are goners.”
“You’ll be fine,” Eleanor said. “We just need to get you some medical attention.”
Jimmy gave a sound halfway between and cry and a laugh. “I don’t think there are many medics up here.”
“We’ll figure out a way to get down. All we’ve got to do is create some kind of distraction, get the dead things away from the main gates, and then we make a run for it.”
Her comment hung over them like a cloud. They knew Jimmy wasn’t running anywhere.
The dead milled around below them, as yet unaware of the live humans above. The gates seemed so far away, an almost impossible distance.
Jimmy climbed to his feet. “I’ve got an idea for a distraction,” he said, his voice grating and weak. “You two take care of each other.” And with that, he broke into a run, heading to the back of the roof.
“Jimmy!” Eleanor yelled, but he’d caught them by surprise and before they’d even managed to leap to their feet, Jimmy plummeted off the edge.
Eleanor and Robert stared after him in shock.
The feasting below began, a shrieking of both rage and pleasure. As far as they could see, all of the dead ran toward the sound, fleeing from the space between the roof and freedom.
Robert seized their chance. “Go!” he yelled, pushing Eleanor toward the edge. The drop looked like a frighteningly long way, but they had no choice. Robert went first, backing off the side until he hung by his fingers and then dropping the rest of the way as silently as possible.
“Come on,” he hissed. “I’ll catch you.”
Eleanor copied Robert’s actions, skirting backward until her feet hung over the edge. With her heart pounding, she hooked her fingers onto the edge of the flat roof. The muscles in her
back and arms trembled as they took her body weight, and she dangled mid-air.
“Let go!” Robert hissed.
Eleanor took a deep breath, released her grip, and dropped into his arms. Pressed against his chest, she looked up at him. Their eyes locked for the briefest of seconds before they remembered where they were.
He grabbed her hand, and they took off toward the gates, Robert pulling her along.
Behind them came the sound of pounding feet, followed by more screams.
The dead were coming.
The scientists’ feet hit the ground, breath gasping in and out of their lungs. They hit the big metal gates at a run, slamming up against them. The same card pinned to their belts allowed access to and from the facility.
Eleanor swiped her card. The dead were getting closer—things with decayed faces and rotten fingers, reaching for them. She tried to swipe the gate, her fingers fumbling the card, almost dropping it. Too fast, she tried again, and the lock didn’t register.
“Hurry!” urged Robert.
“God damn it,” she swore but tried again, and the gates buzzed green.
Eleanor and Robert burst from the facility. They slammed the gate behind them and the barrier automatically locked, the light showing red. Bodies hit the other side like flies hitting a windshield, their groans and screeches filling the early morning. Eleanor wondered if Jimmy was among them.
Robert’s hand found Eleanor’s, their fingers entwining.
“What now?” he said as they stood on the side of a deserted, narrow road.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. But whatever this thing is, I think the authorities will need my help. There are only thirty forensic entomologists in the whole of the United States, and I’m one of them.”
Robert set his jaw. “I’d better do my best to make sure you don’t get killed then.”
Eleanor smiled and squeezed his hand.
For the moment, the area they were in remained quiet, but they had no idea what to expect as they headed toward the city. The horrifying world they’d found themselves in contained unimaginable terrors, but they’d found a new strength.
13 Night Terrors Page 25