strangeness of the situation, he threw himself to the side. As he hit the wall to his right, a large mass swung past him and out the front door.
There was a loud crash of metal on stone and then whatever it was that had swung past him swung back inside. It looked like a thick stack of lifting weights strung on steel cable. It would have struck him directly in the face and chest. He shuddered, knowing that he had almost become like those corpses stacked outside. He would have been added to the piles of dead, his face obliterated and his chest caved in.
As the cable swung back and forth, Jared became aware of a bell ringing from somewhere inside the building. He was able to make out a little more of the interior and saw that he was standing in a large entry foyer. The room had no ceiling, being open all the way to the third floor. The stairs leading to the floors above him now lay on the floor in front of him.
As he studied the inside of the building, several shadows approached the rails on the second floor. With the light behind him, he could see the glint of their eyes and the whiteness of their teeth. He started to reach for the rifle when he heard, “Kill it before it brings more.”
Jared quickly whipped up his hands in a 'wait a minute' gesture and said, “What? Hold on. Um...hi there.” All he could see of them besides the glint of teeth and eyes were indistinct shadows.
“Are you infected?” he heard someone call.
“No, I came looking for people. Are you people?” he asked.
“What's your name?”
“Jared.”
“Go to the second door on the right and enter. Lock it behind you. We'll discuss this with you there.”
Not quite sure what he was getting himself into; Jared walked to the second door and opened it cautiously. He was no longer under the balcony and suddenly being out of view of other humans made him nervous. He opened the door cautiously and saw that the room beyond was empty. The windows were boarded up and only a minimum of light was able to enter the room. Jared stepped in and shut the door behind him. He found three dead bolts on the door and locked them all.
As soon as all three locks clicked in place, a voice spoke from above. “We can see that you're armed. Don't try anything or we'll kill you, whether you're infected or not.” Jared nodded his head in acknowledgment. A spot light was then pointed at him from above and a voice continued, a female voice this time, “If you want to enter our home, you have to play by our rules and were are going to make sure you are not infected. Take off your clothes, now.”
Jared took off all of his clothes except for his underway. The voice said, “Underwear too.” He took those off and dropped them in a pile with the rest of his clothes. “Now turn around, arms up.” Jared turned around, his naked self bared for the world to see. He heard a giggle. “Now face away and bend over.”
Jared looked at the light and said, “What, are you kidding?”
The immediate answer was “No. Now do it.” Not happy having to show his butt to whomever was above him, but not ready to walk away, Jared complied.
He stood up and said, “Now what?”
“There's a door on your left. Go inside and take a shower. There's soap and you need it. Leave everything in this room where it is. Lock the door once you entered the bathroom.”
Jared saw the door and entered. It was a simple dorm bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower. There was also a low power LED providing just enough light to move around. It had been a long time since Jared had been able to use either a toilet or a shower and he happily used them both. He wasn't too happy about the flowery smell of the soap, but the joy of being able to shower far out-weighed the scent of the soap. The water was also comfortably warm.
When he finished and dried himself off another voice, male this time, said, “There's a pair of shorts and a t-shirt in the cupboard over the sink. Put them on and I'll drop you a ladder.”
Jared found several pairs of shorts and t-shirts in the cupboard. He chose the least feminine, a pair of basketball shorts and a plain cotton t-shirt. A rope ladder dropped down and he climbed up.
He ascended through a rough hole cut in concrete ceiling and came up to see four young people. There was an oriental man, in his early 20's offering his hand. Next to him was a Hispanic girl with a large heavy duty flashlight. Behind them stood a tall red headed women holding a long pipe and next to her stood another brown haired woman holding a compound bow with the string pulled and arrow ready to fire.
The oriental man said, “And you make five.” Jared took his offered hand and climbed out of the hole. The Hispanic girl immediately brought up the rope ladder.
“I'm Kim.” said the oriental guy, “this is Stephanie” indicating the Hispanic girl, “Juanita” pointing to the red-headed woman with the pipe, “and Morgan” waving at the brown haired woman with the compound bow.
“I'm Jared, nice to meet you.”
While Stephanie reset the weighted trap over the front entrance, Kim brought Jared to a make-shift kitchen. Juanita and Morgan joined them but hung back, their weapons hanging loose but ready.
Kim brought a mix of canned foods and fresh vegetables to the table, which Jared accepted without complaint. He asked Jared a long series of in depth questions; where had Jared been, where did he hide out, was he part of another group, what skills did he have, where did he get the weapons, etc.
Kim didn't seem to be impressed with Jared's skills or abilities, but he didn't seem to think Jared was a threat either. It helped that when he was describing his months of playing video games that Juanita asked him what his screen name was. She confirmed that she knew him on-line and could vouch for his character. Surprisingly, Jared also knew her from playing on-line, but as a crusty old man who lived several towns away and sucked at video games.
They seemed satisfied that Jared wasn't an advance scout for a raiding party and told Jared their own story.
The college residents had used their time and resources to prepare for the tide of undead that was coming. Most of their efforts had gone into fortifying the men's dormitory next to the one Jared was currently in. It was well stocked with food, fuel and ammo. Everyone on campus except the four of them had gone there to wait out the zombie invasion.
When the undead came the residents in the men's dormitory fought them back. The firing of their weapons lasted for hours. It was non-stop. Then the gun fire began to slack. The four of them could see scores of dead zombies littering the lawns surrounding the men's dorm, but watched in horror as a sea of undead continued to swarm the campus. The zombies were drawn by the sounds of battle. Everywhere someone looked, there was a shambling zombie coming moving towards the men's dormitory.
The four of them were lucky though. The zombies were drawn towards the gun fire and ignored the women's dormitory.
The defenders of the men's dorm eventually withdrew into the building when their ammunition ran low and their overheated weapons started to malfunction. The zombies swarmed in then and began tearing through the barricades. The four survivors in the women's dorm could see the horror stricken faces of their class mates through the upstairs windows as they realized they were caught in a trap. The undead were inside the men's dorm but there was no escape for them because surging to get inside WAS A sea of undead on the outside. The four of them pulled the curtains shut and didn't watch the end.
They hunkered down on the top floor to avoid being detected by the zombies. The zombies remained thick in the area for several days before they began to slowly disperse. After several days of relative quiet, the four started beefing up their own dormitory. The first thing that needed to go was the main stairs. It took them nearly a week to cut through its steel and concrete with the limited selection of tools that were on hand. They used the furniture pulley mountain in the ceiling above the lobby, the one the swing trap was currently hooked to, to lower the stairs as quietly as possible. The hook failed under the weight of the stairs and they slammed to the ground floor. There we
re zombies plastered against the doors and windows for a week after that.
Eventually the zombies wandered off and started to thin out on campus. The four raided the school's outdoor recreation department, acquiring bows and arrows, and began hunting the rest of the undead that remained on campus. Of course, hunting on campus had always been outlawed by state and federal law.
When the campus was clear of undead they began preparing for long term survival. To show Jared how, Kim took Jared on a tour. He started at the attic. Great sections of the southern roof had been removed and replaced with heavy plastic sheeting. The sheeting allowed light in to a green-house built into the attic. On the remaining sections of the southern facing roof, they mounted a large array of solar panels for the production of both heat and electricity.
Access between the floors was only by rope ladder. The second floor was mostly empty and served as storage for non-essential luxuries, like furniture, linen and clothing. The third floor, served as storage of essential supplies and as their living area.
Kim took Jared to the emergency exit stairwell. Going all the way to the ground floor, he showed Jared that the doors were welded shut and reinforced with quarter inch steel bars. He took Jared all the way down to the basement level and explained, “The College has an extensive
Zombie Apocalypse Survivor: The Office Worker Page 5