by Lake, D. K.
I heard Josh and the others in the corridor.
"Alex has it." Drew said, coming back over to me and taking the shoe polish from my other hand that was hanging limply at my side. He didn't even look at me as he snatched it from me.
I heard Robin's little voice and Josh telling her to put some on her face. I walked back out into the corridor and looked over at Drew and he was looking at Nick strangely, probably wondering how Lane and Nick were connected as they were very different from each other for obvious reasons. He was talking to Josh and purposely not looking in my direction. Lane came over to me with an extra bag in his hand which belonged to Nick. Robin had all of our stuff in her backpack. She had pretty much taken to wearing all of my things and helping herself to all my stuff so she might as well carry the bag.
Drew nodded his head at Josh before walking straight past me, not even looking up at me, but knocking into me on his way past. He walked off down the corridor with his flashlight and ducked inside a door.
"Ok, we're all set. Now everyone, stay close together and follow me, ok?" Josh ordered and tilted his head down the corridor for us to follow him. Robin walked in front and Nick followed her with his bag which was packed with all of his research.
"C'mon," Lane took my hand and led me along the corridor.
I heard something clatter behind us and knew it was one of the other deadbies. How had I forgotten about them?
Oh, yeah, Drew tried to kiss me!
Josh stopped at a door I had never really noticed before and pushed it open and went inside, followed by Robin and Nick.
I let Lane guide me into the room which was actually a stairwell, and as we were climbing the stairs Robin let out a frightened shriek.
I stopped and tugged Lane back a step.
"It's ok! He's dead." Josh reassured Robin.
"W-who is he?" Robin asked with a whimper.
"That's Dave." Nick said, and quickly stepped over the body. "Keep going. Don't stop." Nick told her and she ran up the stairs to where Josh was waiting at the top.
Lane briefly flashed the flashlight over the dead body that was slumped on the stairs. The man had a potbelly sticking out from under his tight shirt, hairy arms, slicked-back hair and a terrible mustache. There was blood dripping down his face from where someone had hit him on the head.
I lifted my leg over the body and jogged up the stairs.
Dead bodies didn't make me shriek anymore. Drew had already disappeared out the door on his own, not bothering to wait for us. Josh was standing next to the door with one hand on the handle, and a gun in his other hand. My gun. He looked back at us and said, "Are you ready?"
We all nodded and he pushed the door open.
Chapter 6
Outside I was hit with what I can only describe as complete CHAOS.
There were people running around everywhere dressed in dark colors, face paint, balaclavas, and one guy ran past us with a tree attached to his back as camouflage. I could hear screaming in the far-off distance and it sounded like it was coming from the university grounds. There was another explosion somewhere to my right and gunfire going off somewhere. Drew was nowhere in sight, like usual he had vanished. Josh signaled for us to follow him but we stayed close to the edge of the building. Lane was two steps behind me, keeping watch and urging me forward but all I wanted to do was look at the carnage. Who were these people? There was so many of them.
It was dark out but the fire explosions were lighting up the place, and most of the outsiders running around had fire torches or flashlights. The group of intruders looked crazy and feral, yelling, screaming, breaking everything they got their hands on. I didn't have the best eyesight, but even from here I could see that a fire had broken out in the old university building and there were orangey flames flickering at the windows. A woman screaming nearby caught my attention and I looked over my shoulder and Lane bumped into me. I tried to see what was happening but Lane kept pushing me forward.
"Stop a minute." I snapped and pushed Lane aside and saw a woman dressed in a short skirt and a pretty floral top hiding by the side of the building.
"We don't have time to stop. Keep moving!" Lane growled and pushed me forward.
I heard laughter and a group of men shouting and I tried to see what was happening but Lane grabbed my shoulder with a firm grip, shook his head at me, and walked me forward and we turned the corner.
"Why was that woman screaming?" Robin panicked.
I didn't answer. I had nothing nice to say. I knew exactly why that woman was screaming, being chased by a group of men, but Lane was right to stop me from doing anything. We needed to blend in and get out of here, not cause a scene and end up dead.
Josh was already ten steps ahead, jogging along the edge of the building, looking over his shoulder every few steps.
Nick was trying to get Robin to walk with him but she was kicking up a fuss.
"We have to go back and help her!" Robin insisted, spinning around and looking at me.
"No. We don't have time." I told her.
I held onto her arm and pulled her away from the scene behind us as quickly as possible with Lane right behind me. We hurried around the corner and saw Josh running back to us.
Robin shivered and shook next to me having forgotten to put anything on over her white dress and the night air was cold. I put my arm around her and looked around to make sure no one was following us.
"Quick. Go back!" Josh urged, motioning at us all to turn around.
"What, why?" Lane asked, trying to see past Josh.
At that moment a pair of older teens came running out of the trees, laughing, and both dressed in camouflage. One of them threw a glass bottle in our direction and it landed on the ground a few feet away from us and smashed, sending glass everywhere. They carried on laughing, falling all over each other, clearly very drunk.
"There's a group headed this way." Josh said in a hushed voice to Lane and Nick but I managed to hear him. "We'll have to go around the other way."
Robin was too busy watching the older boys messing around and I happened to glance over at them again and saw a deadbie staggering out of the trees towards them. I opened my mouth to shout at them but another deadbie shot across the grass and took one of the boys down like it was doing some kind of rugby tackle.
Robin started screaming, watching as the deadbie climbed on top of the boy, and tore into his neck. The other boy tried to run away and ran straight into the other deadbie.
"We have to move. NOW!" Josh yelled and pushed us back around the building.
We hurried back the way we had come. I still didn't know why we were running this way but I didn't question Josh and just went with it, but when we turned the corner the group of men from before was gone. Only two were left behind, lying on the ground and covered in blood, and the woman that was screaming before was lying a few feet away and there was a group of deadbies on their knees forming a circle around her.
Josh quickly covered Robin's mouth before she could start screaming again and we quietly edged around the group. Another explosion went off and it distracted a few of the deadbies and they lifted their heads and looked in our direction.
"Shit." Josh grumbled, and took Robin's hand and started running with her.
Nick tripped over a bottle and dropped one of his bags as two of the deadbies started to drift our way. Poor Nick looked panicked, pushing his glasses up his nose, sweat dripping down his brow, and muttering to himself. I had never seen this side of Nick, I only knew the calm, collected Nick, this Nick looked like he was about to run away and hide somewhere, or wet himself.
I sometimes forgot that some people haven't had to live in this world, the real world. They haven't seen the horrible things I have, they haven't had to survive on their own, and find their own food. Nick had been hand-fed hot dinners and had been living in a snazzy apartment, not eating cold beans out of the tin or sleeping rough.
"They're eat-eating her." Nick stuttered.
I watched the
horror on his face and I actually felt bad for him. He wouldn't last a day out here on his own.
"What are you doing? Don't just stand there!" Lane hissed, scooping up Nick's bag and giving his brother a shove in the right direction. I searched the ground as I followed the others, looking for anything to use as a weapon. I found a metal pipe that looked like it could do some damage and picked it up.
Josh led us across the grass, towards more buildings, but they all looked the same to me and I felt as though I was walking around in circles. I could still hear the destruction and noise going on in the distance, this level of noise would attract deadbies from miles away. I ducked under a tree branch and a tall figure stumbled out of the trees in front of us and we all came to a stop as more figures started to appear.
"Josh!" Lane whisper-shouted as we started to back away.
"They blew up the side walls, that's how they're getting in. And all the noise is drawing them here." Josh said, turning around and running back to us, pulling Robin along with him.
We ran back the way we had come, back to the gravel road and came to a stop when we were met with another group of deadbies. There were too many to count. Fifteen? And the bunch coming out of the trees. Ten more maybe?
"They're everywhere!" Nick panicked, backing into me.
We were literally surrounded. I gripped the metal pole and looked over at Josh.
"You need to get to the helicopter pad. You can't miss it, it's the building with the helicopter on top."
Jeez, that's helpful. I looked around at the scattered buildings and wondered which one he was talking about. Josh picked up a large piece of wood that looked like a plank of some sort.
"Ok. GO!" he urged, and used the long piece of wood and charged into a group of deadbies, pushing them back. Lane turned around to face a deadbie that was closing in on us and took a swing at it and Nick watched on in horror as the deadbie fell to the ground, missing an arm.
He really hadn't been outside.
Robin started screaming, again, which only made things worse and more deadbies started moving in our direction.
I heard another scream, but it wasn't human this time. It was high-pitched and angry. A newbie. And it was running straight towards Nick and me. I pushed Nick aside but didn't have time to take a swing at the thing because it knocked straight into me and we both fell to the ground with a thud, knocking the wind out of me. Oww.
It screamed down my eardrum and I screamed angrily back and pushed it off of me.
"Robin, run!" I heard Nick yelling, and I caught a glimpse of Robin as she darted off between the deadbies. I sat up and reached for the metal pole and when I turned around Lane had already taken care of it for me, splattering blood all over me in the process. Nick started calling us and Lane hurried over to him and the distance between us grew and we got separated, and I found myself being stalked by three of them, two on my right, and one on my left. I hadn't had to defend myself for months, now I was being thrown in at the deep end and expected to take on a frigging horde.
I held the pole in both hands and kept my eyes on the deadbies, anticipating their moves, the one on the right was closing in on me quickly, at least I think it was, it was heading in my direction but looking over my shoulder. I took another step back and lost my footing on some rubble and fell on my ass, and I swear their eyes lit up as I fell, an easy dinner.
The two on the left suddenly rushed in my direction and I scrambled to get a hold on the pole but one of them fell flat on their face in front of me and the other one was suddenly yanked back by their head and Drew appeared over its shoulder and stabbed it in the head. The deadbie on my right had forgotten all about me and was tripping over the other deadbies to get to Drew.
Drew just looked bored as he hit the deadbie in the face using his crossbow and it stumbled backward and fell over.
"What are you doing down there?" Drew asked, offering me his hand and hoisting me up.
"Where's Lane?" I asked as Drew pushed me back a few steps as another deadbie wandered past. There was so much noise coming from the university that it was distracting them.
"Around." Drew mumbled in response as another two appeared out of the cloud of smoke and came towards us. Drew took the first one out and then looked over his shoulder at me.
"Are you joining in?" he asked with a smirk on his face.
"Do I have to?" I grumbled.
"Yeah, you do." Drew said, moving out of the way for the other deadbie.
I gripped the metal pole and swung the pole behind me and took a deep breath and then swung and hit the deadbie square in the jaw and I heard a loud crack as it fell to the ground.
"C'mon!" Drew held out his hand to me and led me around the carnage. I searched for Lane and Nick. Robin had bolted and could be anywhere and Josh had a white t-shirt on and was easy to spot but he was nowhere to be seen either. I spotted Lane on the other side of a burning vehicle and started to walk towards him, leaving Drew.
"Hey! Where are you going? The chopper's this way."
"I need to get Lane."
"He's fine. Alex!" Drew cursed and followed me.
As we got nearer to the vehicle I started to jog while Drew took out anything moving that came near me. I saw an approaching deadbie headed towards Lane, he hadn't seen it and was still busy finishing off another one.
"Lane!" I screamed and he spun around and looked at me instead of at the deadbie and it ran into him with its mouth open, ready to bite.
Lane noticed it too late and they both toppled over and out of view.
I panicked. I didn't panic much, and usually when I did it was because of Lane. The dark skies and the smoke from the fires were really messing with my vision. I picked up speed to get to Lane faster but I ran straight into something solid which happened to be a truck and I went tumbling to the ground.
I heard a scuffle behind me and Drew appeared out of the smoke and pulled me back off the ground.
"Lane!" I gasped and tried to run to him but Drew grabbed my arm.
"Slow down!" he growled.
"Get off me!" I shrugged him off and ran into the smoke and when I came out the other side I saw Lane standing near the trees with his back to us. I saw three deadbies on the ground and Nick was hovering nearby, hugging his bag, using it as a shield.
"Lane!" I called and walked over to him and he turned to look at me and slowly walked out of the trees, looking me up and down to check that I was ok, and then he looked at his brother.
"You ok?" I asked.
"I'm fine." Lane said, picking up Nick's other bag from the ground and putting it on his shoulder but he was avoiding me. At least, I think he was avoiding me. Had he seen Drew and me in the lab? Did he think we were a thing? Or was I just imagining it? I glanced at Drew and found him staring back at me.
"Can we please get out of here now?" Nick said.
"The whole university is on fire and it won't be long until the group comes back this way and sees what else they can raid before they leave, so we need to get to the chopper first and get out of here." Drew said, motioning for us to follow him.
"Wait, where's Robin?" Nick asked.
"She ran away. The wrong way." I replied.
"I saw Josh go after her, they'll meet us at the chopper. C'mon, we have to leave, now!" Drew said, eyeing me.
"Ok, ok," I said, still searching the area for Josh and Robin.
"Alex, now or I'll throw you over my shoulder!" Drew growled, glaring at me.
I knew when he gave me that look he was being serious. I walked over to him and looked back at Lane, he was giving me this strange look. He must have seen Drew trying to kiss me. He probably thinks there's something going on between us, and that we spent days in the desert together getting all hot and bothered. I mean, we did get all hot and bothered, but not like that!
Nick scurried closer to us and we started moving across the grass. There were deadbies wandering around all over the place, confused by the noises and disorientated which was a good thing fo
r us. There were also dead bodies scattered around on the ground, deadbies, and humans.
We zigzagged around the deadbies and hurried across the gravel but an open-top Jeep pulled up in front of us, cutting us off.
"Well, what do we have here?" said a guy with a tatty cap on, wearing a flannel shirt, hanging out of the driver's window, leering at me.
"Fresh meat." said another guy with yellow teeth and dirty-looking blond hair, sitting in the passenger seat, licking his lips and drinking a beer. There were another two guys in the back, one looked out of it, and the other one was wearing a stolen army helmet and had dark stuff smeared all over his face, sort of like mine but his looked like blood. I felt Drew's presence as he edged closer to me.
"We were just leaving." Lane told them and went to make a move but the three of them jumped out of the Jeep, leaving the one in the back sleeping.
Lane briefly looked over at Drew and me standing together. Drew and Lane both knew the guys were coming for me, Nick just looked confused.
"Uh...what's happening?" Nick said in a low voice but Lane pushed him back a few steps as the three guys approached.
The one in the cap sneered at me as they came to a stop in front of us and said, "She's cute, where'd ya find her?"
I took note that none of them had a gun on them, and the one with dirty hair was only holding a kitchen knife, and the one wearing the helmet was holding a crowbar.
They must have been stupid to think they could take us all on but I remembered Drew and Lane were covered in face paint and they probably looked like they were a part of the group, and I was just some girl with mud on her face. Nick still stood out like a sore thumb in his beige slacks and a buttoned-down shirt, and he never did put anything on his face to blend in, but how could he ever blend in looking like that?
I heard gunshots going off, coming from the university and I could see vehicles racing back and forth on the stretch of road between here and the university. If any more of them turned up we were dead for sure, we had to leave now.