by Gayle Katz
“We have to help her,” I shout.
“That’s not possible anymore,” Jack says, “We have to get out of here!”
Jack looks around to see if we can use the ambulance to drive away, but we don’t have keys and the back section isn’t connected to the front cab. We’re trapped unless we can subdue the female EMT zombie in front of us.
For a second or two, I stare at the vile display before me. She seemed nice back in the conference room, but now she’s like a rabid, wild animal feasting on her prey. It’s disgusting. I can see her eyes glowing red and find it strangely mesmerizing. Jack tugs my hand to snap me back into reality. This isn’t some nature program on TV.
She’s blocking our path to the front door of the station. As she’s snacking on Jody, Jack kicks her in the face. While she’s momentarily stunned, Jack grabs my hand.
“Let’s go. Move!”
We start our run back to the TV station. Halfway back to the main entrance, I turn around and see a bunch more of them mere feet behind us. Where are they all coming from? Jack is still holding onto my hand, pulling me faster. We hit the entrance door, get inside, and lock it behind us. The zombies in pursuit smack into the plate glass door, but the door holds.
“I’m exhausted.” I drop to my knees to catch my breath.
“No time to rest. We gotta go back and find John and Mallory. We’ll do better if we’re in a group.”
Jack and I head back down the bloody hallway to the conference room.
“Keep an eye out. We’re not safe. There may be more zombies in the building.”
“OK.”
Jack is pulling up the rear making sure no one is following us. I run ahead to the conference room. John and Mallory are still there, outside the conference room.
“What happened? What are we going to do?” John pleaded.
“We’re leaving.” Jack shouts.
“Leaving?” John questions. “We’ve been okay so far.”
“So far you’ve been lucky, but if we don’t find help for Jane soon, your luck may run out.”
“Shit! I didn’t think about that. What happened out there anyway?”
“Jody is dead.”
“Dead?”
“If we’re lucky, she’s dead. If we’re not, she’ll come back as a zombie and kill us.”
“Shit.”
“Yes, agreed. It’s not good. Jane and I barely made it back into the station. There are more of them out there.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t hang around to count.”
“Aren’t we safe in here?”
“Yes, but I don’t know for how long. They’re relentless. They’re going to break through the front door and when that happens, we don’t want to be here.”
“What about her?” John looks at me.
“What about her?” Jack questions.
“Jason took a chunk out of her.”
“She’ll be fine for the moment. I have a theory.” Jack hands me a bottle of blue liquid.
“What’s this?”
“Trust me. Just drink it. It’ll hydrate you and hopefully keep you from turning.” Jack cups my face in his hand.
“OK.”
“Ready?” Jack announces.
“But...”
“But nothing. We have to leave. Come with us. Maybe we can make it out of whatever mess we’re in here. Or you can stay here and die. Your choice,” Jack replies, giving them the ultimatum as he sees it.
“OK, let’s go,” John replies, deferring to the wisdom of someone who's clearly lived through this type of thing once before.
“How the hell did Jason get loose anyway?” Jack questions them. “We told you two to watch him. What happened?” Jack grabs me and holds me close. The four of us rapidly make our way away from the conference room.
“I don’t know,” John has no useful information. “He somehow managed to break free. We were staying on the opposite side of the table when you two came back.”
“You don’t know?” Jack repeats, not comprehending that answer.
Jack grabs me and we head off to the green room. John and Mallory follow. Once inside, Jack barricades the door with a chair.
Chapter 8
________________________________________
“No. No. No. No.” I keep repeating as I fall down on the floor. The blood quickly seeping through the bandage Jack wrapped around my arm not that long ago, I realize for the first time what’s happened to me.
Jack stoops down next to me. He takes my hands in his.
“Jane,” he says. His voice is strong and determined.
I can’t focus.
“Jane. Look at me,” he demands as he moves my face to face his.
I look at him, tears streaming down my face.
“I’m gonna turn into one of those things. You have to kill me before I hurt you.” I plead and push him away.
“So lemme see if I’ve got you right. You’re gonna let a little thing like a zombie bite stop us from living our lives together?”
“A little thing like… Are you crazy? You see what happens to people who are infected. They don’t stay sane for long and anyone around them gets hurt. I don’t want to do that to you. I love you.”
“I love you too. That’s why we’ve got to find a way to stop the sickness. You can’t give up... on me... on us. Most important, don’t give up on yourself.”
“I’m not giving up. I wasn’t given the luxury of making that choice. It was taken from me.”
“You gotta fight, Jane. You gotta fight now and take back your life.”
I look at Jack and start to wipe the tears from my eyes.
“Everything is going to be OK, Jane. Just focus on me and my voice and we’ll work it out together,” he promises. “Don’t give up, OK? Whatever is happening inside of you. You gotta fight it, Jane. I’ll take care of everything. Do you understand?”
I nod.
Jack gets back on his feet and helps me up. “We have to find our way to the roof. We gotta see what’s happening on the street.”
After removing the chair from the door, Jack grabs my hand and pulls me with him as we leave the green room and head to the stairwell. Mallory and John are right behind us. It’s pretty dark. I guess the generator isn’t operating at its peak performance. As we rush up to the second floor, I trip on one of the steps. Jack pulls me up and we continue up the stairs until we hit the exit for the roof. We stop. Jack inhales deeply and moves toward the door.
Jack pushes the door open slightly and pokes his head out first in order to make sure nothing is waiting for us on the other side.
“All clear,” Jack indicates.
The four of us pour onto the roof. Jack keeps checking the vicinity as we walk to the edge. We look down. It’s mayhem outside. People are running and screaming. We see bloodstains on the ground in every direction. Packs of zombies are binge snacking on humans.
“How did this get so out of control so quickly?” Jack asks in disbelief.
“I guess the EMTs were finished with Jody and needed some fresh meat,” I conclude.
“That’s not good... or funny,” Jack mutters under his breath. “We won’t last long up here on the roof,” he continues. “We gotta get somewhere safer and fast.”
I sit down on the roof, and pull my knees close to my chest.
“How can we go anywhere?” John questions, “Those things are all around us. We should stay here, block the door, and wait for help. We’re on the roof. Someone will see us eventually.”
“Jane doesn’t have that kind of time,” Jack retorts. “We’re not staying. We’re leaving to go find help.”
Mallory chimes in, “We also don’t have any supplies up here. Nothing to protect ourselves. We’ll be screwed if we stay here. What’s the plan, Jack?”
“I don’t know, but now that we have a better idea of the situation down there, step one is to get to our car. We have weapons and supplies stashed there.”
“W
here’s your car?” Mallory asks.
“It’s the small blue one over there,” Jack points to the parking lot. “It’s not too far away. Jane and I get here pretty early in the morning, so we usually snag a prime spot.”
I stand back up. No sense in falling to pieces and wasting what little time I have left feeling sorry for myself.
“Let me go for the car,” I request. “Since I’m turning into one of them, they might not even notice me.”
“You don’t know that.” Jack is not convinced.
“I don’t, but what else are they going to do? Bite me again? I’m not afraid.”
The usual confidence in Jack’s words is not matched by the worried expression on his face. Neither of us knows how this is going to turn out, but we both have a pretty good idea based on past experience. Even so, we continue to lie to each other, if only to keep hope alive and to keep us going.
“Don’t be sad,” I tell Jack. “Like you said before. Everything is gonna be OK, right?”
“Yeah. Yeah. It will,” Jack vows, “but not if you make reckless decisions.” He takes a few steps toward me, gives me a hug, and holds both of my hands with his. Then he kisses me. “I’m not gonna risk losing you for our getaway. It’s not fair. There’s still time. We can save you, but not if we let them tear you to shreds.”
“Forget all of that craziness,” John argues. “Let’s stay here.”
“And what are we going to do here?” Mallory tries to follow his logic. “We don’t have any food or water. We don’t have any way of signaling for help. We don’t even know if anyone is still alive to help us. We have nothing.”
“Then let’s go back downstairs to the station, gather supplies, and then come back up,” John suggests.
I walk over to John. He takes a step back. While he isn’t a particularly good boss, he never struck me as a coward. “Those things are relentless, John. If they hear you, if they smell you, if they even sense you in any way, they’ll come for you.” I step closer to him, “They might not come now, but they will come. Are you willing to put all of our lives—your life—at risk on the chance that someone will magically come and help us?” I challenge him, emphatically. John steps back again.
“Jane, that’s not helping,” Jack steps in-between John and me. “If we’re going to survive, we’ve got to stick together, OK? None of us can do it alone.”
“OK,” John folds.
“What do you suggest, Jack?” Mallory asks.
“I think we should wait until the coast is clear, make a break for it down the emergency escape ladder, grab our car, and head to our house. We have stashed weapons, food, and other supplies that might come in handy, but we’ve got to get to them first. In order to do that, we’re gonna have to be light on our feet and stick together.”
“Fine. Whatever you say, Jack,” John says.
“Looks like we have a plan then,” Mallory quickly agrees.
The four of us peer over the edge of the roof. We watch for a break in the action. We’re also keeping an eye open for an ambush. We don’t want to get on the ground only to find zombies around the first corner. Our hope is the growing zombie hordes move on once their food sources are depleted. There’d be a few stragglers, of course, but the majority of them should be gone before we make our move.
As we keep watch, we see a woman running down the street screaming. Zombies are coming up fast behind her. Jack and I sit and watch her. We know we should help, but realize her situation is much too dire. By the time we could even reach her, she’d be lunch.
She continues to run forward. Looking back at her pursuers, she neglects to look forward and runs right into a bloated, disgusting mutant zombie. This one didn’t look like the others. Everything about him is bigger and even more vile, if that’s even possible. She bounces right off of his big swollen belly, loses her balance, and knocks herself to the ground. That’s the last time we see her alive. A horde of zombies quickly crowd around her, feasting. We see a pool of blood begin to form and hear her screams only for a few seconds. Then nothing. I close my eyes and cover my mouth with my hand.
“There’s nothing we could have done for her,” Jack insists.
Chapter 9
________________________________________
After fifteen minutes or so, we don’t hear any more screams from below. If there are no more screaming people, that may mean there are no more zombies in the area. Maybe they’re on the prowl for new food sources?
“How are you holding up?” Jack checks on me.
“Not good,” I answer. “I feel strange. Sick to my stomach and a bit lightheaded, like a bad hangover.”
“Just hang in there a little longer, OK?”
“Uh-huh. I’ll do my best.”
Jack stands up and offers his hand in order to help me to my feet. I take it.
“Time to go. Everybody ready?” Jack inquires. “Remember. No noise. Be as quiet as possible. Any sound will give us away and it won’t be pretty.”
We walk over to the escape ladder and begin to venture down. Jack is first. I follow. I look up and see Mallory and John are close behind. My limbs feel wobbly, but I do my best to stay steady. I can see Jack on the ground below, spotting me just in case I lose my grip and fall. We’re surprisingly quiet despite the creaky metal steps. Once all four of us are on the ground, we slowly head to our car.
“Shit!” John turns when he hears something behind us. “We've got company.”
We start to run toward the car. We only have a few more feet until we reach it.
“OK, it’s open,” Jack says as he uses the clicker to unlock it. “Get inside!”
I stop and look at the zombies heading toward us. “They’re only hungry,” I think to myself. “Nothing wrong with that.”
“Jane!” someone shouts. It sounds faint in my ears, like a dull echo.
All of a sudden, I feel someone grab me from behind. It’s John, pulling me into the car.
Once the four of us are secure in the car, Jack turns the ignition and the car starts up. The engine is louder than I remember it being. By then, some of the zombies still in pursuit jump onto the hood and the trunk.
Jack hits the gas and the car moves forward. The zombies are still crawling toward us.
“You gotta floor it!” Mallory exclaims.
Jack hits the gas and we jerk backward in our seats. I’m in the backseat with John and hit my head on the backseat window.
“Put on your seatbelt,” Jack shouts. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
On the ride back to the house, Jack’s driving is erratic. He speeds up to run over a few zombies, but then stops short in order to throw them off the hood.
“What are you doing up there?” John questions.
“It’s difficult to see when you’ve got zombies blocking your view. I had to get them off the car. Good job being quiet, by the way. Think you could you’ve yelled louder back there?”
“Whatever. I saved Jane and that’s all you can say to me?”
Silence.
“You’re right,” Jack says to John, “I was outta line, but instead of running quietly from one zombie, your yelling attracted more of them. It’s just blind luck that we made it to the car in one piece.”
“Sorry. I guess I panicked.”
“And Jane, what happened back there? You just stopped.”
“I don’t know.”
“I guarantee they don’t want to be friends.”
All talking stops. We definitely need a breather in order to cool down.
For a few minutes, the drive home isn’t bad. Halfway home, a random zombie attaches itself to the side of the car and punches through the backseat window where I hit my head. The window shatters. Shards of glass go everywhere. Its head and right arm are inside the car, reaching for me. Its scabby hand manages to grab my dirty, blood-soaked blouse. It’s pulling me toward the window. I’m scared, but I don’t scream. John is pulling me the other way. It’s a good thing the doors are locked other
wise it may have yanked me right out of the car.
“Grab the toolbox under the front seat,” Jack advises once he realizes what’s happening.
“Which seat?”
“Both!”
John grabs under the seat and finds the toolbox. He pops one of them open and takes out a jagged-edged knife. He starts stabbing the zombie repeatedly. In the head. In the arm. It doesn’t let go. He stabs at its wrist over and over again until its hand finally disconnects from its arm. The grip on me is no more. Severed from its only anchor, the zombie flies off the car as Jack hits the accelerator.
“Phew,” I breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“So Jack,” John starts a new conversation, “Are you sure you have everything we need at your place?”
“Yes.”
“Because we’re already on the road. If we need something, now’s the time to pick up supplies.”
“Jack,” I interrupt, ”Maybe we should stop at the supermarket and see if we can find something to stave off my infection? I don’t think I’m going to make it home without some help.”
“I didn’t think about that. We’ll stop.”
We drive a little further and pull into the local supermarket parking lot. Jack parks as close as he can get to the front doors without literally driving straight into the building.
“Someone hand me the toolbox under my seat,” Jack requests.
I hand it to him. He takes out a couple of the knives and puts them in the loops of his pants.
“You’re coming with me,” he commands.
Next, he turns to Mallory. “You too. We’re gonna need an extra set of hands to carry supplies and such.”
And then to John, “Stay with the car, but keep alert. If something happens, drive the car around, but you have to come back and pick us up, OK?”
I speak up, “No. No. I’m gonna stay here.”
“No arguing, Jane. You’re with us.”
He turns to our lesser-known companions.“Listen, I don’t know what happened in the conference room when I put you in charge and Jason got loose, but John, we’re trusting you to be here when we get out,” Jack looks at John and then at Mallory, “and Mallory, we're trusting you to watch our backs while we’re inside. We gotta stick together if we’re going to make it through this mess, people.”