by Russ Watts
“I’m not scared of you, Bradley,” said Jenny looking up at him.
“So Amber disappears and it’s my fault. What about Philip? Anyone know where that creep is?”
“Hey, that’s true,” said Troy, “we don’t know anything about the man. If anything’s happened to Amber, it wouldn’t be because of Brad.”
“What the fuck are you saying? My husband isn’t perfect, but he wouldn’t have touched her.” Kate threw down the torch she was fitting with batteries and stood up.
“Come on, this isn’t helping. We’re on the same side. Everyone, just calm down, please,” said Jackson. “Brad, you need to back off.”
“Me back off?” Brad walked over to Jackson. “Where’s Jill? Anyone? When was the last time anyone saw Jill?”
Nobody said anything.
“What are you implying?” Jackson said. He looked bewildered. “I don’t know where she is.”
“I’ll bet you don’t, you fucking perv. Last time I saw Jill was last night, and you two were thick as thieves. Then this morning, she’s disappeared too?” Brad turned away and talked to the group. “All I’m saying, people, is that wild accusations are not helping. Who knows where Amber is? Or Jill? To be honest, I don’t give a flying fuck. All I know is, I’m not waiting to end up like Freddy. I’m getting out of here.”
“All right, all right,” said Tom. He slammed his hand down on a desk. “Brad, Jenny, everyone, just take a break, please. Whilst I agree it is a shitty thing to do, the facts are, we don’t know where Amber and Jill are. We can’t spend any more time looking for them. We do have to leave. If Brad saw a rat in there, then we need to hurry. If they’re inside the building, we don’t have long.”
“There’s only one rat in this office,” said Jenny turning away and picking up a bag. She began filling it with matches and knives.
“Fifteen minutes,” said Tom. “Jackson, can you get everyone back here now. I’m going to go get Benzo and Jessica. Kate, maybe you can write a message for Amber and Jill. We can pin it to the door in case they come back. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”
He left and the others resumed their jobs in silence. They were worried about Amber and Jill, but were more worried about getting out before the infection got in. Brad picked up the water bottles and grabbed a satchel from beside Jenny.
“Watch your back, bitch,” he whispered in her ear. She turned nervously and he took the satchel away, grinning as he left.
* * * *
“It doesn’t seem real, does it?” said Benzo. “On any other day, this would be perfect; just sitting out here on the terrace with a drink, deals being done, and people just chilling out in the warm sun under a blue sky. Perfect.”
“Yeah, except today the tables and chairs are in the corner over there with all the shrubs, and the deals are as dead as the people making them,” said Jessica. Benzo dug his hands deeper into his pockets.
“Well, I guess we’re still going to try the tunnel option then,” said Jessica. She looked out over the plaza at the hundreds upon hundreds of dead bodies; countless corpses crushed into the plaza, up against the buildings and towers, trying to fight past each other to the living.
“You think it’s like this everywhere?” said Benzo.
“Yep.”
A bang from behind surprised them and they whirled around to see Tom walking through the café. He joined them by the wall. From the roof, the dead seemed less real and less threatening; from here he could smell them. He could smell death and decay, the rotting atoms being sucked up his nose; he could taste death in his mouth. The stench was overpowering and Tom had to fight the urge to retch.
“We’re leaving,” he said.
“Hey, Tom, I was wondering, if we all go down there into the foyer together, it’s going to get them all...excited,” said Benzo.
“Probably so,” said Tom.
“Well, I’m worried that if we give them enough encouragement, then one big push might be enough for them to get in. Those glass doors have held so far, but I wouldn’t want to bet my life on them.”
“If you’ve got an idea, Benzo, spit it out,” said Jessica.
“It won’t take long. But if we throw some stuff off the roof here, over there to where that taxi is, then they might just be distracted enough. Let’s face it, they’re not reasoning, thinking, people anymore. If we throw them a decoy, it might distract enough of them to give us a better chance of getting through the foyer.”
“All right, why not, it can’t hurt,” said Tom. He and Jessica followed him into the café and he picked up the cash register. “Two minutes, that’s all, and then we need to get back. Grab what you can and chuck it.”
Benzo went back onto the terrace and hurled a register over the wall, where finding a small gap in the zombies, it smashed on the road below.
Jessica picked up a laptop that had been left discarded and threw it toward an empty taxi. “Looks like I finally found a use for this thing,” she said. As it crashed into the vehicle, some of the zombies turned toward the noise.
“It’s working,” said Benzo. They grabbed everything they could and threw it out into the crowd below. The closest of the dead began to turn toward the pile of debris by the taxi, scrabbling over it, not even knowing what they were looking for.
Tom watched Benzo lift a case of glass soda bottles over his head and throw it. It struck a fat lady below, hitting her on the head and tearing a jagged rip in her slithery skin. There was no reaction to the pain and Tom doubted if the woman could feel anything anymore.
“Okay, I think that’s enough, guys,” he said.
“One for the road,” said Jessica. Tom couldn’t help but smile as she lofted a massive glass bowl above her head and used all her strength to thrust it over the edge. He and Benzo stood by Jessica against the wall and watched as it flew through the spring air. As it struck the zombies, it burst into a million shards of glass, showering the dead with sparkling confetti. They turned away from the edge, walking back into the café. Tom and Benzo waited by the stairwell door for Jessica, who had paused for something.
The bowl had left a sharp piece of glass protruding from one female zombie. Its blood had congealed and dried so it could not bleed, but the glass stuck out of the top of her head looking like a shark’s fin above water. Jessica turned and Tom noticed her face had lost its sparkle; her smile had been turned into a frown. Suddenly, it didn’t seem as much fun anymore.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as she got to the doorway.
“Nothing. Just someone I used to know. Let’s just go,” she said, and brushed past him into the stairwell, leaving Brie below. Jessica hardly recognised her girlfriend now: dead and disfigured. Maybe she would meet again soon. Hopefully not too soon, she thought.
PART TWO: CONFRONTATION
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jill sat up and her eyes scanned the room. They didn’t recognise anything. Her head tried to turn but was fixed in place, as if with a steel rod. She pried her hands off the sticky floor and stumbled to her feet. She swayed for a moment and a small rat dropped from her thigh where it had eaten a sizeable chunk from her. The rodent had been attracted by the smell of her blood and its sharp teeth had bored through her thigh to the bone. It now lost interest in her and Jill’s eyes watched as the creature, missing its back legs, crawled away slowly.
Not a single thought ran through her head. She wasn’t aware of Jill anymore. She wasn’t aware that she was human. She wasn’t aware that she was even a she. There was no conscious part of her that could even be aware of her own physical being. Jill’s body was essentially controlled now by the parasite. A fungus had spread over her arms as she had lain on the floor, whilst the dead rat had burrowed inside her and eagerly eaten away half of her leg before she had reanimated.
Jill’s body now bounced off the oak table and her bloodied hands prised open the door. Her body’s feet remembered how to walk and they took her through to the main office. Jill stood in the middle of the room and bloo
d spilled from her mouth. Sweet, sticky, blood trickled over her lips and down her neck. Her ears heard a faint noise and Jill’s body turned toward it. Her pale arms swung loosely as she walked over to the stairwell doorway from where the noises grew louder. The dead body heard the noises. It smelt the warmth of life. Jill’s hands pulled the door open and she opened her mouth wide, as if she could taste the living already. Her crooked body slipped through the door into the stairwell, and slowly began stumbling downstairs toward the noise.
* * * *
Ranjit watched monitor nine; they were leaving. He was sure of it now. Yesterday, he couldn’t be sure if they were just getting more supplies to wait it out, but now there was no doubt. He watched them all pack up and the last three, Jessica, and the two men, entered floor sixteen. So that was it; they had found a way out and were going to leave. He would be alone, left to starve to death whilst Stu banged on the door, until he finally passed away in a room that smelt, literally, like shit.
He could unlock the doors now and let ten thousand zombies pour in through the foyer. Why should they be allowed to leave and not him? Ranjit’s hand hovered over the button that would mean certain death for everyone in the building. If he hit the unlock button, it would open all the locked doors in the building, which included the locker room. Stu would be on him in seconds.
From the corner of his eye, he saw movement on the monitor from the camera positioned at the top of the stairwell; it was a woman. He looked closer and saw she was moving strangely. The way the woman sloped down the stairs was odd. Then he saw the huge hole in the woman’s leg. He couldn’t zoom in, so he pressed his face closer to the monitor and realised it was Jill.
“Jesus Christ, she’s one of them,” he said. He found he was rooting for floor sixteen to get out. It wasn’t fair to go out like this. He took his hand away from the button. How could he warn them? There was no way. He tried to think, but with the banging on the locker room door, it was hard to concentrate.
“Shut up, Stu. You’re dead. You’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead! So deal with it. Shit.” Ranjit picked up the picture of his wife. “What can I do, honey, what can I do?” He sat back in his chair and watched the monitors.
All he could do was hope they got out before Jill caught up with them. If he watched them, he could see where they went and try to follow. It would mean unlocking the doors and letting Stu in, but it was his only chance. Better that, than stuck here forever. He looked at the photo again of Keti.
“I love you, honey, I’m coming home. I’m coming to see you,” he said.
Ranjit put the picture down and watched the monitor as Jill made it down to the eighteenth floor.
* * * *
As the group on the sixteenth floor argued about whether they should leave now or try to look for Amber again, Jill stopped. The noises from below were getting louder, but there were noises coming from the other side of the door she had reached. It was shut. There were soft scraping noises on the door, although she sensed nothing living. Curious, Jill pushed the door open beneath the number eighteen and two more zombies stood there; splendidly naked and gloriously dead, they looked at each other for no more than a moment. Then the three of them carried on down to where the noise was coming from.
One of the dead, a girl with long blonde hair, was faster than the others and walked ahead. Chloe and Jill lurched after her, trying to keep up. Pure primal noises came from Amber as her appetite increased with each step. Her fingers scratched at the bare walls and Chloe followed her with Jill close behind.
When Amber’s infected body had reactivated, it had instinctively bitten Chloe and taken a chunk out her shoulder. Chloe’s body was warm when Brad had left her. Even though she was dead, Amber chewed the tissue, but had not found it satisfying and she spat it out. Amber pushed and pulled the cupboard door for several minutes before Chloe’s body returned.
Awkward and stiff, Chloe had fallen against the door. Her corpse wanted out. Her feet slowly pushed her body forward and one dead hand began hammering on the door alongside Amber. One arm hung limply by her side, the bones broken, her arm now useless from when Brad had pulled it out of its socket.
It had taken the combined energy of both of them to break out of the cupboard, but they had not managed to get out of the floor. After bumbling around the deserted office for a few minutes, they sensed the noise below and stood by the exit unable to get out. Brad had shut the door to the stairwell behind him, not wanting anyone snooping around. Thankfully, it was not long before Jill’s walking corpse inadvertently released them.
* * * *
“We don’t have time for this,” said Tom. “Seriously, guys, come on, see sense.”
“No offence, Tom, but you didn’t know her. Amber was a sweet girl and we can’t abandon her.” Jenny was refusing to leave and had managed to stir up half the group, too, so half wanted to stay and look for her, while the other half were ready to go.
“She’s right,” said Troy.
“Yeah, we have to at least look for her one more time,” said Michelle.
“Fuck this, I’m leaving. If anyone wants to come, now is the time. I’m not waiting any longer,” said Brad. He walked toward the door to the stairwell and pulled it open. “You should know that once we’re down there, they’re going to figure out how we got out. We can’t close the door behind us. You stay here and you will die here.”
“Brad, mate...” began Parker.
“You think you’re such the big man don’t you?” Jenny walked over to Brad and put her hand on the door. “Close the door, Brad, you’re not going anywhere.”
He took a step back, letting Jenny take hold of the door. “You can...”
Jenny stood with her back to the door and watched Brad’s face fall open in shock. His mouth made a perfect O shape.
Jenny’s brow furrowed. “What...” Before she could move, Amber sank her teeth into the outstretched arm. Jenny screamed and Brad stepped back away from the door. Amber let go only to sink her teeth into Jenny’s screaming face, ripping off her fleshy cheek and relishing in the spurting blood. Jenny turned around to fight off her attacker.
For a split second, the group was too shocked to do anything. They stood there dumbfounded, as Amber, completely naked and clearly dead, struggled with Jenny, bringing her down to the floor where she could rip her throat out and dine on the sweet, warm, blood.
Suddenly Chloe appeared in the doorway too, also naked.
“Chloe! Are you...” Jessica’s voice was hidden by shouts and shrieks as Chloe ran into the room. Brad was pressed against the wall, trying to stay out of sight, and Chloe lunged at Jessica. In the panic, Kate tripped over and Chloe landed on top of her. Chloe’s fingernails dug into Kate’s arms as they struggled.
Jackson and Tom tried to pull Chloe off, but she had a strong hold on a screaming Kate. The others in the office were running around blindly, madly. Amber had left Jenny dying and was biting and snapping at anyone close enough. She clawed at Karl’s face and he fell down at her feet.
“How do we get out? Grab the bags and run! Help me!” The words and desperate pleas got lost in the ensuing chaos and noise. Nobody knew where to turn.
Troy pulled Michelle close and told her to run through the door. “Ignore Amber and just run!” He promised he would be right behind her.
As Michelle ran, Amber leapt up from Karl’s dead body and grabbed Michelle’s hair. Michelle tripped and, screaming, landed on the concrete stairs, her head slamming into the wall, knocking her out cold. Amber dropped the fistful of hair she held and ignoring the unconscious body, ran to closer, living flesh.
Troy watched, as emerging from the stairwell suddenly, Jill bent down and took a chunk from Michelle’s arm. With the flesh still protruding from her mouth, Jill went into the office and ran straight at the first person she saw.
Jackson tried to back away but she was too quick. He tried to dodge her, but she lunged forward and Jill’s cold hands grabbed him. He grappled with her, rolling
around on the floor over the bags of food. Troy ran to help Michelle but Jenny sprang up as he bounded over her and sunk her teeth into his ankle. He shouted out in pain, blood vessels bursting as she tore a vein out, a bloody strand of tissue snapping as she yanked it out of his leg.
Moving faster than she ever had in life, Jenny fell on top of Troy, her weight meaning it was nearly impossible for him to get out. He struggled, but within seconds, she had ripped the life out of him.
Jackson managed to push Jill off him and her attention was diverted long enough for him to get away. Jill clawed at Julie-Anne and they grappled with one another. Tom and Parker grabbed what few bags they could and shouted for the others to do the same.
“Reggie, light the torches!” Reggie had backed away into the kitchen and was frantically trying to light the flammable cloths. He lit the first one and handed it to Benzo, who threw the burning bottle at Amber. She lit up immediately and the fire spread over her battered naked body.
With so few weapons available, Jackson had earlier unscrewed the legs from Jill’s desk, intending to use them as hefty batons with which to beat any zombies that got in their way. He picked up the four robust metal legs.
“Here!” shouted Jackson, throwing one to Benzo. Parker and Dina grabbed the other two, while Jackson held onto one.
“Go now!” shouted Tom. As Reggie ran, others tried to follow, swinging their clubs at anyone who tried to stop them.
Jill and Jenny were running through the office and Tom watched them claw a poor girl down to the floor together, where they tore her apart. Jackson struck Michelle who was standing in the doorway. Her infected dead body stumbled and fell. Amber was still burning and had tripped over the bags in the centre of the room, setting them alight. There was no way to get them now.
David and Jessica managed to pull Chloe off Kate and had pinned her back with some chairs. It only kept her at bay for seconds though. Michelle stumbled through the office, blood pouring down her head, which was hanging off her shoulders to the side. She grabbed David and bit his hands as he tried to push her away. Dina tried to help him, but only succeeded in falling over where she found Jill’s snapping jaws.