by Josh Vasquez
“There’s a service elevator in the back. We can use that to get upstairs.”
“How do you know that?” Ben asked.
“The girl would use it when she would come to check on me. One time she left the door open long enough for me to see her use it. I know it’s there.”
They walked down the hallway quietly although nobody seemed to be around. When they came to the end, Avery pointed to an abnormally narrow doorway. He mouthed the word “elevator,” and motioned up with his thumb. Jeremy nodded, and checked to see if the coast was clear. He saw no one so he walked over to the door while the others waited.
There was a button on the wall with no markings.
That has to be it, Jeremy thought.
He pressed it, and the door slid open.
Ding.
They all cringed. It wasn’t really that loud, but against the backdrop of silence, it was deafening. Jeremy waited for someone to come out and investigate the noise, but no one came. He looked back to the others with a shrug, and then motioned for them to come over to the elevator.
“There’s no way all of us are gonna fit in that tiny thing,” Lexx whispered.
He was right. It would maybe hold two of them. It was obviously a retrofit and not a piece of the original building.
“You’re right,” Jeremy said. “You go get her. Me and Avery will go out this door and circle around to the Jeep. We’ll get the pistols out of there and come back in to get y’all. Ben, you stay by this door so we can get back in. Hang on to those scissors.”
Ben looked down at the large sewing shears he was still holding and nodded.
“Alright, sounds like a plan,” Lexx said. “Make it quick. Things might get dicey.”
Jeremy nodded as Lexx got in the elevator and the door slid shut.
***
“Question: Why aren’t we just getting out of here? Why go back inside?” Avery asked, as they snuck around the building towards the Jeep.
“We have to go back in and get our guns. I thought about leaving them, but with those crazy, runner zombies, I’d like to have the firepower if needed. Maybe we can snag some of their’s while we’re in there too. I sure wouldn’t mind the extra firepower,” Jeremy answered, trying to keep his voice down.
“Oh man,” Avery said. “So you think they’re zombies too? I thought I was the only one who figured it out.”
“That’s just what we’re calling them. We don’t know for sure,” Jeremy said, still trying to keep his voice down. He hoped Avery would get the hint and keep his down too.
“These are definitely zombies man, no doubt about-”
“Avery, keep your voice down,” Jeremy interjected.
There were a few zombies littered around the surrounding area. Avery nodded and put a finger up to his lips. He figured it out. The dead seemed unaware of their voices.
The building itself was situated on one of Savannah’s famous squares. Having survived the Civil War, much of the original colonial layout was still very much a part of the city. It seemed that while General Sherman thought it would be fun to torch the rest of the South, he decided Savannah was too beautiful, and presented it to President Lincoln as a Christmas present. If he could only see it now.
Most of the zombies were wandering around the square. A mix of undead tourists and locals. The weather was beautiful this afternoon. Not a cloud in the sky and a cool breeze kept the air cool. Perfect for an afternoon downtown. The dead didn’t seem to notice the two men slinking along the building’s edge.
“Good thing they boarded the windows. They can’t see us from inside. That’s dumb. You’d think they’d want to be able to see outside,” Avery rambled, forgetting the whole “be quiet” thing.
“Dude, shut up,” Jeremy hushed him.
Avery nodded and made a motion of zipping his lips. He placed the imaginary key in his pocket.
This guy sure does talk a lot, Jeremy thought to himself. But no doubt, he has been helpful so far.
Jeremy wanted to ask Avery questions about himself, to get to know him better, but he’d already told him to be quiet twice. Didn’t want to contradict that. The guy did not seem to have a volume control on his voice. Jeremy will just have to wait to find out more about him.
They made their way over across the street without being seen by any of the dead. Jeremy ducked down next to the Jeep and tried to open the door as quietly as he possibly could. There was a faint click, but it didn’t draw any unwanted attention. He reached in and picked up the two pistols from the center console. His backpack sat in between the two front seats. He grabbed that too. They might need it to carry spare ammo or other supplies. They still had to find a hose too.
Turning to Avery he whispered, “Can you handle one of these?”
Avery nodded, reaching out for the gun. They turned to make their way back to the building when Jeremy noticed a balcony outside a second story window. It was the only one on the building. He pointed up to the balcony.
“Is that the one you were talking about?” He asked Avery.
Avery nodded.
“Are you sure?”
He nodded again, slower this time. Jeremy noticed he didn’t look too confident.
“Is it or is it not?” he whispered through his teeth.
Avery held up his hands and shrugged.
“Why aren’t you talking?”
Avery reached into his pocket and pulled out the imaginary key from earlier. He put it up to his mouth and gave it a twist.
“You told me to shut up.”
Jeremy was dumbfounded.
“Are you serious?” He asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Mostly. Yeah, I don’t know for sure if that is the balcony she was talking about, but I don’t see any others so that has to be it,” he said, this time keeping his voice low.
Jeremy turned and looked up at the balcony.
“Tori?” He whispered, just loud enough for her to hear if she was there, but not loud enough for any zombies to take notice.
Nothing.
“Tori? You there?” He said, this time a little louder.
Again nothing.
“Tori?”
Again a little louder and again no answer. A zombie in the square moaned. It had noticed the two men near the building and was beginning to limp its way over to them, grabbing the attention of others as well.
“C’mon man, let’s go,” Avery insisted. “Maybe she just can’t hear you.”
Jeremy nodded. They turned to run back to the door where Ben waited on the inside, but as they started, a figure walked out onto the balcony.
It was Anastasia.
“Oh boys, you should have stayed inside,” she giggled. “Zombies! Come and get it!”
Chapter Nineteen
Lexx wandered the upstairs hallway.
All the doors are closed, he thought. Which one is it?
“Zombies! Come and get it!”
He heard the girl yell from the closed door right beside him. Quickly, he opened the door, and there was Tori tied to a chair with her shirt cut in two right down the middle. The girl, Anastasia, was standing out on the balcony. She whipped around once Lexx opened the door.
“You too?” she asked before yelling for help.
Lexx charged in and ran straight for the girl. She was still holding the kitchen knife that she had been scrap-booking Tori’s shirt with. As Lexx got closer, she waved it back and forth in front of her.
“Get back!”
Lexx ignored her, pushed the knife out of the way, and shoved the girl out onto the balcony. He then closed the door, and locked it, leaving her banging on the glass to get back in. She let out a string of obscenities.
“That girl has a pretty foul mouth on her,” he said, as he causally walked over to Tori. Anastasia in the background continued her assault of banging and swearing on the balcony door.
“You have no idea,” Tori said.
This was the second time today she was relieved to see that man.
When she saw the truck explode earlier, she was just sad that he died. He had become a friend, and a trusted partner in this whole apocalypse deal. Now, she was honestly happy that it was Lexx that came to get her, and not one of the others. Nothing against the other guys, but Lexx was indeed starting to grow on her.
Damnit, she thought, as he began to untie the rope from around her ankles. His rough hands gently slid over the bare skin of her lower legs.
She gave him a good look over as he worked to liberate her from the chair.
He’s not bad looking, she thought.
His rugged features and solid frame really overshadowed his slightly receding hairline. His five o’clock stubble was filling in his jaw line quite nicely too.
Good Lord, what am I thinking? She thought.
Once her hands were free, they shot down to rub where the ropes had been.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Rescue’s not over yet babe,” Lexx answered.
He stood up and began to look for anything he could use as a weapon.
“Well, locking her out there was a good idea. That girl is bat-shit crazy,” Tori said as she joined in the search. She walked over to Anastasia’s suitcase. Not a single thing to be used as a weapon. There were some large, rubber “devices,” but those probably would not do much damage against the skull of a walking corpse.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Lexx said. “My first idea was to just dropkick her off the balcony, but then I thought, You don’t just dropkick girls off the balcony. So, I locked her out there instead.”
“Good thinking. Holy crap! Look at this thing,” she said, holding up one of the larger rubber phalluses.
“Looks small to me,” Lexx said with a shrug.
She looked over at him. He paused long enough to give her a quick smile, but went back to looking. After a few minutes of frantic searching, they both gave up.
“Nothing,” he said. “Didn’t she have a pistol earlier? Where is it?”
Tori did one last glance over the room. Anastasia had stopped banging on the door and was crumpled down on the balcony crying. She was holding the large kitchen knife to her chest, like a small child would with a stuffed animal, or security blanket.
“Hold on a sec,” Tori said.
She walked over to the balcony door and unlocked it. As she opened the door, Anastasia jumped up to her feet.
“Oh, thank you, thank you,” she began crying.
“Give me the knife,” Tori said.
Anastasia held the knife back up to her chest and shook her head. She acted like a toddler who did not want to give up her toy. Tori could see over the rail and saw the amassing crowd of dead at street level.
“Give me the knife, or we leave you here. With them,” she said, motioning towards the zombies below.
Anastasia shook her head more violently and sprung at Tori, knife pointed straight for her gut. In one fluid move, Tori grabbed her by the wrist, and twisted. The knife fell to the ground. She held her arm firmly, pulled her in close, and looked her in the eyes. The girl flicked out her tongue in a seductive way.
“No thanks,” she said as she shoved the girl back, and planted her foot right square into her chest.
Anastasia went spiraling back towards the balcony railing, arms flailing. She lost her balance and tumbled head first into the moans of the dead below. Tori went to grab her before she went over, but missed her by a nanosecond. Anastasia’s screams grew louder as the crowd of zombies began to devour her. She kicked and screamed, but fell silent when one of the zombies reached its dead grey fingers into her mouth, and ripped her jaw from its hinge.
Tori stood there in disbelief. She did not mean for that to happen. She tried to grab the girl, but it was too late.
“I, I didn’t mean to kick her off, just back,” she stammered.
Lexx walked over and picked up the knife. He placed a hand on Tori’s shoulder, trying to comfort her, and to pull her back into reality.
“I believe you babe. But what’s done is done, let’s go,” he said softly.
She nodded hesitantly and turned to go back in the building.
“However,” he added. “I guess you can just kick girls off the balcony.”
She punched him in the arm.
“Shut up. Let’s go. Someone is bound to come investigate all the noise. Let’s find Jeremy and Ben and get the hell out of here.”
She started to walk to the door.
“Um, Tori?”
“Yeah, what?” She snapped.
“You, uh, maybe wanna grab a new shirt?”
Lexx pointed to her half cut open shirt. She looked down and saw that her breasts were pretty well exposed from where Anastasia cut her shirt. She never put the bra on either, so Tori was pretty much going girls gone wild. A new shirt might have not been such a bad idea.
“Why? You don’t like this look on me?” she said coyly.
“I love this look on you.”
She giggled. A few shirts could be seen hanging out of Anastasia’s bag, so Tori walked over and inspected a few. She picked one that seemed to be clean. She took off the tattered mess she was wearing, ignoring Lexx’s dropped jaw, and put on the white cotton shirt that read, “I ‘heart’ Savannah”. Instead of a heart, a peach was in its place. She put her hands on her hips and faced Lexx.
“How do I look?”
“You workin’ it girl,” Lexx said, snapping his fingers in a z-formation.
She laughed again and he smiled at her, their eyes catching for a brief moment. The smile faded from Tori’s face as she pulled herself together.
“Alright, let’s get the hell out of here.”
***
Ben quickly opened the door for Jeremy and Avery when they started to relentlessly bang on the door. There was a small group of z’s behind them, one right on their heels. It reached out with its rotting arm as Ben went to slam the door shut, getting it caught between the door and doorframe. It moaned in a painful agony, which caught Ben off guard, because until now, he had not noticed any of the dead even register pain. He slammed the door again. Crunch. Again. Crunch. He slammed it a fourth time, this time with a sickening crack, successfully separating bone and tendon. The dead forearm fell to the floor; its fingers still grasping for a brief moment, until finally succumbing to death.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Ben muttered under his breath.
He looked over at Jeremy and Avery, who were both hunched over, trying to regain their breath. Jeremy straightened up, taking a deep breath.
“We need to find Lexx and Tori, and get out of here. Pronto,” he said.
“What was that scream?” Ben asked.
“I think it was that girl,” Avery said. “I think someone threw her off the balcony.”
“Oh, geez,” Ben said. “You think Lexx did that? Why would he do that? Her friends are not going to be happy.”
Jeremy shook his head.
“Let's hope not.”
He motioned for them to follow him. They turned a corner and began to walk down the corridor. Modern art lined the walls. None of it made any sense to Jeremy.
I could make that, he thought. It just looks like someone threw paint against a canvas.
He was lost deep in thought when they rounded a corner, running right smack into Albert and two of his men. Everyone drew their weapons. A good old fashioned Mexican stand-off. Albert was still holding “Agatha” and the two camo guys were with him, who were still holding their shotguns.
“What are you doing out?” Albert stammered. “What was that scream? Where did you get guns?”
Jeremy held his ground. He glanced over at Avery. The kid was sweating bullets, but had his pistol ready and pointed for one of the shotgun guys. Jeremy mouthed a “ssh”; Avery nodded. Ben was still holding the scissors he found earlier. Albert definitely had the upper hand.
“Who screamed?” Albert said, his voice much sterner this time
“Your girl,” Jeremy said.
“What? Anastasia? What did y
ou do to her?”
The two guys with Albert looked at each other, both now looked more nervous than confident in their leader.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?” Albert bellowed, his voice now no longer nasally and meek.
“We threw her off the balcony,” Jeremy answered.
Ben shot him a look as if to say, “What are you doing?”
Jeremy ignored it.
“You what?”
“We threw her off the balcony into a group of zombies.”
Albert twitched as he processed the information. Tears started to well up in the corners of his eyes. Jeremy grew nervous as he watched the man’s finger tighten around the trigger. Albert began to snivel, but quickly stopped. His face darkened, anger taking over. He straightened up, pointing the barrel of the AK-47 directly for Avery.
“DIE!” he screeched.
Jeremy shoved Avery hard right before Albert began unloading his clip into the wall behind where Avery stood. The bullets ran up the wall as the rifle jumped in Albert’s hands, the barrel rising with each shot. Jeremy dove for the ground and fired his pistol hitting the left shotgun guy in the shoulder. This caused him to misfire his shotgun blasting his buddy with buckshot. Albert’s rifle finally ran out of ammo, his war cry trailing off into a whimper. He lowered his gun and looked to see his back-up lying on the ground. His bravado now gone, he turned back to face Jeremy and the others. The front of his pants turned dark with urine.
“You’ve never fired a gun before have you?” Avery said as he stood up, dusting himself off.
Albert sheepishly shook his head no.
“Dude,” Avery said. “Yuhdum.”
Albert turned and ran.
Chapter Twenty
They followed after Albert, who led them into the main room where everything started. He ran and hid behind the other two guys who were standing there with rifles drawn. These two were the ones dressed in skinny jeans and deep V-neck t-shirts. If the camo guys looked like they knew what they were doing, these two had no idea. As he positioned himself behind them, his crooked smile crept back up. Jeremy, Avery, and Ben came to a halt and raised their new shotguns. Ben was going akimbo with the pistols, trying to look like he knew what he was doing.