by Jeremy Dyson
"Man, this is fucked up," Joey whimpers.
"Shut up," says Quentin. "Blake, we can't just stand here."
"Okay, okay," I say. "Danielle come with me to check the stables for Chet. You guys see if you can track down Devin."
"I don't think we should be splitting up," says Quentin.
"I don't like it either, but this place is too big for that. We have to cover more ground or we won't find either of them before it's too late."
Even though I can't see him, the prolonged silence tells me he still isn't crazy about any of it. Finally, Quentin mutters, "C'mon dumbass,” and we listen as he hustles off down the hall alongside Joey.
"You ready?" I ask Danielle.
"No," she whispered. "But we have to go." I hear her tell Dom she'd be closing the door and then the soft click of the lock snapping into place.
We head the opposite way down the hall that Quentin and Joey had gone. Danielle rests a hand on my shoulder to keep track of my movements in the blackness. I squint my eyes trying to make out anything I can, not just looking for a human shape, but anything I might bump into that would make a noise and give away our location. I try to remember where the door is that leads to the paddocks, but I only remember the layout vaguely. I am mostly following the smell of hay and horse shit. My palms get slick with sweat. I try to move steadily, but my muscles tremble from the terror.
I notice Danielle's grip tighten on my shoulder. I wish I didn't have to bring her along, but I may not be able to do any of this alone. Danielle is the only person among us that might have any idea how to corral the loose horses. She is also the only one that can help if someone is injured.
I ease over towards the wall on my left, feeling my way down the hall with my left hand and with my right I am pointing the gun at a wall of blackness. I pause when I feel the cold, steel doorknob.
I really just want to try and call out to Chet, but I don't dare. I don't even know for sure this is the right door, or what else might be around to hear me. I turn the handle slowly, and ease the door open with the weight of my body. The smell of horses wafts over me. For a moment, we just stand in the doorway listening.
I hear the dry, scraping hiss of straw pushed around the floor. There is something in there, which I can only hope is just a horse. I try to squint, but it's useless. I could wave my hand a few inches in front of my face right now and fail to see it. We creep forward down the aisle. I can hear the heavy hooves of a horse in one of the stalls. Faint vibrations emanate through the concrete floor whenever the huge animal moves. There are a few sudden thuds, then a loud bang. Maybe it kicked a stall or ran into something. It must be spooked. I know I am. Since there seemed to be no reaction to the sound, I start to feel confident there is no one else in the stable with us. I move a little more boldly down the center aisle between the stalls. "Chet" I hiss into the darkness, but there is no answer.
I lower the gun and finally feel a little release in the tension of my muscles. I can feel the hot breath of the horse on my face, so I know it must be holding its head out in the aisle just a few inches beside me.
"Easy, gal," I hear Danielle whisper, and I realize she is calming the mare by stroking her nose.
The next thing I know, I'm laying flat on my ass. It takes me a second to figure out how I got knocked down. I thought I heard a gunshot but can't be sure. The horse is gone. It must have gotten spooked by the gunshot and came crashing out, knocking us down. I hear a nearby moan. I feel around in the dark for Danielle, finally touching what I think is her arm.
"Are you hurt?" I whisper.
"I don't know," she groans. "I think I'm okay."
"Come on, let's get back to the room.” I hold her arm and lead the way back down the row of paddocks. Instead of total blackness, there is just the faintest trickle of light now spilling from an open doorway across the hall that leads to the arena. Silently, we edge close to the door one slow step at a time.
In the center of the arena floor is the flashlight, abandoned on the ground. Dust from the sandy surface plays in the beam of light and swirls off into the darkness. A few feet from the origin of the light, there's an unmoving form that partially blocks the beam. It can only be a body lying on the ground. One of the horses I think at first, but then I realize the body is too small.
"Who is it?" ask Danielle.
"I can't tell," I say. "We need to get that flashlight."
I take a couple of the steps that lead down to the arena. Six-foot high walls surround the oval dirt floor. I stop to scan for another way down other than jumping the barrier. The only other access seems to be the tunnel that opens under the grandstands on our right. I throw one leg over the edge and lower myself down to the sand. I turn around and grab Danielle around the waist to help her down. We both turn back around to see the figure slowly rising from the ground. The person is hunched on their hands and knees now. I still can't tell who it is, or if they are alive or dead. I watch as the dark shape lurches upright, then rises to stand in the beam of the flashlight. I see the black Converse shoes.
"Devin," I whisper, but there is no response. He breathes a quiet moan as he takes a step toward us. I reach behind my back and feel the place where the gun should be. I must have dropped it when the horse knocked us over in the paddocks. I don't dare try and make a move on the flashlight without anything to defend myself. I grab Danielle's wrist, and she follows me up the slight embankment as we enter the blackness under the grandstands. The tunnel curves around to the right. We emerge back up near the door to the stables. We hurry back down the aisles between the stalls and feel around on the floor where I had fallen.
“The gun,” I panic. “I can’t find it.” I find a handful of manure and curse. I wipe the bulk of it off on the ground and start feeling around again.
"Got it," says Danielle.
We get up and head back towards the hall, turning right to trace our route back to the employee room. I debate going back to look for Devin first and put him down, but I doubt he is where we last saw him. More likely he has made his way to the dark tunnel and is going to find his way to us soon. Better to regroup first and figure out who else is still alive.
The door to the employee lounge is wide open. We ease along the wall, and I peer around the corner of the doorway to recon the room. Inside it's still too dark to see much of anything, but it seems empty. I hold the gun out, pointing it at nothing.
"Dom?" I whisper.
A weak groan breaks the silence. I'm about to start spraying bullets when I hear a voice mutter a couple of profanities. It sounds like Chet. I step into the room and move in the direction of his voice. Danielle follows me in and closes the door behind her.
The room is in shambles, and I run into overturned tables and chairs in the dark. Making so much noise is not a good idea, but unavoidable nonetheless.
"Here," grunts Chet. He shoves something off from on top of him in the dark, and I reach down to find him slumped against the wall.
"What happened?" asks Danielle, working her way over.
"That blonde bitch," he laughs. "Cracked me on the head and took off. I think she took the flashlight and the gun."
"What?" I ask because I can't believe what he is telling me. Dom is a little cold, definitely tough, but it doesn't seem that she could possibly be mean or stupid enough to do that. "Did she say anything?" I ask him.
"No, I just came in quiet. Horse got away from me when I first heard the gunshots. I went after it but left the damn arena gate open. Now they're all out there. Came back here and thought the room was empty."
I have a better guess at what caused Dom to attack Chet. Maybe she had attacked him before she knew he was alive. Alone, in darkness, I might very well have done the same. Better not to take any chances when it's your life you're protecting.
Danielle crouches down, checking a gash on the back of Chet's skull as much as the darkness allows. "I can't see a thing," she complains.
"I'm fine," Chet says. He pushes her hand away, and the
n he grabs my shoulder and gets to his feet. He hangs on a moment longer as though he needs a few seconds to steady himself.
"If you can move we need to find everyone."
"Have you seen Devin?" he asks.
"Yeah," I say, unsure how to relay our encounter with Devin. I pause to look for the words but realize there isn't any need to go on. By the tone of my voice or the fact that Devin isn't with us, Chet pieces it together.
"Damn it all," he sighs.
I am about to say something to try and get us moving again when I hear someone running down the hall, screaming. I creep over to the door, but I can't see anything in the darkness.
"Their inside!” Joey screams. I catch a glimpse of him moving toward us fast in the dark. Every few steps the stupid sword he is carrying clangs against the floor or some object. I expect him to stop, but he sprints right past us. He turns back and yells to us. "Hurry! She opened the damn—"
He grunts, then I hear the sound of his body falling on the floor.
"Joey?" calls Danielle.
I start to run after him, but I hear a harsh rasp, and then Joey screams. He must have run right into the thing that used to be Devin. I pull the gun out but can't find a target. I just point at sounds in the black hall, but the echo makes it difficult to pinpoint. The sword is clanging around on the floor. Joey utters a few curses, and it sounds like he is fighting the thing off for a moment. Then he screams again, a long screeching howl that suddenly stops. I fire a few rounds, hoping I hit one or both of them.
I turn and head the other way down the hall, keeping the gun at the ready now. There are at least three corpses loose in here now, and Dom and Quentin are missing. I also can only guess what Joey was trying to tell us, but it sounded like we might have bigger problems as well. I am moving a little faster now even though I still can't see a damn thing, but I want to put some distance between us and the scene down the hall. It won't be long before one or both of them are up again and looking for us. I don't know how, but they seem, even in total darkness, to be able to track us by some sense.
We round a corner and approach the loading bay. I press my ear against the cold steel of the door, but can't hear anything except the pulse of blood being pumped rapidly to my brain. Without realizing it until that moment, I'd already made up my mind we were going to try and get to the cars and get the hell out of there. I have the keys to the cruiser in my pocket. I don't want to leave Quentin behind, but things are going downhill in here real fast.
I step back and slowly push open the door. An amber light washes over my face, blinding me for a moment. It takes me a second to realize the light is from the setting sun. The outer doors are wide open. The door handle is ripped from my hand. Two corpses tumble through, tackling me on the floor before I can even react. I start kicking and throwing fists and elbows. Danielle manages to knock one off of me by kicking it in the head. Chet grabs on to the handlebar of the door and is using all his weight to try and pull it shut or, at least, keep out other corpses that are trying to squeeze through doorway. I grab the disgusting hair of the dead woman on top of me and start pulling it to the side to try and roll her off. As soon as I make some progress, the clump of blood-crusted hair comes out, and she plunges back down, her teeth finding a home on the side of my face.
I close my eyes, waiting for the pain, expecting it even. I scream so loud I don't even hear the sound of the gun going off. I feel the splatter of lukewarm gore paint one side of my face, and then I feel the dead weight of her body pressing down against me. I open my eyes and shove her off.
Quentin helps Chet pull the door closed, but two of the things have their bodies halfway inside. Several more have their faces or arms in the doorway. I kick one of the things in the face, pushing it back. Another one fills in the gap. They claw at us. Their jaws snap at our arms and legs. Quentin keeps adjusting his grip to avoid their teeth while trying not to lose hold of the handle. We can't hold them off much longer. They are coming in.
"Forget it, man," Quentin screams. "Run."
The front door is heavily barricaded. I doubt we have time to clear the doors and escape before they are on us. It's also possible, even likely, that there are just as many outside that door, too. We have to go up.
"The roof," I say. "We have to make a run for it."
On a three count, Chet and Quentin release the door, and we take off down the long hall. We go back around the corner, and I can see the tide of the undead pouring down the corridor about thirty yards behind us. They pack the passage from wall-to-wall and continue to pile in through the open loading doors, blotting out the incoming light with their bodies.
When we round the corner we are submerged again in the darkness. Devin or Joey could be anywhere around here, but there's no time for being cautious. There are even more of them on our trail now. We pass the employee lounge, and I hear a faint grunt then someone falls over. Quentin swings the light around, and I see Danielle a few feet behind me, laying on her back in a daze. Joey's corpse crawls toward her on the floor. It claws at her while struggling to get its knees. It grabs at the hem of her shirt, then lunges and grabs at her breast and pulls it’s body on her. I kick him as hard as I can in the face, the force of the blow drives his skull back into the wall behind him.
"Keep going," I wave to Quentin. He turns to leave, but the flashlight falls on a bloodstained corpse several paces away.
"Shit," Quentin says as Devin's corpse flails his dripping red arms at him. Quentin steps to the side and the thing crashes into Chet's lower legs. They tumble to the floor. Chet is immediately screaming in pain. I hear his voice intensify when the teeth dig into his flesh. Quentin gets the light steady and fires off two rounds into the corpse on top of Chet.
I struggle to get Danielle on her feet. Even when she opens her eyes, she is still dizzy. The undead swarm rounds the dark corner, and I can hear them closing in on us. Quentin scoops Chet up off the ground and tosses him over his shoulder.
“Come on,” urges Quentin.
“Go,” I wave him on. I wrap Danielle's arm over my shoulders to help support her. We advance down the dark tunnel, but I can't keep pace with Chet and Quentin. I can only hope we are moving fast enough to stay ahead of the undead.
From somewhere behind us, an explosion rocks the whole building. The foundation trembles and I nearly lose my footing. The blast jars Danielle and she removes her arm from my shoulder. I look back and can see a burning light up the hallway around the corner. A second later I feel a rush of heat and smell rotten flesh burning. Plaster and dust snow down from the ceiling above us. The closest corpses don't even notice. They just keep pursuing. We continue running. I have no idea where Quentin and Chet have gone. I try to remember how we got up to the roof before, but it's impossible to tell where we are in the dark.
We round another corner and can see the front entrance of the building at the far end of the corridor. The barricade there is still holding up, but faint light flickers as figures assault the glass doors. The stairway should be about halfway down the hall, I think. I slow down enough to be sure I don't pass it.
"Here, Danielle," I call out after I spot the stairway door. I latch onto the handle as a bright flash blinds me. The ground disappears beneath my feet, and then everything goes black. My whole body aches and my ears are ringing. I open and close my eyes but everything is still dark. I wonder vaguely if I'm blind.
"Danielle," I groan. I can barely hear myself, so I say it again. I crawl around in the dark, feeling my way through the dust, stone and rubble along the floor. I feel a hand and grab it thinking I found Danielle, but it's just a severed hand blown off one of the undead. Hands hook around my arm and pull me up, and I yank my arm free, but they latch on again and pull me close. I just want to give up, and let the dead take me right here.
"Get up!" Danielle yells in my ear. I am so relieved I find the strength to get to my feet, and we stumble through the door to the stairs, collapsing on the floor.
"You're fine," Danielle a
ssures me. "Let's go." I cling to the railing and haul myself up the stairs to the second floor. We push through the door at the top of the stairs and find a gaping hole at the far end of the hall above the entrance. I can see the light from outside. It's a relief to know my eyes still work. But it is also pretty clear to me now that someone was blowing holes in the building with bombs or something. In a second, I start to hear gunfire outside, but I can tell it isn't Quentin. These are automatic weapons. I hear something else too, a great whirring noise coming from the far end of the building.
"A helicopter," says Danielle.
It is a helicopter. There's no mistaking it. I want to believe we are being rescued, but it seems impossible. If it was a rescue, why are they attacking the building. I struggle for a moment to make sense of any of it, but then I hear the door to the stairwell on the floor below us slam against the wall. We round the corner and move quickly down the long hallway. We reach the maintenance room and head for the set of stairs that goes up to the roof. I push the handle to open the hatch and am staring at the nasty end of the biggest freaking gun I've ever seen in my life.
"Get back!" The soldier holds the gun on me until he is sure I am not a threat. I just keep my hands up. I am still in disbelief at the sight of the soldiers, but can’t help wondering if they are actually here under orders, or if this is some rogue military unit looking out for themselves. He looks me up and down then says into a mic on his helmet, "Team leader, we got two more souls. Sending them up top."
I finally relax a bit, slowly lowering my hands.
"Is there anyone else alive?" he asks.
“I don’t know," I say.
He seems only vaguely interested in my response. He jerks his head at the door to indicate he wants us to get moving. Danielle follows me up the stairs past the squad of soldiers getting ready to go into the building. I wonder why they bother when no one else is inside. I watch them file through the doorway as we step onto the roof. Another squadron has taken up defensive positions behind the numerous air conditioning units interspersed along the roof. I see not one, but three helicopters at the far end of the building, and one is still circling the building laying down fire all around it.