The Regulators - 02

by Michael Clary

  I figured the kitchen would be located on the first floor somewhere near the bar and restaurant. The elevator still played music as it descended; I remember that much. I also remember just how terrified I was that the door was going to open onto a room full of zombies.

  I watched the floors count down on the electric panel.

  I was damn near pissing my pants.

  Finally, the doors opened. The way was clear. I crouched low, just in case I needed to duck behind something and made my way forward. Fortunately, the lights were all on so I wasn’t lost in the dark. Unfortunately, I could see all the carnage.

  The dead had been through here. There were at least eight bodies lying about in the bar area. Those bodies had been devoured so completely that they weren’t able to rise back up. It was nauseating. I felt the bile rise in the back of my throat and swallowed hard to push it back down. Retching would make noise. Noise would attract the attention of the dead.

  It took awhile, but I finally found the kitchen. The lights in the room were off, and the smell of spoiled meat hit me like a closed fist. That didn’t bother me too much though. It was much more pleasant than the foul odors of blood and internal organs reeking off the unfortunate corpses I had just passed.

  I went to the pantry. Inside were enough canned goods to keep me going for a good while. I had brought pillowcases with me in order to carry supplies. I filled them up as rapidly as I could, making sure to grab a can opener as well. I also found some trash bags. I filled those up as well. I wasn’t going to starve anytime soon.

  When I was finished, I had two large trash bags and two pillowcases stuffed with food. It was more than I could comfortable carry, but I didn’t want to come back down here before I needed to. It was a dilemma, but common sense told me to stay away from the ground floor. The dead could easily enter here. It might be clear at the moment, but that may not be the case when I needed to come back.

  I was taking all of my loot. It wasn’t far back to the elevator, and I could drag the trash bags with one hand and sling the pillowcases over my shoulder with the other.

  I had barely gotten back to the bar when I heard the tin sound of music coming from a set of headphones. If my head was turned in another direction, I probably would have missed it, but my head was exactly where it needed to be to pick up the quiet sounds.

  It was so quiet that I wasn’t alarmed. I was, however curious. I scanned the room in the direction of the music but saw nothing. I let go of my bundles and took a closer look. I found the source of the music underneath a booth.

  It was a child. He was probably ten years old. I have a son close to that age.

  “You have a son?”

  Actually, I have 3 children. Two girls and a boy, the boy is the middle child. The oldest is a teenager.

  “You’re divorced correct?”

  Twice divorced, but I’m still very, very close to my kids. I was worried about them. I spent hours every day in my room just praying that they were okay. That somehow they were someplace safe and nowhere near this Hell.

  “Being cut off and secluded, you didn’t realize that the situation had been contained inside El Paso?”

  Nope, for all I knew, the entire planet had gone to shit. As for that boy, I wasn’t going to leave him behind. I was hoping that maybe he had a parent or parents hiding somewhere nearby, and I could reunite them. Maybe he even had a single mom that would be very grateful to have her son back, if you know what I mean.

  I was almost beginning to respect his sleazy honesty. It seemed that since I already knew he was a man whore, he offered up no further attempts to be anything but his normal self.

  I knelt down under the table and whispered to the terrified kid.

  “What’s your name little guy?”

  “Jason,” he answered after removing his headphones.

  “Are you here all alone?”

  “No,” he answered.

  “Are you with your Mom?”

  “She’s not here.”

  “Then who are you here with?”

  “My Dad,” he answered.

  “Where’s your Dad at now?”

  “Behind you,” said Jason as he pointed with a shaky finger.

  It was one of the corpses I had passed earlier. Most of its torso had been eaten away. Silly me, I thought that was enough to keep it from coming back. Still, it seemed to be having a hard time standing upright without all the necessary muscles. It was leaning heavily on the bar as it made its way over to us.

  I had never seen one of those things up close and personal before. I was lucky enough to be safe inside my room and looking out at them through the window. Now, the thing was a mere five feet away from me. I couldn’t help but take in all the gory details and wonder how it could keep moving.

  It was a young guy. I could tell that easily enough, because his face was completely intact. He must have died not very long ago; there was no sign of decay on his face at all. It wasn’t a normal looking face though, make no mistake about that. It was filled with hatred and all twisted up in a blind rage.

  The chest and arms were also intact, but his button up shirt was savagely ripped away from his stomach area. I say stomach area because his stomach seemed to be missing, along with whatever other vital organs were normally in that area. His legs seemed unmolested, but ropes of torn intestines hung from his stomach cavity down to his kneecaps and smeared gore all over his Khaki pants.

  Without warning, he screamed at me.

  It was the first time I had heard a scream up close. It sent a surge of adrenaline straight into my body. I reacted immediately and jumped straight to my feet while swinging my fist straight into the side of the zombies head.

  He went limp as soon as I connected. His body slammed into the bar behind him and then crashed to the floor amid a smattering of barstools.

  He was back on his feet almost instantly.

  I picked up one of the barstools and swung it at his head. I hit him square, but unfortunately it was the cushioned part that connected. When he dropped, I brought the barstool down on his head once again.

  He tried to rise as soon as I stepped back.

  I brought the barstool down on his head again and again. The barstool broke apart after about three more hits, so I picked up two legs from the pieces and hit him again and again and again and again. I hit him until my arms felt like lead, and his brain was a smashed puddle on the floor.

  I was about to throw the gory wooden legs of the barstool away from me in disgust, when I heard another scream coming from down a hallway to my right side. I reacted without thinking and grabbed the kid. I ran back to the kitchen. It was about the worst place I could have chosen. It was a dead end, but like I said, I wasn’t thinking.

  I gave the kid a shushing gesture and wondered if the new monster would leave if we stayed quiet. I guess I was hoping it would get bored if it didn’t spot us immediately and leave the area without trying to find us.

  It searched the room, found the gory remains of the kid’s father and made a beeline for the kitchen.

  How this one knew where we were hiding, I had no idea at the time. Obviously now I know that they have a great sense of smell when it comes to humans, but at the time I didn’t have a clue.

  I was able to get a good look at the creature’s face as it peered at me through the circular window of the kitchen door. This one had its lips torn away from his mouth. It was missing one eye, and it looked as if some of the skin on its forehead had been peeled away.

  The kitchen door was one of those doors that swing forward and backward. I braced my body against it as the zombie slammed himself forward in an effort to get inside the kitchen. I’m a strong guy. I’m a very strong guy, but I was having a hell of a shoving match with this thing and I only had a flimsy wooden door to separate us.

  I scanned the room behind me and noticed that a stainless steel oven wasn’t very far away. I told the kid to open the oven and move off to the side of the room. When he did as I had asked,
I moved away from the swinging door just as the zombie gave a final charge of fury.

  The walking corpse flew into the room and cracked his shins on the open oven door. The impact didn’t seem to faze him, but it did trip him up, and he sprawled over the open door. I quickly ran behind him, grabbed him by both legs and pulled him backwards until only his head remained over the open door.

  I slammed the oven door shut on his head and neck. He squirmed and fought for freedom, but I had all the leverage and I used all of my remaining strength to push that door against his head and neck. I’m not sure what gave out first, but I heard the crunch and saw his body go limp.

  I was beat. I just slid to the ground right beside the zombies still form. I knew I should grab the kid and get the hell out of the area, but I was exhausted. I just wanted to sit there and get my breathing back under control. I wanted to shake the lead out of my limbs. My legs felt as though I had just run a marathon.

  I didn’t get my wish.

  I heard the pounding in the distance. It didn’t sound very far away. I grabbed the kid by the arm and pulled him along behind me. I stopped in the bar just long enough to grab the two trash bags of food, but I left the pillowcases behind.

  I couldn’t lead the kid anymore; my hands were full. My left hand gripped the ends of the two trash bags, and my right hand carried one of the bar stool legs. I passed the second bar stool leg over to Jason and told him to keep right behind me.

  I still heard the pounding. It was coming from outside. It was louder now and more frantic. I was pretty sure it was coming from an area of large windows. At least, it sounded like a bunch of fists pounding on glass. I had seen that area before, I just couldn’t remember when. Still, it was in the back of my mind somewhere. I think I must have seen it when I arrived at the hotel.

  I had a vague recollection of where those windows were and avoided them by taking a longer route back to the elevators. I wasn’t exactly sure where we were going, but I figured that it was best to stay away from any windows.

  Eventually, we passed some offices and I felt Jason tug at my shirt.

  “My Mom’s in there,” he said.

  Acidic fear dripped into my stomach.

  “Is your Mom still alive?”

  “She was trying to find a phone or a computer,” he answered with a confused look on his face.

  I realized that Jason probably didn’t understand that it was his father’s corpse that attacked us. In his eyes, if his father was walking around and making noise, he must have been alive. There was also the possibility that his parents kept the truth about what was happening out there from him in order to keep him from panicking. The poor kid was shaking violently. It was a miracle that he hadn’t run away from me screaming after he saw me beat on his father. Still, he didn’t look very well, and I briefly wondered if he was going into shock.

  “Is your Mom angry like your Dad?”

  “No, she was really scared.”

  That sounded much better, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. I had my bar stool leg held high and ready. I went into the small waiting room of the main office. The stench rose up like a fist once again and punched my face. It was awful. I found myself fighting to control my gag reflex.

  When I calmed down somewhat, I dropped my trash bags and motioned for Jason to hide behind a desk. I didn’t want anything eating him while I checked out the closed door just beyond the waiting room.

  I tightened my grip on my weapon as I tested the door knob. I turned easily and quietly. The smell was worse beyond the door. It was creeping out from under the space between the door and the floor.

  The floor.

  I don’t know why I missed it when I walked into the room, but there was a nasty slime trail as if something oozing came into this office and then closed the door behind it.

  Ah fuck it, I thought.

  I threw the door open in a rush and prepared to nail whatever lurked inside. I saw nothing, but that wasn’t very shocking. The room was pitch black. I heard a scratching noise.

  The growl came at once. It was low in volume, but that somehow made it even creepier. I felt the chills crawling up my spine as I fumbled for a light switch.

  Click.

  The room was instantly bathed in fluorescent lighting. Beyond the main desk was a closet. The door had been closed on the sleeve of a pitiful looking zombie. The beast was once a woman, but she was now missing the lower half of her body. She even lacked the hanging entrails of Jason’s father.

  She also happened to be missing her left arm and lower jaw. Her face was hideous. It was in an advanced stage of decay. The nose was missing, the ears were barely nubs; still, the look in her eyes was unmistakable. It was rage.

  It was her trapped arm making the scratching noise on the door as her fingers clenched and released only to clench again in frustration.

  I brought the bar stool leg down on top of her head in a muffled crunch.

  After making sure the disgusting corpse wasn’t getting up, I knocked on the door.

  There was no answer.

  I knocked on the door once again.

  “If you are alive in there, you better let me know!” I yelled. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m coming in swinging if you don’t answer.”

  “I’m alive,” she said from behind the door.

  She sounded like she might be sort of sexy.

  I opened the door and pushed the corpse out of the way. Luck wasn’t on my side, she was just sort of average looking.

  “At a time like that, you were concerned about her looks?”

  So?

  “What about her well being?”

  I saved her didn’t I?

  “I guess you did.”

  Whatever. You’re judgmental. It’s not like I looked at her and left her ass there. I even offered her my hand and helped her to her feet.

  Together, we walked back into the waiting room. Jason took one look at his Mom and ran into her arms. I let them have their moment as I gathered up the second bar stool leg that Jason had just dropped.

  I told Jason’s Mother, her name was Katie, to pick up the trash bags and I led the way to the elevators. It was a struggle for her to carry the weight, but Jason helped her and I needed to have my hands on my makeshift weapons in case we met any other hostiles.

  We were near the elevators when the glass finally shattered from the continued onslaught. I heard the sound very clearly. I fought off the temptation to run away in a blind panic. I couldn’t leave behind Katie and Jason. I needed them to carry the food so we wouldn’t starve once we reached the safety of my room.

  I can’t tell you how freaked out I was when we reached the elevator and the doors did not immediately open after I pushed the button. There must have still been more people in the hotel and one of those dumbasses had used my elevator.

  I could now hear the sounds of running feet combined with growls and snarls. We were going to have company very soon and it sounded like there were a bunch of them.

  Just a slight moment later, I heard that stupid scream they make. I roughly shoved Jason and Katie behind me and prepared to fight the two zombies that just rounded the corner of the elevators hallway.

  Then, two became ten and ten became thirty.

  I lost count after that because none of them stood still. They just saw us and charged. I knew I was going to die; I just wished I could smack the mother fucker that stole my elevator in the head before I went down.

  I wasn’t going to go without a fight, however, the hell with that. I was preparing to charge them right back when the doors suddenly opened behind me. I felt Katie’s hand on the collar of my shirt. She was pulling me backwards into the elevator when the first two zombies reached the door.

  I started swinging like a madman. I was screaming as loud as they were. In no time at all, the rest of the large group had joined them. I was swinging and swinging in an effort to keep them out of the elevator, but it wasn’t easy. My arms were rapidly getting tired, and I was
only slowing them down.

  “Close the fucking doors!” I screamed. “Close the fucking doors!”

  I was pounding away when Jason hit the button and the doors began to close. I was still pounding when the doors came to a sudden stop on one head and a bunch of reaching arms. I battered at them as well. I battered and pounded until the head and arms were battered away and my blows began to fall upon only the metal doors of the elevator.

  I had cleared the way. I had survived. I crumpled to the floor. I couldn’t get my breathing under control. I began to scream. That’s all I really remember, just laying there on the floor of the elevator and screaming my head off.

  I came back to myself hours later in the bed of my hotel room. I didn’t remember telling them what floor and what room, but I was finally safe in my room once again and I had even managed to save my new friends.

  “Were things different with Katie and Jason with you?”

  It wasn’t just Katie and Jason, somewhere along the lines we picked up some more people. I was introduced to a chubby guy named Ruben, who was a janitor for the hotel. A teenage girl named Martha who watched her entire family get devoured; and a business man named Charlie, who happened to be staying in the hotel when things went down just like I had been.

  They were all pretty impressed by my performance. Jason couldn’t stop talking about how I fought off all the zombies. I could tell he was terrified. It was probably just his way of dealing with things.

  “What do you mean?”

  Well, he was acting like I was some sort of hero. I think that maybe in very bad times it helps to have a hero. I didn’t feel like much of a hero, in fact I felt pretty scared. I just wasn’t going to let anyone know that.

  Ruben was smart enough to freeze up the elevator on our floor, so it couldn’t move. He was also smart enough to seal the stairway. Somehow Martha, Ruben and Charlie had been together since the dead came back. I kind of tuned out when they were sharing their stories with Katie. They had holed up a few floors below us, but when they saw the elevator move on our return trip they decided to go investigate the floor it landed on.