by Mark Clodi
“Ah, they did seem to act with some sort of animal like cunning, at least from where I was watching, it was obvious that a few of them were laying in wait. That guy that took out Norm, man he was fast AND smarter than the rest, he picked him up and carried him off you know, away from the other zombies.” said Steve.
Max nodded, “I seem to remember that, he bit Norm a time or two, then I remember him being hoisted up, then things started going really fast. What does this mean? What do we do? I mean we are counting on them being too stupid to bash in some windows, right?”
Stewart thought about it and said, “Well we already have both elevators opened and locked on the second floor, so they won’t get up that way, you have five stairways here, the doors should be easy enough to lock, as they all open out for the fire code, so if we can find the way to lock them they will have to be battered down, not just swung open. A couple cubical walls in each stairwell should slow them down and create enough noise to give us a chance to hear them coming. This office seems to be pretty defensible too. We better get on this as soon as we can though. The thought of trying to hold off five stairwells at once is frightening.”
Max and Steve nodded, Max said, “Steve didn’t you date that clean up lady for awhile, Stacey? Did she ever show you how to lock anything up to secure a few moments alone?”
Steve turned red, but shrugged, then nodded yes, “Ah, what’s the point? Yeah we stole away a time or two after hours, mostly to the gym area, it was pretty easy to lock off, but I remember she kept a coat hanger in one of the closets down there to jimmy the locks when we needed to. Frick I wonder what ever happened to her? We had a good thing going for awhile there, you know?”
Max and Steve made their way to the gym area cleaning closet and though Steve’s cleaning woman had long since departed, the coat hanger she had used to secure the doors was still there. Max looked around and found a some more coat hangers in various cubicles bent them into a shape which looked vaguely like a capital ‘c’. To use them was a simple matter of inserting one end of the wire into a hole on the bottom of the door’s push bar and then curling the wire up around over the same bar to hold it in place.
After securing the locations they knew were empty, Max stood back and surveyed his work with a look of disgust on his face.
“What?” asked Steve.
“The fire marshal would be appalled! Who knew it would be so easy to lock a bunch of people into a building? I mean, this is an arson’s dream isn’t it? Disable the fire doors and torch the place?” Max shrugged, “Well, we better go get Jane and bring her with us to lock up the other stairwells.”
After getting officer Stewart they went around to the other stairwells and locked them, leaving only one exit near the front doors unlocked. They also brought a few of the other survivors around to show them how to unlock the doors in a hurry if they needed to. Once the doors were locked they decided it would be best if they did a floor by floor, room by room search of the building to weed out any remaining undead. This searched only turned up Tom’s former boss, Ed Sawyer, whom Tom had locked in the break room on the third floor. It was with much reluctance that they opened the door and lured him out. Unable to find a decent weapon, Max stood by with a computer monitor hoisted over his head. Stewart stood down the hall with her gun drawn and Steve had the job of opening the door and running back, the idea was not to us any of Stewart’s precious remaining bullets. Sure enough as soon as the door opened Sawyer started to push through it, going after Steve. For Max it was a simple matter of stepping up behind the zombie and crushing his skull with monitor. The only excitement was that Sawyer managed to stagger a few steps with the monitor completely covering his head before he fell for the last time. They put his body in one of the stairwells they were not planning on using.
After this they raided the handyman’s closet and set about dismantling the various cubical walls and tossing them down the stairwells. At the end of the day they had one partially open stairwell remaining. This was eventually going to be used as an escape exit, the main lobby was pretty much open too. There was no good way to block it off and Max was worried about the main entrance quite a bit. As a precaution the group as a whole decided to station a guard in the lobby at all times, changing them out every six hours or so, everyone was included in the rotation and the guard was given Stewart's backup pistol and two of the high powered flashlights in case the power went off.
No one was looking forward to spending the night at work after blocking the stairways. The remaining survivors broke into the vending machines, filled every available jar and jug with water, and made themselves as comfortable as possible using the office furniture that was available. Most contacted their loved ones with their cell phones, if they could get in touch with them. In general the sleeping arrangements were bad, there were no blankets, no good pillows and no mattresses. Some of the dozen people left had gone around to the empty floors and gathered up all the clothing they could find, including a few light fleece blankets that employees kept at work for when the air conditioning was on a little too high.
As the others were making sleeping arrangements on the second floor Max ducked into Kirkpatrick’s office and used the phone to call his wife’s cell phone number. He had several missed call notifications on it, most were from Sarah.
“Hello?” whispered a voice on the other end of the line.
“Sarah?”
“Oh Max! We have been so scared, we can see out the little window near the front of the house and they, they, took old Mrs Weilder out and, and, butchered her in her front yard, a whole group of them! Max, they ate her, they ate her, I saw them eating her. They ate and ate until there was so little left…I just could not believe what I saw. What is going on?”
“Sarah, I am sorry you saw that, I am sorry Mrs Weilder is dead, are you safe? I mean did anyone come into the house or anything?”
“No, no one came into the house. Where are you? I thought you would be home by now. It is so late, I though you were coming home. We need you Max. I don’t...I don’t think I can do this on my own.”
“Sarah you have to, look how much charge does your cell phone have left? I don’t think we should talk too long in case I have to call you again later. You need to get the food and blankets upstairs and not go downstairs a lot, no lights tonight, not even in the attic, if they see them they will be drawn to them, I think. I mean they don’t seem to use tools or anything and I bet they would come after a moving light. Don't draw attention to yourself.”
“Geez Max I am…I know, I figured it out, I am going to bring the kids down to use the bathroom and get blankets and everything, but we will be very, very careful and very fast, I won’t have them breaking in here, if I can stop it. If you come home use the garage to get in I am going to push a lot of stuff in front of the front and back doors. And mister you better be calling my name loud and clear or I will brain you. No one. No thing, is going to eat my children alive.”
Max was happy to hear the resolve in Sarah’s voice, he knew she would take care of everything as best she could. Sure she was a part time worker, soccer mom in her mid-thirties, but underneath her soft exterior was the solid core of a woman he married. Everything would be alright. He briefly filled her in on his attempt to get to his truck, leaving out the worst of it, then said, “Get the gun Sarah. Get it, don’t argue, you know what we are dealing with and even if you cannot use it right, you need to have it.”
“I will Max, I will. We’re going to be alright, right?” Sarah asked softly.
“Yeah, sure babe, just another day at the office. I am not sure who has the worse sleeping arrangements.”
“Me, I have rafters and a piece of plywood to sleep on.”
“I get to sleep on concrete covered by hard carpeting in one of the cubes. Still I will give you this one, two kids and you in the attic is going to suck.”
“I win an argument at last! It has only taken fifteen years!” Sarah said.
“Well I am tired and
bruised so maybe I can't argue really well right now. I love you and will call again in the morning.”
“I love you too Max, stay safe. Good bye.”
With that she hung up the phone and left Max wondering if he would indeed speak to her tomorrow.
Steve came over, it was obvious he had been listening in from the doorway. “Sarah all right? The kids?”
Max nodded, “What about you, you make any calls?”
“Yeah I called my pop, he is smart, going out of his mind though, he can’t reach Emily, my sister or her husband or the kids. He is an old coot, more guns than sense and I tried to get tell him to stay put, but… Well honestly Max if anyone can survive this my old man can. Camping, hunting, hiking, the guy is tough, I just don’t know if he can take on a city full of zombies by himself. I could not reach Emily either. I…I fear the worst Max, I am sure they are not alright. Positive of it. I don’t know what to do, but next time you break out, I am going with you.”
“Oh geez Steve, I am sorry man, really sorry. I met your old man once, when your mother died, it was not a good time to judge character or anything and, well he seemed like the kind of guy who might not survive his spouse by too long if you know what I mean. Like Johnny Cash or something. He pulled through that though, I mean your mom died, what three years ago?”
“Yeah about that, he had it rough after she died, then he started doing the same old things again, his hobbies, when he retired we, Emily and I, thought he might fade pretty fast too, but you know, he didn’t. He got all religious and made the best of things. God saw him through, God wanted him to be here, God wills it kind of stuff. We have never been too religious, but we suffered through it, figured it was a coping mechanism and he recovered. Hell, I figured he would out live me. Until this happened. I don’t know Max, I think we gotta get out of here and find someplace safe. Safer.”
“I agree, we get out, swing by your dad’s, pick up my kids and head, where? Where do we go? Head for the hills? I am not so sure about that. I have been thinking a little and unless the military sets up a safe zone we need to find a place to go to. Maybe Iowa? I have a buddy there and if things are not as bad maybe he could take us in?”
“Iowa? Sure, why not, North Platte is on the way, we can swing by and pick up Tom’s family too. What do we do now?”
Max and Steve had made their way out of Kirkpatrick’s office to where they, Tom and Officer Stewart had chosen to bed down for the upcoming night. “I am thinking we need the guns and ammo in Stewart’s car.” Max said.
Stewart looked up at this, but did not say anything. Steve, started to protest and then said, “Okay, yeah, I can see that, you have a plan, don’t you, you wouldn’t have said anything otherwise, lets hear it.”
Max detailed his plan and by the time he was done he knew he had them on board for a covert action later that night.
Chapter 17
Nancy and her posse were a block away from MAC Co when they heard the first gun shots. “Jimbo, be a sweetheart and go see what’s happening” Nancy instructed. Reluctantly Jim shuffled forward and around the corner of the building out of site. A few moments later he reappeared and reported seeing, “The living fighting with dead.”
“That’s it? The living fighting with the dead? Useless son of a…come on V lets take a peek for ourselves.” After watching the scene unfold for awhile Nancy asked “What do think we should do Veronica?”
Veronica, harrumphed and hawed for a moment, making Nancy impatient, then finally spat out, “Wait until night. Watch. Break a window to get in if we have to. Kill them all and eat them, no more brothers or sisters, a big pack is hard to feed.”
“Very GOOD Veronica! Very good indeed! You know what I really want though? I want a guy named Fred, I want to find him and make him dead. Fred - dead. Get it? He is hopefully still pretty stupid right now, but he is still, maybe, our master and he would be a very bad master. Death would not have improved him. Accounting. You know how it is.”
Veronica made a laughing sound, awkward, but Nancy knew what she met by it. Nancy was concerned now, not worried, that might come later, but a Veronica who might resent her as much as Nancy resented Fred? Probably she would resent her even more, as Fred was just a mindless zombie and had yet to exert any influence on Nancy, whereas Nancy was controlling Veronica all the time. 'Yes, a pretty puzzle.' thought Nancy, perhaps cutting Veronica’s share of the food back a bit might be in order. Or would it matter now? Nancy liked the feeling of eating and felt a compulsion to eat whenever she saw a human form, but did the effect wear off? It had only been, twelve hours? That was it? Nancy was not feeling hungry or worn down or in need of another meal, however she would not pass one up if it happened by either. The more she consumed the more powerful she felt, so she wanted more.
“Veronica, honey, momma is getting hungry again, can we get in there now for a quick bite or should we go find easier prey?”
Veronica screwed up her face, her very pretty, younger face, Nancy noted, then answered, “Easier prey.”
“Why Veronica, why not these guys right now?”
“These are here, hiding inside, they won’t leave, we eat others and save these for later, they will still be here. Right?” said Veronica.
“Why my darling girl you are quite, quite right. Jimbo! Lets go find us some grub, if you find one for us you can have a leg to yourself, ‘kay pal?”Nancy could swear she saw Jim’s eyes go from dull and sullen to, a quick gleam of lusty hunger. Oh he would find them something, Nancy was sure of it.
Chapter 18
The basis of Max’s plan was to be quick and silent. Tom was in no shape to make a mad dash for the car, if anything his shoulder was more puffed up and swollen than before. He needed rest, but he also insisted he could play the role of lookout from the rooftop. The headlights on Stewart’s car had gone out long ago. When full darkness came the street lights automatically came on and the zombies moved away from the now dark police cruiser toward the parking and street lights. Better still a car swerved madly passed the building about eight o’clock and that drew a whole crowd of zombies away from the main building. By nine they were ready to go. Steve would hold the door, Max and Stewart would run out towards the car. Max would run halfway towards the car and stop, then edge forward slowly, his job was to keep his eyes peeled for any movement. Steve’s job was to do the same and keep the door open until everyone made it back. Stewart’s sole job was to get to the car, salvage the shotgun, all her extra ammo and anything else she could gather that might be useful. Tom, would act as God, overseeing everything from the roof and alerting them if any more than single zombies started heading their way. He was to let single zombies pass, unless they were unduly fast or dangerous looking. Max and Steve would have to bail Stewart out of any trouble they might have in the form of single zombies. When they got to the lobby they found Paul, on duty, waiting for Stewart to relieve him, as scheduled. He headed up to sleep leaving the three of them alone in the lobby. Max dug his cell phone out and called Tom’s number on the roof.
“Yeah?” Tom answered.
“It is Max, you see anything since we left you Tom?”
“No, nothing. The pretty lights have them distracted and the fire down the street quite a ways still has a mob around it, right now everything is still clear, you could make a rush all the way to the deep parking lot if you wanted to.”
Max considered revising his plan, nodded to himself and then said “Still clear, do we try for the parking lot too?” to Stewart and Steve.
Stewart said, “Shotgun and more ammo first, if we still have no trouble, we go for Steve’s car and pull it up to the door and head in.” Steve’s car was closest of the ones they had keys for.
“Okay, Tom, gun first as planned, then the car if we can. We are heading out now.”
Max had been going to take Steve’s keys and get the car himself, he did not want to be responsible if something happened to Steve, but Steve insisted that he should drive his own car, as he knew it’s in
s and outs. Max agreed, if they got the gun and ammo out of the squad car, he would retreat to the door, Stewart would take up a cover position by the squad car and Steve would go after his car himself.
They set out, Stewart gripping the keys to the trunk in a tight fisted death grip that Max could see even in the low light from the parking lot. They sprinted out to the squad car, Max going further than they had discussed to get a better angle of view on the building. Stewart hopped in the passenger door without attracting attention. She was doing something in the car for what seemed like eternity and then the trunk popped with what seemed like a loud ‘poof’ sound. Still nothing. Stewart also popped the hood of the car. She hopped out the passenger’s side carrying the shotgun and a duffel bag, ran to the back of the car and put some unknown stuff into the bag. 'Hopefully ammo', Max thought. And then she closed the trunk quietly and ran to the front hood. 'Not in the plan', Max thought furiously, 'not in the plan Stewart! Don’t make stuff up on the fly damn it!'
Stewart propped the gun against the front bumper and then opened the hood quietly, opening it the full way, and reached in and did something, then with the flick of her hand, she let the hood close, making quite a thunk and headed back to Max.
Max kept his mouth shut, but gave her a furious glare at the extra time she had spent deviating from the plan, ignoring his glare she whispered, “Bring this back and send Steve up.”
Max hefted the duffel bag, which was surprisingly heavy, and sprinted back to Steve, whispering, “Your turn, good luck.” He moved into the lobby, dropped the bag, and turned to hold the door. Steve was already sprinting past the squad car. Max saw Stewart open the passenger door to the squad car and the dome light went on. “What the fuck?” Max said softly. Stewart had left the cruiser lights on when she came into the building this morning, but had turned off the car. The lights had drained the power out of the battery even before Max had made the attempt to get to his car earlier.