When Sheila opened the door to the kitchen Mr. Levy was standing directly in front of her staring right at her. His pupils heavily dilated, sweat dripping from his face to the floor and his entire body seemed to expand and contract with every breath. The stare was so cold and soulless, it sent chills up her spine and nearly froze her in place. She could see an uncleaned kitchen knife in the sink, there were a few dishes always left in there from office parties or employees who neglected to take them home, they eventually became the offices utensils. She knew she couldn't win a fight without a weapon, and she knew there would be a fight.
The door was being held open by Sheila's body since she hadn't fully entered the kitchen. As soon as she reached for the knife, Mr. Levy rushed her. She managed to get the knife and kick him in the gut, but his weight and momentum sent Sheila falling backwards through the doorway. Mr. Levy stumbled in the kitchen and fell against the door, closing it. By the time Sheila stood to her feet, the door swung open and he was staring her in the face again. She took off towards the office exit and ran to the elevators, her former boss right on her heels. Terrified and not knowing how she would survive another fight like the one with Steve, she ran to the elevators hoping to lose him, hoping that by some miracle she could escape death once more. The doors opened on elevator 3.
Jake stood in amazement as Sheila told her story. He was impressed with her feisty nature and tough spirit. He thought of his niece whom he had raised as his own daughter after her parents were killed in a car accident on a night out to the movies. It was a particularly hard time for the entire family; she was so strong and so brave that Jake actually looked to her for strength whenever he would get depressed over the death of his sister and brother in-law.
"You’re something else little lady."
"Right now, I'm just happy to be alive, I need to call my husband, I hope they can get through. I couldn’t even get 911 earlier."
The elevator bell sounded.
The doors on elevator 4 opened and Xavier stepped out with the elderly couple. The teen peeked down the elevator hall, relieved to see a familiar face, he revealed himself. Xavier walked over to meet him.
"Glad to see you made it out man, you alone up here?"
"Naw, there's a few folks on the other side, by the windows." the teen replied.
He walked out the other end of the hall and saw the other survivors, Jake turned around to see Xavier and threw his hands in the air.
"Well I'll be damned brother, you got some kind of luck, I thought for sure the fat lady sung for you."
Xavier gave a half smile, then quickly pulled it back and became serious.
"I barely got away, they're in the stairwells though, it's only a matter of time before they get up here."
"Well most of us have our cell phones, one of us is bound to get through and call for help... eventually."
"Well until then, we need to block the stairs and hope they can’t use the elevators."
Xavier began looking around for objects he could use to block the door to the stairwell. There wasn't much, a few carts, some plywood, tools, and small stuff. He needed help moving all the little stuff over to the door, he called for the teen.
"Young man,” The teen looked up from his phone at Xavier, “What's your name?"
"Jamal."
"Got a last name?"
"Johnson," he said as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.
"Mr. Johnson, can you give me a hand?"
The teen shed his backpack and obliged.
"Hey Xavier, these doors open outward into the stairwell." The elderly man was examining the elevator area when he noticed the hinges weren't visible.
"We can't barricade these doors with what we have here."
"Fuck."
Without warning, the door swung open and 3 people ran in from the stairwell: a Hispanic male, somewhere in his thirties, clean cut, wearing khaki pants and a black polo, A white male, also clean cut, wearing gray slacks and a pink button up dress shirt. Finally, a black woman, perhaps in her late thirties, wearing grey dress pants and a purple blouse. The woman ran in and closed the door behind her, the savages were not far behind, Xavier ran to the elevator hall.
"How many were chasing you?" he inquired.
The woman answered, nearly out of breath and shaken. She stuttered
"I-I saw three, but there were more on the 20th floor."
"Ok, everyone find a weapon, there's nowhere to run, we need to prepare to fight."
“Wait a minute, you can’t be serious!” the white man yelled as he pushed past the black woman and her child to get to Xavier. “Have you seen what those animals can do? Are you crazy?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
The man stared angrily at Xavier, scoffed, and then turned away without saying another word. Xavier turned to the black woman and her son.
"Ma'am, you name?"
"Lisa, and this is Charles"
"You and Charles need to find a place to hide."
She grabbed Charles by the hand and ran toward the north-east corner of the building where the windows were still intact and hid behind a support column. He directed Sheila to hide around the corner outside the elevator hall with the knife. Once all the savages were busy fighting with the rest of the group, she could sneak behind and stab them. Jake found a pipe wrench and a pile of pipes nearby, he grabbed the pipe wrench for himself and picked up a couple of 3-foot-long pipes and brought them over to Jamal and Xavier. The elderly couple were still standing at the entrance to elevator 4, lost and scared, holding each other hoping these weren't their last moments. Xavier walked over to them.
"I know your wife's name is Meredith, but I didn't catch yours sir."
"Edgar Schulz."
“Okay Mr. and Mrs. Schulz, find somewhere to hide, the seven of us should be able to take on three of them."
Edgar looked at his wife, then back at Xavier, he nodded in agreement, and the couple headed back toward Lisa and Charles and hid themselves.
A loud thump at the stairway access door caught the group’s attention, they stood on both sides of the door and prepared for the onslaught. Xavier broke ranks and stood directly in front of the door. He wanted the savages to see him first. They would lock in on him and never noticed the armed group waiting to pick them off one by one while they were occupied. That's what he told himself, but as his heart raced and his grip tightened on the metal pipe, he realized he just couldn't bear to watch another person die helplessly, like the woman in the orange dress, and the security guard. He failed them, it wouldn't happen again. The handle turned, and the door swung open. Xavier was staring in the faces of 5 savages.
They rushed through the door at Xavier, he swung the pipe like a major league hitter and dealt a devastating blow to the first one spraying blood on the woman in the purple blouse, caving his skull, he collapsed. The other four engulfed Xavier, with his back against the wall, they began beating him. He gripped both ends of the pipe and extended his arms to block the hits. Pinned to the wall, he stared into the faces of heartless killers, they showed no mercy, no fear, they beat him with no words spoken. The only noises were the sound of their breathing, the grunts with every strike they made and the sound of their fists colliding with his face and body. One of the savages got his hands around Xavier's throat. As he tried to break free, he lost his grip on the metal pipe and one of the savages on his right snatched it from his hands. The killer raised the pipe to strike Xavier, then dropped out of sight to the floor. Jamal had come to the rescue, striking the savage in the back of the head. The black woman and the Hispanic man grabbed a female savage on Xavier's left and pinned her to the floor. Jake rushed over and cracked one of the remaining killers over the head with the pipe wrench. Xavier was left with the one savage choking him to death.
Losing oxygen. He buckled to one knee, Jamal ran over and swung across the side of his face, he didn't even loosen his grip on Xavier's neck, he felt nothing. Jake reached over his head with the pipe wrench
and bashed the top of his skull, he dropped to the floor. Sheila ran over to the man and the woman who were struggling with the female killer. She drove the knife in the center of her chest, repeatedly, until she stopped moving. She looked up at the man with the pink button up shirt, he hadn't even tried to help. They all stood in place and looked around at the dead bodies, for many of them, it was the first time they'd taken a life.
Jamal entered the stairwell to see if it was clear; he slowly walked over to the railing and looked over to see down a few flights and saw a crowd of savages making their way up. He backed away from the railing, turned to go back into the elevator hall and the pipe he was carrying struck the door. He flinched, then his eyes became wide and he mouthed an expletive, it echoed loudly through the white hollow stairwell, stirring the hornet's nest. As the echo diminished, the sound of dozens of footsteps beating up the stairs toward him filled the stairwell. He ran back into the elevator hall and closed the door.
“What the hell did you just do?” the man in the pink shirt demanded.
Jamal told the others what was coming, panic and worry filled their faces. Xavier looked around for a solution, the elevators. He pressed the call button to go down.
"When the elevator comes, get in and wait for us."
Xavier ran over to Mr. And Mrs. Schulz and told them to run to the elevators. Lisa and Charles appeared from behind the support column.
"We need to go now." Xavier beckoned from a few feet away.
They ran towards the elevators, before they could make it a savage emerged from the stairwell.
The man in the pink shirt pressed the "close door" button on the elevator and the doors began closing. As they got about 20 feet from the elevator, Jamal squeezed through the elevator doors and took a swing at the savage’s knees, it went down hard. Lisa, Xavier and Charles ran around him to Jamal who held the door open for them. When they got inside, Jake had the man in the pink shirt in a headlock. Sheila randomly hit the 10th floor on the control panel, the doors closed and began its descent.
"What the hell happened?" Xavier was pissed and out of breath.
"This gentleman right here was confused as to the rules about women and children on the lifeboats." Jake let go of the man and shoved him into the wall.
He coughed and held his throat, his eyes watered and he couldn’t speak. Xavier took a good look at him, and recognized him as a coward. He turned away and checked to see that everyone else was accounted for and unharmed.
The car arrived at the 10th floor and the doors opened. Jamal and Xavier peeked out to see that the hall was clear. From the north end of the hall, a group of savages ran toward the elevators. They ducked back inside and pressed the button to close the door. Standing with their weapons at the ready, the crowd arrived just as the doors closed and the pale, sweaty faces of the killers appeared before them. Sheila pressed the 5th floor button and the elevator descended. Xavier slammed the emergency stop button.
"There's nowhere to go."
Chapter 3
Witness of Chaos
Fighter jets screamed by the helicopter as it made its way to the Columbia tower, they were 3 minutes away. Michael readied his gear and prepared to repel down to the roof of the skyscraper.
“It’s broad daylight, people are going to notice us.” he said to the pilot.
“George said they’d be preoccupied.”
“Preoccupied by what?”
“That I guess.” the pilot said as he pointed toward two jets releasing ordinance over the city.
“What the fuck is going on? This can’t be right. Those are civilians, there’s no threat there. Call them! Tell them to fall back.”
“They aren't ours!”
He didn't have to make sense of it in the helicopter, he would have to call George when he got to the roof.
He hooked his donut ring to the rope, and threw his rappel bag out of the helicopter. He took up his position and pushed away from the helicopter. After his brief descent to the roof of the building, he disconnected himself from the line and signaled to the pilot that he was clear. As the helicopter rolled away from the building, Michael watched as more fighter jets approached the city. Everything about this situation was wrong, including the jets. They were unmarked.
He removed the satellite from his pack and called George, maybe there was a change he hadn't had time to warn him of.
George answered the phone.
“Is that you Michael? I figured I’d get a call from you as soon as I had to go piss.”
“Civilians sir! They're bombing innocent civilians?”
“We know that Michael.”
“Then, why aren't we in the air doing something about it?”
“Because we can't.”
“Sir I don’t understand…”
“I know you don’t. Don't spend too much time trying to figure it out either, just observe and report like we told you too. Understood?”
Michael hesitated for a long time, long enough that George knew he wasn't completely on board. He didn't break the silence, he let Michael come to terms with the mission.
“Yes sir, I call back when I have something.”
“Good man. Listen Mike, there's a good chance you’ll run into some resistance, your best bet is to keep quiet, out of sight and be as stealth as possible. I’ll be waiting for your call. Good luck.”
Michael placed his phone back in his pack, removed his binoculars and moved to the edge of the building. He watched for ten minutes as planes dropped what seemed to be low yield explosives. He noted the lack of fire and destruction typically associated with bombing runs, he began to focus more on the civilian reactions.
The people near the areas that were bombed began rushing over to help any wounded, dozens of bodies, maybe over a hundred littered the streets. And that's just what he could see. He focused on a small group near an intersection, they must have found one that was conscious. From where Michael sat, it seemed like a group of good Samaritans were helping the injured, but then they all backed away suddenly.
Several people immediately took off running without looking back, the ones that remained soon regretted not following. Several of the bodies in the street, including the one that had the attention of the Samaritans, got up and began attacking people. It happened fast, Michael had no idea what to make of it. He watched as more and more of the bodies got up, before he could realize it, the streets turned to mayhem. He pulled the binoculars away from his face and took a wider look down below, hundreds of people were chasing hundreds more through the streets. People were escaping into buildings and hiding in cars, all of it seemed futile, the angry mob caught them all.
Michael watched as the mob flipped cars, dragged people from them and beat them to death. He asked himself, “Was this from the bombs? Is that what they dropped on them?” he pulled out his satellite phone once again and called George, it was time he got answers.
Trapped
With the elevator stopped between the 7th and 8th floor of the office building, the survivors began to realize the severity of their situation. The stairwells were filled with savages, virtually every floor was occupied by herds of vicious predators, the streets, a sea of death, uncertainty and unforgiving horror. A steel box with no windows suspended 7 stories above ground level provided the only sense of safety and security for the group. Endless questions plagued the minds of the survivors as they had little answers and fewer options. The elevator was a temporary solution to an indefinite crisis, a breakdown in cooperation was all that was needed to make an impossible situation perfect for failure.
"I have to pee." Lisa said as she tugged at the hair at the crown of her head and grimaced. Xavier noticed her brown eyes for the first time, he noticed he was staring, and turned away. Charles had reached his limits with fear and a full bladder and wet his pants. The 7-year-old had been through too much for a day and being trapped in an elevator with nowhere to go was the breaking point. The elderly couple, Mr. And Mrs. Schulz hadn't spoken a word, th
ey just stood at the front corner of the elevator scared and completely without a clue on how they would make it out. Sheila had borrowed Jake's phone, her and Jamal diligently attempted to reach the outside world from the back-right corner of the elevator. It was nearly impossible to get a signal and when they did, they were only able to get a busy tone. In the back-left corner of the elevator Jake argued with the man in the pink shirt. He was completely irrational and dangerous, considering the situation. Jake tried to get the man to calm down but lost patience, he was too unreasonable to cooperate with. The man and the woman he was with when they narrowly escaped the savages in the stairwell stood back from him in the front of the elevator near Xavier. They chose to disassociate themselves from the man in the pink shirt less they all be accused of being a danger to the group. Something had to be done before it got out of control.
Xavier turned to the woman in the purple blouse.
"What's your name?"
"Regina Grey."
"I'm Xavier, pleasure to meet you. Do you know that guy?" Xavier pointed to the man in the pink shirt
"Yea, his name is Jonathan Edwin, He's the Chief financial officer for Sterling Tech. He's a complete ass."
"You work together?" Regina sighed.
"He's my boss, I'm the regional manager for the northwest. We specialize in information technology and networking. This is Jacob Ramirez, he's the manager for the Seattle office." She gestured to the Hispanic man standing next to her.
Xavier shook his hand and then turned his attention back to Jonathan who was insisting that they open the doors and make a run for it. Xavier interjected and tried to reason with Jonathan.
"Listen man, if we open the doors we're going to get swarmed by those people out there and we won't stand a chance, we have women and children with us to think about."
Savage Mist Page 3