by Russ Melrose
I could hear faint voices talking low and Sarah heard them too. She perked up, alert and ready. The voices quickly dissipated into silence and a few moments later, the blurry shadows of two men passed by Sarah's room. It had to be Alvaro and Coleman. At least that made the most sense.
Sarah and I looked at each other and neither of us knew what to make of what was going on. We kept silent and didn't move. I expected to hear the stairwell door open and close, but it didn't happen. And I wondered if they'd gone to the cafeteria or to the restroom.
The only good news was that Alvaro was no longer guarding the back door. If an opportunity arose, we would at least have an exit. But we'd have to somehow distract the infected and get them away from the back parking lot in order to leave. And we'd never know how many were in the parking lot because there weren't any windows along the back wall.
I leaned close to Sarah and whispered to her, "You should pack the backpacks in case we have to leave in a hurry."
She rubbed Becky's back and then rose silently from the couch. Sarah had neatly organized their things and laid them out on the desk.
I walked over to the door and knelt down and listened. I thought I heard a grunt, but I couldn't figure out what Alvaro and Coleman were doing out there.
I began to think of a possible escape plan if we made it out of the building. If we could take the Tundra up to the highest street on the East Bench and spend the night in a home there, we should be able to get out of the valley the next day. As long as we kept above the highest street, we could use the homes as cover till we reached East Millcreek Canyon. Once we reached the canyon, we'd be home free.
Sarah was almost finished packing when the stairwell door creaked open and then slowly closed. We looked at each other, not sure what to think. Had they both gone upstairs?
I listened attentively for a minute before opening the door a crack. As I inched the door open wider, the front of the room came into view and I could see what Alvaro and Coleman had been up to. Not only was the barricade gone, but both double doors were wide open, held back against the wall by chairs.
And then, as if on cue, the air conditioning droned to a halt. They'd cut the electricity. Suddenly we could hear the clear sound of the infected pounding on glass in the area of the lobby. I thought they might have caught a glimpse of Alvaro and Coleman opening the doors.
I turned to Sarah. "Hurry! We've got to get out of here."
Becky rolled over, facing us, and rubbed her eyes. "What's going on?" she asked.
There was no time for me to tell her. Sarah would have to explain. I stepped cautiously out into the room, taking the bat with me. I felt intensely alert. I looked around first to make sure neither Alvaro nor Coleman were anywhere around. I knew it didn't make sense that they would be, but I didn't want to take any chances. One of them could have been lurking in one of the cubicles, though I doubted it. As soon as I was sure they weren't around, I ran for the double doors. I had to get the doors closed.
I grabbed the first chair and pulled it out of the way, letting the door begin to close on its own. I glanced into the lobby as I headed for the other chair and stopped in my tracks. Dr. Nardone was displayed near the glass wall next to the front door as if she were an exhibit at a museum. She sat in a chair a few feet in front of the untinted glass wall, tightly trussed up with duct tape. The infected were going crazy trying to get at her through the glass wall. There were about twenty-five of them and I knew more would be coming. They pounded their fists on the glass and a couple of them were headbutting the glass. But thus far, the glass was holding. Dr. Nardone tried frantically to move herself and the chair, but it was hopeless.
I hesitated for a moment and then ran in after her. The infected were so focused on Dr. Nardone, they didn't seem to notice me till I was right behind her. They went wild when they saw me and became even more frantic. Dr. Nardone turned her head and saw me behind her. Her eyes were wide with fear and she tried to say something to me through the gag covering her mouth. But all she managed to do was to mumble incoherently. She was still in her white lab coat, wrapped up in duct tape like a mummy. I didn't have my knife with me and I was leery of staying there and taking the time to remove all the duct tape with just my hands.
An infected man hurtled himself head first into the glass and the glass wobbled from the impact. He was thickly built through the chest like a construction worker. He wore dusty jeans and a denim shirt with the one of his sleeves still rolled up. He took several steps back and then moved briskly toward the glass wall again, slamming his head into the glass with reckless abandon. His hair was filled with blood that dripped down over his face and ears.
I had to get us out of there and do it quickly. I set the bat down onto her lap and grabbed the back of the chair and tilted it back till it felt balanced. Then I dragged her and the chair back toward the double doors, taking short steps to maintain my leverage. The infected construction guy launched himself into the glass wall again, and once again it wobbled. This time the incessant pounding of fists and heads kept the glass oscillating and it quivered like a taut sheet in the wind. I knew it wouldn't hold up much longer. Janice Nardone was heavier than I imagined, but I was making progress. We were halfway to the doors. I kept my eyes riveted on the infected as they battered the glass wall. I ignored Dr. Nardone's mumbling. She kept looking at me as if I could understand what she was trying to say.
And then he was there right in the front of the crowd. His eyes riveted on mine and I could see he was cradling a large, smooth rock in his hands, the kind you might find in a stream or a flower bed. He raised it with some effort up above his head and held it there, poised to strike. The Swimmer turned as the construction guy lunged at the glass once more and rammed his head into it. At the exact same time, the Swimmer smashed the rock into the glass wall with everything he had.
The glass cracked straight upwards ten or twelve feet and made a short but sharp screeching sound, glass grating against glass. Then two of the infected threw themselves into the wall at the same time, and a huge dagger of glass broke apart and came crashing down. I dragged the chair and Dr. Nardone past the threshold of the open door. The opening in the glass wall was about three feet wide and they all tried to squeeze through it at once. Everyone except him. He stood to the side and watched me, almost passively. I closed the second door and slid the deadbolts up and secured them. I grabbed the chairs and jammed them up as tight as I could into the underside of the door knobs. The doors were thick, but they wouldn't hold long.
Sarah and Becky were standing behind me with their backpacks. Sarah had mine too.
I looked at them. "Quick, Sarah. My backpack."
She handed it to me and I opened the pouch that held my Swiss Army knife and I removed it. I opened the sharpest blade and began to slice through the rows of duct tape surrounding Dr. Nardone's legs.
I heard the thropping of rotor blades whir to life as the helicopter warmed up on the roof. We all looked up in unison.
"Sarah, please check the stairwell door," I asked her, trying to keep my voice on an even keel. Since Melzer and his group were leaving, we could use the upper floors to hide in.
The first of the infected slammed into the double doors and the doors rattled from the collision.
I looked over to Becky who had taken a step backward. She was shuddering. Her body looked stiff and her shoulders were hunched and tight.
I tried to reassure her. "It's going to be all right, Becky. They're not going to get us."
Dr. Nardone kept grumbling into her gag. She looked panicked and I couldn't blame her. She was still tied to the chair only a few feet from the double doors. I'd removed the duct tape around her legs and began to cut through the duct tape that bound her upper body to the chair.
It only took me a few seconds to convince myself that staying in the building was the best option. If we used the security bar, there was no way they could get to us on the upper floors. And if we had a couple minutes, we could grab plenty
of food from the cafeteria. We might be able to hide out for a week or two till they lost interest.
"Jake," Sarah yelled. "I can't open the door. I think the security bar is in place. I can't budge it."
Sarah came back and held Becky tight and Becky clung to her mother.
There was no choice now. It would have to be the Tundra. We couldn't hide anywhere on this floor. They'd break down any door and end up getting to us. We had to get out.
I was hoping the ruckus at the front of the building and the glass crashing down would draw the infected from the back of the building. It was our best chance.
I looked up at Sarah. She appeared hyper alert. "Sarah, you and Becky get to the back door," I told her. "The keys are in the bed of the pickup truck near the back corner," I told her. "Just in case."
I was nearly finished emancipating Dr. Nardone from the chair. I could hear Sarah and Becky running toward the back door.
The infected were pressing and pounding against the door now and the drywall that held one of the deadbolt chambers began to crack. They would be through at any moment.
The only duct tape left to remove was the duct tape that held Dr. Nardone's gag in place. But I didn't take the time to remove it. That might get us both killed. I dropped the knife into the pouch and put my backpack back on. Then I grabbed the bat off her lap and pulled her out of the chair and began to drag her away. But she jerked away from me and stopped in her tracks and struggled to take the duct tape off her face. I thought she was nuts, but I helped her get it off.
"The vaccine," she gasped. "We have to get the vaccine." And she grabbed me by the arm and led me down the office aisle.
"Vaccine? What are you talking about?"
"There's a vaccine," she said absently as she glanced at each of the names on the office doors. She stopped four offices down where the name on the door was Albert Munson, Chief Accounting Officer.
Then she got down on her knees in the office cubicle directly across from Munson's office and frantically searched the floor in the cubicle.
"A colleague… a close friend of mine… sent me a formula for a vaccine two years ago," she said. "He said if something terrible ever happened, to send the vaccine to the CDC in Atlanta. Two weeks later my friend was dead. He drowned. Of course, he didn't know how to swim and he was terrified of the water. Never went near it.
"The first weekend, I emailed the formula to the CDC. I had no idea if the vaccine was the right one for the virus." Dr. Nardone continued to search the cubicle floor, then she paused and looked up at me. "I never heard back from the CDC. But the next day I got a call from Lukas Melzer asking me if I would be willing to be part of a joint effort to help create a vaccine for the virus. He knew about the email. He had to have. They must have intercepted it. I would have been a fool to say no to him."
She was squinting as she looked around, and I realized she was no longer wearing her glasses. They had taken her glasses off before they tied her up. "I tossed the thumb drive with the vaccine formula into this cubicle when Alvaro and the others escorted me into the building. I'm sure it was this cubicle. It has to be here."
Then from the front of the room came the sharp sound of wood snapping apart. One of the chairs had given way and I could hear them stumbling into the room in a hysterical state.
"C'mon, we have to go. Now!" I yelled at her. But she kept looking under the desk and feeling around.
"There, I see it. I'm sure that's it." And she stretched herself under the desk to retrieve it.
The first infected into the office aisle was the construction guy. His strident moans spiked when he saw me. He was a runner. He careened wildly down the aisle, one leg moving faster than the other, his arms churning at the air as if he were trying to propel himself forward.
"Hurry, Dr. Nardone!" I screamed at her.
She was out from underneath the desk and had pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, but the effort seemed to have exhausted her. She held the thumb drive greedily in a closed fist. She was breathing hard, gasping for air, and her face was red from the blood rushing to it. She was starting to panic. She looked dizzy and was having trouble getting to her feet. She glanced at me for help, but there wasn't any time. Construction man would be on us long before I'd be able to help Dr. Nardone pick herself up off the floor.
I angled myself toward him as if I were a batter facing a pitcher. I gripped the bat nervously but couldn't find my confidence and I didn't feel any adrenalin. What I felt was fear, and the fear was locking my muscles up.
Ever since the talk I'd had with Melzer, I'd had this feeling my luck had finally run out, and I couldn't shake the feeling.
Then I did something crazy to snap myself out of it. I smashed the bat on the floor as hard as I could and screamed maniacally at the top of my lungs and wagged my head back and forth like some madman.
The construction guy was bearing down on me, just a few seconds away. I adjusted my stance so I was facing him more directly. Behind him, several more infected burst around the corner and into the aisle. I gritted my teeth. I knew what to do.
I dropped down onto my knees to my left and drew the bat back. He wasn't able to adjust quickly enough to my new position. I focused my attention on the midpoint of his tibia and swung fiercely at his tibia with every ounce of strength and focus I could muster. At the same time he took a wild swipe at my head and clubbed me on the left temple. The blows were simultaneous and both had an effect. I could hear the bone snap in his leg and I was aware of construction guy tumbling past me. I weaved back and forth in the air without purpose and reached down for the carpet to help keep myself upright. And then I realized I'd dropped the bat.
I had been stunned by the blow. I knew I had to get my senses back. The other infected were coming, but they weren't anywhere near as fast as construction guy. I had to get up. I grabbed the bat first and used it to push myself up to my feet. I felt light headed and wobbly.
Construction guy had spotted Dr. Nardone and was crawling excitedly on his forearms toward her, dragging his broken leg behind him. Dr. Nardone was finally on her feet but she was trapped in the cubicle, her backside up against the computer desk, nowhere to go. She screamed in an odd voice, like someone saying aah loudly for the doctor over and over again.
Sarah and Becky were at the end of the aisle watching and waiting. I wondered why they hadn't left already. I walked unsteadily over to construction guy and raised the bat well above my head and brought it down flush on his skull and he stopped crawling.
I grabbed Dr. Nardone by the arm and dragged her out of the cubicle.
"We have to run," I yelled at her.
And she ran with me, but I kept hold of her arm. It helped me maintain my balance. We ran to the end of the aisle and then the four of us hustled to the back door.
"The vaccine," Dr. Nardone said to Sarah in explanation for our detour, opening her hand to show the thumb drive.
Sarah gave us a confused look, but there wasn't time for an explanation.
I noticed the security bar was gone. I unlocked the deadbolt and the door handle and spoke quickly. "Here's what we'll do. Sarah, you'll open the door. I'll go out with the bat and go after any infected outside. Dr. Nardone, you'll come out after me. If it's clear, you go to the front passenger side of the truck. The truck's locked so you'll have to wait till I open it. Sarah, you and Becky will get in the back. If I can't get the keys, Sarah, you get them and open the doors. Then get yourself and Becky into the truck and get it started and ready to go. Everyone clear?"
I was surprised I'd spoken as clearly and succinctly as I had. They all nodded.
We heard the helicopter moving away from the building and we all glanced up again.
I looked at Sarah. "Remember to come outside," I told her. And she gave me a strange look, and then I was confused as to why I'd said it.
We could hear them coming. They'd be here in a matter of seconds. Sarah grabbed the door knob and waited for me to signal her, and I gave her a nod an
d she opened the door.
I stepped out onto the landing with my bat ready. But there was no sign of the infected anywhere. I scanned the parking lot and it was empty save for the Tundra and the Elantra. The deserted lot didn't feel right, but I couldn't explain why. As I'd hoped, the infected had headed for the front of the building. I stood there staring, feeling disoriented and foggy, like when you wake up from too much sleep and your mind isn't quite calibrated yet. I seemed to be a step behind mentally. Dr. Nardone suddenly raced past me and ran to the passenger side door, gripping the thumb drive tightly in both hands. She stood by the truck and looked around nervously.
I looked back to Sarah and thought I heard myself telling her to go. She and Becky came through the door and closed the door behind them. I turned and heard a familiar scream, and then I was confused, and I wondered if there'd been two screams. I knew one of the screams had come from Becky because she was standing right next to me holding onto her mother.
The Swimmer had hold of Dr. Nardone. He'd appeared as if out of nowhere. He must have been hiding behind the front grill of the truck. Sarah and Becky and I stood paralyzed like statues on the steps. The Swimmer faced us and had his arms wrapped around Dr. Nardone, pinning her arms to her sides.
She was terrified. She had to have been the other person who had screamed. I realized that now, even though her screaming seemed like nothing more than a fragment of a memory that kept slipping through my mind, like a memory I couldn't get a handle on. She shivered in his grip and whimpered like a frightened child. A line of urine trailed down the inside of her leg and dripped into a small puddle next to her foot. The thumb drive lay on the pavement next to her.
The Swimmer was hunched down, using Dr. Nardone as a shield. I thought he might be afraid of getting shot again. He didn't know I was unarmed. I doubted he knew what a gun was. While I could see less than half of his face, I could sense his fierce resolve. And I conceded to myself that Dr. Nardone was as good as dead, though I wasn't sure why I was giving up on her so easily.