“I think I’ll be safe right here.” Patricia glanced once more out the window. “It seems to be clearing up anyway.”
Officer Martin joined her at the window, looking down at the scene below. “The Channel Five van is on fire.”
Patricia was looking past that now. “What’s that orange glow down the block?”
“A fire. The block is ablaze. What’s going on?” Officer Martin turned and addressed his two men. “We need to get this dirtbag back down to a holding cell right now.”
“I don’t think it’s clearing up, Patricia,” Jonah said with a smile. He didn’t wince when one of the guards made like he was going to club him in the head.
Officer Martin smiled at Patricia. “Ma’am, I think we need to get you somewhere safe. We can go through the judge’s chambers and wait for help.”
The lights flickered and went out. There was still enough natural light to see but it cast an eerie glow in the hallway.
Patricia took that as a sign from God to seek shelter. She turned to Officer Martin and nodded. “I think you’re right. We need to move.”
Officer Martin smiled. “Good choice, ma’am.” He turned to his fellow officers. “I guess the elevator is out, but we can go down the stairs.”
Jonah rattled his leg and arm chains. “I can’t walk down the stairs like this.”
One of the officers sighed and unlocked the leg restraints but when Jonah held up his arms the officer smiled. “Nice try.”
Patricia let the three officers get between her and Jonah. She shuddered when The Scorpion turned and smiled at her before he was pushed into the stairwell.
“Shall we go, ma’am?”
* * *
This was supposed to have been her big break, and the action was supposed to have been here and not out there; cameras trained on her good looks and perfect profile. She didn’t want to dwell on the money she’d spent this morning to get her hair done and her nails. She’d paid double the going rate to get the stupid women into work in Queens at five A.M. but she was worth it.
They went down to the first floor and the lead officer opened the door.
He was pushed back by two people, who lunged at him, knocking him to the ground.
Patricia screamed when one of them took a bite out of the officer’s neck, blood flowing onto the concrete floor.
“Up, everyone back up,” Officer Martin yelled. The four went up to the next floor and into office space.
“We’ll settle into the conference room until backup arrives,” Officer Martin said.
The far stairwell door opened and a man in a wrinkled suit and covered in blood stumbled out followed by several horrific nightmares. He was shouting for help before he was pulled down.
At least six of the bloody people, eyes vacant, began a slow walk towards the group.
“We need to fight to get out. Unchain me so I don’t die,” Jonah said.
“No chance,” Officer Martin said. He pulled his weapon. “Stop right there or I will fire.”
“They’re not going to listen. Look at them. They’re dead,” Jonah said. He turned to Patricia. “We’re all dead.”
The other officer took out his weapon and began firing, bullets slamming into chests and legs with no real affect.
“Aim for the head, idiot,” Jonah yelled.
The two officers shot until they had no more ammo. More of these seemingly dead people kept coming. They ran back the way they’d come but the stairwell was filled with more of the monsters.
“Into an office,” Martin shouted. He pushed Patricia and Jonah inside a room. The two officers grabbed chairs to use as weapons.
“Let me out. My hands are cuffed. I don’t want to die like this,” Jonah said. He looked at Patricia. “Seriously. I know I’ve done bad things, but you can’t watch me die without being able to fight. I’m begging you, ma’am… please help me.”
Patricia hadn’t said a word since they began to flee. She was beyond scared.
The two officers left and closed the door behind them. Patricia crept to the door and put an ear to it.
“Please. I need the keys to get out. I can protect you. I’m not a bad person,” Jonah said.
Patricia put a finger to her lips. She could hear a scuffle in the hallway and the sound of shuffling feet. She stifled a moan and put her hands over her mouth. What was going on? Was she going to die?
She waited what seemed like an hour but might have been only minutes before opening the door a crack. The hallway was empty. When she saw the two officers, or what was left of them, she started to tear up.
Jonah was at her side, shaking his head. “They didn’t deserve that. They were protecting us. Poor guys.” He held up his shackled hands. “I can get us out of here.”
Patricia went to the bodies, bloody and missing chunks of flesh. She fished around in pockets until she found the handcuff keys. She felt her stomach lurch and threw up on the carpet before composing herself and taking the handcuffs off of Jonah. They needed to get away from this chaos. This wasn’t really happening, was it?
“Which way do you think is safe?” Patricia asked.
“Back in the office,” Jonah said before smashing Patricia in the head with a chair.
* * *
“Ever hear of the story of the scorpion and the frog?” Jonah asked as Patricia came to. She was tied to a chair with her own clothing. He took off his shirt and showed her his scorpion tattoo. “It’s safe to say you are the frog, ma’am.”
Armand Rosamilia is a New Jersey boy currently living in sunny Florida, where he writes when he's not sleeping. He's happily married to a woman who helps his career and is supportive, which is all he ever wanted in life...
He's written over 150 stories that are currently available, including horror, zombies, contemporary fiction, thrillers and more. His goal is to write a good story and not worry about genre labels.
He runs two very successful podcasts on Project iRadio, too...
Arm Cast: Dead Sexy Horror Podcast - interviewing fellow authors as well as filmmakers, musicians, etc.
Arm N Toof's Dead Time Podcast - with co-host Mark Tufo, the duo interview authors and filmmakers and anyone else they feel like talking to
He also loves to talk in third person... because he's really that cool. He's a proud Active member of HWA as well.
You can find him at http://armandrosamilia.com for not only his latest releases but interviews and guest posts with other authors he likes!
and e-mail him to talk about zombies, baseball and Metal:
[email protected]
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Dying Days Ultimate Box Set 2
FLAGLER BEACH FICTION SERIES COMPLETE BOX SET
Dying Days Ultimate Box Set 1 Page 54