Dead, but Not for Long

by Kinney, Matthew

  He had lied and had told them that he, too, was almost out of water. He had hoped that none of them knew of his food hoarding habits and that they just viewed him as the crazy old landlord that lived in the penthouse.

  The survivors on the eighth floor had told him of activity at the hospital, something he couldn’t see as he had no view to the north. He had suggested to them that they make a run for it rather than die of starvation. He added that he, on the other hand, would stay and die in the building that his father had built. His situation certainly hadn’t been as bleak as he had made it out to be, but they would never know that.

  As he sipped his coffee, his eyes lit on one of the buildings below, and he wondered again about the giant “X” on the roof. He had seen helicopters several times over the previous few days, traveling from rooftop to rooftop. This had piqued his curiosity as they hadn’t seemed to be picking up survivors, only painting something on the roofs. He had finally gotten out a pair of binoculars and had been able to see that they were marking buildings with either an “S” or an “X.” He was guessing that “S” meant survivors and there were far less of these markings. His guess was that the military was planning a rescue for those trapped inside. He had no intention of leaving, just to be transported to a shelter somewhere with a bunch of desperate people. They’d take his food and expect him to share it. No, he was perfectly happy right where he was.

  The others had asked him to try to get the attention of the helicopters or to put a sign on the roof. He’d lied and told them that he had done it.

  He shook his head at the thought. It was a shame that those on the eighth floor wouldn’t be rescued, but he’d be damned if he was going to draw attention to the building and risk losing what he had. Since that day, he’d remained quiet and had quit replying to the other survivors when they tried to talk to him. He longed for the day that he would stop hearing the voices coming from the ductwork. Then he would be truly safe. Then, no one would know he was in the building and no one could steal his provisions.

  He would know when it was time to make his presence known. When the dead were no longer walking the streets and there were signs of the city returning to life, then he’d open his doors and not until then.

  ~*^*~

  ~35~

  When Keith saw the bikes leave the parking lot, he sent a message with Morse code letting those trapped in the office building know that help was on the way. He made sure the radio was on, though he wouldn’t use it unless he needed to warn the others or unless he had to reply to a message; otherwise the noise just might come at a very inopportune time.

  Autumn walked in and Keith handed her the pad of paper and a pen, explaining what she would need to do.

  “I even wrote down the alphabet for you,” he said. He thought that if she could pick out some of the letters herself, it might speed things up a bit.

  Autumn looked at the series of dots and dashes with amusement.

  “Do I connect the dots?” she asked sarcastically.

  “Yeah, it’s like that game where you see who can make the most boxes,” Keith said, watching the other building. When the radio squawked, he picked it up and listened to what Snake had to say.

  “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,” Keith replied.

  He put the radio down and sent the question over to those in the other building, hoping they had an answer. Once he was done, he said, “Now here’s where you come in. I’ll give you the dashes, dots and spaces and you just write them down.”

  “Okay,” Autumn replied. “But if it says ‘Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.’ I’m going to be disappointed.”

  Keith laughed at that one, having grown up watching A Christmas Story at least once each winter.

  “What’s with Snake saying Dude all the time?” Autumn asked, after having heard his end of the conversation.

  Keith said, “I asked Wolf the same question. He said that Snake went through a surfing phase and never really got out of it.”

  A few rapid flashes caught his attention and he motioned back to let them know he was ready. A long reply followed and Keith began to read off the dashes and dots to Autumn so that she could write them down. Once she was done, he took the page and looked it over. Autumn had filled in several of the letters so he quickly finished it. He got on the radio and called Snake back.

  “They saw the helicopter that’s been landing on our building and were trying to get to the roof but finally got trapped on the 8th floor. Guess they tried to signal the chopper but never got a reply. They’ve got furniture against the office door, but they’re guessing there are possibly hundreds of infected in the building. This isn’t going to be easy.”

  Snake put the radio away and sighed. The men had gathered around and had heard the depressing news.

  “We don’t have a lot of time to clear the building,” Wolf said.

  “No, we don’t,” Snake agreed. “As of dawn today, all bets are off and they’ll be bombing this area, too.”

  “It’s almost four thirty now,” one of them said.

  “Let’s try to get this done and be back long before daylight,” Snake said. He hesitated a moment before continuing. “Boys, there’s twenty people on the eighth floor whose survival depends on us. If we go into that building, there’s a good chance some of us won’t be coming back out. If anyone doesn’t want to do this, no one will call him a coward. Moose made a half-hearted attempt to raise his hand.

  “You out, Moose?” Snake asked.

  “Hell no!” the man replied. “But if anyone is, I’ll call him a coward.”

  Snake laughed. “If we survive this, we’ve got to talk,” he said, shaking his head. “Hey, didn’t you work on that wall all day yesterday? You should be sleeping now.”

  “I can sleep when I’m dead, Boss. I don’t want to miss any action.”

  Snake shrugged. He couldn’t say much since he and Lindsey had both been on the run the previous night, too.

  Two of the lumbering undead made their way out the front door and were quickly dispatched by the bikers, but it gave Snake an idea.

  “Here’s the deal. If we could lure some of those things out, we could pick them off when they come through the door. They’ll almost have to come through one at a time and that may increase our odds.” He looked around the group. “Question is, who wants to be the bait?”

  Lindsey only hesitated a moment before raising her hand.

  “I’m fast and I’m smaller than any of you,” she said, “so hopefully I can dodge the infected a little better. Plus, we probably need as many shooters as possible and I haven’t practiced with my new gun yet. My efforts would be better spent on being the bait, I think.”

  Snake wasn’t comfortable with the idea of Lindsey putting herself in such a precarious position. One misstep could mean a slow death, followed by a long un-death, but he had a hard time imagining many of his present men sprinting away from a horde of zombies, especially since Monkey was no longer with them. Wombat and a couple of the others were fast, but they had been up all night on guard duty so Snake had made them stay behind.

  The bikers were managing to kill off anything that made its way into the parking lot, but Snake knew they needed to act quickly. The noise of the bikes was bound to have attracted attention, and they would have a small window in which to act.

  “Alright, Xena,” Snake replied, hesitantly. “You sure you’re awake enough for this?”

  “I’m awake,” Lindsey said. The ride over with the chilly breeze had knocked out the last vestiges of drowsiness, and she was alert, though nervous about what she was going to do. She knew that she might have some close encounters inside the building, and she thought about it for a moment, wondering what she could do to make herself less vulnerable. She looked down at the bulky sweater that she was wearing then glanced at one of the thinner bikers. “Would you mind trading me jackets for this little adventure? I’m afraid my sweater will be too easy to grip.”

  The sleek leather jacket would
be difficult to hold onto. It would also provide some protection against a bite and it looked like the sleeves would cover her fingers, protecting her hands.

  “Sure,” the biker said, handing over the leather jacket and taking her sweater.

  “This might not be a good idea, either,” one of the others said, lightly grabbing a handful of her long hair. “Here,” he said, pulling off a wool hat he wore and exposing his bald head.

  Lindsey thanked him and took it, putting on the leather jacket and tucking her hair into the hat. A bathing cap would have been even better but it was a little late to think about that now.

  Snake nodded at Lindsey in approval.

  “You look good in leather,” he told her with a smile. He instinctively looked around for Helga’s scowl, before remembering that she was passed out in the ER.

  Lindsey laughed at the comment. “Next shopping trip, I’m going to look for one of these jackets,” she said. “Maybe the boots and gloves, too.”

  “We’ll add that to our next list,” Snake said. “Boys, let’s get ready. I suggest we don’t use firearms unless necessary. We don’t want any casualties from friendly fire. Let’s draw them out as far as we can from the door. We could have a pretty good-sized pile here.”

  Snake stopped and stared at the man who had just loaned his jacket to Lindsey. His eyes were closed and he was slowly breathing in the scent on Lindsey’s sweater.

  Snake quietly walked up to him and banged, closefisted, on his head. The biker dropped the jacket and grabbed his head, wincing in pain. Without a word, Snake scooped up the garment and threw it on his bike.

  “You ready, Xena?” he asked, slightly embarrassed.

  “Sure,” she said, shaking her head to clear it. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “We’ll leave some of the bikes running. Between the noise and the lights, that may help draw the dead out.”

  He knew that it would also draw others from the neighborhood, but time was growing short and they needed to get the building cleared as quickly as possible.

  Lindsey took a deep breath and walked up to the building, using the flashlight to peek inside. The lobby looked clear, so she stepped through the doorway, almost gagging over the putrid smell. The flashlight did little to cut the inky blackness of the dark inside the building, and she had to move it around constantly to search for anything that might be coming toward her. She could hear a lot of noise drifting down the stairs and the stairwell door seemed to be jammed open. Now the trick was to lead them down.

  Lindsey made her way up to the first landing then turned to peer up the next set of stairs, which led to the second floor.

  “Hey!” she yelled. “Dinner time! We’ve got a whole buffet waiting out in the parking lot.”

  Her heart was racing and her hands shook as she waited for the undead to make their way down. The chorus of moans grew louder and Lindsey sucked in a breath as a dark shape stepped into view at the top of the stairs. The light of her flashlight bounced across what appeared to be an expensive suit, though it was hard to tell through the blood and gore. As she moved the beam up higher, she could see that the man’s head was permanently cocked to the side, his eyes fixed on her. Though tempted to run, she waited, continuing to make noise to bring more of the infected to her. Her heart pounded as she watched the dead man take a step. His foot hit nothing but air and he tumbled face first down the stairs, ending up on the landing near Lindsey’s feet. She stifled a scream and jumped back to watch as a second ghoul made his way down by navigating the steps. A third one fell, causing Lindsey to wonder why some of them could manage the stairs and others could not.

  She started to edge her way down the final steps to the ground floor, making sure to stay in sight of the infected. Her hands shook as she tried to keep the beam of light steady as the dead man in the suit lifted his face and let out a loud moan. He managed to get to his feet as another one fell down the stairs. They were starting to pile up and Lindsey began to wonder how hard it was going to be to lure them all outside. She would tell Snake about it and let him decide what to do.

  She waited until some of them began to make their way down from the landing then she turned to hurry back into the lobby. The front door was in sight, but Lindsey only made it two more steps before slamming into a massive body that was suddenly in her path.

  ~*^*~

  ~36~

  The flashlight tumbled to the floor and went out as Lindsey struggled with the ghoul, trying to keep his mouth away from her neck. She was shocked by his strength and it took every drop of effort she had to hold him back by pushing against his chest with both hands.

  Though there was some light shining into the lobby, she was not in a direct line with the door. The light made it possible for her to see her attacker, but wouldn’t allow those outside to notice that she was in trouble. She tried screaming but her voice was drowned out by the bikes in the parking lot. As bad as her situation already was, she knew that if the infected on the stairs managed to untangle themselves soon, her chances of survival would plummet.

  Worried that the zombie might be able to bend his neck far enough to bite her arm, Lindsey slid her right hand up from the dead man’s chest to grasp his neck. Though she was shaking with fear, she managed to turn them, placing the ghoul between herself and the stairwell. A few more backward steps and she was up against the reception desk, eyes darting between the monster that was determined to end her life and the doorway of the stairwell, where more danger lay.

  The beast began to claw at her midsection, causing Lindsey to scream in pain. She realized that it wasn’t just his teeth that were a danger. Had she not been wearing the leather jacket, it was possible that he would have been able to tear into her flesh. Using her gun was out of the question because the holster was out of reach of her left hand. She wasn’t sure she could hold him back with just one arm but she had to search the desk. Taking her left hand off his chest, she reached behind her and frantically searched the surface of the desk until her fingers moved over a letter opener. Her right arm was growing weak and her elbow was bending, bringing the deadly teeth closer by the moment.

  Grabbing the letter opener, she swung it up hard, plunging it into the eye of the putrid corpse whose mouth was now just inches from her neck.

  He slumped forward onto Lindsey and she tried to push him off but his heavy body dragged her to the floor.

  The shapes that were moving from the darkness near the stairs told her that some of the others had finally made it to the lobby. Lindsey pushed with all of her strength to finally shove the body away. She scuttled away from the dead that had begun to fill the room, her hand feeling for the flashlight along the way. When she bumped against it, she quickly picked it up, standing again. She had no idea if the infected could see her or not as she edged her way across the room and along the wall. When she finally bolted out the front door and into the cold air of the parking lot, she almost knocked Snake to the ground.

  “You okay?” he asked, seeing how badly she was shaking.

  She nodded and said, “I’m all right.”

  Snake had been worried when Lindsey hadn’t reemerged as soon as he had expected and he had been on his way in to check on her. He had the feeling that all hadn’t gone as planned, but he would ask her about it later. The undead began flowing out the door and Snake quickly turned to deal with them.

  Lindsey moved out of the way to let the others take over. Based on the large number of infected coming outside, the stairs were not going to be much of a hurdle for them after all. She glanced down at her right hand to see a sticky green substance on it. Making her way to a patch of grass, she wiped it off, hoping she didn’t have any cuts or scrapes on her hand that could become infected.

  The bikers had gathered in a semi-circle around the door and they started to back up as the zombies poured out of the building. When they were several yards back, they pulled out their silent weapons and began to pick the infected off, one by one. In addition to their other
weapons, most of Snake’s men had spears or pikes, fashioned from materials they had found earlier at the home improvement store. The weapons worked extremely effectively when jabbed into an eye socket or an ear. One shorter member of the team found it easier to come up under the chin, into the brain. It went like clockwork until the bodies started to pile up. As the men began tripping over the fallen dead, they found that they had to expand the circle, which spread them out and made them more vulnerable. To make matters worse, the bikes were in the way. They’d been parked in certain locations deliberately to light the area, but now they were becoming a liability, rather than an asset. As the seemingly endless stream of the undead poured out of the doorway, others were starting to come from various streets and alleys around the building. The number of dead pouring out of the building was staggering, and Snake could see that the plan was rapidly dissolving.

  Lindsey glanced around, worrying when she realized there were far more of the infected than she had expected. No wonder the people in the building hadn’t been able to get out, she thought. It was beginning to look hopeless. She knew that guns were still an option, but the noise would draw others which would make the rescue even more difficult.

  “Hey, Boss,” Wolf said suddenly. “What if we get on the bikes and lead them away from here, like we did at the medical supply store? Maybe we can find a parking lot nearby and then use the guns? That’ll maybe draw others that way, too, and then we can sneak back here.”