by Lanza, Marie
Andy and another man were holding down Johnny, whose hands were tied behind his back and his mouth was gagged.
“Daddy!” Sarah squealed and ran to the man assisting Andy. He didn’t even get to his feet by the time Sarah was in his arms.
“Looks like you got everything handled?” Emma looked down at Andy who was standing up.
“I was just on my way to get you.” Andy smiled. “This is Scott. And I see you met Sarah.”
Scott stood up with Sarah still wrapped around him. “Thank you for getting her back to me. Now I say we get the hell out.”
“Do you know anything about this place?”
“Yes, we took the so-called tour before things went downhill. These halls are all blacked out to keep people from trying to escape. Most were too scared to travel down them thinking they would run into what Roy called his guard dogs. But the halls are empty. They’re just for Roy and his goons to move around. The back of the school is the village. A lot of innocent people back there. There’s one way out of this maze and there is an emergency exit in the back of the village. There’s more of Roy’s men around the area. No doubt they’ve heard the shots and are releasing their monsters.”
“And the front? We came through the front.”
“False hope. It’s usually locked shut. Place looks safe, you walk in, Roy either gives a nice greeting or he opens the gates and the children flood in.”
Emma checked outside the door. Then back to the room. “Let’s get out of here before they open those gates.”
No one hesitated another second, leaving the room and Johnny struggling on the floor.
Scott took the lead, navigating the halls, with Sarah behind him, then Emma and Andy watching their backs.
They could see daylight coming from the front open area of the school. Scott began to slow down before reaching the end of the hall. They were too late. The little Carriers filled the court yard and it only took one to see them, before giving chase, and getting the attention of the others to follow.
Andy doubled back and dashed down the dark corridor from which they had emerged. He began checking every door they passed. Emma crossed the hall and checked the other side. Scott and Sarah weren’t far behind, and neither were the Carriers.
“We’re gonna run out of hallways if we don’t find something,” Andy shouted out, as there was no reason to be quiet anymore.
“This circles around back to the front.” Scott called back.
They just kept running. One foot in front of the other through the darkness, with the growls and hisses of the little Carriers behind their backs. It felt as though the walls were closing in on them, trapped rats, funneling through a maze.
Making it back to the open area, they were blocked by more little Carriers who were wandering around the exit.
“Shit!” Scott was frustrated.
“We can’t go back.” Emma said firmly.
“I count about ten left in here, we can take them, at least push them back enough to make it to the exit,” Andy said.
The hoard of Carriers from behind were coming fast. Emma’s heart sank at the thought of the children, all doomed to walk these halls forever.
The remaining Carriers in the open entry to the school set their eyes on the group and headed in their direction. Emma and the others ran along the wall on the opposite end of the oncoming Carriers, gaining some ground to the exit before they would have to make contact with each other.
Some of the little Carriers were so newly damned that they still had human-like features, making it much more difficult to think about putting a blade through their brains.
Emma gave a swift kick to the first Carrier she met, sending it stumbling back into another. Andy pushed at another, making way for Scott and Sarah to move past them closer to the exit.
Small bodies flooded into the atrium from the darkened corridors as Scott and Sarah reached the front doors to the school, and hurried out.
Emma and Andy were close behind, still trying in vain not to actually make a kill. Andy opened the door, pushed Emma through, and followed behind her, making sure the door was closed behind them.
“More coming!” Scott yelled out, pointing behind them to the left of the building.
Carriers were bursting around the corner, about ten of them, little children with the ghoulish grey skin, bleeding wounds, and fierce hunger.
Emma saw a man standing on the roof’s far corner, just above where the Carriers were coming from, watching, like he was waiting for a slaughter show.
More Carriers came swarming around the right of the building, and again, a man stood on the roof watching.
The entry gate Emma and Andy had entered the night before was closed and locked. Scott and Sarah were already climbing the fence, Scott bracing his daughter, helping her along. Emma and Andy right behind them, scaling up the chain link fence when Emma was pulled at her ankle. When she looked down a Carrier had its hands wrapped around her boot and attempting to sink its teeth through her heel.
Emma lost where she was as she gazed into the eyes of this little girl below her. She looked as though she was no more than eight years old. Her blond hair was a matted mess of dirt and blood, the color of her eyes were gone and replaced with a white haze, and she still wore a little dress with pink sneakers stained with all the horrors she had endured in her short life. Emma just watched. Watched, as the little dirty fingernails gripped at her jeans and tugged while continuing to chew on her boot. Anger continued to boil inside her as she pitied this little life.
“Emma,” His calls were fuzzy at first, “Emma!” Andy’s voice broke through her thoughts.
Emma kicked downward at the little Carrier’s face, releasing herself from its grasp. Andy was getting himself over the fence, while Scott and Sarah were waiting on the ground. Emma made it up and over, carefully navigating down.
“You alright?” Andy asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Emma answered looking back at the group who gathered at the fence. She then looked up to the roof where the men stood, but were now disappearing to the other side.
“I don’t understand, why don’t they pursue us? Emma asked Scott.
“They’re cowards. This place is all about control once you’re inside. But they don’t look for fights.” Scott explained.
“Let’s get out of here before they decide otherwise,” Andy said.
Scott picked up Sarah, twisting her around to his back. “I thought this was it. I thought I finally found security for us.”
“There’s no such thing,” Emma said plainly.
Emma and Andy led the way down the street parallel to the school grounds just beyond thick, tall bushes. They finally had a good vantage of the school. The windows were all boarded from the outside and re-enforced fencing was assembled against the inside fencing. Behind the school they were able to see the roofs of what was known as ‘The Village’ but nothing more.
“We need to find weapons, food…” Emma trailed off for a moment. “We won’t survive long with little knives.”
Andy nodded in agreement.
As they walked, they found the school grounds backed up to the woods. The street bled into a walking trail that lead into the trees.
They weren’t twenty feet in when they were greeted by a large group, looking disheveled and desperate.
END OF BOOK FOUR
The story continues in book five…
Check out Marie’s novel
Fractured: Outbreak Zom-813
Available in paperback and e-book!
Looking back it all began with one news story. A homeless man attacked another down on Skid Row. What didn't make headlines was that neither of these men were ever seen again.
After a deadly virus ravages major cities, Harmony and Dan find themselves in a frantic race to find their loved ones. They're quickly absorbed in a world that has collapsed and surrounded by infection that doesn't discriminate among its victims.
The only question that remains -- did the ou
tbreak already seal their doom?
Connect with Marie Online:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marie_lanza
Web: http://www.marielanza.com