by Brian Berg
“That was me.”
“So, you saved these two and she disarms you.” Eddie shook his head. “That's-”
“Not cool, yeah, I know.”
“Actually,” a calm, new voice came into the room, “I believe what your bodyguard was about to say was that it was unfortunate. Go on, Edwin, step inside.”
Eddie came all the way into view and when he did, I saw that there was a large revolver at his back. “Sorry, kid. They jumped me when I was busy taking care of business.”
Barbie's eyes narrowed. “They?”
Stepping into the infirmary behind Eddie were the last two people I ever wanted to see in any situation, least of all this one. Hangman held the revolver at Eddie's back. A smile spread across his face when he saw the three of us. “Well, what do we have here? A lovely young woman, a medical officer and a man that I have been wanting to see for a while now. A rather nice turn of events, considering. Hound, secure the door, won't you, my boy?”
The younger inmate shut the door and made sure it was locked. He kept his face pressed against the window, keeping an eye out. It was funny, he looked like a dog who was eagerly awaiting the return of his master so he could go out for a walk. He wore a duffel bag on his shoulder.
Hangman had his attention on Barbie. “My dear, if you would be so kind as to relinquish your firearm?”
“Give me one reason why I should.” She wasn't aiming at me anymore. She was aiming at the bigger threat in the room.
“Because, if you don't, I will be forced to shoot this man. Once I do that, I will shoot you. I may not look like it, but I am a quick shot and I rarely miss. Especially at a close range such as this.”
I looked at Barbie, then at Hangman, then back at Barbie. “For Christ's sake, put it down! This guy's killed enough to earn a death sentence, he isn't lying about shooting Eddie or you!”
She glared at me. “You keep your mouth shut, inmate.”
“I'm going to count to five, my dear, and if you do not heed my request, there will be consequences. One.”
“Drop the gun!” I pleaded.
“I said stay out of it!” She eyed my prison tag above my breast pocket. It carried my prison ID number: 110232. “Just back up and give me a better shot, inmate!”
“Two.”
I didn't. I did something stupid instead. I came between her shot and Hangman. “Listen to him or else we're going to be screwed!”
“Three.”
“I won't! I have no idea what the fuck is going on around here, but I will be damned if I will let an inmate run things! Now back away or I'll shoot you too!”
“Four.”
Fuck it. I don't think she expected me to lunge at her like I did, judging from the surprised look on her face. I came in quick and slugged her in the face. As she went down, I took the gun away from her and threw it behind me. That was the first time I've ever hit a woman.
I didn't like it.
“Thank you for the assistance,” Hangman praised as Hound collected the discarded pistol from the floor. “We're off to a good start, I think, a very good start. Edwin, you're free to join them. Don't try anything now.”
I didn't know Hangman well, or at all really, but I hated him. The way he spoke, the way he acted, it was like he was an educated man but without a soul. I knelt down beside Barbie, who was laying on the floor next to Johnny. Eddie was at my side almost instantly.
“I'm sorry,” I said quietly. “I had to do it, you didn't give me any choice.”
There was a fresh bruise already forming on her face. She glared such hatred at me. “Get away from me, inmate!”
“Sorry, lady,” I shook my head. “Guards aren't in charge anymore.” I turned to Hangman. The old bastard was smiling from ear to ear. He was enjoying this. “So what now?”
“Now?” He gave a casual shrug, the smile still on his face. “Why, now we're going to get some answers. Then we'll get out of here.”
“What do you mean answers? You know what's going on?”
“No, but I suspect that young man in the scrubs has a faint notion.”
“He's a medical student, he doesn't know anything!”
“He's the only medical personnel I've managed to come across that isn't one of the walking dead out there. I believe he would know something of what's going on.”
Johnny stood up. He looked like he was about to piss himself. “I don't know what's going on. I don't know why it's like this!”
“You know something, surely.” Hangman pointed the revolver at him. “Anything relating to this will do, boy. Once you do that, we can all get away from this dreadful place.”
“But-”
He pulled the hammer back. “This is a Colt Python. A little treat I picked up for myself when I came across our dear warden, who had met a sad fate at the teeth of those that walk these halls. Now, tell me something or I will blow the back of your skull out with this like I did with him.”
Johnny looked at us. He looked desperate, and I couldn't blame him. Eddie said nothing, he just glared at the two who held us at gunpoint. Barbie? She was still testing out her jaw, making sure I hadn't broken it.
The poor kid licked his lips and cleared his throat. “A-Alright, I'll tell you what I know, but it isn't much.”
“Good boy.” Hangman nodded. “Go on then.”
Nervous as a whore in a church, Johnny pushed up his glasses. “Today was my first day of volunteer work here at the prison and just after I started, we saw a bunch of guards and inmates come in here. They had been bitten by other inmates, but I thought it was just a fight or something.
“Before everything went bad, I had heard from the other workers here that this wasn't the first time someone in the prison had bitten someone. For the past couple of weeks, according to them, at least a dozen of guards and some office workers had been bitten.
“I had asked to see them, to see how they were doing, but they said that they had been absent from work lately. They had called and said they weren't feeling well, so they stayed in town.”
My stomach tightened. Christ Almighty, this had leaked into the city.
“At first, everything seemed okay, but then they started to go all crazy! I mean, the people who got bit suddenly tackled some of the others and started to bite at their necks, ripping out huge chunks of their flesh right off the bone! We had guards run in to put a stop to it, but they just got overrun.
“That's when I saw something that I couldn't explain or believe. Those that had died were getting up off the floor and joining in the attacks.” Johnny shook his head and seemed to become distant. “It was...I just...”
“How did you manage to survive?” Hangman asked calmly. “You say that you were in the heart of the mess, yet you do not seem harmed?”
Johnny looked ashamed. “I...hid in the supply closet.”
“That's where I found him when I came in,” Barbie finally spoke up. “A couple of those things found out where he was and was trying to get inside at him, but I put 'em down.”
“I see. So, you have no idea what caused all this?”
“Other than the bites?” Johnny shrugged helplessly. “No, not a thing. I didn't get a chance to study anything. I just want to get out of here and go home.”
“There may not be a home to go home to,” I said loudly. Now, everyone was looking at me. “The kid said that people had been bitten and were sick at home. If bites really did start this...zombie plague here, then what the fuck do you think is happening right now in Falling Rock?”
Eddie swore quietly.
“So, what do we do now?” Barbie muttered, looking at us all. “If the city is in trouble, is there any point of getting out of here?”
“Yes, there is,” Hangman declared. “I do not wish to be among the dead, walking or not, inside this place and I assume you all do not wish that as well. We're all getting out of here together.”
“Why the hell should we put ourselves with you?” I snapped.
“Safety in numbers. No
t to mention,” he waved the revolver around, “that I have a little more firepower than any of you do at the moment.”
“Then what's the point of bringing us along if you have the guns?” Barbie asked. “Take what you can and leave!”
“No. As much as I prefer to be in solitude with at most, one companion, I am willing to make an exception in this situation. We're all leaving this place together.”
“You have the guns, what are we supposed to use?”
“I have enough to spare, as well as ammunition. Hound, the bag.”
The rapist opened up the duffel bag and showed us a small collection of guns and bullets.
“As you can see, we have some supplies. We're going to arm ourselves, and we're going to get out of here via the garage and a transport. Provided, of course, one is still there or functional. We don't know how great this incident is in the rest of the building, so we do not also know how extensive the damage is with equipment.”
“What's to keep us from shooting you two?” Barbie had this sly look on her face. She had an itch to plug these two right then and there. I could see it in her eyes.
“Even the most intellectually challenged person can see that we stand a better chance of getting out of here alive with more people. With each one that falls, our chances get slimmer and slimmer. My dear, what would you like to do more: get out alive or try to kill the two of us?”
I looked away. “I know the answer to that.”
“Now, enough chit chat, hm? Let's get going.”
We left the infirmary. Eddie and I had joined up with not two, but four other people. One crybaby, one humper-for-life and two people who I'm pretty sure wanted to shoot me for different reasons. Think our luck was bad at this point? Oh sure, our luck turned bad, there's no doubt about that.
But it got a lot worse.
Chapter Eight
“Eddie? You okay? You don't look too good.”
“He looks sick.”
“He's so pale.”
“Christ, he's holding his left arm. He's having a heart attack!”
Eddie slid down against the wall, his skin had lost a lot of its original color from before. His breathing was ragged and he looked like he was about to throw up or something. When I saw that, the first thing that came to mind was “Heart attack! He's having a damn heart attack!”. When I was younger, my old man had two heart attacks. He pulled through both of them, but I will never forget the symptoms.
“Johnny, check him out.”
Even though he was only a med student, the crybaby of a doctor knelt down to Eddie, medical kit in hand. Eddie started to shove him away, but he seemed so weak now. He couldn't even get the kid to move.
“Eddie, take it easy, let him look at you,” I urged him. “Come on man, don't do anything stupid.”
He grimaced. “Too late for that.”
It only took Johnny a couple of seconds to find out the diagnosis, but it wasn't what we had thought. It wasn't a heart attack Eddie was having right now. There was a bite mark, a big one, on Eddie's forearm.
I started to feel sick myself. “Oh, Jesus. Eddie! When?”
“Just before we ran into them.” He looked to Hangman and Hound, who were standing off to the side, keeping an eye out for any zombies. From there, they could see Eddie's problem easily. I couldn't make out what Hangman said, but I could tell he wasn't happy. Hound looked scared.
“When we split up, after we heard the scream,” Eddie went on, “I got bit by one of those fuckers. I managed to bash its skull in after. I barely had anytime to hide it when they jumped me.”
“Why didn't you say anything?”
He shrugged, smiling. I couldn't understand how he could be smiling right now. Didn't he know? He had to have known!
“Eddie! Why didn't you say anything?”
“What?” he chuckled. “Bring everyone down? We're among the living dead and there's a good chance there's more outside. I didn't want to bring in more bad news by saying 'Oh, by the way guys, I got bit and I'm gonna die, so you're going to have to shoot me in the head so I don't come at you!'. Besides, we needed to get as far as we could before it went downhill for me. If you guys had known, Hangman probably would have killed me in the infirmary.”
“You are correct, Edwin,”
We turned to see Hangman standing there, his revolver aimed at Eddie's face. I immediately raised my own pistol to him, and that caused Hound to point his hot iron at me, and Barbie aimed hers at him. It was like we were having some sort of damn Mexican standoff or something.
Hangman didn't seemed concerned with my gun in his face. “He is going to die. He is going to turn and become one of those things. Then, he will try to kill us.”
“That doesn't give you the right to kill him! You shoot and I will put you down. It won't be the first time I've killed one of the living, Hangman!”
He looked at me and smiled. God, I hated that smile. “Would you do it then? Would you kill him?”
“If he doesn't, then I will.” Barbie kept her shotgun trained on Hound. “If you want to still be standing, inmate, I suggest you lower your weapon.”
“Oh sure, like he'll listen to that.”
“AAAAH!”
It was too late. Eddie had already gone past the point of no return. He had turned and was now latched onto Johnny, taking a good sized bite out of his shoulder. This time, Johnny didn't scream like he screamed when I first heard him. His screaming now made my blood run cold.
“I TOLD YOU!” Hangman cried, backing up. “I FUCKING TOLD YOU!”
Barbie took aim at Eddie.
“No!” I knocked the barrel away. “Don't!”
“Back away, inmate!”
“I said don't shoot him!” I looked at Eddie. His body was there, but all that was Eddie was gone now. “Eddie! Hey, Eddie! Over here!”
Chewing a hunk of flesh, blood dripping off his chin, Eddie looked up from the sobbing student and at me. “That's right, big boy, right here! Come get me!”
He staggered to his feet. Johnny, holding onto his shoulder, scuttled away from the zombie. Eddie came closer to me. The others were pulling back, but I didn't move a muscle.
“Goodbye, Eddie.”
I pulled the trigger. Everything felt like it was in slow motion. There was a flash of light at the end of the barrel. The smell of gunpowder flew up my nose. The recoil made my hands shake and I almost dropped the gun.. One of Eddie’s eyes exploded from the bullet and he fell over like a ton of bricks. I could feel a tear start to roll down my cheek, but I didn't care.
“Oh Jesus!” Hound screamed. “More of them!”
I turned to see another group of zombies shuffling into the hallway. At first, they came from the end of the hall, but then a door from the side burst open and more spilled out into the hall. This group came between us and Hangman and his little bitch.
“Forget them,” Barbie pulled on my shoulder. “Let's go! We're close to the garage, we can make it!”
“HE BIT ME! HE BIT ME! OH GOD HE BIT ME!” Johnny climbed to his feet. Eddie's pistol was in his hand. He pressed the barrel to the bottom of his chin.
Barbie's eyes went wide. “Johnny!”
“Don't do it, kid!”
“I don't want to become one of them! I'm gonna die the way I wanna die!”
He pulled the trigger. The wall was splashed red and he just slid down against the wall. The zombies walked over his body, some of them grabbing it and pulling closer for food.
Barbie and I turned tail and ran.
We just ran.
Chapter Nine
Barbie and I found ourselves in a stairwell. Strangely, this was a safe place. We could tell because there wasn't any sign of death or walking death in this place. We heard no moaning, no shuffling around, and we saw no blood smeared or pooled anywhere. Somehow, this place had been completely untouched by the zombies out there. We sat down on the landing between the levels. It had started raining outside; the windows were getting pounded and there was the occ
asional thunderclap and flash of lightning.
“What do we have left?” I asked, looking over at her shotgun. I was already missing my Glock.
She checked her ammunition. “I have one shell left.”
“Are we close to the garage?”
“Should be just a walk down the hall once we hit the next level.” She cradled her shotgun. “We just lost four people at one time. Think we can make it out of here?”
“I have no idea, but I ain't gonna just stop and let these bastards take me. I'm gonna give it all I got, even if I die. I'm not even supposed to be here in the first place, I want out! Zombies or not!”
She looked at me. “Why are you here?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Trying to keep sanity, I guess? I mean, we're running from flesh-eating zombies for Christ's sake! This shouldn't even be happening, how can this possibly be sane on any level?”
I grinned.
“Why are you here?” she repeated, this time in a softer tone.
Oh, what the hell.
“I was a truck driver, going between cities, getting up big loads and stuff for a living. It was pretty good pay, but it kept me away from my family sometimes.”
“Wife?”
“Married about ten years.”
“Kids?”
“Two of them. A boy and a girl.”
“How old?”
“My son is eight and my daughter is six.” I smiled at the thought of my family. It hurt too, but I kept the smile. “Like I said, the job took me away from my family at times. They understood though, it was a job and I needed one, so I couldn't just throw it away because I hated the arrangements.
“One night, I had come home from a trip to Denver, after delivering a load that gave me a lot more money than recent jobs had. I was walking up the steps to the door when I heard my wife crying. At first, I thought she was just upset because of the kids misbehaving or something, but then I heard something break and I heard another man's voice.
“I went inside and I found my family in a corner, holding one another while a guy in a ski mask was pointing a gun at them. He was going through some of our stuff.”