by Henson, Lynn
“I’m not racist!” Blake objected. “You just jumped to a bunch of conclusions and walked off!”
“Oh, please. Did you or did you not mistake me for a Latino migrant worker? And didn’t you talk to me in Spanish to show off how worldly you are?” Kim debated.
“Well, ok, I admit I jumped to the wrong conclusion about your ethnic background,” he conceded.
“And, that had nothing to do with the fact I was dressed like a kitchen worker.”
“You have to admit, we have a lot of Latinos working in restaurants. So, sorry if I didn’t figure out your race with the quick glance I gave you when I was getting a drink.”
“If you didn’t think minorities were beneath you, to begin with, you’d have given more than just a quick-”
“Can we do this later?” Bree interrupted. “It’s not safe here.”
“I just want to let the whole thing drop,” Blake said dejectedly.
Kim looked like she wanted to say something else, but held it in. “Alright. Where are we going then?” she said instead.
“Back to your school. Pack anything you need and then we find a safer place,” Bree said.
“Do we need to go that far? This outbreak is pretty serious then?” Kim asked, her tone completely changed from a few moments ago.
“I think so,” Bree answered.
Now that the heat was off him, Blake took the chance to look closely at Bree’s sister. He didn’t really know if they had similar traits beyond being Asian, but Kim had a better figure than Bree. Her black running shorts and her yellow t-shirt that simply had a black number 9 on it made that pretty apparent. Her hair was straight and black, hanging down to her shoulders, but somehow had a great deal of volume. She had a pretty face, he decided. Something about the shape of her eyes and lips just accentuated a slim face and perfectly tanned skin. Too bad about her nasty personality. Sheesh. She acts like I’m trying to keep her down.
“Don’t forget your dorm mate,” he remembered.
“Are you talking to me? My dorm mate? What about her?” Kim asked, looking directly at him.
“She’s here. We came here together because she was worried about you.”
“Well, where is she?” Kim demanded.
“She’s on this floor somewhere. We were trying to find you downstairs but that detective guy rounded everyone up and moved us here for the night before she could find you,” he explained.
“You remember which room?” Bree asked him.
“I didn’t see her go in. The detective guy distracted me,” Blake admitted.
“Well, guess we gotta check them all again,” Bree said, gesturing around her.
“You shouldn’t have brought her,” Kim told Blake, “She’s kind of sensitive.”
He shrugged and sighed. “I just met her. She insisted.”
“I know. Of course,” she replied thoughtfully.
“Just be ready for anything,” Bree warned as she moved them down the hall, “The other women in Kim’s room were infected.”
“I noticed,” Blake said grimly as he followed after them. They had to stealthily go through five more rooms before they found Lisa’s. She was in the room by herself and oblivious to everything as she slept. Blake felt bad for her as Kim started shaking her. At first, there was no reaction, then all at once, Lisa propelled herself to the edge of the bed and would’ve probably fallen out if it weren’t for tucked in sheets. ‘Whoa! Whoa! Calm down! Lisa! It’s Kim! You’re ok!” Kim reassured her.
“Kim?” she asked as she looked around starting to calm down.
“Yeah, you’re ok,” Kim told her as she gave her a small hug.
“We came to find you,” Lisa told her as she removed herself from the bed, still dressed as she had been when they left the dorm. “Thought maybe you needed help.”
“I know, thank you. We have to go now, so if you’re ready?” Kim said gently.
Lisa nodded, and they went out.
twenty-seven
“Where’s your car, Bree?” Blake asked as they moved through the darkened casino hotel.
“In the parking garage. Where else would it be?” Bree answered.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, “We lost ours getting here.”
“How do you lose a car?” Kim said in disbelief.
“It wasn’t exactly a piece of cake getting in here. We’re lucky we only lost the car,” he shuddered.
Lisa squeaked at the reminder of their rough infiltration into the casino and Kim put her arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze to reassure her. Using the directory signs they easily made their way to the parking garage. As they reached the double doors that led out, Bree froze suddenly and the group ground to a sudden halt, alarmed. Blake looked out the glass doors and the parking level was crammed full of people. “You... parked somewhere out there Bree?” Blake asked, knowing she did.
“Yeah,” Bree replied softly.
“Maybe we should just find another car,” Lisa suggested.
“No,” Bree said immediately, iron in her voice.
“Yeah, that’s not going to fly with her,” Kim agreed.
“I’ve seen this before,” Blake realized.
“Of course we have,” Lisa agreed, “They’re all over the strip.”
“No, no... I don’t mean the infected. I mean what they’re doing... I’ve seen it before.”
Lisa looked out the door again. “They’re not doing anything,” she observed.
“Oh,” Bree said, comprehending, “You’re right. They’re not moving at all. Like at the convention center.”
Seeing a huge crowd of infected people was already strange and terrifying when you know just how dangerous they could be. But if you could get past the initial shock, that’s when you might notice what’s off about a bunch of zombies. Out on the street, they’re all doing their own thing from standing around to stumbling around in different directions. But these ones were perfectly motionless. Just like the time before the massacre started.
“Bree, I think if we hurry, we can get to your car,” Blake said hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.
“What?” Lisa asked, the color draining out of her face.
“That’s crazy,” Kim agreed, “You’re saying we just walk out there through that mob of infected people, get in the car and go?”
“Yeah. That’s pretty much it,” Blake admitted.
“That’s not worth the risk!” Lisa objected, “You don’t know when they’re going to decide they’re going to start moving again. It’s just a car, we can get another one.”
“How about this?” Bree said in a tone that said she was going to do whatever she was going to say next. “I go out and get my car, and I pick you up over where the shops are?”
“Ok...” Kim answered, “But I’m going with you.”
“No,” Bree shook her head, “I just found you, and I’m not going to risk anyone for my car.”
“I’ll go with her,” Blake said much to his own surprise. “You and Lisa go and wait at the entrance to the shops and we’ll pick you up.”
“It’s just a car!” Lisa tried to reason again, “It’s not-”
“Get going! Now!” Blake yelled as he grabbed Bree by the wrist and pushed the doors open and strode out into the parking garage with her.
He looked back and made shooing motions at Kim and Lisa. Lisa started moving away but Kim hesitated. Bree nodded reassuringly at her and she quickly followed after Lisa.
They looked at the motionless zombies standing five feet from them. “You sure about this?” Bree asked him.
“Just hurry,” he answered as he propelled himself towards the infected. The first few seconds it took to pass by the ones in front felt a lot longer than they were. Blake was absolutely certain that they were aware of his presence. He felt detached from himself as he forced himself to take each step towards a pale man wearing tourist clothes, pretty much normal except for a missing cheek through which you could see the teeth in his mou
th. He watched without blinking at the guy who still stood motionless and could almost feel the hunger coming from not only that one, but everyone around him. And then, suddenly he moved past him, brushing his shoulder which sent a spike of terror through his heart, but for a second nothing happened. Another second went by, then another. When nothing continued to happen they started moving, making their way through the mass of motionless corpses. “Where did you park Bree?” he whispered as loudly as he dared.
“This way,” she whispered back and drew them towards the right side. They kept dodging around the infected who continued to be oppressively still.
“Hurry Bree!” he said with urgency borne from a certainty that the zombies weren’t going to stay as they were for much longer. They skirted around a particularly dense group of the undead and her car came into view, backed into a space next to a minivan and the wall.
“We need another car,” Bree told him.
“What?! They’re going to wake up any second! We don’t have time for this!”
“No, no, I got a plan,” she said tossing him her keys, “Follow after me. If you mess up my car, I’ll kill you.” She went to the driver’s side of the minivan and opened the door. She grabbed an old bald man that was sitting in the passenger seat and flung him to the floor. He didn’t resist at all, so it looked like she was pouring human shaped jelly onto the floor. For one hair-raising moment, the man pushed himself slowly up to his feet, but once standing he remained motionless like the others. Bree got into the van and started it up. Understanding dawned on him and he rushed over to get into her car and started it up as well.
Bree was already accelerating forward crazily, smacking the original driver to one side as she started plowing into the crowd. He followed after her trying to stay just behind her so as not to waste the path she was cutting through the horde. The minivan was shunting the infected to the left and right sides as Blake drove after the van. He looked back in the rearview mirror and saw them get to their feet and resume just standing there. The minivan rounded a corner and headed down a ramp knocking hapless zombies off their feet sending them stumbling down and upsetting the balance of several others.
They had made it about halfway down the ramp when the infected started to move again. All at once, both of the cars were swarmed. Hands scrabbled at the sides of the car and Blake tried to focus on what Bree was doing. He watched as the minivan accelerated down the rest of the ramp knocking over even more of the undead, dominoing them into the ones that had drawn closer, attracted to the vehicles. She whipped the minivan around the corner and Blake followed as close as he dared. Bree had to be more selective about her path as all the racket she was making was causing the zombies to move towards her and limited her maneuvering options. All the hands pressing up on the windows was definitely creeping Blake out so he tried to focus on following after the minivan cum zombie plow ahead of him, tuning out everything else. Bree whipped the minivan around the corner again, over revving her engine and sliding the back a little as she slid around and accelerated down the next ramp. Good thing all those zombies she’s hitting are slowing her down, otherwise, I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up. That and if she was trying to actually lose me, she’d have probably have done it already. He gritted his teeth. “I’m going to keep up no matter what,” he reassured himself. The next instant, he had to step hard on the brakes to avoid ramming the back of the minivan. Blake could almost feel the daggers of ice reflecting off the rearview mirror of the minivan into his face. He waved casually in apology and the minivan lurched forward, slamming aside five zombies. They tumbled by the left side of his car as he followed after Bree. The exit was straight ahead and Bree accelerated towards it and Blake edged the car forward to make sure he kept up. Nearby zombies converged on the minivan and more were entering the garage area from outside. Blake could hear the roar of the minivan engine as she drove straight through the exit, slamming into as many of the zombies as she could. Blake exited the parking garage just after her and couldn’t help but scream, “Yahoo!”. The minivan drove straight for a little and then wobbled crazily before coming to a pathetic halt in the middle of the street. Concerned, Blake pulled up on the driver’s side as the door burst open and Bree hopped out and ran over to the driver’s side of her car. He shifted to neutral, pulled the parking brake and scrambled into the back seat. Bree got in the driver’s seat as he was buckling in and she wasted no time releasing the parking brake and powering the car down the street and resuming her more careful “avoid contact with zombies” driving style. “Good job,” she said quietly as she headed for the spot they agreed to meet her sister. Blake beamed at the praise and allowed himself to relax, putting his arms behind his head.
They pulled up to the shop’s entrance to the casino hotel and waited. After about thirty seconds had passed, Bree flashed her lights. They waited a little longer and Blake started to tense up again as no one emerged from the shops as they’d expected. Bree risked honking her horn, but the only thing that accomplished was more of the infected coming over to paw at the car. Bree leaned forward and laid her head on the wheel in frustration. Blake sat up and looked between the entrance of the building and Bree before saying, “Let me go in. If they’re ok, I’ll get them out.” Bree sat up suddenly and looked back at him as if she were trying to appraise him. “Ok,” she agreed, “I’m going to drive around and draw them away. Then I’ll come back here to let you out.” She pulled away, gently nudging aside the gathered infected and slowly drove across the street. As predicted, their undead friends followed after them clearing out the entrance to the shops.
Bree accelerated as she looped back around, distancing them from the pack. She came to a fast stop at the curb close to the entrance and reached over to unlock the door as Blake pushed the passenger seat forward and got out. Bree might have said something, but he hit the ground running having already scoped out a path of least resistance to get to the shops entrance unmolested. He followed his path and made it inside. The door opened easily and after confirming the other side was empty, he went in letting the door close behind him. It was dark inside, but not so much that he couldn’t see. He was on the bottom floor of a three level mall, decorated in the ancient Roman fashion the rest of the hotel was themed. He made out individual figures that were stumbling around which could only be zombies, but he wasn’t in any immediate danger. There was no sign of Kim, Lisa, or anyone that wasn’t infected for that matter. He walked over and found a directory. Ok, so to get from the parking garage to here, they would’ve had to go through the casino and enter this area on the second floor. Then from there, they need to come over to here and then come down to the first floor in order to get to the street. I should try to follow that path and hope that they also decided that was the way to come here. Plan in place, he started jogging towards the motionless escalators to head up to the second floor. He moved quickly, but not so fast that he couldn’t react to unexpected threats. Because he was being careful, he managed to spot the zombie as the escalator curved around and used the railing to skirt around him. He felt kind of parkoury as he jumped from the top of the railing and landed on the ground in a squat. The infected guy was still turning as Blake took off again at his semi-fast, cautious pace.
He skirted past a pair of zombies as he made his way along the shops towards the corridor that led back to the casino. While there were infected along the route, he was able to pass them easily enough. He was starting to think this was going to be easy and then kicked himself for jinxing it when he came to what was likely to be preventing Kim and Lisa from getting to the car. Just ahead of him the shops widened out into a circular area that was alive with the motion of fifty or so people. They filled the area with their bodies and the guttural sound of their grunting. A voice rang out from the room and different colored lights illuminated the zombies which contributed further to the idea that this area was a barely contained slice of purgatory. He crept closer, ready to run if he attracted the attention of any of the zombies,
but as he closed the distance he realized that they were all focused on the spectacle in the center of the room. The infected were all focused on an automated show that was being played out by Roman gods. The infected thronged uselessly at the inaccessible robotic actors as they played out their parts in their show. Shit, how is this thing still even working? There’s still power here?
He found an inconspicuous spot and took a closer look at the situation, trying to figure out a way through. The infected filled most of the area, but they all faced inward towards all the noise and movement. That’s something anyway. As long as I don’t bump into any that are coming to see the show, I should be able to skirt around the edge. He looked behind him to make sure he wasn’t getting snuck up on and moved into the room before he could change his mind. It was easier than he thought it was going to be, and he’d managed to get about halfway to the other side when he saw something that made him freeze in his tracks. Up on the stage, Kim and Lisa were huddled together behind one of the pedestals. Lisa looked miserable while Kim looked grim bordering on desperate. Ok. Fuck. So much for easy. Blake thought furiously, trying to figure a way to get them out of there safely which wouldn’t involve him getting eaten.
“AH! BLAKE! BLAKE! HELP US!”
To make matters worse, Lisa had somehow seen him and was now waving frantically at him and screaming. Blake froze like a deer caught in headlights and waited for the moment where all of the zombies in front of him turned around moved towards him. He fought the sudden urge to turn tail and run to anywhere but here, managing instead to keep motionless and quiet. Kim, to her credit, managed to calm Lisa down. When their eyes met, he could see that despite her resolve to keep calm and focused, she was afraid.
The crowd of zombie’s attention didn’t waver from the girls and a wave of relief washed over him. He gave Kim and Lisa a short nod and hoped the meaning came through. He moved along the edge of the room, searching for a way to get them out of their predicament. A large clothing store was near where he was standing and he saw something that was going to get them out of here. He walked into the store slowly, careful not to draw attention to himself, but not wanting to get surprised by anything that might still be in the store. He quickly found what he needed and ran over to the round rack of clothing. He cleared the glass top of the rack of the various coffee mugs and other knick-knacks piled on top of it. After all that stuff was placed on the ground, he removed the round glass top as well and placed it carefully against the wall. Satisfied, he pushed through the clothes and positioned himself at the center of the rack and lifted. The clothes made it heavy, but he knew from experience that garments were a layer of camouflage and defense that he’d rather have. He waddled slowly out of the store and towards the trapped girls.