by Henson, Lynn
"Ah... ah... fuck you!" protested the sleeper.
"Get up. Something's going on," Blake insisted.
"Ahh... fuck. What's going on? You handle it," he replied, annoyed.
"It could be dangerous," Blake tried again.
"Fuck! Alright! I'll get up! You don't have to wait for me though. I need to find some clothes because I'm not wearing any."
"Oh. Ok, see you in a bit," Blake said reasonably and walked out into the hall.
The hall was empty of course. Blake struggled to remember where Kim's room was and decided it was probably to the right and headed in that direction.
On the way, he saw a door with Lisa’s name on it so he reached for the knob when it pulled open of its own accord.
Lisa jumped when she saw him framed in the doorway.
"Sorry," Blake said blandly.
"Not your fault," she said, relaxing, hand going to her chest. "Just a little jumpy."
He nodded, "So what's going on?"
"Not sure. Kim's sister said something was happening and insisted that everyone wake up."
"Guess we should go find them," Blake suggested.
Lisa nodded, shutting the door behind her. They walked back down the hall together.
Kim and Bree popped out of Kim's room further down the hall and they congregated.
"What's going on?" asked Blake.
"I heard moaning outside the window," Bree replied.
"How could that be?" Blake said disbelievingly. "They're standing watch downstairs."
"I heard what I heard," Bree insisted. "I can't get any more rest until we figure out where it's coming from."
"Alright B," said Kim diplomatically. "How do you want to do this?"
"Floor by floor. I've checked this floor and it's quiet, so let's go one down and take a look around," she said confidently.
They all trudged down the stairs and emerged in the floor below. Bree started going systematically from door to door, listening briefly at each one. Lisa, Kim, and Blake followed her lead and did the same thing to speed up the search.
"Why did you wake us all up for this?" Blake wanted to know as they proceeded down to the next floor.
"Because if things get bad, they're probably going to get bad fast," Bree replied. "I don't want to have to waste any time getting you up and having to explain everything."
"Makes sense," Kim agreed.
It wasn't until they got to the fourth floor that they found what they were looking for.
At a door in about the middle of the building, Kim had been listening when she perked up and said, "I think there's someone in here."
Everyone else trotted over to where Kim was, and Bree listened at the door. Blake crouched down and put his ear against the door as well. "There was definitely something happening inside. Grunting and occasional smacking maybe.
"Now what?" he whispered to the others.
Bree rapped loudly on the door in response. "Anyone in there?" she called out.
The door went silent.
"Hey!" she tried again, "If you're in there, say something!" She rapped on the door more.
The doorknob started turning and everyone jumped back as if an electric current had been run through the door.
The door opened slowly and the face of the uninjured twin peeked out.
"Is everything alright?" Kyle asked, his face awash with worry.
"Yeah. Sorry to bother you," Blake replied.
"Everything ok in there?" Kim pressed, "We heard some weird noises and we're trying to find out what's making them."
A flicker of something crossed his face. "No. I haven't heard anything. Carrey is asleep in here and I'd prefer to keep it that way."
"Alright, we understand," Blake replied again. "Sorry to disturb you."
Kyle shut the door and they moved away from it.
"You think everything's really ok in there?" Lisa asked.
"Well, if his brother is a zombie, I don't think Kyle would've answered the door," Blake said logically.
"Unless he's tied him to the bed," Bree suggested.
"That's pretty kinky B," Kim said.
"He was injured when he came. It's more than likely that he's turned and his twin is protecting him," Bree further surmised.
"That does make a lot of sense," Blake admitted.
"Yeah, but I think Jack would've said something if he had bite marks," Kim countered.
"Maybe you don't have to get bitten. Who can really say how this thing spreads? And who’s Jack?" Bree replied.
“Scrawny guy downstairs? Star Trek nerd? You’ve met him,” Kim clarified.
There was a pause and then Bree continued, "I think we should demand to see the brother."
"What if he's totally normal?" Blake protested.
"Then we apologize and move on, better for knowing," Bree insisted.
They approached the door again, Blake knocked softly on the door. As the door opened again, something from behind them lunged at Lisa. They recoiled from the young female zombie whose face with caked with gore, someone’s entrails still hanging from her mouth. She stepped towards Lisa again who shrieked and fell backward, barely avoiding getting grabbed.
Bree wasted no time in kicking Kyle's door which went from being opened a crack to fully open. Someone in the room fell to the ground and grunted in dismay as Bree rushed into the room. Blake and Kim grabbed Lisa by her arms and dragged her in. Kim tripped over Kyle and fell to the ground. Once they got her in, Blake whirled around and tried to close the door. The door thudded onto a girl's arm which clawed at the air inside their room.
Blake braced himself up against the door and pushed harder. This seemed to cause the girl's arm to claw more frantically as if the pressure of the door injected more energy into the arm.
Blake looked around and for something usable and spied the handle of a baseball bat propped against the wall next to one of the desks. “Someone get that bat!” he yelled as he continued to hold the door closed. Bree grabbed it pulling it free.
Bree got close to the open side of the door, bat at the ready as if to swing at a pitched baseball. The zombie saw her and was trying to wedge her face into the space kept open by her arm.
She was about to swing then thought better of it and placed the tip of the bat onto the zombie’s face and pushed her backward. This caused the arm to disappear so Blake slammed the door closed and then slid down against the door, turning to sit down.
"Well, now what?" Lisa asked anxiously as she got up.
Everyone then looked anxiously over at Carrey, suddenly remembering why they were here in the first place.
His form lay still under a blanket, the relative darkness of the room veiling his condition.
At least he's not trying to eat us.
There was a loud bang on the door, causing Blake to scurry forward away from it and stood up.
The door took another hit. Bree moved to the peephole and looked out. She recoiled back just before the door thudded from an impact and looked back at them.
"There's more than one out there now," she informed them.
Kim nodded towards Kyle who was still laid out on the floor. "He alright?"
"When Bree kicked the door in, he probably got knocked out," Lisa said.
Blake crouched down closer to Kyle to make sure he was still breathing. "He's alive," he confirmed.
Bree walked over to the bed holding Carrey and grabbed the blanket and yanked it off him.
Carrey came awake immediately, reflexively scooted away from them and connecting his head with the bed frame. "Ouch! What? What's happening?"
"Well, that's good. You’re still a person," Lisa said.
"What happened to Kyle?" he said, sounding scared.
"Whoa, whoa! Relax! Kyle is ok. He just got knocked out when we kicked the door in to get away from the zombies in the hall," Blake reassured.
There was a pregnant pause.
"What?" Carrey said, confused.
"It's not as bad as it sounds,"
Kim clarified. "Your brother is definitely going to be alright. But there are zombies outside trying to get in, so we've got to figure something out."
"Maybe we can go out the window?" Blake suggested.
"If we had rope, maybe," Bree replied.
"Sheets?" he further suggested thinking back to the Pendrakes.
"I'm guessing two’s not enough," Bree countered.
"Maybe we just yell out the window and get Harper to come up here," Lisa contributed.
"That also might attract more of them," Bree countered. "Then they'd have their hands full dealing with the new problem instead of helping us."
“And plus: paintballs,” Kim pointed out.
"Is someone going to help Kyle?" Carrey asked.
"Oh, sure," Kim replied helpfully. She crouched down and gently gave him a couple slaps on each of his cheeks. "Pssst," she said. "Come on, time to wake up."
Kyle actually came awake, his eyes fluttering open. "Uh... what happened?"
"You bumped your head," Blake replied.
Kyle sat up. "I’m dizzy."
"Probably about right," Kim sympathized.
"Who's banging on the door? And how do we make them stop? It's making my head hurt," Kyle complained.
"We're talking about that right now," Blake said.
"And there hasn't really been anything useful so far," Bree complained.
"Maybe we can knock them out with the bat," Carrey said pointing at Bree.
"Maybe if we can get out into the hall with it. It's too cramped in here to really use it," Blake reasoned.
"We can't risk having it bite us," Bree insisted. "There's got to be a better way."
"There is," Carrey said as he struggled to get out of bed and get to his feet. Kyle moved to his side protectively but Carrey waved him off. "Help me with this," he said, tugging the blanket off the floor and tossing the pillow after it.
Kyle seemed unsure of his brother’s intentions until Carrey pulled the mattress a quarter of the way off the bed frame. Comprehension set in, and Kyle pulled the mattress all the way off and got it standing up long ways. He moved it so it faced the door and glanced back at Carrey with a small grin. Carrey nodded returning the smile. He waved everyone to gather around him.
"Get back, and get ready to move," Carrey said with a voice filled with anticipation.
Everyone got behind Kyle except for Blake who got next to the door and placed his hand on the doorknob. He crouched down slightly and leaned back to show that he was ready to pull the dorm room door open.
Blake heard Kyle say, "Go!" from behind the worn out mattress, and Blake opened the door and tried to get out of the way while still holding the door open. Kyle rushed forward and filled the doorway with mattress. The mattress was larger than the doorway though, and the edges caught. Undaunted, Kyle continued to push at the center of the mattress and Blake saw the outer parts curl inward. Blake could almost sense the indecision of the people behind him as they watched Kyle's efforts when suddenly the mattress squirted through the door all at once with Kyle falling down on top of it.
Blake was about to rush out of the room when he saw John in the hallway to the left of the mattress lunge for Kyle. Fortunately, he saw the motion and rolled out of the way to the right side. "John? What the hell?" Kyle managed to stammer out as he crab walked away from him and the mattress.
From his vantage point, Blake could see that John's back shoulder looked like it had been clawed apart by rabid raccoons. He shifted back quickly and reached for the bat, only to get knocked off balance by everyone who had rushed forward to exit the room. They were stalled though by the situation in the hallway and through people’s legs he saw John crawling on the mattress towards Kyle.
Kyle tried to get to his feet, but a hand sticking out from under the mattress had gotten a hold of his ankle and it was all he could do to keep from getting pulled closer to its owner. “Fucking shit!” Kyle complained, trying to get himself free.
"Agh! Wait! Wait!" Blake said ineffectively as he struggled to regain his balance while groping at the bat.
He finally managed to get a hold of it and looked for a way past the confused tangle of people. "Excuse me," he said as he wedged himself forward past Lisa and Carrey. John was halfway to his feet and looked ready to lunge at Kyle. Blake sensed time was up and swung overhead for all he was worth.
Suddenly his arms felt like they'd been pulled out of their sockets and he felt the bat slip from his hands to the floor. The ping noise it had made was unexpected and early. After a few stunned seconds, he realized that the bat had connected with the top of the doorway. Determined though to save Kyle, his hands numbly grabbed the bat and he stepped forward and swung meekly at John. He connected, but it was with the same force as if he were patting someone on the back. John was still moving single-mindedly towards Kyle who was still held in place by the zombie that was stuck underneath the mattress John was crawling over.
Bree got in front of him and took the bat from his hands. She moved directly in front of John who hissed at her and began to move towards her when she did an overhead swing with the bat. The entire four or five inches of the bat seemed to disappear into John's skull with a crunch. The things head was filled with black, chunky goo. I was expecting more grey chunks. He gagged but managed to keep from hurling.
With Carrey’s help, Kyle managed to pry the hand off his ankle and get to his feet. Bree had left the bat in the ruins of John's head and was walking purposefully towards the stairwell. Lisa looked back with some concern, then grimaced at the female zombie who was gradually worming out from under the mattress and followed after Bree. Blake felt a hand rub him quickly on his back.
"Come on. We gotta go," he heard Kim say.
He nodded and started moving purposefully after the others.
The exertion from climbing the stairs took Blake's mind off of the horrific scene that had played out in front of him and by the time they were back on the top floor, he was feeling a little winded, but a lot less nauseous.
Up ahead he saw Lisa go into her room, and then the hallway was empty except for Kim and himself. Kim moved hurriedly ahead and caught the door before it closed. Blake heard Lisa mutter, "Oh, sorry." Blake followed Kim inside and saw everyone spread around the room looking solemn. Bree's face looked completely devoid of emotion.
"I'm leaving," Bree announced. "I don't think this place is going to be safe for much longer. Anyone who wants to come with me is welcome."
"Why don't you think it's going to be safe?" Blake wanted to know.
"I think that once they've gotten all the holdouts that are holed up in casinos and hotels, they'll be on the move looking for more," Bree explained.
"And we're not all that far away," Kim confirmed.
"But what's your plan?" Kyle asked. "You think you've got this all figured out?"
"I'm going to go where it's likely that people weren't overwhelmed. Someplace small and easily overlooked," Bree further elaborated.
Kim squatted down next to Lisa and gripped her hand reassuringly.
"I think it makes sense," Kim said. "I'm going with B. And I'm not just saying that because she's my sister."
Carrey started nodding, "Yeah, that does sound better than sitting here and waiting. We came from the strip and I have to tell you that if even a quarter of those things come this way, we're screwed."
"What about my parents?" Lisa asked disparagingly.
"Aren't they in New York?" Kim remembered, "If that city is anything like this one, you just have to hope they found shelter. But really Lisa, the best thing you can do is to keep yourself safe. Once they get this shit under control I'm sure the phones will start working again and you'll be able to see how your parents are."
Lisa took this in, "Alright. I'll go with you too."
Sensing his turn, Blake said, "I've followed Bree this far. I'm not going to stop now. Let's find somewhere to wait this out."
"Alright, the first thing is to pack your stuff up," Bree informed
them, "After that, we have to stock up on food. Let's see how much we can reasonably take and not upset the people who're still here. Then we have to work out the transportation. We're not all going to fit in my car."
"I'll work on the food situation," Blake volunteered. "I'll find Carrington and discuss it with him since my stuff is already packed."
"We'll work on getting more cars," Kyle said. "I don't have anything to pack."
Kim stood up. "I guess we'd better get to it then." She reached her hand out to Lisa who took it and stood as well.
"Just what you need, ok?" Bree told her sister and Lisa.
Kim waved in response as she walked out of the room. Kyle and Carrey exited the room as well. Lisa grabbed a backpack and looked around sadly, trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind. Bree lay on top of the bed she'd been sitting on and closed her eyes, bringing her fist to her temple. She looked like she was thinking about a particularly difficult problem.
"Well, I'll be downstairs," Blake announced.
No one said anything and he headed out the door.
He passed Kyle and Carrey on the way downstairs. Carrey had to take the stairs slowly because of his injury. Kyle was patiently helping him down. They stood aside when they heard him coming and Blake hurried past them, muttering his thanks.
He had just passed the fourth floor when the door pushed open startling him. He looked out the door as it opened and the pale face of the female zombie that was under the mattress bled out of the darkness of the hall beyond the door. Panic froze him in place for a second, and then he continued down the stairs even faster. Then he stopped halfway down the flight between three and four, remembering Carrey and Kyle were above him somewhere.
"Kyle!" he hissed up the stairwell, not really convincing himself that Kyle or Carrey could actually hear him. Blake could hear footsteps from above, but that didn't give him any useful information other than someone was above him. Crap, I'm going to do something stupid. He quietly started back up the stairs, trying to determine where the blonde zombie was. He found her on the stairs between the third and fourth floors, but to his shock, she was walking up the stairs instead of tumbling down them. Shit, I thought they couldn't go upstairs. She must have gone after me initially then the twins probably got their attention. He could see Kyle and Carrey carefully navigating the steps and had not yet seen the gory blonde who was climbing the steps towards them just as slowly. Internally he grimaced and he took the remaining stairs two at a time to get to blondie and he grabbed her shoe and yanked. As expected, she fell face forward, her head landing on the top step. She slid down one stair all while thrashing around. Kyle and Carrey looked around in alarm at the commotion. "Kyle!" he called, "Try the other stairwell!"