First Date- a Novella (9 page)

“Can you shoot them further away?” Beth asked as they walked over the corpse.

“This isn’t exactly a sniper rifle, girl,” Malik said, raising it as two more stepped out. When the first was ten feet away, Malik squeezed the handle quickly, trying to save as much gas as he could. The marble shot out, hit the woman in the nose, passed into her skull, and exploded from the velocity.

One second, her head was there, and the next, only her bottom jaw remained. “I’m fucking making me one of those,” Larry said as Malik shoved another wrapped marble down the pipe and aimed at the man stumbling toward them.

The group never slowed their steady pace as the SP’s head blew apart. Malik looked behind him. “Stooges, don’t fall so far back,” he said, seeing they were twenty feet behind them.

They closed up, and Ginger looked down at a gold ink pen sticking out of a kid’s skull. “Good job, stud,” she mumbled, gripping her spear tight as more SPs came around the corner.

“Alright, Daniel turned right here, and more are coming out of the left side. Move up, and pivot left, and stop, sealing off the hallway, and let’s deal with what’s coming,” Malik said, stuffing another marble down the pipe. “Stooges, you will have to watch for any that Daniel missed, so get ready.”

Moving down the hall, Malik shot three more as the group rotated, swinging around and sealing off the hallway to the left. “Nothing but bodies behind us, and I don’t see anything from here to the elevators,” Moe called out as Malik shot another SP.

“Well, we have more than enough to deal with here,” Malik said, shoving a marble down the pipe. Glancing back up, he could see an easy fifty plus stumbling toward them. “Move down to those doors. We are going to have to close them before we can head to the food court.”

“Let me just run down there and close them,” Ginger said as Malik squeezed the handle.

“Bullshit,” Malik said, shoving a marble in the pipe. “You get hurt, and Daniel will throw my ass out of the building. Just like we practiced; now, let’s go.”

When Malik squeezed the handle for the twentieth time, he sighed, watching the woman’s head explode. “Glad I made more than twenty,” he said, shoving a marble in the pipe. On shot twenty-three, he squeezed the handle, and unlike before, he saw the marble fly out the pipe, striking the woman in the forehead.

And the marble stopped, buried half in her skull, snapping her head back and making her fall. “Alright, spear time,” Malik said, throwing the empty extinguisher down the hall and pulling up his spear.

Wherever the SP fell on the line of shields was what determined who stabbed it in the head with a spear. The person behind the shield bearer would thrust out, aiming at the skull. Everyone soon found out the human skull was hard to stab unless you did it in a hard thrust.

Walking over the bodies they killed, they finally reached the fire doors. “Stop,” Malik panted and eased between Holly and Beth’s shields. More SPs were down the hall, but as Malik shut the door and watched it close, they weren’t a problem.

“Spin around, and let’s head to the food court,” he said, wiping his face. “Lonnie, swap out with Moe, and Gary, swap out with Curly.”

Turning around and swapping out, they moved back to the junction and headed for the food court. Losing count of how many she had stabbed, Ginger looked at her watch, seeing they had been out in the halls for over an hour, and they had just reached the elevators.

“Malik, we need to move faster. Daniel has been on his own for too long,” Ginger said, thrusting out her spear and taking down a man who was missing an arm.

“He’s a big boy,” Malik said with a grunt as he thrust out, driving his spear in an old man. “We’ve hit two thick groups, and our formation is holding up. Move faster, and we could get buried.”

Knowing he was right but not liking it, Ginger watched Curly stab an SP and shake it off his spear then stabbed another that was right behind it. Turning around the elevators, those in the back had to kill some that stepped out of the hallway they passed, but the group was moving fast enough that they outpaced the rest.

When they rounded the last corner into the food court, they stopped. A throng of SPs were around the waterfall, and Daniel was sitting at the top, shooting at the group with his slingshot. They watched as one in the back dropped then noticed Daniel was shooting those at the back, leaving the ones at the front alone.

“Wedge,” Malik called out. Larry and Curly pulled the shields off their backs and moved to the end of the shield line as Holly moved up, and the others formed a V behind her.

“Hey, just stay there,” Daniel said, releasing a marble that snapped a kid’s head back. “They will come to you, and I should be able to get down.”

“Alright, hold,” Malik said as the SPs turned. He saw the group was at the same level they were. As the group left the fountain, they tripped over the bodies Daniel had killed behind them. “Keep tight, and Lonnie, watch our back,” Malik said, stopping his count at a hundred.

Daniel shot six more and shoved his slingshot back in his belt. Grabbing his flail, he climbed down quickly as the first of the SPs reached the wedge. Daniel came up behind the mass and swung the flail like he was cutting down wheat.

As the group stabbed the SPs, their bodies started stacking up around the wedge. “Pull back six steps,” Malik called out. The SPs halfway to the group started acting confused. They turned to see Daniel behind them then moved toward him; then, they would hear the group, turn and see them, and head back.

Over forty walked in a circle as the group and Daniel continued killing. When all that were close were down, Daniel came over. “Come on; we need to hurry. I could only close two of the fire doors, sealing them in the east wing.”

“Were there a lot?” Curly asked.

“This area was fucking packed shoulder to shoulder,” Daniel said, walking to Ginger. “I’m kind of messy, but I’m kissing you in my mind.”

Ginger looked at the gore coating Daniel and smiled. “I’m not telling you what I’m doing to you in mine.”

Looking up at the others, Daniel said, “We need to go,” and spun around.

“Don’t we need to move in formation?” Malik called out.

“Dude, that group gets here, and we won’t have enough strength to stab all of them in the head,” Daniel said over his shoulder. He ran up the north hall out of the food court and could see bodies on the floor.

They ran past a store and saw dozens of SPs pressed up against the glass door. With Daniel in the lead, the others stayed in a line behind him. Moving at a jog, Gary started falling back, and those behind him passed him.

Hearing a crash behind him, Gary huffed and tried to run faster. “Guys, wait,” he called out.

Twenty yards ahead of him and pulling away, Curly spun around and jogged backwards. “Move your ass. This is a fucking jog,” he snapped then spun around.

Dropping his spear, Gary pumped his arms as the group disappeared around a corner. Panicking, he reached back and pulled the batons off his back, dropping them on the floor. He thought shedding some weight would help him.

When he rounded the corner, he saw Daniel using a crowbar to pry open the stairwell door. Everyone turned to see Gary trotting toward them. “Got it,” Daniel said as the door popped open, and he raised the crowbar and eased the door open.

“SPs coming,” Moe said, looking down the other hall.

“More coming behind Gary,” Lonnie said as Daniel started moving into the fire escape stairwell.

“We don’t know what’s in here, so keep the noise down,” Daniel said in a low voice and walked down to the deck between the sixth and seventh floor. He pulled off his backpack, grabbing the hammer that was tied to the outside. Running back up as Malik pulled Gary through the door, Daniel grabbed the backpack Teresa had on and dug out the wedges they had made from the metal strips from the copy machine.

When the door closed, he started driving the wedges in as Ginger came over, grabbing more from Teresa’s pack. Lonnie dropped his backpack, took out a bundle of cloth, and shook it out. When he was done, he had one of two nets they had made from the curtains and flags. Gary wanted to yell at them but was gasping for air like there was none around him.

The stooges headed down, shaking out the other net as Malik, Lonnie, and Oscar started putting the first one up, blocking the door from the stairwell down. When Daniel had six wedges pounded in the back of the door, he moved to the opening where Ginger had pushed in six more. Before he drove the first one in, pounding started on the door. In less than three minutes, he was done and turned to see Ginger rolling under the net.

The nets were only seven feet tall, and a normal person could climb or go under, but the SPs didn’t seem normal. Daniel hoped that remained as he crawled under. Standing up, he saw Holly leaning over the railing, looking up. He grabbed her, yanking her back. “Don’t ever get near the railing in a hostile building. Always stay near the wall,” he snapped as
whoosh
sounded behind him.

Daniel spun around as a resonating thud sounded below them.
Whoosh
. Another body fell from above. “Gravity’s a bitch,” he said, kneeling at his backpack and pulling out the cordless drill. He looked up at the lock and nodded, satisfied with the bit he had. Climbing up on the ledge the escape door was on, Daniel put the tip of the bit over the lock.

“Nets are up,” Malik said behind him.

“Drilling the lock,” Daniel said as the drill spun up. Ginger jumped up on the ledge, holding a can of WD40. As Daniel drilled, she sprayed, keeping the bit cool as metal shavings fell off.

The others started dropping spears and shields, getting the ladder ready. With a grunt, the bit went through the lock, and Daniel dropped the drill and pulled up the crowbar. Catching the lever arm coming out of the lock, he turned, and the door gave a loud pop.
Whoosh
sounded as another body fell past them.

Swinging the door open, the smell of smoke poured in. “Chicago’s looked better,” Daniel said, jumping down and grabbing a thick extension cord he got off the maintenance cart. Passing it to Ginger, she undid one end and tied it to a beam above the door. Holding her hand out, Ginger took the backpack Teresa was carrying, tied it to the other end, and tossed it out.

The bag uncoiled the extension cord and crashed to the ground as Daniel pulled his backpack on. “I’m going first,” Gary said, pulling a box cutter out of his pocket. Everyone pulled up weapons, staring at Gary. “I will cut the ladder down if I don’t go first.” He grinned. “See, if I’m first, you don’t have to worry about me.”

As another body fell past them, Daniel motioned everyone to lower their weapons. “Gary, I don’t understand,” he said, stepping closer.

“I’m going first. I can run,” he huffed, holding out the box cutter.

“No, not that, Gary,” Daniel said then looked down, pointing at Gary’s right leg. “How can you climb down fast? Your right leg is broke.”

“No it’s not,” Gary said, glancing down just in time to see Daniel’s foot lash out, catching his right leg above the knee. Crying out in pain, Gary dropped the box cutter as the head of his femur snapped.

“Yes it is,” Daniel said, turning away as Gary howled with pain. Ginger chuckled as she tied the ladder off, tied a backpack to the end, and tossed it out. When it was stretched out, she looked down.

“Six feet short,” she said.

“No problem,” Malik said, kneeling beside Gary as he screamed. “That’s right, Gary, make more noise. They like that and will be here soon.”

In mid-scream, Gary stopped and heard the thundering on the door. Biting his bottom lip, he cried as Daniel stepped up, feeding the extension cord in his carabiner. “See ya soon,” he said then jumped out.

Ginger watched him bounce down the wall in seconds. When he hit the ground, Daniel took off running as SPs came at him. Watching the SPs wander after Daniel, Ginger turned to Teresa. “You ready?”

“Fuck, yeah,” Teresa said, climbing up.

Clipping on the extension cord, Ginger looked back at the group as Teresa started down. “Guys, hope you stay safe, and it’s been a blast,” Ginger said then bounced out the window. She didn’t beat Teresa down by much.

They took off running for the parking garage across the street, and a few SPs that were walking away noticed them. Reaching over her back, Ginger pulled her batons as two cut her off. She reared back and swung her right as hard as she could, catching a male SP on the side of the head.

The man did a flip as she turned and swung at the other one. She saw it was a male also, but something had ripped his belly open and emptied it. Catching it behind his right knee, the SP fell back as Teresa lunged past Ginger, raising her improvised pickax.

Ginger turned to see Teresa burying the screwdriver of her ax in the first male’s head. “How the hell did he get back up?” Ginger asked and spun around, striking Empty Belly repeatedly in the skull. On her eighth strike, she realized it took a lot of force to crack a skull, but her ninth blow did, and Empty Belly stayed down.

She turned for Teresa and didn’t see her on the body then looked up to see her on top of another SP, beating it with her pickax. “Girl is learning,” Ginger mumbled, running over. “Teresa, we have to go. Daniel is waiting.” Yanking her ax out, Teresa jumped up and ran after Ginger.