Mark Clodi (14 page)

When they had filed out of the office Nancy turned back towards the remaining man. ‘I guess I was right, a choice was made.’

In the bathroom Veronica took up a position just outside the door while Amelia and Diane went into their stalls. Amelia knew she was dead, and that any chance of splitting the group watching them made the odds better than standing in the office waiting to be eaten or converted to a zombie. Kirkpatrick’s office was a dead end and she would have had to get past all the zombies if she had tried anything a few minutes ago. Now she only had to get past one zombie. As Amelia had hoped Nancy sent Veronica to watch them, she seemed to trust Veronica more. Nancy didn’t seem to notice how badly injured Veronica was, the shotgun blast had almost decapitated her and she could barely limp along, though she did seem more intelligent than the others under Nancy’s control. Now how to plan something with Diane?

“Diane.” she whispered, “Diane, if we go back into that office we are dead, we have to make a break when we get into the hallway, just run for the stairs, okay?”

“I…I can’t Amelia, I can’t run for long. Asthma. I will try, it is our best shot, I know, I am afraid Amelia, so scared I can’t hardly move. Do you really think they will kill us?”

As if in answer to that question, they heard a man screaming from Kirkpatrick’s office, loudly and in great pain. Amelia jumped up and hissed, “Now! Now while the noise may distract the other one!”

They rushed out of the bathroom doorway, Amelia clutching a wooden handled toilet plunger in her hand as they tried to make their escape.

Chapter 22

Jimbo was happier than he had been since coming back from the dead, finally away from that bitch Nancy he could be his own man. He had been maintaining a charade of ignorance and slowness since his last meal, when he had sneaked a bit more of the meal than Nancy had suspected. He thought he was thinking as clearly as he had before he died and even if his body was still slower than before death it was his mind that mattered with a good mind he could lay plans for his liberation and everything worked out well so far. He just had to make absolutely sure he never ran into Nancy again. Ever. That vindictive bitch would make him pay in spades if he were ever at her mercy again. His plan to make sure that never happened would be to form his own gang and eat, and eat and eat, every meal made him stronger and he would eventually gain enough power to no longer be afraid of anyone.

Once he made it out of the building he no longer felt so compelled to stay close to her, compelled to follow her every command like some sort of twisted masochist. Now he could eat when and what he wanted, and as much of the kill as he needed, no more second fiddle to a bunch of tiny bobbing, dressed up skanks. He exited the Mac Co. building and headed into the parking lot, looking to see which direction he could go, preferably towards a suburb somewhere to get himself a snack. Plus the risk was low, liberals didn’t have guns and in this part of town people drove hybrid cars and smoked dope in their back yards. They would pay for that now, it was only right. As he neared the far edge of the parking lot he saw a male zombie shambling around and he got that familiar taint of a feeling again, the one that said, “Come to me.” Nothing he could not break free of, but uncomfortable in it's own way. Could it be? The very man Nancy was looking for?

Jim crept closer and looked on the zombie. 'Pathetic! He is in even worse shape than I am! How can I use this?' Jim thought for a moment and then stepped up to the other man and grabbed him by the arm, turning him into the light just a bit. Sure as shit, he had a key card that read ‘Fredrick Smith’ dangling from a cord on his belt with the words 'Mac Co.' emblazoned on the front above his picture. ‘Oh this is good.’, thought Jim, ‘Very good indeed!’

Chapter 23

Max, Stewart, Steve and Tom made their way back to the main lobby of Mac Co. Nothing, no open doors, only a very dead, very eaten Walt tucked behind the doors to the loading dock. The other doors were all closed, everything was locked up as it should be.

“How did they get in? Everything is still locked up!”said Steve

“Tell ya in a second”said Tom. He went over behind the desk to the computers where the camera screens were still running and started playing back the video from the last half hour. “There”he pointed at a nondescript door that opened discretely into the lobby.

“The supply center, yeah, the logs say Nancy came in through the door next to the loading ramp twenty four minutes ago. Why didn’t we block that door off?”

“It was secured, very heavy anyway, we didn’t think of it? It escaped our notice? I don’t know, we just were focused on the stairwells and side doors, not the loading dock. Damn.” said Max.

“Yeah. Damn. Good thing we have the cars lined up and ready to go. Where are we going anyway?” said Stewart.

“Home to get my wife and kids.” said Max.

“Over to check on my sister and her family.” said Steve.

“Back to my apartment to get my laptop.” added Tom after a moment.

Everyone turned to look at Tom, “Your laptop? Seriously?” asked Stewart.

“Er, well it is brand new! I only live, like a mile away, I am sure it is along the way to Max’s house or Steve’s sisters. Plus maybe my roommates are there and I can get a bag with clothes and stuff.”

“Hm a mile away, only if it is really along the way, you can get new stuff now.” said Stewart, “Okay then I think we should still stick together, who lives closer? Max’s family or Steve’s sister?”

Max had a sinking feeling, he knew his house, way out west in Arvada would likely be further away than anywhere else Steve’s sister might have chosen to live. He was right, after comparing notes though it was not as bad as he had thought, Steve’s sister lived off Pearl street not too far from the highway. Tom’s place was only about a two block detour to the highway, so they would stop there too, maybe even crash for an hour or two if it was secure enough.

“Okay people who rides with who and lets divvy up the guns. Max, I think you should be with me in the cruiser, Tom you keep the shotgun and go with Steve, we will make do with my nine millimeter and the billy club. Is this okay with everyone?” asked Stewart.

“Oh yes sir ma’am, sir!” joked Steve, “It sounds good, you guys follow us right? Tom give her your address just in case we get separated. In fact lets write all three addresses down and give each of us a copy, we meet at Tom’s place, then my sisters place, then Max’s house in that order. If any of us get there first we leave a note in the...the freezer for anyone who follows? Okay?”

“Good idea! Steve, very simple, yet elegant.” said Stewart.

Steve blushed, and Max could not help but say, “Ooh love is born and we witnessed it, eh Tom?” This earned Max a glare from both Steve and Stewart, but brought a laugh from Tom.

“On second thought the new arrangements are: Tom and Steve in Steve’s car, me in the cruiser and Max out front trolling for trouble as we creep the cars along behind him.”

“Sounds good to me.” Quipped Steve.

They all stopped when they heard a sound from somewhere up the stairwell above them.

Stewart grabbed a pad of paper and shoved it into Max’s hands, “Write the addresses.” Then took up a position covering the stairwell door.

Max got busy writing, getting Tom’s address first, then Steve’s and finally putting his own at the bottom. He then went over to the copier behind the desk and fired it up, placing the pad on it for copying, hit the number four and printed out four copies of the sheet, which he handed out to everyone. The noises from the stairwell were louder, a gasping kind of heavy breathing.

“Lets roll.” Whispered Stewart. They checked the front doors, saw they were zombie free and burst outside into the night and ran towards the cars. They were loaded and ready to go in seconds and both vehicles started without hardly a sputter. Getting out of the parking lot was no problem at all and as they turned onto the street Max could swear he saw the zombie 'Jimbo' leading another zombie up the street by his tie.

Chapter 24

Amelia and Diane rushed out of the bathroom, bum rushing the zombie girl who reacted faster than they would have thought possible as she had suffered from a shotgun blast to the upper torso. Amelia shoved her rubber plunger into the zombies face and pushed her backwards, while Diane rushed headlong for the stairwell, the continuing screaming from Kirkpatrick’s office covered the noise of their encounter with the zombie girl. As Diane rushed past the prone zombie it reached out with it's good arm and grabbed her ankle. Amelia could tell that Diane was beyond the normal ‘fight or flight’ mode and could also hear that her breathing was becoming irregular and sharp. Amelia beat on the girl with the plunger. However a plunger was just not the sort of weapon needed to kill this zombie, and probably not any zombie. Amelia jumped into a nearby cubical and grabbed the computer monitor off the desk, pulling an assortment of wire and cables loose as she rushed out to smash it down on the girl’s head, the resulting crash was loud, loud enough to alert the queen in the office? Amelia did not wait to find out. Diane was on her hands and knees gasping for breath trying to reach the stairwell, one hand fumbling in her pocket, Amelia reached her and lifted her up, half dragging her into the relative safety of the stairs. They leaned on the doors and Diane’s hand came up with a small tube of asthma medication, which she inhaled immediately. Amelia guided her down the stairs trying not to fall as they both stumbled downward to the ground floor.

The lobby was cast in an eerie red light, tail lights! The sound of a car leaving was too much for Amelia to bear, she ran towards the door, leaving Diane behind, and screamed, “Wait! Wait God dammit! Wait!” to no avail, the cars were gone. Diane came up to her, a shocked look on her face, “They left us?” she wheezed. “Oh fuck.”

Amelia turned back to Diane and said, “Yeah, my dumb fucking luck, sorry Diane, I have a way with dumb fucking luck. Nothing ultimately bad happens, just enough to make my life a living fucking hell. And now you are caught up….” Here Amelia trailed off and looked beyond Diane.

“What?” asked Diane turning around to look, “What is it?”

“The copy machine light is green, it isn't in 'sleep mode' anymore, so they photo copied something.” said Amelia as she pushed past Diane to the machine, she looked at the codes and then pressed a few buttons on the machine, saying, “I am going to get a copy of it from memory and print it off.” The machine clicked on and spat out a copy with three addresses on it, with names for “Tom”, “Steve’s Sister” and “Max’s House” written above the corresponding address.

“Clever trick” said Diane, “But did they leave the original?” Diane lifted the cover and sure enough the paper pad was still lying on the top of the printer face down. “See?

She grabbed the pad, tore off the first sheet and stuffed it into her pocket, “Now we each have a copy. Oh and lets not advertise that we used the machine, okay?” With that she reached over and held down the power button until the machine clicked off.

“Good” said Amelia, “That clears the memory too. Lets get to my car.” With that they left the lobby of Mac, Co., a pad of paper on the lobby counter softly rustled as the wind from opening the door blew through.

Outside Amelia said, “Lets just go nice and slow, maybe we won’t be noticed so quickly. My car is just over there.” The two women could not have chosen a better time to leave the building, just moments before two automobiles had left attracting and distracting all the nearby zombies and they made it to Amelia’s car wedged between two others before they attracted the attention of a zombie near the edge of the parking lot. Diane leaned up against the car next to Amelia's and tried to regain her breath. Amelia reached into her pocket and then let out a whimper, “Oh no. Oh-no. Oh-No-oh-no-no!”

“What? What?” demanded Diane

“My keys are in my purse, in my desk in Kirkpatrick’s office!” sobbed Amelia.

Diane smiled and said, “Don’t worry honey, we can take my car.” she held out a key chain and clicked a remote unlock button, the lights flashed and doors made a ‘snick’ sound as they unlocked, “You drive, I am not so sure I can.”

Diane hopped in the passenger door and Amelia wasted no time scooting around to the driver’s side and climbing in before the zombie reached the vehicle. “Wow” she said, “I never drove a 'Caddy' before!”

“No time like the present, it is an automatic, you won’t have any problems. Where are we heading?”

Amelia looked at her as she sped out of the Mac Co. parking lot, “Well the list has three addresses, I would have to guess they are in some order, probably from the first place to the last place they plan to end up. I say we head for Max’s house instead of trying to chase them around the city. Besides, I grew up in Arvada, I know right were this is.”

“Why go after them at all? Why not go somewhere else?”

“I, I don’t know exactly. Max and Stewart have stayed alive so far, they might have a plan and I just can’t think of one right now. So”, she shrugged, “I want them to do the work of figuring out where to go. They owe us that for leaving us behind.”

Diane gave Amelia a sideways look and responded, “Amelia, dear, we are still alive so far too. Don’t underestimate us.”

Chapter 25

“You dumb little bitch!” Nancy spat, looking down at Veronica, who sat cowering on the floor, “I give you one little task, one simple thing to do, ‘keep the meat from escaping’ and you cannot handle bringing them to the bathroom?” Nancy turned towards the window in Kirkpatrick’s office and watched as a Cadillac sped out onto the street, making towards the highway in the pre-dawn light.