Mark Clodi (3 page)

Chapter 4

“For starters lets see if we can block most of the doors, at least we need to push furniture up against them and make it hard for the lumbering undead to get into the building. Then we round up any survivors, then we finish off any trapped undead, clearing the building room by room.” Said Stewart.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa there little lady.” said Steve raising his hands in front of him as he spoke, “Undead? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Alright tough guy, listen and listen carefully. All morning we’ve been getting calls where people are being attacked, um, no, more like eaten by other people. There were a few calls as early as last night. Some pizza delivery guy chowed a family of four. I’ve personally taken out nine of the things so far, including that guy in the men’s room. Now, if I were you, I would call my friends and family and tell them to start boarding up their window and…”

“Oh shit, I gotta call my wife.” Max said as he fumbled for his cell phone. Once he got it out and started a call back to his home, he moved down the corridor a little to get away from Steve and Officer Stewarts' arguing, which was growing quite heated. “C’mon, c’mon, pick up honey, pick it up!”

“Hello?” a sleepy voice said on the other end of the line.

“Sarah! Sarah! Are you okay baby?”asked Max.

“Okay? Okay? Max what are you talking about, of course I am fine. What has happened? What is wrong?”

Standing there in blood coated clothing that was hardening around his body like an eggshell, Max really didn’t know where to begin.

“Sarah, things have gone wrong, there are some really bad people out running around the city and I want you and the kids to stay safe. In fact I want you to stay more than safe. Barricade the back door and the doors from the garage, move tables and chairs in front of them. Leave the front door locked and dead bolted, if I can get home I will come to the front door. Then I want you to..”

“Max, Max, stop it Max! What are you talking about? Bad people? What bad people? Terrorists? In Denver? Why would they come for me? Is it your job?”

”No, no honey, nothing like that okay, worse in a way, they won’t come for you….Hold on a sec honey… Hey Steve! Stewart! Keep it down you wanna just tell everything in hearing distance we are here? Go move the furniture in the lobby in front of the doors, okay, but stop yelling! Sorry hon, no I don’t have time to tell you everything, but I guess there are some really bad people running around and there could be a lot of them from what I just heard. You need to take the kids and hide up in the attic, bring water, food, blankets, everything. Get the porta-potty I use for camping out of the garage and move it up there if you can do it. You have to promise me you will stay there no matter what you hear in the house, if everything is quiet you can probably come down to use the bathroom when you need to. Oh, fill up the tub with water and the sinks and any containers we have laying around too.”

“Max, I am looking out the drapes, there are some people out there walking around really slow, like they are on drugs or something.”

A chill went up Max’s spine, “Honey, don’t let them see you, the uh, druggies are very, very violent! Slow but violent, like, um, zombies. And they will kill you and the kids if you let them see you!” Max was practically screaming into the phone now, “Take your cell phone up into the attic the zo..druggies have lower coordination when they are..high and cannot climb things really well.”

“Max you are scaring me, you're scared too, aren't you? I will do it, you just get someplace safe, come home if you can. I will get the kids up into the attic right now and wait for you, are you coming home right now?”

“As soon as I can baby, as soon as I can.”

“Max” said Sarah with near hysteria in her voice, “Max are you going to be okay?”

“Relax baby, relax, I have a police officer here with me, she’ll take care of me, I am more worried about you. I don’t know what’s happening in the rest of the city but from what I hear, it’s not good. That’s why I want you to get the kids, some food and some water up into the attic. Just do it okay? Honey, one more thing.”

“No.” Max could tell Sarah was still crying, but her voice was firm.

“Aw honey, c’mon you gotta do it, it will make me feel better just know you have it with you.”

Years before Max had inherited a German Lugar his grandfather brought home from his years of service in world war II, coming from a family that owned guns Max knew how to care for them and considered the Lugar more of an investment than a home protection device. Sarah, on the other hand, used to have a younger brother. When he was eleven he went over to a friend’s house to play and never came home. Playing that day involved the handgun collection of his friend’s father and in a day and age where safety locks were not yet mainstream his friend had shot and killed her brother. The trauma of losing her brother provoked in Sarah a hatred of guns that was beyond illogical. When Max inherited his grandfather’s gun, Sarah had taken the kids to a hotel for three nights, eventually she returned home when Max had installed a gun safe to hold the gun, a wall safe to hold the ammo and a child safety lock with two keys, one normally kept in a safety deposit box at the bank, and one on Max’s key chain. Sarah knew the combination to both safes and as they had recently decided to close their safety deposit box the second key to the gun lock was now in the same safe as the gun’s ammunition.

“I won’t Max. Look, you know I don’t even know how to fire it, it won’t do me any good anyway and I will feel like I am leaving a rattlesnake laying around no matter where I put it. I will grab a bat from Nick’s room and that will have to do. Any druggies managing to get up into the attic will have to contend with an aluminum bat to the head. And if you still need the gun you can get it when you get home.”

“Okay, okay, I would just feel better if you had it with you. Anyone coming in and not yelling your name, you brain em, okay?”

“Don’t worry Max, no one will get in anyway. I will call you when the kids and I are up in the attic, some of those druggies look kind of bloody and I don’t want to chance them breaking in on me before I am ready.”

“I gotta go too, it looks like the police officer and Steve are about to kill each other. I love you baby, take care of the kids and I will talk to you when you are safe.”

“Well I like the police officer already, she shows good judgment. I love you too. Max, be careful. Bye.”

“Bye baby.”

Chapter 5

The MAC Corporate building was built in the early nineteen eighties and from the outside looked like four stories of steel and reflective blue glass. The structure had very little to offer from an architectural view point. No fancy atrium, no grand entrances or spectacular artwork adorned either the outside nor inside of this relatively plain, rectangular building. When compared to the neighbors around it, the MAC Co building was average at best.

After the September eleventh terrorist attacks upper management decided to invest in added security and emergency equipment. Every entrance was modified and now required a card key to gain access. When the card was swiped past the reader a security system would record the identity of the card owner, check to make sure that the person was allowed in that section of the building, and if approved, the system would then release a magnetic lock at the top of the door. There were some who speculated that the security system was management’s way of tracking when the arrived, when they came back from lunch, if they took too many smoke breaks, and if they left early for home.

Another change that resulted from the increased security was the installation of a large generator on the south side of the building. Should MAC Co. lose power the generator would automatically turn on and supply emergency power to the building’s main systems, security, telephones, and designated lighting.

“How many entrances does this place have?” Stewart inquired.

Looking at Steve for confirmation Max responded, “One main entrance and three side ones. One on each side of the building.” Steve thought for a moment mentally counting to himself and then nodded his approval of Max’s answer.

“Is that the main security desk that I passed?” Officer Stewart did not wait for an answer, made her way to the desk and plopped down into the empty chair behind it. There was also a computer monitor showing shots of the cameras located by the building doors and, of course, a computer. The computer was mostly used by the security guard for solitaire but it also served the intended purpose of displaying the key card information when an employee entered or exited the building.

“It has been nice hanging out with you guys and Officer I appreciate what you did for me, but I have a family that needs me so I’ll be leaving now.” Max announced.

“You’re welcome. Good luck getting past them.” Stewart said pointing at the television screen. The north camera that provided the best view of the parking structure showed somewhere in the neighborhood of five or six figures milling about.

“You don’t understand. I have a wife and kids that need me.”

“I’d bet that they need you alive more than dead.” Steve added.

“You know what? Fuck you Steve. What do you have? A stupid cat waiting for you? Bite me, asshole.”

“Hey man, go for it, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.”

Max looked at Stewart and studied her face trying to determine what her opinion was. Unfortunately, he saw that she agreed with Steve.

“Don’t look at me” Stewart said, “the most significant relationship I’ve had over the past year was a one night stand with some jackass I met after a Broncos game.” From the look on Steve’s face, that was the best news he had heard all morning.

“You think the army or national guard will be called in?” Max asked, hoping.

“I’d say that the current situation justifies it but who knows? It is not good out there and I think it is just going to get worse, much worse. If I can’t even get anyone at HQ, well, that tells you something too.”

“Not to change the subject, but I will. Since it sounds like we are planning on staying, no one without a key card will be able to get in, right?” Steve asked.

“Not if you move that Steve-o.” Stewart said pointing at the trash can propping the door open.

Steve dragged the trash can back into the building and tested to door to make sure that the lock activated.

Stewart managed to pull up the security log on the computer. “As of right now I see twenty entries of people who should be in this building. That leaves twenty unaccounted for.”

“No, no eighteen, no wait, two guys in the bathroom, that’s sixteen left unaccounted for. Lets see that list, Bob, dead. Fred, undead. Ditto for Nancy. I think that guy in the bathroom was named Rod, not sure, but there is a Rod Uberton on the list so that was probably him. Plus the guy on the toilet, I didn’t look, but he was toast too. Anyway Rod, undead and dead again.”

“Hey, is there a function that allows you to deny all access? If there is we could lock up the building so that no one else can get in or out.”

“I don’t know, Steve, if I want to be locked in here.” Max offered “and what if someone who isn’t…isn’t one of them wants to get in? Needs our help, what then?”

“Fuck 'em. Not our problem. Let them find their own building I say.”

“What do you think?” Max said looking at Stewart for support.

“I don’t know if I want to be locked in either. I highly doubt that our friends, the undead, are smart enough to break in and if I were on my way to work and found myself being chased by a few of those things and expected my card key to work, only to find my ass hanging in the wind I’d be pretty pissed off. Before we let anyone else in, we need to make damn sure that they are not going to want a bite of us, agreed?”

“No shit?” Steve said sarcastically.

“No shit. Alright, let’s all go check the remaining doors and then figure out where’s the best place to hold up and defend if need be.” Stewart announced standing up from behind the desk.

Max could not believe that he was trapped and unable to reach his family. It made him impatient, really impatient, as if each minute that slipped by put one more zombie between him and his family. He felt guilty for so easily being convinced to stay put. Was he being selfish? Putting his own safety before that of his family? Max forced himself not to think about it, there was nothing he could do now other than make sure that he survived long enough to give himself a chance to see his family again. That’s all he wanted, a chance.

As the three of them began their check of the building, the security log registered a twenty fourth entry. Nancy Wieden, Marketing Department, seven thirteen, East Door Interior Card Reader, Approved. Nancy was hungry and somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered leaving the building when she ate. Clients. The blood and flesh she was able to consume from Bob had partially restored her. It had given her a portion of her memory back and allowed her to think in a slow, sluggish way. She recalled having breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with clients, new and old. That’s what someone in marketing does. Yes, and she had been damn good at her job. She needed to find a client in the worst way and fast. She could already feel Bob’s energy slipping away. With one high heel missing and Max’s favorite shirt covered in drying blood, Nancy started her lopsided walk across the parking lot.