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Post by nina on Apr 20, 2013 20:34:21 GMT -6
Chapter 10: Are You Ready?
"Just what exactly are you trying to accomplish Mrs. Gardener?" The voice of Mr. Thomas calls out from the main room, he walks as though he's on a tight rope, trying to walk over and around the debris in the doctor's office. The four men, including Duncan follow behind him, the crowd of people gathered near the front door. Nina is silent.
"It's not her fault!" The young lady tells Mr. Thomas, "She was trying to help me. Matthew, Terrace and Hank brought the wounded in this last week, but they died. But they didn't stay dead. I don't know if it was the bite, or something else that killed them. Each one of them were bitten. But it could have been the saliva or something else, I really don't--"
"Miss Trueman," Mr. Thomas interrupts, "We have an intruder here who has killed some of our family and the injured guests, physically abused many of our family members, has broken into Dr. Loewen's office. I'm afraid we have no choice but to banish her from our community," Mr. Thomas looks to Nina, who's face has risen up to meet his eyes.
"Banish? Dude...I saved your damn life! All of your lives! You still have a guy bitten in your city hall," Nina sighs before continuing, "Alright, forget it. I came here to return a boy to his father. I found out you had infected behind your walls, so I wanted to offer you a place where you could be safer, but I can see you're not ready yet."
Nina begins walking thought the office, the men walk toward her and soon surround her.
"I don't think you understand what's going on here Mrs. Gardener," Mr. Thomas calls out from behind Nina. "We can not just let you leave after the crimes you have committed. You must stand trail.
"Stand trial to determine that I'll be banished? I'll leave and I wont be looking back,"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Mr. Thomas nods to the men who begin closing in on her,
"Any of you touch me, you'll lose the hands touch me with!". Two men pull out knives. "Are you ffkk kidding me?" Nina argues resisting the urge to swear outloud. She lets out an agitated sigh, as Miss Trueman tries to protest to Mr. Thomas, who ignores her. Nina lets out a second warning, but the men continue.
"FINE!" Nina says, "Fucking puppets...Let's get this over with," Nina puts both arms at her side, her face down focusing on her peripheral vision. The knife-less man to her right reaches out to her. She quickly grabs his hand, folds it toward his wrist, bringing her second hand, blasting his knuckle with her palm. His wrist snaps, he keels over, but then falls to his back when Nina thrusts both hands into his chest. She feels a hand grab her arm. Nina turns, grabbing the man's arm over her shoulder, thrusting her back into the mans stomach and chest and performs a powerful shoulder throw, the man flies over Nina and lands hard on his back, beside the first man. He cries out and begins coughing erratically. Back into her fighting stance, now facing two. The two men with knives. One looks focused, the other looks intimidated. Acting quickly, she swings her leg up, blasting her foot into the intimidated young man's hand, he drops the knife. The young man backs off. The final man, Duncan holds the knife out. He and Nina hold eye contact, both fearless gazes. Duncan holds his position, not responding to Mr. Thomas's orders to detain Nina. Finally, his arms fall to his side, he straightens up, hanging his head. He folds the knife, placing it back into his side pocket. Mr. Thomas is loud in his protest to Duncan's disobedience. Duncan looks past Nina, over to Mr. Thomas,
"Sir..." Duncan begins, "You detain her! I'm going to check on Casper," He says walking out of the building and heading toward the city hall.
"Casper?" Nina says out loud with a slight giggle.
"Casper is the man you allowed to get bitten,"
Nina glares at Mr. Thomas, "I tried to save his life. I told him not to go near the infected woman," Nina waves her hand before her face as though dispelling a terrible stench, grunts and begins exiting the office. The crowd opens up for her as she meets up with Sebastian who is walking down the road to meet the crowd. Duncan vanishes up the road, Sebastian notices Nina looks like she has been in a scuffle.
"What happened?" Sebastian asks
"I'll tell you later. We have to follow that man," She walks in haste trying to catch up to Duncan seeing he heads right into the town hall. Nina and Sebastian get to the town hall to see Duncan in the main hallway staring at a horrific sight. Casper, the man who was bitten by the outsider woman is eating the leg of one of the Mennonite men who tried to help carry him in after the attack.
"Daniels...D..." Duncan mur murs to himself
"Do you understand now? This thing spreads fast. Very fast. If we don't end it, this whole community will be over run," Sebastian hands over the machete Nina left behind. Duncan refuses it, taking out his small scouts hunting knife. He walks up slowly to Casper and looking back at Nina for a moment, he turns back and gives Casper a heavy kick in the back. Casper falls over, landing on his stomach. Duncan holds Casper down with his foot and plunges the knife into the back of Casper's head. The black, ink like substance pours out of the open wound when the knife pulls out. Getting to his feet, Duncan then looks to Daniels, bite marks all over his body.
"Him too?" Nina and Sebastian nod. Duncan looks down at his friend and begins to talk to him about some of their old adventures. As Duncan lifts the knife over his head ready for the stab, Daniel's eyes open revealing a pure white eye, no pupil. His head shakes a little, the gnarl calls out softly at first, then louder as his arms slowly reach up grabbing onto Duncan's clothing. Duncan looks to struggle slightly. Sebastian and Nina approach slowly ready to pounce. Duncan smacks the man's arms off and getting to his feet, his eyes soaked with tears running down his cheeks. Duncan holds down the rejuvenated corpse with a foot, the corpse slowly clawing at the leg with the same impact as a pool noodle. With a loud yelp, Duncan brings the knife down onto Daniel's with a solid puncture into the skull. Daniel's falls limp. A scream of panic enters the hallway. The three sets of eyes turn around to the city hall entrance to see a middle aged woman staring at the bloody scene. Moments later, the crowd catches up as more gasps and screams fill the air. Mr. Thomas waste no time appearing.
"Duncan...what have you done?"
Duncan stands and turns to the crowd.
"This is a serious issue," Duncan lets out. "Our brick walls are fine, but for how long? Our main gate is strong, but are see through. It might as well be a welcome sign. Get enough of those things together and they'll tear it apart. I know many of you want to leave. Many of you want to stay. I say we leave!"
Mr. Thomas enrages, "Duncan. You can not be serious! You want to abandon our home? Our family? Our community?" The two men begin to quarrel. Nina and Sebastian pull away and head toward the car, again the crowd opens up for them. The two get into the car, finding Lyle hiding in the back seat.
"Dude...did you see all that shit that just went down?"
"Have you been here the whole time?" Sebastian asks.
"Yeah. As soon as things got hot in there, I ran out here and saw that chick at the tree. She wasn't there when we got here. I knew she was dead, so I ran to the car and snuck in carefully. Bitch did'n even see me. I saw all the shit that went down with y'all. Man, Nina, you got da moves girl!"
Nina turns back and buckles her seat belt, resting deep into the car seat. Sebastian turns the car on and begins heading out. They get half way out when a dead man is seen in the distance. Nina perks up when she sees it, Sebastian stops the car. The two stare on watching it.
"What do we do?" Nina asks, her eyes glued to the dead man as a second appears in the distance. Nina opens the car door, and carefully exist despite Sebastian's protests. She gets the Machete from the back seat and begins heading toward the dead men, Sebastian following not far behind. Nina is taken off guard when a loud growl fires off behind her with a loud thump. A dead woman claws at the car trying to get inside. Nina is quick to get to her, noticing she is wearing similar gear as the Mennonite women. Nina quickly sinks the machete into the woman's skull as another woman appears from behind one of the buildings. Sebastian calls out for Nina to get in the car. She swings around to the passenger side and slides in.
"What's going on?" Nina sees at least a dozen dead in the distance, growling and heading straight for them. An older man appears on the porch of a near by house, holding a large rifle. The man walks to the street, heading straight for the dead. Nina is torn between the safety of the man and the safety of her family. The life of herself and Sebastian are on the line right now. She lets out a large and loud sigh,
"Go get help!" She says exiting the car, swinging the door shut. She races full sprint to the old man as he prepares his first shot,
"DON'T SHOOT!" She screams, as the first bullet blasts out of the gun barrel, landing into the closest dead man's skull, exploding on impact, the body falls. The sound echo's, Nina covers her ears and curls into herself a little. This was a very old gun. The old man cocks the rifle for another shot as Nina screams out again. The man is either deaf or ignoring Nina. Firing off another shot, the bullet hits the next dead man in the chest. The impact knocks the dead man back a few steps, then keeps walking. Nina reaches the man, and pulls the rifle down. The man turns to see Nina and with a heavy push of his rifle, knocks her down. He aims the gun at her, cocking it. Nina kicks the rifle, the rifle sets off blasting a window. The old man suddenly realizes she isn't infected. Nina has already gotten to her feet, holding the rifle's shaft away from her face.
"The noise will attract them!" The old man gives her a confused look. "Can you hear me?" She waves her hand between their faces. The man tugs at his ear, the dead are closing in. She takes a firm grip of the rifle and shakes her head no, even shakes her index finger at the man like a grandmother to her grandson. Nina pulls the rifle from the man's hands and throws it to the ground. She points to the few dead closing in behind them and pats at a sheathed hunter's knife hanging off the old man's belt, and heads for the dozen or so dead up the road.
The old man pulls out the hunter's knife, and turning to face dead, now three in number. Burly as a biker, drives his fist hard into the woman's face. Her nose breaks, her face caves in, skull cracks and she falls to the ground twitching. The old man finishes her off with a hefty thump of the boot, like stomping hard to crush a pop can. He points his knife at the next one. A young man in a suit and tie walking as though one of his legs weighed almost too much for his body to drag along. The third walking corpse, nearly naked, wearing a bathing suit, a young woman, one shoulder strap broken, exposing one breast, her lower bikini portion barely above her butt cheeks. The old man gives a giant heave with his large leg and boot knocking the dead man in the suit far off his feet, knocking him a few feet back with the force nearly matching a large animal. Again, the old man has no trouble collapsing the dead man's skull with a thump or two of his big boot. And with the momentum of a large stampeding animal, the old man charges at the nearly naked woman, her neck mostly eaten away, her spine exposed, a portion of her collar bone exposed. The old man knocks the woman off her feet, grabbing her neck, pinning her against the building, lifting her off her feet. She reaches out to him, clawing at the air, he sinks the hunting knife into her skull repetitively as her body falls limp. He tosses her body like a rag doll.
He turns to see Nina having blasted through a good half of the other dead. Five bodies lie on the ground, their skulls cut open or caved in. She races past two giving two strong tennis swings separating their heads from their bodies. She counts five left, their arms reaching out to her, their growls loud and scary. She knocks the first down with a powerful jump kick. It stumbles back and lands on a large metal spike pointing out of telephone pole. Unable to get himself free, she moves on to the remaining four. She meets the next one, with a fast spin kick to the face, knocking it down. The machete sings through the air, controlled by Nina's hand and arm and lands hard into its skull. She pulls it out and heads to the next one. This one takes her back, its arm and face almost completely devoured, its eye dangling out of its socket. She thrusts a hard sidekick to its mouth. Its teeth explode like marbles, its head whiplashes with a loud crack, the body falls limp. The last two are very close together. She takes a couple steps back hoping they will divide, but they get closer together. She takes a couple more steps back and walks into something. With a quick turn, ready to strike, she sees the old man. He doesn't waste time with Nina, he walks ahead. With a pair of thick brass knuckles in hand, he destroys the skull of the dead man attached to the pole like a hollow pumpkin. Nina skips lightly past the old man, bringing the machete down hard on the closest head. It sinks in hard, but Nina is unable to pull it out as the dead man falls. She is taken down with it. The final creature, a woman in business clothes falls on top of Nina biting at her. She pushes against it avoiding the teeth. It gets close enough and begins biting at her sleeve. She feels her strength failing and lets out a loud scream as the animated body is lifted right off. The old man picks up the woman well over his head and tosses it into a big wood pile, knocking it over. The old man finishes her off by crushing her skull with a large half piece of cut wood.
The old man then turns to Nina who is getting to her feet. His hands wave in a particular pattern. She recognizes it as sign language. She knows very little sign language. Barely enough to communicate. She starts off with 'thank you', touching her fingertips to her chin, then pointing them to him. He returns the gesture. She then gives the sign for 'little' implying she knows very little. The old man nods. Nina looks to the gun on the ground a few yards back. She knows the full alphabet, so slowly spells out, 'noise attracts them. The gun is noisy'. The old man nods in agreement and rubs his fist in a circular motion on his chest, 'sorry'.
Nina points behind the man, down the road in the direction of the city hall. The two of them see Sebastian driving toward them, bringing a small army of men on horses with guns. Town's people with pitch forks, machete's, scythe's, ho's, shove's, and long spear like poles. Sebastian reaches the two first. Mr. Thomas exists the car, as well as Duncan, Lyle, Sebastian and the student doctor.
"We have a decision to make," Duncan starts as the group of 7 gather together, the towns people following up the men on horses. Mr. Thomas orders the men on horses to check the perimeter of the wall and the gates and reminds them not to shoot any guns. The riders head off. Mr. Thomas looks to Nina and the old man.
"Mr. Keeton. You fight off these dead bodies," Mr. Thomas says out loud while signing. The old man, Mr. Keeton, nods and nudges toward Nina. Mr. Thomas nods. "Ok...we have a decision to make." Mr. Thomas looks to Nina. "Mrs. Gardener. You said it should take about a day to travel to this place you speak of?" He turns to Duncan, "I want you to take half of our men. Go to this place Mr. and Mrs. Gardener speak so highly of and see what we can do with it." Mr. Thomas turns and speaks to the town's people, ordering them to make groups of at least ten and scan the entire area for anything. Make sure the wall is standing. Make sure the gates are up, make sure there are no dead walking aimlessly. He then turns back to the little group huddled near the car, then turns again to head back to the city hall. The people chatter among themselves and start making groups. Duncan looks to Nina,
"I know this is for the best, but I never meant to cause division. You ready?"
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Post by Mu Iota Gamma on Apr 23, 2013 8:29:10 GMT -6
Despite the hordes of spelling mistakes, typos and wrong sentences trying to bite my eyes like so many zombies, I really enjoyed this story and look forward to more. Who knows, if I have time and if you want me too, I could even edit it for you  |
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Post by nina on Apr 23, 2013 14:57:13 GMT -6
Mu Iota Gamma
Thanks for the feedback. The first few chapters were copied over from NOTE PAD using WINDOWS. I don't know why the sentences are all garbled and messed up. I started using WORD 2007 to help with spelling and such, but I guess it only got me so far. You're welcome to COPY the text, and paste it in a word type program you have and amend it and PM the edits to me.
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Post by nina on Apr 29, 2013 18:17:04 GMT -6
(I apologize for the 24 hour delay and that this is shorter than the others. It's been a busy week. Be rest assured, the up coming episodes will be worth the wait!)
Chapter 11: The Employee Entrance
As the towns people disperse, Nina sees many looks from them. Looks of anger, of suspicion, intrigue. She shrugs it off and stand beside her husband. Mr. Keeton waves the student doctor over as he walks to Sebastian and Nina. Mr. Keeton waves a pattern in the air with his hands pointing at the student nurse. The student nurse, responding to Mr. Keeton's signs then introduces herself as Lacey, and introduces Mr. Keeton as Randy. Lacey then introduces Sebastian and Nina to Randy. They shake hands.
Lacey continues with Randy's signs;
"I want to t hank you, Nina, for saving my life. My name is Randy. I am an X-motorcycle gang leader. I have been in and out of jail and gangs since I was a boy, a teenager. The last couple years in the last gang I was in nearly got me killed. I have been near death plenty of times, but somehow this one scared me and I don't know how it was different. I left the gang and became homeless. I tried to pursue God but didn't know how to. Most of the Churches in my past didn't treat me very well. They were scared of me. I tried to do what they wanted and clean myself up, wear the right clothes and talk the right way, but it wasn't me. So I stopped the Church thing and went about doing my own thing. I got into a drunken brawl one night and yet again, almost lost my life, but this time it was my voice. I was stabbed in the throat and sent to the hospital. They saved me, but I can longer speak. I spent long hours at a park near here. I was depressed and in truth, near suicide. Then one day, a nice old man approached me and tried to talk to me. It took me a bit to make him understand i couldn't talk. Oddly enough he knew sign language because his son was born mute. He invited me to his house, which is in this community, and the rest of the people welcomed me with open arms. Some were scared of me, but for the most part, everyone was welcoming. Many of the people know sign language. I work to earn my stay. Doing handy work. Building and repairing. Chopping and carrying wood. I take walks almost every day through the park just outside the town walls. About a week ago I began to notice those weird #@$% things walking around out there. They're easy to kill, but I have no idea what they are. They killed a few of our people, so it was me or them when they came for me." Randy then signs for Lacey to say something.
"Mr. Keeton wants us to introduce ourselves. He says if we're going to travel a long distance we need to know who our company is,"
Nina looks to Lacey.
"We don't really have time for that. We'll chat on the way. Right now we have to get going. We can probably make it before dark,"
"You may be ready in your fancy car," Duncan reminds Nina, "But, we have a group of about eight men on horses. We're making preparations right now. We can leave at day break tomorrow. We have beds for you to sleep in. The town is guarded and we now have shift patrols. We'll find out where the hole in the fence is and fix it. For now, you two have had more than enough excitement for one day. Go get some rest!" Duncan puts one hand on Nina's shoulder, and one hand on Sebastian's shoulder with a warm smile and walks off down the road.
"Come," Lacey offers to Nina and Sebastian, "I live just around the corner. The three walk close, almost as though the perfect little walled in community has been plagued by the discomfort of a typical big city downtown after dark. There are sounds in the distance of war cries. Clangs, sounds of crashes and dis-organization.
"These people aren't soldiers. They're just people," Sebastian comments on the obvious. Lacey retaliates,
"We are farmers, carpenters, sewers, care givers. Some of us have our specialties, like myself. Others have their proficiencies in multiple areas. But one thing is certain. We all work together as a family,"
"How long have you been here Lacey? I didn't think women were permitted in titles of authority, like a doctor," Nina questions. Lacey remains silent almost as though embarrassed, then responds.
"I was studying medicine in university right out of high school. I had a medical scholarship which pretty much paid my whole way through school. I had an intern ship at a hospital. But something was always missing in my life. I was never into the club scene or the social scene. I found myself enjoying books to people. Maybe a little bit of a book worm. Dr. Loewen came to the hospital for some supplies for the community. Somehow we got to chatting. He went to talk to Mr. Thomas about bringing me here. Having another doctor would serve this community well. Dr. Loewen was already teaching a student. I was only a year away from graduating. I have a much more advanced medical history than Dr. Loewen or his student. Somehow he talked Mr. Thomas to let me in on a trial basis. I proved my worth very quickly and became a welcome addition to the family. They gave me a small house, just for me...speaking of," Lacey gestures to the humble one story building made from large stones and wood. She lets the couple in and sits hard on a rocking chair letting out a hard sigh.
"I don't have any rooms in this house. It's probably much different from what you are used to...but you may have the spare bed in the corner. Get some rest. We've got a big day tomorrow,"
Sebastian and Nina find a comfortable spot to lie down without any intentions of falling asleep. Moments later, Duncan is waking up Sebastian.
"Lets go Mr. Gardener, Mrs. Gardener, the sun is just peaking over the horizon. We have to get going,"
Sebastian wakes up startled and confused.
"What happened?" Sebastian asks
"What do you mean?" Replies Duncan
"We just got here. It was dinner time not ten minutes ago. We just sat down for a rest,"
"Yes," Lacey calls out from the kitchen, on the other side of the small house, "You two fell asleep within minutes. I've packed my bags, readied my horse, and we're now ready for you two. We're leaving in ten minutes. You'd better hurry up," Lacey says placing two plates of scrambled eggs, toast, a couple slices of ham, some fruit, and two glasses of milk. Sebastian and Nina, walking almost as sluggish as the dead they've experienced the last 24 hours. They scarf down the food as Duncan and Lacey exit the building.
"We'll be waiting outside. Please be quick," Duncan calls out shutting the door behind him. Finishing breakfast, the two head outside to find the little army already ready. Surprised by the organization, the couple then head toward where they parked their car.
The exodus caravan, led by Sebastian and Nina in the car, followed by Duncan, Lacey and eight men, including Randy, riding on horseback. Sebastian drives a good distance ahead, while the ten horse back riders behind them trot at medium speed. They make more noise than expected riding the horses on the concrete road. They detect the sound is carrying far off into the fields. Some dead can be seen in the distance. No evident direction or goal. Too far away to truly see what they're doing or where they're going. There were minor obstacles on the road, just as they were on the way up to this area. What really puzzles Sebastian and Nina is why none of the dead are on the road. They all wander far out in the fields.
By mid day, the cavan had made it to the construction site where Nina left her car. Driving through the small town Sebastian and Nina live looked just the same as they left it; completely empty. Even though Nina knew it was coming up down the road, the first sign was the slowly accumulating dead bodies on the ground. The caravan slows to a stop on top of a small inclining hill over looking the four way round about. Many cars still resting on the street, while others are scattered about the very large flat grassy field. Dead bodies lie about, though none are moving. The stench is horrific. Looking carefully, they find a way to get through the car graveyard. Nina points out her car which she parked just a week ago. It, along with the rest of the cars are untouched.
They get farther down the road and finally see the building in the distance. The extra large warehouse full of various foods in bulk, stored away in their manufacturers packaging, wrapped up in thick industrial strength plastic wrap. They get to the opening of the parking lot, protected by a large fence. Most of the dead Nina remembers seeing are gone or on the ground motionless. Only a few are actually walking about, seemingly unable to get through the fence and unable to find the opening of the parking lot. Sebastian stops the car before going much farther past the opening. The Calvary still up the road behind them. They go unnoticed so far, but the horse clomping is loud, and getting louder. Once behind the car, Duncan meets up with Sebastian. Sebastian points to an inner fence where the horses can be tied up. Nina suggests groups of three or more walk around the outside perimeter ensuring the dead on the ground are in fact, dead. And dispatch the ones who are walking around. Nina also points out that while it's highly unlikely there are any survivors in side, there is a chance someone may be hiding out. And who knows what condition they would be in.
Nina also questions the area and why it is that after one full week, no one else has considered coming back here to scavenge. The place looks worse than how she left it. The remains of the chaos which play back in her mind. She is startled by Sebastian who puts his hand on her shoulder,
"You ok?"
Nina nods. Each man on horse back ties their horse up against a long railing close to the building doors, quite away from any public eye, living or dead. It takes them about two hours to scan the yard inside the fence. They do an initial check, then check once more. Four men are chosen by Duncan to remain outside to watch over things. While Duncan, Randy, Lacey, Sebastian, Nina and the three other men head in through the employee entrance.
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Post by nina on May 5, 2013 19:18:16 GMT -6
Chapter 12: Something's wrong
Nina is the first to walk through the door holding her machete close, followed closely by Sebastian holding a hatchet. Duncan, Randy, Lacey and the three men follow behind. The smell hits Nina and Sebastian like a powerful punch in the face. Sebastian keels over coughing and vomiting. Nina holding her sleeve over her mouth. Nina sees the warehouse entrance down a short hallway before them, while the staircase begins to their left. Bodies cover the floor and are dispersed about the stairs. A memory flashes in Nina's mind of running from a hoard of at least a few dozen through the cafeteria, and running down those stairs and outside to her car. Looks like many of the dead were trampled. The air is silent.
Walking between the small spaces of dead bodies on the floor, Nina finds her way to the door leading to the warehouse. The thick wire lined window shows nothing on the other side. No bodies, no mess. It seems untouched. Looking to the black box beside the door, there is a red light. Nina examines it curiously, and pulls out her magnetic employee card from her thin wallet in her pant pocket. Pressing her wallet to the black box, the magnetic card activates the box, which beeps, the light turning green. She pulls at the door which opens half way, stopping against the leg of a dead body. Duncan points at the body to Randy. Randy grabs the hand of the body and pulls it away like it were a rag doll. Nina gets the door open and heads in while Randy holds the door for everyone else.
Inside the warehouse is quiet. All the lights are off. But Nina remembers these lights are all motion sensitive. Nina turns to the small group gathering behind her.
"The lights are motion sensitive. I'm a little impressed the lights are still on. There are some gasoline generators on the property, but there are also some solar power generators," She takes a couple steps forward looking up to the very tall ceiling as one light about four stories up turns on. She smiles and waves the group on. The group walk carefully close to the wall. On their right are nine levels of racking, spanning at least one hundred yards along the wall, and at least a couple hundred yards in length with racking after racking after racking of pallets full of various products, so far down the darkness covers the racking.
"This place is huge!" Lacey whispers. The group get to a very large doorless room, the room's opening could easily allow a wide car through. Entering this room the group see several stand up fork lifts of various model types. Sit down forklifts and stand up forklifts. All of them lined up side by side against the wall. On the other side of this large room is a racking area with small microwave sized electrical generators, Nina points out the little generators are meant to re-charge the filing cabinet sized batteries which go into the forklifts. Getting past this room, and continuing to hug the wall, the group find themselves to a large open area. The sight is slightly disorganized. A few dead bodies lie on the ground. Some fork lifts abandoned. Pallets of product, some organized and some fallen over.
The wall they were following is interrupted by a very large transparent split curtain blast door. Nina points it out leading to the produce department, where the refrigerated products would be stored.
"I don't know how the generators kept up to keeping that section cold. We would have to enter that area to see for sure. But, the good news is, since the security doors are still active, that means no one can get into this building without a pass card. And it looks like we're the first ones here all week,"
More and more memories flood Nina's mind as she nearly re-lives the experiences she went through a week ago, seeing the exact spots on the loading dock where she saw a man eating another man. Being chased by the dead, barely escaping with her life. Again, Sebastian snaps her out of the daze with a concerned look on his face.
"I'm fine," She assures him. Using her well trained eyes, she peers down as far as she can and positively identifies the immediate area is clear. She brings the group to the security room, empty and clean, save for a spilled coffee cup, now a tried black residue on the desk and floor. Half of the little monitors are completely black, even though their power buttons are green. The other half of them are showing outside. The receiving docks and shipping docks and various other grounds. It seems all clear through the monitors. Even the Mennonite men left outside are seen obediently standing at attention like statues.
"The monitors are black because the lights are off. The lights have a twenty minute timer. If they don't detect movement after twenty minutes, they turn off. That's probably one reason why they're still working. They're not over-loading the generators. The blast doors aren't being opened multiple times a minute from high traffic fork lifts driving through, saving even more power. The dock doors aren't being open and closed per transport truck traffic. My only question is the produce and freezer department. If the cooling fans are still on..." Nina mumbles to herself. "We need to get to the generators to see how much juice is still in them,"
Nina looks about the security control box and finds the communication board, and flicks a switch, turning a red light green, then presses down a button below the switch, looking through the monitor where the four men stand, and speaks.
"Kent, Bruce, Harold, Nelson, this is Nina. I'm talking to you through a speaker box above the door we went through to enter the building. You guys are doing great. If you four follow the building wall, you'll find--"
"Nina," Sebastian interrupts. Nina looks over to Sebastian who points out a a small monitor with a DOS like screen showing a lot of weird numbers and text. One such text displays, 'generator A', 'generator B', 'generator C', 'generator E', 'generator F'. Nina stares at the screen curious seeing all generators are at half except 'generator F' which is nearly empty. Nina goes back to the button and tells the four men not to bother and maintain their grounds. She turns to Duncan,
"We have to go through this entire building to ensure it's safe and free of those things,"
Duncan huddles with the three men chatting about something and they begin to disperse.
"Wait!" Nina calls out to them. "Where do you think you're going?"
"We're going to look around...like you said," Duncan replies. Nina lets out sigh of annoyance.
"You don't know the area. If you get into trouble, you're going to get cornered very easily. This place is a maze and it's very dangerous...even for standard employees. Duncan stares Nina directly in the eyes as though challenging her.
"Ok, Mrs. Gardener. What do you suggest we do?"
"Stay here!" Nina heads for the door leading the way they came, "Have a look at the monitors. They're all black right now. I'm going to get a fast and quiet machine and drive through the isles to turn the lights on so we can see better. This will give us a stronger advantage." Nina heads off down the long path which they came. The men sit in the room staring at black screens. Time seems to go by slowly as the only over powering sound in the room is the constant click, click, clicking of the clock.
Five minutes go by, it feels like an hour. Sebastian gets uneasy and takes two steps heading for the door when one of the monitors shows something. From one end of the monitor to the other, small parts of the racking become visible. Nina can be seen driving a fork lift down the aisle. She clears one long aisle in less than a minute. With just over two dozen to go, and a twenty minute timer, they all slowly begin to understand that by the time she is done, the first few aisles will be darkened again.
The sounds of the machine hum gently through the warehouse. Sebastian, still watching the monitors sees Nina stop at the edge of the screen. Looking carefully, he sees her get off the machine and head for part of the racking. A good amount of boxes have fallen over and pinned a body to the ground. The screen doesn't show enough detail to determine if the person is dead or alive. After standing near the body for a few seconds, Nina kicks its shoulder and it begins flailing its arms wildly at her. Sebastian nearly loses his self control to go run out to find her, but she quickly dispatches it with her machete.
Before much longer, Nina finds herself back at the office as the lights have slowly begun to turn off darkening the warehouse once again.
"Well...that part is clear," Nina reassures the group. We have a produce department then the offices. The produce department is essentially a large refrigerator. It's cold in there! But, a quick thirty minute walk through will be easy. Their offices are on the other side of the building, so I wont have any idea what's going on over there,"
The group of eight, includes the three men, Lucey, Randy, Duncan, Sebastian and Nina. Each carrying their weapons head through the cold. Nina is surprised to find the large cooler fans still working in full. They get through the first area with potatoes and bananas and tomatoes and onions. The lights turn on for them as they get to the other end of the medium sized room. Collecting to the next door leading to what Nina called, 'the real cold area', their presence triggers a motion detection device and opens up the blast doors. Walking through the doors, Nina is a little surprised to find the area clean and organized. Left in a similar condition to the workers leaving things as they are to head off for break. Machines abandoned in the aisles partially build pallets with product on them. They continue, aisle after aisle seeing no one. Finally, getting to the other end of this cold area, the cold starting to make them feel uncomfortable, they reach giant doors which say, "FROZEN". Nina points out the large door stating it's negative fifteen in the first portion of the frozen section and negative thirty in the coldest part, where the ice cream is.
They enter the first portion of the freezer feeling a blast of cold air. The cold bites at them hard and they begin mur muring about abandoning this mission and heading back. Nina sees the ice cream area just ahead. She finds a janitors machine resting in the aisle. A few small items catch her attention, specifically, frozen fruit. She pulls out an apple, frozen solid. Holding it tight, she goes to throw it at the door, when she's stopped by a strong hand. Randy holds her hand and stares at the door. He points out a light glowing bright at the motion control near the bottom of the door as the motion light before the door hadn't been activated. the glowing light was red. It was inactive. Someone had actually turned off the motion control. The large plastic strips which make up the door could not be opened by just a couple guys. A small crowd of guys would struggle to get it open. A group of these dead might be able to, if they were agitated. But anyone in that room would not be able to see anything and thus wouldn't recognize the opportunity to push up against the large heavy plastic strips of vertical blinds.
Nina realizing the door wont open anyway, the fruit may actually blast against the door like the sound of a BB gun against a tin wall, echoing in an open space like this. There was a reason why this door was deactivated.
Nina thinks hard and realizes, something's wrong.
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Post by ZombieHero on May 6, 2013 20:26:42 GMT -6
Nina! Great chapters. I havent had a lot of time to read them lately, but I just caught up. Loved them
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Post by nina on May 12, 2013 16:28:18 GMT -6
Chapter 13: This could get bad...
Nina slowly steps closer to the large blast doors signaling with her hand for everyone to stay back. She gets within arms reach of the large transparent plastic vertical blast doors when she stops, freezing in position. The group behind her can't tell what's going on. A voice calls out asking what but is quickly hushed by Nina and a pointed index finger. A few moments in silence pass and Duncan, losing patience takes a couple steps closer to the door. Nina turns and starts on a full out sprint yelling,
"RUN!"
The group is distracted by a body slamming into the large blast door, followed by another, and another and another. The dead are clearly cluttered within that room and by the time Nina gets to the door on the other side of the room, which the group entered, a couple dead manage to break through, though they topple over, the plastic door flap swings back into place, the impact knocking a few back, but more and more press against the large flaps separating them slowly.
"GO!" Duncan yells turning to follow after Nina who's already go through the previous blast doors, pulling Sebastian along with her. The group turns with Duncan as more and more dead fight their way through. Once through, Nina reaches down beside the door, and presses a button on the little box turning the light from green to red. Double checking it, she places herself in front of the large doors and doing a couple jumping jacks, the door is motionless, besides the minor waving back and forth from closing moments before.
Nina takes a different route back leading them farther into the cold.
"Where are we going?" Duncan calls out huffing and puffing. Nina doesn't answer. After a few more aisles , the group finds themselves slowing down their light jog as they come upon a squared off protrusion which is quickly identified as an office given the large windows and computers on the other side. Nina gets to the door finding it locked. Nina looks to Duncan and his followers,
"Watch our backs please, they're going to start flooding out,"
Duncan looks curious to Nina,
"Did you see how far we ran? They're not going to find us that easily,"
Nina stares Duncan down, "We have less than give minutes before they're behind us. We need to get through this door and into the offices behind,"
Duncan rolls his eyes and signs something to Randy as Nina vanishes behind a corner. Moments later a couple dead appear from around a corner, both wearing business suits. They haven't noticed the little group huddled by the office wall hiding behind some small debris. From two wandering about, another appears, and another and another. And as just about five minutes having passed, a sudden flood of the dead appear from around the corner. The little group still have not been noticed, but the hoard are closing in fast.
"We can't take that many on," Duncan whispers in a panic, "Where is she?" Sebastian attempts to suggest he calm down by pointing his open palm to Duncan. The dead are nearly upon them as one of the Mennonite men dashes for a closed door in the corner letting out a cry of anxiety. His actions get the immediate attention of the hoard as they slowly start to funnel toward him. A second man runs out after him as they struggle to get the door open. Duncan gets to his feet as Sebastian pulls him back down.
"There's nothing you can do,"
Duncan looks back to Sebastian, "You may not value life, but they are my brothers, and I will give my life to defend them!"
"That's commendable, but if you want to live, get in here!" Nina says opening the office door from the inside. Lacey, Randy and the remaining two men race in followed by Sebastian while Duncan stands just outside the door watching as his 'brothers' get devoured. Nina pulls him in and shuts the door behind them quietly. The loud gnarls of the dead fill the air completely as all of them hide under things and behind other things.
"We should go home," One of the Mennonite men says. "This isn't worth it. We can't possibly make this place safe enough,"
"It IS safe enough," Nina says, "But, we just need to make it safe by taking these freaks out!" A small group of dead bang against the security window getting everyone's attention, but they gnarl and moan as they slide against the window in an aimless shuffle. Nina motions toward a slightly ajar door behind everyone leading into a dark corridor. Slowly everyone sneaks in the hallway while the muffled growls rumble in the group's ears.
"We need a plan," Duncan says.
"Do you still have your weapons?" Nina asks. They all pull out their baseball bats, hunting knives, brass knuckles and hatchets. "Listen," Nina continues, "Things can get out of control very fast. There's at least fifty of them-"
"Can we funnel them through this hallway and take them out?" One of the Mennonite men pipes up, "We let a couple in...kill it, let a couple more in, kill them. It'll very very tight, it'll be easy to take them all out, and we have plenty of open space back here".
There is silence for a moment as everyone considers any alternatives. With no one saying anything, the brave young man heads for the door where the dead can be seen talking around the open area. He reaches for the door knob when a burst of radio static comes through the office. It's very loud in the room and seems to catch the attention of some of the closer dead as they hobble closer to the window. More bleeps and static, Nina leaps to her feet and light on her feet sneaks through the office, taking the radio receiver, turning the volume down to nearly off as a very faint voice calls out something on the other end. Nina turns the volume up slightly answering back, "Hello?"
"Mrs. Gardener...I knew it was you!" The voice calls on the other end. "I can see you through the security camera. I saw you guys walking through the place,"
"Who is this?" Nina asks
"It's Vince!" Nina recognizes the name, but at the moment of distraction, trying to keep invisible to the dead who are now clawing at the window and bringing more attention.
"Where are you?"
"I'm in the security office up stairs," Vincent answers, "You let out the freak show didn't you? I tried to get your attention but I guess the speaker by the freezer doors doesn't work." Nina's memory comes back to her remembering Vince is the new office clerk. He communicates with the trucks as they're coming and going from the warehouse to make sure the deliveries are processed on time.
"Have you been here all this time?" Nina shakes her head for a second realizing this is no time for small talk, "Keep watch of the cameras...we will be up there soon!" Nina turns the volume off and lets go of the receiver. The thick ringed plastic, like a corded phone coils back up, bangs hard against the metal filing cabinet under the desk. The bang was a gentle knock on the door telling the dead she was in the room. With the windows now covered completely by the growling dead, Nina realizes there is only one way out of this.
"Get ready every one!" The group in the hallway see the dead attacking the door the young Mennonite man is standing beside. The doors are very heavy and industrial built. Nina knows they can't get in no matter how hard they try. The pounding on the glass and the door begins to scare the group as they struggle for an answer.
"Can't we just head up those stairs?" Duncan says pointing down the other end of the hallway.
"Yes...but that wont solve this problem. We must kill each of them and take their bodies outside and make this place ready for your people," Sebastian says getting to his feet. He motions for the other young Mennonite man who introduces himself as Joshua to wait by the door with the stairs. They may need a quick escape route. Sebastian ask Duncan to sign for Randy what they're planning on doing.
"We're going to open the door, and take these things out as they get into the hallway," I want Randy by the door keeping it under control. Most of them are at the window, so we can take care of the few by the door pretty easily. But it wont take long for them to collect here,"
Randy, twice the size of the young man by the door, nods and heads over to the door, he holds the door knob as Duncan and Sebastian squeeze in the tiny hallway which both of them could touch either end of the walls with their arms stretched out.
"Ok...we have to be organized and we have to work together!" Sebastian says while Lacey, Nina and the two Mennonite men look on. Duncan and Sebastian take a few imaginary practice swings as they bounce a little on the floor like a boxer ready for a fight. Duncan looks at Randy who seems like he's been ready to open the door this whole time. Duncan nods at Randy, Randy opens the door about half way letter two dead in the door. They don't seem to notice Randy right away, but rather head straight for Duncan and Sebastian, who quickly dispatch them both with blows to the head with a machete and a hatchet. Both bodies fall to the floor as Randy is barely able to close the door just as the impact of another dead man waiting for his turn slams against the door with a very loud growl. Lacey, Nina and the young brave Mennonite man drag the two bodies off into an adjacent office room.
One by one Randy lets in one or two at at times three fight through the door. Duncan and Sebastian are very careful not to hit Randy or each other. They get the attention of the dead person easily, lure them into the hallway and make the kill shot. Things began to go very cookie cutter as they slowly begin to count down the numbers until Lacey and Nina point out they're running out of room in the little office. The smell is starting to pour out into the poorly ventilated hallway. Apparently the ventilation installers weren't anticipating an apocalypse of the dead when they made this area. The bodies are piled high, but even with the three of them, their stamina slowly runs on them.
"There's just too many," Lacey calls out huffing. They keep the door shut and look through the giant wall sized windows. Before this adventure, nearly an hour ago, they could barely see past the mob of dead. At least now there are small pockets of open spaces from time to time as they bumped into each other, but the fact remains. There are still several dozen and they have no more space to put any more.
"Are we safe to leave them like this?" Sebastian asks Nina, also huffing, covered in blood and sweating horribly. Nina nods
"Well...the good news is..we have a womans and a man's locker room upstairs. There's several hundred half lockers and a whole lotta toilets and showers! I think we could all use a shower. Nina begins to head up the stairs as everyone else follows.
Up the top of the stairs, Nina leads everyone through a quiet maze of hallways. Most of the doors closed and without windows. Some doors open with random debris throughout. The group staying cautious, Nina gets everyone to a large blue door with the words, 'security' on them. She knocks in an obvious pattern and calls out to Vince. Vince answers the door quickly, his arm covered with gauze, with a slight red colouring on the one side. It catches everyone's attention. Vince welcomes everyone into the security office. The large office has plenty of open space, and even a pinball arcade game. Vince skips to a bar fridge and pulls out some no name brand beer and snacks, placing them on a circular table. The two Mennonite men dive in like hungry children.
Nina searches the fridge for a couple bottles of water, opening one for herself and tossing one to Sebastian.
"Beer is going to make it worse. Alcohol is the opposite of water. It'll make you feel worse. You should drink water," Nina says sliding a few bottles of water on the table.
Nina and Sebastian look at the monitors of the entire property, still seeing the four men at the door outside, and the only visible hoard covering the office shuffling about. Sebastian nudges to Nina motioning toward Vince's arm, which is clearly a wound that has barely been contained. Multiple thoughts run through the couple's mind. A standard wound...or something else? Sebastian whispers to Nina,
"This could get bad!"
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Post by nina on May 16, 2013 6:20:59 GMT -6
Chapter 14: Do You Hear Something?
The group lets out exhausted moans and groans. Sebastian finds a
comfortable spot on the large round table and sits, everyone else finds
a chair or counter top. Nina approaches Vince,
“What happened to your arm?”
“Oh this?” Vince laughs, “I went down there to get some food. I mean I
have no other reason to leave this place. Saw a few people in the
monitors try and get in. I even helped them in and led them to the
security office. Fuckers got brave and tried to explore the place and
riled up all dem fucks. Next thing I know, I’m down there trying to
save their asses. Damn ghouls chased them right to the freezer. They
go into the freezer just as I got there and that big fuckin’ mass of
‘em all in there. By the time I got there...they were already food.
So, I shut the door motor off and left ‘em. One of the little bitches
got free somehow, or he was late getting to the party. Bastard snuck
up on me and took a chunk out of me. Killed his ass with a crack!”
Vince motions with his large mountain climbers pick, with some dried
brain matter stuck to it.
“You should clean that,” Sebastian says. Vince looks at the pick and smiles.
“Dis motha-fukka gonna save my life!”
“How long ago did that happen?” Sebastian asks. Vince looks at Sebastian suspiciously.
“Why the hell you care bro?”
“Because,” Nina interrupts, “If you haven’t noticed, the bite seems to
be one of the major contributors to spreading this infection,”
Vince is silent for a moment.
“What you sayn’?" Vince objects
"What I'm saying," Nina says, "Is, if you've been bitten by one of
those things. There is a really strong chance you're going to turn
into one?"
Vince looks skeptical and worried. His 'wigger' character turns from 'gansta' to little boy.
"You mean....I'm infected by this?"
"Have you been ill? Have you been feeling sick? Have you been dizzy?" Sebastian asks
Vince doesn't answer. Nina steps closer to Vince, "How long ago did it happen!"
Vince looks at Nina directly in the eye, "Two days ago,"
When Nina thinks about the time frame, she suddenly realizes he does look pretty pale.
"Is there anything we can do?" Vince cries out in desperation. The group is silent, until Lacey opens up,
"My name is Lacey. I'm a student doctor. I've seen more than a dozen
of these case in the last week. Most of them in the local hospital I
work at, and a few at a local Mennonite community. We don't know what
it is. People get bit, and anywhere from minutes to hours...and I
guess in your case, days..." Lacey doesn't continue.
"You mean I'm gonna become one of those fuckers out there?" Vince says
starting to sound panicked. The group remains silent. Vince pushes
himself off the counter top he was leaning from and pulls out a small
hand gun concealed behind him and points it at the group. It catches
everyone's attention.
"All of you, get the fuck out!" Everyone stands alert as Vince slowly
begins ordering everyone back to the door. "I"m not going to die here.
Fuck you all! Fuck you all!" Vince waves the gun at random people in
the room. Duncan and his men back up toward the door, Lacey slowly
following, their hands in the air.
"Nina, you're a cool chick, you are...but this isn't the end for me.
And I ain't havin' one of you bitches fuck me up while I'm sleeping,"
"No one said anything about harming you or taking over," Nina replies. Vince waves his gun more,
"Get out! Get the fuck out!"
Randy, big and burly, takes a couple steps toward Vince getting within
arms reach. Vince points the gun directly at Randy yelling all kinds of
vulgarities and warnings. Randy stares at the gun for a couple moments
and then smiles taking one more step. Vince's hand shaking gives Randy
a final warning bringing his other hand to cup around his gun holding
hand. Randy opens his arms either inviting a hug or a 'come at be bro'
challenge.Vince looks confused and angry and scared and leans in to push
Randy back. The 140 pound Vince bounces off the 200 pound Randy like a
child trying to push over his father. Vince holds the gun to Randy's
head, his finger caressing the trigger. Randy rolls his eyes, grabs the
gun and with very minimal effort pushes Vince very hard knocking him
into the counter and bouncing back landing on the floor. Randy points
the gun to Vince, which causes Vince to curl up into a ball on the
floor. Sebastian and Nina get between the two while Duncan holds
Randy's shoulder signing something frantically. Randy points the gun to
Sebastian and squeezes the trigger, but the trigger doesn't pull.
Sebastian instinctively grabs Randy's arm pushing it out of anyone's way
yelling for him to stop. Randy laughs, which sounds more like a heavy
wheeze and holds the gun sideways revealing the safety button was
activated. Randy signs, "Safety one, wont fire". Randy then inspects
the gun and finds there is no ammo in the gun anyway and double proves
it by shooting an empty chamber and empty magazine at Vince. The gun
clicks repetitively. Randy ends his rant with a dirty look in Vince's
direction and throws the gun to the ground. It bounces and hits against
Vince before landing on the ground again.
There is a moment of silence as the group aren't sure to be relieved or angry.
"We have a group of people, maybe a hundred that we're bringing here.
We're going to clean this place up and go back to get them. You may
stay under the supervision of Randy here...or you may leave," Sebastian
offers.
"How long do I have?" Vince asks
"Actually...you're the only person we've seen who's lasted more than a
day before turning," Lacey answers. "But...if I were to be totally
honest with you," Lacey approaches Vince and places her arm next to his.
Skin touches and the first realization is how much more pale Vince is
compared to Lacey. Vince also comments on how warm she is, to which
Lacey counters how much colder he is.
"I've found these vitamins in Aisle B-12. Kids vitamins and adult
vitamins. They say take 1 per day...but I've been taking two,"
Lacey nods understanding, "Maybe they helped slow it. I don't know,"
"It's already late. The sun will be going down in about an hour. We're
going to rest for the rest of the day and get to clean up tomorrow!"
Duncan says.
"What do we do about him?" Lacey objects. "He's a ticking time bomb. I don't want to go to sleep if he's going to turn,"
"Hallway!" Duncan and Sebastian say. And despite Vince's objections,
Sebastian, Duncan and Randy get Vince into the hallway, leaving with him
a couple blankets and enough food to keep him going till morning. They
close and lock the door assuring him to stay calm and they'll work
things out in the morning.
Vince, in the hallway, puts his ear to the door. He hears the mur murs
of the group. He's even certain he's heard his name a few times. His
anger builds as he begins to feel stomach cramps and light headed. He
takes a few more steps down the hallway where the group came from. He
topples over falling to his knees, then rolls onto his back. His heart
is beating twice as fast and twice as hard. He begins hyperventilating,
but somehow calms himself down. His body feels like it weighs more
than it does and he struggles to get to his feet, using the walls as
crutches. He continues hobbling down the hallway, passing open doors
with debris and closed doors which he knows are just simple offices.
Getting to the end of the hallway, he finds himself to an open door. On
the other side of this door, is a set of stairs leading down and a
light mur mur of voices like a raging waterfall in the distance.
He makes it two steps down before his leg gives way, as though it no
longer responded to his brain to hold him up. He falls though already
having a firm grip on the bannister, swings off it like monkey bars and
slams into the wall. The impact knocks the wind out of him and he falls
a few more stairs before somehow managing to catch himself. His left
leg is bent, clearly broken, yet he feels no pain. He fights to his
feet trying to step on his leg. His leg doesn't respond to his
commands, and has lost all sense of feeling despite his hammering on it
to bring it back together from its knee cap separation.
He continues to hobble down the stairs, using his broken leg as a crutch
with very limited capability. Getting to the bottom of the stairs,
breathing heavily, he opens the door leading to the produce department's
office. Two things happen. One; a violent stench of rotting corpses
knocks him back like a powerful gust of wind. He holds onto the door
knob as though it were a life line, his body contorts in unusual angles
trying to hold onto the door knob while balancing on one leg. He
catches his free hand onto the door and manages to hold himself up.
Two; The light rumbling mur mur of voices in the distance has had a
powerful spike of rage. A few dozen voices at least screaming and
yelling, the sounds of heavy thumping against thick glass. Vince
hobbles through the door way into the small dark hallway and identifies a
small office room completely over flowing with the bodies of the dead.
Dirty warehouse workers, clean office workers and truck drivers of all
sorts. Random body parts contorted in random ways tossed, each one with
their skulls crushed or gone. Into the office, and in plane view,
Vince sees a mass of dead no smaller than fifty, and that's just what he
can see from his view point. He can see there are others in the
distance who are not pounding on the window an those who are around the
corner out of the window view. The window has held strong despite the
weight and the poundings. The gnarls get louder with his appearance
like an excited audience cheering for band members entering stage to
start a performance.
Vince begins to feel his right arm is losing feeling. He bangs on it a couple times, but it feels less and less pain.
"I'm not turning into one of you mother fuckers!" Vince grumbles. He
hobbles into the hallway and begins heading toward the door where even
more are seen through the window on the upper half of the door. The
door opens inward, so he knows by opening this door, they will pour in
and kill him. He wont turn into one of them because he will be crushed
by the stampede. And considering the number of them, it wont take long.
His body is quickly losing feeling, so it should be easy. He bashes
his head a couple times against the wall, feels very little, but sees a
splat of blood on the wall. He gets to the door and impacts his head
against the wall, harder this time. The sounds of the dead are getting
muffled and his sight is starting to go dark. He reaches out for the
door knob grabbing at air a few times before finally grabbing it. He
holds tight to it and slowly turns the knob.
Before he gets the knob fully tuned, the door blasts open as a flood of
dead enter into the hallway, filling glass protected office room, and
quickly finding the stairs, slowly climbing up. Vince is pinned against
the wall and every couple seconds is pushed hard against it.
"Kill me...." he mumbles to the dead as they brush past him. "Kill
me..." Vince mumbles as his sight slowly darkens and he falls to the
ground getting trampled by the powerful flood of dead.
In the security room, Nina, Sebastian and Duncan use a note pad and pen
to begin organizing a to do list while Randy sits with Lacey as the sun
slowly vanishes over the horizon. The other two men sit quietly in the
corner reading their Bibles, everybody ignoring the collection of
monitors on the other side of the room while it displays the small army
of dead pouring into the hallway just outside their door. Nina's head
turns toward the windowless door with a curious look on her face which
gets Duncan and Sebastian's attention.
"Do you hear something?"
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Post by nina on Jun 2, 2013 14:24:41 GMT -6
Chapter 15 - Megan
DAY 1:
A whole day has passed since the chaos. My name is Megan, I decided to write down a little journal because I don't think I'll be alive much longer. Someone needs to know what happened here. I hid in a storage room when things got really bad. Luckily there happens to be a box of broken food here. I work for a distribution center, in the warehouse clerk department. I just got this job a week ago. The job was getting easier each day. I talk with the truck drivers using a C.B. radio. I was sent out to investigate a truck. Typically when a truck parks, the driver comes out and hands me the work order and we identify if the order is ready to ship out. Most of the time it is, so we sign on the line and take a second look to ensure everything is ready and the driver takes the truck away to the retail store. It's a very easy job, just stressful at times trying to make the dead lines and such.
One truck driver was parked for nearly half an hour without turning his truck off or calling in via C.B. so we went to investigate. I am typically accompanied by one male colleague when investigating matters like this. Truck drivers aren't always the nicest individuals to deal with. When we got to the truck, the driver was hunched over on his steering wheel. We didn't understand what was going on. So, my colleague...I think his name was Chris, tried to get the man's attention, but nothing worked. We also noticed another man in the truck, who after farther investigation, we realized he had a gun shot to the head. We backed away immediately and called the police. Our first thought was the driver picked up a hitch hiker and they must have had some kind of quarrel and the truck driver shot the young man. But why was the truck driver now hunched over on his steering wheel and not responding to us?
When the police got there, the man was gone. There was a slight blood trail, but it vanished pretty quickly. The police then called it in and issued a complete evacuation of the building. We ran back to the office to call it in, but no one was in the office. There was a large crowd of people at the shipping dock and we saw a fight. Looking a little closer, we saw the truck driver acting like a mad man, screaming and waving his arms and attacking people. It took about five big men to hold him down. There were two others on the floor bleeding and screaming.
This all happened so fast, but the two who were bleeding stopped moving and the driver somehow managed to bite one of the men who was holding him. Things became a blur shortly after, but suddenly there was this crazy panic as guys started attacking each other and biting each other or something. I was too far away to really see what was going on, but I ran out of there as fast as I could. I went back to the office, but still no one was there. People were running around and driving the fork lift machines away. It was very loud for a while and very scary, until it went silent. I locked myself in the office not knowing what to do. Then I saw a man covered in blood walking around. I opened up the little sliding window and called out to him asking if everything was ok? He turned and saw me and started running at me. I didn't know what to do, but he ran right into the window. He was growling and clawing at the window. I was so scared. I ran into the back offices to find someone, anyone, then I saw the offices had people in them. But the people were eating each other. Like really eating each other! I couldn't help it, I screamed. They all looked at me and came at me. I didn't know what else to do, so I ran and somehow found myself hiding in the storage room. The people growled and moved around the hallway for hours and then they either left or quieted down. I don't really know, I'm too scared to open that door.
DAY 2:
There is no clock in this room, and I don't have my cellphone. And I don't have a watch. I have no idea what time it is. I didn't sleep much. I was too stressed out. All that's in here are a few card board boxes full of papers for filing, this box of broken food, which isn't going to last me long. And I need go to the bathroom. I think I'm going to risk looking outside. The noise is gone.
Oh my god! I found the bathroom and there was blood on the floor and the walls, but it was empty. The light was flickering, so it was difficult to see. The stall doors were broken either on the floor or hanging off one hinge. I looked around a little bit from behind the office doors and the place is a mess. It's almost as if a raid of people just threw stuff around and left it there. That's a safety hazard! I saw a couple bodies on the ground. God, they look like they had been eaten, or turned inside out or something. What the hell is going on?
DAY 3:
I've been holding up in the supervisors break room for the last couple days. There is enough food here to last me a couple more days and they have their own little bathroom. I saw a couple of people walking around but they looked different. It wasn't like they were here to work, and I didn't even recognize who they were. They were covered in blood. They didn't seem to notice each other even though they were walking near each other. They looked scary so I didn't bother trying to get their attention.
Day 4:
I'm starting to run out of food. There is food just outside the door in the mess of broken boxes and I haven't seen anyone or anything walking out there all day. I decided to risk it and look through the mess. There were things like soup cans, pudding, pop, water bottles, crackers, chips, cookies and more. At first I grabbed what I could with my hands, but I knew that wouldn't last me more than a day. I tried to stay hidden, but after a few more minutes, I realized there was no body around. The warehouse was pretty much completely black from the automated lights turning off. The light I saw came from outside while the shipping dock doors were open. It wasn't much light, but it was enough to show me what I needed to see. I found a small cart, like a picnic basket thing, or a recycling bin thing. It had someone's tools in it. There were wheels on the bottom and a rope for pulling it. I filled it up several times and brought everything into the office. I think I have enough food to last me a week. I think it's Thursday but the clock said it's three in the afternoon. I'm going to try and head to the parking lot soon. Every day seems more and more quiet. I may look around a bit to see if its safe outside soon.
DAY 7:
Nothing has happened the last couple days. I still have enough food to last some more days. I've gone back out and explored the warehouse a little to get more food. The motion sensitive lights are still active. I've almost made myself a little comfortable in the storage room. I thought about going to another, larger space, a larger office. But they have windows. I don't feel comfortable when something can see in and attack when I'm not ready. I've been lucky and safe so far in the storage closet so I'll take my chances there.
Day 9:
It's been almost a week, or maybe it has been over a week. I've lost track of time. I have seen no one at all. I have looked though a good portion of the warehouse and there is no one here. There are dead bodies, but that's it. The place is starting to smell a little, but I think I'm ready to leave. I'll look around tomorrow to see.
Day 10:
Oh my god, what have I done? I found a back pack in an office and filled it with food and water and looked through the parking lot. There were even more dead bodies out there. It was a huge mess. I made it all the way to the front entrance of the facility. There were a few cars crashed and a few more bodies partially or fully eaten. What the hell is going on? I feel like I've wasted so much time in the storage room while the world was going to shit. I don't understand what's happening. I was starting to walk home. I knew it would take me a couple hours at least, but what else could I do? I only made it a few minutes before I saw a person. This was the first person I had seen in a week. Going from a feeling of extreme loneliness to excitement. When I approached the man, I soon found out he was one of them. I found a dictionary in the storage room, and there is a word. The word is ghoul. A ghoul is a fictional monster commonly associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh, often classified as undead. While they certainly are monsters and consume human flesh, these fuckers certainly aren't fictional!
When I approached this man, his back was facing me and he was walking toward a house. I thought it was his own house. By the time I got within shouting distance, he was near the front door. I shouted a few times and finally got his attention which really got me excited. I learned very quickly this man was not normal! He was just like those other ghoul things. He was very torn up and eaten and messed up. I didn't approach him anymore, instead, I ran. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go for shelter from this man so I ran back to the facility. He got very loud screaming and growling at me, I was so scared. But then as I was running, I saw another person walk out from between a couple houses, then another. They were all the same. Covered in blood and messy and scary. I don't know where they all came from. Where were they all hiding? Before I knew it, there was about two dozen chasing me. I got into the facility through an open shipping dock door, but they soon followed. I wondered if I could slow them down with the cold, so I ran into the freezer section and they followed me as though focused in on my scent or something. I got them all into the freezer and shut and deactivated the door. But the commotion brought others. There were so many others in the warehouse, I had no idea. So, I got them to follow me into the freezer as well. I packed up the freezer with as many as I could and made sure the doors were deactivated. Nothing could get out of there. The doors are too heavy, and we'll see what happens out of that!
Day 11:
After yesterday, I'm much too afraid to leave. I'm too afraid to leave this room. I'm afraid if I try and leave again, more of those ghouls will find me. It's very difficult to funnel them into the freezer, especially with how many there are in there. But they seem to be slowing down in there. I visit the offices from time to time to view the security cameras. Today, I saw a group of people on horses. Who are they? Are they hostile? How could they know about this place? I'll watch them carefully.
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