The End of Us

by D, Hannah

  “Won’t they see us all untied before coming into the room and alert someone and then foiling our plans?” Someone asked her.

  “No, because you’re all going to lie back on the floor like you’re still tied up. I’ll stand at the side of the door waiting for it to open and then attack whoever it is before they get to alert anyone” Zoe told them.

  “I suppose that’ll work” Someone whispered out.

  “It will work. Now everyone get into your positions on the floor. I have no idea what time it is and when they’ll come in” Zoe told them.

  Zoe heard them all getting back onto the floor to pretend they were all still tied up. Zoe went and stood beside the door to wait to attack whoever it was that came through it.

  Zoe felt like she had been standing for ages and felt herself drifting off a few times standing on her feet before snapping herself back awake. Soon enough Zoe heard the footsteps coming up the corridor and keys jingling which meant it was time.

  “Everyone, get ready! It’s time we get out of here” Zoe whispered to the room.

  “We’re ready” Someone whispered back.

  ‘It’s now or never’ Zoe thought to herself as the door was unlocked and pushed open.

  Chapter 20

  The room remained silent. Zoe could see that the light brought in from the corridor didn’t stretch as far as to see everyone in the room. Zoe noticed that it was Liam who was coming in to feed them today.

  Liam placed the tray of food onto the floor and Zoe seen his arm stretch around to the wall she was standing at to find the light switch.

  ‘Time to act’ Zoe thought, before he could switch the light on.

  Zoe grabbed his hand, pulled him into the room and punched him in the stomach which made Liam wheeze out in pain. He was wheezing too much to be able to shout out for help or that he was being attacked by them in the room. Zoe grabbed his arm, twisted it around and held it against his back and put her hand over his mouth. Liam started to struggle and tried to free himself.

  “Someone pass my the rope to tie him and to put over his mouth quickly!” Zoe said to the room.

  A man came up to Zoe with the rope and passed her a strand as he went to work tying Liam’s legs together. Zoe first put a strand of rope into Liams mouth as he went to take in a gust of air to shout for help, quickly silencing him. She then tied his arms together behind his back. After she was done she slid Liam onto the floor and dragged him away from the door and against a wall at the back of the room.

  “What do we do with him?” Someone asked her.

  “Nothing. We leave him in this room” Zoe told them.

  “So we don’t get our revenge on him?” Someone else asked her.

  “Not yet. We need to escape from here first otherwise we risk just being trapped in here all over again” Zoe told them.

  “We’ll be back for you Liam. You’ll pay for keeping us trapped here” A man said to him as he spit on Liam.

  Zoe could feel the anger in the room and decided it was best they move now before someone got them caught trying to act out their revenge.

  “Alright everyone, lets move out of here. Keep low and keep quiet and follow me” Zoe told them.

  Zoe looked at them all nodding their heads in agreement. She quickly managed to count how many people there actually were in the room and she managed to count six, seven including her.

  ‘Good number to charge out of here with’ Zoe thought.

  “Let’s go” Zoe said as she moved to the door.

  Zoe stopped just at the side of the door and looked out to make sure there was no one else in the corridor. She put her hand up to halt everyone from moving when she spotted Eve standing in the corridor looking down at pieces of paper in her hands.

  Eve stood there for a few minutes and made to move up to the experiment room which was just opposite from where Zoe and everyone were standing but stopped and turned around and walked back down the corridor and into the last door at the bottom of the corridor, closing the door behind her.

  Zoe waited for thirty seconds and then moved out of the room, motioning her hand for everyone to follow her. She moved against the wall, crouched over and keeping low. She turned her head and noticed that everyone was doing the same as her.

  ‘Good. Hopefully everyone keeps doing as I do and we manage to get out of here’ Zoe thought.

  Zoe just wanted to get out of this back corridor and back to her group before she would feel better about their escape and more safe. She needed more numbers for them to make it out of this costco and she didn’t even know if these people could fight all that well.

  Zoe got halfway down the corridor before she heard voices coming from the room just in front of her. It was Sylvia and Tom’s voices she could hear. She stopped and raised her hand again for everyone else to stop behind her.

  “I don’t care if her group attacks us. We kill her today” Sylvia said.

  “Is there really any need for this? Why don’t we set her free to her group and tell them not to come back here?” Tom asked her.

  “Because they will attack us for that as well. We just go out there and tell her group that she’s still fine and we haven’t harmed a pretty little hair on her head” Sylvia said.

  “They’ll demand to see her. They’ve been demanding that for three days now. They’re close to just breaking down the door to come in here” Tom told her.

  “Those doors will keep them out. Besides the skin eaters outside have multiplied and there’s now dozens of them out there. I’m thinking we show them the CCTV footage and they’ll all want to stay in here. There are far too many skin eaters for them to fight” Sylvia said.

  “I think they’d rather take their chances out there with the skin eaters than stay in here with us” Tom told her.

  “Well either way they die and we remain safe in here to continue our experiment. Once Liam has fed them their daily meal you will go and collect Zoe and take her to the room. There we will see her fed to the zombies and die. Oh I am looking forward to this show!” Sylvia squealed.

  “Sue Sylvia. Whatever you say” Tom said to her.

  “Oh don’t look so glum Tom. You’re wife wouldn’t like it. Now be gone and come let me know once you have collected Zoe and put her in that room” Sylvia dismissed Tom.

  Zoe had been too busy listening in on heir conversation that she hadn’t found somewhere for them all to hide out of sight. Zoe had been too preoccupied listening to how she was meant to be killed that she had put everyone at risk.

  The door opened and Tom stepped out with the door just slamming shut behind him. Tom had put his head into his hands and let out a frustrated breath, shaking his head before standing up straight. Tom was about to walk away when he caught Zoe and everyone out of the corner of his eye and turned around to stare at them all crouched at the wall.

  Tom looked directly at Zoe. Zoe shook her head no at him and put her finger up to her lips, hoping to he would keep quiet. Zoe pleaded him its her eyes to let them go.

  Tom again looked conflicted. He opened his mouth as if he were going to shout to alert everyone that their prisoners were escaping. Tom looked at the door he had just left, back at were Sylvia was still in before he closed his mouth and looked at them all again.

  Tom went into his pocket, fished out a key which he bent and placed on the floor before walking right past them and into the room were Liam now occupied. Zoe took that as a signal to get moving and get out of there.

  Zoe knew that Tom was giving them a brief window and a chance to escape. She knew that Tom would eventually alert everyone here that they had made a break for it. Zoe wasn’t going to take this chance for granted.

  Zoe moved down the corridor, quicker than they had been moving before and managed to get them all down to the door. Zoe handed the man behind her the keys to unlock the door.

  “Move right down to the bottom of the costco. My group are down there. Tell them we are all free and that I’m scoping this place out a little more” Z
oe whispered to the man.

  “Got it. Will you be safe on your own here?” The man asked her.

  “I’ll be fine. After you tell my group I’m still up here some of them will come up to find me and help me. Just get yourselves safe. Now go!” Zoe urged him.

  The man nodded his head and managed to open the door without it squeaking and they all started to move out of the back corridor. Zoe waited until the third person had made it out before turning around and making her way into a room she hadn’t ventured into before.

  Zoe slowly opened the door, still keeping herself crouched down and made sure there was no one in the room. There wasn’t anyone in there so Zoe made her way into the room and closed the door behind her. Once she was inside she stood up and stretched out her back, hearing it crack from being crouched over for too long. She hadn’t managed to really stretch properly since she had been taken as hostage and tied up. Zoe looked down at her wrists and saw the red marks from where the rope had been tied. She also spotted her wrist swelling from when Michael had grabbed her.

  ‘That’s a problem for another day’ Zoe thought.

  Zoe walked over to the desk that was in the room and sat down in the chair at the desk. There were papers littering the desk and Zoe decided that she would start to rifle through them. It turned out that these papers were reports from the experiment that they were doing.

  The first few that Zoe had lifted up explained what they were hoping their experiment would achieve which was summed as as; To Save Mankind From Destruction.

  “Yeah right” Zoe said to herself as she read it.

  Zoe put down those papers already knowing that whatever was written on them was just a load of shit.

  Zoe picked up the next pile of papers which turned out to be employees files that they had taken out. Zoe leafed through them and found their pictures inside the files. Zoe saw Sheila’s file and bit back a sob. On the front they had written FAILED.

  Zoe started to read through the files and found that they had written just how compatible they all were for the experiment. How each of their prisoners were enough of a food source to sustain the already captured skin eaters. They had even kept a log of how much each of them had had to eat that day and how much meat they could source from them for the skin eaters.

  Zoe put the file that she was reading down, already having enough of reading how sick Sylvia and her lot were. Zoe stood up and walked over to the wall were they had put paper clippings up pinned to it.

  These pieces of paper were detailing how much meat they had taken off of their prisoners and how much they were feeding to the skin eaters and how much they kept to themselves.

  Zoe had to reread that part about keeping it to themselves to make sure her eyes just hadn’t gone funny but after blinking them a few times and going over and over those words she had to believe that they were really there.

  “What the fuck does that mean?” Zoe asked herself.

  “Well wouldn’t you like to know” Sylvia’s voice rang out on the room.

  Zoe spun around on her heel and found Sylvia closing the door behind her as she entered the room. Zoe hadn’t even heard the door opening and cursed herself for not being wary of it and for not arming herself with a weapon.

  “I see that you managed to break free. I was too easy on you, I should’ve killed you the first day I took you as hostage” Sylvia told her.

  “What the hell is this shit!?” Zoe demanded as she pointed to the paper clippings on the wall.

  “Private information. If you’d all gotten along with the experiment then maybe you would’ve eventually have found that out” Sylvia told her.

  “Why do you keep the human meat for yourselves?” Zoe asked her.

  “It’s a secret” Sylvia smiled.

  Zoe had a feeling what they kept the human meat for but she had decided that she just didn’t want to find that out or she would probably just throw up her entire stomach, not just it’s contents.

  “What about these files huh? Comparing their compatibility for the experiment?” Zoe asked her.

  “Standard procedure for any kind of experiment. We need to see if there will be enough good compatibility to ensure it works” Sylvia smiled.

  “You are really sick in the head, do you know that?” Zoe asked her.

  “Oh honey. I’m actually really smart, not sick. You’re just too stupid to see that” Sylvia smiled at her again.

  Zoe had had enough of Sylvia smiling at her and thinking she was queen of the world. Zoe felt the anger build up inside of her and then the red clouded over her eyes. Zoe’s mind was no longer in control of her body, it seemed that Zoe’s body was moving all on it’s own.

  Zoe felt herself moving towards Sylvia her arms already outstretched. Sylvia it seemed was ready for Zoe to attack her and grabbed onto Zoe’s arms once Zoe had gotten close to her.

  Zoe pushed Sylvia against the wall and managed to free an arm and grab onto Sylvia’s hair, pulling it down for Sylvia’s face to meet Zoe’s knee. Zoe felt and heard the crunch of Sylvia’s nose as she collided with Zoe’s knee. Sylvia pushed against Zoe which made Zoe stumble back a few steps.

  “You little bitch!” Sylvia yelled as she came for Zoe.

  Sylvia reached Zoe and punched her in the stomach making Zoe double over. Whilst Zoe was doubled over Sylvia grabbed her hair to pull Zoe back up to face her and punched Zoe in the face, twice.

  Zoe staggers back, her vision a little off and her head feeling dizzy. Zoe blinked a few times and tried to clear her head before Sylvia came in for another attack.

  Zoe saw Sylvia coming towards her and managed to jump out of the way making Sylvia run into the desk behind her. Zoe went behind her and pulled her up by the hair and pulled her backwards.

  “I’m not the bitch here. It’s you you complete psycho!” Zoe screamed at her as she punched her in the back.

  Sylvia screamed out in pain as Zoe punched her and Zoe let her hair go as she fell to the floor, whimpering in pain and trying to clutch her back from where Zoe had punched her.

  “You deserve much worse than a punch to the back” Zoe said to Sylvia.

  “Ha! I’m sure you would think that! You really are just so selfish” Sylvia said to her.

  “And whys that? Because I don’t want to take part in your sick little experiment here?”

  “Partly but also because I’ve been watching you Zoe and i’ve came to the conclusion that you only think of yourself.”

  “That’s a complete lie. Do you say things like that to make you feel better about yourself?”

  “You think however you want but I know the truth. I’ve seen it and soon enough you’ll see it to.”

  “I really ought to kill you.”

  “You won’t. You’ll probably make someone else do it for you so you won’t have to feel bad about yourself.”

  “You have such a sad and pathetic little life. We’ll leave you all here, cooped up in your little psychotic bubble and you’ll all see how stupid these experiments were.”

  “You’ll thank me one day Zoe.”

  “Don’t hold your breath. In fact, please do hold your breath because I will never thank you for anything and then you will die.”

  “Easy way out again. Typical Zoe” Sylvia started to laugh.

  Zoe walked up to Sylvia and kicked her in the face making Sylvia’s laughing stop. Zoe saw Sylvia’s chest rising and falling so she knew she was still breathing and Zoe hadn’t killed her.

  Zoe went back to the chair at the desk and sat down o try and calm herself down. She was far too pent up from all the anger at Sylvia and what she had found in this room. Zoe couldn’t believe that these people were actually this insane as to act like it was a real experiment.

  Zoe looked over at Sylvia to make sure she was still unconscious. The more that Zoe looked at her, the more she believed just how evil a person Sylvia really was and was always this evil even before the skin eater epidemic started.

  “Zoe! Zoe!” Zoe heard shouting
from the corridor.

  Zoe went to shout to that she was in this room but couldn’t get the energy up to shout. Her stomach still hurt badly from where Sylvia had punched her. Zoe felt her limbs start to relax as she sat on the chair. She realised just how exhausted she was.

  “Zoe!?” Jeff said as his face appeared into the room.

  Zoe looked at him and gave him a smile and a small wave beginning to push herself up from the chair.

  “Hey, you okay?” Jeff asked her as he came over to her.

  “Oh yeah I’m fine. More than fine actually” Zoe smiled at him.

  “You sure? You sure you never went a little crazy being held back here?” Jeff asked her.

  “Nah, I’m just happy I finally got to hit that bitch and knock her out” Zoe smiled.

  Jeff looked over his shoulder and blinked as he noticed Sylvia lying there for the first time since he entered the room.

  “Didn’t even notice her when I came in!” Jeff exclaimed.

  “Probably because she wasn’t talking” Zoe laughed.

  “Yeah that’ll be why. I’m sure everyone out there will want to take a pop at her” Jeff smiled.

  “Probably but lets get her tied up whilst we decide what to do with her.” Zoe told him.

  Zoe had realised just how much the tables had turned when she’d said that since it was only hours ago that Sylvia had pretty much said the same thing about her and only about half an hour ago she was plotting Zoe’s death.

  Jeff came back with the rope he’d found lying in the corner of the room. Jeff started to tie her hands together whilst Zoe sat and smiled at him doing it. It was a great feeling watching her evil captor get what she deserved. Karma really was a bitch.

  “What about the others?” Zoe asked Jeff.

  “We’ve got them all tied up and waiting down at the front. That boy we found in the CCTV room must’ve alerted them all to your escape with everyone in that room as they all came running out. Everyone except Sylvia. We expected her to be somewhere in here with you” Jeff told her.

  “Well you expected right. Bitch was plotting my death earlier. Heard her as we went past the door” Zoe told him.