by Smith, I. J.
“Letting some anger out!” he replied.
“We should help him!” she told Frank.
“I don’t think he wants help,” Frank told her.
Bray shouted out, “He’s back!” as Jack walked through the door.
Elle noticed Jack’s hands, they were bruised and bloodied. “How did it go?” Bray asked him, Jack was silent and continued walking into the room.
Elle walked towards Jack, “Hey, you OK?” she asked.
He looked at her, but stayed silent. Jack looked around the room, looking at the survivors still half-dressed and bleeding.
“They need food!” Jack said. He walked away from Elle, and sat down alone in the corner. Elle looked at him, thinking he looked lost.
CHAPTER SIX
SWARM
Jack still sat in the corner of the room alone, he had not moved since he returned. The others were concerned about him, Elle and Frank both tried talking to him, but got no response. Bray was helping the survivors; he was handing out the food he had collected from the other room.
Private Ryan Garrett walked over to Frank; he stood in front of him and saluted. “Not necessary!” Frank said.
Frank offered his hand; Ryan shook it. “Elle told me about your team, I am sorry!” Frank told him.
Ryan looked sad, “We just wanted to help people!” he replied.
“I promise; people will know what you all did here!” Frank reassured him.
“Thank you, for saving us!” Ryan told him.
“I wish I could take the credit, but it was all down to Jack,” Frank replied, with concern in his voice. Frank looked over to Jack; he could see Elle was trying once again to speak to him.
Elle had approached Jack; she was holding a bottle of water and a cloth. “Mind if I sit down?” she asked.
Jack did not reply. She sat down next to him anyway, she handed him the water and for the first time he spoke, “I’m not thirsty!” he whispered.
Elle moved closer, “It’s not to drink,” she replied.
She opened the bottle and poured some water on the cloth; she reached out and took his hand. She rubbed the cloth over the bloodstains.
Jack looked up, “I’m sorry!” he whispered.
Elle continued to hold his hand, “You have nothing to be sorry about, they had it coming,” she replied.
Jack whispered again, “No, I’m sorry I couldn’t prevent him from hurting you.”
Elle started to tear up, “Hey, he didn’t do anything. He never got the chance, thanks to you!” she told him; a tear began to roll down her cheek.
Jack reached out and wiped the tear away, “Don’t cry!” he told her, and she smiled pushing her face into his hand.
“We need you, the only chance we have to survive this, is with you!” she told him. Jack looked up and giggled to himself.
“How’s your foot?” he asked.
Elle laughed, “Bloody painful!” she told him with a smile.
Jack stood up, he helped Elle to her feet, “I should talk to Frank,” he told her.
Bray had finished handing out some food and water; he found Clare and Joe sitting alone. Clare’s face was still bloodied; the fat man had hit her hard and made a nasty cut above her eye.
“You want me to look at that?” he asked Clare.
Joe looked up with a smile on his face, Bray noticed a bruise forming on his cheek, and he was so disgusted that anyone could do this to kids. “No, it’s fine,” Clare said in a sheepish voice.
Bray knelt down in front of her, “They cannot hurt you now, I promise!” he told her in an attempt to comfort her.
“Did you find the others?” she asked him. Bray looked confused, “Others, what others?” he asked.
Joe interrupted, “The other kids!” he told him.
“Other kids?” Bray asked, shocked.
Bray jumped to his feet and ran to Frank, “Frank, there’s more kids here somewhere!” he told him.
Frank looked as shocked as Bray was, Frank turned his attention to Ryan, he walked over to him and gestured him away from the other survivors. “Are there more kids here?” Frank asked.
“They kept the children separate,” Ryan told him.
“Shit!” Frank exclaimed. Frank looked around the room looking for Jack; he was still standing with Elle.
Frank ran over to him, “Jack, there’s more kids here!” Frank told him.
“We need to find them, now!” Jack replied.
Frank, Bray and Jack were going to go and look for the missing kids, “Elle, you’re in charge!” Frank told her.
“Find them!” she replied.
The three men walked out of the room together, closing the door behind them. They started to walk down the hallway, when the door reopened behind them, Ryan walked out the door to join them, “I can help!” he told them.
“Come on!” Frank replied.
They approached the room where they were held with the chained zombie, “We should deal with that,” Jack said, pointing at the zombie as it groaned and its chains rattled.
Jack and Bray entered the room, the zombie was still pulling on its chains, on the floor the man who tried to kill Jack had now changed into a zombie himself. Jack looked at the ravaged living corpse on the floor, it could not stand. Its legs were torn apart; Jack stared, as the zombie tried to drag itself towards him.
Bray noticed the look on Jack’s face; he had a look of guilt. “You had no choice!” Bray told him.
“I could have just killed him; I didn’t have to feed him to a fucking zombie!” Jack replied.
Bray stepped forward, pulling out his sidearm, he aimed at the zombie on the floor and shot it in the head, he then raised his gun to the chained zombie, and he shot it in the head. The back of the zombie’s head exploded sending blood and brain residue against the back wall.
“Thanks Bray!” Jack told him.
Frank and Ryan were still out in the hall, a constant banging noise started to sound out. Jack came out of the room, “Where the heck is that coming from?” he asked.
He looked around the hall and then back into the room, he looked to the floor, and something was missing. “What happened to the two men you guys put down?” Jack asked.
“They were right there!” Frank told him.
“Did you kill them?” he replied.
“We just knocked them out and took their weapons,” Frank told him.
“YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!” Jack screamed, as he ran down the hallway towards the noise. Jack ran from the hall into a foyer, quickly followed by the other three.
He looked towards the main doors of the building, two men stood there ripping down the planks of wood that secured the doors.
“STOP!” Jack shouted out, raising his rifle. It was too late, the last of the planks came off the door and they broke open, hundreds of zombies piled in.
The two men who opened the door were the first to fall, as they were attacked, one of them screamed at them, “SEE YOU IN HELL!” he shouted, laughing loudly.
The laughing quickly turned to screams. They watched as the two men were being torn apart.
Zombies were approaching them, “We need to get back to the others!” Bray told everyone.
“What about the kids?” Ryan asked in panic.
“We’re no good to them dead, now move!” Jack told him.
They ran down the hallway, the zombies kept piling through the door. Jack and Bray stopped and turned, facing the zombies and started shooting, the zombies they shot in the head, went down but the others just kept coming, they walked over the bodies lying in front of them, and one zombie stepped on another zombie’s head crushing its skull.
“We cannot lead them back to the others!” Bray said to the others, as the gunshots kept ringing out.
“In the basement, we can lead them down there and get outside and double…” Frank was saying.
When Jack shouted out, “RYAN STOP!”
Ryan had run off, straight towards the door, of the room, where they had left everyone, R
yan crashed on through the door. Elle looked outside to see Jack, Frank and Bray shooting at the zombies. “We need to close the door,” Jack told Frank and Bray.
They ran inside and shut the door, Jack and Bray leaned against it. They braced themselves as the zombies tried to break through the door. Jack and Bray struggled to stand their ground; because there were just so many of them piling against the door, trying to get in.
Elle limped to the door to help and so did Clare who was followed by Joe and they all struggled to hold the door closed. Some of the other survivors ran over to the door to help brace it.
A scream echoed through the room, as panic broke out. Ryan was standing against the back wall shaking in fear. Frank dragged over the table, people moved to allow him to push it closer to the door.
“That’s not going to be enough!” Jack shouted to him. “Look for another way out!” Jack told everyone.
Frank looked around the room, he ran over to Ryan.
“Ryan, Ryan, look at me!” He shouted at him.
But Ryan was still shaking and started to cry, Frank grabbed him by the shoulders, “RYAN! WE NEED A WAY OUT!” Frank shouted at him again.
Ryan shook in fear, “behind the cabinet on the wall…” Ryan replied with a shaking voice. Frank looked around for a cabinet; there it was against the wall. He ran over, pulling the cabinet away from the wall, to reveal a door behind it
. “JACK!” Frank shouted.
Jack was still struggling to hold the door; he looked over to Frank, “GO! GET EVERYONE OUT!” he shouted back. Frank opened the door; behind it was a set of stairs leading up.
“THIS WAY!” Frank shouted at everyone.
The survivors started running through the door, Ryan ran over, he tripped over a woman as he tried to get away; he left her on the ground and continued running. All the survivors were finally through the door, Jack shouted to Elle, “Go! Take the kids!”
“The two of you can’t hold this alone!” Elle replied.
“GO!” Bray shouted.
She looked at Jack, “Please!” he told her.
Elle grabbed Clare and Joe and made her way to the door. Elle struggled walking, but got through it.
Frank walked to face the door, he raised his gun, “OK, NOW!” he shouted.
Jack and Bray moved away from the door and joined Frank. A moment later, the door crashed open and they started shooting.
The three men backed up to the escape door while still shooting zombies. “Let’s go!” Frank told them.
Bray ran through the door first, “Now you!” Jack told Frank.
“You first, no arguments!” Frank replied.
Jack looked at Frank in a new light of respect, now he was acting like a leader, Jack was thinking. Jack got through the door and stopped just behind; he raised his gun and shouted, “FRANK, STAY LOW!” Frank lowered his head and rushed to the door while Jack gave cover fire.
Frank pulled the door shut. Together they ran up the stairs, they ran into a large room. Everyone in there was still panicking.
“Don’t stop moving!” Frank told everyone. They ran towards a set of large, heavy doors.
Bray was first to the doors, he tried opening them, but they were locked.
“THEY’RE LOCKED!” Bray shouted out. Frank and Jack were standing at the top of the stairs; they looked down to see the door starting to break open.
“THEY’RE LOCKED!” echoed around the room again.
Frank shouted out, “FUCKING SHOOT, THE DAMN LOCK!” Bray used his sidearm and shot at the door lock, the wood cracked and the lock broke. Bray pulled one door open, looking inside; it was mostly clear except for tables and a few crates.
“IT’S CLEAR! COME ON!” Bray shouted. Everyone rushed into the room; Frank and Jack were the last ones through the doors.
As Frank and Jack entered the room, Bray ran over with a length of wood he found on the floor, he pushed the wood through the door handles, helping to keep the doors securely shut. Frank pushed down some locking bolts that were in the up position on the doors. Jack focused his attention on the room, he looked around and could see crates, and packaging materials, it was obviously a storage room in the museum. With Clare and Joe at her side, Elle slumped to the floor in pain; her ankle was getting worse. The survivors were moving around the room looking for another way out.
Jack noticed Ryan standing in the middle of the room. Jack walked up to Ryan, anger in his eyes, without saying a word; Jack swung his arm and punched Ryan in the face.
Ryan hit the ground, “You are a selfish son of a bitch!” Jack shouted at him.
“Sorry, sorry, I was afraid, I’m sorry,” Ryan cried.
Frank and Bray joined Jack, “Sorry, I couldn’t resist!” Jack apologized to Frank.
“No problem, all you did was beat me to it!” Frank replied, looking at Ryan in disgust.
The room was full of panic, only the heavy wooden doors protected them from the approaching swarm of zombies. Bray was checking his gun; “I’m low on ammo!” he told Jack and Frank.
Checking his weapon also, Frank agreed. “Take these,” Jack handed them the spare ammo and rifle he had.
“Give me your spare ammo for your sidearm, “Jack asked them.
They gave him three clips of ammo, “That’s not going to last you very long,” Frank replied.
“We need to arm everyone,” Jack told them.
“What with?” Bray asked.
Jack pointed to the tables, “Look, there are tools and packaging equipment; use that,” he told Bray, as he pointed to the crates at the other side of the room. “Open those up, there may be something inside we can use,” Jack added.
Frank and Bray approached the table, they found packing knives and hammers; they took what they could and handed them out to the survivors. Bray also found a crowbar, and after handing out the weapons to everyone, he turned his attention to the crates.
Elle was still on the floor in considerable pain. Jack walked over to her, she tried to hide the pain, but Jack knew she was in a bad way.
Clare and Joe were still by her side. “I’m going to get us out of here!” Jack reassured them.
Elle tried to smile, but the pain was too much. “You two, can you look after her for me?” he asked the kids. Joe responded by saluting, Jack smiled and saluted back.
The sound of breaking wood sounded out around the room and then Bray shouted, “JACK!”
“What now?” Jack sighed as he stood up.
Jack joined Bray, “What is it?” Jack asked.
“I found the kids!” Bray replied.
A look of concern covered Jack’s face, he looked at the crates “No, please!” he whispered in fear of what could be in the crate.
He moved to the crate and looked inside. Looking down, he could see two young girls; they could have only been about twelve years old. He looked closer into the crate; they appeared lifeless, but as he reached down one of the girls moved.
A young blonde female child looked up at Jack. She looked dirty and was dressed in filthy clothes. They were alive; Jack was so relieved, he pulled the girls out of the crate. Frank came running over to help.
Some of the survivors also came to help. Jack looked at the other crates, “Quick open the rest!” he demanded. Everyone went to work to open the remaining crates; once all were opened, they had found six children in total.
They had very little water, but what they had, they gave to the kids. Frank asked Jack,” What were they doing in there?”
“I don’t want to imagine!” Jack replied with a frown.
As they stood there, the heavy doors started to move and a cracking noise echoed out, the piece of wood, holding the door handles closed was starting to move. The groans of the zombies behind the doors, started to scare the survivors and the kids, most of them started screaming.
Frank shouted out, “STAY CALM, WE ARE GETTING OUT OF THIS!” The doors cracked open slightly, a slit appeared and fingers of the zombies started appearing.
“Frank! We need to get out of here!” Jack told him.
Bray joined them, “You have a plan?” Bray asked.
“We need to split up!” Jack replied.
“You serious?” Frank asked.
“There are too many of us, we’re too much of a target together. We split up the survivors into groups and move fast!” Jack told them.
“Jack, Elle can’t move that fast!” Frank told him quietly. Jack looked over at Elle, “I will take care of Elle!” he told him.
“You two, split up the survivors and go separate routes, I will make sure Elle gets there!” he told them.
“Where?” asked Bray.
“The MI6 building, it’s secure and we have an evacuation point, if we can get there, we can save these people! “Jack told them.
“That’s brilliant!” Frank told him.
The doors started to crack open more under the pressure of the zombies. “We need to move now!” Bray told his friends.
“We need to get out of this room first!” Frank replied.
“Those windows mean we are on the first floor. We drop out the windows and split up,” Jack told them.
Jack continued, “I will get Elle out of here.” Frank nodded and put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and then walked away to speak to the survivors.
Frank proceeded to tell their plan to the survivors, “We need to move away from here, we will be going out a window and splitting up,” as everyone in the room began to grumble, Frank continued, “Half of you will be with me the other half with Private Bray Murray.
We move in a few minutes, stay close and we will make it!” Frank finished.
Jack was over by the windows, he pulled the planks of wood from one of the windows. Looking out, he could see the sun had risen. The window was stuck and wouldn’t open, so he broke the glass out; because their time was running out. The zombies were now pushing on the doors so hard the hinges were beginning to move.
Once the broken glass was cleared, Jack shouted out, “OK, GO!”
Bray was the first one out; he climbed onto the ledge and was surprised it was only a few feet to the ground.
He jumped down, looking around and raising his rifle, “IT’S CLEAR!” he shouted up at Jack, and Jack started helping the people out the window. Several adults were out when Jack called for the kids; Clare had taken charge of all the kids.
