The Orphans | Book 8 | Retaliation

by Evans, Mike

  Ellie Locked eyes with the first one through the door. She felt a fear like she hadn't in quite a while. Close calls were one thing, but she knew going up was probably going to lead to their end. There would be no way in Hell that they would be able to outrun a horde of the dead going up the stairs.

  Yassa stepped forward with his rifle aimed and ready. Ellie whispered, “Is it smart to ring the dinner bell when the dog already smells the steak, or should we hide?”

  Yassa who already knew the answer asked, “I'm pretty sure we're the steak in this scenario right?”

  “Well we sure as hell aren't the dog!” Ellie replied.

  The Turned began racing down the hallway towards them. Ellie wanted with everything to start firing off shot after shot. She knew by the fact that she could not see the end of the Turned that they would run out of bullets long before they would run out of their pursuers.

  Everyone was trying to think on their feet. It was not the easiest of tasks given the fact that their hearts had risen up into their throats. Everyone it would have seemed except for Joey. When she turned around, she saw he already had one of the classroom doors open and was practically throwing Pete and Kya into the room. Yassa also was going to try and say something when Joey practically deadlifted him, throwing him into the room as well. Joe got the gist of what was happening and was more than happy to not be thrown by the muscle packed teenager. He raced in and before Ellie could say anything her feet were no longer under her but she had a front-row seat to the shit show that was chasing after them as Joey had her up on his shoulder.

  Joey raced through the door and Ellie slammed it shut. She knew she would have been fine to run the few feet by herself but the fact that she had someone who cared about her so much did good for her heart. Joey was the best friend anyone could be fortunate enough to have. It wasn't like other boys who might possibly be doing things nice just to get in her pants or what she would assume is what they would want to do given she ever gave any of them a chance.

  Yassa asked sarcastically, “Okay guys so this is a great classroom, but what the hell do we do now?”

  Joey who had not stopped moving for a second got under some of the lab tables and began deadlifting and throwing them towards the door. The door shook as the Turned began pounding and beating it like they hated it. Which the Turned seemed to hate everything in their second life. Yassa yelled, “You're going to break the goddamn door, Joey!”

  Joey shook his head saying, “I'm not going to break it. The Turned on the other side are trying to break it. I'm trying to keep us alive. Someone think of something because they're going to rip those doors off and then they’ll kick those tables out of their way until they can come after us.

  Pete didn't say anything but raced to the window, looking out, happy that they were on the first floor. He surveyed everything in front of him, trying to make damn sure that they wouldn't die if they went outside. Because as soon as he had seen the classroom, he immediately formulated a plan, one that there would be no returning from if its execution went poorly.

  Pete had been in this room more than once. Halfway through his first semester, the professor of chemistry had realized Pete was not going to be a popular kid in class. He had all but decimated the curve for the class when he had had three tests and eight pop quizzes which he had not missed a single question on, and to make matters worse for the rest of the kids who, while they were smart were not firing at this kid's level, he had also gotten all of the extra credit that was available for bonus questions on the test. By the time Pete was done he literally had given a hundred and ten percent. He couldn't have gotten a higher score if he wanted to.

  The professor had taken an immediate liking to Pete and gave him a teaching assistant job that he was pretty sure was probably one of the smartest things as a teacher he had ever done. Pete had not only scored high but he was also able to think in ways that the professor who had been doing this job for so long that it almost felt routine on some days. Pete was able to bring a fresh perspective to the table and things he never thought he would figure out had begun to happen at a pace he hadn't wanted to work at for years.

  Pete knowing where everything was struck a chord immediately thinking that in times like this destruction was going to be their salvation he hoped. If things went badly or prematurely, none of them would ever feel a thing. Kya watched Pete running frantically to the rear of the room. He whipped the two doors open and screamed as he felt fingernails rip backwards from his hand. He hadn't noticed the lock that was keeping it closed. He knew that he was not a tough man, but he thought even the Rock would have shed a tear at the pain that both hands were now exploding with. He looked down at his hands shaking, blood coming from the removed nail, staring at flesh under it that had never seen the light of day. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and the scream made everyone turn around with the exception of Joey who was deadlocked on getting every single one of these tables over to the door. He was going to make the group a hard meal to obtain.

  Kya yelled, “Jesus Christ, Pete, are you okay?”

  He didn't say anything, he turned around slowly holding up his hands and Kya immediately dry heaved. Yassa held up his gun aiming at the lock and yelled, “Get out of the way, kid, I can shoot the lock off. Is there something in there?”

  Pete muttered the words, “Our death if you pull that trigger!”

  Yassa stared at the door and had no clue what the college boy was talking about. One thing he did know for sure though is if someone told you death was on the opposite side of a door, you sure as shit did not pull the trigger. He said, “What the hell is in there?”

  “We need the door open,” Pete said, not wasting any words because there was already a stack of cards against them.

  Yassa raced towards the doors. He had thought he had everything figured out. Yassa who might not have been the biggest guy did have the most confidence of anyone in the group. The only other thing he didn't have a plethora of was intelligence, unfortunately for him. He did not give the doors the credit that they deserved. Had he had any idea what was on the other side of them he would have given them the respect that would not make him feel like an old man in pain later. He didn’t realize the aftermath of his thoughts when he slammed into the double doors- both moved nowhere. Yassa fell down to the ground, hitting hard. He looked up not quite sure what to say.

  Pete said, “What the Hell are you doing?”

  Yassa grunted as he tried to get up from the ground slowly. He said, “I was going to kick the doors open...it didn’t go as expected. That’s a really good lock. I think I’ll try plan B.”

  “What is plan B?”

  Kya screamed from the door, “Yassa get your ass up and open it. We are gonna die if you don’t.”

  “Sure, it’s my fault we haven’t opened it. Thanks, Kya, love you too. We don’t even know what’s inside this fucking thing.”

  The door was not slowing down with shaking and looking like it could come off its hinges at any second. The Turned knew what was on the other side and they knew that meant a warm meal if they got in. They would not stop until they got exactly what they craved...at least not for a very long time. Pete was going to tell him but Yassa seemed perfectly content with the thought that living was more important than getting questions answered. Yassa knew that he could open the door; he just needed to think of it a bit more intelligently. He pulled a knife from his pocket and a bandana from the other. Pete said, “What in the hell are you going to do with that?”

  He cut it in two handing him the two pieces. Pete realized they were makeshift temporary bandages. Next, he stuck the knife into the crack which was keeping them off out of the closet. Pete said through clenched teeth as he was doing a piss-poor job of wrapping his fingers until Ellie, who'd been Lou’s nurse-in-training at the base clinic took charge and tied them off like a pro. She was still not the biggest fan of blood and didn’t care to see the tips of the bandana turn red. Pete said, “Hey...it isn’t going to fit,
just forget it, maybe we can figure something else out.”

  Yassa got it wedged into the crack until it got stuck. Pete was going to say I told you so until the man looked up and his dark eyes could not have been wilder and crazier. Pete took a step back and prayed to God that this insane man was not going to be responsible for killing them all. He put both hands on the rifle and brought it directly into the butt of the knife. It disappeared into the steel and Yassa brought it down a second time into the top of the blade as hard as he could. He was pretty sure that the word Colt or property of the U.S. Army was going to be imprinted on his palm when he was done and did not care.

  The fact that he was going to fail twice was not something that had crossed his mind. The knife moved down forcing its way through the steel lock. The doors opened slowly to everyone but Yassa’s surprise. Pete was going to say something and Yassa hobbled up to the doors opening them. He wasn’t quite sure what it was that he was looking at but realized pretty damn quickly there was a lot of it. Pete walked forward smiling and wasted no time going to town on his plan. He pulled safety pins from the top. Yassa said, “Were you going to explain to us what you are thinking, or do we just get to trust the complete stranger?”

  “You know what a bomb is?”

  Yassa nodded his head slowly and when Pete looked up realized that he most definitely had every person’s attention in the room. Joe said, “So you are setting off a bomb, and where the fuck are we planning on going during this? How is it going to get set off?”

  Pete said, “I’m going to fill this room full. There’s enough in here to fill this floor with gas. We use it to run the lab equipment when we need fire. They don’t ever want to be low, especially if there are shortages on it.”

  Ellie said, “Nope, no way in hell this is a good idea. I’d rather just break the windows and make a dead sprint for the Humvee.”

  “Why is that, you don’t even know the outcome,” Pete who didn’t know enough about Ellie and her life to be able to say something so wrong.

  Ellie, who should have been freaking out and on the verge of an emotional breakdown like any rational human would be, began to laugh hysterically. In true Ellie fashion she said, “Look, you little science nerd. Glad to have you and all but I assure you that you don’t know what you are talking about. Day two instead of sitting inside and waiting for people to come rescue us we had to go to where it all started. If you didn’t notice we lived, and have every day since then. When we went to town to try and save a boy...a guy in our group, Shaun, thought a bomb was the perfect answer...wow, was he wrong. Do you know what happens when you set off a bomb, especially one like you are planning to use?”

  “It explodes?”

  “Ah, ha ha very funny, thank you. No, it rings a dinner bell like you’ve never heard before. You don’t realize that when the Turned hear that, those who weren’t already here and ready to eat us would be here in a matter of minutes. They don’t waste any time and they won’t hesitate a second about coming after and killing us, or worst making us one of them.”

  “We don’t have many options,” Pete tried to explain.

  “Well, that doesn’t mean that we need to pick a shitty one just because we don’t have a lot of ideas.”

  Pete shook his head, if he lived through this, then he would be right, and if not, then at least he tried. Pete pulled the last safety pin off before he had a hissing sound that was coming out so fast you could see it filling the room or at least floating around in it. Joe yelled, “We don’t have room for this, you two. Pete you’re going to poison us, Christ, everyone get by the window. We have to get out of here.”

  Pete waved at them as he ran to the wall grabbing two more bottles and a glass beaker to mix them in. The door frame keeping them temporarily safe was shaking like crazy. There were precious moments left before those doors were no longer attached. Ellie checked the windows and beneath them before opening the window all the way. There was no one or thing to be seen anywhere and she was okay with that because at the moment she wasn’t sure if she would be able to fire off a round from her gun without causing some sort of explosion that would surely kill them all. Joe didn’t wait, once he saw it was clear he started lifting the kids up, all but Joey, as quickly as he could. They made their way out, disappearing through the smoked glass. Pete was doing everything he could to be patient enough to wait but he could feel his balls in his throat and that wasn’t somewhere he wanted them to be.

  Ellie landed hard on the ground, the windows opened inwards and were small. She wasn’t a big girl by any means but anyone trying to get out of there would not be comfortable. Yassa slipped out like a snake, not having any trouble. Joey and Joe were the last ones to attempt to make their way out. Neither of them really had any choice and Joey wasn’t shy about how big he was. He knew damn well that he could not fit. Joey yelled, “Watch out on the other side guys, we aren’t going to fit.”

  Ellie and Kya moved to the side. Yassa for whatever reason paid no attention and received a valuable lesson when a kid with a baseball bat said that he couldn’t fit that you should probably listen. A shower of glass pelted him in the rear of his head and neck. He could feel little drops of blood roll down the rear of his neck and when he walked forward shards of glass fell from his shoulders. Joey climbed out first using a desk followed by Joe.

  Pete looked like he was going to have a heart attack. As Joe slid out doing his best to not get cut on any shards of glass he yelled to Pete, “Do whatever you need to kid, and get your ass out of here.”

  Pete yelled, “Get your ass out of here now so I can leave. The door is coming off at the jambs, damn it!”

  Joe disappeared, meeting Joey on the other side. Joey looked at a very perturbed Yassa who was touching the back of his neck and looking down at fresh blood. Yassa who didn’t have a problem yelling at people but not typically ever at Joey if it could be avoided screamed at the top of his lungs. He didn’t seem to care or think about those that were walking around looking for a fresh meal, regardless of how skinny he was. Yassa yelled, “Joey, how ‘bout a lil fucking warning next time. What the hell were you thinking?”

  “What part of watch out we aren’t gonna fit, did you not understand?” Ellie snapped, coming instantly to Joey’s defense.

  “Well, I didn’t hear him!”

  “That’s more on you than Joey, isn’t it?”

  Yassa took a calming breath trying to keep his shit together. He shrugged thinking fuck it, there wasn’t anything he was going to be able to do about it. He already felt bad for snapping at a kid as sweet as Joey. He felt a million times worse when he saw Joey’s face and tears that he was fighting his best to try and keep from allowing to roll down his round cheeks. Joey to make matters worse tore off a piece of his undershirt handing it over and said, “You can use this for the blood, Mr. Yassa. I’ll try and be more careful in the future.”

  Yassa eagerly took the offering. He wouldn’t be able to handle anything else to make the kid feel bad. He ignored the fact that the shirt was more than damp from sweat, and given the circumstances he couldn’t blame anyone for that. Yassa didn’t hesitate this time and said, “I’ll try to listen better and to keep my head out of my ass.”

  Joey smiled at that, the idea of Yassa with his head up his butt was the literal picture he took it as. Yassa patted the boy on the back, trying to do a repair job on the shit show he’d created. Joey took that as a sign that he wasn’t mad any longer and crushed him in his arms, pulling him up and squeezing.

  Yassa did his best to say something, with a lack of air he definitely found it difficult. Yassa managed to say, “Sorry buddy, I’m sorry but I can’t breathe.”

  Joey let him down and Yassa had to focus afterwards to take in a deep breath and Joey wiped what was left of his tears. Pete had been so focused on his part of what was going on that he had not heard anything transpiring outside. He was focused as could be and carefully poured the two chemicals together taking his time. The idea of doing this incorre
ctly could mean having it ignite prematurely. It wouldn’t be an issue if there wasn’t an entire room that by now he could only assume was probably filled to the brim with explosive gas. A side effect to that important fact was he felt like he had drank the better part of a twenty-four pack of beer, which he knew that at his weight would surely kill him or have him hugging on for dear life to the porcelain queen in the bathroom. Pete shook the fog out of his head the best that he could. After a few seconds he realized quicker than later would be ideal.

  The door being bombarded with the dead made him not have the steadiest of hands. He watched as the final hinges gave way. They took hold of the door and pulled the door back so hard that it snapped in two pieces. Pete finished putting the chemicals together and dropped the other two, not caring where they landed. He started counting in his head as the Turned poured into the room, a sea of never-ending death, hatred, hunger, and uncontrollable emotions. They locked eyes on Pete just as he was getting up and over the broken window. That mixed with the faintest of blood scents coming from Yassa as well as Pete’s ripped fingernails was the equivalent to zombie crack and that intoxicating aroma coming towards them through the window made them fight that much harder.