Mass Extinction Event (Book 9): Days 195 to 202

by Cross, Amy

  “Maybe I could run it,” he continues, turning to me. “How about it, Elizabeth? We could team up and get this cinema back in business. I'm sure the previous owners are dead now. I don't know how property rights are going to be managed from now on, but I might be able to get the place for a good price.” He steps toward me. “Let's do it! Let's start a cinema, you and me! It'll be brilliant!”

  “I'm not sure that's quite what I have in mind,” I reply cautiously, “but... I guess it's good if you have a goal. I'll definitely come to the opening.”

  “No, we have to do it together!”

  “I really -”

  “It'll be fun!” he adds, grabbing my arm. “Think about it, Elizabeth! I can run the technical side of it all, and you can be the one who sells tickets. You'll be much better than me at that, of course. People always like a pretty face.”

  “I don't want to help run a cinema,” I tell him.

  “You won't be helping to run it! You'll co-own it! With me!”

  I shake my head.

  “You just need time to think about it,” he says, clearly not really listening to me. “I realize this is a little sudden, Elizabeth, but I tried to tell you about it last night! I wanted to show you, but you ran away and then when I tried to find you in here, you'd already left.”

  “What?” I reply, not quite understanding what he means. “Last night?”

  “I'm sorry I tried to scare you,” he continues, “but I had a good reason. I wanted you to realize that you're safe with me. Okay, maybe it was a bad idea.” He sighs. “Classic Julius, getting it wrong again. I thought I could swoop in and save you, and that then you're see that I'm the right person to look after you. You have no-one left, Elizabeth, but that's okay because I'm here. I was going to make you think that there was a zombie, and then I was going to pretend to chase it away, and then you'd have understood.” He pauses, grinning at me. “It's kind of cute, when you think about it,” he adds. “Right?”

  “That was you?” I reply, taking a step back.

  “I only did it because I wanted to impress you,” he explains. “People have to stick together in this world, don't they? And that Thomas guy wasn't right for you, he was just a waste of space. You'll be glad that I got rid of him, Elizabeth. Honestly, he was only dragging you down.”

  “Got rid of him?” I whisper, starting to worry. “Julius, what did you do? Did you hurt him?”

  “Of course not! I just helped you to let him go, that's all. It was what you needed, Elizabeth.”

  “I think I'm going to leave now,” I reply, taking a step back. “Julius, I appreciate everything you've done for me, but I think maybe you're taking it a little too far.” I swallow hard, hoping that he'll accept what I'm saying, but he's simply grinning at me. “So let's get back out to Survival Day, yeah?” I continue. “I'm starting to think you were right earlier, I think I should try to throw myself into the spirit of things.”

  I wait.

  He's still just staring at me.

  “Okay, then,” I say, turning to leave, “I'm gonna -”

  “Wait!”

  He grabs my wrist, holding me back.

  “Julius,” I say cautiously, “I -”

  “There's something you need to understand,” he continues, stepping up behind me. “All my life, I've wanted to belong somewhere. When all of these bad things happened, I somehow survived, and there has to be a reason for that. I found this cinema a while ago, and I immediately realized that it could my chance to do something important. You're not the first girl I've brought here, but none of the others understood. It made me so mad, but I know you'll understand.” He squeezes my wrist. “You're the one, Elizabeth. You're better than the others.”

  “Others?” I whisper, before turning to him. “Julius,” I continue cautiously, “what did you do to the other girls when they turned you down?”

  “I admit, I can get a little angry,” he replies. “In a controlled kind of way, but it's still hard to deal with people when they just won't listen.”

  “Several people have been found murdered in this part of the city,” I remind him. “All women, all within about ten blocks of this cinema. Julius, I need you to tell me that you had nothing to do with that.”

  “But I don't know!” he says firmly. “I don't remember what I did to them, Elizabeth, but you need to stop thinking about the past. Look all around you, look at this beautiful cinema. This can be the start of something really wonderful, Elizabeth, if you'll just see what I see. This place can be our shared dream.”

  Staring at him, I realize that he's completely out of his mind. At the same time, I think I need to be very careful how I react around him.

  “Okay,” I say cautiously, struggling to stay calm, “I think I... I might be interested.”

  “Are you sure?” He furrows his brow, as if that wasn't the response he was expecting. “You're not just saying that, are you?”

  “I'm not promising anything,” I continue, hoping to sound convincing. If I act too eager, he might become suspicious. After all, despite everything else, he's no fool. “This does seem like a nice cinema, though, and I guess it's worth considering. How far advanced are your plans, anyway?”

  “Well, I...”

  He hesitates, as if he's still not convinced. Then he shoves the flashlight into my hands and steps back.

  “One screen!” he says suddenly, letting go of my hand and turning away, hurrying down to the front of the auditorium. “One big screen, no 3D or any of those other gimmicks, just good old-fashioned films shown in a comfortable atmosphere and with friendly staff. I'll even let the customers nominate the films they want to watch.”

  Turning, I race out through the double doors, and then I turn and push them shut. Grabbing the fire extinguisher I spotted earlier, I slide it into place so that it holds the doors firmly shut, and then I take a step back.

  “Elizabeth?” Julius calls out from the other side, and a moment later the doors shudder as he tries to get them open. “Elizabeth, what are you doing? I thought you were going to listen to me!”

  “I'm sorry,” I whisper, taking a few more steps back. “I don't know exactly what you've done, Julius, but I'm not going to be your next victim.”

  “Elizabeth!” he screams, trying the doors with more force. “You don't understand! I'm the good guy here!”

  “I know you think that,” I reply, “but -”

  Suddenly I hear a scream in the distance, ringing out along the corridor. A moment later there's another, and I quickly realize that something must be wrong out in the street.

  “What was that?” Julius asks, still struggling to get the doors open. “Elizabeth! What's happening out there?”

  “I don't know,” I reply, as I hear more screams, “but I don't think Survival Day's going according to plan.”

  Thomas

  “The burning zombies are breaking through!” Mikey screams as I reach him. “They're gonna get me!”

  “They're all dead,” I reply, stopping next to him and reaching out to untie the rope, before hesitating for a moment. “That smell...”

  It takes a few seconds before I realize that the smell is familiar. I've been around burning bodies before, of course. The most recent time was when I tried to end Jane Kincaid's misery. Or was that the most recent time? So much has happened lately, I've even lost track of how many dead bodies I've been near.

  “Untie me!” Mikey snarls.

  “I have a knife,” I tell him.

  “And I've got two fists that are ready for your face!”

  “I'm risking my life by coming back for you,” I tell him, “so I figure you'd better lay off the threats.”

  “You used me as bait for zombies!”

  “And we made sure you didn't die,” I point out, before starting to untie the ropes. “All's fair in love and war, right?”

  I pull the last of the ropes away and turn to him.

  “Now we -”

  Before I can finish, he grabs me by the throat
and slams me against the wall. I'm so shocked, I manage to drop the knife.

  “You little punk!” he sneers. “You're nothing, do you realize that? I could crack your head open!”

  “I came back to help you!” I gasp.

  “Yeah?” He leans close to me, and then suddenly he lets go of my throat and lets me slither to the floor. “Well,” he continues, “I guess that's one small thing in your favor, but I'm still not convinced. Now where are those two other assholes?”

  “Outside,” I say, stumbling to my feet, “getting a car ready. We have to hurry.”

  “A car?” he replies, following me along the corridor. “I guess that's a decent idea. Of course, I was quite happy here at the restaurant until you idiots showed up and ruined everything.”

  “The zombies would have shown up anyway,” I tell him as we reach the main dining area, “and -”

  Suddenly there's a loud crashing sound, and I turn just in time to see one of the windows shatter. Burned zombie corpses come slithering through, spilling out across the floor, and after a moment I see two fresh and very much not-burned zombies clambering past them and trying to get to us.

  “I think this place just outlived its usefulness,” I point out, hurrying over to the hatch. “I'm going to find the others so we can get out of here. You're welcome to stick around and try to clean up, Mikey, but I don't think you'll have much luck.”

  I haul myself up into the crawlspace and start making my way toward the opening at the far end. As I get there, I hear a thudding sound over my shoulder, and I turn just in time to see that Mikey is following.

  “I'm glad you saw sense,” I mutter, before climbing up onto the roof.

  I hurry to the far end, and I immediately see that Riley and Katrina are waving at me from a car that's parked nearby. What's more, the car's engine is running, which I guess means that Katrina knew what she was doing. Looking around, however, I soon spot half a dozen zombies lumbering toward the vehicle, and I realize that we don't have long before they'll attack.

  “Move!” I shout at Mikey, as I climb down onto the garbage containers.

  As I get down to the ground, I look up and see that Mikey's following. I really wish that I'd thought to grab some clothes for him while we were inside, but I guess that boat has sailed now. He's struggling a little to get down, and I'm about to yell at him when suddenly he falls and slams hard agains the containers, before rolling over and tumbling off the side. He lets out a pained gasp as he thuds against the tarmac.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  He winces as I help him up, and I see that his bare knees are grazed.

  “This way,” I tell him, leading him out across the parking lot.

  Ahead, two zombies are already coming toward us, but we manage to skirt around them. At least they're slow. If these creatures were able to move at a normal speed, I'd have been dead a long time ago.

  “Could you not have found some clothes for the guy?” Riley asks disdainfully. “I don't wanna see his junk flapping about in the breeze!”

  “This is a free country,” Mikey replies, climbing into one of the back seats while I head around and take my place in the other.

  “You guys barely made it in time,” Riley says as we shut the doors. “Another minute or so and I figure we might have had to follow through on our threat to leave you behind.”

  “I'm not so sure about that,” Katrina says, turning to me with a smile. “We'd have found a way to stick around, Tommy. For you, at least.” She glances at Mikey. “You still need to work hard to make a better impression.”

  “Screw you!” he snarls.

  “Let's go!” Riley shouts, flooring the gas pedal.

  The car's wheels spin for a moment as we lurch forward, and Riley just about manages to miss one of the zombies as he races the car out of the lot and onto the road. He turns the wheel hard, causing the tires to screech as the car spins around, and then we start roaring along the road.

  Looking over my shoulder, I see that the pile of zombies is still burning bright, and that more of the creatures are emerging from the nearby forest. We ended up spending a lot longer than I'd intended at that Moolio's place, I think we ended up being there for five nights, but I guess the most important thing is that we got away. And now we're heading north, we're on the road that leads to Scottsville, and with this car we might even make it to my family's farm before midnight.

  “Oh,” Katrina says with a chuckle, “and in case anyone was wondering, I managed to fit a lot of burgers into the trunk of this thing. You can all thank me later.”

  Elizabeth

  “Get to cover!” a voice yells as I hurry out the front of the cinema and see that people are running along the street. “Hurry!”

  “What's happening?” I ask, but no-one stops to tell me.

  My gut instinct is to run with them, but at the same time I have to know what's happening. I start making my way against the direction of the crowd, but I only get as far as the next intersection before I have to stop for a moment. A few seconds later, a woman trips and slams down hard next to me, and I rush over and help her up.

  “What's going on?” I ask. “Why's everyone panicking?”

  “Zombies,” she stammers breathlessly. “They're coming. The governors are trying to get all the bridges blocked in time!”

  “What exactly do you mean?” I ask. “How many zombies are there?”

  “They're swarming from every direction! You have to get to safety!”

  She pushes past me before I can ask another question, and I'm left watching as more and more people race along the road.

  A moment later, hearing a familiar voice nearby, I turn and see that Investigator Gregor is frantically trying to calm people down and direct them to safety.

  “What's happening?” I shout as I run over to him. “Is it true? Are there zombies?”

  “I don't need this now, Marter,” he replies angrily. “Get out of the way.”

  “I was right, wasn't I?” I continue. “Are they all out of the city, or are some of them already here?”

  “Everybody move!” he yells, clearly trying to ignore me.

  “If there are a lot of them,” I point out, “it can't be a coincidence. Something must have reactivated them somehow.” I pause for a moment, as I start to consider the implications of that idea. “Have you checked the mortuaries? And the buildings that haven't been cleared yet? If this is really happening, it's possible that the dead in the city are also going to start attacking!”

  “We don't need your suggestions,” he replies through gritted teeth. “Don't be a martyr, Marter. Get to safety with the rest. The governors are going to deal with everything.”

  “Sure,” I reply, “because they've done such a great job so far. Are they going to be able to block all the bridges in time?”

  “We have contingency plans in place.”

  “But the morgues and -”

  “Will you shut up and move?” he yells, shoving me back. “I don't have time to babysit you, okay? Fine, you were right. Is that what you want to hear?”

  “No,” I tell him. “I wanted so badly to be wrong.”

  “You just had a lucky guess, that's all.”

  “Maybe,” I reply, “or maybe it's because I used to be one of those things.”

  He opens his mouth to reply to me, and then he hesitates.

  I immediately realize that I've said too much.

  “Forget it,” I say, taking a step back.

  “What did you just say?”

  “Forget it!” I yell, before turning and limping away.

  “Elizabeth Marter!” he calls out. “Get back here! I need to know what you meant by that!”

  Ignoring him, I quickly manage to get caught up in the flow of the crowd. Despite the fact that I only have one leg, I'm able to get along pretty fast, and when I finally look over my shoulder I'm relieved to see that there's no sign of Gregor at all. Still, I just blurted out my biggest secret, and I'm pretty certain that he
's going to remember that tomorrow. If there is a tomorrow, of course.

  “Get out of my way!” a frantic woman yells, pushing past a group of us. “Screw you guys, I'm not waiting around to become zombie snacks!”

  The situation is clearly getting worse. Nearby, a man tries to force his way into a building, but the current occupants are already blocking his entrance, shouting at him that there's no room. He tries another door, only to get the same result. People are screaming in the distance, but I don't know whether that's just because they're scared or because the zombies have finally started attacking people here in Manhattan.

  For a moment, I feel totally lost. I have no idea what to do next.

  And then I see it.

  Just a little way up the street, my family's old apartment building looms ominously over the crowd.

  “They're everywhere!” a voice screams somewhere in the distance. “They've breached all the bridges! They're flooding in! No-one knows how to stop them!”

  I hesitate for a moment, and then I push my way across the flow of the crowd until I reach the building. Fortunately, the main door hasn't been blocked by anyone, so I'm able to make my way into the lobby. There are a few people cowering nearby, but I ignore them as I make my way to the bottom of the stairs. There's a heavy sense of foreboding in the pit of my stomach as I start walking up, but I know full well that I have to see the truth for myself. My hands are trembling as I hold onto the railing.

  Every few seconds, I hear somebody else shouting in the distance, or screaming, or yelling something incomprehensible. The city is clearly gripped by a state of chaos, and I genuinely have no idea whether zombies really have breached the bridges.

  Right now, it's one particular zombie that I'm worried about.

  I keep walking until finally I reach the correct floor, and then I see the door to the apartment up ahead. The door is open, but I left it that way when I was here the other day.

  Just because the door's open, that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

  Still, I hesitate for a few minutes while I try to find the courage to go and check. I can still hear distant shouts, and it sounds as if the carnage outside is getting worse. I'll go and find out what's happening soon, but right now I know that I have to be sure of one thing. I'm terrified, of course, but I've been terrified before and I've always found ways to push past my fear. This is no different. Not really. It's just a different type of fear.