by Mark Clodi
“We are right below the bridge. It has to be this way.”
“I can't see anything. Wait, there is an elevator. I don't see any stairs.” Lance pressed the 'up' arrow by the elevator door. It didn't light up.
“There is a card reader next to the door. I bet you have to use a card to go up.” said Tom.
“How would you know?” asked Dan.
“Try the down button, if that works than anyone can go down, but only authorized people can go up.”
Lance reached out and punched the 'down' arrow, it lit up.
“See?”
“Smooth Einstein, but now the elevator is coming, maybe it is full of zombies? Ever think of that?”
“Well, no.” stammered Tom, stepping away from the elevator.
“Lance you watch the elevator, Tom you look down that way for zombies and Carl you keep an eye the other way and back the way we came.”
“What about you?” asked Carl.
“I'll help whoever needs it.”
They waited in silence for the elevator to arrive, there was a sharp ding, then the door slid to one side to reveal a small, and empty, elevator. Despite Dan's instructions, everyone was watching the elevator.
“Good, now we figure out how to make it go up.” Dan said with confidence, stepping in. “Any ideas computer guy?”
“No, I, uh, well yeah, we need a passkey. I don't know how we would make it go up otherwise.”
“Look at you, so smart! How about this?” Dan reached in and pulled open an emergency phone, then held it to his ear waiting. After a moment he said, “Hello? Oh good? There are four of us and we need to get to the bridge, can you make the elevator go up for us? Sweet!” Then he slammed the phone into the side of the elevator wall hard enough to break the thin plastic of the ear piece. “Dammit! I thought that would work!”
The others looked at him, then each other, confused. “So...no one answered?” asked Carl.
“No Carl, no one answered.”
“Well we could still get the passkey, or maybe there are stairs.” offered Tom.
“What about the escape hatch in the top?” Lance said stepping into the elevator and pointing his finger up to one corner. All of them stared to the spot he was indicating, which was a small trapdoor. Lance raised his bar and pressed on the square section of ceiling, lifting it with ease.
“Damn Lance, that works! Here I was going all technical and you find an easier way. Who goes first?”
“Uh, Ah reckon Ah could. Let's see if it is dark up there.”
“Okay do you need a boost?” The doors of the elevator started to slide shut. Tom reached out and held them open, Carl stepped in and hit the emergency stop button on the elevator control panel. An annoying buzzing started going off.
“Shit that is annoying. What if we just let the doors close, I mean the elevator wouldn't go anywhere unless we touched one of the buttons, that is how they work.” said Dan.
“Okay.” said Carl, disengaging the emergency stop.
“Hey Tom, grab that table there by the window would you?” Dan said.
Tom manhandled the table into the elevator and the others put it under the hole in the ceiling, where Lance used it to climb up into the darkness. The elevator doors slid shut.
“Kinda close quarters isn't it?” said Dan nervously.
Lance pulled himself up and turned back around to look down on them. “There is a ladder set into the side of the shaft. I am going to take it up and see if I can get the doors open on the next level. The only problem is it is dark and the only light I am getting is from the hole here.”
“Hey hold up a second.” said Dan reaching into his pockets. He came back with his lighter and handed it up to Lance. The man stood up and flicked the lighter, holding it above his head.
“Alright, it is better than nothing. Thanks.” Lance tucked his pipe down the back of his shirt and into the inside of his shorts, and then turned towards the wall. He put the lighter in the pocket of his shirt, then thought better of it and put it in his pants pocket instead. Tom got up on the table and stuck his head out of the top of the elevator ceiling, watching the other man climb.
“It just got real dark.” Lance's voice called down.
“Sorry! I am getting on the top of the elevator.”
“Warn a guy next time.”
Tom pulled himself up and stepped away from the hole to allow the next person up, however neither Carl nor Dan seemed inclined to make the climb.
“It's not bad.” Tom said, “There is hardly any room around the elevator, it is pretty solid. I don't think I could fall down the shaft unless I tried really hard and maybe not even then.”
“We'll wait until Lance gets back to us...whoa!” Dan yelled as the elevator started to move.
Up on top Tom lost his balance and stumbled forward into the ladder, without thinking he grabbed a rung and held on, looking downward he saw the square of light disappear into the darkness below him.
“Lance!”
“Huh?”
“What do we do?”
“Don't let go.”
“Do we climb down?”
“Naw, they will go down, then hit the up button to come back up here you better climb up a little so they don't hit you when they come back up.”
“Yeah, but what hit the button?”
“There is that.” said Lance.
Tom tried to tuck the pipe into the back of his shirt, but found doing that while holding onto the ladder was more difficult than he could manage. Finally he decided to just climb with it in his hand, it was awkward but he moved slowly and went up only one rung at a time, making sure he was anchored on to the ladder before moving his hands.
Down below there was a cry and a short scream, followed by Carl yelling for the zombies to leave them by the power of God. The elevator grew quiet, then the square point of light a good seven stories below Tom went out.
“Oh fudge.” Tom said.
Lance chuckled, “Not so good a day to have a hangover. Ah am as high as Ah can go, there is a little light seeping out under the door, but I can't see much on this side. You better keep climbing Tom, there ain't no other way out that Ah can see.”
Tom climbed up until he felt Lance's tennis shoe on the rung above him.
“I'm here.”
“Good. Ah am going to flick the lighter on and see what Ah can find, maybe there is a latch to open the door from this side.” The lighter sparked, then caught and provided a dim glow. Lance slowly moved it around from his position on the ladder and then said, “There is a catch here, Ah think, if Ah can push it maybe the door will open.”
The lighter went off and their eyes adjusted to the dark again. Tom could see that there was a little light seeping in from under the closed elevator doors, but it was not enough to make out what Lance was doing. The ambient light went even lower for a moment and it was only on impulse that Tom looked down. The white square down below had disappeared.
“Shit. Lance someone shut the escape hatch in the ele...” Tom paused as the distant square light reappeared. “Oh that is okay I thought they closed it, but it is....”
A low moan came from down below and the square of white once again went dark. Tom almost wet his pants when he realized what he was seeing, the third time the light faded from below. “Oh God Lance, they are climbing up here after us!”
“Not possible Tom, you saw how they were.”
“That one was faster, maybe some of these others are even faster than it was?”
“I think we would have seen them this morning....” Another moan sounded in the shaft from below them, it sounded closer, “Shit. Shit.” Tom heard Lance frantically start to bang on the side of the elevator shaft with his hand; a gassy smell and some liquid hit him in the face. “Oh fuck, Ah just broke the lighter when ah hit the wall that last time.”
“What do we do?”
There was a slight thump from beneath them, then another one, like dead flesh hitting the bar of the ladder. Tom rememb
ered how the zombie's fingers had been curled around the chain holding the gate shut at the basketball court.
“Ah can get it, just hold one second, ah feel the latch, but ah can't make it move, it is like there is another catch ah am not tripping or something.”
Tom had no idea what Lance was babbling about. All he could really hear was the zombies climbing the ladder; he was waiting for one to latch onto his foot. “Just hurry Lance!”
“I'm doing my best sir!” was the man's polite reply. Lance grunted, then there was a high pitched 'ping' and something went tumbling down the elevator shaft. The light suddenly increased as Lance slid the doors open about six inches. “Got it!” He pulled the door closest to him open all the way, then scrambled inside the room beyond.
Tom caught a whiff of blood from the open room, but fighting a zombie in the room was better than trying to do so from a ladder, so he climbed in after Lance. There was wet and drying blood everywhere. That was the first thing Tom noticed. The room was smaller than he had imagined and the walls were lined with windows that went from waist level to ten feet high, below the windows were various computers and workstations. There was no command chair and no giant wheel like from the sailing vessels of yesteryear. These facts were of mild disappointment to Tom, who had an active fantasy about what a bridge should look like. Lance, if he were disappointed in how things looked, didn't stop to ponder them. He was struggling to pull his club out from where he had it tucked into his shirt as the first of three zombies in crew uniforms rushed towards them.
The smell Tom now associated with drying blood poured through the open door, however fighting a zombie in the room sounded better than trying to do so while hanging onto a ladder. The room was covered in wet and drying blood and was smaller than Tom thought it would be. The walls were lined with windows that rose from waist high to the ceiling out of reach above his head. Below the windows sat various workstations, all of them with computers and other electrical equipment, the lone exception was a narrow shelf near the front window of the ship. To Tom's disappointment there was no 'Captains Chair' or giant navigation wheel bolted to the deck to control the ship with. Lance didn't pause to think about such things, he was struggling to get a firm grip on his club as three zombies in crew uniforms slowly moved towards him.
The first zombie was an older man who had lots of gold on his shoulders; Tom thought that must make him the captain. Lance gave up on his club and just grabbed one of the captain's outstretched arms; he then pivoted and threw the zombie over his back where it landed behind Tom. Of course there was no 'behind Tom' only an open elevator shaft, which the captain fell through without even a moan. The next zombie had its leg kicked in at the knee, breaking it and dropping it to the ground. This left the third one to latch onto Lance. Finally Tom's brain caught up to the action and he swung his club sideways like a baseball bat, only to connect weakly with Lance's arm as he twirled around trying to get free from the zombie.
“Aaahh!” screamed Lance.
“Sorry!” yelled Tom, swinging for the zombie's thigh instead. His blow landed on the zombie, but didn't seem to do any harm.
Lance spun around and kicked the zombie, however it grabbed him by the ankle and they both tumbled towards Tom, who side stepped out of the way. The zombie on Lance fell into the elevator shaft and pulled Lance with him. Tom made a grab for Lance and had his belt when the zombie on the floor started moving up Lance's body, trying to find a meaty place to bite the Special Forces man. Tom was at eye level with the zombie that had a grip around Lance's legs, instinctively he pulled away from the thing as it moved closer to him. Without Tom's grip Lance and the two zombies disappeared into the elevator shaft.
“Fuck.” Tom said, softly as he heard a loud 'bang' from the shaft a few seconds later. Tentatively he crawled to the elevator shaft and poked his head out over the edge. A meaty hand grabbed his head, causing him to jump and writhe in fear while he shrieked like a little kid and backed away.
“Didn't mean to scare you. Thanks. I got a hand on the ladder when you caught me.” said Lance, pulling himself up into the room again. Tom, still on his hands and knees, stopped screaming and offered him a hand into the room.
“I thought, I thought you had fallen...”
“It was close. Was that all of them?”
Lance was wrong, behind a workstation they found another crewman torn into two bloody pieces at the navel, the top half was active and groping about with the one arm it still had, most of the things face was gone, including both eyes. To their surprise it still reached towards them as they came closer, Lance grasped the zombies arm and hauled it over to the elevator shaft, then tossed the legs down after it.
“I dropped my club.” Lance said, eying Toms'.
Tom immediately held his out, “Take it, I don't seem to be very good with it.”
Looking around Lance spotted a fire extinguisher, next to a first aid kit and, of all things, a fire ax bolted to the wall between to doors near the back of the room.
“I think you can keep the club, I'll take the ax.” Lance pointed at the door that looked like it led outside, “Why don't you check for survivors or others out there?”
Tom went to the narrow door and peered out through the window; he didn't see anything so he carefully opened it and stuck his head outside. The breeze blew the smell of blood and flesh out of Tom's face, the salt air smelled good, so good that he stepped out onto a small deck that circled around the entire bridge without even thinking to check for more zombies. There were no windows in the back of the bridge so Tom said, “I'm going to go walk around this once, make sure there aren't any surprises.”
Lance chuckled, “Yes sir, scream if you need help.” He had taken the first aid kit off of the wall and going through it, the ax lay next to him on a work station desk.
The deck around the bridge was clear and there was a ladder going up to some electrical equipment on top of the bridge, Tom climbed it and found himself almost as high up as he could get on the ship. The ladder ended in an oval shaped space about ten feet long and perhaps five wide, the ladder came up through one side of it and there was a railing to keep people from falling off. There were two large beams rising from this small mini-deck, one at the front of the oval, and a flag pole at the back.
The view was fantastic; he was circled by pure blue waves that bled into a hazy white fog on the horizon. The sun had come up over the edge of the ocean and not a single bit of land was in sight in any direction. If Tom wanted he could climb higher by using the ladder that was embedded onto the tower near the front of the oval, it went another thirty feet and ended in an small crow’s nest of wires and lights. The flag pole was accessible from near where the ladder to the bridge deck ended, but the flag could be raised and lowered from here. There was a flag flying, it was pure white with a red 'x' that went diagonally from corner to corner.
'What country is that from?' Tom wondered.
A whisper caught his attention from below, “Tom?”
“Yeah, up here.” he called down to Lance.
The other man stepped out onto the deck and looked up at him. “Anything?”
“Nothing, no zombies, no land in sight, nothing useful at all. What about you?”
“I found a lot. You should come down and take a look.”
“I'll be right there.” Tom said and then climbed down after one last look around.
“What did you find?”
“Weapon locker and the other door leads to stairs.”
“Dan was right, there were stairs. I wonder where they end?”
A soft thump rattled the elevator doors, causing Tom to jump.
“Easy partner, they can't get in, one of them arrived a minute ago. That's why I didn't go outside. I found this stuff.” he gestured towards the low table at the front of the room. There was a white trunk set on it, more like a footlocker than a trunk. Next to it was the smaller first aid kit and a duffel bag. All of the boxes and the bag were open; the locker appeared to have
been hacked open with the ax. Tom went forward to look and turned back toward Lance, who was staying next to the elevator door.
“Why would they have this stuff?”
“Terrorists, pirates maybe, ah think. Not sure really.”
“Do you know how to use it?”
“Yes sir, do you?”
Tom shook his head, “The closest I ever came to firing a gun was a video game.”
“You should be a faster learner then, you point the end with the hole in it at the thing you want dead. Then pull the trigger.”
“What are they?”
Lance cast an eye at the elevator doors, then stepped over to Tom, “That is an assault rifle, those two are shot guns, single shot and short barreled, they not effective at long range, but I don't think that is what they are for. This is a pistol, see? It has a magazine of ammunition, you load it up and then it slides into the butt here, see?”
Shaking his head Tom said, “Not really.”
“Well, you'll learn quick. There are only a few normal shots of ammunition for the shotgun. Most of the shells in there are flares, like for sending up distress signals and such. The pistol has about fifty shots and the rifle has maybe two hundred. Not very much, if the whole ship turns into zombies.”
“You take what you want first, what do you think I should use?”
Lance pondered a moment, then took a shot gun and showed Tom how to load it. “These are flares, probably won't do anything. These are regular shots as far as I can tell. I don't know what these shots are.” he said pointing to the two other types of ammunition for the shotgun that was in the box. “If I had to guess they are non-lethal shots, maybe rubber bullets or gas or some sort of special flare.” The big man shrugged, “I suppose we could test them.”
A louder thump and then some scratching made both men turn to the elevator. The door had been pulled open a crack. Some long, claw like fingers found their way to the bottom of the crack, then disappeared for a moment into the inky blackness.
Lance took the shotgun, broke it open and loaded it with one of the shells he was unsure of. “Might as well test them now.” He thrust the ax at Tom, “Please don't hit me with this, but you act as back up if the thing gets in.”
