Chapter 4
Sarah
“Oh shit,” I say.
“How did that happen?” says Tom, “the other one just tried to get out.”
“They must have gone up while that one stayed at the first floor.”
“Danny?” asks Anne.
“He is one of them now. They got him. He saved us,” I say.
The pounding on the door is immediate. It is metal and should hold, even with three of them. But it shudders and the sound is deafening this close. Tom and I rest for five minutes or so and pull two desk over to brace the doors. The pounding sound does not stop.
We go back to Remington’s office defeated and less one person.
“What is that pounding?” asks Remington, “I suppose you messed up again.” He is looking at me. This guy is a fucking dick, and he thinks he is still in charge. He thinks the old social hierarchies still exists and that he is still the boss.
“Cut it out Remington,” says Tom, “we did our best.”
“You don’t talk to me like that ‘Mr. Janitor.’ This is my office.”
“You don’t get it, do you? You aren’t anyone’s boss anymore. Those ‘things’ are the boss and a man just died trying to save us. Have some respect.”
I turn expecting to see Anne dressing down her former boss, but it is Katrina. Katrina, who could not be older than 19 and who just spent the night in a car with two of her dead friends.
“I am not going to be talked to …” says Remington.
I have to stop him. It is too much. I grab him by the shirt collar and I shove him hard into the window. He looks to be more shocked from this than anything else that has happened in the less 24 hours. No one has stood up to this man in decades. His eyes widen and he shuts up.
“We are done here. You are not the boss of anyone. No one is the boss. There is no law and you are no longer a lawyer We all have one goal now -to live for as long as we can and to try to get out of here. You insulting me or anyone else will help no one. Danny just died and there are literally millions of dead people in the streets.”
“Okay … okay. Calm down, I just meant we have to play things smarter from here on out.”
I let the shirt collar go, my point made. "That is something we can agree on," I say.
"We can use the elevators to get to the other floors, but I am worried the power is going to go out at some point," says Tom.
"I know. I say we scavenge this floor first, and then risk the other floors. I don’t want to take the elevators. If we get separated, we are dead. We scavenge this floor and then we clear the stairwell when we need more. We need to find all the food on this floor, including any food anyone was keeping in their offices. We also need to fill as many containers as we can with water. The water is still running but we don't know how long that is going to last. We also need to find weapons," I say.
"I won’t stop you from getting supplies, but don't you think the military going to be here soon?" asks Remington.
I shake my head no but say "I hope they are."
A phone rings from Remington’s office. It is a cell phone and each of us checks our individual phones with no luck. After ten rings, it stops but it immediately starts again. We are all searching around the office when I find the phone plugged in behind a chair. The screen says “Sarah.” My heart drops. “Answer it,” says Anne, “she needs to know.”
“Hello,” I say.
“Oh baby, thank God you are alive. I am sorry I could not call sooner. We have been running from house to house and my cell phone died. I just found a charger. I barely got it turned on when I called you,” says a woman I have never met. She is ecstatic.
“Sarah, Danny …”
“Who is this? Please put Danny on.”
“Sarah, my name is Phillip Evans. I was with Danny when this all happened. We made it into a building on Brickell.”
“Is Danny okay? Is he hurt? Why are you answering his phone?”
“Danny didn’t make it Sarah. He saved us. I am so …” Her wails overshadow my apologies. It is a considerable amount of time before she can talk again.”
“Who is…who is this again?”
“My name is Phillip. I go to the University of Miami with Danny. I was at the game with him.”
“I was on my way to you guys when it reached us.”
“Are you safe?”
“We are in a gas station. We have had to run from house to house all night. They kept getting in. I have not slept. There are bars on the front of the gas station, so they should be kept out for now. We have some food.”
“Good. Try barring the other doors with whatever you can and covering any openings so they can’t see you.”
“Okay. Did he turn into one of those things?”
“No, he died saving us. Can I keep your number and check in on you? Maybe we can help each other.”
“I would like that. Thank you,” she hangs up.
Anne is off talking to Remington. Despite everything, she still sees him as her superior. Katrina consoles me. She heard the conversation and asks “why did you lie to her about him turning into a zombie?”
“Would you want to know the one you loved is one of those things?”
“I guess you are right. Just sucks they never got to see each other again.”
We all watch the news. Officials are finally calling this a zombie-like outbreak. They are telling people to stay out of Florida. Officials are asked what the plan is to help those in Miami/south Florida. The interview ends with a firm no comment. Everyone but Remington gets to work on finding supplies.
Remington Flagler takes up the entire 20th floor. There is a kitchen with two refrigerators. Both of them are full with people's leftover lunches. We find some food in desks as well. We fill every container in the kitchen with water. I empty out the garbage can and fill it with water too. I estimate we have enough supplies, even if we ration, to last maybe a week or two.
We have even less luck finding weapons. Anne finds a small pistol in one of the attorneys’ offices. I am fairly certain she knew where it was. One of the offices has a lot of sports memorabilia and we are able to scavenge a baseball bat out of a glass case. Two of the offices have golf clubs. We take them, but I know that if they have to be used they won't hold up. The best find comes out of the office of one of the newer attorneys. It is a small replica samurai short sword – I've seen enough zombie shows to know how valuable that is, and I keep it for myself. It has decorative red gems in the handle, which just happens to be shaped like a dragon. Remington tries to get Anne to give him the gun, but thankfully she refuses. He takes the baseball bat instead. Tom and Katrina each take a golf club. I suggest to each of them that if we can find something more durable, that they switch it out.
"I don't think they're going to get in here anytime soon, but for now I think you should all keep your weapons on you at all times. I also don't think anyone should go off alone for any reason. Use the buddy system," I say.
I go to the window to watch the zombies. They are still running together at that same high speed. I watch them for hours. The others watch with me or watch the news. I notice they are not one big group, but multiple large packs. Many of the buildings have been breached. I check for the guy in the window and he is not there.
I notice the pounding has stopped from the stairwell. Danny and the others must have given up.
Chapter 5
The Powers that Be
We find three other couches in other offices and bring them into Remington’s office. I sleep on the floor while the others take couches that night. He has a corner office, so they all easily fit. We talk little and eat less. We talk about taking watches, but decide to barricade Remington’s door with his desk. We keep our weapons close. Everyone falls asleep before me and I alternate between the TV and the window. The window shows little when it is dark besides the skyline. I can almost imagine none of this has happened. The TV makes sure I know this is not true. The military has managed to stop the s
pread of zombies just south of Orlando. There is no footage of how they have done this. Instead, there is footage of the military traveling south on the road. Large trucks packed with men. I think I know how the military has stopped things. They set up a barricade and are shooting anything that tries to move past it. It isn’t pretty, but there is probably not much of a choice. There is much talk about the spread of the virus from Miami, and stopping that at all costs. There is little talk of saving south Florida. The Keys have already been overrun. Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach have fared no better than Miami. It was only the relative lack of population and the Everglades that slowed the zombies down enough for a blockade to even be set up. The military was able to mobilize from Camp Blanding in north Florida and MacDill Airforce Base in time to set up. They have had to fall back several times, and have resorted to using some pretty heavy weaponry to accomplish what they have.
I am not sure when I fall asleep, but when I wake up, Katrina is awake. She sees me.
“Something has happened. It is happening in other cities, but different,” she says. She makes space on the couch for me.
“Different how?”
“The change is very slow; it is taking like a day or two after the bite. They are trying to figure out how to stop it, but as long as it is so slow, the police and military are able to contain it.”
“What are they saying about Miami? How are they going to help us?”
“They have not said. They only talk about how important it is to keep the Miami strain from spreading. They are saying the virus, or whatever it is, must have mutated in that basketball player. They are even calling it the ‘James’ Strain.’”
“They are not going to help us,” I say. I feel bad for saying it, but this girl seems strong. I think she can take it.
“Why would you say that? They have too.”
“No, think about it. They just want to contain this version of zombies. South Florida fell in less than a day. If this gets out of Florida, the entire country could fall in a matter of weeks. We had a perfect storm. An entire stadium full of people, nearly 20,000 people, turned in seconds. That spilled out on the city so quickly no one even had a chance to react. The farther north it spreads, the faster it spreads. I wouldn’t be surprised if the government fire bombed the city. Hell, I don’t even think nukes are out of the question.”
“That’s comforting to hear.”
“Sorry, I am just trying to be honest. I think we need to find a way out of the city.”
“Okay. Listen, I appreciate you saving me, but we only had a thirty second window and we barely made it. Danny died taking on two of those things. Even with the weapons, I don’t think we would make it out of the lobby.”
“I agree. I am not saying I know how, I am just saying they are not coming for us and staying here can only mean one thing.”
“Will you take me with you? If you figure it out, can I come? I don’t want to live in Miami anymore. Those two women in the car with me, that was my sister and my cousin. The rest of my family lives down here and none of them are picking up their phones.”
“Yes, if I can figure out a way out, I will make sure to take you.”
“Promise?”
“Promise. As a thanks for sticking up to Remington for me.” She smiles. It is the dead of night. I am in an office surrounded by strangers. I sit above streets swarmed with the undead. This girl’s smile gives me reason to hope. I smile back and we both awkwardly look away, returning our eyes to the TV.
We wake up hours later, the last to wake up. Katrina has leaned her head against my shoulder as she slept. She notices this as I do and looks surprised and embarrassed. I smile and she sits up.
“Oh good, you two love birds are awake. We have a problem. The power is out,” says Remington, “I knew you should have scavenged the other floors sooner.”
“And if we got stuck? No skin off your back, right? You have barely let this office,” I say. He smirks but offers no retort.
“It is going to get real hot in here real soon. With all these windows, and that south Florida summer sun, we are going to cook before we can starve,” says Tom.
“So we figure out a way to insulate this office,” says Anne.
“Why don’t we just move into the interior offices and shut the doors to the outer offices,” says Katrina.
“No, I want to stay here,” says Remington.
“Whatever we are going to do, we need to act soon-before it is too hot,” I say.
“Let’s do both,” says Tom, “did the kitchen have any aluminum foil?”
“Yeah, a couple of rolls,” says Anne.
“We put that on the windows facing the sun, right Tom?” I ask.
“Yes, we could probably tape some card board boxes up too. It will keep out some of the heat. But we also spread into the two outer offices. We need the room and those offices might be cooler during the day.”
“Not to change the subject, but have any of checked your phones? With no power, the Wi-Fi is down too and I am not getting a cell signal at all,” says Katrina.
We all pull out our phones. None of us have service. It occurs to me I never got to talk to Sarah again, never got to make sure she was safe for Danny.
“I don’t understand,” says Tom.
“Is this like what you said last night?” asks Katrina.
Anne gives us a questioning look. “Last night? What did you say last night?”
“The news said that zombie outbreaks are happening everywhere, but it is only in south Florida that the change is so fast. In other cities, people are only turning after a day or two. The military has managed to stop the spread of the Miami type zombie in central Florida. Phillip thinks the government may give up on us and quarantine south Florida-or worse.”
“This definitely could be that,” says Tom.
“I agree. So we continue our short term plan on making this place work, maybe we need to be thinking how to get out of Miami,” I say.
“And how the hell are we supposed to do that?” asks Remington, “are we just going to stroll out of the building and catch a waiting taxi.”
“You can do that, but I think I have another plan,” I say.
“Spit it out,” says Anne.
“I just thought of it as we tried to figure out how to insulate these windows. The streets are no good, but just a couple of blocks away is Biscayne Bay. I interviewed at this firm with dreams of having a view of that very bay. I dreamed of watching sail boats go by. And that is our way out of here… a sail boat.”
“That is ridiculous. I am staying right here, and I bet I am the only one that even knows how to operate a sail boat,” says Remington.
“Not true, I know how to do it. We have lakes and wind in Oklahoma, and my dad taught me a lot of things when I was a kid,” I say.
“But even if you know how to operate the boat, the bigger problem is getting there, right?” asks Anne.
“Right, and that one I am still trying to figure out. But I think we all need to think about that. There may come a time when we don’t have a choice. We can’t stay here forever and I don’t think anyone is coming for us.”
We set to work on insulating the office the best we can. Anne goes around to close all the office doors. Tom gets to work setting up the inner offices. I get the foil and Katrina finds some boxes. Remington just watches.
As we begin to cover the first window, I look for the man in the other building. He is there, looking out. He does not notice me at first and I begin frantically waving to get his attention. It takes a bit but he notices me. I take the binoculars from Remington’s desk. The man has found an easel and has written something on it: Power is out, phone not working. He flips to the next page: It is only me, but I have food. He flips to the final page: Back door code: 1408.
The others are watching by now. “This guy says he has food. He says the code to into the back door is ‘1408,’” I say, “we all need to remember that in case we have to leave this building.”
“That seems like a much better plan than taking some boat,” says Remington.
We spend several hours insulating Remington’s office. The heat is unbearable by mid-afternoon and we all just lay around. The heat in the non-insulated offices is easily fifteen degrees warmer than Remington’s office, but the heat is still oppressive. I fall asleep sitting up in one of the outer offices and Katrina joins me. Tom sleeps in the other office. Anne stays in Remington’s office with him. We all wake up well past sundown.
“Phillip?”
“Yes Katrina?”
“Why did you save me?”
“Because you needed help and it was the right thing to do. I saw your car crash and tried to save you that night. Your seat belt was stuck and hundreds of those things were coming at me. I had to leave you there. I felt horrible doing that. I am sorry.”
Dead Sector: Miami: The James' Strain Page 3
