Outbreak of the Deceased (Book 1): Immediate Survivors

by Barone, Cenz

  They could tell they were in a storage area. Nancy had artfully led them away from the main area of the first floor and into the side storage room which led into the basement. She turned to the group and remarked “It’s just down here, nobody should be down here. It is quiet and remote. The only access is the way we have come or through the door over there” she pointed to a wooden door which she said about “It can only be open with a key card, don’t worry”. Nancy now led the group down another flight of stairs and they reached it at the bottom, all standing near Nancy, the walls and stairs were black. Elise said “I cannot believe this building is so big, all these corridors and stairs”. Nancy answered “You would be surprised with what you find in places like this. I am sure this building use to be a small hospital before it was part of the university. Being the campus security station fits its purpose nicely” Kenny worrisome asked her “I’d appreciate you not giving us a history lesson right now”.

  Nancy opened the door with her key card ignoring Kenny’s wisecrack, and when it opened they came into a small corridor which had on the walls “Only Authorised Personnel - May Enter”. Nancy rushed down the corridor as they followed and the walls were thick and hardened, overbearing severe in a coldness befitting a basement. At the end being an open spacious area and a small plastic two-way door, upon opening it they saw Nancy go in first as she exclaimed upon surveying the scene “They took it all” her voice one of despair. The others joined Nancy and saw the metallic stacks, these being equipment used to host weapons of military standard issue. There were also cupboards within, which were mostly open, as though the movement from within the basement to take out the weapons was rushed. The immediate view of this scene suggested all was mostly empty. Nancy remarked “So much for the backup stash” she sounded regretful.

  Grant looked around the room and found a small compartment which seemed untouched, he opened it and pulled open the draw and he saw a semi-automatic machine gun, four pistols and one shotgun. Nancy approached him as he said enthused “Over here”. Upon seeing it she said “Okay, that’s a start. We will take these back upstairs. Look out for anymore, just quickly check around. Carry as much ammunition as you find”. Nancy, Elise and Grant scoured the other draws as Kenny followed suit, they were racing around trying to locate anything which was left behind but they had no luck of many finds.

  After a few minutes Nancy said “We will have to move now. We have wasted enough time” Nancy only saying this when it became clear nothing else was to be found. Nancy was also conscious of how long they were spending down in the basement, had someone or those people came down they would be trapped. She cursed and thought she should have left one of the people with her on watch but she was comforted that all the doors were locked at this point by her. Everyone now carried what they could and made their way back upstairs.

  Nancy was on lead moving back towards the stairwell as the group rushed up the way they came, going up the flights of the echoing stairwell. Elise was breathing heavily, and Kenny was himself struggling but Nancy was encouraging them to move. Grant checked at the rear and they went up as a unit. Once they had passed the first floor fire door from the stairwell the distant noise down below receded and Baxter was in the top area of the stairwell looking down as he called out to Melissa, Cherie and Laura “I think they are on their way back”. The group upstairs prepared. All were nervous.

  Baxter backed out of the stairwell and went onto the floor, he held a large pole he had found within the office and was nervous, shaking and sweating. Melissa, Laura and Cherie all held hand held weapons of blunt objects, with Cherie holding a small paperclip knife. Such was the calibre of weapons at hand each had to provide personal defence. Baxter had backed off from the door to the stairwell as Cherie asked “Are you sure it is them”. Baxter nodded and replied “Yes” and Laura questioningly asked him “Why are you walking backwards then?” Baxter kept backing towards them as he said “I just want to be sure”. Cherie annoyed said “Then you are not sure”. Cherie stormed towards the stairwell door and Baxter was just panting and breathing heavily “If you are unsure you should lock the door” Cherie scolded him but he was just nervous. At this moment Nancy was seen, her face appearing through the doorway, as she saw Cherie and said “Cherie, help us”. Nancy handed Cherie a handgun which she took in her right hand and it was something to behold being given a handgun by a policewoman Cherie thought.

  “Okay move, get into the office” Nancy said and she stood near the doorway making sure Grant, Elise and Kenny had come through, all were now in the corridor and Nancy closed the stairwell door and locked it, she used the key to close it from the floor she was on. As Nancy had finished securing the door, she leant her head against it and tried to find her strength, the rest of the group had gone back into the office and now she moved towards them, herself desperately trying to keep it together. It was hard for her as she knew her colleagues and friends outside were likely being massacred and she could do nothing about it. The smart thing for her to do was to do what she was doing, but what she would have liked to have done would be to go out and find her friends and colleagues, she kept replaying their faces and names in her mind but by keeping busy she aimed to distract herself. Only already Nancy had learned being the hero only resulted in a painful demise so she kept pragmatic in the current situation. As for her family who were elsewhere, she knew she could not reach them because the way the environment was around her, it was impossible.

  Once the group had all settled they had placed some tables together with the weapons all on them. Nancy was herself overlooking the weapons and handling them, and she spoke to the group “Has anyone here had experience with these kinds of weapons before?” Nobody answered and Nancy suspected it would be the case because these were mainly military issue but also the sort of weapons specialist police officers would use, and none of the people around her looked like they had such a background.

  Nancy nevertheless pressed on and said “Handguns, machine guns, shotguns... anything?” again nobody answered, all Nancy wanted was a sign someone maybe had used a firearm before. Baxter now said over the silence “I’ve seen a lot of movies and played a lot of shoot-them-up games” he said naively but had a hopeful look as though he was trying to be productive. Nancy’s heart sunk, she was with totally inexperienced civilians, so she said trying to maintain control “It is nothing like the movies or video games”. Nancy took a handgun and said “All of you watch, it is very simple, I have done a weapons and handling course and it is quite straight forward to fire but the hardest part is controlling the weapon. Let me just show you”. Before Nancy could begin they all went quiet as they the elevator moving. Nancy took the machine gun from the table and Kenny automatically picked up a pistol even though he was unsure how to use it.

  “Why is the elevator operating, we kept it open on this floor”. Nancy tried to reason if she had seen it when she returned back from the weapons storage room but she moved so fast from the stairwell to this office, it did not register to check. But then Baxter said “Didn’t you say you wanted to bring up the weapons from the storage room up from below via the elevator”. Nancy looked at him horrified as Baxter realised he misunderstood and he pitifully said “I am sorry I thought...” Nancy lost her cool and interrupted him by shouting “Why the fuck did you do that you idiot. I said no such thing!” Melissa annoyed, also shouted at Baxter and said “I told you that’s not what she said”.

  Baxter was just nervous and scared, he thought he was helping but it all happened so fast, and his embarrassment was now spared from feeling even smaller as everyone focused on the office door and Nancy said “We can’t let them up here”. She held the machine gun and Kenny with a pistol went with her, some of the others grabbed a weapon to but the majority of those left did not bother picking up any weapon, it was scary to use many felt. They all ran outside the office and into the corridor, where they saw the elevator doors were closed and they were waiting for it to come to their floor, it was gradually
rising closer to the top and each was panicky and waiting, not knowing to expect. Nancy pointed her machine gun, Kenny his pistol and his hands were shaking. Cherie was quite calm holding her machine gun, and then they saw as the elevator reached the top floor, that is the floor they were on, and then the number 9 flashed indicating the doors would be opening any second.

  The weapons were pointed ready to fire, as the doors opened out of the elevator collapsed a man wearing a torn shirt as he moaned loudly, and inside the elevator were several other people, men and women of all of different ages and looks. Nancy realised it was safe as she let go of her machine gun which was wrapped around her body and then she placed her hands up to those beside her with their weapons “No, it is okay” she told them seeing their fright, Nancy was just grateful it was not those vicious attackers. Finally a woman in the elevator stated “Help us please”. A man then said “The rooms are flooded with people”. The woman fell onto her knees and one of the men in the elevator was a military man wearing army caches, immediately Nancy approached him “How did you people get by those things?” her first question pending the situation on the bottom floor, which she knew they had come from to gain entry to the top.

  The soldier answered “They are slow fuckers. If there is too many of them they are a problem, there is only 10 down there” “10” Grant said amazed as he added “You say 10 like it is not a big deal”. The soldier looked at Grant annoyed and snarled “10 aren’t a big fucking deal when you have been surrounded by 100s of those things like I have” the soldier walked around the corridor searching around as he held his handgun near him and said under his breath “10 just happens to be my lucky number, and they are all over the bottom floor so not stuck together. We didn’t even have to fire our guns at those fucking things. Gunfire brings them closer you see, they love noise”.

  He studied them all at this point and said with disgust “Just civilians and a pig” he said referring to Nancy, using a derogatory term for a police officer as Nancy said amazed “What the fuck is your problem? Calling me a pig, my friends are dying out there. How dare you, where was the promised protection you all offered, this military control”. The soldier shook his head and replied “Not my promise lady, I am just a grunt. It is those fucking officer’s, loads of my mates are dead to because they were trying to save your fucking friends and these scabby civilians. Are there any military personnel up here” asked the solider.

  Nancy could not see any point arguing as the civilians with Nancy listened in horrified at the soldiers dismissive language at them, but this was just the individual not the military effort. Nancy now said “No military people up here. I am the only on with the security groups”. The soldier felt he could rest at this point, and Nancy said “Keep that fucking elevator door open” she ordered Baxter who went up to it nervously and pitifully as he did so, Nancy conscious it would close again with all the people out of the elevator now.

  The soldier now spoke, he looked mentally imbalanced. Nancy asked him “What part of the university were you at?” he stared at her and was unsure why she was asking but he answered “The wall areas” this made Nancy get annoyed as she said “The wall area, you mean the perimeter, right?” he nodded as she said annoyed “Your people were meant to provide security throughout the entire perimeter and that includes the North gate where those fucking things broke through. I had friends up there providing backup to you and they are all dead”.

  The soldier shouted back “Fuck you lady, I lost all the guys in my troop coming to protect this shit hole”. Nancy then shouted back “You let us down, now they are all over the place” both of them were shouting and the soldier was about to strike her but Nancy was herself getting ready to hit him, they were staring each other out as the soldier said dismissively “You stupid bitch” he found her threatening stance amusing but she then shouted “What the fuck happened, how did they break in”. He then said “Just stay out of my way lady” but she followed him as he tried to walk away. Nancy persisted and said “I want to know what happened, don’t turn your back on me”. Everyone was watching them squaring up, a mere soldier and a police officer with no real authority, except the remnants of their own outfit.

  “What do you fucking think happened? They overtook us, there was too many and it is you and the rest of the dead pigs who are to blame, giving us faulty intelligence. So why don’t you get out of my face before I smash your fucking face in”. Nancy then told him, demanding of this soldier and doing her best to ignore his insults “I want an explanation from you, what you saw. I need to know more than they just broke through. Have we been abandoned here?” she asked and feared they had, and it would not surprise her if many had escaped and left civilians, she heard the rumours about other rescue stations in the country doing something similar and grumblings were heard by her amongst colleagues when on patrol in Oxford and the surrounding area about running away. But now the soldier said “I do not have to prove anything to you, I am as blind as you but if you keep on getting in my face, I swear I will put you down”. Grant felt this was getting out of hand as he calmly approached the soldier and said “Look, let’s all just try and keep calm, it is nobody’s fault so there is no need to threaten anyone here, friend”.

  The soldier without hesitation punched Grant in the face, and he knocked Grant on the floor who fell back. Kenny jumped in front of Grant and went to protect him but the soldier raised his handgun to Kenny. Kenny dropped his handgun as he realised he was in a helpless situation, the soldier not at all threatened by the civilians around him, then said scornfully “I don’t mind punching guys but hitting women, I don’t want to do that” he glared at Nancy and warned her “Doesn’t mean I won’t so stay out of my fucking face”. He then looked back on Kenny and stated “You boy, I have no problem shooting you, now back off, don’t try and be a hero”. Kenny backed away and said “I am not trying to be a hero”.

  Elise screamed at the solider “You fucking prick, why did you hit him he was just trying to calm things down”. The soldier snarled at Elise by saying “Fucking calm things down. Nothing is calm here you ignorant bint!” Grant was dazed and concussed as he tried to sit up and was breathing heavily, holding his jaw. Elise and Cherie were beside Grant at this point and went by his side to try and help him. The soldier now stated “Don’t fuck with me, any of you! My friends are dead, my commander is dead and those things are swarming all over the place”.

  Cherie stared up at the soldier and asked “What the fuck is wrong with you, why are you so hostile to us?” “Shut up all of you” the soldier replied and was pointing his gun between them all, it was so frantic, none knew if he would fire, so all tried to remain unthreatening but they were angry at how he was acting. The soldier now shouted “All of you put your hands up now. Do what I say”. None did so as he now screamed, sounding unhinged “I SAID HANDS UP!” Nancy held her hands up and said softly to those around her, she knew the soldier was dangerous and could pull the trigger anytime, she no longer sought to antagonise him as she said “All of you do what he says, put your hands up”. Everyone did so, except the civilians who the soldier had arrived with, they were in total two women and four men who remained in the foreground gobsmacked at what was taking place.

  Grant slowly lifted his hands due to his injury from the soldiers punch. Nancy now pleaded “We are on the same side! There is no need for this”. The soldier shouted back at her “Bullshit, have anyone of you been bitten, anyone bitten here at all”. Nobody had been but remained scared at the sight of him as he stated sounding fearful “Those things they bite you, you see they bite you and you turn...You turn into a dead thing, I knew this from the beginning, but they kept telling me, they kept telling me I was under stress, God damn those know it all officers. FUCK OFFICERS! They think they know it all with their degrees from university. What kind of an education sets them up for dealing with this shit-show. They know fucking nothing, but it is scary because they might know what is happening but don’t want to tell us. Now though t
hey are all dead and I am here justified”.

  Cherie pulled back Grant as Kenny watched the soldier who brought his gun down after contemplating firing, as the solider quietly said “Just leave me alone and stay out of my way, all of you” the soldier made his way towards the stairwell and turned back at them, with their hands still up, he said “I don’t want anything to do with you people. I am going up on the roof, and if anyone goes up there. I will shoot them dead”. He then disappeared and they heard his feet rattling on the stairwell which went up to the roof.

  They all lowered their hands now and Nancy immediately turned to the rest of the people behind her, they did not expect this as she said “Grant are you okay” she came towards him and checked his face with her hands, she was concerned for him and thankful he was okay, and he stood up for her. Grant feeling foolish said “I am fine, I just have a bruised ego” he was barely able to stand up holding his jaw, the soldier really knocked him for six. “How many of those people are in the building, is it really ten” Nancy now asked the new arrivals with the soldier. A man sweating profusely sucking on his asthma pump eventually got enough oxygen and said “I think there is more but we were not counting, we just ran into this place from the main university building. It was the first building we saw, all of us, we just followed that soldier. Those things were all on the first floor though, all over the place.

  Nancy held the woman who had fallen on the floor, a middle-aged woman who was moaning aloud “My son, my Phillip, he is dead, he is dead, those people got him” she cried her eyes out as Nancy called for help and said “Someone help me with these people. All of you follow us we will take you into the office over there. It is safer in there than out here”. Cherie and Kenny held up the middle aged woman and assisted taking her inside the main office. She sat on the chair and broke down sobbing profusely, this woman mourning her dead son it seemed. Cherie and Kenny settled her in comfortably and she sat there shaking and shaking her head, she was having a breakdown or was in the midst of one.