Threshold Series (Book 1): Threshold

by Luquer, David

  “He looks like shit,” The girl said, moaning and leaning her head back, letting the boy get back to work on another hickey on the side of her neck. “He must have smoked some bad shit.”

  “Why don’t you two take that back to your dorm?” Todd suggested, pointing outside

  All of a sudden the mob burst through the door in a mass, grabbing Todd and tearing into him, biting him and ripping him apart. As he opened his mouth to scream, one of the dead grabbed his jaw, tearing It from his skull. Todd’s tongue twitched, hanging from the area now vacated by his mandible.

  “Oh, shit!” the girl yelled as Todd’s blood splattered the front of her white shirt.

  “What the hell!” the boy bellowed. “Tony, what the hell are you doing?”

  Tony looked at him with clouded eyes and blood running out of his mouth and down his chin. The boy backed away but Tony was on him in an instant, tearing at his flesh with his teeth. The girl screamed and turned to run, only to be taken down by two more of the creatures as they gave her the same treatment her boyfriend was receiving.

  Becky dropped a glass of beer on the floor, her hands instantly going to her face as she watched one person after another succumb to a brutal death. She heard Todd screaming, but his screams ended in a gurgle as he expired. Becky screamed along with the others who still remained alive, seeing that the whole bar was in an uproar. People were running for the door, most of them being intercepted by the dead and meeting a brutal, bloody end. She tried to run out the back, but the dead were on her as well before she could get far.

  * * * *

  The security guards had finally locked themselves in the campus security office when their bullets failed to do anything against the slaughter taking place on the college grounds. They had fired off round after round until they realized that the bullets did little to slow the dead down and did nothing to kill them. They were afraid they would run out of ammunition before help arrived, so they stopped firing their guns and secured themselves in the safest place they knew of. They held out in there until the screaming, crying and roaring died down, hoping that was an indication that it was finally safe to go outside.

  “What do you think?” The taller one asked. “Should we go out there and scope out the situation?”

  “You can if you want to.” The shorter one responded with his hands raised in front of him. “I’m staying right here until the police come. Actually, I’m hoping for the army to arrive.”

  “I’m going out there. I doubt they’re even still out there. Haven’t you noticed how quiet it is?”

  “Go ahead. Let me know what you find.”

  The taller one opened the door and headed out, only to be driven back in by a small group of the dead that had remained on campus. A few of them tackled him to the ground, the rest piling inside the office and attacking the shorter guard.

  Theirs were the last of the screams to come from the campus, though nobody would hear them since the rest of the living who’d occupied the surrounding area had died in the moments prior.

  * * * *

  Emily Sands leaned back in her chair and stretched. Working as a hotel manager paid decently enough but she hated closing things out at the end of her shift. Sitting at the computer was far from exciting but she knew it had to be done.

  Emily had moved to this village for the job, having grown up in Pittsburgh. There had been no adjustment to the weather for her, being hours north of her hometown and being so similar. The small-town life was the real adjustment. She felt lost in her first few months here, not knowing what there was to do and having to search for things to keep her occupied. Now, however, she grew to enjoy the slower pace. Still, she often longed for one exciting moment to arrive.

  She was about to resume her typing when her desk phone rang.

  “What is it, Ron?” she asked, annoyed at the interruption.

  Ronald Wakeman was working at the front desk of the hotel for the past few hours, becoming noticeably agitated. It had been about a half-hour since he’d seen the first of the mob, appearing to be the largest gathering of drunks he’d ever seen, or so he said when he called the first time. Eventually, he claimed there were dozens of them in the parking lot and outside the front doors.

  “Hey, Emily, more of those doped up people are gathering out there,” he said. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Tell them to get lost or you’ll call the cops.” She answered.

  “I did that, but they started to walk toward me, so I locked the doors. They don’t even answer me.”

  “Call the sheriff, then.”

  “I tried to but there is no answer there. I called the State Police, but they put me on hold, saying they had been getting all kinds of calls from town. I guess they are sending cars this way.”

  “Well, there’s not much we can do until they get here. Just make sure you unlock the doors if any of the guests come back.”

  “I haven’t seen anyone come back from their dinners yet. This is kind of freaking me out.”

  “I’m on my way out, hold tight.”

  She sighed and hung up the phone. Sometimes she wondered if Ron could even make a simple decision on his own. She put on her blazer and made her way to the front, hoping it was all an exaggerated situation and nothing more.

  When Emily got to the lobby, she saw Ron looking out the front glass doors. There were, indeed, dozens of them outside, just like he’d said. They were moving closer to the doors with each passing second. Some of them had their hands or their faces pressed up against the glass, apparently trying to find a way in. A few were leaving blood smears on the glass. Others appeared to have cuts, though the blood seemed clotted already. They all had the same vacant look in their eyes, the same bags under their eye sockets and the same pale, pasty complexion. They seemed to be testing the glass for openings or cracks that they could use to break it the rest of the way, allowing them access to the lobby area.

  “What do you think they want?” she asked.

  “Beats the hell out of me,” he answered. “I just hope the doors hold. I don’t want to deal with them in here.”

  “It’s tempered glass,” she said. “It’ll hold.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “What’s that out there?” Emily asked, pointing to the entrance of the parking lot.

  “It looks like headlights. Do you think it’s some of the guests returning?”

  “It looks like police cars,” she said. “I think there are lights on top of them.”

  “Only the first two have lights on top. They look like sheriff cars. The last one is just a sedan of some sort.”

  “How do they plan to get through all those people?”

  “Um, I think they are plowing through.” Ron sounded alarmed. “I think we better get back behind the counter.”

  “There’s no way they are planning to run over all those people.”

  “You can stay and watch,” he said. “I’m getting someplace safe.”

  Emily watched in horror as the three cars began slamming into body after body, sickening thuds and the sounds of cracking bone could be heard, even through the glass. She’d never witnessed anything like this in her life. She wasn’t sure whether to run or to stand there and vomit.

  What the hell are they thinking? She thought. Why would they be killing a bunch of drugged out people with their cars?

  “Come on!” Ron yelled.

  They both ran behind the front desk as the headlights moved toward the front of the building, showing no signs of slowing down. From where they hid, she could no longer see the approaching cars but still heard the sound of screeching tires getting closer.

  CHAPTER tWENTY-TWO

  Rob floored the accelerator as he pressed the car into the crowd of the dead that swarmed the front of the hotel. He knew the only chance they had of getting to the front doors was to plow through, exit the cars and run for the doors before they could be overtaken. He only hoped that James and Shirley would figure out his plan and fo
llow his lead since there was no time to vocalize it over the radio.

  The first wave of zombies made a sickening thud as they bounced off the front of the car, flying through the air and landing hard on the pavement. He noticed they were getting back off the pavement but obviously had broken some bones in their flight. They rose slowly, some of them unable to use one or both legs. Arms hung limp at their sides, no stability left to them as the bones endured multiple fractures. Others dragged themselves along with their arms, both legs either broken or removed.

  “That’s disgusting!” Jane said, wrinkling her nose. “They’re all busted up and they still won’t die.”

  Rob hit the next wave with similar results. The front end of his car was dented up from impact after impact. He didn’t know how much more the car would take and he certainly didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of this parking lot.

  Clotted blood left chunky trails across the windshield, making it more and more difficult to see ahead of the car. He dared not turn on the windshield wipers for fear visibility would be completely wiped out.

  “We’re almost there!” Brighton yelled.

  “I know,” Rob yelled back. “I’m going to stop fast. Everyone, hold on!”

  He hit the brakes and spun the wheel, bringing the car to a screeching halt after sliding several yards, stopping it sideways in front of the door with only a couple of feet to spare. He looked out his window and saw the other two cars stopping the same way, James hitting the front of his car sideways and Shirley hammering the back of his car with the front of hers.

  “We are going to have to move fast!” Rob yelled out his window, seeing many of the battered dead already getting up from the pavement. “We are only going to have a moment to get inside before they are all over us!”

  “Sheriff, you and I can try to hold them off with some gunfire until the others are inside,” James said.

  “Sounds good!” Rob said, pulling his pistol out of its holster. “Everybody inside, now!”

  “They are coming in too fast!” Jane hollered. “We’ll never make it!”

  “Yes, you will,” John said. “I’ll draw them off while you all get that door open.”

  “John, no!” Brighton pleaded. “They’ll be all over you in no time! We better stay together!”

  “Just say a prayer for me, Rev!”

  John ran for the other side of the parking lot, screaming at the top of his lungs in an attempt to draw the zombies to follow him. To Rob’s surprise, most of them turned and began following, giving the group time to make it to the door.

  “Is he okay?” Jane asked.

  “No,” Rob answered. “He’s obviously lost his mind. This whole incident has pushed him over the edge. Now, get to the door with the others, before these things get to you!”

  Rob and James began popping off rounds at the nearest attackers who remained behind, knocking them back but failing to take them down. Brighton pushed on the front door, only to find it locked.

  “Hey, is anybody in there?” he yelled, pounding his fists on the glass.

  “What’s going on?” Rob yelled.

  “It’s locked!” Brighton hollered back.

  “We need to get inside, fast,” James said. “We can’t hold these things off much longer with handguns.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Rob snarled before turning back to the others. “get the attention of whoever might be in there or we are all dead!”

  The others started pounding along with them, trying to get the attention of anyone inside. Rob looked back at them, praying they wouldn’t draw the dead back with all the noise they were making but he knew it was imperative that they alert someone inside. He turned his attention back to the dead when he heard John begin screaming, an agonizing sound that could only mean that the attackers had caught up with him.

  “The old man’s down!” James yelled.

  “I heard!” Rob yelled.

  More of the walking corpses joined in, apparently no longer concerned with John. The number increased as they made their way closer to the small group of the living, now desperate to get inside.

  “Oh, shit,” Rob muttered.

  “We may be screwed,” James said, his eyes wide as he looked at the army of zombies moving toward them.

  “Get that door open or I’m shooting the glass!” Rob yelled.

  “You break that glass and they will all follow us in!” James said.

  “We’re dead if we stay out here!” Rob shouted back.

  The pounding behind him grew louder as the small group increased the impact with their fists.

  * * * *

  Awareness. It came on suddenly. Surroundings began to take on familiarity and a dark veil was partially lifted from the once vacant mind like the birth of a new existence.

  The creature ceased its movement and glanced around at the other like him. No longer was he like an amoeba, without conscious and merely moving slowly about with only one goal: mindless consumption. Now it was like an infant, unlearned with no goals.

  But it was aware.

  Others around him stopped and gave the same slightly confused stare. We’re they suddenly with the birth of primitive thoughts, as well? Did they just become aware of their surroundings? If so, did they feel as he did?

  A moment ago, there was nothing. No dark. No light. No thoughts at all. This thing had no known past that it could recall. The eruption of mental process came in a split send, causing it to question why it was with this horde, closing in on those who looked similar, yet we’re so different.

  There was little in the way of emotion. It felt no pity, no sadness. There was only a hunger that drove it onward. A hunger for something warm, something not dead. It desired to feed on something living.

  Memories began to form, though only for the past few moments. Still, it was beginning to remember things from only minutes before. The creature now had a brief past. It was like a birth. It had been born, even in this carcass that had once housed a living being, something it knew nothing about. The previous occupant did not exist in this new awareness.

  A sudden burst of sound was accompanied by a small flash from the object in the hand of one of them not quite like him. A split second later, pain exploded in its shoulder as a tiny projectile tore through its flesh. At that moment, it felt the first emotion of its existence.

  The creature felt rage. And it remembered.

  It suddenly realized why they were after those not quite like them. Food. It was hungry and they were living. They were moving. It was certain they were warm. As it looked to the others, it seemed they had the same realization.

  CHAPTER tWENTY-tHREE

  Emily poked her head above the counter when she heard the yelling. Slowly standing up, she recognized Reverend Brighton hitting the glass with a group of people who appeared normal, not strung out like the others they’d seen.

  “It’s the reverend,” Ron said. “We should let him in.”

  “Do the others look safe?”

  “One of them looks like the sheriff. They should be okay.”

  Emily only took a moment to think before deciding. “Unlock the door and let them in. But get that door locked as soon as they are in the building.”

  Ron went over to the door and fumbled with the keys. He finally stopped shaking long enough to get the door unlocked and opened up. The people poured in, led by Brighton. Once the sheriff and a man who appeared to be wearing a security guard uniform were inside they pushed the door shut and waited for Ron to lock it up again.

  “What the hell is wrong with those people out there?” Emily blurted out as she stepped out from behind the front desk.

  “They’re dead,” the sheriff answered.

  “Dead people don’t walk around!” Emily said, her hands on her hips. “Do you think we’re stupid?”

  “Live people don’t get up off the ground after being slammed by a car going fifty miles an hour!”

  She had to admit, he had a point. Still, his answer was impossib
le for her to accept. He must have seen this on her face, so he continued.

  “I’ll explain everything once we get secured and settled in. How many people are in here?”

  “Ron, Hannah, Bill and I,” Emily said. “Bill is the cook; he’s cleaning up the kitchen. Hannah is the maid, she’s cleaning rooms. We are the only employees on right now. There may some guests in rooms I think, but most of them were out. It’s open house weekend at the college and most of the guests were parents. They’re probably still on campus.”

  “Then they are probably dead,” the young blonde woman said. “I almost didn’t make it off campus myself.”

  “What happened on campus?” Ron asked.

  “It’s a long story,” the sheriff said. “How about we go somewhere other than the lobby and we’ll fill you in as best we can. You might as well get your cook and your maid down here as well. It will be better to have everyone where we can keep track of them.”

  “Do you think they’re in danger inside the building?” Ron asked.

  “Do you want to take the chance?” the sheriff asked.

  “I’ll call them down,” Emily said. “We can meet in the convention room down the hall.”

  * * * *

  Once everyone was safely inside the convention room, they each introduced themselves. Afterward, Rob, Reverend Brighton and Doctor Blake told the details of what was going on for those who had not heard it at the station. Blake gave his full scientific explanation again and Rob told them of the plan to use the hotel as a safe house until the State Police arrived on the scene.

  Rob glanced around at the blank faces of the hotel staff, obviously having trouble swallowing the story. He couldn’t blame them. He wouldn’t even believe it if he hadn’t seen all that he had.

  “So, this all came from some medicine?” Ron asked.

  “A test serum,” Blake corrected.

  “How do you kill them?” Hannah asked.

  “You can’t kill them,” Rob answered. “They’re already dead. We can burn them, but other than that we have only been able to slow them up for a moment with bullets. Nothing else has worked, short of bouncing them off the hood of my car and breaking their bones. Unfortunately, that took a toll on the front end of the car as well and they still didn’t completely stop.”