“People like us.” I glanced at him and nodded, accepting that we weren’t so different after all.
Finally seeing a sign for the cafeteria, we hooked a right and, taking out a handful of zombies with our handguns, stopped at a pair of push-doors. On the other side, we could hear a lot of movement, as well as moaning, as infected probably filled the space like every other inch of this building.
“Where’s the storage locker from here?”
“Straight across the room, past the kitchen area.”
“On three, then.” I checked my Sig and kept it in my left hand as I unsheathed my Ka-bar, holding it underneath the magazine port with the blade facing out. “One…two…” Gabriel nodded and withdrew his own survival knife from a sheath across his chest. “Three.”
I pushed the door open with my hip and scanned the room, finding myself standing at the head of a large, open space full of infected. The odds were definitely not in our favor and, while it would be epic to tell a story about two against two hundred where the two came out on top, I won’t write fiction.
“Get to the kitchen!” I called out, stepping toward the closest zombie and stabbing it in the head, sidestepping past it and shooting two more zombies in my path. I jerked out my Ka-bar and moved, violently sweeping through the room in a path of blood and gore. Every few kills, I would notice Gabriel’s skills on display in my peripheral, watching a handful of zombies being practically decapitated from the force of his slashes. Jessica was right, I don’t think I could’ve taken him in a one-on-one fight.
Ejecting the second magazine onto the floor, I slid the last one home and continued shooting, removing the last few zombies in my way to dive over the kitchen counter. Gabriel joined me moments later and we backed toward the storage locker, conserving what little ammo we still had as the wave of zombies couldn’t find an immediate way over the tall counter.
In a small corridor, we found the steel door of the locker, sealed tightly with a key lock. Clicking on the radio, I called out for Kat.
“Katherine, we’re outside the freezer. It’s safe to come out.” No response. “Sweetie, just open the door, please.” I felt a pit forming in my stomach as the silence stretched on, but I refused to give up hope when I was this close. While I continued to plead over the radio, Gabriel patted down his pockets and withdrew a set of keys.
“I collected all the keys in the building, so one of them has to fit.” He began trying each key, going through several before one finally slid into place. The door unlocked and unsealed with a hiss, pouring cold fog over our feet as I charged inside. My heart sank and everything seemed to stop moving as I spotted an unmoving bundle in the corner of the room.
Stepping closer, I couldn’t hear the sound of my own breathing, despite seeing the puffs of frozen air in front of me, as I crouched and reached out a hand to pull back the hood of a coat. Katherine’s eyes stared back at me, distant and glazed over, as she shuddered. Her body shook and sweat covered her face, so I pulled her to me, laying her head against my chest.
“It’s gonna be okay, Kat.” I reached under her knees, which were tucked tightly against her body, and picked her up, carrying her past Gabriel and setting her down outside the freezer. Gabriel closed the door behind us and kept watch toward the cafeteria, his concerned eyes drifting back to us.
I held her against me, rubbing her arms and trying to create heat.
“Gabriel, get down here. We’ve got to raise her body temperature.” He sat down across from me and slid as close to her as he could, forming a sort of human sandwich. “Come on, Kat, you’re strong. This isn’t the end for you, not like this, and not today.”
An unbearable minute passed, my chest becoming so tight I thought it would cave in, before her body spasmed and she shuddered again. She blinked and her eyes came to focus on me. I’m pretty sure she tried to smile, but the muscles in her face were still thawing, so I told her to just focus on getting warm.
The radio squelched and Jessica’s voice came on.
“Eric, I know you’re busy, but you need to get up here. We have a situation.” I picked up the radio, not moving from Kat’s side.
“I’ve got her, Jessica. I’ve got Kat and she’s safe.” I could hear the near-hysteria in my voice, but I was overwhelmed with emotion. I wasn’t alone, as I heard the relief in Jessica’s voice.
“Oh my God, that’s amazing, Eric! I needed to hear that right now.”
“What’s going on? Did Marcus find Antoinette? Is Teresa okay?” There was a pause before she responded.
“Just get here as soon as you can.” She clicked off the radio and I glanced at Gabriel.
“She’s not walking out of here on her own, mate, and we’ve still got a pretty big problem between us and the stairs.”
“Is there another way up? Where’s the other set of stairs?”
“There’s a door to the right that leads to a hallway. There is a door at the end that leads to the other stairwell, but it’s a pretty long hallway. Need I remind you of the zombies, or the fact that we’re basically out of bullets?” After a quick internal debate, I looked at him.
“I remember. Give me your knife.” He handed it to me grip-first, and I holstered my Sig. “Just…get ready to follow me. No matter what happens, though, promise me you’ll get her out.”
“Eric—”
“Promise me, Gabriel.” He must have seen the ice in my gaze, echoing my veins.
“I promise. What’s your plan?”
I thought back to my conversation with Jessica. She was right, I couldn’t have done anything to save Samantha and Phillip, but I could do something now. Looking at Kat, half-frozen and scared, I felt an anger deep in my chest that rose to my face. I couldn’t be the man Gabriel had talked about with one foot in civilization, so if I had to choose, I knew my answer.
“Let’s do some gratuitous violence…”
I vaulted over the kitchen counter, stabbing the first zombie that I encountered, before pivoting and slicing the throat of the next one. Not pausing to think, I continued to move with a purpose after each kill, forging a path of blood like Jackson Pollock’s wet dream leading to the door. Feeling more animal than human, I gave in to the ferocity, unleashing everything I had on the zombies before me.
Gabriel called out to let me know he was behind me as I went, knowing I had no time to check. My actions were fluid, almost dance-like, as I hacked, slashed, and brutalized my way past the door and through the following hallway. By the time we made it to the stairwell door, I was covered in blood and brain matter, as were the knives I clutched with white knuckles.
Full of adrenaline, torn between aggression and the urge to vomit, I finally allowed myself to breathe. With my hands on my knees, I looked over to find Gabriel shifting his gaze between me and the trail of bodies in the hallway behind us.
“I’ve seen carnage before, even savagery, but that…Are you okay?”
“It’s done, and I’m peachy. We’ll leave it at that.” He opened his mouth to add something, but wisely decided against it.
“Looks like they’re done taking the stairs for a while.” He noted the lack of zombies around us as we entered the stairwell, but I knew better than to look a gift-horse in the mouth.
“Let’s just regroup up there and see what’s going on.”
We hurried to the top floor and opened the door with caution, making sure the hall ahead was clear before entering. Bodies littered the halls as we wound through the corridors, evidence of Jessica’s team, checking each room as we went out of habit. In this scenario, you could never be too paranoid, but we made it to the next intersection without incident.
Rounding the corner, I found myself staring down the barrel of an M4. Sighing with relief, Jessica lowered her rifle and made to hug me before backing up and giving me a onceover. Her face was as disgusted as my stomach was from the scent I was covered in.
“Don’t ask, but I wouldn’t hug me until I’ve showered.” She nodded.
“Yeah�
��wow.” She shook her head before switching topics. “Eric, we found them.” The sadness in her eyes told me the answer to my next question, so I settled on kissing her forehead and leaving her with Gabriel and Kat. Matthew was waiting outside the room, his expression hopeful as he saw me approaching.
“She’s back there, kid. I’ll handle this.” He frowned.
“Eric, it’s…bad.” Setting a hand on his shoulder, I nodded.
“I’ve got this, Matt. Go.” He stepped past me and headed back toward Gabriel, so I took a moment to collect myself before entering the room.
It felt like that elementary school was ages ago, along with the hallucinations of my past, but it all came crashing back down as I walked into the daycare. Children’s drawings were hung up on clothespins, strung along the walls for decoration. A few stuffed animals were displayed on top of a bookshelf against the far wall, near the lone desk in the room, but dark blood covered them. Glancing lower, I saw several zombies on the ground. The first few had bullet holes in them, but then things got messy as their heads were bashed in with pools of blood spilling out. Close by was a wooden letter block, now red from the amount of liquid soaked in.
My eyes continued to scan the room until they came to rest on Marcus, crouched on the far end of the room. He was hugging Antoinette to his chest, his broad shoulders hiding her from me until I stepped around to the side. Her face was almost drained of color, her lips pale, and for a moment I thought that she was dead until she opened her eyes. Upon seeing me, a faint smile lifted the corners of her mouth as much as she could.
“Eric…” she croaked, her voice raspy and dry. I tried to muster a smile back and stepped closer, crouching next to them.
“Hey, Antoinette.” I took her hand in mine and tried to get a handle on Marcus’ emotions, figure out where his head was at. After crouching, I could see the mark of death, a white shirt tied over her thigh that was bleeding through in a bite pattern. Her husband was pressing the cloth tighter against her, serving only to delay the inevitable.
“Glad…not…dead…” she choked out, coughing at the end. I felt tears sting my eyes, but I smiled.
“Me, too.” I looked at Marcus. “Where’s Teresa?” He didn’t look away from his wife as he answered me.
“The kids are safe. She held the zombies back long enough for them to get in the bathroom, but she didn’t have time to get herself in with them.” His eyes were red from crying and he sounded heartbroken, knowing his wife didn’t have much time left.
“I’ll be right back.” I gently squeezed Antoinette’s hand, which she returned weakly. “It’ll be okay.” I stepped into the hall and waved for Jessica to come over. She followed me inside to the bathroom and I opened the door, finding a handful of terrified children with wide eyes staring up at me. Realizing the nightmare I must have looked like, Jessica stepped past me and edged me out of their view. Crouching to their level, she kept her tone soft as she spoke to them.
“It’s okay, kids. We’re here to take you somewhere safe. I want you to hold hands.” She took the hand of the closest child. “Close your eyes as tight as you can, and follow me. Don’t open your eyes until I tell you to, okay?” The kids shut their eyes and Jessica led them through the room, skirting the bodies, and into the hallway, not stopping until she got them into the empty stairway with Gabriel.
Going back to Marcus and Antoinette, I had only been gone for two minutes, but she looked so much worse. She reached up and her hand landed on my arm, trying to grab me.
“Eric…need…promise…” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Save…me…”
“Save you?” I leaned in closer, thinking I misheard her.
“Can’t…be…them…” Her hand slid down my arm to rest on my Sig, and she was obviously shortening her sentences, which told me she knew she didn’t have long, but I got the gist. Looking to Marcus, I shook my head.
“Antoinette, I don’t know if I can—” She managed to squeeze my arm and cut me off, the fire still burning within her.
“Please,” she exhaled. I recalled the pain of Chicago, having to keep my wife from turning, how it had torn me up inside. Based on the warped hallucinations over the past few weeks, I wasn’t done being haunted by the memory. Antoinette didn’t want to turn, and she didn’t want Marcus to have to be the one to save her, because she knew how it would affect him.
With no other choice, I nodded hesitantly, thinking back to what Gabriel said. We can be and do things so the innocent stay that way.
“The hell you will! Get the fuck away from my wife!” He stood and pushed me back against the wall, but I didn’t resist. Bands of muscle in his forearms pinned me to the plaster, but I knew I was doing this for Antoinette so I made myself look him in the eyes.
“Marcus, she’s dying. She knows it, and so do you. You know what will happen when she does, you’ve seen it.” He shook his head violently, keeping his hands on my shoulders.
“No, nope, not my wife. She’s stronger than that.” He was clearly in denial, but I couldn’t blame him.
“Marcus, look at her, man. She’s in pain, can’t you see that?” Tears formed in his eyes again, rolling down his cheeks as he refused to accept the truth.
“No. She’ll get through this. She has to!” He lashed out, catching me across the face, but I wouldn’t fight back. I knew what he was going through, and this wasn’t about me. “She has to, Eric.”
“I know, man, trust me. I know.” He looked at me and cocked his head, breaking down completely.
“I can’t lose her, Eric! How…Teresa needs her mom…” He collapsed next to Antoinette, whose eyes were closed.
“Teresa still has you, and you still have your little girl. I know you’re hurting, man, but you have to focus on that. Right now, your daughter is going to need you more than ever, and you’ll need to be there for her.”
“I just don’t know how…” He looked up at me, his speech barely coherent. “How do I keep going?” I crouched across from him and looked at his wife.
“You keep going because you have to, because you have a little girl who needs you to survive this. You keep going because it’s what we do.”
He nodded slowly, and I don’t even know if he heard me, but we sat in silence for a minute.
“Marcus, go be with your daughter,” I calmly suggested.
“No, I need to be the one to do this.” He reached for his pistol, but I placed my hand over his.
“She made me promise for a reason. Trust me, this isn’t something you want on your conscience. She knew that.” He blinked away tears and stared at me. “Please, let me do this.” He looked down at Antoinette, that faint smile still on her lips, and smiled. Bending down to place a kiss on her forehead, he whispered something imperceptible and I saw tears roll down his face. After a quiet moment, he nodded to me and left the room.
I sat in that silent, empty space for a while, holding the Sig in my lap. I still had two rounds in the magazine, but I never could have known one would end up being used like this.
“We never know, do we?” Gabriel’s voice sounded distant, but he was leaning against the door frame. “Somewhere out there is a bullet for each of us, but we never know when it will hit. All of the questions, who, why, where, get lost in the shuffle. Yet we all end up meeting the same fate…I honestly don’t know how you believe in it, Eric.”
“Some days are easier than others,” I muttered, frozen in place.
“I can respect that.” He let the silence stretch. “He’ll hate you for this, you know. Even though he understands, that’s still his wife.”
“I know.” My chest felt hollow as I raised the handgun and placed the barrel to her temple. “But it’s what we do.” Pulling the trigger, my gun snapped up and Antoinette’s body jerked.
“It’s what we do,” Gabriel repeated quietly, stepping close and placing a hand on my shoulder. “She died defending a group of children, who will grow up to do great things, be great people, and amount to more than you or I eve
r will. She did something amazing, Eric, and will be remembered for it.” I nodded agreement and sat for a moment, allowing my tears to subside before standing.
“Are the stairs still clear?”
“Eric—”
“Are they clear?” I repeated with force.
“There’s no movement on the lower floors.”
“Then let’s move.” We left the room and headed for the stairwell. Passing Jessica, she hugged me tightly and rubbed my shoulders. Marcus was holding Teresa, who was crying, and Matthew was carrying Katherine, who was still unconscious. Feeling detached and…lost, I led the group down the stairs and across the second floor, reaching the stairwell to the basement. Dave wasn’t waiting by the door, though, so I cued up the radio as a pit formed in my stomach.
“Dave, we’re in the stairwell. Where the hell are you?” Static popped and his voice came on, but he sounded…off.
“Did you find Antoinette and her daughter?” I paused, trying to keep the images out of my mind. Glancing back at Jessica, I went down the stairs to be away from everyone.
“She didn’t make it, but their daughter is safe, along with the other children in the daycare. Antoinette died defending them.” He sighed into the radio.
“Dammit…We’ve lost too many good people.”
“We have, and I don’t plan to lose any more, so tell me where the hell you are, Dave.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Eric.”
“Why not?”
“Because I know you, so I know you’d try to stop me, or talk me out of it.” He took a deep breath and exhaled. “I was in the stairwell, waiting patiently, when it hit me. They saw us come in the back door, so they’d be waiting outside. The first floor is packed, so that’s a no-go even if there weren’t kids involved, but I promised you I’d make sure there was an exit.” It suddenly hit me why the other stairwell was empty.
“Dave, I know where this is going and it’s not the answer.”
“It is, Eric, and we both know it. Even if we got out of the basement intact, there’s no way we get everyone across that street alive.”
A Broken World (Book 2): Shattered Paradise Page 24
