Barry licked his lips nervously. “But I’m not messing around. There is a zombie behind you. It’s only ten or so feet away.”
He realized his angle was considerably different than the guard’s. From where the guard stood, everything looked fine, but Barry could see things the other man couldn’t—like the haggle of zombies that was getting closer.
Emily approached the tall guard. “Sir, if I may,” she sweetly said, smiling at him. “We are just trying to help. This man here—” she pointed to Barry as she spoke “— knows how to make weapons that will kill zombies.” She strategically left out the part about him knowing how because he’d designed them in video games.
The security guard’s face eased a little. “Go on.”
“We have to stop them now before they kill any more people or create more zombies.”
“Create more? How do they do that?” he asked roughly.
“If a zombie bites a human, the human becomes a zombie. At that point, there is no hope for them. We can save the humans, but not the zombies. We aren’t looting. We’re trying to save lives.”
The guard shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. He obviously hated being wrong.
Barry nervously picked at his nails, unsure of what was going to happen. He could hear the grunting and shuffling of more zombies making their way towards the main terminal. He could see the stash of items hidden underneath the display they were behind. He didn’t want the security guard to see what they were hiding.
Lena hadn’t eaten since before she left New York, and her stomach roared and grumbled, begging to be fed. The hunger coupled with her anxiety over the man standing in their way made her nauseated. She didn’t want to hurt them man to get by him, but she would if necessary. It was for the greater good.
Emily looked at the guard expectantly. “We’re running out of time.”
She could smell the odd mixture of zombies and body odor. The new smell of unworn pants added to the unique smell. After working for so long on an airline, she was used to repulsing and foul smells, but this scent beat them all.
“Fine,” he finally said softly.
The security guard shuffled out of the store, hoping they would be able to save as many people as possible.
Chapter Eleven
Harrison, Lena, Emily, and Barry stayed low and hurried over to Jonny Wray and some of the other passengers. They were used to the sounds of zombies coming and knew to stay quiet, but the other frightened people ran screaming from the undead which only made more noise and attracted them even more.
“You know, if this wasn’t reality, it would be some sort of a dark comedy,” Barry said as he saw a man covered in tattoos with a long, thick beard screaming loudly as he was being chased by a zombie.
Harrison took in a long breath. “More like a horror show,” he argued.
Barry shifted the bag of weaponry onto his shoulder more as he walked. The group of zombies was getting closer with every minute. The security guard who had caught them was now running from a large zombie. He looked desperately at Lena, Barry, Harrison, and Emily, knowing they were his only hope.
“Okay, listen here,” Barry whispered quietly, “I will say this only once.”
Lena, Harrison, and Emily leaned closer to Barry, awaiting his instructions. Jonny Wray listened closely. After seeing his father as a zombie, he wanted to help defeat the enemy. He didn’t care about what could happen to him. His father was gone, and there was no hope to save him, so Jonny was ready to do whatever he had to.
Barry lifted the weapons bag. The coarse material showed tourist pictures of London, and the pink accents mixed in with the tourist snapshots. Harrison snickered at the material. Barry had just grabbed a bag before running from the store, not caring what was on it or what color it was.
“Nice wheels,” Harrison mocked as Barry opened the bag.
Emily looked at Harrison. “It is nice. You’re right,” she said sweetly, standing up for Barry in her own way. She hated seeing people being picked on.
Barry cleared his throat nervously. “These are weapons,” he said, handing each of them a handmade weapon. “These are deadly, of course. On the end is a long blade attached to an elastic band. The slingshot mechanism will project the long blade to beat the zombies.”
“Beat them?” Lena asked carefully. “With this?” She pointed it at a zombie. “The range doesn’t seem too long.”
Harrison nodded. “It’s definitely short range, but it should be effective,” he said, nodding. After all his years in the army, he preferred short range combat. He could usually see and aim better when it was at a closer range.
Emily grinned from ear to ear. “Was that a compliment Harrison?”
Harrison smiled. He didn’t hate Barry, not even in the slightest, but he was impatient and wanted to defeat the zombies. It would be a bad idea for him to turn into a werewolf inside the terminal, so this was the only way.
“We hard-shell cases over there.” Barry pointed back to the luggage store. “They’ll be able to do some damage.”
“How do you know this will work?” Lena asked. She was concerned about the number of people inside the terminal.
Barry didn’t know if they would work, but he had seen them function on video games. He still felt confident, even though he’d never had to use his designs in real life. “Trust me; they’ll work,” he reassured Lena, though he was uncertain of the outcome himself.
The growling zombies were starting to gain on the running people who were becoming visibly fatigued. The rough tattooed man had slowed considerably, trying to catch his breath as he pushed his legs onward. The snarling zombie on his tail was getting closer and closer with every second. There was no escape.
Emily looked at the tired humans, knowing they needed a distraction. Something loud enough to bring the zombies to a central point. “Guys, I have an idea. We need to make a lot of noise.”
Lena looked at Emily before looking out into the main terminal. She was right—they needed a noisy distraction. “What are you thinking?” She racked her brain for ideas. In the forces, they would use smoke bombs that emitted a loud screeching noise before billowing clouds of thick smoke.
“A plane.” Emily was looking through the large glass windows of the terminal which faced the tarmac where the airplanes waited for their passengers.
Harrison rose to stand beside Emily. It was a crazy idea, but it could work. “We don’t have a pilot,” he said, pointing out the obvious. “I could just turn into a wolf and rip them to pieces,” he suggested casually. “I was worried about turning because of how many people are in here. I didn’t want to risk them being afraid of me or running, but I will if I need to.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Barry said, pulling another elastic band over the handmade slingshot. “There are too many of them for you to take down alone.” He spoke through his teeth as he pulled the elastic tight. The long nail kit blade slipped from the elastic and sliced into Barry’s finger.
“Fuck, you’re hurt,” Emily said before ripping a piece of material from her long blouse.
Barry pulled the material over his finger and wrapped it tight enough to stop the continuous flow of blood. His shoulder still ached from the previous wound he’d acquired from the large zombie he’d fought, but he tried not to think about it.
“We have a pilot,” Lena chipped in. She was looking at Captain Petrus. He was sitting beside Crystal, his copilot, while he watched over her as she rested.
Captain Petrus struggled to stay awake. Nothing made sense. He was certain all this was just a dream. There were no such things as zombies. He was just deep in his storybook dreams.
His husband wrote comic books that were filled with zombies, werewolves, and different vampires. He was certain he’d just been reading one of them too late, and his dreams were full of his husband’s creative works. He was sure of it.
“The captain?” Harrison asked. He knew turning into a werewolf wasn’t a safe idea. Between the innocent
bystanders and the swarm of zombies that was slowly getting larger, he knew he couldn’t beat them all. He could go down, and it would leave everyone vulnerable.
Knowing that precious time was being wasted, Emily picked her way across the seats to where the captain was resting. He blinked a few times as he focused in on Emily.
He thought he’d been in a dream, a strange, epic dream where zombies were taking over the aircraft and the airport was also overrun. He’d hoped it was just a creative escape as he slept, but seeing the tired, bruised, and mismatched flight attendant in front of him pulled him from his restless dreams.
No… It was all a reality.
“Oh my God. It’s real isn’t it?” He slurred his words as he spoke. He was hungry and tired, and all he wanted was a large pint of beer with his husband and friends. “I’m not dreaming, am I?” he asked, sitting up slowly.
“Sorry, sir,” Emily said, crouching beside the captain. “It’s time for you to be a hero,” she added, assuring him that his part to play was noble and much needed.
“No, I won’t do it,” he said, scratching his forehead. “This is a dream,” he told himself while yawning.
“Captain Petrus, this is real, and we need you here.” Emily shook the captain urgently. Too much time had been wasted already.
Captain Petrus shook his head, glancing over at his sleeping copilot. “I’m watching over her.”
“Please?” she begged him. “You don’t even know what you have to do.” She parts had worked with the captain many times before on many different flights. He was always the hero, knowing what to do in bad situations. He was an expert navigator in storms, and when someone tried to hijack the flight, he was able to talk the terrorist out of it.
He was always the hero before, and she hoped he would be again. “Sir, I know you can do this.”
“What do I have to do?” he reluctantly asked, curious what the task might be. His eyes were still heavy, and his brain was unsure of what was real and what was a dream.
Emily sat beside the captain, eager to outline the plan. “You have to drive a plane,” she began, stopping to nudge the captain awake.
Captain Petrus snorted as he wriggled up straighter. “You fly planes—you don’t drive them.”
“This time, you have to drive one,” she told him with a sigh. It was like tending to a drunk passenger. “You’ll need to drive a plane into the wall of windows over there. It will shatter, causing a noise loud enough to distract the zombies and bring them toward the plane. That means we can pick them off easier.”
“You want me to crash a damn plane?” he said, suddenly more awake after hearing the daring plan. It was against everything he stood for to crash an airplane. “I’m a pilot. It’s my job to do everything I can to not crash the fucking vehicles I’m meant to fly safely.”
Emily took a deep breath. “I know it’s against your code of conduct, but do you want every single damn human in this shitty airport to die by being eaten by a fucking zombie?” She tried to show the importance of the task, knowing the captain wouldn’t do it unless he was saving lives.
Captain Petrus hated the idea, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t ask unless it was the only way. “Will it work?” he asked.
Emily pursed her lips. “I have no idea, but we’re not going to know if we never try.” She dusted herself off as she stood.
Captain Petrus grunted. As much as he hated the idea, he knew that she was right. “Fine, I’ll do it,” he finally said. He stared out at the terminal as he spoke, not wanting to make eye contact with Emily.
Emily felt accomplished. “Follow me. We have to tell the others.”
Captain Petrus stood beside the flight attendant. He glanced down at Crystal before leaning down. He gently shook her, and the woman’s eyes fluttered open. He quickly told her he was leaving and that she should wake up, so she could be alert. He hoped that she would be safe, and he had promised to protect her. “Stay safe my friend,” he muttered under his breath.
Lena, Harrison, and Barry waited eagerly to find out the verdict of Emily’s plan. If it worked, it meant that they would have a distraction, but they would still have to defeat the enemies with nothing more than a dozen elastic bands coupled with projectiles and a store full of hard-shell luggage.
“I’m here. I’m…” he looked at the others and cleared his throat, feeling awkward. “I mean, I’m going to crash a plane.” The words felt sour as he spoke them. He’d never thought in his entire life that he would have to crash a plane on purpose, but he’d also never thought in his entire life that he would have to fight a large horde of greyish, flesh hungry zombies.
“I’ll go with him. The zombies can’t detect me. I can clear them out of the way, so he can get to the controls,” Harrison said with a low, raspy voice. “They won’t attack if I go.” He added more for himself than the others.
Lena nodded in agreement. “Good idea,” she said, tapping her foot restlessly. “We’ll be ready to fight.”
Barry remained silent. He was tired and hungry and couldn’t tell the others that he was afraid. He’d been the designer that had figured out how his characters could win the fights, but this was real life.
He always figured out a way for the zombies to lose, but it was easy on a computer screen. He could imagine any weapon possible and incorporate it in his game. Here, there were only supplies they could sneak out of stores.
There wasn’t anything deadly. There were only scraps and a desire to win. He tried to push his thoughts of worthlessness from his mind, but they kept creeping back in slowly.
“Barry?” Lena asked, concerned that Barry hadn’t said anything funny or humorous in quite some time. “Are you okay?”
Barry looked over at Lena. Despite everything, he was glad that she was there beside him. “Hmm? Oh, yeah. I’m…” he sighed with defeat. He wanted to tell her how he felt. Being in the airport made painful memories rush back to him, reminding him of times he thought he had moved on from.
Lena nudged her friend. “What’s going on?” she asked trying to sweetly coax an answer from him.
“Being here just brings it all back.”
The words rushed from his mouth like a dam breaking, releasing all its held back water. He immediately cursed himself for saying anything. He’d hidden behind jokes, puns, and bad movie quotes all his life to hide from the pain of leaving. He thought he’d forgiven himself for leaving his parents behind so many years ago, but the guilt ripped him apart.
“This is not the time for my self-conflict,” he added swiftly. The zombies were the bigger problem, and they were the ones who needed the attention—not him.
Emily knelt in front of Barry, softly reaching for his hand. The scrap of her blouse on his finger was blood stained. “How are your wounds?”
Barry reached for his shoulder. The pain had dulled, but it still hurt. He feared moving it again would cause the same stabbing pain as before. “Fine. It’s fine…” he said, brushing her off.
“Are you ready for us to go?” Harrison asked.
He, too, was concerned for Barry and his wounds. The plan depended on their focused attention, and if Barry was distracted by pain, then the plan would fail. Harrison knew that would only make him feel worse.
Barry nodded immediately. “Yeah, let’s get this over and done with,” he said with a twinge of sadness in his voice.
Captain Petrus shifted his weight nervously. He felt out of place, but that was the least of his worries right then.
The zombies were getting closer.
Harrison and Captain Petrus began their journey across the terminal to the glass wall. There was a large jumbo jet sitting behind it, waiting to be used. Captain Petrus had his authorization card clutched in his sweaty palms. Without it, he couldn’t start the powerful engines of the plane and their plan would fail.
As they made their way across the airport, Captain Petrus could see the passengers crowding closer to the glass wall. Without a doubt, he knew the shock from the
impact and the falling glass would kill them. They had to get the passengers as far as possible from the danger.
“Get out of the way!” he began yelling as loud as he could. “Move away from the wall!”
Harrison turned to face him. “What the fuck are you doing?” he hissed. The captain’s yelling would arouse the zombie’s attention, drawing them to the wall before they had even left the terminal behind them.
“They’re going to die if they stay close to the glass,” Captain Petrus told Harrison. The passengers had heard him yelling, but they didn’t know where to go. If they moved away from the wall, then they’d face the zombies. Either way, they were in peril.
“Yeah, but they’ll also die by moving away from the glass towards the zombies,” Harrison said sternly.
Captain Petrus felt helpless. People were dying, and there was nothing he could do. He didn’t want to be the one to murder them if they stayed by the glass, but he also didn’t want to shove them into death’s arms by forcing them away from the wall.
“It doesn’t matter what happens, I’m the monster.” He spoke quietly, not wanting Harrison to hear him.
Harrison looked back over his shoulder at the sad captain. “Captain Petrus, this is the worst thing in life. So often, to be a hero, to be the lifesaving, noble, well regarded hero…” Harrison stopped walking, thinking back to his time in Afghanistan. Too many of his friends had died because he wanted to be the hero. He wanted to save them, but he couldn’t, and they had died in his so-called noble crusade. “To be the hero, mate, you have to be the monster,” he finished sadly, patting the captain’s shoulder as lovingly as he possibly could.
The two of them moved quickly in silence. The end of the airport was quiet. There were sleeping people and children playing hide and seek, but there were no zombies around. The captain watched as the children giggled and sang happily as they played their carefree games. They had no idea what was going on around them. They were just happy to be allowed to play to pass the time.
Pandemic Z | Book 2 | Pandemic Z 2 Page 10
