Brent Acuff - Undead Nation 01 (2 page)

As Alex's vision cleared, he saw that the table had moved almost three feet from its original location. Alex scrambled to his feet and yanked the table again. The pain in his back flared again, but this time Alex was expecting it and was able to keep himself from crying out or succumbing to it. The table screeched and slid another few feet before Alex stopped to take in some quick breaths. He closed his eyes and again heaved on the table, moving still closer to the fire escape.

Gun shots blared from just on the other side of the fence. Alex dropped the table and scrambled to cover his ears in his surprise. Screams quickly followed and Alex turned to see two men only ten feet from him. One man stood over the other, aiming a smoking revolver at the others chest. The second man writhed on the ground in obvious agony, clutching at the wounds that were now spilling his life blood in an increasing patch of red across his clothes. The man holding the gun had a deranged look in his eyes, one of intense anger and hatred. The woman who had screamed was now beating on the man's chest and shoulders with her fists. She was screaming about her husband, about her children. The gunman did not even seem to notice.

An explosion, deafening and very near the school, ripped Alex's attention away from the scene of chaos in front of him. A fireball sped upwards from a block away, black smoke and orange fire roiling within. The woman screamed and covered her ears, throwing herself to the ground as if the explosion had occurred just feet away from her. The gunman was also pulled back into the present, looking from his gun to the now still man laying on the ground at his feet. His gaze shifted to the woman, then fell on Alex. Tears welled in his eyes before he turned back toward the school and the search for his child inside.

Alex's heart hammered in his chest and he regained his composure from the scene he had just witnessed. Judging the distance between the table and the fire escape, he determined that he would be able to make the jump. Carefully he climbed on to of the old picnic table and balanced himself to jump for the stairs. Alex crouched, said a quick prayer and leapt.

The table shifted just as Alex pushed away, throwing his balance off. Alex cursed and flailed to regain his balance as he flew through the air. His fingers brushed the bottom rung of the fire escape and with all his effort, Alex was able to catch hold of the metal staircase. His full weight and momentum of his jump wrenched the staircase free, and with a grinding and metal screech, the staircase came free of its resting position. The fire escape dropped quickly to the ground, faster than Alex had anticipated. Once again Alex was smashed to the ground causing the pain in his back to flare again with a white hot intensity.

With great effort, Alex was able to maintain his grip on the staircase. The pain receded and his vision cleared, and after a moments breath Alex regained his feet and began to climb.

Faster than he would have thought possible, he reached the third floor landing of the fire escape. Yells and screams reached him from below, the fear and despair of so many parents just like him. More gunshots rang out and were quickly swallowed by the cries of the desperate trying to reach their children.

Alex turned to face the door and peered through the dirty window. Teachers were everywhere trying in vain to calm hysterical children and angry parents. How had throngs degenerated so quickly? Couldn't the parents see that what they were doing was only creating a bigger problem? Alex then remembered where he was; standing on fire escape three floors up after breaking in to the school yard. Everyone was losing their grip on reality, including himself.

A quick tug on the door and Alex realized something else; of course the door would be locked from the inside. The school needed to keep the children safe from those on the outside. Alex's frustration boiled over and he began banging on the door. Either someone would let him in or he would have to go back down and find something to break the glass.

Alex's shouts and pounding fists seemed to reach no one, when finally a teacher stepped into the hall and looked his direction. Alex recognized her immediately as Mrs. Toolson, Gemma's school teacher. Alex began shouting her name and pleading with her to open the door. She hesitated, looking towards the parents forcing their way onto the floor, then to the children in her classroom and finally back to Alex. Mrs. Toolson started towards the fire escape.

Mrs. Toolson was steps away from the fire escape door, seeming to move in slow motion and taking forever to reach Alex. Someone behind her began yelling loudly, enough for Alex to hear him over any other commotion going on.

"Get the fuck out of my way, you bitch!" Another teacher was thrown aside, slamming her head against the wall and slumping to the floor. She lay there motionless. Alex looked into the eyes of the man responsible, the same man who had shot and probably killed another father outside the school. His arm raised.

The flash of the gun; the explosion of sound; the look of confusion and pain across the face of Mrs. Toolson. Blood and bone exploded from her chest as the bullet tore a fist sized whole from her. She was standing so close to the fire exit that the bullet smashed through the glass of the door, spraying Alex with broken glass and narrowly missing him.

Mrs. Toolson's body continued forward and slammed into the fire exit door. Her momentum carried her through the shattered window expelling what remained after the bullets destructive path. Her body slumped over the frame, blood pouring from the bullet wound and now from gashes carved into her from shattered glass. More screams of sheer terror erupted from the school, the panic of students and teachers fighting desperately to escape.

Alex reached down for Mrs. Toolson in a vain attempt to help her. Grasping beneath her chin and shoulders he began to lift her. Toolson's body shuddered once and remained still.

Panic sought to overwhelm Alex. The witness of two murders, moments apart screamed at Alex to run, hide and only come out when he was sure it was safe. A child's scream was all that kept him there, alone on the fire escape. Alone save for the still warm body of Gemma's school teacher. Gemma...Gemma was screaming. His daughter was screaming for him, terrified. The world closed in around him and then disappeared.

Everything was very clear at that moment. Alex did not think about what he needed to do, he simply acted, and in doing so the world seemed to bend to his will. Instinctively he moved into and through the building, knowing precisely where his daughter would be. Huddled in the corner of her classroom, clutching her friend Becky to her as if the simple act could save them both from any harm, was Gemma.

"Daddy!" she screamed, hope and fear flooding her voice.

"Let's go," Alex commanded holding his hands to both children. "I'm here to get you out." His voice was calm and soothing. It startled him to hear this sense of peace in him after the horror he had just witness. Horrors that would pale in comparison to the events which were to come.

Both girls released their grip on one another only to transfer that desperate act onto Alex. He gathered the girls into his arms and lifted them from the floor. Pain in his back flared again, but Alex would not let it slow him from getting his daughter safely home.

Alex stepped into the hallway, angling his body left then right to see around him and the girls he was carrying. The murderer was there, still with the gun raised, but now with a wild look about him. A wild beast seemed to be there, desperately waiving this gun about, searching for a new target. Their eyes met.

The gun swung in Alex's direction and he pushed forward, twisting his body to the left in order to protect the two girls. The gun spit forth another bullet, but the aim was wide, splintering the wood around the door Alex had just come through. Alex let momentum carry his body around and his back slammed through the door across the hall. Alex and the two girls crumpled to the floor. Each of the girls let out screams of pain and surprise as they were roughly thrown across the floor. Alex was the first to his feet and grabbed each of the girls arms in turn, yanking them to their feet and pulling them to the far side of the room. He hurried them behind a large desk.

"Stay here, be quiet, and don't move till I come get you. Do you hear me?!" Tears streamed down Gemma's face and she reached for her father. "Did you hear me?" Alex demanded as he stripped Gemma's arms from around his neck. "Do you understand me?!"

Gemma's lips quivered and she pleaded with her father. "Where are you going? Don't go, daddy! Don't go!"

"I'll be right back, sweetheart. I promise. Can you stay here and stay quiet till I get back? Both of you?" Alex looked to Becky. He had almost forgotten she was there. "Can you stay here till I get back from helping your teachers?"

Alex knew without thinking that he had to do something about the mad man with the gun. He would never be able to get down the hall carrying the two girls if the maniac was waiting out there. Something would have to be done.

The girls looked back and forth to one another and slowly nodded. Alex knew his little girl and knew she would obey...she always wanted to make her dad proud. Alex reached out and pinched each girl's cheek, forcing a smile. "I'll be right back."

A quick scan of the room provided no immediate ideas to help their situation. This was the average and all too ordinary elementary school classroom, designed solely to keep distractions and safety concerns to a minimum. Alex search every corner until his eyes settles on the stool.

Alex was across the room in two strides, flipping the stool to its side. With as much force as he could, Alex brought his foot down on the stool leg highest from the ground. The leg snapped off with an loud pop and the dislodged leg skittered across the floor. Quickly Alex repeated the maneuver with the remaining three legs scattering them around the room. Gathering the pieces Alex checked the ends of each broken leg and selected the two sharpest, if not most jagged pieces. Everything around Alex came into sharp focus.

The gunman came around the corner of the door, arm outstretched, leading the way into the room with the gun. He did not see Alex to the side of the door until it was too late to react.

Alex swing one of the stool legs down in a vicious arc connecting with the gunman's arm about halfway between the elbow and the wrist. Alex, using an underhanded grip, then brought his right hand across his body at the gunman. The jagged edge of the stool leg entered the man's chest just below the right collar bone. Blood sprayed from the vicious gash and Alex moved now to finish the job. His left arm swung up, driving the second ragged spike into the man's side below the shoulder and exiting out his back.

The man never screamed or even yelled. The look of shock and surprise were the only reaction that Alex saw on the man's face as he dropped the gun then fell to the floor. Alex released his grip on his improvised weapons and stooped to pick up the gun. It was a revolver. Five shots. Empty.

The girls had remained where they were, quiet sobs escaping their lips. Each girl had her face buried in the other's shoulder and both seemed that they would squeeze the very life out of the other. "Everything is okay," Alex said softly. He said a quiet prayer that the man had not screamed when Alex had attacked him. Now he had to think of a way to get the girls out without them seeing the bodies of the gunman or their teacher. "We're going to get out of here now, but I still need you two to do something for me." Both girls released the grip they had on each other just enough to look towards Alex. "I'll carry you out, but I need both of you the squeeze your eyes shut and keep your heads buried in my shoulder. Can you do that? Can you keep your eyes closed no matter what?"

Both girls nodded their agreement, happy to finally get out of this nightmare. They would do just about anything as long as it meant going home. Carefully Alex scooped the children into his arms and stood to leave. "Remember, keep your eyes closed until I tell you it's okay." There was no argument from the girls, each trying desperately to push their faces into Alex's shoulder as far as they could. With the care and grace of moving a sleeping child, Alex began to make his way out of the building.

-----

Morgan Kemp paced the apartment, chewing her fingers nails and quietly cursing the phone. She read the note in her hands again,
"Gone to get Gemma and Becky from school...be back soon. Alex."
Three hours ago. Alex had left the apartment three hours ago and still wasn't home. The news reports were getting worse and Alex refused to answer his phone. "Where the hell is he?" she cursed.

A knock on the door startled Morgan into dropping the note. For a moment she hoped that it was Alex and the girls, for some reason without keys to unlock the door. "Who is it?" Morgan asked timidly.

"Morgan? This is Janet. Can you open the door?" Janet's voice was shaking and she sounded on the verge of losing control. Morgan hurried to the door to let her in.

"Morgan, have you seen Alex? He said he was going to get Becky and Gemma, but I haven't seen him in forever. Have you heard from him?"

"You spoke with Alex before he left?" Morgan asked, confused.

"Well...yes. I asked if he could go and get Becky. There's something going on near the school and I didn't want Becky there."

Morgan snapped at her, "So why didn't you go and get Becky?" There was no love lost between the two. Fleeting thoughts of something going on between Alex and Janet had recently begun creeping into her mind. The two of them stay-at-home parents with too much time on their hands, Becky and Gemma being such good friends. Alex never seemed to be willing to talk about what went on throughout his day and all but refused to talk at all about Janet.

The thoughts racing through Morgan's head were wrong, she knew. With a shake of her head she dismissed them and apologized to Janet. "I'm sorry, Janet. I've been watching the news lately and am a bit uptight."

Janet interrupted her, "Oh I understand...it's okay."

"Janet, I haven't seen Alex since I got home. All I know is that he went to get the girls. You're more than welcome to come in and wait. I'm sure he'll be here soon." Morgan tried to sound as inviting as she could. She didn't like Janet very much, but she figured waiting with Janet was better than waiting alone.