Dying to Live (16 page)

The group headed down the route that Fiona had cleared, stepping over the bodies of three walkers. They kept a rough formation as Lucy walked them around to the biggest building they had seen yet. There was a big white sign on the side and written on it in bold, black letters it said ‘4B.’

“I don’t know what this building is, but I had to come to the reception here once for a first aid kit,” She told them. “They should be able to get this one on the cameras too. I think they can see all the feeds up to block 7.”

“I’ll let them know,” Xin said, unclipping the radio from her waist. She fumbled with a button until the device began emitting a low buzzing sound. Then she clamped down a button on the side and said, “Bao, are you there? Can you hear me?”

The response was quick. The voice that came back was tinny but definitely familiar. “Loud and clear Xin.”

“You should be able to see us shortly,” Xin replied. “We’re just heading towards 4B. Can you find it?”

“4B, alright, bear with me.” There was a pause for a couple of moments and then; “Okay, we’ve got it up now.”

“Great. How does it look?” Xin asked.

“The reception is clear. We have camera feeds that show some of the hallways leading off it, though. They’re not so clear, so be careful,” came the distorted voice.

“We shall. I’m going to leave the radio on but we’re going in now, best to keep communications to a minimum.”

“Okay, good luck. Over and out.” Bao’s reply was followed by the low, quiet drone of static.

As the team emerged into the reception, they were careful to stay quiet and move extra carefully. There were corridors leading off from both sides of the room. Again, Zack and Fiona headed tactically to opposite sides of the room to clear them out. There were shots from both sides this time, and Fiona called Xin over with her shotgun to help. The shotgun blasts caused awesome damage. By the time the six zombies in the corridor had been taken care of, the white walls were splashed with a deep, burgundy red. It reminded Xin of the galleries she had visited and the careless splashes of paint in them that masqueraded as art.

In his corridor, Zack had quickly taken care of two wandering menaces. All that remained of their heads were ugly smears along the carpet. With that taken care of, everyone stopped to take in the room around them.

This was not going to be the place where they found a suitable computer. It was impossible to know exactly what had happened, but a burned patch of carpet suggested a fire had caused the sprinklers to come on. Although the raining water had long since finished and the room had dried up, it’s after effects were evident. Wrinkled paper littered the floor; it crinkled in the irreversible way that it does after exposure to moisture. There were still some damp patches on the carpet where the puddles had formed and water stains discoloured the walls.

“Lucy, will the whole block have been drenched?” Frank asked, flicking at some of the crinkled papers on one of the desks.

“No. They try to protect the work done here as much as the people. The sprinklers only go off in the area of the fire,” she replied.

“So we should check the other parts of the building then?” Pete asked her.

“I only know the reception. I’m sorry,” Lucy told him glumly.

Xin pulled the radio out again. “Bao, the reception is a lost cause, everything got wet in a fire. Can you see anywhere else in this building that we can look?”

There was a cracking noise and then a voice. “There looks to be offices down the right hand hallway. You’ll have to follow it deep into the building; they’re quite a way in. Be careful, though. Those things are everywhere and we can’t tell if the offices are empty.”

“Thanks, Bao. Over and out,” Xin said, before clipping the radio back again.

The group headed down the corridor to the right. There were no doors along it until they got to the end of the hall and turned the corner. The hallway had one lone zombie swaying along it.

“Don’t they usually hang with other zombies?” Pete asked, as Frank raised his handgun and shot it.

“Look out! They’re coming up behind you!” A voice called out of the radio, just as they heard noises coming up fast in their wake. “Run!”

Without thought, they all took off at full speed.

“Get to the end of this hall!” Fiona yelled. “There are doors! if we make it through them we can shut them behind us.

They pelted for the doors but the pounding footfalls they heard were not their own. Frank chanced a backwards glance and regretted it. Rounding the corner behind them was a group of ugly, ragged zombies. They filled the corridor from one side to the other, grimacing and blood-soaked. Many of the gaping mouths had blood caked and crusted around them and their clothes were torn and dirty.

Too busy looking backwards as he tried to run, Frank tripped over a discarded book and went sprawling, face first into the floor.

“Fuck!” He yelled in pain and tried to get to his feet. His ankle gave way beneath him.

Lucy turned and saw Frank on the floor, the horde rapidly approaching, and squealed. Pete was already jogging back to help him.

“Keep running!” Frank roared when he noticed that Lucy had stopped. She was torn between the man that she was starting to feel close to and her own freedom.

“Come on!” Xin screamed, grabbing Lucy’s arm and dragging her along.

Pete made it to Franks side and hauled him up.

“Please tell me I don’t need to carry you. Can you put pressure on it?” He puffed, glancing back at the things that were almost on them.

“I might be able to make it, come on!” Frank replied and forced himself forward. The pain was excruciating, but he told himself it would be a lot worse if the zombies caught up to them.

They were heading forward at the fastest pace they could manage; Pete supporting Franks weight as much as he could and half dragging him along, but it wasn’t fast enough. Pete could almost feel the hands that were reaching out for his back.

“MOVE!” It was Fiona. Since Frank had been focusing on his feet, and Pete on the approaching mob, neither had noticed Zack and his wife running back towards them. Zack took Frank’s other side and between the two men they practically carried him. Fiona took aim pumped off two shots into the oncoming crowd. As they stumbled over their fallen companions, Fiona turned and ran after the men whilst reloading. Then she fired the next two shots over her shoulder, barely slowing her run. The men made it to the door and Zack let Frank go. He turned and went back for his wife. Xin wanted to help, but her and Lucy were now waiting at the doors, ready to slam them shut.

It seemed to happen in slow motion, like the winning moments of a race, but in reality it was mere seconds. Fiona and Zack sprinted through the doors and Xin and Lucy sprang into action, flinging the doors shut behind them. Moments later, the pursuing zombies slammed against them.

“Help!” Lucy yelled.

“We can’t hold this!” Xin panicked.

Pete rushed forward to add his weight to the doors, followed by Fiona and Zack. The doors shook beneath the violent volley of bodies crashing against them. Frank limped forwards, having seen something the others had missed.

“Hold them steady, I’ll get the bolts!” Frank shouted over the din of rattling doors and ravenous, moaning zombies.

It took a concerted effort, but eventually a bolt at the top and bottom of each door was secured. It wouldn’t be enough to keep them out but it bought them some time.

“Look for something we can block it with!” Zack urged.

They were in what looked like a recreation room, maybe used for break times. All there really was in the room was tables and chairs, but the tables were bolted down and the chairs too flimsy.

“Frank, help me push that drinks machine over here!” Fiona called, leaving the others to hold the door. She dropped her gun onto one of the tables and assisted Frank over to the machine. Luckily, it was on the same wall as the doors and was a straight push.

With the machine to lean against, frank was able to brace his good foot against the floor and push with his shoulders. It wasn’t too hard to move, and with both of them using all their strength it slid steadily closer.

“Wait, the cables are stopping it!” Fiona rushed back and yanked them from the wall, before hurrying back and pushing it the rest of the way.

“Okay, ready?” Fiona asked, preparing for the last push that would knock it to the ground in front of the door. “On three.”

Zack, Lucy, Xin and Pete prepared themselves to get out of the way and fast.

“One...” Frank readied himself to push as hard as he could.

“Two...” Fiona braced her shoulders against the drinks machine.

“THREE!” She bawled, and they both pushed as hard as they could. The others jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed by the machine, as it toppled over and crashed to the ground.

“Brilliant,” Pete panted. “Now what?”

Most of the group were leant against walls or bent double, still trying to gather themselves after the scare. Lucy kissed Frank’s cheek as she hugged him. Relief flooded through her, before she remembered his injury and forced him into a seat so that she could check his ankle.

“Now,” Frank sighed, running a hand across his brow. “We need to get this computer and get the hell out of dodge.”

“Oh yeah,” Pete smirked sarcastically. “That’s what we came down here for, isn’t it? Damn, I thought it was just for the workout.”

“Har har,” Frank offered a fake laugh and grinned. “I can’t believe you thought you’d have to carry me.”

“I did!”

“Guys, come on. How are you making jokes right now?” Lucy sounded exasperated but her expression was disbelieving.

“Alright.” Frank looked apologetically at her. “So how are we going to do this?”

“It should be easy enough, what with you barely being able to walk,” Pete said.

“Hey, why are you complaining? If I get eaten while we’re out here, it will be a great distraction for you guys to get away,” Frank chuckled half-heartedly.

“Yeah, the zombies will love you now.” Pete strolled over and clapped Frank on the back. “It’s fast food that they hate.”

“Seriously?” Lucy rolled her eyes, but the others couldn’t contain their snorts of laughter.

“In all seriousness, mate, nobody is getting eaten out here,” Pete added seriously.

“Damn right!” Lucy asserted.

When the team had recovered and Lucy had offered her assessment of Frank’s ankle, (“It’s just a sprain. You’ll need to rest it when we get back.”) Xin radioed back to the cabin.

“Bao, I don’t know how much of that you saw but we’re okay. Frank hurt his ankle but we’re safe for now.”

“Yes, we saw it all. That was quite a close call,” Bao’s response crackled over the airwave.

“We need to know where to go now. Can you see anywhere?” Xin asked.

“Well, you ran past all of the offices and I’m sure you don’t want to go back the way you came.” Bao’s response for some reason infuriated Xin.

“We didn’t have a great deal of time to stop and check them.” Xin did a poor job of hiding her irritation.

“I know, I know. None the less, we cannot see much more of the building you are in. I would suggest that you head out via the fire exit and look for another building.” His calmness was winding Xin up further.

“That’s very helpful, thank you. Over and out,” She said sharply into the receiver. “Can someone please take this from me?” She asked the others, holding it out in front of her. Fiona stepped forward and took the radio from her, attaching it to her own belt.

“Let’s try and keep calm,” Pete said, his phrasing encompassed the whole group but he spoke the words to Xin.

She sighed in response. “It’s just Bao’s manner. It rubs me up the wrong way when he’s like that and it always has. It’s easy for him, he just gets to watch us struggle. Then when he could be useful, he would rather be condescending and patronising than just help.”

“I don’t want to be insensitive, Xin, but I really don’t think this is the right time to go into it. We should get out of here,” Zack looked over to the fire exit. The door behind them was still rattling but it wasn’t going to give way any time soon. The close proximity to the dead was disconcerting, though. He wanted to be away from it and heading back to his family with his wife as soon as possible.

In the end they decided to take Bao’s advice and leave through the double-doored emergency exit. There was concern voiced amongst them that they could trigger some kind of alarm but, for the first time on this reconnaissance, their luck held out. When Zack pushed the release bar of the door and threw it open, the air remained unpolluted by any wailing sirens. The exit opened up onto a large, bare, concrete lot with two large hangars looming at the far end of it.

“Lucy, would either of those hangars have a computer?” Xin asked her, as they peered from the doorway.

“It depends if they’re just storage hangars or if someone works in them and has some kind of desk area in there,” Lucy said. “We should go and see.”

“Okay, let’s go then,” Xin said, her mouth set in a determined line.

The lot was thankfully deserted when the group stepped out into it. Zack had taken Frank’s bag, seeing as it would be difficult for him to carry anything back for them now. Frank was instead toting Zack’s shotgun and being helped along by Lucy. Crossing the area to the hangars was slow going. It was a lot further than it had seemed when they first spotted the giant structures. Their guarded lookout, coupled with Franks limping pace, meant that it took them a while to finally reach the enormous, sheet metal doors. When they approached, Lucy left Frank’s side and made a bee line for a small mounted box beside the door.