Survival (4 page)

She ran to the stairs and hid under them,
waiting to see if anyone had heard and would come to investigate.
There was no sound until her sister's scream filled the air. She
bolted from her hiding place and up the stairs, managing to stop
herself before bursting through the door and losing the advantage
of surprise.

Dana's heartrending scream mocked the
silence again and Sarah knew she had to act. She opened the door,
peering out into the dark hallway. At least there was some ambient
light from windows letting her see shadows. After a few seconds,
she entered the hallway allowing the door to click softly closed
behind her.

Doorways filled the corridor. Some open.
Some closed. She found some locked and walked past those. The
others she stopped beside to listen briefly before moving on. The
building had housed medical offices, but had closed recently.
Although abandoned it was still in decent condition. Only a layer
of dust, some debris, and a slight musty odor gave away its current
disposition.

"Bitch! You bit me!" one of the men roared
from ahead. A slap echoed in the hallway.

Sarah hurried to the door. A lump lodged in
her throat when she saw the sick bastard on top of Dana. Her
sister's hands were pulled above her head and cuffed to the leg of
a sofa, the only furniture in the room. Her shirt had been ripped
open and her lip bled down her chin.

Sarah didn't even think. Didn't even know
she had moved until she found herself beside the man. The machete's
blade cut cleanly through his side and he fell to the dirty carpet,
trying to cover the gushing wound with both hands. He gurgled,
blood flowing from his mouth and then he was silent, his eyes
glazed and staring.

A new sound and Sarah jerked around to see
the man she had escaped from earlier struggling to get off the
couch with his broken leg. His arm came up and Sarah found herself
face to face with the barrel of a gun. She flung herself to the
side while sweeping the machete at his arm. He reared back, but
only enough to spare his limb. The metal of the blade clanged
against the firearm and it flew across the room. He fell back
moaning against the cushion, sweat pouring down his face, his body
racked with fever from the break.

"Stay down." Sarah breathed slowly, trying
not to hyperventilate.

"Go to hell." The man spat in her
direction.

She jammed the edge of the blade against his
throat and spoke softly, "Listen to me carefully. I've had a really
bad day, today. So stay back and you might live."

He held eye contact for a few seconds before
dropping his gaze. Something he saw must have made him believe she
had reached her threshold for crazy.

Squatting next to the dead man, she turned
out his pockets. Thinking about taking a life, no matter how
wicked, caused her gag reflex to engage, but she slammed it down.
There'd be time for personal accountability later. The handcuff key
tumbled out amongst the coins from his jeans' pocket. She snatched
it up and dropped beside her twin.

Her fingers brushed the hair out of Dana's
eyes and the tears from her cheeks. "Are you okay?"

Dana gulped in air, staunching the flow of
tears. "Yeah. Yeah, just get these off me." She jerked the
cuffs.

Sarah unlocked the handcuffs and rubbed her
sister's wrists and hands before Dana threw her arms around her. "I
knew you'd come back. I'm so glad you're okay." She shivered, chill
bumps racing across her skin.

Sarah pulled back and looked from Dana's
open shirt to her own gore covered one. "Hey, you. Take your shirt
off." Sarah motioned to the man on the couch.

An evil grin lit up his face. "You want some
of this don't you?"

"Idiot! Just take off your shirt."

"Bitch, you broke my leg. I ain't givin' you
shit."

"Have it your way." Sarah moved toward him,
but in the end, she didn't even have to threaten him again. He
pulled the shirt over his head and threw it at her, grunting at the
pain in his leg when he shifted. She straightened it out and handed
it to Dana.

"I don't mean to be ungrateful, sis, but I
really don't want to wear anything that's touched any of them." She
tried to hand it back.

"You're freezing, your shirt won't stay
closed, and we have a long walk. It's either this or mine decorated
with zombie brain. Your choice." Dana looked from the shirt in her
hand to Sarah's.

"Fine. Although, I'm not sure I'm not
getting the short end here." She huffed, yanking it over her head
covering the ripped shirt.

While Dana dressed, Sarah unlocked her own
cuff finally free of the metal chaffing her wrist. She checked the
corridor again to make sure they were still alone.

Sarah stood over the man again. "Where's
your friend?"

"You just killed him," he said, pointing to
the prone figure on the floor.

She picked up the gun she had relieved him
of and checked it. "Not him . . . the other one. Ron." She handed
the weapon to Dana. "It's loaded and ready to shoot. You just have
to pull the trigger." Dana nodded and took the gun. Sarah turned
back to the couch. "So? Where is he?"

"He left to go get some food."

"Both cars were here when I got back. He has
to be here, so you'd better keep talking if you want to keep
breathing." She waved the machete in his face.

"I don't know. That's what he said. He was
going to get food. If he's back, I don't know where he is." His
eyes widened and she thought he might be telling the truth.

She nodded. "I'm real sorry to have to do
this, but . . ."

Sarah raised the knife over his heart and
plunged downward.

"Sarah!" Dana grabbed her arm, halting the
blade's decent. "What are you doing? You just can't kill him. He's
got a broken leg and he's unarmed."

Sarah pulled her sister to the other side of
the room and whispered, "Dana. It's hell out there already. We have
got to get out of here and get somewhere safe. You know psychos
like this. What if he tries to come after us because we got away?
Because I broke his leg and killed his friend?"

"But . . ." She gulped.

A thump made them both jump around. The man
was no longer on the sofa, but crawling toward the door, groaning
each time he had to move his broken leg. His breathing was labored.
He probably wouldn't make it with that leg. Not without medical
intervention anyway.

"It's a new world out there, Dana. New
rules. Only those who are willing to do the hard things are going
to survive."

Tears formed in her eyes and she brushed
them away. She had spent her whole adult life so far helping
people. Trying to make the right choices. Now she had killed one
man. Sure, he had been about to rape her sister, but he was still
dead because of her. Could she kill someone unarmed and unable to
defend himself?

"Who am I kidding? I don't think I can kill
him like he is."

Sarah pulled her shoulders back and faced
the man again. "Because of my sister, you're getting a reprieve.
I'm not sure you'll make it with a break like that and no help, but
if you do — do yourself a favor and stay away from us. If I see you
again, I'll assume you're a threat and I will kill you."

She grabbed Dana's hand and pulled her to
the door. Easing her head around the doorframe, she found the
corridor clear. To the left, a glass door led to the outside. Sarah
ran ahead and tried the door. It opened. She held it for her sister
and motioned her forward.

They both took deep breaths when they
emerged into the night air and moved to the side of the building.
As Sarah passed the corner, a hand reached out and grabbed her,
pulling her against a hard chest, a knife at her throat. He knocked
the knife from her shaking hand and took the guns from her
holsters.

"Sarah!" Dana pulled the gun and held it out
in front of her with both hands. Sarah knew she had not practiced
shooting in years, so she was a little surprised when her sister
fell into a proper stance without hesitation. An engine roared in
the distance.

"Drop the gun or I'll open up her pretty
little throat." Dana hesitated and the man yelled, "Drop it now!"
The sharp blade sliced upward, cutting a line across Sarah's right
cheek. She could not hold back the scream that tore from her
throat. The blood felt warm as it flowed down her face and neck.
Even worse, she saw Dana relaxing her arm, about to drop the
gun.

"Dana! Don't . . . think about Brian. You
know he'd want you to survive. You know exactly what Brian would
want you to do."

Her eyes met identical ones across the
distance. They stared at each other, communicating without words.
Dana straightened up, aimed the gun and pulled the trigger just as
Sarah let her legs go limp and dropped as far as she could.

Blood spattered across Sarah. Ron pulled her
backward on top of him when he fell to the grass. But it was only a
reflex. His eyes were closed and his arm slowly fell to the side.
Dana tugged her up and used the bottom of her shirt to wipe the
blood from her sister's face. Sarah winced at the contact.

"Ouch! Careful there."

Headlights lit them up as the Expedition
barreled toward them. Dana spun around, lifting the gun in front of
her where Sarah knocked it down just as quickly.

"No! She's with me."

Meredith opened her door, weakly pulling
herself out on the running board to look over the top. "Are y'all
okay?"

Nodding, Sarah pushed Dana toward the
passenger seat. "Yeah. Thanks for coming for us. Dana, this is
Meredith. Meredith, Dana."

While Dana got inside the Expedition, Sarah
retrieved her weapons and walked vigilantly over to Ron's still
form. A monster on the inside, she marveled at how normal he
looked. How they all looked. She knew from years working within the
courts that looks could definitely be deceiving. She had always
thought those capable of such atrocities should at least have a
warning mark of some kind tattooed across their forehead to give
the rest of humanity a fighting chance. They definitely should not
be attractive.

The shot had torn a hole through his chest,
but he still chugged in breath. She tried to force herself to end
him once and for all, but regardless of what she had told her
sister about doing the hard things, she just couldn't do it. She
reasoned that he probably wouldn't survive such a severe wound
anyway as she walked back to the other women.

"Do you want to drive?" Back in her seat,
Meredith clutched the door handle.

"If you think you feel up to it, then I'll
just ride back here." Sarah opened the back door and waited. She
was exhausted and just wanted to rest a moment.

Meredith looked her over and nodded. "I'll
be fine. We don't have that far to go."

Pulling herself into the back seat, she
found the towel she had used earlier and held it to her cheek to
stop the blood flow.

Dana turned around to face her. "I don't
think it's too deep, but we need to get it disinfected soon."

"I have a first aid kit in my bag. We can
take care of it when we get to the courthouse." Meredith eased the
SUV onto the drive and toward Lancaster Avenue.

Exhaustion flooded Sarah as the adrenaline
she had been running on fled her body. With her sister safe and
them hopefully on their way to a secure location, she let herself
relax against the back seat. Her wet clothing clung to her skin,
the heavy thickness of blood on her shirt reminding her of the
day's horrors. It felt as if her body had turned to ice. Her teeth
chattered and she shook uncontrollably. "H-h-heat." She could
barely get the word out.

Dana turned to face her, took in the
situation and turned back to adjust the temperature and to make
sure the back vents were on. "You're freezing. Here, put one of
these blankets around you." She leaned over the console to the back
to hand one to Sarah, but Sarah stopped her.

"N-no. I'll be f-fine in a m-m-minute." She
hugged herself. "We'll n-need those, and I'm all n-n-nasty with
zombie guts."

"We'll find more. Go ahead and use it." Dana
tried once again to hand the blanket to Sarah.

"No. I'm really better already. Just needed
the h-heat. Th-thanks though."

"Your sister's stubborn." Meredith chimed
in; her total focus still on the road in front of her.

Dana laughed. "Don't I know it? Thank
goodness though. I wouldn't have made it without her today."

Meredith nodded. "Me neither."

The women sat not speaking. The only sounds
came from outside, where the dead attacked the living. Car horns
blared and screams filled the night. Try as they might, they
couldn't help but stare at the horror surrounding them. People fled
cars stalled in traffic, trying to get in others, or into nearby
buildings. Some outdistancing the zombies. Some not. A woman's body
hit the side of their truck. Blood and gore spattered against
Dana's window and the Expedition rocked. Two of the dead had her
held there while their teeth chewed their way into her flesh.

"Oh God. We have to do something." Dana
moved to open her door but found herself shoved back against the
seat.

Sarah held her there. "No . . . we can't.
There's nothing we can do. It's too late."

They watched helplessly as the woman slid to
the ground and other zombies came to feed upon her.

"Screw this." Meredith backed up the
vehicle, getting just enough room to go up and over a trio of
zombies on the ground next to the front tire and across the median
to the other side where traffic was less dense. Dodging what she
could, she made better progress.

Meredith's reflection in the rearview mirror
showed she was fading fast. "Mere, if you'll stop when you can,
I'll drive the r—"

A shrill scream eclipsed all the other
noise. Sarah's head jerked around to her window.