As I approached the stairs I saw someone running up them. I looked closer and noticed there was blood around his face and in a split second I had my make shift weapon raised and waited for him to get into range. A couple steps from the top the man looked up and saw me and instantly let out a growl and lunged towards me. I swung the table leg down as hard as I could and with a crack the man fell to the ground. I had managed to hit him in the head but to make sure he wasn’t playing possum I stepped in and hit him in the head a couple more times and each time there was a sickening crunching sound.
“Are you ok?” shouted Beth from the door.
“Right as rain,” I said.
“Are there any more?” she asked quickly.
“There is an entire city full dear,” I said and turned to her and smiled.
“You know what I meant,” she barked at me.
“None that I can see from here,” I said and then continued, “Listen grab a couple network cables for me”
“Why?” asked Beth taking a step away from the doors.
“To answer a very important question for you,” I replied as I leant down and grabbed the man’s arms and started to drag him towards the railing of the balcony.
“What question?” she asked.
“You asked if hitting them in the head would kill them,” I replied still dragging the man.
“Obviously it does,” she said
“Not so fast, you seem to forget they heal. At the moment it seems like he is dead but what about in a couple hours? Is he going to heal like that woman and come back or stay dead?” I asked.
“I ah,” she said and turned back into the office without saying anything else. As I reached the railing with the man she came back out of the office carrying a couple grey cables. She walked towards me but without taking her eyes off of the stairs. A couple steps away from me she stopped and threw the network cables to me.
“See your already getting the hang of this,” I said with a little smile and picked up the cables from the floor. I moved the man into a sitting position with his back against the railing and then grabbed his left arm and tied his wrist to one of the joins in the railing with one of the cables. I then did the same with his right hand and then moved to his neck.
“Why are you tying up his neck,” asked Beth.
“Even with his hands tied up he could still lunge at someone and possibly bite them but this way he can’t,” I said as I finished tying his neck to the railing and then said, “but to be on the really safe side,’ I reached down and picked up the table leg and leant in and grabbed his lower jaw and opened his mouth and then stood back a little holding the thickest part of the table leg in my left hand and pushing the thinnest part against his mouth I shifted my weight and then kicked his mouth as hard as I could with a horrifying crack.
“What the hell are you doing!” shouted Beth in horror stepping away from me.
“No teeth no bite,” I said as I stood up and pulled the table leg from his mouth.
“Have some respect for the dead,” she barked at me.
“I have plenty of respect for the dead as long as they stay that way. You may have woken up in a warm and wonderful word this morning but if you start treating these things as though they can’t hurt you then you will end up dead; it’s as simple as that,” I said looking at the end of the table leg which sent shivers up my spine because there were pieces of tooth protruding from it in varies places.
“Are you going to do that to all of them?” she asked with tears in her eyes.
“I wouldn’t have done it to this one if I knew for certain it was going to stay dead but I don’t and that means it’s a risk to you. If I had an axe I would chop its head off but I don’t so this is as safe as I can make it and still be able to answer that question for you,” I said and dropped the table leg that was now useless.
“Oh,” she said shocked and took another couple of steps away from me.
“Beth it won’t be long before more get here so hurry up and snap out of it,” I said and started walking towards my office.
“Your right,” she said distantly and turned around and walked towards the main office doors. I walked into the office and as quickly as I could I removed the other legs from the table but this still took me a couple of minutes. By the time I reached the open area they had already moved two cabinets outside. Beth was standing watching the stairs but she looked up at me as I walked towards her.
“I am sorry about that,” she said with her arms crossed.
“No worries it happens it’s more difficult for some to turn off their emotions,” I said and handed two of the table and then said, “Listen the last time I checked the internet was still working if you can keep sending me messages about what’s happening here especially if he wakes up”
“But how will that help you?” she asked as she took the table legs from me.
“My computer at home is logged on to the same message account and will receive them and I will be able to see them when I get home,” I said.
“No wonder the world is ending,” she said
“What?” I asked.
“You’re actually being optimistic,” she answered with a small smile.
“Funny, also try and post information anywhere else you can it may help save someone’s life,” I said and took a deep breath looked her in the eyes and nodded then turned and walked down the stairs.
I walked down the spiral staircase slowly trying to keep as close to the wall as possible to get a better angle at looking at the lower stairs and entrance to the building. In the entrance there was a pair of glass sliding door which opened up into a guest area. Five meters into the entrance was an access controlled security checkpoint. If you stood on the bottom step facing into the entrance you would be standing perpendicular to the security checkpoint. In front of you would have the elevators and a glass door to their right which led out under the bridge and into the open area with a small pond and a garden around it there were also a couple of tables and chairs. This was mainly used as an eating area but not by many people as they chose to eat at their desks more often or not. To the left of the stairs the entrance hallway continued to another security checkpoint leading to the back entrance of the building. The distance between the two checkpoints was around fifteen meters. Next to the back checkpoint there was a small office with tinted glass windows this was the security office where the head security guard could normally be found as well as the monitors for the cameras.
I reached the last step on the staircase and looked around the ground floor for any threats and didn’t notice anyone or anything. The ground floor was deserted. I looked towards the security office and started walking cautiously towards it with my weapon raised in case anything jumped out at me. As I walked closer to the office I used the reflective tinted windows to look behind me without having to turn around all the while scanned to my left and right. I walked past the next set of spiral stairs that led down to the basement level and moved passed it as quickly as I could. When I finally reached the security office it felt like I had just run a marathon and my heard was in my throat. I leaned forward and grabbed the door handle realising that there could be anything in there because I couldn’t see inside the office. I raised the table leg over my shoulder with my right hand and turned my body so that my left foot was forward and then grabbed the door handle again and yanked the door open. The moment my left hand left the door handle I raised it and gripped the table leg with it and watched in slow motion as the door opened. As the door opened passed my left foot I moved my foot forward to stop the door closing again. Nothing jumped out at me and there was no one screaming. “So far so good,” I thought to myself and shuffled forward tilting my head to take in the entire office. Once I had passed the threshold of the door I relaxed and lowered my weapon and scanned the office for what I was looking for.
“There you are,” I whispered to the empty office as I spotted the fire axe I had been looking for. I knew they always kept one in here and was lucky that one of the security guards hadn’t taken it with them. I also spotted three pairs of handcuffs on a hook on the wall with a set of keys. I quickly grabbed the handcuffs and axe and walked over to the bank of four monitors and watched for a couple minutes. One was from the front entrance, one from the basement, one from the courtyard and lastly the important one the one from the back entrance. I watched the image for a couple moments and didn’t see any one being attacked only a couple people wandering about aimlessly this was either good or bad. They were either people so panicked their minds shut down or they were the enemy but watching them on the monitor wasn’t going to tell me which.
I looked around the office for anything else that could help me and all they fit the bill was a flashlight. I opened my bag and put the handcuffs and flashlight into my backpack and then zipped it up and then holstered the axe through the handle at the top of the backpack with the handle of the axe falling between the straps so that when I put the backpack back on the axe handle would be between the bag and my back and wouldn’t giggle around when I walked. I picked up the table leg again and walked over to the door and used my foot to flick it open will I stood ready to attack at a moment’s notice but there wasn’t anything to attack. I walked out of the office and through the security checkpoint towards the back entrance.
Unlike the security office the glass door at the back entrance wasn’t tinted so I could see through them and into the parking lot. I opened the door and stepped through still trying to watch everywhere at once. I was now standing under the entrance roof I had told Beth was her last resort emergency exit as I looked up at the sheet metal roof I heard the beep of my watch and looked at it. It was three o’clock which meant only a couple of hours of daylight left. On a normal day it would take me an hour to get home and today was far from normal so I would probably be cutting it pretty fine with daylight. Something moved in the corner of my eye and I quickly reacted by raising my weapon and looking in that direction.
“Don’t hurt me,” a woman cried from the behind the parked car she just walked out from behind.
“If you don’t attack then you don’t have to worry about me hurting you,” I said to her but didn’t lower my weapon.
“What’s going on,” she sobbed as she fell to her knees.
“Listen it’s dangerous out here, if you go upstairs there is a group of people who are barricading themselves. You should be safe with them,” I said to her and took a couple steps forwards as I scanned the parking lot again. She must have been one of the people I saw on the security monitor.
“But what’s going on?” she asked rubbing her eyes.
“I don’t know but you should go upstairs quickly before anything happens,” I said taking another couple of steps.
“Can you come with me?” she asked as she started to stand.
“I am sorry I can’t but I just came from there so I know the way is safe but you have to hurry before that changes,” I said in as calm and reassuring tone as I could. She looked at me for a moment and then nodded. “When you get upstairs there should be people barricading the door but if they have finished just knock on the door and call to them, they should let you in then,” I said and took another couple of steps toward the woman. She watched me for a moment and started walking slowly towards the entrance behind me. We passed each other but at all times I tried to maintain some distance in case the creatures were able to talk. Once we had passed each other I quickly turned and said, “Hurry up otherwise they will be finished before you get there,” she didn’t turn around but opened the door and started running. I turned back to the parking lot and planned my exit.
I made my way through the parking lot as fast as I could only slowing my pace when I got near any vehicles but there weren’t many as most people had left in a hurry earlier in the day. I came across a couple other people who were like the woman from before and as with her I told them to go to the office for safety. Eventually after what felt like forever I reached the parking boom for the back of the parking lot. “This is where things get tricky,” I thought to myself and I ducked under one of the booms and onto the pavement. I looked up and down the road to get my bearings and to make sure it was safe to proceed. It was a two lane road used mostly by employees which led to a main road to my right and continued into a residential area to my left. There weren’t as many cars in the road as I would have expected or had seen in the road in front of the building. The path I had to take was simple enough. I had to walk to the main road and turn left and walk ten blocks and there would be a little shopping centre with the motorbike shop in it on my left right next to the main road. As I surveyed my path the absence of people or things struck me. “But that’s why I waited, for people and things to spread away from here,” I thought to myself and then noticed that in a couple of the cars there were people in them but I ignored them. “If they want to hide in their cars who am I to argue,” I mumbled to myself and turned right and started walking to the main road which was only a couple hundred meters away.
I reached the main road after a slow progression from the booms. I turned left and started making my way down the pavement towards my destination. As I walked I scanned from my left to my right and then a quick look over each shoulder. I was also straining my ears but couldn’t hear anything it was eerily quiet and the quiet made me more uneasy than the screams and sounds of traffic from before. The silence was contagious enveloping me in a blanket of nothing and wrapping my mouth closed to expel the sound of my breathing. It was like the air had become my enemy and was offended by any sound no matter how small. Having grown up in the city I had always been surrounded by sound even if I hadn’t noticed it which made this silence feel even more unnatural to me but then to my sound deprived brain an explosion went off far off in the distance. I felt glad that the sound had chased off the unnatural feeling from me for a moment but then felt guilty because people probably died in that explosion. I looked up to see if I could see where the explosion was but I couldn’t see any smoke and then went back to my march for freedom.
The walk was slow and arduous and took me almost an hour but I could now see my salvation at the end of a small car park. It was a smallish store that offered a range of motorbikes and accessories most of the bikes they sold were parked outside the shop for display purposes. I stepped into the parking lot and made a wide scan of my surroundings and then searched the displayed motor bikes for the one I wanted. “Bingo,” I thought to myself as I spotted an off-road bike. I walked gingerly across the parking lot to the entrance of the bike shop scanning the entrances to the other shops and parked cars. As I got closer to the bike shop I saw a dead body lying on the floor just outside of the shop with its head covered in blood from a large gash on the back of its head. I could see the skull which was cracked. It looked like someone had hit it with something at a weird angle and cracked the skull but then glanced off tearing the scalp away with it. I stepped up to the wide entrance and waited for my eyes to adjust to the light.
“Stop right there,” said a male voice from somewhere inside.
“I’m not one of those things,” I said.
“How do we know that?” asked the mail voice again. “There is more than one of them,” I thought to myself.
“Because I am talking and carrying a weapon, have any of the ones you have seen said anything or carried any weapons?” I asked.
“Uh no,” said the man uncertainly.
“What do you want here?” asked another man
“I want a bike,” I said as my eyes adjusted and I could not see the two mean standing behind the counter one holding a hammer and the other a wrench. “Promising,” I thought to myself.
“Well you can’t have one,” said the second man.
“I am willing to trade,” I said.
“What could you have that we would want?” asked the first man.
“A weapon and information,” I replied.
“A weapon and information,” I replied.
“What good would information do us and who would want that crappy weapon,” said the second man pointing at my table leg.
“Not this weapon,” I said and held the table leg in my left hand and with my right hand I reached behind me and grabbed the head of the axe and pulled it out over my shoulder, “This nice sharp axe is the weapon I want to trade and like the weapon the information could save your life,” I said and waited for a response.
“We only take money,” said the first man.
“Yea,” agreed the second man a little uncertain.
“And where are you planning on spending this money?” I asked.
“Wh What?” asked the first man confused.
“Don’t know where you have been today but there are roaming hordes of blood thirsty creatures walking about looking for people to kill and they have been at it all day now. Even the police couldn’t stop them and you know how useless the army is in this country so where exactly are you going to spend this money and is it worth more than staying alive,” I asked lathering it on trying to panic them.
“But what about the money,” protested the first man.
“Shut up Dwain his right,” the second man said.
“So the weapon, some information for a bike and leathers,” I said.
“Which bike do you want?” said the second man while he folded his arms.
“The red and black scrambler outside,” I said and took a step into the shop.
“You know that’s not street legal,” said Dwain.
“Not like it matters at this point. The roads are unusable and I will have to use pavements and foot paths,” I said while looking around the shop.
“Ok, full leathers?” asked the second man.
“Yea the Kevlar jacket and pants as well as a pair of tough gloves,” I said.
“That’s a lot of stuff,” said Dwain.
“Deal?” I asked and watched the second man stare at the axe for a moment.
“Yea, Dwain get the keys and fill up the bike and then get him the leathers,” said the second man.
“But,” Dwain started to say but was cut off by the second man staring at him, “Ok,” he said eventually and then looked at me and asked ,”What size?”.
“Forty two pants and a large jacket,” I said without looking at him.
“Those are way too big,” said the second man eying me out.
“I want them loose so if one of those things bites me all they will get is Kevlar and not the flesh underneath,” I said while making eye contact with him and not blinking.
“Makes sense,” said the second man eventually and I could see that with that statement I had moved up a notch in his books. He looked over at Dwain and nodded and Dwaine walked off to get the things. He looked at me and asked, “Ok so the information?”
I told him everything I knew about them and what weaknesses I had found and he sat and listened and asked a question every now and again. Just after I had started telling him the information Dwain had shown up and handed me a large black Kevlar jacket, black pants, a pair of thick leather gloves and a helmet. As I explained I undid my boots and took off my pants and put on the Kevlar pants not forgetting to empty out my pockets and refill the new ones once I had finished I did up my boots and put the jacket on but didn’t zip it up yet because it was too hot for that.
“That good enough?” I asked.
“Yea just need the weapon and you can go,” said Jason stretching out his right hand towards me. I took the axe and handed it to him handle first and he handed me a set of keys with his left hand.
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If you would like the ebook version of this for free please leave your email address as a comment and i will send you the kindle version.
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