Chapter 27
Jill reached Brad’s apartment complex and put her hands on her knees, panting for breath and looking around nervously. She ran almost the entire way, too afraid to slow down. Far too many stray zombies still roamed the streets, although there seemed to be fewer than before.
Her stomach growled angrily. Back at the warehouse, she ate some candy from the vending machine, but that had been a couple hours ago. She felt dizzy after running for so long, and guessed she must be dehydrated as well. Maybe she could break into one of the apartments and get something to eat and drink.
Brad’s building was part of an apartment community with several rectangular two-story buildings arranged in a square. Jill hurried in between two of the buildings and then slowed when she saw the wreckage up ahead. At first, her mind did not even register what she saw, and it took her a few moments to react.
The edge of the building was completely destroyed, the entire outside wall collapsed in on itself, leaving a huge pile of scattered debris and wreckage. It looked like the aftermath of an explosion. The entire apartment on the edge of the building was gone, crushed and reduced to nothing but rubble. The second floor was gone, and the first floor was now buried. Lying in the center of the wreckage was a huge square metal container, like the kind used for shipping cargo on ships. It looked like it fell out of the sky and landed right on the edge of the building.
Jill looked around quickly when she heard noise coming from around the side of the crushed remains of the wall. She edged closer and saw two zombies crouched over a body, making sloppy chewing noises. She backed away, feeling sick. The body wasn’t Brad, at least.
But she came here to find him, and wasn’t about to leave without at least trying. She knew his apartment faced the open yard in between all the buildings, but she couldn’t actually remember which building he lived in. She’d only ever been to his apartment once. And she wasn’t going to try to go into all the buildings, it would be far too dangerous. Instead, she decided to do something crazy.
“Brad!” she shouted as loud as she could. “Brad Vickers! This is Jill! Jill Valentine! If you can hear me, please let me know!”
Immediately, the two zombies jumped up and stared at her, their faces coated with fresh blood from the body they were busy devouring.
Jill’s heart raced at the thought of announcing her presence to every zombie within a hundred yards. But it was the fastest and easiest way to try to get Brad’s attention, if he was anywhere nearby.
“Brad! Brad Vickers! Can you hear me?”
The two zombies drew closer, and Jill drew her pistol. Four more appeared from around the side of the building, and she could see two zombies staring at her from different balconies. She waited for an agonizing minute as the zombies got closer. She finally shot at them, putting a bullet into each of their heads. The gunshots echoed between the buildings.
Jill tried one more time. “Brad Vickers! This is Jill! Please come out!”
She turned around to see another small group of zombies coming behind her. Plus the four others, it made too many for her to waste ammo on. She lowered her gun.
“Sorry, Brad,” she said to herself. “I tried.”
She ran off in another direction, away from the two groups of zombies, out of the inner yard and through the complex’s parking lot. Brad’s black Grand Prix was parked along the street, and Jill ran past it, only glancing at it for a moment before continuing on.
She knew that Brad was probably dead, but she needed to know for sure. If he was around to hear her shouting his name, he would have to answer. If he didn’t respond, then he wasn’t here or he was already dead. Jill was too stressed out to feel sad about it now. She didn’t have time to mourn, when there were already so many others weighing on her conscience, like Eddie Thorn and poor old Mrs. Calloway. Sometime, much later, Jill would find the time to mourn for them.
She headed down the street, feeling exhausted. Her stomach still growled its hunger, and she knew she would have to get something to eat soon if she wanted to have any strength left by the end of the day. She was lucky she wasn’t diabetic, or she’d have slipped into a coma by now.
Cars ahead blocked an intersection, and a tractor trailer with a Pepsi logo on the side was parked along the sidewalk, a smear of blood across the driver’s side door. A dozen zombies grouped together in the middle of the street, one of them wearing a shirt with the Pepsi logo on it, the driver of the truck.
Jill took a short cut through the parking lot of a family restaurant on the corner. A neon “Open” sign still burned in the window, and a few stray cars were in the lot. As Jill ran past the building, she suddenly heard a scream and a pair of rapid gunshots from within.
She ran up to the side door and tested it. It was unlocked, so she crept inside, her gun drawn. She paused in the doorway and walked silently through the foyer, looking around the corner to see a large, empty dining area and doorway to the kitchen area. There were modern art prints on the wall, and little scented candles burned on the dining tables.
“Hello?” she asked cautiously. “Is someone here?”
“Who is that!?” a familiar voice cried out frantically. “Show yourself!”
Jill crept around the corner and looked toward the other side the restaurant. There was a row of booths on one side, and a long bar on the other, lined with bar stools. Behind that was a long glass case full of alcohol bottles. And standing at the end of the bar, aiming a gun at Jill with one hand and clutching a bloody wound on his shoulder with the other, was a man wearing black jeans and a yellow fleece jacket.
It was Brad Vickers, staring at her in absolute disbelief.
“Jill?” he whimpered plaintively. He lowered the gun, his arm dropping to his side, as if he no longer had the strength to hold it up.
“Brad!” Jill cried, running over to him.
He slipped to the ground and sat down on the floor, his back against the side of the bar. Jill knelt down and saw blood seeping between his fingers as he clutched his arm. When Jill got closer, she could see a body lying on the ground in the doorway to the kitchen, a dead zombie wearing a cook’s white uniform. The situation finally dawned on her, and she looked down at Brad, her eyes opening wide.
“Oh no, Brad,” she said, her voice trailing off.
He looked weakly up at her. “Sorry, Jill. You got here a minute too late.”
“You’ve been bitten ...”
“Yeah, I know. You don’t have to say it.”
She reached out and touched his arm. “I went to your apartment,” she said, her voice flat. “I looked for you. I didn’t think you’d still be alive, but ... but I had to check.”
“You did?” Brad asked. For a split second, he almost smiled. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “I mean that.”
“Come on,” Jill said, pulling Brad to his feet. “We can’t stay here, we have to keep moving. I’m trying to get to the station. It might be safe there.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Brad said sadly. “You know what’s going to happen to me now. And that ... that monster is still out there somewhere. I’m not going to risk running into it again.”
“What monster?”
“You mean you didn’t see it?” Brad asked. “Didn’t you see one of the other apartment buildings all smashed?”
“Yeah, it looked like a big metal crate fell right on it.”
“That’s what happened. A helicopter dropped it.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Jill said.
“Listen,” Brad insisted. “There was some kind of monster in that crate, okay? It’s not a zombie, it’s something else, and it’s –”
He was interrupted by a loud, blood-curdling roar right outside the restaurant, and almost jumped into the air when he heard it. Jill spun around to catch a glimpse of something through the front windows. She drew her gun and stepped back toward Brad.
Brad shook his
head in despair and went to the doorway to the kitchen, staring out toward the front windows. “No, no, no, there’s no way it could find me ...”
“What the hell is it?” Jill asked urgently.
“I don’t know!” Brad cried. “But it came after me before!”
There was another roar and the front door crashed inward, breaking down off its hinges, the entire wall shaking with the impact. Framed pictures fell off the wall and one of the ceiling tiles near the door broke loose, clattering to the floor. The door wavered loosely in the frame, and Jill could see a large black shape just on the other side.
Brad ran for it. He turned and bolted into the kitchen and out of sight, leaving Jill alone. She braced herself as the front door smashed right off, sailing into the room and spinning through the air. Jill felt the breath knocked right out of her chest as the creature outside stepped into the doorway and leveled its hideous gaze right at her.
It was shaped like a man, but it was twisted and distorted like some kind of hallucination, hulking through the door at over seven feet tall. Its mouth was like a gaping wound in the center of its face, a hole of scar tissue exposing long teeth and blood red gums. Puffy, mottled beige skin covered its face, with one large yellow eye and a smaller black one half-concealed by a fold of skin over its brow. But it must have been a man, because it wore clothing. Barely containing its massive frame was a huge black trenchcoat, black pants, and huge black boots.
“Jesus Christ,” Jill gasped, her gun trembling in her hands.
The monster hunkered down, arms spread wide, and roared inhumanly at her, its tremendous voice making the walls shake. Jill seemed as if the sound would knock her over, and she staggered backward, barely able to keep her balance. She nearly tripped over the dead zombie as she ran into the kitchen.
The monster came at her like a charging rhino, swiftly knocking over two tables in its way, just swatting them aside like they were weightless. One of the tables struck the far wall and broke right in half. Jill ran through the kitchen as the monster came at her, swinging its massive arm like a battle mace. It tore a chunk out of the wall and howled its fury, the sound amplified in the narrow space, pounding into Jill’s brain.
When she reached the corner only to find a stairway heading down to the basement, Jill turned and ran the other way, going the long way around the kitchen. There were three large ovens and long cutting tables along the wall, and rows of stainless steel pots and pans hanging above her. She managed a glance over her shoulder to see the monster smash right through a tall row of metal shelves, tossing bowls and cooking utensils everywhere. It jumped into the air and Jill dove for cover, scrambling under one of the tables as the monster flew past her and smashed into the wall, plowing right through a large sink.
The monster was now in between her and the exit. She turned and ran back the way she came, and the monster came after her again. It swept its arm along the wall and tore loose the ovens’ huge exhaust pipes, blasting dust and smoke out. The entire stove was knocked out of place and it crashed onto its side, blocking the narrow aisle. The monster kicked it out of the way and it crashed end over end, taking out more shelves stacked with boxes of ingredients.
One of the shelves clipped Jill on the shoulder as she ran past, knocking her off balance. She fell and slid to the floor, her head smacking against the wall. Dazed, she stared up at the monster, and then looked past it to see the pipes it knocked loose when it smashed the oven. She managed to recognize the oven’s natural gas line sticking up into the air, spraying gas into the kitchen.
She scrambled up and ran back around the other side of the kitchen as the monster flipped up one of the tables, once again charging after her. Up ahead were a pair of refrigerators against the wall. Jill dove headfirst to the floor as the monster ran past her and smashed into the wall, its arm punching right through. It furiously tore its arm loose and knocked over one of the refrigerators. Jill managed to crawl away and ran for the exit door just ahead.
She barreled through the door and jumped clear of the wooden deck. She could hear the monster howling furiously behind her.
And then the growing haze of natural gas in the kitchen area seeped into the dining area, and reached one of the scented candles burning there.
The entire building rocked on its foundation as a ball of fire surged through the restaurant, blowing out all the windows in a tremendous, thundering whoosh of flames and flying glass. The shockwave hit Jill in mid-air and launched her all the way past the edge of the parking lot. She landed on a strip of grass in between the restaurant and the building next door. She hit the ground and rolled with the impact, ending up on her stomach, facing the building.
Flames spilled from the windows, belching black smoke into the air. The whole building looked tilted, as if the sudden blast lifted it up and then set it back down at an angle. Jill stared through the back doorway as she tried to catch her breath, but there was nothing to see but a wall of swirling flames. The monster, if it was still in there, was burning alive.
After a few moments, she managed to get to her feet. Brad was nowhere in sight, having left Jill to face the creature by herself. She didn’t know where he went, unless he decided to follow her advice and head for the police station. Brad’s apartment was only a five minute drive to the station, but Jill was on foot and it would take a bit longer. She still felt it was the safest place they could go, but safety was a relative thing now. There was a high probability that the police station was overrun with zombies as well. Maybe if Brad chose to go there, Jill could catch up with him.
She dusted herself off, cast one final glance at the burning restaurant, and headed off after Brad. The monster in the restaurant, whatever it was, was certainly dead by now.