CHAPTER 27
Institute, WV
They lived. Gators, bullets, zombie suits, and gas propelled the small band of survivors through the latest zombie onslaught. Two zombies were smashed into the payment like roadkill while another got lanced with an 8-foot strip of rebar. No one looked back as they fled through the undead blockade and headed down the road. Now they were stuck, and time was running out. The zombies would be there soon.
Rod and the rest of the security team were slamming the butts of their guns into the gymnasium's door. The magnetic locks weren’t giving in.
“Henry, we gotta go! This ain’t gonna work,” Rod said.
Henry swore he could hear the zombie moans coming.
From behind the wheel of the Gator, Doug shouted, “Get the hell out of the way. I’m making a hole!”
Henry and Tori jumped out of the ATV as the machine barreled toward the heavy metal doors. The sound of bending steel meeting all-wheel drive mayhem crashed into their ears. The Gator plunged inside the darkness.
“Damn. He did it!”
The Gator was still running as they all rushed inside to give thanks to the man. Doug sat unmoving in his seat. A large piece of metal had cut into his head. Henry pulled Tori close as she sobbed.
“Ah man,” Rod exclaimed. “I guess it's better dying like this than the other way.”
In the distance the moaning became louder.
Weege was yelling, “Come on! Come on! We need the blood. The storage is this way!”
“What the hell is he talking about, Henry?” Tori said. “And I can’t see a damn thing!”
A small flashlight beam was glaring in their eyes. It was one of the security team guys. Henry didn’t know him.
“Follow you, or follow him?”
“Ow!” Weege screamed from somewhere in the dark.
“Find him,” Henry said, “and we’ll follow. I think I might know what he's thinking.”
“Wherever we're going, let’s get there! Those zombies will be here any second,” Rod said.
Henry was pulling Tori through the darkness as small beacons of light led the way. Weege was on the gymnasium floor holding his ankle. Rudy stumbled over to the little man and helped him up from the floor.
“What are you doing, you little idiot? What do we want blood for?”
A bright light flashed inside Henry’s head. He knew what Weege wanted to do. The zombies wanted blood. The blood bank would give them that.
“Come on, this way everybody,” he said, leading the way to a lab room in the back.
Henry knew that the zombie contagion spread through the blood. Testing revealed that living flesh fired the hunting instincts of the zombies, letting them track people for miles. But there was more to it than just the living bodies. There had to be blood inside them as well. Despite what many people figured, brains weren’t the object of their ravenous hunger. It was the drive to infect and spread, and only the blood stream could carry that. Still, would stored blood satisfy the zombies' appetites?
Rudy pulled open the door of a walk-in refrigerator and Henry stepped inside. Bags of blood were lit up by the small flashlights.
“What in the world?” Rod gasped. “What’s all of this blood for?”
“Transfusions. They try different types to give the zombies new blood. Flush out the corrupted stuff,” Weege said.
“Does it work?” Rod asked.
“Er … testing is inconclusive. Now shut up and grab some bags,” Weege ordered.
Rudy began passing them down the line, everyone filling their hands.
“This won’t work, you moron. We need to hide,” Rudy commented.
“Shut up, you drunkard,” Weege fired back. “You hopeless sack of camel dung!”
One of the fire team members spoke up and asked, “What are we supposed to do with it?”
“They’ll follow a blood trail,” Henry said. “Someone look for a something to carry this stuff in.
“Ssshh!” said a security guard that was watching the door. “I think I hear something.”
As everyone shuffled out of the room, all eyes followed the light illuminating the hall. The emergency lights added an additional bit of dim lighting. There was a lot of heavy breathing in the silence and the rattling of weapons being fingered. Henry tried to settle himself down. How many more zombies were out there? How many could they fight off? A dozen bags of blood would only slow them down. They needed a place to hide. But where? Think Henry! Think.
“Where to, Henry?” Rod asked.
“Dude, I found some garbage bags,” Rudy said. “I’ve got about ten more pints in here.”
“Ssshh!” Tori said.
A distant sound was echoing down the corridor."Numma-numma. numma-numma … "
Henry set a pint down on the floor and pulled out the Swiss Army knife that his step-father Stanley had given him for his birthday. He cut the bag open and slung it down the hallway.
“What are you doing, Henry? You’ll lead them right to us!”
He could feel their confusion. Every stare was of desperation in the dimness.
He was confident when he spoke.
“No, I’m leading them to the pool.”
“The pool?” someone said.
Weege said in an excited voice, “That’s right, zombies can’t swim!”
They left a trail of blood as they dashed through the hallways and burst into the aquatic center. The smell of chlorine was heavy in the gloom. They sliced open a few more bags, set them near the edge of the pool, and waited.
“I’m burning up.”
“Let’s find a way out of here.”
“We’re all going to die,” Rudy said.
“Shut up!” They all replied.
Henry scanned the room. There were four exits, and the zombies could burst inside from any one of them. They had come through the door on the east wing, and a there was an opposite one from the west. The north side had two more doors that led back outside, but they were probably locked.
“How are we going to get them in the pool, Henry?” Tori said.
“I guess we’re going to have to push them in.”
“I’m not doing that!” Weege said.
“Me either!” Rudy agreed.
“We’re going to have to make a stand. This is our only chance, unless someone has a better idea?”
Everyone was looking at one another, sweaty and miserable. The heat was unbearable inside the suits and the sweltering building. Henry figured everyone would just as soon die as suffer inside their zombie suits any longer. He was exhausted, too. He checked his weapon. One full clip left. He switched it with the other. Everyone else followed suit except for Weege and Rudy, who were whispering back and forth to each other.
“Rudy, do you care to fill us in?” Henry said.
“Ah … well, Weege and I have decided that we would rather take our own chances. If you guys want to stay and die by the poolside, that’s fine, but we think we can do better on our own.”
“Our best chance is to stick together.”
“Let them go, Henry,” Rod said. “I’m staying.”
“There’s nowhere to go, unless you know something that you aren’t telling us?”
“Good luck, Henry,” Weege said as the two men scurried away through the other set of doors.
Henry started to go after him, but Tori held him back. She said, “Those two won’t make it very far.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
It was down to him, Tori, Rod, and two security men that he didn't know. Half a dozen zombies would be there any second. Henry knew that they would only get one shot at this, so he had to be sure it worked. They would probably only get one chance. It was time to make a sacrifice.
“Rod, double check those doors over there.”
He started to remove his zombie suit.
“What are you doing?” Tori said.
“I’m getting in the water.”
“Why?”
“I’m goi
ng to draw them in after me, while you guys hide.”
Rod yelled over, “These doors won’t budge, Henry!”
“You aren’t the best swimmer, Henry. Let those guys go.”
“No! It’s too dangerous. I’ll be fine.”
Tori stripped down. Henry heard someone gulp in the dark air. She was the perfect figure of sweat and lingerie. Henry grasped after her has she dove into the deep end.
“Ah … it feels so good in here. Sorry, Henry, but I had to get out of that—”
“We’ve got company, coming fast!” the guard said, backing away and lowering his barrel.
Henry stripped off his suit and dove in alongside Tori. He said, “We’ll suffer the madness together.”
The moans of the zombies became a roar.
Over half a dozen figures burst inside the aquatic center, smeared with blood. Henry started shouting.
“In here, zombies!”
Tori was whistling and splashing.
The zombies groaned as they piled into one another, fighting over the pints of blood. Two collided at the pool's edge and fell in with a splash. Rod unloaded his shotgun into another, knocking it into the pool.
Henry felt his heart freeze as more zombies spilled through the door.
“This isn’t good. Tori, we’ve got to get out of here.”
The blast of weapons rang out like cannons inside the metal dome. A human voice was screaming out in pain. The zombies became a writhing mass of undead flesh as they found the blood and then rushed after the humans in the pool. The pool lights underneath still glowed, and Henry could see the creatures sinking fast under the weight of their metal helmets. He wondered if zombies could drown. Judging by the looks of things, they didn’t. They just kept trying to climb up the sides of the pool, so far, in vain.
He and Tori swam towards the shallow end of the pool and hunkered down.
“We’ve got to make a dash for that door.”
Ahead, Rod was backing towards that very door.
“Come on, you two!”
Henry and Tori scrambled out of the pool and dashed for the doors.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! click
Henry shoved down the lever of the metal fire doors and surged down the hallway, pulling Tori behind him. Rod was on their heels, and a pack of zombies was on his.
His lungs were bursting inside his chest as he turned down one corridor and into another. He had to make it back outside. Get the Gator and go. He glanced back over his shoulder. Rod was running with a limp, and the zombies were only another twenty feet behind, jaws opened impossibly wide and snapping shut.
“Henry,” Tori moaned, “I can’t keep up.”
“We’re almost there. Hang on.”
She slipped on a dark streak of something and fell. He pulled her up and hoisted her over his shoulder. Rod was pulling him along now. The zombies had gotten closer. The gymnasium was just ahead, but he knew they wouldn’t have enough time to cross it, start the Gator, and run. The zombies would swarm them before they even sat down.
Rod knocked open the next set of fire exit doors. They were back in the gymnasium. So were the two biggest zombies he had ever seen in the world: Rick the Rifle and Slam Dunk Jones. Rod screamed. They looked hungry, and they were coming their way.
Splat! Splat!
Someone was throwing pints of blood at them. Henry twirled around as he stumbled backward with Tori in his arms. Rudy and Weege were heading for the zombie locker that usually housed the giants.
“What are you doing?”
He saw the trash bag filled with pints of blood on the floor. He snatched a pint up. He had an idea. The shadows of the two giants were closing in.
“Rod, throw these at the zombies!”
“What?!”
The zombies in pursuit burst through the door. As if on instinct, Rod hurled the plastic pint of blood into one's mouth. Its jaws clamped down, making a spray of blood. Henry tore the top from another sack and tossed it onto the giant zombies.
“Come on!” he said, running for the zombie locker where Weege and Rudy had begun to close the door. “NOOOO!” he screamed.
The door closed on his foot. Rod pulled it open and shoved his way inside. One zombie, covered in blood, was almost on top of him as Henry shoved Tori inside the room. The zombie was inches from ripping off his face.
“Close the door!” he screamed. I’m gonna die a zombie. A long powerful arm reached out, grabbed the neck of his pursuer and jerked it from its feet. Henry watched in awe as Slam Dunk Jones tried to stuff the zombie soldier in his mouth, which seemed to open as wide as his head. Henry’s brain cringed as the giant zombie bit down on the metal skull with a crunch.
Rod pulled his gaping face inside the locker, and Tori sealed the door.
“You tried to kill us!” Rod pointed at Rudy and Weege.
Rudy said, “We thought you were zombies!”
“Really? Then why did you two buttheads try to lock us out?” Rod added, his mighty chest heaving as he fought for breath.
Rudy’s eyes were all over Tori, and Weege began to stammer, “There was no time—”
Whack!
Rod dropped Weege with his left.
Whack!
Tori dropped Rudy with her zombie right.
“Nice shot, Honey,” Henry said.
Safe behind the glass, they witnessed the zombie fight of the century. The Rifle and Slam Dunk were pulling apart one of the zombie soldiers. It reminded Henry of two dogs fighting over a bone. Henry could hear the fabric tearing on the zombie soldier’s suit as it was pulled apart. Slam Dunk pulled the helmet from the zombie and slung it into the glass, causing them to all jump back. Henry checked the lock on the door, held his chest, and slid down along the wall.
“Everyone okay?” he asked.
Rod nodded, “Everyone but these two ass-bags.”
Tori curled up beside him, shivering. “What now, Henry?”
“Let’s just pray help arrives before we run out of air.”
“What?”
“Just kidding.” He allowed himself a smile and kissed her on the head. “How’s it look out there, Rod?”
“There’s a zombie staring in the window.”
“Really?” Henry got up and looked.
A skull-faced zombie in full zombie gear was looking right in the window. In the darkness, he swore he could see something glimmer behind its eyes. He was certain the he was being watched. It made him angry. He offered a salute. Damn World Humanitarian Society.
The zombie walked away, towards the door. In the background, the giants were still slugging it out with the zombie soldiers. One of the small soldiers was hoisted up and stuffed inside a nearby basketball rim.
“I wish I had my phone to catch that one!”
The outside of the door groaned. The lever was being jostled from the other side.
“It can’t get in here, can it?” Tori said.
“No, it’s a manual lock, like the Day Care.”
Henry wasn’t so sure that the zombie wouldn’t figure it out.
“Can we get out?”
“These doors lock from the inside or outside. The mechanism is simple enough. We used these pins,” Henry pointed to the long rod of metal dropped in the hasp in the door, “to secure them. I’ve used the pin on the inside. We’re safe, so long as no one uses a pin on the outside. If they do that, we’re stuck.”