"Get in! Get in now!"
"I can't! It's jammed from the other side!"
A strong shoulder slammed into the red metal door and was met with firm resistance.
"Crap. Okay. Sal take the automatic off of Gray and give Bastian your pistol. Gray, come and help us bust this door open."
Sal, a middle aged woman wearing a torn business skirt and blouse with a blood spattered jacket and broken heels, and Bastian, a thirteen year old boy wearing jeans, a t-shirt, sneakers and a cap, crouched and faced away from the sealed door with their weapons raised. Both sat immobile and stared out into empty streets.
The man who had given the orders, a tall, well built black man who went by the name of Dwayne and a former personal trainer to the stars, leaned beside the first speaker, Allan, a short twenty-something man who was built only slightly more athletically than Bastion, and Gray, the old, grizzly biker whose round paunch was composed mostly of muscle.
"On three okay? One... two... th-"
Before he could finish a whooping call echoed through the streets of Fairfield and humanoid silhouettes could be discerned in the red and blue klaxons of the immobile ambulances. Snarls, growls, roars and howls filled the empty streets. In response Bastian launched a bottle into the middle of the hospital lot then threw a match onto the spilled liquid. Flames licked up from the ground and in the dancing light a crowd of people could be seen rushing forward, heedless of the flame.
"Erm... Dwayne. If you could, y'know, hurry it up that'd be great." Bastian turned a nervous smile before facing the incoming hordes and opening fire. Sal joined him and the three men began hammering the door with their shoulders.
Bastian, both clips now empty, threw the pistols to the floor and removed the semi-automatic from his back before joining Sal in spraying the crowd.
Dwayne, his shoulder cracking with each blow finally felt the door give. The sound of tumbling junk preceded the inward swing of the door which left him and the others in a heap on the ground. Dwayne came to his senses first and immediately called to the two gunners to get the hell inside.
Sal pushed Bastian back, screaming at him to get inside. He obeyed and hopped over the desk and into the shelter of the safe room. Sal began to follow, with Dwayne and Gray providing cover.
She entered the room covered in fresh blood and turned to shut the door.
Something long, thick and pink accompanied by a rasping exhalation wrapped around her midriff and, as the door closed, pulled her out.
"NOOO!" Bastian grabbed the door handle and began pushing it down when Gray lifted him away.
"Easy kiddo. She's gone."
Bastian turned, his eyes streaming and punched the round biker in the stomach. Gray hardly flinched before putting the boy down and kneeling beside him. "You lost your ma, huh? Well think of it like this. Now Sal can go tell your Ma you're safe and you're almost out of all this."
Bastian dropped to the ground and leaned against the safe room door. "I'm thirteen, not three."
Before Gray could reply Dwayne placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just leave it Gray. Give him some time."
Gray nodded and walked through the small room and to the opposite door. Dwayne smiled at Bastian and threw him a chocolate bar. "Listen kiddo we all got stuff going on right now. But if we let it, it'll end up getting us killed. We can cry later but for now get some rest."
As Bastian lay on the one military cot, Dwayne joined Gray and Allan near the door. Both of them were looking at the messages on the wall, messages written by former inhabitants of the small room.
Allan was reading something about the government's involvement in the outbreak while Gray was looking at messages left to loved ones.
"Damn there's so many... The people that wrote these, how many do you think are still alive old man?"
Gray shrugged and popped a stick of gum into his mouth. "Dunno. Probably none of them. Look at that one."
The message he indicated looked fairly new and simply said;
The rooftops your best bet. But its gonna be tough. Arm up.
It was signed 'Zoe x'.
Dwayne read it twice before shrugging. "So what? Whatever happened or was gonna happen to them probably already did."
Gray smiled. "You think? Look at that one."
The second one was a short dirty limerick about Smokers and Witches, followed by an account of the writer's journey to the safehouse.
I've never hated cities so much! If I ever come across a woman crying again I'm gonna have to shoot her – and that goes for Zoe too!
It was signed 'Francis,' followed by the date and time. Dwayne stared at the latter for a few moments in silence before checking his watch. "The hell! That was only a few hours ago! They could still be here."
Gray smiled. "Which means we could double our weapons, our able hands and our chances of getting through this piece of shit situation."