Chapter 9 - The Warehouse

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Hailey, Rob and Zac frantically banged on the warehouse wall. Attempting to draw attention away from the hungry brain eaters. They were moving sloppily, mostly banging their bodies against the door and wall as Trent and James watched on. "Come here boy," Steve called out, looking over his left shoulder at Kyle. He jogged over, "Get ready with the door," he ordered, Kyle grabs the door handle with both arms in front of Steve to help. "Is it working?" Kyle called out, his voice cracked and it was clear he was fearful of what was about to happen, "Yeah, some of them are starting to leave," Trent replied, watching a few brain eaters stumble their way across the length of the warehouse towards the banging. "Just let me at them!" Steve yelled, gaining adrenaline waiting to attack the enemy. His heavy breathing behind Kyle only made him stress out more and his shirt started to soak in sweat. "Not yet," James called out, "Keep going kids!" Hailey moved closer to the door to draw the brain eaters towards while Rob and Zac bang on the back corner. It was almost echoing throughout the warehouse. Miss Summers, Betty, Sarah and Rachel were safe away in Betty's bedroom, within an enclosed 'panic room style' wardrobe, big enough for 8 people with a weeks supply of food. A safety protocol set in place by the Preppers to keep them safe while "the men handle it" in Steve's words. On the roof of the wardrobe is a hatch at the top that leads you to the ladder of The Lookout. However with internal monitors, they were able to watch what was happening in the warehouse and external cameras.

"How much longer?" Hailey called out, running back down towards Rob and Zac, "Keep going!" James demanded, finding the impatience and urgency distracting. "What is that…?" Trent said under his breath, noticing some movement in the top corner of the monitor. He zoomed in on the camera and he was able to see feet. Feet of multiple people, different clothing, torn, some bloody, some were moving slower than others. Dragging their feet at times. "What's that?" James questioned, looking back at the monitor puzzled, "Zoom out mate," he said, grabbing James shoulder and leaning over. "Oh this is taking too long!" Steve hissed, annoyed and impatient. Kyle started thinking of his nightmares, he started to day dream and recall the nightmares, unable to not think of his nightmares coming to life. Trent and James watched on as they zoomed out. Bang! "Whoa!" Rob yelled as a long bang against the warehouse wall was made from the outside. Bang! Another, closer to Zac, Bang! followed by another, Bang! he steps away, Hailey pulls away seeing the other two move away. As Trent and James zoom out, they are able to see more of the picture. Oblivious to the bangs, or what is occurring around them, they see another large group of freaks are approaching. Without thinking, James began squeezing Trent's shoulder in what would be best described as fear, "Ow!" Trent said, after feeling James' hand has over stayed it's welcome. "Now?!" Steve yelled, Kyle snaps out of the moment, not really hearing anything but 'now' and opens the door. "NO!" James yells out, Steve can see a brain eater, his eye lids have been torn from both eyes down his chin and his mouth is blackened with dead blood. Steve looks at him and his eyes drop, his stare becomes black as he looks in the "eyes" of the brain eater and all he sees is red, this is the enemy invading his territory. His mission to get rid of these freaks any. way. possible. In that split second the door was open, time felt almost like it stood still as Kyle looked over towards Hailey, his face full of worry and doubt that this will work. He could see she was saying something but wasn't sure, "Close the door!" She yells, managing to get through to him and just as he goes to slam it shut, Steve fires the gun. The bullet as shot, ricochets off the concrete door and hits Steve in his chest, at short range it throws him off his feet and he falls backwards, "FUCK!" Kyle screams in horror, letting go of the door not before it was closed. A frail arm swings in between the open space begins to knock it open a little. Trent and James quickly run over, Kyle in shock is looking down at Steve, he has a bullet proof vest on but it has pierced the vest. He was holding his chest as spurts of blood pool out. But as Trent and James try to close the door, more arms appear stopping them. Rob grabs Hailey and Zac and leads them out of the warehouse area. "Kyle!" She screams, as Zac pulls her along. "I need a knife," Trent says, "Go, I'll hold it," James said, using his force to hold the door as closed as possible. The arms started to get further in, one grabs a hold of James wrist but he keeps his grip. Steve coughs and blood pools out of his mouth, his body goes limp and he drops his gun. Kyle starts to cry, but feels a tugging on his arm. He sees Hailey pulling him along, with Rob at the living space door ushering him along. He obliges and runs along with Hailey. Trent comes back with a machete, his rifle slung over his back, "Oh, Fuck!" He says, noticing Steve dead on the floor. The blood spilling with the trajectory of the house making it leak out the door. The way the warehouse was built to flush out any fluids as it was the main entry point. Trent turned to James and saw the Brain Eater grabbing his hands, "Oh, Fuck!" he repeated, with more anger in his tone. Using the machete, he swung and cut off three arms. He grabbed the handle with one arm, holding the machete with the other. Another arm came through the door and grabbed his, he looked through the gap and saw the brain eater one with the same arm he cut off reaching in, his face getting to the door. As he grip got stronger, so did his push, but as he put his head through the gap, excited by the smell of fresh blood, he pulled the skin off his face, his jaw snapped but as his head came through the gap, Trent stepped backwards, with James following. With the handle lose, the brain eater pushed the door open and the red light went off. Flooding the room with sunlight and a red spinning glow. The brain eater jumped onto Trent, pulling his arm up to his mouth and sinking the few teeth that are able to be pushed into his skin. James looks down and sees brain eaters covered in the blood of their former Prepper. He loads his rifle and aims, shooting in zig zags towards the incoming brain eaters. But the lucky few in the bottom front scramble forward, pulling at Steve's body. One jumps onto his face, Digging his teeth into his eyebrow and ripping his skin. The little blood that is left pools out of his face and James quickly shoots him in the head, along with the others surrounding him. Trent looks down at the brain eater on his arm and looks at his machete, He doesn't think and swings, knowing its life or death at this point. He cuts beneath his elbow, with the brain eater tearing at the flesh on his wrist. His attempt to cut of his arm fails as he doesn't have the strength to do it himself. He lets out a howling scream, the pain overwhelming. James runs out of bullets and runs back towards the main area, wanting to get to his family but he is followed by some brain eaters that trip over the piled up dead undead. He steps over the dead bodies and picks up James .40 Cal SMG, pulling the trigger and momentarily looks over to see Trent's arm handing on by a chunk of skin as a brain eater pulls at his wrist eating him, he turns his SMG and shoots towards him, break the remaining skin and forcing Trent to fall backwards. "Come on man!" He yells to him, moving backwards. Walking towards the storage and picking up a pistol and quickly putting it in its holster, and grabbing a few rifles. "Trent!" He yells. The brain eaters that managed to make it through are surrounding Steve, distracted by the blood trail and blood soaked body. Fortunately his vest provides a cover biding Trent time. He shakes his head, overhearing James' voice. He slowly wakes up and sees a person walking towards him, holding out their hand. He blinks his eyes, his vision slightly blurred from the concussion he mostly just suffered. He looks up and sees a woman in a long sleeved dress, with an apron, she looks middle aged but her hair is dishevelled and her apron is dirty with small child like bloody hands prints on it. The bottom of her face was missing and she had mascara tears etched into her face. She walked towards Trent and tripped on his boots, smelling the blood of his arm. He quickly kicked her off him, he sat up quickly and pulled his rifle out behind his back. Shooting her in the head, he heard more shots of James coming up behind him shooting. The brain eaters slowly fell. Some school students, some local neighbours. The property wasn't rural, but it felt like the whole suburb was here. Click! Click! James pulls the trigger and the SMG bullets run out. He grabs a rifle and walks over towards Trent, he gets up and moves towards James, Click! Click! His rifle runs out of bullets and James says, "Here," just as he tosses the gun towards him. He goes to reach with both arms but as one is now missing, the gun drops. James hears this and stops firing, looking at James, "Oh shit," he says, just as a brain eater from behind storage lunges at him. Bang! A bullet is fired and takes the brain eater down. James flinches and looks up, Betty fired her small firearm from the top of the living spaces. He smiles up at her and she shoots again, just above his head. He looks and a brain eater drops to his feet. By this stage, Trent has managed to pick up the rifle in one hand and unlock the safety. He puts his finger on the trigger and fires, the last few brain eaters go down. They approach the monitors and they can't see any movement outside. The warehouse floor is scattered with blood stains and dead bodies. The sunlight shines only the entry door pile up of brain eaters. As Trent lowered his gun, he looked at the pile. Not quite reaching the top, but he felt it symbolised how he was trapped in this world by the brain eaters with very little chance of escape, just like the small space at the top of the pile. He looked down at his arm and the pain overtook him, he fell to his knees, dropping the rifle and crying out in pain. "Trent!" Sarah screamed, coming out of the living areas followed by Miss Summers and Hailey carrying medical equipment and bandages.

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