Bloody Good Time -Chapter 2-

Vance coughed in the darkness, a rough, rasping sound in what was essentially a lull in the killing. The sound of his own throat startled Vance slightly as he scanned the dark room for any sign of movement.

"I don't like this.... It's too quiet." he stated.

"I know, but that just means we should pay more attention." Annissina retorted.

Vance scoffed lightly. He never was good at taking orders, that's why he was dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army. Although he had never told them, he felt that Garrett and, by extension, Anni knew. How, he didn't know, but they seemed to treat him more like a soldier than Kyle, who they treated as more of a.... how was it that Garrett had put it? A "gun-toting pussy who was lucky to not be zombie chow" .

The fact that the two hadn't managed to kill each other yet was amazing, and Vance attributed it to his and Anni's interventions and Garrett's own saint-like patience. They entered a stairwell and Garrett proceeded to check the down-flight and the stairs leading up.

"Always thorough.... He creeps me out, like a machine that one." Vance thought.

"We're clear heading up, but we should go down." Garrett stated.

"Who died and made you leader? If we head up, we can cross the roofs safely." Kyle retorted.

"Aw shit... Here we go..." Vance covered his face in frustration.

They couldn't afford an argument here and Garrett tried to convey that to Kyle, but the young mohawk-toting boy wasn't the sharpest crayon in the drawer. He progressively got louder and louder and Garrett spoke less and less with each blow until he stood and simply watched the other man talk. Annissina tried to calm him down, but couldn't this time. He was simply too riled over being told what to do.

"I'm don't want to listen to your fucking orders anymore! I'm going up and if you want to live, I suggest you come with me!"

Kyle turned and started up the stairs, his shotgun out and ready. Vance looked at Garrett and Annissina and shrugged before following him. Anni had turned and started to follow but Garrett held her back. She shot him a concerned glance, which he answered with one finger.

"Shhh." He signed. "two minutes."

That's how long before he would leave. Or was it the time before they got attacked? Annissina was never perfectly sure.

Thirty seconds passed, Vance and Kyle were on the next floor and working at opening a door. Garrett was lounging against a railing.

One minute, the door was open and the footsteps of the two men could be heard above them.

A minute and a half, A screech is heard downstairs and Anni readies her weapon. Garrett stands up and starts to walk downstairs.

Two minutes. Exactly two minutes after they left Kyle and Vance run down the stairs past Anni, a mob of infected following them. The infected poured from the stairs like a tsunami and Anni jumped over the railing without hesitation. Below, Garrett braced himself and caught her just as Kyle and Vance ran by.

"How did you know they were upstairs!?" Kyle screamed back.

"There were boomer trails leading up!" Garrett yelled as he ran with Annissina.

"Fuck! Boomer?!" Vance shouted, his voice drowned out by the screams of the undead creatures.

They reached a small landing with a half eaten corpse sprawled over it. Garrett just happened to see a small red tube in its hand with a light on it. A pipe bomb.

"Perfect! Keep running!" He called.

The others did as he said and, grabbing the bomb, he flipped a switch and threw the beeping object back up the stairs. The light flashed red and a loud beeping filled the stairwell as Garrett followed his friends down the stairs. The infected swarmed over the bomb and were distracted by the sound, trampling over each other to get at the object. Kyle stopped on the stairs and looked back at them.

"What are they doing?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it and keep running!" Anni replied.

Garrett vaulted over a banister landing next to Vance as Kyle brought up their rear. They were near the bottom of the building now as a large explosion marked the detonation of the pipe bomb. Anni was the first out of the stairwell, and so she looked back to make sure the others got out. Vance quickly followed and Garrett made sure Kyle was safe. Garrett had just managed to enter the doorway when a large chunk of the stairwell fell behind him. He looked back and Annissina gasped. Running through the gore and flames left in the wake of the explosion, a giant mob of infected were pouring down the stairs toward them, being led by a gigantic blob of rotten flesh. The boomer had managed to avoid being destroyed by the explosion due to the sheer number of fetid corpses that had been shielding it.

It waddled down the stairs with impressive speed and a gurgling sound was heard as it came closer. The creature screeched at the group and a stream of disgusting, stinking fluid was spewed across the doorway. Garrett had managed to duck, but Anni and Kyle were covered by the sticky fluid.

"AH!!!" Kyle screamed as the fluid got into his eyes and blinded him.

"Nasty!" Anni shouted.

Garrett and Vance opened fire on the mob and mowed down a good number of them before the stairwell gave way with a loud crash and blocked the doors. Behind them the sounds of crunching limbs and pained howls were growing louder. Footsteps were rushing toward them from the outside.

"Shit... It's the bile!" Garrett shouted.

Anni and Kyle started to wipe what they could of the disgusting sludge off of their clothes. Garrett and Vance worked to barricade their position with an almost militaristic efficiency, barring doors and blocking windows. Vance tried to pass the time by talking to Garrett.

"So Garrett? What did you do before Hell came to Earth?" He asked.

Silence.

"What? You mute now?" He got irritated.

"No." Garrett replied. "I just like to... collect my thoughts before I speak." He looked around the room and made sure that the room was adequately secured. "Well, that's the best we are going to get."

"So..." Vance pressed.

He looked at Kyle and Annissina. "Hurry up guys. They'll be here soon."

Vance was getting frustrated. "HEY! I was talking to you!"

Garrett sighed. "I didn't do anything special before this."

"That's a lie." Vance said. "I want to know more about you. Surely you weren't always this paranoid."

"Actually... he was." Annissina said. She had cleaned the sludge from her jacket and walked over. "I remember even when we were children he was always looking over his shoulder."

She smiled at him and he gave her a half grin back.

"Seriously?" Vance coughed roughly. "Well, ain't that some shit."

"Fuck...and I just thought you were a zombie freak." Kyle chimed. He too had cleaned himself and wandered back to the group.

Garrett shrugged and walked to a door. He cracked it open just enough to see and then shut it again.

"We have trouble." He said. "The blast doors are just down the hall."

"Well, that sounds good actually." Vance stated. "What's the trouble?"

"The trouble is, there's a witch right outside the door." He pointed at the door. "The mob doesn't know we are in here yet, but they will if the witch screams."

Kyle laughed so hard he thought he would piss himself. "You think that's gonna stop me?!" He kicked the door open with a loud bang and sprinted next to the witch.

Garrett tried to stop him but couldn't as Kyle raised his shotgun level with the witch's head and pulled the trigger. The creatures brains were splattered over the floor before it had a chance to turn toward the group.

"Easy as pie." Kyle sneered.

"Easy? You could've gotten us..."

The sound of rushing feet cut him off.

"Shit! Get in the room! GO!" The four of them ran for the bright red door.

Just as they reached it, Garrett tripped. He rolled onto his back and started moving toward the door and Anni grabbed the collar of his shirt. She dragged him along as he kicked and shot at the infected biting and grabbing at his feet. His heavy boots were crushing faces and snapping necks with horrifying ease, as though he had done this before. Anni unloaded her pistol into the undead creatures and managed to drag him into the room. Kyle and Vance slammed the door shut with extreme difficulty, smashing a zombie's arm in the doorway.

They had found safety... for the moment.