George felt David pulling on his jacket, urging him to move. Where could they go, they were on a balcony three stories off the ground. Sighing, George relinquished himself to his fate. For an instant, he contemplated turning the knife on himself, but harrumphed and quickly decided against that course of action. Annoyance overtook George as David continued tugging on his jacket and yelling at him to move. He pushed David's hand away and turned back to the zombies. They were getting closer, it was like watching a river of molasses flow every steady towards him.
Suddenly, David grabbed George by his shoulders and forced him to turn around.
"What the hell are you doing? Either follow me, or stay and get eaten, it's up to you." David was already climbing over the railing. George couldn't fathom what he was doing, was he going to jump?
Before George could protest, David leaped from the railing and crossed his arms in front of his face. Glass shattered as David flew through the window to the room next door. He hit a desk and rolled off onto the floor. Without conscious thought, George was already climbing over the railing, his instincts carrying him the entire way. As he threw his leg over the railing, he saw something glimmer in the moon light. It was that thing that fell out of the owner's lap when he stood up. George's eyes went wide at the sudden realization. It was the key.
Halfway over the railing, George could hear David calling to him, telling him to jump. George hesitated a moment, judging how close the zombies were and if he could make it to the key. Reluctantly, George threw his leg back over the railing and despite David's cries ran with all he could towards the key. The first zombie lunged at George, but before it could make contact, George was already under the rotting arms of death. With his hands, he pushed off the backside of the zombie, propelling himself forward.
The second zombie didn't fare as well as the first; George shoved him to the side. Clumsily, the zombie fell through the little glass window, breaking the glass. George was on top of the key; he grabbed the key and shoved it in his pocket. When he looked up, another zombie was already on him. As the zombie toppled over, trying to pin George under its weight, George quickly tucked his legs to his chin and rolled to the left. With a clang, the zombie smacked its head against the railing.
His bounty now in hand, George dodged and weaved his way through the zombie hoard until he was back to the railing. As fast as he could, George threw both of his legs over the railing and looked at where he was going to go. As he leapt from the railing, he could feel hands brush his jacket.
The distance was too far, he wasn't going to make it.
Glass crunched under his foot as he landed on the windowsill. George flailed his hands around, trying to regain his balance and not plummet to the ground below. David reached through the window and grabbed George's pants to help him stabilize. Gracelessly, David pulled George through the window. As he fell through, George's foot was caught on the edge of the windowsill, causing him to stumble on the desk and fall on his savior.
"Gah!" David cried as George's shoulder slammed hard into his chest. George apologized as he scrambled to his feet. "What the hell did you go back for?"
Instead of answering, George pulled out the key and smiled. David returned the smile with a smug grin. "Well, I hope it was worth almost getting killed over."
"It will be if we can get back upstairs." George was sure that the zombies would take a while to get back through the owner's room, but wasn't sure if there were any stragglers outside.
"Yeah, we should be good." David said as he brushed the dust off of his overalls. George nodded and went for the door.
Outside, the break room sounded clear except for the noise coming from the owner's room. He slipped noiselessly through and went to his left, where the door to the upstairs was. As they reached the door, the zombies started to trickle out of the owner's room. David and George ran through the door and shut it behind them. David held the door closed and told George to go use the key, that he would meet them upstairs. Not wanting to waste the chance David was giving them, George bolted up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Mark stood in the doorway, with one of the bottles in his hand. George flew past him, key in hand yelling at everyone to follow
him. No one moved at first, but after seeing David holding the door at the bottom of the stairs began running to catch up with George.
It didn't take long for George to get to the forklift, but operating it was another matter. His hands were shaking so much that it was difficult for him to get the key lined up with the key hole. After a few seconds of failure, Cindy took the key and turned the forklift on; she put a hand on George's shoulder and flicked the switch to raise the platform. She smiled and quietly thanked George for going before climbing up the ladder.
In the distance, George could hear Mark yell something to David. A few seconds later, the sound of the door smashing against the adjacent wall echoed in the liquor room.
"Now Mark!" David screamed, followed closely by a deafening crash and a heart-stopping whoosh.
George ushered people up the ladder when he saw Mark and David come barreling around the corner waving George on.
"Go, go, go!" David was waving at George and screaming at the top of his lungs. From behind the corner another, louder whoosh whistled in the air. Flames sprayed out of the hallway that David and Mark had just run from. The flames licked at the ceiling and covered the walls. A solid concussion of air flattened George against the ladder and knocked both David and Mark flat on their faces. Not wanting to be around for any more explosions, George scrambled up the ladder as fast as possible.
Alyssa, in front of George, was serpentining on the shelves, reminding George of a large red snake. From below, David pushed Mark up the ladder before climbing up himself. The ventilation duct was not more than twenty feet away, but it seemed miles to George.
Another, smaller, blast found its way through the halls and into the area with the forklift, causing George's heart to stutter for a split second. The heat from the intense flames made the room feel like a sauna, and made the crawling that much more unbearable. When he reached a bend in the
shelves, he was suddenly over taken by a stitch in his side. His muscles stiffened and pain shot up along his stomach and into his chest. He pulled in air in ragged breaths, trying to keep moving and massage the ache in his side at the same time. Forcibly, he twisted his body, sending another breath taking shock of pain all the way through his body. George kept telling himself that he had to keep moving, if he didn't move then people behind him would die, he wasn't just moving for himself now.
He tried to push the pain from his mind as he now crawled on his side towards the ventilation duct that was only a few feet away. With his legs, he pushed his body, trying to do as little with his arms and upper body as he could.
Before long, the duct was upon him, he pushed as quickly as he could through the duct until he was on the other side. He shot up, ran to the wall, and bent over, clutching his side. Slowly, he rubbed the area, massaging his muscles until they became flexible again, maneuverable. Steadily, his breathing regulated and he felt a hand on his back. Cindy was standing next to him.
"Are you alright George?" Cindy moved her hand up and down his back, trying to comfort him. "That was a brave thing you did, I don't know if we'd be alive if someone didn't go and get that key."
A smile spread across her lips, it warmed his heart to see her smile. "It wasn't just me though, David was a big help, we both got the key."
"I know." She smiled again, leaving to walk up the stairs. George couldn't help follow her with his eyes. He felt another hand smack him in the back.
"Guess we did it, huh?" David said a small self-satisfied smile etched on his face.
"Yeah we did." George knew it was only the beginning, but he couldn't help but feel that he had somehow accomplished something monumental in that short little run to get the key. He had once again saved lives, he had done his job.
"Okay, the only way out is on the roof, we can get across to the next building, it's a short hop but we can make it." Cindy led them all through the doorway at the top of the stairs and out on to the roof.
The fresh air was exhilarating, it seemed to clear George's mind, it was nice to have something other than the stale air filled with the stench of rotting corpses. As George stretched, reaching to the sky trying to prevent any more cramps, he heard something that made him cringe.
A bird.