George stopped just short of the door, letting the others crowd around the door in the fashion that they had begun to become accustomed. Kevin stepped up next to the door where it would open so he could swing into the room and dispose of any zombies that might try to attack them. Alyssa twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open while Kevin and George swung into the room, splitting up as they moved into the cabin. George was at Kevin's side with the two women piling in behind them, all raising whatever weapons they had.
The cabin was empty, or at least empty of anything living or dead. Instantly, he let the messenger bag roll off his shoulder and began rifling through until he found what he was looking for. George stripped off his jacket and shirt, pouring a bit of rubbing alcohol on the long slits in his chest. Growling from the sharp pain, George put the cap on the bottle without replacing it completely; he would need it in a minute. Gingerly, George wrapped a bandage around his chest, covering all of the shallow cuts from the hyena. Leaning back on his heels, he looked at Yoko.
"Take your coat off." He said, panting slightly from the pain the alcohol caused.
"W..what?" Yoko's face turned red and she looked at the other two.
"Your coat, not your shirt, I know you got scratched, if I don't take care of it, it will get infected with bacteria I can kill, I can keep it from getting infected at least a little."
Yoko hesitantly stripped her coat off and rolled up her shirtsleeve to reveal three small, shallow gashes near her shoulder. George took the bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured a little on her cuts. Yoko took a sharp breath, but made no other sound while George placed a large bandage on the wound. He gave her a reassuring smile while he smoothed out the medical tape he placed on the edges of the bandage.
"Okay, so let's see what we can find then shall we?" George said as he clipped the messenger bag back up.
The cabin may have seemed bare of life, but it made up for it with almost everything else in the world cluttering the walls or piled up in haphazard piles on the floor. Different instruments for keeping the park running or measuring temperatures of both animals and their habitats were on tables and in small clusters near tables. A map of the park was stapled up on one of the walls near to a desk with a computer and a plethora of notebooks all filled with writing and some calculations for things George couldn't fathom. Off to one side of the cabin, a cabinet rested against the wall and next to that was a closet with a park ranger's jacket, which Kevin threw to Alyssa with a nod and a smile.
George looked around the room when they realized it was safe from any sort of zombie. He looked closely at the computer, only half expecting it might work. Pushing the power button and tapping the keyboard, the screen didn't change so he determined it must be dead. Like everything else in the city.
"Oh, what do we have here?" Kevin said behind George. When he turned around, George saw that Kevin was holding a large rifle and checking to see if it was loaded. "Ah, too bad, it's only got two shots, but maybe we can find some more around here somewhere." Kevin searched the cabinet and came back with a box of ammunition for the rifle, but it was only half-full with only four rounds.
"It's better than nothing I suppose." Alyssa said as she adjusted the jacket and gave Kevin and appreciative smile. "Do you think you can handle it?"
Kevin looked hurt, but hid the look quickly. "I think so, but I think I should share the wealth." He reached behind and took out the pistol he had and handed it to Yoko. "Can you handle that?"
Yoko looked at the pistol in her hand for a few moments before nodding woodenly. George was sure she would only use it as a last resort, but he hoped she would be able to shoot the zombies and not any of them. She unzipped a compartment in her backpack and slipped the pistol in, zipped the bag back up and swung it on around again.
"Is there anything else we need?" Kevin looked at George but worded it for anyone.
George stroked his chin thoughtfully and looked around the cabin before answering. "I had hoped we might find some medical supplies in here, but I see that they are going to be few and far between in this city, we'd better watch that we don't need too many too fast."
"We could hit up another hospital if you think we need them that badly." Alyssa suggested, but George could hear the hesitance in her voice.
"No, no, I'm not that needy of supplies, I was only hoping to maybe get enough to feel more comfortable about our situation."
Kevin grunted his understanding and hefted the rifle up onto his shoulder, gripping the strap near the barrel of the gun to prevent it from swinging too far. He led the way to the door, but stopped when a soft tinny noise made its way into the silence of the cabin.
"…making….stand….po…station."
"Did you hear that?" Alyssa asked, the rest nodded and looked around the room.
"..epeat…king a…poli…tion"
Within a few seconds, they found the source of the noise. A large, table-sized, radio receiver was crackling slightly louder now. Kevin set the rifle down as Alyssa started to fiddle with the knobs on the radio, trying to yield a clearer reception. The message came and went, but after a few attempts, they pieced together the message.
"So, they're making a stand at the police station." Kevin stated flatly. "That sounded like Marvin, but it must have been recorded. Who knows how long that thing has been playing?"
"It couldn't have been long, that just kicked on now." Yoko said, pointing at the radio. "Even if it's recorded, someone must have put it back on."
"It could also be set to go off in five, ten, fifteen minute intervals automatically. They could also have it set to go on all frequencies. My point is that, as much as I want to go back to the station and help out, it could have been overrun by now. I don't think it's smart to go running into that station. Especially if there are a lot of people there, who knows how long it takes to turn into…" Kevin trailed off, looking at George and Yoko wishing he had stopped his rant earlier.
"We're not dead yet Kevin, and who knows, we may all be infected with whatever is causing all of this." George wished he could be as certain as he sounded, he still could feel something changing within his body, but he didn't know if it was all just psychological or not. Whatever was happening to him, he prayed that he could find a cure before he turned into one of those monsters.
"You think we could all be infected, even if we weren't bitten or scratched?" Kevin asked.
"We don't know that it isn't airborne, if it is we just might have a natural immunity to it, or a longer incubation period. Regardless, we all need to find a cure and preferably sooner than later." George paused and looked at the other three. "Now, I'm not sure about the rest of you, but the police station sounds like a good idea to me. I would like to go there, I know the risks, but I think if we had the entire police force behind us, we might be able to survive longer that just alone. I can tell that, at the very least, it takes longer than an hour to change, so we could tell if anyone was sick and we could quarantine him or her, or something. However, I'd like to have more guns than we have now and be able to count on people who know how to use them better than myself."
George paused to take a breath, finally realizing that the others were staring at him with a mixture of contemplation for his suggestion and surprise. Kevin opened his mouth to protest, but shut it quickly when Alyssa shot him a look.
"How do you think we should get there? Walk?" She said scratching at her arm, George hoped it was only an itch.
"No, the train runs near the police station, we would have to go forward to go back, but I think it's the safest way. The Olney train station is only a few blocks from the police station."
"So, we have to stay in the zoo." Yoko said, looking disappointed in his methodology now that it was fully revealed.
"Sadly, yes but we just have to keep doing what we've been doing. Nothing has changed in that sense, just our destination." George thumbed the holed grip on his pistol as he waited for their decision.
"Do you think we could get out of the city with the train?" Alyssa looked at Kevin for her answer. Kevin shrugged.
"I don't think I'm the one to tell you that, we should ask Jim."
George put the pistol in its holster on his waist. "Then we should wait to bring this up with the others, let's just get done with what we're supposed to get done, okay?"
In a milling mass, the others shuffled towards the door mumbling that they agreed. Kevin was the first out, raising his new rifle as if he expected more of the hyenas to pop out of nowhere. After a few quick swings and turns, Kevin moved on, satisfied that nothing was waiting for them to move. Their footsteps echoed in the silence that swam around them.
The lion's den was just up ahead around the far wall of the cabin, a set of double doors announced the entrance with the relief of two lions prowling among trees, circling each other. George just hoped that the lions were somewhere else or at least dead somehow. Stacking up against the doors, the survivors readied themselves to open the doors and slip into the lion's den.
George pulled down on the knob, pushed inward and slammed his knee hard against the door. It refused to budge no matter how hard he pushed. George almost threw his whole weight into trying to either break or push aside whatever obstruction was barring the door from opening, until he realized how much noise that could make.
"Damn it, we're going to have to find another way around." George let go of the door and comforted an aching knee. "Any suggestions, Kevin did Eric say anything about another way in?"
Kevin shook his head while stroking the stubble on his chin. "No, he just said this door would lead to the lion's den, nothing about another way in besides this door here."
"Maybe we can climb over?" George asked, scratching his head on consternation.
"That's probably not a good idea, what if there's a lion or something else waiting for us to fall into their mouths. No, I say we just look for another way around; they can't have only one entrance. There must be a back way somewhere; we just have to find it."
"Yeah, and how long will that take, we might as well just go look for the others and see if Eric can give us a key to unlock the door. I don't think we have that kind of time, and really I think we can just look over to see if anything is waiting to eat us."
"Yeah, I agree that we can climb over carefully but what about safely? That bird already attacked you and you've seen how high those hyenas can jump, the person who goes over would be a sitting duck for any kind of that attack. I just don't want any of us taking any needless risks." Kevin must have been taking to his position as a police officer a little more seriously since the police station call, but George had to agree with him. Although, he didn't want to take the chance of having to spend hours looking around the zoo aimlessly trying to find another way into the den if he didn't have to.
"What about you two, can you think of-" George turned to Alyssa and Yoko, but stopped short of continuing what he was going to say. Alyssa stood off to one side, looking around the cabin a bit farther off and Yoko was nowhere to be found. "Where's Yoko?"
"I'm over here," Yoko stumbled out of a small copse of bushes, landing on her hands and knees. She let out a breathy groan as she got back to her feet. "I think I found something that might help."
Yoko dusted herself off before setting off into the small copse again. George followed her, while Kevin held the bushes apart for Alyssa. She led them a few feet in and followed the wooden fence until they came to a small hole in the fence that was only big enough to fit and adult lying on their stomach.
"I think it leads into the den." Yoko seemed pleased to have found it as quickly as she did.
"I don't know, I still think it would be just as dangerous as climbing over." Kevin folded his arms and a frown creased his face, physically exemplifying his stolidity.
"This seems safer," Alyssa spoke finally. "We can easily climb back in and if anything tries to come through, we have the advantage of a smaller opening to funnel all of the animals or zombies into our line of sight."
Kevin's frown deepened, but he didn't say anything. After a few moments of considering Alyssa, he sighed and gave a short nod. "Fine, but I'm going through first, I don't need you hurt anymore than you already are George, and it's my responsibility to see you all safely through this."
Alyssa tsked, "Fine by me, you can be the hero, let's just get back on that train okay? God I hope it goes out of the city."
Kevin slid the rifle around his body so that it rested, pinned between his shoulder blades and lowered himself onto his stomach. In a few deft movements, Kevin was wriggling into the small opening, shifting his body to squeeze through with the rifle. He moved like a snake, curling his back and arching it, as if he were threading a needle with his whole body.
Suddenly, he stopped and used his toes to inch himself forward slowly. Kevin remained motionless for a minute or two before crawling out fully and whispering back into the hole. "It's safe, it doesn't look like there's anything even moving in here. It's not the lion's den though; we're still going to have to find a way into there."
Alyssa pushed through the hole next, followed by Yoko and finally George. The hole was tighter than he imagined, he didn't understand how Kevin had been able to fit through as quickly as he did, especially with the rifle on his back. George felt his stomach, tapping it; he would have to go for more runs after this was over. If this was ever over…
Looking around showed that Kevin was right, they would have to find another way into the lion's den, but at least where they were was safe. George walked past a dilapidated merchant's cart and into the larger courtyard beyond. Shops lined the outer edge of the courtyard, which went around in a circle, coming together at two entrances to the park. In the middle, separating the two sides of the courtyard was a large circular fountain, split in two by a thick walkway. In the center of the walkway were two lions on opposite sides of the walkway. Both were facing the same direction, one into the walkway, and the other facing the stores. That was odd, George wasn't a landscape expert, but he thought there should be some sort of symmetry with the two. Shaking his head, George walked around the courtyard with the others, checking the doors to the stores.
"Anything?" Alyssa called out to everyone. She received a mishmashed murmur of variations of the same "no." Putting a hand on her hip and clearing a loose strand of hair from her eye, she looked around the courtyard. "Well, how are we going to get to the lion's den?"
"We could break into one of these stores, I'm sure we could find a back door or something. One of these stores has to be an employee entrance to a feeding area or something. They'd have it marked off though, so no one could just walk into the den." Kevin seemed certain about his suggestion, going far enough to peer through a few windows as he spoke. "George, you and I will split up the stores while Alyssa and Yoko look around out here some more, okay?"
George was not so sure, something told him that Kevin was wrong, but he couldn't place it. Regardless of George's reservations, he went along and started to look through the stores for any signs of a back door or employee entrance. The first store he broke into, using his jacket to soften the force on his arm as he broke the door's display window in with his elbow, sold food for the various animals in the zoo. Tubs of dry pellets filled the area around the cash register and buckets of feed for various animals were stacked on shelves around the store. The only other door in the room led to the storeroom in the back with more pellets and snacks for the animals.
Stepping over the broken glass, George left the store and made his way to the next store and the next, each store almost identical as the first. George was about to give up, but decided to try one more store before telling Kevin it wasn't worth the effort. His elbow was beginning to throb from using it to smash in the windows and he didn't want to have to deal with the pain.
Luckily, the store George had chosen was unlocked, so he opened the door and slipped in quietly. This wasn't exactly a store from the looks of it, it looked more like a storage unit the zoo built into the where zoo employees could get food for the animals and supplies for handling the zoo. The clutter around the door forced George to step over over-turned boxes and crates. George slid past a large bucket of brooms and mops and nearly hit a shelf full of cleaning supplies before he reached the other end of the building. With a huff, George straightened his coat and peered around a shelf in front of him. He could just barely see another door.
Grumbling, George found some good footing between a shelf that had fallen down and the contents that spilled from the fall. He almost tripped three times before getting close enough to the door to stop dead in his tracks.
The body of a zoo employee was lying just beyond the doorway. The man's face was mutilated enough to obscure any resemblance of a human being, the face was crushed inwards, fragments of bone and bits of teeth poking through the skin where jagged slashes didn't rend the flesh apart. Blood pooled beneath the body and spread outwards in a circle covering the ground. On the wall, streaks of blood and bloody handprints marred the white paint and ran in thin rivulets down towards the floor.
Covering his mouth with a hand, George looked away and fought the urge to vomit. He thought he was used to seeing this amount of gore, but his stomach contracted in heaves. Thankfully, he hadn't had anything to eat the entire night or else he would have left the contents on the floor.
Something in the back of his mind stopped his heaves. Why was the blood still running? Why hadn't it dried? Fear seized his throat as a small cry was about to escape. He heard the noise then, the soft scraping and gnashing of teeth. Blood squirting out as flesh was ripped from bone.
The lioness stepped into view, blood dripping from the fur around her mouth. A bony paw clawed at the man's face again, peeling the remaining flesh away from his face in thin strips. She pushed her paw against the corpse's head and leaned down, cracking the skull open with a sickening crunch. Lowering her head, the lioness nibbled at the brains that oozed from the cracks in the skull.
George backed up slowly, trying to avoid notice as he stepped carefully around debris. It was taking him nearly twice as long to get around the debris because of the extra caution he was taking, but he was avoiding most of the clutter this way. Step after heart pounding step, George moved his way quietly through the room, praying that the lioness would take long in finishing her meal.
He looked back and saw the door was only a few feet away. When he looked back, the lioness was gone.
Shit.
Where did she go? George stole a few quick glances around but he couldn't find her anywhere. Had she left the room and was stalking him? If she were, wouldn't she have taken him by now? Too many uncertainties made George quicken his step. Unfortunately, with the added speed he carelessly knocked into one of the shelves.
A hollow scraping pierced the silence, growing louder and softer. George looked up and saw one of the metal canisters of some cleaning spray spinning unsteadily. He reached out to stop it from falling, but missed and it plummeted towards the floor. He reached out with the other hand and caught it before it hit the floor. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, George put the can on another shelf and looked back to where the lioness had been. To his surprise, she was back again, eating some exposed muscle around the corpse's bicep. He let out a second sigh of relief that she hadn't noticed him and was still occupied by her meal. He would have to warn the others when he…
"I found it!" Alyssa screamed from just outside. George froze; his heart was in his throat and his stomach was roiling with fear. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
The lioness paused just inches from taking another bite and looked back towards the door where George was standing. Her eyes narrowed and a low reverberating growl started in the back of her throat. Falling backwards, George wasted no time in running for the door. He heard a loud roar from behind him and the sound of shelves crashing to the ground.
The lioness, despite her immense size, gracefully leaped onto the tops of shelves and halved the distance between her and George before George could even get his wits in order. He was still about two paces from the door when the shelf next to him knocked him onto his stomach. The shelf smacked heavily against the wall, forming a shield between him and the lioness. George spun around to lay on his back a moment before the lioness pounced onto the shelf.
A giant paw scratched through the gaps between the crosspieces. Razor sharp claws swatted furiously at the air inches above George's face. He lay there too stunned to move, afraid of giving the lioness enough room to sink her claws into his face.
With a metallic groan, the shelf started to bend inward slightly, snapping George out of his trance. Carefully, but quickly, George pushed himself towards the door, only getting his shirt sliced by the claws twice. The shelf provided enough cover to get him safely through the door without the lioness killing him.
As soon as the door swung closed, George scrambled to his feet. "LION! LION!"
George flailed his arms at the others standing around Alyssa, examining the coin. Not even a second later, the thin wall broke open in an explosion of plaster and wood. The lioness rolled onto the stone walkway in front of the shops and easily jumped back to her feet at the end of the roll. George thought he heard Kevin curse, but it was too late, the dance with death had begun.