"I have to use the restroom," Bishop said.

"What? Now?"

"Yeah."

Arelia stared at him in utter disbelief. "I think I'm going to kill you and save you the time."

"I'm serious, Arelia."

"All right, there's one nearby. But be quick about it." She led him to the men's room and leaned against the rot-covered wall outside patiently. He opened the door and stepped through, then paused and looked back at Arelia.

"You really should come in with me," he said. He watched her turn her pale and cold face toward him, eyebrows lifting slightly.

"Don't tell me you need help."

"No, no, it's not that. But there are things outside, and I don 't want to get separated from you."

"You won't. I'll be right out here. I can take care of myself."

"I don't doubt it."

"Look, I'm not going to sit in there while you take a piss."

"Haven't you ever watched horror movies?"

Arelia considered this.

"Good point." She followed him into the men's room and stood with her back to him, the smoke from her cigarette filling the room and obscuring her vision of the wall. There were no stalls in the bathroom, save for one at the very end. Bishop used one of the open urinals stained with blood and pus, neither of which he was very happy to get close to. He could hear Arelia tapping her foot impatiently. When he was finished, he went over to wash his hands in the sink. Upon turning it on, the faucet spurted out dark, dirty water for a few moments before slowly filtering into clean water. He washed his hands and glanced over at Arelia, who was staring at the end stall silently.

"Find something interesting?" he asked with a small smile.

"You tell me," she responded, indicating to him that he should take a look. Bishop walked over and opened the stall door, jumping back as a hanging corpse greeted him with staring, lifeless eyes and a mouth gaping in agony. Its purple, coated tongue lolled over its teeth and a yellow-white slime dribbled out over the lower lip.

"Oh, God," he whispered.

Arelia picked up a sawed-off, double barreled shotgun off the floor and handed it to Bishop. "You got your gun," she said. She watched as he looked it over admiringly. "There's some writing on the wall." Bishop glanced at it.


Leonard Rhine - The Monster Lurks


"What does that mean?" he wondered aloud.

"It looks like a book title and the author."

"Didn't we pass a library a while back?"

"I think we might have," said Arelia. "I'll check the map." When she was done, she nodded. "Yeah, it was on the second floor."

"Great. Let's head for it, shall we?"

"Just a second." Arelia took a deep breath during her pause, then let it out with a sigh. "Look, I know I gave you a hard time about needing to use the restroom, but would you mind if I used the ladies' room before we go?" Bishop smirked slightly, puffed his chest out a little, and shook his head.

"Naw, it's okay. It's right around here, right?"

"Yeah. I'll only be a minute." He followed her out the door to the ladies' room, but she pushed him out when he tried to follow her inside. "You may stay out here," she said firmly.

"But what about not getting separated?"

"I'm not afraid of losing you. Besides, nothing is going to happen. I'll be right out," she assured him.

When she had thoroughly checked for corpses, relieved herself, and had washed her hands, Arelia walked out the door and found a dark, empty hallway. Bishop was gone.

"Bishop?" she called. No answer. Oh, God. He was right. Oh, God, I shouldn't have gone in alone, oh, God...

She tried the men's room again, but found only shotgun and handgun ammunition. Taking the two, she walked back out into the hall and walked up and down it, searching for the police officer. He's just playing a trick on you, she thought. He's just getting you back for being so damn cocky.

Her search ended with the discovery of two stairwells, one leading up, the other leading down. She looked at her map and then at the layout of the hallway. How in the world did I get up to the second floor?

She went back in and out of the ladies' room, and this time Bishop was waiting patiently, if sulking a little. It was all Arelia could do not to throw her arms around his neck and kiss his face in relief.

"You ready now?" he asked somberly.

"Quite," she replied. They made their way to one of the teacher's rooms and killed two roaches and a zombie child after Arelia gave Bishop the shotgun ammunition. In the next room, they found a table with blue telephones on it, but nothing of use.

"Weird," Bishop said, and went to the door.

One of the phones suddenly began ringing. Both Arelia and Bishop nearly jumped out of their skins. Arelia looked at the ringing phone.

"That's impossible," she said. "There's no cord to the receiver."

"There's no cord from the phone to an outlet, either," Bishop noticed. He picked up the receiver and listened intently for a long ten seconds. Silence. He handed it to Arelia. "I don't hear anything." She took the receiver and put it to her ear. Three seconds passed. Five.

"Mommy?" The terrified voice was sudden and unexpected. Arelia brought Bishop closer so he could hear the young girl on the other end. "Mommy, help me! Where are you?"

"Talk to her," he urged. She wet her lips, unsure of what to say, suddenly dry-mouthed.

"It's going to be all right, little girl. I just need to know where you are." There was a click. "Hello? Hello?" A busy tone. She waited a while, then hung up the phone. "Damn!"