Outbreak

Chapter 2

The elevator came to a stop when it hit the ground floor of the apartment building. With a small metallic clink the doors slowly opened, revealing a small hallway to Cindy and Kevin. Both of them walked out of the cramped elevator and into the musky hallway of the apartment building.

Cindy walked ahead of Kevin. She was trying to forget about Mark, she knew that if she wanted to survive she had to put that memory behind her. She knew she could not survive if she let it eat away at her.

As Cindy rounded a corner a female zombie jumped on her. The woman was wearing a jogging outfit and her brown hair was tied back in a pony tail. She grabbed onto Cindy's shoulders and leaned forward. Cindy grunted and pushed her right arm up, managing to break out of the woman's death grip. She quickly raised the pistol in her hand and stuck it in the woman's mouth that was gapped wide open. Once the gun was inside Cindy turned her head away and closed her eyes tightly. She slid her slender finger over the trigger and pulled it.

The gun made a loud discharge that rattled Cindy's ear drums. She felt a light spray of gun powder sprinkle over her cheek and heard the splatter of brain, blood, and bits of bone that had shot out of the back of the woman's and onto the wall. The back of her head was almost completely blown off.

After the noises were over the zombie slumped down to the ground and laid there, unmoving. Kevin had been standing behind Cindy and once he saw the zombie fall he ran past her and towards the front door to the apartments.

"Come on!" he yelled back at her.

Cindy lingered a few seconds, thinking about who the woman used to be. If she had a family, or friends, or a pet. After staring for a few seconds at the bloody mess Cindy had created of her she ran after Kevin toward the front door.

The warm breeze was warm against Cindy's face and it seemed almost refreshing. As Cindy looked around she saw the destruction, the chaos, and the horror that the city had become. There were fires burning all over the place and she could see more of those zombies in the distance.

Her train of thought was interrupted when Kevin called over to her. She looked to her right where Kevin was standing next to a police officer wearing a patrol uniform. A smile spread across Cindy's face and she quickly ran down the steps of the stoop that she was standing on and over to the patrol car where Kevin and the officer were standing.

"Who's this?" the officer asked Kevin.

"That's Cindy," Kevin answered. "We had another person with us, a security officer named Mark. But they got him."

"Sorry to hear that. You guys are lucky, I was about to close off this sector of the city, no other survivors had shown up. But we need to hurry, they broke through our barricade up ahead and they should be here any second," the officer said to them. "Hey, could you push that car over there next to the other one to form a barricade? It won't hold them for along but it will buy us a little time. Oh, and I got some ammo if either of you has a gun."

"I have one!" Cindy said, almost excitedly. She held up her gun and presented it to the police officer, who himself was holding a shotgun. He grabbed it out of her hand and looked at it.

"It's a 9mm Beretta. There should be some 9mm parabellum rounds in the truck of my cruiser, your welcome to take as many as you want. I don't need them. Do you know how to how to reload it?"

"Um…nope," Cindy replied.

"Just press this little button here to eject the clip, the put the other clip that you want to reload it with inside. Make sure it clicks. Then pull the slide back and your ready to go."

The officer handed the gun back to Cindy. She reached her hand out and took it. "Thanks for everything."

Cindy walked away from the officer and over to the trunk of the car. It was open and she bent down to look into it. Inside she saw several clips of ammo. She reached in and found 5 clips laying in the bottom of the trunk. Once she had taken them she shoved them in the pocket on the front of her apron. It was rather big and easily held all 5 clips.

Kevin walked over to Cindy and tapped her shoulder to get her attention. Cindy spun around and looked Kevin in the eyes.

"Cindy, I'm going to push the car over to make the barricade, I need you to keep them off my back while I do that," Kevin said to her.

Cindy nodded. "Okay."

"Good. They are getting close, so get ready."

Kevin ran over to a stalled police car and began to push it very slowly. Cindy walked forward a little bit to get in better position. She could see the zombies approaching slowly but steadily. She was ready now.

Cindy raised her gun and pointed it at a zombie that was nearing the parked police car and the one that Kevin had begun to slowly push forward. With one eye closed she moved the gun around until it was in line with the creatures head. After finding the perfect spot she pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed through the air and right by the zombies head. Cindy quickly aimed again and the fired just as quickly. This time the bullet connected. There was a small spray of blood and the zombie fell to the ground. She looked over at Kevin, he was still moving the car with all his strength.

The next couple of zombies to reach the police cars where dropped with two well aimed bullets to the head. Cindy found herself getting used to holding the gun and pulling the trigger. The recoil had become natural and she found it almost second nature now.

Kevin finished moving the car and quickly ran back over to the cop.

"Done," Kevin said.

"Good, now lets get out of here, we don't have a lot of time before they break through that. Follow me," the cop said to Kevin. He walked away from the cars and the stoop of the apartment building and over to an archway with 2 large wooden double doors. He pulled a key chain out of his pocket and picked one of the keys. Then he slid the key into the lock and turned it. There was a small click the padlock fell the ground with a bang. With one kick the doors flew open and he ran in, shortly followed by Cindy and Kevin.

The door led to anther ally way with yet another pair of large wooden doors. The cop ran up to them, but this time there was no lock on this side. He pushed the doors franticly, but they would not budge.

"Shit, they are locked from the other side…" he commented. "Cover my back, I'm going to have to blow them open."

With that the cop pulled his shotgun up and aimed it at the door. His finger slid over the trigger and he pulled it. There was a very loud BANG that echoed through the alley and the shotgun discharged. The wooden door rattled, but it did not budge. With every shell the cop pumped into the door it grew more and more broken. After seven shells the door still stood and the cop was forced to reload.

Cindy and Kevin were standing in the middle of the alley, keeping their eye on the other door, making sure that if zombies tried to come in they would have a fair warning. They heard the cop reloading and became a little nervous. And then the door slowly slid open and zombies began to pour in.

"Shit, they must have gotten through the barricade," Kevin said. He leaned back and looked at the cop, who was still blasting away at the door. "Hurry up! They're coming!"

"Should I shoot?" Cindy asked Kevin. She had her gun raised, but her finger was relaxed, hesitant to pull the trigger.

"Not yet, the doors almost done. If they get to close, though, feel free," Kevin answered.

They both stood there, watching the group of zombies slowly approaching. They heard the man reloading again, tediously loading one shell at a time. Kevin ran over to the door and Cindy slowly back up to follow him.

"Here, let me do it!" Kevin yelled. He raised his foot and then kicked the door. The wood splintered and the door flew open, revealing another alleyway ahead of them. "Come on!" he said to Cindy. She turned around and the three of them ran through the door.

On the other side of the door was another alley way. Next to the alley was a small canal filled with water. The alley was blocked on the other end was blocked by a huge oil tanker that had crashed.

"You guy's stay here and hold the door closed, I'm going to check up ahead," the cop said. He held his shotgun firmly in his hand as he walked forward down the alley. Cindy and Kevin stood in front of the door, pressing up against it with their backs in hopes that no zombies would break through.

The cop was walking along a fence that blocked the side of the alley. Cindy and Kevin heard a loud crash as a female zombie broke through the fence. She leapt onto the police officer. They both crashed to the ground, the cops shotgun went sprawling across the alley way. The zombie leaned her mouth down to reach his throat; the cop resisted by pressing his hand against her chin to push her back. Other zombies began to flow in through the fence and they all crowded around the cop. As the cop fought off the female zombie several more zombies bent down. The first one bit onto his arm and ripped a piece of flesh off. The cop screamed out in pain and writhed on the cold concrete. More zombies latched onto him and began to devour him slowly, ripping pieces of his arms and legs off before finally reaching his neck and ripping that off.

Cindy had turned her head away from the sight, to horrified to watch. Kevin had taken the opportunity to run over to the shotgun that was lying on the ground. He quickly picked it up and pointed it at the zombies. There must have been 15 zombies all together, crowding around the "body" of the cop, and more where beginning to come in. He looked over to Cindy.

"Cindy! Come here!" he shouted.

Cindy looked over and stared at the zombies for a few seconds. After taking in the gruesome sight she quickly dashed over to Kevin, who was standing just outside of the group of zombies. Kevin had the shotgun pointed at the group just in case one of the zombies came at them.

"Cindy, I need you to turn that valve on the gas tanker to spill gas everywhere, okay?"

"Okay!" Cindy said.

Cindy ran over to the oil tanker and quickly spun the valve around. Gas leaked out of the tanker. The gas ran down the alley, covering all the ground that was in the way of the stream. Cindy backed up so that none of it would get on her shoes. She looked over to Kevin and nodded. Kevin pulled a lighter out of his pocket with his freehand and flicked it open. With a swift flick of his finger he lit it. The flame ignited and burned at the top of the lighter.

"Jump!" Kevin yelled to Cindy.

Cindy turned around and jumped into the water of the canal. Above the canal Kevin threw the lighter into the spill of oil, and then quickly jumped into the canal himself. The oil ignited and torched the alley. The zombies quickly lit on fire and burned slowly.

Kevin swam over to Cindy who was treading water.

"Come on, we can climb up in there," Cindy said. Kevin looked up and saw a large hole that lead to an underground canal under the city.

"Good thinking," he said to her.

They both swam over to the hole and climbed up into it. The hole lead to the canal, which looked much like a sewer. They walked forward down a large dark tunnel. It smelled musky and it was covered in dirt and cobwebs.

"Come on, there's got to be a way up somewhere around here," Cindy said as she ran forward down the tunnel. Kevin followed closely behind.

After about a minute of jogging they came across a ladder leading to the underside of a manhole.

"Here we are…" Cindy said. She walked up to the ladder and began to climb it with Kevin close behind her.

They climbed until Cindy reached the manhole. Cindy reached her hand up and pressed on the cover. After adding a little strength the cover raised up. She slid her arm over and the manhole cover fell to the ground above. She climbed up through the manhole and onto the ground.

When Cindy reached the top she stood in awe of what she saw. There was fire everywhere, fire and zombies. She didn't know exactly where she was, but as she looked around she saw the Apple Inn.

The surrounding area was completely wrecked and destroyed. There was no was to get out on the streets, the only open place was the hotel.

"Come on, we have to go in the hotel and get out through the back exit," Kevin said as he looked around also.

"Yeah," Cindy replied.

They both turned around and ran towards the front door of the hotel.