Note: Yeah, I know the first four chapters were painfully short. I'm trying to make them bigger from now on. So rock on.
It was like the rest of them, but…different. One of its arms had stretched out like bubble gum, thinning out before the fingertips touched the floor. The mouth was missing a lower lip, and there simply was no nose. A white hospital gown revealed blue veins, dramatically enhanced by the light of the fire outside, shining through the glass in the windows. The burning men from outside pressed themselves against the doors and windows, casting dramatic shadows across the thing's body.
All in all, it was quite a scary moment.
The thing roared at him. The one upper lip flared up, revealing more blackened gums and browning teeth. Matt pressed himself against the door, causing the people outside to renew their efforts to break in.
The creature pulled its elongated arm back, and flung it towards Matt's head. Flinging his head to the right, Matt barely dodged the thing's hand, noting that the fingernails were grown out to resemble claws. As the monster withdrew his arm, it pulled out a small chunk of the metal door. A woman from outside tried to squeeze through the hole, ripping her skin and parts of her flesh off on the jagged metal edges.
Matt stood up, and dizzy as he was, bolted past the creature. It spun its hand around, hitting Matt in the right arm with the back of its hand. Matt was knocked into the left wall, and screamed as his arm flooded with pain. The monster walked towards him, slow as the burning people. The woman had gotten into the lobby as well, vertical gashes in her body showing where the jagged metal bits in the hole were and ripping her clothes to shreds.
Trying to shelve the pain in his arm, Matt simultaneously crawled towards a heavy wooden desk and stumbled to his feet. He rolled over it and fell onto the floor behind it just as the thing whipped its arm again. Matt landed on his injured arm and screamed in pain. Ignoring it, he searched for a weapon, or at least a shield.
He didn't succeed. But he found a door.
Matt crawled away from the desk, noting that he was behind the reception counter. The door was about twenty feet away. Matt just hoped it wasn't locked.
And then the thing, obviously smarter than one would think, slammed its arm against the counter. It ripped in half, the farther part slamming against the wall, blocking the door. A huge roar sounded as this took place. The creature was now angry.
Well, didn't that just top off a fun morning?
The woman who had crawled in the hole stumbled over to the wreckage of the counter. Obviously much less off in the mental department than the creature, she tripped over the broken part. Not bothering to rise, she pulled herself along the ground towards Matt. A trail of blood marked her path on the floor behind her, like a snail.
Matt stood up, then ran back to the desk he jumped over. He pulled out drawers in a frenzy, oblivious to where the creature or the woman were. Glancing up briefly, he saw that a man had crawled through the hole as well, with another on the way.
In his mind, Matt was fighting a whole different battle. His body wanted to surrender to fear and let the creature take him. His mind was on a different track, though. Ideas and strategies popped in and out of his head, not really making sense. Too busy to consciously think about what he was doing, Matt jumped back over the desk, and walked slowly to the middle of the lobby.
The creature noticed this, and turned towards him. Without a dramatic showdown, it swung its long arm at Matt. It flew over his head as Matt threw himself to the ground. Getting up immediately, Matt ran towards it before it could swing again. Balling his fist, Matt gave the creature the old right hook.
It stumbled a little with the force of the blow. Matt screamed in pain, but backhanded the creature with the same arm. This time, he hit its mouth, breaking the filthy teeth and getting saliva on his hand. In a frenzy now, Matt kicked the creature in the stomach, then punched him again. Pain shot through Matt's joints, but he didn't really notice. The sound of his screams faded as he became fully engrossed in the fight. The pain dulled, and he didn't even think about the fact that he was touching this thing with his bare skin.
Matt forced the thing backwards with furious punches to the face. Close to the wreckage of the counter now, Matt jumped up on the unbroken half of the counter, and kicked the thing in the head with his heel. It roared, and stepped back. Flailing it's arm wildly, it accidentally tripped Matt. He fell behind the counter, and came face to face with the woman, still struggling on the floor. With a moan, she leaned towards his neck.
And her brains blew out, splattering on the floor behind her.
Pushing the corpse off of him, Matt turned around on the floor.
A terrified-looking teenage girl in Goth clothes and makeup stood in the doorway behind the wreckage. Not saying a word or getting up, Matt pointed in the general direction of the creature. Whirling her head around, the girl aimed her gun and shot it in the head as the arm started towards her. The thing died instantly, its arm stopping just an inch short of the girl's face.
The girl then aimed her gun at Matt.
"NO!" he shouted hoarsely.
"Have…you been bitten?" she asked in an equally hoarse voice, sounding as if she were on the brink of breaking down.
"No." Matt paused. "Why?"
"That's how they get you." The girl suddenly burst into tears and dropped to her knees.
Matt crawled over to her. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he said, "It's gonna be alright. We just gotta-"
The man who had crawled out of the hole after the woman lunged for the pair of them. Uncanny reflexes kicking in, Matt slugged him in the face. Taking the girl's gun from her trembling hands, he aimed quickly in the second that the man faltered, and shot a round into his head.
With a short scream, the girl pressed closer to Matt, who said, "We have to leave! There's gonna be more!". He pulled her up with him, and started to the door she had came from.
"No!" she suddenly said. "There's more…things back there…"
Risking a quick glance around the lobby, Matt saw three more of them stumbling towards the duo. The only other doors in the lobby were past the people.
"We gotta risk it. Let's just go!" Matt said as he pulled her along to the door.
The door opened into the next room, which appeared to be an employee lounge. Slamming the door behind them, Matt let go of the girl and pulled a chair up against the door. Looking around the room, he saw three more doors, but they posed no immediate threat to them. Matt collapsed into a white couch. The girl sat down next to him.
Taking a deep breath, Matt said, "Well…I'm Matt…thanks."
"…I'm Mean. I mean, my name is…what's happening here?" she said softly.
Matt frowned. "Damn. I was hoping you knew." A pause. Then, he asked, "So, how did you get here?"
"Oh," she said softly. "I was in the hospital since four yesterday. My boyfriend was…bitten…by one of those freaks. The people…they broke in here close to midnight. My boyfriend turned into one of them and he tried to bite me. And that's normal, but he just seemed…starved. I went to get him food and saw more like him. I got the gun off the…body of a cop, and I've been wandering since…" She stopped and broke into tears.
Matt put his hand on her back, wincing with pain as he did it. "It's okay. We'll…find another exit. One less ridden with those sick people. We can go to the police or something. All we have to-"
"They're not just sick, Matt." She interrupted. "They're dead."
Matt looked at Mean, trying to read her face. All he could see is that she was dead serious. No pun intended. "So…we're talking zombies here?"
Mean smiled a little. "Every girl's dream."
"What about the one with the huge arm?" Matt asked.
"I don't know. Did he…break that counter?"
"Yeah. But I'd call that thing more of an 'it'." Matt stood up and walked over to the table in the middle of the room. He flipped through random papers and objects scattered on the table. They were all newspapers and old memos-nothing of interest.
"So why are you in your boxers?" Mean asked, amusement poking out in her voice.
Matt grinned. "I was sleeping. I woke up at 3 and had to get out of the house. I'm not exactly prioritizing my threads when under attack by my cat."
Mean slowly looked up at him. "Animals…can be infected too?"
"Apparently nothing's immune." He paused. "How…did you know it's a virus?"
Looking startled, she said, "What? No, I didn't."
Matt turned and walked towards her. "What do you know?" he asked sharply.
She sighed. "I found…a note in one of the offices. It's about something called the T-Virus." She handed it over.
Matt read it quickly. He said, "This isn't going to make things easier."