Ch. 5
Scott, Phil and Daryn are waiting in a holding cell at the police station downtown. Since she is not yet a full adult, her parents are called to come bail her out. They chide her; warning her to stay away from the Ghostbusters, alternately calling them scam artists and demon callers. They also yell at her about having to come all the way from Aloha in the cold weather. Of course, they don't listen to a word she says about her paranormal experience. They drop her off at the dorm and demand that she stays there the whole night. Up in her room, she fumes around trying to hold back tears.
Back at the police station, the Ghostbusters are interrogated by Detective Moose.
"Okay boys," starts the hard-boiled detective, "Now we have a lot of witnesses that say they saw you two poking around the dormitory on the night that Miss Trebenov disappeared. Now in fifteen years on the force I have never seen a ghost and don't believe in them, so why don't you tell me what really happened to her?"
"It happened like this: On the night of Raiza's disappearance, I get a call around three in the morning from Daryn. She's absolutely hysterical, and tells me that her roommate was kidnapped by something decidedly not human. So we show up, and she tells us that a paranormal entity chased her down the building's stairwell and then locked her in the laundry room and kidnapped Raiza right in front of her eyes. My partner and I did some research on this thing. It is a Native American demon called Wendigo. It causes extreme, unseasonably cold weather right before it manifests. We're wasting valuable time here, numb-nuts. This thing is going to be reborn tonight and Armageddon with it."
"NOW LISTEN UP ASSHOLES," roars the detective, "I have had enough of this ghost business. There's no such thing. You either tell me what you did with Miss Trebenov or I'll make sure your joke of a business is permanently shut down in addition to bringing you up on criminal charges."
"We've told you what we know." Both Scott and Phil sit there stone-faced.
"You know what, you guys have pissed me off. I'm going to go file some paperwork and cool down. You guys had damn well better be ready to talk by the time I get back, or, so help me GOD, I will rip you guys new ones! Officer, escort these two bullshit artists back to their holding cell."
By now heavy snowfall has descended from the higher elevations into the valley floor. It is beginning to pile up in the city limits. In graveyards around the city, decaying hands pop out of the ground and start to pull their corpses up from the graves. Back in the holding cell, Scott and Phil are able to watch the KOTK special news report about the corpses that are walking around all over town and attacking people. In another few minutes, the Emergency Alert System comes on, warning of a major blizzard on the way and advising people to stay in their homes. Near the end of the emergency broadcast, the television picture goes to static snow. Phil and Scott exchange fearful glances.
"Damn it! You tried to tell that dumb flatfoot what was happening! The evidence is piling up and still he won't listen. Only we can stop this thing and we're stuck here. By that clock over there we've got roughly two hours until the end of the world as we know it," fumes Phil.
Back at the dormitory, Daryn is thinking over things. 'This happens time and again. My parents always think they're right and never listen to me. I've had enough! I'm going to the Ghostbusters headquarters, whether or not they are there. I'll walk if I have to, and I'll bust down their fucking door if I have to. I'm going to save my friend.'
She hears a thump and a loud scream from the hallway. When she goes to check, she spies a neighbor struggling to get away from a bluish-tinted walking corpse. The thing is gnawing on her arm, spurting blood everywhere. Daryn runs back into her room and slams the door. 'Well this is going to make things a little more difficult.' She peers out her window to see cars stalled in the street and various people trying to run from the zombie corpses in the several feet of snow. Most are not having any luck, and there are several streaks of crimson trailing across the frozen white. She bundles up in winter clothing and decides to bring along her floor lamp to fight off the zombies. She runs out in the hallway, smacking away a few zombies, and dashes down the stairwell. As she exits the dormitory building, the wintery chaos stuns her: cars are tipped, building windows and doors are smashed in, people are eviscerated, bluish zombies are walking around, there are blood stains everywhere. There are even a few small fires. She takes a deep breath and starts cautiously running in the direction of the Hawthorne Bridge.
Back in the holding cell, Scott and Phil are alarmed to see Detective Moose again. They are alarmed because the policeman is missing his right arm and there is a big hole in his side where his appendix should have been. His skin has turned a bluish tint. The security officer in the room screams when he sees Moose and a couple other zombies, and tries to load his shotgun. He still has the cell keys in his hand. Both imprisoned Ghostbusters try shouting at him to toss over the keys, but he's so petrified he doesn't hear them.
"Well, it looks like we're going to die before we can witness the end of the world as we know it," quips Phil.
"We need help," says Scott. "Please pray with me: 'Heavenly Father, this job has been an awesome opportunity for us and a lot of fun. Thank you for it. I know you have been using us to bring good to the world. Right now, we're in quite a jam. We need your help and your guidance to get through this. If it is your will, show us a way out of here and back to the firehouse. I pray that you will continue to use us as your hands and your feet in our unusual career. In Jesus' name, amen.'"
Both prisoners look up to see the keys and shotgun go flying out of his grip, as the zombies rip open his neck and start engorging themselves on his esophagus. The keys land right next to the cell bars, and the shotgun lands a few feet away. Scott and Phil exchange a quick glance of relief. "Thanks God!" says Phil quickly, before grabbing the keys and unlocking the cell door. Scott quickly grabs the shotgun and checks the barrel. It is loaded.
"Now remember what George Romero taught us about zombie killing," quips Scott.
"Always aim for the head," retorts Phil.
"You got it." Scott fires right between the eyes of the nearest zombie. The shot connects, splattering corpse brains everywhere. The creature drops dead. Scott shoots the second and third zombies while Phil grabs a revolver and ammunition off the fallen guard's belt. As Phil fiddles with the belt, a cold hand grabs his arm, and the brand new zombie moves to bite him. Phil pistol-whips the zombie until it lets go and they both head for the exit.
"Wait. Before we leave it would be a good idea if we find some rounds for this shotgun."
"But we don't have time to run to ammo storage," Phil informs his partner by pointing to a clock. "You'll just have to be conservative."
Phil and Scott exit the downtown police station with a revolver with three spare clips and a shotgun with fifteen rounds.
Only a few blocks away, Daryn continues dodging the approaching hordes of zombies. Though winded, she knows she has to keep moving through the deep and difficult snow. Her pace has slowed considerably as she reaches the Hawthorne Bridge. Now there seems to be a whole army of walking dead trailing behind her. Daryn steps onto the metal bridge only to fall on her face. The snow is thin on the bridge, but the whole thing has iced over. She squirms her way over to the bridge handrail, and tries to use it for leverage with only one hand. Her pace has slowed to a crawl and the zombie army is catching up to her. She looks back to see them only a few paces behind her. With reluctance she drops the lamp and starts pulling herself along with both hands.
The Ghostbusters are having problems of their own negotiating the deep snow. They have been really conservative with their ammunition, shooting only when there is no quick way to evade the zombies and more frequently with Phil's handgun than Scott's shotgun. But it has taken at least two shots with the handgun to stop each zombie, and sometimes there was no choice but to use the shotgun. By the time they get to the Hawthorne Bridge, the handgun is almost out of ammunition and the shotgun is empty.
A rear glance shows only a few stray zombies following them. Phil also looks up at apartment windows, and sees a few worried people watching the action down below. Thankfully there are still people left alive. The two paranormal specialists pull themselves along the icy bridge using the railing.
Daryn arrives at the firehouse and finds the lights off and the building locked. With zombies still in pursuit, she runs around the building trying to find a quick way in the large stone building. The ground level windows are too small to climb into, and there is nothing around to stand on to get up to the second level windows. The zombie army is only a half block away as she dashes back around and tries pounding on the heavy iron doors and ringing the doorbell. Perhaps they are inside and just don't know she's out there. No reply. The zombies are almost upon her, and a sudden sense of hopelessness washes over her. She sits down on the curb near the doors, realizing there's probably no point in fighting now.
"Daryn!" She looks up to see Scott and Phil on the opposite end of the zombie army. "Get up! Run around! Climb that fence! Stay away from them!"
Phil fires the last of his rounds at the zombies, while Scott bashes their heads with his empty shotgun. They cut down about half the zombie force before the creatures abandon their pursuit of Daryn and come after the Ghostbusters. The pair lead them back from the firehouse some distance and then run a fancy figure eight, jumping on top of the snow-buried cars to get away. They rejoin Daryn in front of the firehouse.
"Great, now unlock the door before the zombies reach us again!" pressures Daryn.
"Oh shit," says Phil, with hope draining from his voice. "They are still at the Police Station, with our other stuff. There's no other way inside the building. Unless you happen to have a large tank sitting around somewhere, we can forget about busting down those heavy iron doors. And we had a special lock installed that can't be picked with normal tools."
"Wait! I just remembered I keep a spare set of firehouse keys in the glove box of my car. But my car keys are at the station as well," says Scott.
They look down the street to see zombies only a quarter of a block away.
"Give me the shotgun," commands Daryn. She steps over to the passenger side of the small Escort.
"What are you going to do to my car? Are you going to do what I… Please don't… I'm sure one of us can pick the--"
With a moan from Scott, she smashes the passenger window open with the butt of the shotgun and reaches into the glove box for the keys. She turns around to the icy grip of a zombie. Scott and Phil immediately lunge forward and start punching, pistol-whipping, and throwing down the undead attackers. It works briefly, but the zombies get right back up and continue their assault. Daryn nearly has her left ear bitten, but Scott grabs the head of the zombie and throws the creature to the ground.
"Come on quick!" Scott shouts to Phil, who uses his large body mass to overpower and wiggle free from a trio of zombies that have grabbed him.
Daryn tosses Scott the keys and he unlocks the door. They all dash inside, just out of the icy grip of the zombies, and slam and lock the door behind them. The zombies futilely pound and scratch at the large iron doors. The three survivors slump down on the other side, exhausted and relieved.