Ch. 9 Why Did This Happen?
Cindy slowly and cautiously opened the door, more out of learned behavior than out of actual caution. Jack was a mean spirited and tempered brute, rumored to have been as such due to a past business venture that turned sour, leaving him with moths in his pocket and almost a gun to his own head. Cindy was very much afraid of him, and tried to avoid entering his small office with a balcony that overlooked the city (although she personally enjoyed the view from there.) She looked around the room and saw it thrown in total disarray, papers strewn across the floor, the desk cluttered with junk, books on the bookcase scattered, and saw Jack nowhere in sight. George nudged his way through the door and looked around.
"He isn't here?" he said.
"I don't see him," Cindy responded, but as soon as the words passed her lips she saw something move on the balcony. She walked along the creaking floor as George followed cautiously, but stopped himself upon noticing something sitting in an open desk drawer. He stepped aside to investigate as Cindy walked onto the balcony.
Standing there, his back facing Cindy, he seemingly peered out at the city, the distant noise of sirens and screams filling Cindy with dread. Nervously she walked up to him, as she always approached him, and spoke in a low, humble tone.
"Jack?" she said, her head titled down slightly to avoid the possibility of eye contact. "Jack, we need your help. Some…things, have broken into the bar; they got Will, and, we need the key to the liquor room. Some other customers are waiting outside, trying to give us some time. Please Jack, you have to help us!"
There was no response. Jack's body swayed a bit as if with the low wind that brushed across Cindy's face.
"Jack," she said, edging closer. "Are you…okay?"
Cindy put her hand on Jack's arm, and quickly took it away. It felt cold, worn, and looked incredibly pale. Jack turned his head slowly and looked at Cindy, the irises of his eyes vacant and empty.
"Ciiiiiiindyyyyyyy," he murmured, and slowly, very slowly turned his body towards her.
"Jack?" Cindy said, her legs trembling. "Jack, what's wrong? No, you're,"
Before Cindy could finish, Jack was already on her, grabbing her neck and shoulder, pinning her against the wall. Cindy squealed loudly and put her hand on his face to keep his gnashing teeth from reaching her slim neck.
In a flash George stepped onto the balcony and saw the attacker, then with great force he didn't realize he was capable of sped forth and tackled Jack to the ground, his head bashing hard against the balcony's fencing. He inspected Cindy to confirm whether she had been injured as Jack's cadaver slowly rose to it's feet, blood beginning to drip from it's cracked skull. Cindy screamed as George turned his attention back towards the creature that used to be Jack, and pulled out a silver revolver and aimed it.
"George, wait! That's, Jack!" Cindy pleaded to George's confusion.
"Cindy," he said, stepping back a bit from his recovering target. "That is no longer your employer. I have to stop it, or it will destroy us both."
The creature let out a groan, followed by a hellish whale and advanced on George quickly, grabbing his wrist and pinning him to the floor. Cindy screamed and cowered against the wall, calling George's name as George struggled with the monster, holding the thing's head with one hand and pointing the gun point blank between its eyes.
With a thunderous BANG blood sprayed against the wall and over George's face as the creature slumped sideways, lifeless. George got to his knees and vomited. He had never killed a man before, and the gore sitting on his face was like nothing he had ever experienced. For years he opened people up and saw their insides, but this was entirely different. Cindy trembled as she stood up, horrified by George's appearance, but summed up enough courage to help him to his feet.
"Thank you," she said.
"Where is," George said, unable to finish speaking, but Cindy already knew the question. She cautiously approached Jack's body and searched his pockets.
"I found it!" she said.
Outside Kevin, Alyssa and Mark stood at the end of the hallway in front of the door to the stairway. Behind them David handed something to Jim.
"What the fuck is this shit?" Jim said.
"It's a spear," David said. "You stab things with it."
"Man I know what a spear is," Jim said irritated. "You expect me to throw this shit at one of those things?"
"That's a javelin you idiot," David said, turning to Yoko. "Here."
"What," Yoko said, holding a can of pesticide spray that was taped to a lighter.
"Just push the button," David said. "And it'll shoot fire. But don't get any of us with it or I'll kill you myself."
Yoko stepped back from David, who humphed to himself as he searched around the room a bit more. Jim reached into his pocket and pulled out his lucky coin, flipped it, and observed it.
"What are you doing?" Yoko said.
"Heads," Jim said to himself, then to Yoko. "It looks like we're gonna be alright, girl. You just stick with Jimbo, and you'll make it outta here alive!"
Jim looked towards Bob, who was sitting against the wall, his face looking paler than before.
"Hey brothah," Jim inquired. "You alright? You lookin' pretty pale."
Bob groaned low then responded. "I-I,"
"He's sick, probably food poisoning." David said.
"That's not food poisoning," Yoko noted.
"I see one!" Kevin yelled. A creature stepped around the corner, followed by another and another. "And he brought lots of friends with him. Let's say 'hello' to each and every one of them. Don't wanna make em' feel unwelcomed!"
Kevin fired a shot, which hit the first creature in the head, causing it to erupt in a shower of blood. Next Mark fired several rounds, managing to send one staggering back, as Alyssa hit one directly in the forehead, downing it instantly.
"Aim for the head," Alyssa said. "That means you too, Chubbs!"
Mark aimed carefully and managed to down another. One by one the creatures filled the hallway, some stumbling over their fallen comrades, until there was nearly a pile of bodies.
"Shit," Kevin said. "I'm running out."
"So am I," Alyssa said.
Suddenly a window behind them crashed open and in poured one of the creatures. It stood up and moaned as Jim stood there, his knees chattering and his spear dropping to the ground. Yoko picked the can up but stumbled with it in her hands.
"Idiots," David said, picking up the spear and running it through the creature, so fast and so hard it penetrated its torso, and David shoved it against the wall, pinning it there so it couldn't move. Suddenly a black crow flew in, one of them attacking David, who wove his hands in self-defense.
"Help!" Yoko screamed towards Alyssa.
"Mind your own business," Alyssa said, focusing on the slowly advancing and unending creatures.
Yoko aimed the spray into the air and pressed the button, a large burst of flame igniting the bird's wing. The bird flapped around the room in a panic as David pulled out his folding knife, held it with his thumb and forefinger, then sent it flying into the crow, knocking to the floor dead, the folding knife thrust into its head. David walked over and pulled the knife out, then gave Yoko a strange look, and Jim a very angry look.
"Man," Jim complained. "Why can't you give me a gun or that knife? Brother cain't throw no damn spears. Who am I, Spartacus?"
David clenched his knife tightly, tempted to send it deep into the coward's esophagus.
From the door behind them burst George and Cindy, Cindy startled by the creature pinned against the wall (it was still alive and trying to free itself, clutching the spear with one hand while reaching for Cindy's throat hungrily with the other.)
"Hurry Cindy," George said.
Cindy walked up to the wine door room and unlocked it.
"Wait please," she said, quickly ducking into the staff locker room.
"Everybody get in, now!" Kevin yelled while reloading and sharing his ammo with Alyssa and Mark.
Jim was first to enter the door. "This way, my crew!" he declared, followed by Yoko and David, who were both carrying Bob.
"Leave me," Bob pleaded.
"Hm?" David said.
"Something's wrong. You have to leave me, please." Bob said.
"No," Yoko said. "We can't."
"He's delusional. Ignore him." David said. "Keep quit pops or you'll just tired yourself."
"You know," Kevin said between the loud bursts of fire from his .45. "This isn't so bad considering these things are already dead. I used to feel nervous about opening fire on people, but it's just like the range! Except these things smell like my grandmother's underpants."
"Or like an old man's ass," Alyssa said with a smirk, reloading bullets into her gun.
"Tha smell is all too familiah tah me," Mark said with a grimace.
"Oh no," Kevin said, ceasing his fire.
"What?" Mark said, hearing the click of his now empty gun. "Damn! I'm out!"
Kevin stood still, his eyes unblinking and mouth drawn open. At the end of the hallway stood Will, bite wounds covering his body and face. Slowly Will approached the group, his hands outstretched and groaning.
"Will," Kevin said.
"What are you waiting for boy in blue?" Alyssa said. "Shoot his ass!"
"Will, no," Kevin said, lowering his gun.
Will was only inches away from the trio, and Alyssa shook her head.
"Pathetic," she said as she picked her gun up and fired directly between Will's eyes, dropping him to the floor immediately and splashing Will's blood against Kevin's silent face, which winced at the sight.
"Well," Alyssa said in a joking tone. "At least you won't have to pay for those drinks now."
Kevin looked at the blood on his RPD issued vest and then at Will's body as Cindy came back through the door, a medicine kit in hand. She saw Will's body on the floor and let out a gasp.
"Will!" she said as George pulled her towards the door.
"Let's go!" Mark said, cocking his gun. "Get movin', people!"
"C'mon cowboy," Alyssa said pulling Kevin by the arm as the others made their way up the stairs. David kicked the door at the top of the stairs hard.
"What's wrong?" George asked.
"WE CAN'T OPEN THE DOOR!" Jim said paniced. "We're stuck in this fuckin' tight ass hallway and this door is fucking locked!"
"Cindy," Mark said. "Where's the key?"
"I-I," Cindy stuttered. "There wasn't a lock there before! Jack must have just added that recently!"
"Goddammit!" David said, punching the door.
"Oh Jesus," Alyssa said annoyed. "Step aside, let a lady through!"
Alyssa walked up the stairs and reached in her coat pocket, handing the gun to Yoko.
"Hold this for me, girlie," she said pulling out a strange pick.
"Lock picks," David commented.
"That's right," she said, stuffing the pick into the doorknob. "A little bit more,"
"Ah see one," Mark said, firing his gun at one of the creatures that entered the tight stairway. "Kevin, regain your composure, son!"
Kevin looked over his shoulder then quickly raised his firearm, pushing aside the loss of his buddy.
"There!" Alyssa said, pulling her pick out as the door swung open.
"Thank you thank you! Now move that fine ass booty woman!" Jim said, shoving Alyssa aside and tripping his way through the door.
"Agh! Asshole!" Alyssa said.
"Chivalry really is dead," David remarked with a smirk.
"That guy is no knight in shining armor," she said snatching her gun from Yoko's hands. "C'mon!"
All nine of the survivors filed into the room as Mark locked it, then noticed a pile of boards laying on the ground and a nail gun sitting beside them.
"Ah have an idea," he said. "You with the tool belt, help me."
"David," David said insulted.
"Well mah name's Mark, nice ta' meetcha son, but this ain't the time for intraductions. Now git over here an' help me!"
Together the two swiftly boarded up the door in minutes, the only thing getting through the barricade being the low, pathetic moans of the creatures banging and clawing against the door. The group gathered shortly after, Kevin supplying the limited amount of ammo he had left with the others.
"What now?" Kevin asked. "I don't see anymore doors, that shutter is welded closed, and this one won't open, looks like it's locked from the side. Cindy, do you know anything else about this place?"
"I, I'm sorry," she apologized. "But I usually don't come up here, although I haven't seen any other doors here that would lead outside."
"A forklift," Yoko said, looking at a forklift.
"How did that get in here?" Kevin said.
"Jack uses it to store the liquor," Cindy said. "But some kids would sneak in through the shutter that was used to bring crates in and out with the lift, so Jack had it welded shut."
"I got an idea!" Jim said raising his arm, but then quickly drawing it back in from the pain of his injury, which Cindy has wound up with medical tape. "Let's raise the lift and those boxes, and we can climb onto those shelves. I see an opening up there, we can crawl through it! Yeah! That's right, who da man? Jim! That's who!"
"The moron has a point," Alyssa said. "Cept it'll be a risk getting Chubbs's pork rind loving ass through there."
"Ya' know, you a cold ass bitch," Jim said. "Shame with such a fine rack like the one you got there."
Alyssa grit her teeth.
"Stop it, both of you," George said. "The absolute last thing we need is to turn on each other."
"I don't trust this bitch for a second," Jim said. "She's lookin' like somebody who'd rather leave us all high an' dry so we can be monster kibble while she high tails it to the salon!"
"One more word outta you buster," Alyssa said, waving her gun at Jim.
"Easy girl," Kevin said in a flirtatious tone. "It'd be a shame to have to empty your pretty hand of that firearm, seeing as how good you look with it."
"I'd love to see you try," she said with a scowl very unlike Kevin's manner.
"Please," Cindy said. "We musn't do this. I know it's hard, I can't believe this is happening myself, but we have to work together or we will all die."
"Cindy's right," George said. "I read a story about a group of climbers who were trapped in a cabin by thick layers of snow. They had plenty of food, but slowly they began to suspect each other of over eating their portion of the rations and by the end of the week they found all of them dead, not through starvation but murdered. If any situation serves this analogy best, I think this is it."
Alyssa lowered her gun, fuming.
"Why did I have to get stuck with a bunch of people like this," she said putting her hand to her head. "I'm gonna have a migraine, I know it."
"Shit. Where's the key?" David said, inspecting the lift.
"Oh," Cindy said. "That's right. We need a key."
"Do you know where it is, Cindy?" Yoko asked.
"The man who works with the lift once told me he hides it in this room, in a wine bottle. But he didn't say which one."
"Great," Kevin said. "Why don't we get a haystack while we're at it? Okay then, everybody search the bottles, and move your asses cuz our little fort here won't be safe for long with those things so eager to give us all undead hickies."
The group split up as Bob sat to himself against the forklift, and each one either emptied, searched, or broke the bottles. Kevin decided to sneak a few drinks in as well.
"Ah," Kevin said. "This one's got a nice flavor. Good date too. Have a swig."
Kevin tossed the bottle to Alyssa, who caught it with one hand. She smelled it and put her tongue out, disgusted.
"This can't possibly taste any better than it smells," she said.
"Just be a man and drink!" Kevin said, searching for the next bottle he planned to empty of its contents. Entirely out of necessity, of course. Alyssa sniffed the bottle again and, Kevin's challenge nudging at the back hairs of her neck, thrust the bottle up into the air and chugged the remaining liquid. Astonished, Kevin stared at her as she removed the bottle from her lips and exhaled, then wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
"Will you marry me?" Kevin said with a smile.
Alyssa smirked. "You wish."
David and Mark searched through the room, opening bottle after bottle as David gathered materials for a new weapon.
"Ah tell ya, the smell a' death never leaves ya'," Mark said, recounting his days in Nam with David. "It sticks to the edge of yer mind, an' when ya' dream a' those faces, those eyes, horrible, horrible white eyes, you kin still smell it, taste it along the rim a' yer teeth, edge a yer tongue. The unforgiving silence."
David worked in silence, choosing not to respond not because he was ignoring Mark but out of his usual quiet presence.
"Ah s'pose you youts nowadays don' care much bout th' past," Mark said, relating to his son. "Mah son always tells me a man ought ta' forget th' past an' live for th' future. He's a bright one, ah tell ya', wish he'd put his energy inta school rather'n those friends he hangs round with. Ah hope he's alright."
"I've smelled it too," David said, still working on his latest creation. "The smell of death. Only I don't dream about it. But it's always there."
Mark looked at him curiously.
George and Cindy searched in an isolated area.
"George," Cindy said. "I'm sorry about your wife."
George said nothing at first. "I'm not," he soon said.
"Why?"
"Because it wasn't going to work anyway. I should have seen the inevitable, fate, as one might say. It was right in front of me, but I refused to acknowledge it."
"But we," Cindy said, a memory they shared accompanying her words. "We,"
"No," George said, grabbing hold of Cindy's hand. It was smooth and soft, fragile. "That's not why, Cindy. Collete, she, she never knew. And we stopped it before it could go too far. There's no way she could have known."
"George I," Cindy found no words to speak with. "I can't stop myself, George. I've tried. I've asked God to help me, but I don't think he can. I still,"
"Please," George said, putting his hand to her tender face, her bright doe eyes sparkling in his perspective. "We have to focus. We'll talk about this later."
After some time of further searching Cindy spoke up again.
"Why did all this happen?" she said in range of the others. "Why did God do this? What happened to those people?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, sister." Alyssa commented.
"They look like they been dead for hours," Mark said.
"Indeed," George said. "Some of them have been struck with rigor mortis, and their flesh is decaying. There's no doubt to me that they are dead."
"I'm sure the guy who took a bite out of Jim's shoulder would beg to differ," Kevin said.
"Hey man," Jim complained as expected. "You betta watch yo ass. I can't hear good any more from my right side anymore cuz of your stupid ass firin' a gun right near it!"
"Better that than your ear being dipped in ranch dressing on monster's dinner plate, along with the rest of you." Kevin said.
"Maybe they're diseased," George said. "The bartender, what was his name?"
Kevin and Cindy's faces drooped at the mentioning of their departed friend.
"Will," Alyssa said without any compassion, and perhaps in an attempt to subtly poke at the wounds of Kevin and Cindy.
"We saw those things attack him," George said sounding like a biology professor. "And yet he returned in that hallway as one of them. It seems to me that they someone spread this disease to any whom they've committed physical injury upon, and spread this plague to others. But how on Earth could it have spread so fast without even the slightest hint of it?"
"Rats," Mark said. "Ah seen lots a' those things scurryin' about an' such. Yer a smart man, George, you know about the Black Plague."
"Yes," George said. "Perhaps you have a point. Why, just the other day, I,"
George stopped himself and looked at his finger, which was still bandaged.
"Oh no," he said.
"Wait a second," Kevin said. "You mean to tell me whoever gets bitten by one of those things gets infected?"
"It would seem so," George said.
Alyssa pulled out her gun and aimed it at Jim.
"Let's kill him now and get this over with," Alyssa said.
"WHOA WHOA WHOA! STOP! AGH, NOOOOO!" Jim screamed.
Kevin quickly lifted Alyssa's gun up and with a loud burst it fired into the air, then pulled it out of her hands. Jim quickly fell to the floor and cowered in terror, then inspected his being, first his body and then his crotch, and sighed with relief upon reassuring the existence of his reproductive organs.
"What the hell's the matter with you!" Kevin growled.
"If you let them stay with us," Alyssa said, pointing to Bob and Jim. "They're going to become one of those things and kill us ALL! Either you let that happen, or you let me end their stinking misery right NOW! Apparently I'm the only one in here with any balls."
Mark stood in front of Bob, acting as a shield.
"If you gonna try an' shoot Bob, you gonna hafta kill me first." He said.
"Mark, please," Bob said weakly.
"Yeah yeah," Jim said, standing behind Mark for protection. "You wanna cap us you hafta go through Marky Mark, sistah!"
"You people make me sick," Alyssa said. "It's kill or be killed now, and you're straying on the wrong end of that stick, but I won't be around to die with you."
"You won't have a choice, Alyssa." Kevin said. "You're in this mess with us whether you like it or not."
"He's right," David said, his arms crossed and his body leaning in the corner. "I'd be satisfied with just killing all of you right now, just to make sure none of you got to turn on me. But I'm not stupid enough to think I can't make it out of this alive by myself, at least not right now."
"Argh!" Alyssa said throwing her arms in the air. "People are such IDIOTS!"
A loud crash rang out through the room, and everybody turned to Yoko, who was standing over a broken liquor bottle. She rummaged through the glass and picked up a key.
"Is this it?" she asked.
"Yes," Cindy said clapping her hands cheerfully. "Yes it is!"
"Yoko, you're a life saver!" Kevin said.
"Hurry, we've no time left." George said.
The key fit perfectly, and the lift came to life. Jim raised the platform and the crates just barely reached the top. However the space between the top of the shelves was too narrow for most of them to fit, even slender Alyssa and Cindy. Within moments the sound of wood cracking resonated through the liquor room as the undead stalkers broke through the barrier.
"It's go time people," Kevin said. "Alyssa, I'm going to trust you with this, because you're one hell of a shot." He handed her the handgun. "Do NOT betray that trust."
"Get over yourself, cowboy." She said, although not as bitterly as she usually did. "You know you just wanna see me shoot things."
"That could have something to do with it," Kevin joked.
"Yoko," David said. "Come here and I'll help you up to the top. You look like the right size."
David helped Yoko reach the top of the shelves, and slowly she crawled her way to the opening. David ran towards the three gunmen (and woman.)
"What are you doing?" Kevin inquired.
"Shut up and hold your fire," David said, lighting a liquor bottle stuffed with newspaper using the flame spray. "Stand back."
David flung the bottle at the crowd of approaching creatures and it exploded with a loud bang, causing several of them to fall backward and ignite.
"Excellent!" Kevin cheered.
"You're pretty handy, McGyver," Alyssa complemented.
"Nice goin', son." Mark said. "Keep at it! We kin conserve the ammo."
David simply harrumphed.
Soon the shutter raised and Yoko waited on the other side.
"My princess!" Jim said. "I owe you big time! I KNEW you'd be good luck to me!"
Yoko giggled. Cindy and George helped Bob into the room as Kevin and Alyssa followed. David tried to light another Molotov cocktail, but found the spray was empty.
"Forget it boy," Mark said. "C'mon! We got ta' go!"
David flung the spray can aside and followed. "See ya' you dead bastards."
David closed the shutters behind him and the group made their way to the rooftop. Once there, Kevin scanned the area and observed the railing that ran behind the large "J's Bar" sign, noting it's path leading to the roof of the nearby building. Faintly, he could make out the sound of someone speaking over a megaphone far below.
"If anyone can hear me, get to the city street now. We are evacuating to the Police Station, but we don't have much time. Get over here, NOW."
"Raymond?" Kevin said, recognizing the voice.
Mark helped Bob along the roof, but soon Bob collapsed from his grasp. Kevin instructed the others what he had heard, and proposed a plan to jump to the next rooftop, much to Jim's misery.
"Bob," Mark said, checking his friend's condition. "Please you have to get up."
"Mark," Bob said in a very weak tone. "You know I can't make that jump. You know that I'm weighing you down. I refuse to be a burden any longer."
Bob grabbed Mark's gun from his holster and aimed it at his temple.
"NO!" Mark pulled the gun away from Bob. "No Bob, never!"
"Please Mark," Bob said, his eyes weary. "I don't want to be one of those things. I don't want to lose control over my life, not like that. And you know just as well as I do that I won't be able to make that jump. I won't," Bob coughed, spewing blood. "I refuse, to be the death of all of you."
"Bob, no," Mark said, a tear running from his eye. "Not you. Please. I lost a man in Nam the same way. But you an' me, we beat Nam, Bob! We kin beat this!"
"No we can't, Mark." Bob said. "But you can. You haven't been infected, you have a son that's waiting for you. Please Mark, don't let me lose control of my soul. Please. Let me end it, cough, myself…"
Mark looked into Bob's eyes, his skin paler than before. Tears streamed down Mark's face as he slowly loosened his grip from the gun. Bob raised it even slower, as if the gun weighed a ton, and rested it against his temple. He looked over at Mark and smiled.
"Thank you, Mark."
The bang from the gun wasn't loud itself, but Mark couldn't hear anything. He watched his best friend's lifeless body slump down into his arms, and he saw himself in the deep, dark jungles of Vietnam, bombs bursting around him, a boy no older than his son dead in his arms. He wished it had been a dream, some hallucination. But the nightmare was real, and his friend lay dead in his arms, again, the gun he ended his life with sitting silently, innocently in Bob's open hand. Mark screamed Bob's name and clung to him, his tears blinding burning his eyes. The smell of death filled his nostrils.
Behind him the other survivors, now eight, stood silently, George comforting Cindy. Alyssa and David stood off to the side with their arms crossed, Alyssa with a sad expression on her face, although she tried to make sure nobody noticed. Even Jim said nothing.
"Mark," Kevin said. "I'm sorry but, we have to…"
Mark opened his eyes. The nightmare was real. He kissed Bob's forehead and lay his head to the rough ground, then crossed his arms. He looked peaceful.
"Goodbye, Bob." Mark said.