Chapter Six
It was empty - Alex Shelley had gotten his wish. Chris Sabin had also gotten his wish granted, though it was less innocent than Shelley's. All Sabin's life, he had wanted one thing more than anything else, but it wasn't a professional goal, or a life goal, or even a personal goal. It was a dirty little secret, a goal that he couldn't share with anyone because that wasn't who 'Chris Sabin' was. He had wanted to loot, without responsibilities or concerns for the law or having to compete with other looters. He was faced with other problems, of course, namely the zombie apocalypse, but Sabin put it out of his mind. He had finally gotten to loot.
**
On their way back to their refuge, they saw for only the second time, a group of zombies. They appeared to be in their 'calm' state until they saw the car, and then they changed dramatically. Scrabbling to get over one another, screeching, moving faster then would be believed possible. Sabin and Shelley knew that there was no hope of them being caught in the car, so they simply sped up to get away. It did, however, worry them. Despite being only the second group they had seen, it was twice the size of the first, and they were concerned at the rate the groups seemed to be growing.
But knowing that they had an area that was about to be as safe as possible, had supplies to last them several years (Shelley had insisted that they take the necessary supplies to plant a garden, so that they could continue to have fresh fruit and vegetables), and could put the troubles of Detroit out of their mind for a time, they were not too concerned.
They were using the elevator in the parking garage to move supplied when it happened. At first they thought they were hearing voices, but after a minute of waiting, a figure appeared at the top of the ramp. It screamed at them. "Can you help me?!"
"Holy shit.." Sabin said, realising that it was still a living, breathing human.
"Get over here!" Shelley yelled, hastily depositing the box he was holding in the elevator.
As the person started limping towards them, Shelley and Sabin heard the screeching. Though they had heart it only a few times before, it was unmistakable. The person was being hunted. The tag team backed into the elevator, watching the figure advance on them. As they were watching, they saw two other figures, running without impediment, pause at the top of the ramp, glance behind them, and then run down the ramp to the lower level.
Shelley and Sabin were yelling at the man to hurry as the horde came into view. After the momentary shock of the sheer number of them, the Guns redoubled their yells, urging the man forward, but neither willing to leave the safety of the elevator.
"You're almost here, hurry!" Sabin yelled, but even as he did, he could see that the horde was almost upon the man.
Just a few metres from the elevator, the horde overwhelmed the man, and Shelley, seeing that he could not possibly make it, started pounding furiously on the button to close the door. As Sabin stood prepared to defend himself, waiting for the doors to close, those zombies closest to them realised that there were more bodies nearby. Their heads whipped up and they surged for the elevator as the doors were closing.
Sabin and Shelley started hitting any piece of exposed flesh they could see, trying to stop those that had been caught as the door was closed. Shelley had almost cleared his side of bodies when Sabin let out a deafening yell and redoubled his efforts on the limbs still in the door. Shelley joined him, and a few moments later, the doors had closed and they were travelling up.
Both men were breathing hard as the elevator rose. Shelley closed his eyes for a brief moment and then, reopening them, looked at all the boxes around them. "We should try to get this stuff in while we still can."
Sabin simply grunted. Shelley looked at him and was shocked by the man he saw. Though neither looked what could be described as 'good' after the last few days, he knew Chris Sabin, and had seen him at his best and worst, but never like this. He was pale and sweating, his face screwed up in pain while he clutched his arm close to him, blood soaking into his shirt.
"What happened, Chris?"
The elevator again reached its destination with a self-satisfied ding, but Shelley just stood, staring at his friend.
"Sabin, tell me what happened!"
Chris Sabin looked up at his best friend. "You know what happened."
"Bullshit. It's just a scratch or something, you're fine. Let's go patch you up."
"Don't be an idiot, Shelley, you know I'm right."
"No." Shelley said, so calmly that Sabin was taken aback. Taking advantage of his shock, Shelley pulled Sabin into a headlock and dragged him down the hallway. "We're going to patch you up, and you'll be fine!" Shelley panted as he pulled Sabin along.
Sabin knew it, in his heart, that what Shelley was doing wasn't going to help him. He knew that he had been bitten, and he had seen what that meant. He knew he had to somehow convince Shelley of it, or slip away before he could hurt the other man. Sabin was roughly deposited on a bed and Shelley disappeared. He went to push himself up, but his tag team partner was back before he had realised what had happen. "Sorry it took me so long, man, I couldn't remember which box it was in. This is going to sting like a bitch." And with that, Shelley poured half a bottle of antiseptic onto Sabin's arm. "You..didn't even react. Didn't that hurt?" Shelley questioned.
Everything seemed to be going fuzzy, and Sabin wasn't able to read the label on the bottle. He tried to focus on Shelley's face, on the patch of blonde in his hair, but Sabin found his vision – and his mind – wandering. The big blur that was sometimes Shelley's face suddenly whipped to the side, and Sabin shook his head to try to stop it from spinning. He vaguely heard Shelley swearing, and felt, more than saw, him standing up, crossing the room and closing the door.
Before Chris Sabin blacked out, he tried to call out to his friend, to his brother, not to go. Knowing, even on the edge of consciousness what it meant, how selfish it was, to condemn another. But it didn't matter. The words never escaped his lips.
And then all he knew was darkness.
**
As Shelley tried to clean up Sabin's wound, frantic, trying to think of a way to avoid the truth, the inevitable. They both knew that Sabin had been bitten, and being bitten seemed to mean only one thing; you would soon be dead and very soon after that...well, you wouldn't dead anymore. But you wouldn't be you, either.
As he was placing padding over Sabin's arm so that he could bandage it, he heard a banging on the door, followed by hysterical pleas.
"Son of a fucking bitch!" Shelley swore – at himself, at those people, at Sabin – and stood up. "I'll be back in a second, alright? Hang on a minute, I'll be back in no time at all." Shelley said to Sabin, crossing the room and pulling the door closed behind him.
"Please, you have to help us!"
"They're coming up the stairs!"
"Oh, for the love of God, LET US IN!"
Shelley stood by the door, hesitant. "Who are you?"
"Oh God, there is someone in there! Were you in the parking garage? In the elevator! We saw you! Please, let us in!"
Shelley had his hand on the doorknob when had a realisation. "How did you get up here?!"
"The stairs! Oh God, please hurry, they're coming!"
"How far behind you?"
"Who cares, they're almost fucking here! Why the fuck won't you let us-" The plea was cut off mid-sentence by a cacophony of screams. Shelley had blocked them out. He had already started moving furniture against the door to barricade it – he had seen, not four days ago, how they dealt with stairs. They moved faster up stairs than a human could ever hope to. Shelley also knew that Sabin wouldn't be safe with more people around. After he had moved all he could in front of the doors, long after the screams had died down and been replaced by two new set of screeches, he went back to the bedroom door.
He knocked gently. "Sabin, buddy, how are you doing? I'm going to come in now, ok?" As Shelley reached down to open the door, a great force collided with it and the whole wall seemed to shake. "It can't be.." he muttered to himself, but didn't open the door. Something collided with the door again, and the wall shook. Shelley backed up from the door, staring, horror struck. This couldn't be happening, he wouldn't believe it. When his back reached the wall, he slid down it, not taking his eyes off the door.
After a while, he noticed that there seemed to be a kind of rhythm to it – Sabin would run into the wall, or the door, or whatever he happened to find, the wall would shake, the horde at the front door would scratch and hammer, and then Sabin would start up again. Round and round it went.
Shelley had been sitting in the same spot for an hour when the front door started to crack. It was simply not meant for so much pressure, and not for a prolonged period. There had been no time to reinforce it, or zombie-proof anything, Shelley realised with a numb efficiency. There was so much that needed to be done.
He swore at himself. He hadn't spent the time sitting there thinking of a way to escape, or a way to save Sabin. He'd just been wasting his time. He stood, and took several paces, but this just infuriated those around him more. Their banging, scratching and screeching just grew, their need clear. Shelley stared at the door, at the objects he'd used to try to fortify it. Though the shock, he managed to register that he had only used objects of a waist heist.
He let out a soft 'huh', and Sabin threw himself against the door again.
"Hey, Sabin buddy, you listening? I've got something I need to tell you. Just let run into the wall if you're listening."
Thud.
"Awesome. Now, I just want you to know... well, you're my best friend."
Thud.
"And you're like my brother. You always will be."
Thud.
"I'm so sorry I let this happen to you... I know you're hopeless, I should've taken better care of you."
Thud.
Panelling came away from the door.
"Maybe I didn't take care of you in this life like I should've."
Thud.
Hands started coming through the door, scrapping at the side of the hole, trying to enlarge it.
"But we're brothers, and if you'll let me, I'd like to try again. I'll take care of you properly this time."
Thud.
They were almost through.
"We can take care of each other."
Alex Shelley ran his hand through his hair and wiped the tears out of his eyes. He stepped forward and grasped the doorknob. He swung the door open, and for a brief moment, saw Chris Sabin. The new Chris Sabin. And then he felt pain, and then he knew no more.