Bright

14 Days After First Infection

Zoey didn't expect to be cooped up in the building for so long. She expected them all to take action as soon as they knew Mercy Hospital was their best chance of getting out of the city, but Bill insisted they wait for a little longer. He believed that venturing out into the streets would be too risky, and that they should wait to see if the zombies cleared out of the streets. He said going outside with the amount of zombies out there would be suicide, and that if they cleared out enough they could start heading to the hospital. Louis had agreed, thinking that waiting things out couldn't make things any worse than they already were. It didn't help that the zombies had totalled Zoey's car in the initial attack, giving them less options. Zoey didn't know why, but waiting only put her more on edge. This feeling grew as the days flew by.

When the trio had gotten their bearings they searched the building for any signs of zombies. They soon realized that the first floor was off limits though. The stairwell was completely blocked off, and the only way to access the ground level was either by using the fire escape on the roof or by jumping through a huge hole in the second floor. They had caught a glimpse of the first floor through the hole and saw it was already infested with undead, they quickly closed the door to the room, unanimously agreeing it wasn't worth trying to secure it. Both options were a one way exit, no way to get back up to the second floor once they left. Leaving would be a huge risk, without a good plan they'd be completely vulnerable until they found the next safe haven, if there even was one.

With the zombies flooding the streets the first floor being blocked off was sort of a blessing in disguise. The undead couldn't wander upstairs and if they kept quiet they didn't have to worry about them getting aggressive. This gave them some breathing room, as well as a chance to gain a better understanding of the creatures they were dealing with. Louis especially was dead set on learning what he could about the zombies before they eventually decided to head out. He would ask Bill and Zoey to observe what the zombies did while they were keeping watch on the roof. He passed them each a pen and notepad which Bill quickly tossed aside much to Louis's dismay, but Zoey didn't mind, since it'd be a way for her to pass the time at least.

The group would take turns keeping watch on the roof or on the second floor, since they were the two main points of entry. The third person who wasn't on watch could do what they wanted, whether that was getting some sleep or being productive. With Bill being such a loner this meant the three of them hardly interacted as a group. Zoey could do without the interaction anyway, she liked spending her time alone on the roof while on watch. She didn't care much for Bill, and although she appreciated Louis's attempts to make conversation she wasn't feeling as positive or social as him. She usually ended up excusing herself when their talks started getting too personal, which made Zoey feel bad, but she needed time to reflect on the last few days alone for a bit.

Zoey had found a comfortable looking folding beach chair inside one of the apartment rooms. She'd made the roof her little perch as she volunteered to take most of the shifts up there, the others didn't mind since it got cold up there and there wasn't much to do. As she sat there the past few days she passed the time zombie-watching, the equivalent of people-watching these days. She was surprised by how human the creatures acted at times. When they were unprovoked they would wander through the streets like your typical zombie. But sometimes Zoey would hear faint mumblings from the ones close to the building, almost like they were trying to speak English but couldn't. One time one of these attempts ended with a growl of frustration, which sent chills down Zoey's spine, it was too human of a reaction. She would also observe them sleep, she had never even considered zombies needing to sleep but these one's definitely did, it creeped her out a bit.

The biggest surprises were isolated incidents that she wasn't even sure she should write down in her notepad. She witnessed a zombie having a coughing fit, it was a nasty, rough sounding rasp. It coughed for a couple minutes before wheezing and keeling over, seemingly dead. Zoey rubbed her own throat after the zombie fell, wincing at how raw the coughs sounded. Another incident she saw a zombie looking straight up at the sky as it started screaming, it was a loud agonizing wail which attracted a fellow group of zombies. Before Zoey could alert the others the zombie ran away as the others chased it off. Zoey shook her head in disbelief as she wrote what she saw in her notepad.

Outside of these few incidents she found watching them to be oddly calming. The way they wandered around made them look like they were looking for something they'd dropped on the floor. It was almost hypnotic staring at them as they walked around in circles for hours on end.

The survivors had spent almost a whole day in the building, the sun was setting and the horde wasn't subsiding. The helicopter had passed a few more times but it wasn't attracting as many zombies as before. Zoey figured it was about time they all made a plan to leave the building since it was clear things weren't going to get better anytime soon. She decided she'd bring it up to the others when her watch was over.

Zoey jumped when she heard a knock on the door beside her. She knew who it was, Bill didn't come up here unless he needed to order her around, which was rare. She watched as Louis cracked open the door to peek outside. "Mind if I join you?" He asked.

Zoey nodded as she looked back towards the zombies on the street. She had avoided idle chit chat for so long she didn't even know what to say. She didn't want to push away the only friendly face in their group though. She patted on a plastic chair beside her awkwardly, motioning for Louis to sit next to her. Louis smiled and walked out to the edge of the roof with her. He rubbed the top of his head nervously as he looked down at all the zombies which had gathered over the last few days. Since Zoey took a majority of the rooftop shifts it had been a while since Louis had seen how bad it was out there. He didn't let the sight deter him though as looked back at Zoey and smiled.

Louis settled in the chair and sighed as though he was letting all the stress in his body escape like a balloon. "Beautiful evening isn't it?" Louis glanced at the infested streets jokingly, "I mean, all things considered…"

Zoey knew he was attempting to lighten the mood, and she appreciated him for that. But she just wasn't in the headspace to joke around after being isolated for so long. She had been in her own head, wrestling away the memories of her parent's tragic death's whenever they crept back into her mind. Zoey didn't want to leave Louis with dead air though. "I just wish I could enjoy it." The college girl mumbled, "Louis… how are we gonna move on even if we escape all of this? I mean for all we know the whole world could be fucked by now!"

Although her words were grim Louis's expression was warm, he looked happy she was finally comfortable making conversation with him. "I know how hopeless this all looks, but we're alive, Zoey! That's reason enough for me to believe there's a future for humanity regardless of how it looks out there. That's because we're living proof that people can survive this, and if we find more people like us we can work together to undo this mess!"

Zoey snickered in response to Louis's speech. Not with malice though, it was because he had a point. There had to be other people out there, maybe even someplace that could hold out until this situation was hopefully fixed. She smiled to herself, who knew positivity could be weaponized against her in this way?

She turned to Louis, "You know Louis, I've been wondering," Louis looked at her curiously. "You were the only one of us three who actually saw the city turn when this whole thing started, Bill was unconscious and I was coming in from another city." Zoey looked down and paused, she didn't know how to put what she was wondering into words, but Louis waited patiently. "Do you have an idea as to why everyone turned so quickly? I mean, I doubt everyone in this city had just been bitten in the time it took for me to drive here, there's millions of people in this city alone. I guess I'm just asking… Do you know anything that can help piece this together?" There was a thought in the back of her mind that made her sick, she was hoping Louis could provide some kind of new information that would put her at ease.

"I don't know how this all started, I was at work in the office when this happened." Louis frowned as he recalled what happened yesterday. "I went to the bathroom, everything was normal. Then I washed my hands and walked out…" He gestured out to the street. "This is all I saw when I looked out the window, hell on earth."

Zoey widened her eyes. "Just like that? You didn't even hear anything?"

Louis shook his head, "I remember hearing glass breaking… The office was empty when I walked out, and then when I looked out the broken window I saw people on the streets running around like maniacs, not attacking each other though… They looked more like they were in pain…" He trailed off with a blank stare on his face.

Zoey hugged her legs to comfort herself, she couldn't imagine seeing something like that happen so suddenly. The explanation only brought her more questions, but she decided that was enough zombie talk for a moment.

"Hey, Louis?..."

"Hmm?" He blinked a couple times before looking at her again.

"How have you been able to stay this positive, despite everything that's happened? And all the people we've lost?"

He chuckled at Zoey's words, the innocence of the question snapping him out of his thoughts. "You know, you remind me of someone I knew really well… a long ass time ago."

Zoey blushed and looked up with wide eyes. "What? Who?"

"Me."

Louis looked at the confused expression on Zoey's face and laughed. "I mean me when I was younger!" He looked at Zoey again, the college girl's face was still bright red with embarrassment. It made him laugh even harder.

When he was done laughing he sighed and looked at her again. "If you think I'm too positive you should have met my mother, if I didn't have a reason to smile she'd give me one." He wiped a tear from his eye, Zoey wasn't sure if they were tears of joy or…

"I wasn't the most athletic teenager, or the funniest, I would always find things to keep me down. When my mother confronted me about this I asked her, 'How can I be positive ma'? When it feels like the cards have been stacked against me from the beginning?' What she said in response got me thinking though… She said it's all in here." Louis tapped the college girl on the forehead, which caught her by surprise. "She told me there are things out there that we can't control, things that'll bring us down, and that the true battle is a mental one. It takes a certain kind of strength to be positive, and it's easy to let the bad thoughts win, but if you want the world to shine a bit brighter, you've gotta take that first step!"

Zoey thought about it for a while. That sounded awfully similar to something her mother had said to her once. "There's not much to be appreciative of now though." She quickly covered her mouth, and realized she had spoken without thinking. She didn't mean to sound rude, but Louis didn't seem to mind.

He raised an eyebrow, "Well, let's see… We have this whole apartment building serving as shelter, plenty of food in storage, and in terms of family… I might not have that, but I've made some new friends who I can trust, so it isn't all bad." She didn't know how, but he'd successfully twisted Zoey's negativity into something more positive, even if it was a stretch she knew he'd won. Zoey allowed herself to smile at this, which made Louis smile even wider.

"See? A little brighter."

Their conversation was cut short by Bill walking out to the roof. He looked slightly annoyed as he bluntly stated, "We need to go for a supply run."

"What do you mean?" Zoey asked as they started to follow the old man down to the third floor of the building. "We have plenty of food and water! Admit it, you're just as eager to get out of here as I am, but you're too stubborn to admit you were wrong about waiting!"

Bill grunted.

Louis and Zoey looked at each other with visible confusion, not knowing if that grunt was meant to be a yes or a no, or if Bill had even heard her at all.

Bill looked up with irritation as usual, "Well, we may have food but we're severely lacking in munitions. I've been thinking about it for a while, we're gonna need a lot more than what we have if we wanna get to that hospital!"

"So if we have to fight that group out there…" Louis mumbled.

"We're fucked." Zoey finished grimly.

Louis nodded pensively, "That makes sense and all Bill, but we won't be able to return to the apartment once we leave, it's a one way trip, remember? Please, tell me you have a plan at least!"

"One that involves us keeping all of our limbs intact, preferably." Zoey chimed in. If Bill had a plan she was game. Anything was better than feeling like a sitting duck stuck in this apartment building.

She hesitated though when she saw the most disturbing thing she's seen since this apocalypse started. Bill smiled.

—-

Zoey sat anxiously with Bill by the hole on the second floor. The drop led to a living room filled with zombies. Thankfully they were clueless to their presence within the building, but that could change at any moment.

When Zoey heard Bill's plan she thought he'd finally lost it. He explained it with such confidence though that he convinced her and Louis that it was their best shot at finding ammo and getting somewhere safer. He'd said the building was basically a ticking time bomb. If the zombies were ever made aware of their presence there was nothing the three of them could do to stop an attack. Zoey had hoped there was a way to do this without as much risk, but that was wishful thinking and she knew it.

As they waited for Louis to get into position it gave Zoey time to think. She hardly knew Bill, and even though she technically knew him longer than Louis, it wasn't by much, and they had no common ground. The old man hardly initiated conversation with her unless it was strictly survival related, not that she was complaining, she just wished she could get a read on him. If she was gonna put her faith in these people to watch her back she at least wanted to know what their deal was. If Louis hadn't come along she would have even considered trying to survive out there alone, but she shook that thought away. Instead of focusing on hypotheticals she should work with the group she has for all their sakes. Zoey was so deep in her thoughts she was caught off guard by how quiet it had suddenly become outside.

Zoey held her breath for a moment, wondering if it had been a dud. She was quickly proven wrong when she heard the loud explosion in the distance. Zoey perked up and opened her mouth to say something but Bill raised a hand telling her to hold that thought for a moment. Zombies could be heard scrambling to exit the building from underneath. They could hear a flurry of fists punching the walls, followed by a crash as the footsteps slowly faded in the distance.

Zoey held her breath as she pulled out her pistol, now neatly fastened with a homemade silencer that Bill had helped her with. Bill pulled out a silenced pistol of his own and nodded to her. "Showtime, kid."

"Let's get this done quickly, I don't want to be out in those streets any longer than I have to be."

With that they dropped down into the hole. The first floor was quite a sight, in their haste to leave the zombies had made a huge hole in the wall. If they didn't see a visible exit, they made their own she supposed. The idea bothered Zoey a bit, these things were a lot stronger than she thought. Despite that it looked like Bill's plan had gone off without a hitch, the zombie's in the area all looked to be preoccupied with the commotion Louis had caused. They went through the door to the alleyway, which was completely empty save for a few abandoned cars. They walked under the building's fire escape, Bill and Zoey looking up with impatience and worry respectively.

"Louis?" Zoey whispered up at the escape. She didn't think he was in danger or anything, but him being separated from the group was still risky. They heard a second explosion go off, a little further this time, followed by a car alarm in the distance. Then a pair of legs appeared from the roof and quickly shuffled down the stairs of the escape.

Louis poked his head out from above them and grinned. "You know, I didn't think I'd enjoy blowing shit up, but man was that fun!"

Bill responded, "Yeah yeah kid, quit wasting time. We don't know how long that'll holdem." Zoey could almost see a smirk forming in his face, but he must have been suppressing it which made Zoey chuckle. When Bill was explaining his plan he brought up the tricks Louis and him had been teaching each other while she was taking watch. Apparently Louis knew how to make pipe bombs with common household supplies and he had been showing Bill. He wouldn't admit it but Zoey knew Louis had gotten through to him too. The idea of them bonding over crafting explosives almost made her laugh out loud. Maybe the old man had a heart buried somewhere in there.

The two in the alley quickly slid an old mattress under the fire escape and Louis jumped down, dust from the mattress flying everywhere. Now together the three of them made their way through the alley to a door Bill pointed out. The door to the gun shop, bingo.

Unsurprisingly Bill lived next to a local gun shop so it was easy enough to get to one, all they needed to do now was restock and move on to the next phase of their plan. Zoey volunteered to wait by the door to keep watch, leaving the two men to break into the gun store. Bill checked the door handle and found it was luckily still unlocked. Zoey figured they didn't have time to lock their doors when they were all turning into zombies. Bill shone his light into the dark room, the shop looked pitch black inside otherwise. Zoey was glad she wasn't the one going in there, she wasn't usually afraid of the dark, but things can change when the undead start roaming the streets.

After the two disappeared inside, Zoey made sure the coast was clear before going inside and shutting the door behind her carefully. Right now all she had to do was keep her head by the entrance and make sure the sounds didn't start getting closer. She kept her hands in her pockets and tried to make herself comfortable while the others finished their search.

She stared at the street through one of the windows. She couldn't see much since the entrance was in an alley, but she could tell the undead had made quite a mess out there these last few days. The street was littered with glass and debris from buildings, there was also a mix of bodily fluids which Zoey didn't imagine smelled very pleasant. Thankfully these zombies weren't the smart kind, they were easy to lead away with sound so she wasn't too worried about them returning anytime soon.

The car alarm was still blaring, probably being set off over and over again by the zombies attacking it. Zoey hoped the others would finish soon. She wanted to start leaving the city as soon as possible, the buildings around her almost started to suffocate her. What once was a familiar place to her now seemed so foreign. She shivered when she thought about how her mother could still be out there roaming the streets, looking for people to stomp into a pulp. The way the zombies gathered in swarms could mean she had already encountered her. She could even be on this street as she was thinking about the possibility.

Zoey smacked herself with both hands to get a grip. 'Stop thinking about it,' Zoey thought to herself. She needed to be strong, while keeping one foot forward. She hadn't been doing that very well lately, hopefully now she would be able to make good on her word though by escaping the city.

Zoey suddenly got a strange feeling though. She paused. What was that? She started walking deeper into the store, tapping on her ears in a panic. Why were her ears ringing? She started to freak out even more when the ringing started getting louder, changing its frequency to a more painful pitch. Zoey doubled over, cupping her hands over her ears and wailing in agony. What was this noise? Covering her ears didn't help! The sound made Zoey feel like throwing up!

Stumbling around in the gun shop, Zoey was desperate to find the source of the sound. She walked in and found Louis and Bill collapsed on the floor with a strange looking zombie standing over them. It looked like it had self-inflicted wounds all over its body. There were deep scratch marks all over its pale skin, the most visible ones on its arms. The creature had bright red bloodshot eyes and its arms hung limply at its sides, could it not use them anymore? She didn't have time to process much besides the thing's appearance though. It looked to be the source of the sound, it was looking straight up with its mouth wide open.

Zoey was quick to act as she aimed her silenced pistol at the thing and shot it in the chest a couple times. No effect? Zoey aimed a shot at its head this time, hitting it in the forehead. This time the creature gave her an unsettling side eye as it kept its head pointed upward, but otherwise it also had no effect. Her eyes widened at how this thing could possibly still be standing. She unloaded a whole magazine into the monster before it finally went down. Zoey collapsed to her knees and gasped as the pain slowly faded. What was that thing? Whatever it had done terrified her. It somehow used sound to completely incapacitate the others while almost rendering her useless. Zoey still couldn't hear, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She only had time to worry about one crisis at a time though. She went straight to Louis and Bill, trying to wake them up. She wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. She felt so vulnerable, she was not only alone, she couldn't hear what was going on outside.

She almost sobbed with relief when Bill came to. He really was tougher than she'd given him credit for. Bill sat up and mumbled something. He paused and repeated himself, checking his ears with a shocked look. He got up and snapped his fingers next to his ears, the gravity of the situation dawning on him. As if things couldn't get any worse Bill pointed to the shop's windows, zombies were running around at the front of the store, a few flooding into the alleyway. They must have been curious about the noise. The zombie's scream had to have had a different effect on the other zombies, because they looked more energetic than ever.

Bill knelt down and rummaged through Louis's bag, the office worker still unconscious from the encounter. He pulled out a metal cylinder with a wire sticking out of it, one of the pipe bombs they had shown her earlier. The duo made three just in case a situation like this arose. Bill got up and grabbed one of the gun bags, gesturing for Zoey to do the same. She picked up Louis's bag and together, Zoey and Bill lifted the unconscious man by his shoulders. They headed for the door to the alley but were cut off by a zombie who had found the place the sound had come from. It growled at them, spit flying everywhere. Bill quickly shot the thing with his free arm. She still couldn't hear anything, but she guessed even with the silencer it had made enough noise to bring more unwanted guests.

Bill closed the door before the rest could get in. He took a deep breath and motioned across the street at the entrance to the redline subway station. The zombies hadn't gathered to that side of the store yet and they were running low on time. Even with the bomb it wouldn't be enough to keep the zombies off of them long enough to get away with Louis' unconscious body. The subway station was Bill's best bet for a safe path to the hospital; he knew the subway lines well enough to use them as a secure path. They didn't have time to discuss their other options as a few of the zombies outside started peering into the shop's windows. They dragged Louis along with them to the door across the street from the subway, they'd have to move fast if they wanted to make it before they were overrun. Bill stopped at the door and readied the pipe bomb. He counted down with his fingers; 3, 2, 1…

Together they kicked down the door and hobbled to the subway station. The sound of the door breaking brought a couple zombies over to check out the commotion. Bill kicked them back, causing them to stumble and fall. The zombies made a nasty expression as they got back up to pummel the survivors. Bill reached for his pistol and took one out with a headshot, Zoey followed suit by killing its partner. More undead came from around the corner when they heard shots being fired.

The army veteran fiddled with the pipe bomb, trying to get it to light up but visibly cursing under his breath. The zombies quickly started closing the gap between them, and when all hope started dwindling Louis grabbed the pipe bomb weakly and turned it on with a quick adjustment. His eyes were half open, clearly still feeling the full effect of the auditory attack from earlier. But he handed the bomb back to Bill regardless, who wasted no time in chucking the explosive behind the crowd. It blinked with a bright red light, they had also set it up to make a loud beeping noise to attract the undead. Clearly it worked as it lit up the dark street, almost putting the zombies in a trance as they scrambled to the source of the light.

With Louis now fully conscious they stumbled down the steps of the subway. Even though they couldn't hear, they felt the explosion go off, they knew they had little time now. Zoey hoped Bill was right about the maintenance rooms being secure in the subway. They walked past some rubble, the entrance to the subway was partially blocked off, but low and behold the rubble revealed a storage area halfway down the stairs. They could see a metal door at the end of it that said Subway Maintenance. It looked like it had been hastily secured with an iron bar to make it difficult to open if locked from the inside. Thankfully though it was wide open and they wasted no time as they got inside and shoved the iron bar down.

The three of them collapsed as soon as they realized they were safe now. At this point the ringing had subsided and Zoey's hearing was starting to return. She got up and ran to the restroom, and as soon as the adrenaline wore off she started feeling nauseous and began throwing up in the toilet.

When she had let it all out of her system she stumbled back into the room with the others. They looked like shit to be blunt. Louis was a sweaty mess and his eyes were still only half open. Bill shakily lit another cigarette, trying to play it cool, but Zoey knew he was hurting as bad as the rest of them. Now that she had gotten a better look at the room they were in she admitted that Bill had made the right call choosing the subway station as a place to hole up, nothing could get into this room even if the zombies knew there were survivors in here. The room was small but secure, with two steel doors keeping them safe and supplies sitting on a table in the middle of a large white table.

Bill sat up and took a deep breath, "Holy hell."

Those words summed up everyone's thoughts perfectly. As the rest of the group got their bearings, Zoey walked up to the other door which led deeper into the subway. It had a large reinforced glass window which she could peer into and not worry about being grabbed. She couldn't see anything through the darkness though. She decided to shine a light through the glass, praying it wouldn't attract any potential zombies. All clear, for now at least. They couldn't stay in the room forever though, from here on out it was a straight path to Mercy Hospital.