As one the group made their way across the room to a doorway presumably leading further into the building. Robert pressed his ear up to the door and listened. Seemingly satisfied he leaned back and reached for the knob. He held up his free hand and began counting down from three with his fingers.“Just open the door already,” Gabriel snapped.Everyone in the group cringed at the unexpected sound. Robert turned and glared at Gabriel . “What?” the young man asked, innocently. “What do you think is waiting on the other side of the door, a crack commando squad? It’ll be zombies if anything. Counting down in silence isn’t gonna keep them from hearing us. They’re dead. They don’t hear anything.”Robert sighed but didn’t argue. As if consenting defeat, he simply opened the door and stepped back, letting flashlights shine their way past him into the corridor beyond. It was empty as far as they could see.“All right,” Robert said, waving them on. “We’ll go in our groups. Stay sharp.”Rico, Lu
Jay caught up to Gabriel and followed his gaze around the corner. “The far door?” he asked after a moment, and Gabriel nodded his agreement. The door furthest from them was cracked open just slightly, almost even imperceptibly, but it was definitely open. All the other doors were closed.The two companions quickly stepped over to the door, and then pressed their backs to the wall on either side. They exchanged glances briefly, and then Gabriel reached out and pushed the door open. They quickly raised their flashlights into the room, flicking the beans about in the attempt to uncover something, anything, at all. Beyond the fact that this was another laboratory of some sort, however, there was nothing at all inside. Jay raised his gun in front of him, ready to fire, and stepped into the room, Gabriel hot on his heels.They moved cautiously, letting their flashlights dart about, covering as much ground as possible. Like the lab they’d been in a few minutes earlier, this one looked li
He was just in time to see a door click shut down the hallway. He lowered his arms again and let out a sigh of annoyance.“I said, what are you doing here?”Devin spun around back in the direction he had come from; back in the direction of the voice, weapon aimed and ready. No one was there, or at least no one aside from the group he had come with. For a long moment everybody froze, and then as if some signal had been sent they all realized where the voice had come from. Robert had left his radio on, and it was broadcasting. He unclipped the radio from his belt and raised it up for everyone to hear.“Take it easy, take it easy,” came the sound of Gabriel ’s voice. “It’s okay, we don’t mean any harm to you.”“Good Jay,” Robert said, realizing, correctly, that Jay was holding down the transmit button on his radio so everyone else could hear what was going on.“Boy, you break into a military base and you’re telling me to take it easy? Why did you come here? What do you know? Who sent you
The man’s face grew very serious, and his eyes met Gabriel ’s. He sat in silence for a long moment, choosing his next words with great care. “Would it make a difference to you if I told you this wasn’t a safe place to stay?”“Why is this not a safe place to stay?”“I can’t tell you that.”The man’s gaze did not waver. His eyes, cold and dark, proved unyielding and uncompromising. “We’ve been up and down these dark corridors for a good hour now, and we haven’t found any sign of any life, death, or even undeath aside from you. Is there something there we aren’t seeing?”“I can’t tell you that.”Gabriel sighed and stood up straight. “Well then, I can’t bGabriel even Gabriel you. I have something like thirty tired, hungry people I have to look out for, and they just need some food to eat and a place to sleep. The food we have, the place you have. Maybe you’re right, maybe we don’t want to stay here, but we can discuss that in a civilized manner tomorrow, after a good night’s rest. What d
“Maybe this is one of those places conspiracy theorists are always talking about: a safe bunker where politicians are supposed to go to wait out the end of the world.”“I thought those were supposed to be buried under miles and miles of rock.”“How the Hell would I know?”“And I can’t envision a politician being able to accept a mattress like this,” Jay added, lying back on his cot. “And another thing: what’s this ‘pathology lab’ nonsense? There’s something I don’t trust about Paul’s explanation.” His voice trailed off, but Gabriel did not respond. “What do you think?” he prompted, but Gabriel was silent. “Gabriel ?” Jay sat up just as a snore ripped through the air, grinding like a poorly oiled chainsaw. “Great,” he muttered, and fell back down onto the bed.When Gabriel woke he wasn’t sure at first that any time had passed at all. The room looked subtly different, but he was not familiar enough with it already to place what miniscule details had changed. The remaining bunks were
“Christ, what kind of people do you think we are?” He looked around the room, glancing from face to face. Each person’s face unquestionably betrayed exhaustion and weariness, but they also smiled warmly as conversations carried on, and the occasional peal of laughter ripped through the room. The air was alive with the buzz of humanity. “Are you really saying you don’t think anyone in here is capable of caring for other people, of working to help other people, without being forced to do so? Is that all we are, just survival instincts on legs?”“When things are going well, like they are now, sure, we’re all happy to help out and do our part, but when times get rough, when food and water are scarce and we’re struggling just to find a safe place to sleep at night, rule number one in each and every single person’s book becomes the survival of the self.”Jay shrugged his shoulders and shook his head sadly. “I don’t like it any more than you do. But I’ve already seen it. You’re fresh to this
“And I will not let that happen to me. I’m alive, and I’m staying alive. My family and friends… they would have wanted me to stay alive. Your families and your friends would have wanted you to stay alive. I don’t care if we repopulate the world or just slowly die off to the last man, but I will put a bullet in my own head before I let those things win. So help or don’t help, I don’t care. Just don’t you ever say there’s no point.”With that she fell silent, and suddenly seemed to become aware of what she had just done. It was as if someone else had temporarily taken control of her body, and now that she had it back she was extremely ashamed of the things it had done in her place. “I mean, that is…” she stammered, but seemed unable to complete the thought.Robert reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re right.” He gave her a reassuring hug. Jake looked away and did her best to not feel like a third wheel.“Well then,” Robert said, “let’s take a look at that li
The next day went much the same as the previous one had, but without any big fights in the dining hall. The garden really began to develop over the course of the day, and a finalized list was developed detailing exactly what supplies were available. The work continued much the same as the next few days passed, and slowly tensions in the group began to ease as one by one they grew comfortable with the fact that, for once, an attack might actually not have been coming.Yet as most of the group became more relaxed, Robert could feel a concern growing like a cancer inside his stomach. He knew more intimately than the rest the actual state of their supplies, and knew that before long they were going to have to go into a town and gather more for themselves. He discussed with Paul about the location of the nearest town, and fortunately he was able to provide a map Robert could study to help prepare them for the trip. He figured they could last a few weeks without a supply run, maybe even ove
At the end of the line Gabriel found another big building, which he knew the moment he stepped inside had to be a barracks. It was like a much larger version of the living quarters at the compound they had found in Texas. Just four long lines of beds stretching across the length of the room, with no care shown for privacy or individuality. All part of the process of breaking the spirit.“Newbie.”Gabriel turned toward the sound of the voice, to see someone, a prisoner, not a guard, judging from his clothes, staring at him. The stranger pointed toward the far wall and said, “You’ll want to see the manager. Hurry up.”Following with his eyes to where the man was pointing, Gabriel could see a window set into the wall, and realized there was probably some kind of office over there. He nodded a quick thanks to the man, only to discover he had already walked away, and then headed down the lines of beds toward the office.The door to the small room was open, and inside he found a woman se
“Uh… no,” replied Gabriel , noting strong hints of what seemed like a British accent in the creatures voice. “It’s an old term for a creature that slowly spreads through a village like a plague.”“Ah, such as the Vourdalak.”Gabriel blinked in surprise at this comment, stunned into silence.“Yes, well,” the creature continued, “it has long been the modus operandi of your kind to blame others for your own wrong doings. Judging from the state of things, I would say you plagued yourselves plenty well enough on your own without any help from me or mine. No doubt you still think yourself clever for the snide comment, however.”Gabriel had felt clever for the remark, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that now.The vampire placed his cane on the ground and leaned on it with both hands, bending down to stare at Gabriel from a smaller distance.“Where are your others?” he asked.Gabriel ’s eyes widened, but he just shook his head. “What others?”“Don’t lie to me. We returned to the
“Turn out all your pockets, then,” said the big man. Gabriel did as he was told, or at least as well as he could seeing as most of the pockets in his cargo pants weren’t really designed for being turned out.When the others were satisfied he wasn’t carrying anything, the man tipped his head up to indicate Gabriel should move through the turnstile.Once through, the first figure motioned for him to stand on a line taped to the floor. She was holding one of the devices from the table in her right hand, a weird thing that looked a little like an electric razor only with a sharp point at the end instead of round blades. Once he was in place she said, “Roll up your sleeve and place your left arm on the table.”“What?” he asked stupidly. “Left sleeve. Arm. Table,” she answered, pointing at each thing in turn as she said it.Gabriel stared at the device in her hands but otherwise did not move. “What are you going to do with that?” he asked.Hands grabbed him from behind, pulling at his
“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Gabriel asked, annoyed. He blinked rapidly, clearing away more of the blurriness, until he could see that this wasn’t Joe and the others. He was surrounded by zombies. Gabriel let out a yelp and fell backwards, only to be shoved again from that side. This time the shove balanced him onto his feet, and he turned around to find that there were more zombies back in that direction, cutting off his path to the inside of the hospital. He turned toward the parking lot, only to see zombies had moved into position there, as well. He continued circling and found that he was surrounded on all sides by the undead. They had trapped him in, with nowhere to run. He felt like crying. He felt like panicking. But neither would help him then. So he closed his eyes, tucked his chin into his shoulder, and waited for the end. But nothing happened. Gabriel could hear some shuffling of feet, some of the eerie, inhuman moans that seemed to be an involuntary sound that the
Gabriel was fairly confident he couldn’t be seen from his position, since the doctor hadn’t noticed him yet. But undoubtedly the doctor was finally taking note of the rearranged equipment in the room. The beds moved out of place, the random cart just visible over the top of the halfway wall. At first glance it all might have looked normal enough, but the closer scrutiny he gave it as he stood there talking was enough to finally make him realize the difference. Bennet stopped talking and began walking, straight down the hallway toward the room. He moved cautiously, as though expecting at any moment to step on a landmine, but he continued on regardless. He reached the door, opening it with the same level of caution, peering around one last time before finally stepping into the room. After a moment he stumbled, one leg catching on a strip of cloth that tore away. A shelf of equipment came crashing down, slamming the door shut and barring across it as various items smashed against the
Horror movies told him that he should be looking at somebody horribly deformed, or wearing the skin of another person, or with a head full of small, scary spikes. Something. This guy could have been his doctor in the days before and Gabriel would’ve thought nothing of it. This man could’ve walked up to the gates of Joe’s little bunker community and they would’ve let him in and never thought twice about it. It was terrifying to contemplate. “Hello?” the man called, and just the sound of that simple word, muted and muffled as it was coming through the wall, turned Gabriel ’s blood to ice.The stranger started to turn away from the room, but then something made him stop and turn back.“Are you there?” the man continued calling out as he surveyed the room through the window with what looked like, at least in Gabriel ’s opinion, a sadistic grin. “That wasn’t what it looked like. I was trying to help that man.”Yeah, real convincing, thought Gabriel , but he remained silent as he crawled
He considered his options, favoring the one that said he could just wait there for the others to show up. But he didn’t know how long that would be and there was some good he could do inside the building while there.So taking a deep, steadying breath he pushed his way through the nearest doorway and headed deeper into the hospital.The hallways were dark, which was expected, but that expectation didn’t stop them from being especially eerie. Somehow, here and there, some emergency lights still clung desperately to life, flickering on and off at random times, throwing long, twisted shadows where they could span across the walls and floors, and leap out from around corners. The daylight provided sufficient illumination to counteract the lack of interior lighting, but as all the windows on the ground floor seemed to be either heavily tinted or located where the light bounced first off of walls before entering the rooms, the bluish glow it created only added to the ominous mood of the hos
“Gabriel !”Sturdy hands wrapped around his upper arms and shook him. He turned his head and his clearing vision made out the image of Joe standing in front of him. “Gabriel , get it together. We have to go. Now!”Gabriel nodded his head and tried to take a deep breath, and then found himself taking several quick gasping breaths. Was he panicking? He didn’t have time to panic.With as much certainty as he could manage he nodded his head. “Right,” he agreed, “let’s go.”They each turned and ran off in separate directions.This had all been worked out in advance, each person memorizing a map of the town, studying it, learning each street and alleyway. They’d all settled on a divided running path before they ever stepped foot outside of the base. So Gabriel knew where to go.Or he thought he did.Though he hadn’t been willing to admit it with the others, he had never been particularly good with maps, not great at visualizing the 2D images with 3D spaces. So it wasn’t that surprising w
“I’m telling you, you go to that place, the only thing you have to look forward to is death. You’re better off here. Just keep your heads down, hide out, and maybe they’ll never come for you. That’s the best thing to hope for.”There was a long silence marked only by the sound of some uncomfortable shuffling. Claire stepped forward so she could get a better look at him. “But… Gabriel … you went into the caves. You tried to make a difference.”“I was wrong, okay?”Gabriel shouted the words so loud that Claire took a step back.“I was wrong. I was an idiot and I was wrong and people suffered because I was wrong. I suffered because I was wrong. The world is worse off now than it was before, all because I had to go play hero. Well there are no heroes. There’s only the living and the dead and you’re either one or the other. You can stay here and stay alive or you can go out there and join the ranks of the dead. Those are your options. I don’t care which you choose, but if you choose deat