Infected (Book 1): The First Ten Days (27 page)

I need to find a place indoors to start a fire, wrap myself up with whatever extra crap I could find and regain my body heat before I die.

The middle of the night inside of some random town I didn’t even have the common decency to learn the name of was not the best place or time to ponder unimportant details. I wasn’t that kind of guy. I’ve always been more traditional, dinner and a movie. I didn’t want to rain check the romanticism of getting to know the town before I stayed inside it, but little choice was offered.

This town looked like all the others. Everything managed to look the same every day. Everything managed to be the same every day. Everything managed to feel the same. Everything was the same, everyday.

Tyler Durden didn’t deal with this much repetition and lack of trust in the world around him. “And he was a misanthropic cynic.” Maybe I was too.

I was being guided by pure instinct. I shivered uncontrollably. I needed to get somewhere safe and soon. My body needed warmth. I gathered myself and moved faster. I notice how little snow was collected inside of the town. The snow on the streets ranged only in inches. My movements were faster than when I was warmer, the cold forced me to pick up the pace.

I picked the first door I was near and reached for the door handle. It was unlocked, both a good and bad thing. I’d struggle less to get inside but there could potentially be anything or anyone inside ready to attack whatever came through the door, but I couldn’t warn anyone I planned to enter in case there were infected inside. Stealthy and paced were the rules to the game, both of which were difficult while I shivered with little control over my body.

From what I could tell the buildings in the town were generally small with the max height being only four or five stories, the vast majority of the buildings being only two or three. I didn’t know what kind of building the door I opened was to but it didn’t matter.

Before going in I readied the lantern and prepared to react to whatever jumped out at me. Mobility was the key to survival so I adjusted the backpack again to achieve max flexibility and reached for the handle once more.

I shined the light through the crack of the door. It looked empty. There was only an unfurnished hallway with doors to either side.

Darkness filled the hallways with the exception for anything I personally illuminated. I walked in and shut the door behind me to stop the cold air from being pushed inside.

BANG, BANG! The same loud pop from earlier without the headache attached to it. It was never in my head. There was something outside which made the noise. BANG! Again, this time it swallowed the silence whole. Tiny bits of whatever lightly brushed against my body before their impact with the floor a fraction of a second after the bang. It came from behind me. I turned around with the lantern raised in front of me to the door I came in through. Nothing was there, but I knew the sound came from somewhere close. BANG! Another pop followed and wood flew off of the door. A tiny hole ripped open on the door. I noticed the first hole was on the door too; gunshots.

I backed into the wall and two more holes poked through the door with the combined sound of gunshots in the distance.

The lantern!

Somebody saw me go inside the building. When I aimed the lantern at the door, the light must have leaked out through the holes and confirmed I was inside. Whoever it was must have been heading my direction. Some psychopathic, starved idiot most likely caught sight of me. It would explain the bangs from before I blacked out for the second time.

“Go look inside!” someone yelled out. Who did they speak to?

Damn it! There’s more.

Some lame-ass situation I was in: trapped inside a building with a layout I was unfamiliar with, and more than one person with a gun headed my way, likely in search of food they believe I carried. All so they can have one person’s food. Everything was the same. These crazed Richard wannabes. Under the right circumstances, everyone becomes a killer.

“I’ve got to get the hell out of here.” This was easier said than done, I still shivered and from possible hypothermia (as far as I knew). Regardless,

Time to move...

I turned from the door and shined down the hallway up to where it ended. Left and right where my two options to go further into the building and find a way out. I couldn’t stray too far away from the highway so I needed to get around the building without being seen and make it far enough to get back onto the highway still unseen, but I would have to find somewhere safe I could warm up first. I couldn’t shoot back at them because there was only one round in the gun. They didn’t worry about their rounds; they freely shot at a door, so it was safe to assume they kept much more. (Rhyme unintended.)

Left; it was a safe choice to make, a left turn would take me in the direction I already traveled and if I came across a window, I could make my way out and continue deeper into the town without ever losing track of where I was. If I did in fact have hypothermia, it was incredibly possible I could get confused and not remember where to go; left turn it was.

The door at the other end of the hall was not yet opened; I took it as a sign they were still on their way to the door. No rational person would open fire without some height advantage over the infected which would gather in search of the source of the shots in the first place.

DAMN IT! That means it’s not safe outside either.

I still needed to get away. I didn’t know what to do… again, again, again. Every day, a different toilet, just filled with the same…

BANG! Another shot was fired followed by a loud thump. The door was kicked in. I sped up. The left turn led me to another hallway filled with more doors. The only difference being, there were no more turns up ahead. I walked myself into a dead end, again. I ran to the end of the room and opened the door to the far left of the hallway, it wasn’t locked.

Some kind of conference room awaited me on the other side. The room contained a large rectangular table which sat in the middle with six chairs lined up to either side. I turned the lantern off and threw the backpack against the floor after I took the gun out. One round in the gun and no idea how many people headed my way. This needed to be timed to perfection. If I was forced to shoot anyone, I would need time to get their weapon but not be seen by anyone else who came after the gunshot.

More doors were kicked in somewhere down the hallway. These guys were reckless. I was amazed that they managed to live as long as they did with as much noise as they made. THUMP! THUMP! Doors continued to get kicked in closer to my position. Every thump would have a moment of silence follow it while the rooms were searched. They came closer, THUMP, and closer.

THUMP! THUMP! You could tell they took a left turn, the same as me, when the thump was no longer muffled by the walls but rather the wooden door between the hallway and me. TAH! TAH! It became louder and clearer.

BANG! Another gunshot, this time through the handle of the door to the room I was in. I took cover behind one of the chairs on the other side of the table. TAH! The door flew open. The room was dark, my eyes were adjusted to see through the dark but the chances were his eyes went through the same adjustment too. This room was the second to last in the hallway, and this made him more careful as he continued to more probable locations in which I’d be hidden. He didn’t know how close he was. He was reckless with the door but wasn’t overall stupid, his caution was still present. The man took his time to scan the room before he entered. He paced slowly around the table headed to the end where I hid and with his movements I began to back up and move around the table clockwise at his same pace. I remained outside of his visual range. Before I knew it, my back was to the door, but the man’s back was now to my backpack. If he saw it he would know I was hidden there.

After he failed to find me hidden in the room with him, the man relaxed and became more casual with his movements. He relaxed so I relaxed. I tried to identify the guys face through the dark; a black fuzzy cloud was all I could see where his head should have been. The room was simply too dark. What I could tell was that broad shoulders and huge arms made up his upper body. I couldn’t take this guy in a one on one fight which meant the gun I held could actually come into play.

If I knew where he held his gun, I could’ve taken it from him and risk my one bullet.

My focus was taken by a faint whistle ringing in my ears. It was far but closed in.

Is it the other guy?

The closer it became, the louder it became, right up until I realized it wasn’t a whistle at all. It was screaming. The same screaming I’ve heard many times before.

They found us.

Clusters of infected made their way to the place where the gunshots came from, the office building I was in. The idiots shot at me and were going to not only get me killed, but themselves too.

The infected slammed into the building with a drumming consistency. Hundreds of them found their way to the building. I was right in not going outside, but being indoors was only a temporary solution against the infected. Soon the windows would be gone and the infected would pour in through the holes where the windows used to be, they’ll take everything in their path down with them, a volcano, lava.

I wondered if the guy across the table from me remembered to close the front door to the building. After all, he did shoot his way into the place. I didn’t even lock the door when I came in. I didn’t doubt his capability to leave such a large important detailed unattended. I could only hope no runners made their way through the door. I wasn’t particularly excited about dying in some random conference room with some buff strange deranged manic as my death partner.

The drum solo of the infected slamming into the building continued. By its consistency, I simply assumed everyone in the town was infected. Hundreds of infected continued to slam into the building, they scratched at the walls and screamed sporadically at the top of their lungs.

The tortured voices of the suffering

The man in the room stood frozen, he listened to the infected continue their solo.

Nice tunes

Breaking glass, somewhere in the building, I didn’t know where it came from and luckily neither did the guy I was trapped in the room with. He became paranoid and rushed out of the room. He gave me a chance to grab the backpack and follow behind him unnoticed. My footsteps were masked by the drum and screaming vocals of the hot new thing all the kids listened to; The Infected.

The music styling of The Infected was unique and ahead of its time. Their genre ranged anywhere from Drum and Bass crossed with Screamo all the way to Death Metal and Terror Rock. Through their eight day rise to fame, this prestigious group managed to complete all their performances without a specific lead singer. In fact, the group was divided into two subgroups who still performed together; The Runners and The Walkers. Every member of The Runner subgroup was technically the lead singer of the band. Many times the band would not only perform musically, but also have performance art in their shows. Described by the New York Times as being “Heart Stopping” and “Deadly to Miss” as well as saying “Once the musical talents of The Infected meet your ear drums, it’s only a matter of time before you can’t control yourself and you become part of the movement.” Many listeners have already joined the ranks of The Infected in an attempt to spread the sound and art through as many generations as possible. Their live performances will leave you drained and zombified with their radiant talent.

By the time I arrived at the hallway the madman who made all the noise was already gone. No time to waste looking for where he went. The infected broke into the building. Windows shattered; glass cracked and sprinkled all over the floor. The worst part was only the runners managed to get inside and prompted me to dash through the halls and find a way upward to the roof. There I could at least assess the number of infected and maybe find a fire escape down if it was safe enough. I ran right passed the hallway through which I came into the building and almost immediately all the runners in that hall tailed me.

I ran straight, right into the hallway I didn’t pick when I decided where to hide, the right turn, and all the doors were kicked in on that side too. More infected poured out of the rooms and gathered with the rest of the ones who followed me. At the end of the hall was another right turn. This led straight to a small lobby like area with an elevator and an emergency stairwell right next to it. It’s what the doctor ordered. I ran through and pushed the door to the stairwell, and immediately raced up the staircases. Second floor, third floor, and another door which led to the roof, it was open.

They must have run up here too.

I couldn’t slow down and cautiously check to see if they were really up there, I was short on time, the infected were racing up the stairs. I ran through the door before they could get a chance to see me go through, the infected would assume I vanished at the top of the stairs. My choices were to get killed by a crap load of infected or by some hostile survivors with a lack of common sense. Sadly, the survivors were the safe bet out of the two. I sucked it up and shut the door behind me.

The roof was empty. There was no one at the top. It turned out that the same idea occurred to them, to the roof and head down through the outside of the building.

I couldn’t immediately see the fire escape ladder because of the rush and adrenaline which kept everything unfocused and fast, but I did get a chance to assess the magnitude of the infected when I looked over the building’s edge. Hundreds of thousands of infected gathered in the front of the building trying to squeeze in through the windows and the front door. I walked along the edge of the building to see how many gathered on the sides and it was significantly less, but still too many to deal with. Finally, on the back of the building rested the ladder to the fire escape. Below, the infected walked away from the building which could have only meant they saw something worth the chase, the guys who hunted me down. Their reckless lack of awareness created an opening for me to escape through. I went down the fire escape and jumped off of the last level to the snow below. Only walkers were left down there, but they were deadly enough. I maneuvered around them.