Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel (31 page)

“Come on!” the man yelled at those around him.  “Come on and get me!”

Tobias started filming.  It was like a deranged
whack-a-mole, only this was more like whack-a-zombie.  There was that word again, zombie.  The smart ones confused Tobias, however.  His understanding was that zombies were all supposed to be slow and stupid.  Some of these were fast though, very fast.  And others were smart.  Earlier, they had seen one use a set of fallen keys to get into a car that a woman had locked herself into.  It was creepy.  Then again, zombies were supposed to be fictional, found only in movies and books.  In the real world, who knew what the rules surrounding them were?  Still, maybe he’d keep using the word, as it sat better with him than dead people did.

The man on the bus had to be getting tired, but he kept at it, kept swinging his pipe.  Tobias wondered how he got up there in the first place.  Then he imagined what the scene must look like from his perspective and regretted it.  He thought crowds were bad enough on their own, but an unstoppable mob that had you surrounded and was bent on killing you?  Tobias shuddered and stopped filming.

“Thanks for letting me get that shot.”  Tobias knew the man couldn’t possibly be helped by just the two of them, not without a tank, but at least now his possible… probable… last moments were immortalised on film.

“Well, it gave you something to do while I thought,” Cillian told him.

“Thought about what?” Tobias frowned.  He didn’t appreciate the fact that he had just been treated like a kid.

“About the best way to get around that mess.  We clearly can’t go through the intersection.  I figure we head back to Osgood and then travel either way a few blocks,
and then cross.”

Tobias shook his head.  “You don’t know if the other intersections will be the same.  Jalice is always a really busy street, and we don’t know where the people from the cars have gone.”

“Then what do you suggest?”  Cillian was being very condescending.  Tobias guessed he thought of him as just some news junky, trying to get a good story.  He supposed, given what he was doing when they met, and his need for the camera, that he definitely came off that way.  He did need the camera though as a kid needed a security blanket.  It just made him feel better having it.  It felt like he was doing something besides just running for his life, which, although an important task, was a heavy and terrifying burden to bear.  The camera comforted him; it let him think about other things.

Tobias pointed to a nearby building.  “There, the Isaac buildings.”

“What about them?”

Tobias sighed.  “You don’t remember what the Isaac buildings are famous for?”

Cillian frowned as he thought about it.  Tobias watched as the light dawned in his eyes.  “Right.  Good thinking.  Come on.”  Cillian led the way through the dead cars toward the nearest entrance to Isaac One.

The Isaac buildings were twins across the street from one another.  Not only were they twin buildings, but they were attached by several glass and concrete walkways that crossed over Jalice Ave, one of the city’s main streets.  They were two of a handful of structures in Leighton that were becoming recognized around the world, and they weren’t even completely finished yet.

They reached the glass entry and Cillian pulled open the door.  The Isaac buildings were always open to the public because the lower five floors were dedicated to shopping: basically, a mall.  The other five floors were offices, mainly for the businesses that had shops below.  Cillian looked around carefully as he stepped through the doors.  Tobias followed him, gripping his axe tightly.  It was very bright in Isaac One but eerily quiet.  Usually it was filled with the sounds of busy shoppers and sellers in kiosks trying to off-load their wares.  Today it was almost entirely silent.  Tobias could hear the humming of all the fridges in the food court they had stepped into.

“Where do you think everyone is?” Tobias whispered, but he felt that his voice carried too much in the empty space.

Cillian answered by pointing over to some tables.  Almost every chair in the food court had been toppled over and kicked around.  The tables would probably have been the same if they hadn’t been bolted to the floor.  Many of them still had trays of food on their surfaces, and a few abandoned bags lay scattered about.  One of the tables that Cillian had pointed to was covered in a bloody smear that, for a moment, Tobias thought was just an exploded ketchup pack.  A streak of red stained the floor from the table to a Subway shop.  Tobias turned on the camera and filmed through it.  He didn’t want to be there, to be seeing that, but he couldn’t leave, so he resorted to the next best thing.

For the first time that Tobias could remember, he was utterly disturbed by the lack of a crowd.

“I don’t mind you filming, but use your eyes,” Cillian whispered quietly,  “you don’t want something sneaking up on you because you have no peripherals.”

Tobias nodded as he lowered the camera.  Cillian was right, of course.  His real safety depended on using all his senses.  His mental health would have to take a back seat unfortunately.

They crept through the food court giving the Subway shop a wide berth.  Here and there were more bloodstains or sometimes just a few drops, a handful of which could actually have been just ketchup.  Food was all over the place.  Although some trays were completely undisturbed, others had been scattered everywhere.  In the splattered contents of a Mayo packet was a perfect footprint.  Tobias wondered if it was from a zombie or someone normal.  He was getting used to thinking of them as zombies now.  When he eventually learned what they really were, he was probably going to feel like an idiot, but zombies was a good name for them in the meantime.

The delicious aroma coming off the fast food made Tobias suddenly very hungry.  It disgusted him that he should be hungry at a time like this, surrounded by such markings of death.

The two men finally made it out of the food court and to a staircase.

“Do you know what floor the closest walkway is?” Cillian whispered back to Tobias while looking up the stairs.  He couldn’t see very far.  Due to ongoing construction, a wooden barrier had been erected around the entire staircase.

Tobias thought for a moment, going over the layout of the mall in his head.  It was probably the only place in this part of the city that he even somewhat knew.  “There’s one on the second floor but deeper into the building.  On the third floor, I remember there being one near this staircase.”

“Third floor it is then.”  Cillian started climbing the stairs.

Tobias didn’t know if he liked the fact that the stairs were enclosed.  The wooden structure had been put up to protect the mall patrons from potential hazards.  Too bad they couldn’t protect them from the disaster that had happened… was still happening. 

As they reached the landing, they took it slowly, rounding the corner with caution.  They both crawled up the next set of stairs so that they could see over the edge without exposing too much of themselves.  They lay side by
side, as they looked around the second floor.

“You see anyone?” Tobias asked Cillian in a whisper.

“No, you?”

“No.”

After taking a deep breath, they stood up and exited the stairwell.  When they weren’t immediately attacked, Tobias slowly let out his breath.

“I wonder where everyone is,” Cillian spoke above a whisper and his voice echoed.  His face paled as he clearly regretted his volume.  Both Tobias and Cillian stood perfectly still, waiting for something bad to descend upon them.  Nothing did.

“Well, most of these upper floors are closed for construction,” Tobias whispered, gesturing to the wooden barrier around the steps.  “Mostly it’s just the food court open downstairs and only a handful of shops up here.  I guess everyone was downstairs when it happened, and they probably fled the building.”

“Sounds logical to me,” Cillian lowered his voice to a whisper again.

They turned the corner and headed up the next flight of stairs.  Although they were still being careful, they climbed faster.

“All right, which way to the walkway?” Cillian asked once they reached the third floor.

“This way.”  Tobias now took the lead.  They headed around the construction blockades meant to keep patrons out.  There was clear evidence of construction on this floor, with scaffolding and tools littered about.  Tobias wouldn’t be surprised to find that the higher floors were completely closed to the public.  As they passed by a pile of tools, Cillian bent down and picked up a crowbar.

“Not as good as the axe but at least I’m armed now,” Cillian shrugged when Tobias gave him a quizzical look.

Although they kept a constant lookout, they didn’t see any signs of life.  Or unlife for that matter.  They still went slowly, just in case, but finally made it to the entrance of the walkway.  There was a big sign labelling it as walkway two, and under it hung a giant plastic sheet that covered the way through.  Tobias slowly pulled back the sheet and looked into the walkway.  He saw someone standing in the middle of the passage and quickly dropped the drape back in place.  It crinkled slightly causing Tobias to wince.

“Someone’s there,” he whispered very quietly to Cillian, placing his head near the firefighter’s.  If the crinkle didn’t cause instant murder, then that level of whispering should be safe.

“Then go deal with them,” Cillian whispered back.

“Why me?” Tobias frowned.

“Hey, you wanted the axe.  All I have is this damn crowbar.”  Cillian shook the crowbar for emphasis.

“What if it’s not a zombie?”  Tobias feared killing someone innocent.

“Talk to them.  If they don’t answer, axe to the head,” Cillian shrugged.  He also made a gesture with his crowbar to his own head, nearly hitting the helmet.

“What if it’s one of the ones that screams, and it draws others?”

“And what if it’s the queen of England?” Cillian sighed.  “You gotta deal with it.”

Tobias sighed as well and looked back at the curtain.  “Hold this.”  He took the camera off his neck and handed it to Cillian.  He didn’t want to risk getting it more damaged, or having it get in his way.  Once Cillian took the camera, Tobias drew the curtain aside and stepped into the tunnel made of glass and concrete.  Cillian hung back, watching from the entrance, even lifting the camera to film.  Tobias didn’t really want this on tape, but he couldn’t very well ask him not to do it now.  Especially not after he had put up with Tobias getting the camera in the first place.  He stepped down the tunnel keeping a close eye on the pedestrian.  It was an elderly woman judging by her clothes and grey hair.

“Excuse me?”  Tobias barely heard his own whisper, his throat choking it out.  There was no reaction.  Tobias looked back at Cillian who waved him forward.  He was filming, but kept the camera at chest level so that he could still see all around himself.  As Tobias was looking at him, Cillian took a quick glance behind him to make sure nobody was sneaking up on him.  Tobias was going to have to get better at that himself.  So far that day, he had learned he was decent at running away from things, but not very good at avoiding them in the first place.  Cillian was better at that part.  Of course Tobias’s escapades on the roof suggested he wasn’t that good at running away either.

At the moment though, he had to deal with a confrontation he couldn’t avoid or run away from.  “Excuse me, ma’am?” Tobias said a little louder.

The woman’s head snapped around and looked at Tobias.  Her eyes were a pure white.  At first, Tobias hoped she was just blind, but then she started running straight at him, teeth bared.  She was so silent.

Tobias lifted the axe up like a batter at
the plate.  When the woman got close enough he took a quick side step and swung with all his might.  The axe buried deep into her upper chest, lifting her up off her feet.  She fell on her back, and Tobias placed his sneaker on her neck to keep her down, but the axe wouldn’t come out no matter how hard he pulled.  He was concerned the woman was going to bite his ankle or claw his leg through his pants.  She was making a good attempt at doing just that.

“Cillian!” he whispered as loudly as he dared.  “Help!”

Cillian quickly placed the camera on the ground and rushed over.  Without hesitating, he swung the crowbar into the top of the old lady’s head.  The clawed end thumped into her skull.  She stopped clawing at Tobias’s leg, and her snapping jaws relaxed, but she still moved slightly, jaws working open and closed at a sluggish pace.

“I’ll hold her, you get the axe out,” Cillian told him.

While Cillian held her head still with the crowbar, Tobias moved his foot onto the woman’s breasts and pulled the axe.  He had to jiggle it around before it slid free of the ribs.  The sound was one he would rather forget, but likely wouldn’t.  He seemed to have found what he was good at, though: being an axe murderer.

“Aim for the neck,” Cillian gestured.

Tobias grimaced as he lifted the axe up and swung it down on the poor old woman.  It took three swings to sever her head completely.  Tobias then quickly walked away, back to the camera.  He didn’t want to watch how Cillian was going to get the head off the crowbar.  Whatever he did, there was a slight squish and a crunch.  More sounds to stick in his mind.  He bent down and picked the camera up off the floor.  If he didn’t have an empty stomach, he might have thrown up just then, as his stomach clenched painfully.  He stopped the camera’s recording and slung the strap around his neck again.  When he turned around, Cillian was standing halfway down the tunnel, looking out of its glass side.  The woman’s head lay against its body, and if Tobias hadn’t chopped it off himself, he would have thought it was still attached from this angle.