Whatever It Takes (6 page)

“Joyful day. I want it on record that I don’t condone going back into that building.” Percival stood up as well. He holstered his pistol after flicking the safety on. He walked to the pumps and picked up one of the two jerry cans. Evan picked up the other can and, together with Sarah and Karl, carried them to the maintenance bay.

Percival led the way over to the car and put his can down. He looked back to the double doors that led back into the parts warehouse. The doors were unbarred and the wrench he had used to secure them wasn’t near the door. He frowned. That wasn’t right. Zombies bashed their way through obstacles. If that had happened here, Percival would see the broken, or simply dislodged, wrench near the door.

For the second time that day, he wished he had Roy Joy there to offer some insight.

Percival shook his head and looked toward the others.

“You realize this car is nearly a dozen year old, right?” Sarah asked.

“So?” Percival answered.

“How do we know it’ll run? Or run for long?” She asked again.

“We don’t. However, what we do know is that if it does run, for however long or short, it’ll be faster travel than our feet,” Karl said.

Percival nodded in agreement. “Otherwise it’d be another reason for us to not go back into the building. Speaking of which, we’re going in and we’re sticking together. Understand?”

“Sure, but—“ Karl began to say.

“No ‘but’s. If we’re going back in there, it’s by my rules. We stick together, we watch each other’s back. We understood?” Percival had very little intention of going into the dangerous building and letting another member of his team die.

After everyone around him had nodded, Percival turned to look at the double doors leading to the parts warehouse. “We go get the cradles first, then find the keys and get out. We’re not spending any more time in there than necessary.”

“Sure. Sounds good to me.” Sarah led the way to the double doors and leveled her shotgun.

The three men followed her and Percival split off with Karl to pull both the doors at the same time.

“Three, two, one.” Percival pulled his door open in time with Karl. Light leaked into the parts warehouse and illuminated the nearest shelves and some of the boxes that were scattered during the attack on Evan and Percival. Percival stepped inside and slid one of the heavy boxes to Karl.

“Prop the door open.” Percival said as he moved a second box outside and propped his door open.

He sucked in a breath and stepped into the parts warehouse again. He looked to where he remembered the attack having come from. A destroyed face still dripped red gore onto the shelf and floor. The arm that had struck Percival hung limp, the fingers from the last knuckle down were chewed right down to the bone.

“Not natural claws,” he muttered and lifted the hand. Bloodied bone was all that was left of the tips of the fingers, and that looked as though it had been filed or chewed to be sharp. “Normal zombies don’t do this.”

“I agree with you.” Karl moved past Percival and further down the aisle. “Doesn’t change that we need things from in this building.”

That fact didn’t help to quiet the uneasy feeling in Percival’s stomach. He motioned for Evan to go second. “Show him to the lockers.”

Evan nodded and walked after Karl.

Percival looked to Sarah. “Be careful with the shotgun in here, there’s a lot of metal for the shot to bounce off of.”

She gave him a deadpan look that said, ‘are you kidding me?’ “Fuck you.”

“Later,” he quipped.

Sarah’s face twitched in what Percival assumed was a smile. She turned away from him and followed after Karl and Evan.

Percival brought up the rear, straining his ears listening for the clack of bone on concrete, or the soft animalistic growl that the stalker had emitted earlier. At least they weren’t absolutely silent.

The walk to the cabinet was short and uneventful, and delving further into the darkness made Percival less and less comfortable.

It took a few minutes for Karl to unwind the cords and get the cradles out of the locker. He crammed them into his duffel bag.

“Where’s the customer area?” Karl asked.

“This way,” Evan said. He took the lead, raising his hunting rifle and walking toward the front section of the parts department.

Percival followed him with Karl and Sarah following.

Evan pushed open the door and stepped into the customer area. He swept his rifle around in a wide arc, the flashlight taped to the gun revealing the area slowly in a circle of light that drifted around the room.

Karl followed them through and stepped to the side. His flashlight played over items behind the counter. He settled his beam on a lockbox attached to the wall.

“Did you check upstairs at all?” Karl asked as he worked to get the box open.

Percival was about to answer when an animalistic growl erupted from across the room. The growl was answered by a second growl from closer and in the opposite corner of the room.

“Was… Was that a dog?” Sarah’s voice trembled as she panned her flashlight and shotgun in quick arcs around the room, looking for the source of the sound.

“No, it’s the stalkers.” Percival was amazed at how calm he thought he sounded when inside he was a torrent of fear and the desire to flee was. “Uh, Karl? Have you gotten that box open yet?”

“It’s jammed.” Karl bashed his pistol against the box. He let out a frustrated grunt and slammed his pistol hard against the metal box.

The metal clang echoed in the dark room. Three more growls answered the bang. Percival was sure that they came from the direction of their possible exits.

“Evan, sweep the hallway.” Percival brought his light around to shine near a doorway that would lead out. Something flittered quickly out of his flashlight’s beam as he brought it around.

“Something’s dodging my flashlight,” Evan said.

“They’re guarding the exits,” he muttered. “Karl, is that box open? Sarah, watch the door… Bar the door to the parts warehouse.”

Percival was letting instinct settle into his voice. He wasn’t letting personal feelings enter his orders. That had gotten a team member killed before, and he wasn’t about to repeat the instance.

“Step back.” Karl took a step away from the box and shot it. The muzzle flash illuminated the room for the briefest of moments.

In that moment of moments, Percival saw the opposite of what he wanted to see. He’d heard three different stalkers growl, but had seen half a dozen eyes scattered around the room. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him.

“It’s open,” Karl announced. More growls echoed through the room and drowned out the clinking sound of keys as Karl hastily gathered all of the small metal objects from the box.

Percival swept his flashlight frantically from side to side. Shadows darted away from his beam. The growling grew in intensity, as he heard the clack of bone against the hard, tiled, floor.

“Don’t let ‘em get close enough to swipe,” Percival shouted. His heart felt as though it had leapt into his throat. “Hop the counter and run for the stairs, it sounds like they’ve got the other exits covered.”

Percival brought his flashlight around to the staircase and trained it there as his teammates made affirmative noises. He did his best to keep his cool and calm. Or, at the very least, he wanted to pretend and make it look as though he was still calm and in control. He swept his flashlight along the path they’d have to take. It was thankfully clear of debris.

“Sarah, Evan, Karl, in that order. Go!” He shouted the last word.

It was as though he’d fired a starter’s pistol at a track meet. Sarah vaulted the counter and sprinted across the room with Evan quick on her heels.

“No arguments, old man. I’ve got the rear.” Percival shoved Karl toward the counter. He followed the older man over the counter and sprinted after him.

A screech startled Percival. He reacted by ducking away from the sound, swept his pistol around and squeezed the trigger. The bullet punched through the stalker’s outstretched hand and splattered Percival’s visor with specks of red. The stalker howled and darted back into the darkness.

Percival stumbled for a step and corrected his dash to the staircase. Sarah and Evan were already three-fourths the way up the. Karl stood at the base, scanning the darkness. He didn’t move until Percival joined him.

Together they dashed up the stairs. At the top they met a door labeled ‘Employees Only.’ Percival wasted no time in pressing past Sarah and Evan to thrust his foot against the door. It popped open without any resistance at all.

He stepped through and swept the room with his pistol and flashlights. He motioned for the others to come up.

His flashlight revealed boxes labeled with blue tags held on by yellowing, clear, packaging tape. One of the closer boxes read ‘Car Deals, 2004, Ng-Nu.’ Percival muttered a soft curse. A file room likely meant another maze-like series of aisles and shelves. A maze that the stalkers knew and the survivors didn’t.

“Let’s go into the creepy infested building.” Percival was angry. He slammed the door to the stairs. It helped to shut out the growls and screeches. “Alright, who’s got the next great idea?”

“Are you okay?” Sarah moved close to him, examining his front.

“I’m fine. I don’t like being in here where they obviously know the building and we don’t. But other than that, I’m—“

“Were you scratched, boy?” Karl broke Percival’s tirade.

Percival took a deep breath, held it for a moment. He was losing it, but was physically uninjured. He needed to calm himself and present a good, focused leader to the others. He let the breath out slowly.

“I’m fine. Let’s get the hell out of here.” Percival turned away from them and moved toward another nearby door. The growling was growing on the other side of the door leading to the stairs and if he could put more physical barriers between his team and the stalkers, he would gladly do so.

“If you were scratched, we need to know,” Karl said.

“I’ll let you strip search me once we’re in a safer location,” Percival muttered. “Infection doesn’t cause an instant turning like in the movies. It takes as long as a month.”

Percival dropped his flashlight into a pocket and wrapped his hand around the doorknob. He held his pistol up and yanked the door open, ready to squeeze the trigger. A pair of hallways was all that greeted him. He motioned the others through and closed the door behind him. It wouldn’t stop the stalkers entirely, but it would slow them down slightly.

Percival moved to take point, taking the right-hand hallway instead of walking straight. The concrete walls were blank and gray and the temperature seemed to drop the further he went. Winter was coming and this building retained the night’s cold rather efficiently.

Percival moved forward and froze as the hallway ended in a room. A pair of desks was set facing each other in the middle with filing cabinets lining both walls and gray metal shelves holding more boxes beyond the desk. A single stalker perched atop the desks.

It studied him for half a moment before letting out a bloodcurdling screech and sprang from the desks at him. Percival let out a shout and thrust up his leg in a kick that caught the stalker square in the chest as it flew at him.

He drove the kick forward, and the stalker back with it. It lashed once, ripping his jeans in the process, before he’d thrust it out of range. An earth shattering boom erupted from his right as the stalker skidded backward.

The shirt that the stalker had been wearing blossomed with red and fell away from Sarah’s shotgun blast. The stalker staggered for a moment, blood splattering the ground as it regained its balance.

Percival didn’t give it time enough to make a second attack, or to dart off into the darkness once more. He lifted his pistol and fired three shots. New plumes of blood erupted from the beast’s chest from his first two shots while his third put her down for good. Brain matter and blood painted boxes of files.

Percival glanced down at his leg.

“Fuck.” His jeans had nice little rips in them. He didn’t feel any pain, but all it would take is a scratch from one of those claws. He dropped to his knee and put his flashlight and gun down. “Light!”

“Why? Did it…” Sarah trailed off as she panned her light to Percival’s shredded jeans.

Percival hurriedly yanked his jeans up to the knee, well past where the rips were. He turned and twisted his leg. He didn’t see any sort of wound or blood or angry, red, scratch marks. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding as he shoved his jeans back down and picked up his gear.

“I’m fine, no scratches.”

“Don’t worry me like that!” Sarah looked near the brink of collapse.

“I don’t intend to do so again,” Percival said.

“We’ve got trouble,” Evan shouted from down the hall. He and Karl had apparently retreated as Percival checked his leg.

Percival nodded to Sarah and took off at a jog.

“What’s wrong?” Percival asked. He could guess, however, since Karl had his hand wrapped around the doorknob and shoulder pressed against the door, holding it shut.

“Fuckers know how to open doors. Are you?” Karl muttered, bracing the door as a stalker bashed into it.

“I’m fine, no injury.” Percival looked around. “Find a chair or something to brace the door with.”

“That won’t keep them from knocking this door in,” Karl said. A bang followed his words as a stalker rammed the door again. “They’re strong too.”

“Do it,” Percival ordered.

Evan and Sarah immediately broke from what seemed to be a trance and ran into the next room. Percival jogged back down the hallway and began searching the file room. He shook his head, and frowned. Three rolling chairs and no boxes that seemed heavy enough to brace the door later, he ran back to the door Karl was still bracing.

Evan brought a spindly, wooden chair.

Sarah came back with a key. “This came from the office of somebody with the title of ‘Head Accountant.’ Does that door have a lock?”

“Doubt it’ll hold for terribly long.” Karl shifted so they could see the doorknob. It had a keyhole in the middle of it. “What’re you waiting for?”

Sarah stepped in and slotted the key into the door. She twisted it and Karl let go of the knob, but kept his shoulder braced against the door.

“Evan, shove that up under the knob and tell me you two have good news.” Percival pointed at the chair, then at the door.

“Like what?” Sarah asked.

Evan shoved the chair’s back under the doorknob and braced it as good as he could.

“A second exit would be nice to hear about, for starters.” Percival led the way away from the door. The next room was a simple mail room, complete with desk radio and meter machine.

“There’s two.” Evan pushed past Percival to lead the way.

Percival didn’t stop him. He followed the youth past cubicles and a couple doors. Everything was nondescript in the twilight created by their swinging flashlights. Tiny offices with computers and sometimes files scattered around them drifted past as Percival moved after Evan at a half run.

“This is one. It leads back to the front. The other is over there.” Evan pointed down a makeshift hallway created by cubicles and the wall of the building. “That one leads down a back stair. Not entirely sure where it lets out.”

A crash marked the entrance of the stalkers to the office space. Screeches and growls punched through the air. The carpeted floor of the office would keep bony fingers from making noise as the stalkers approached. The noise of their arrival dropped off sharply.

“Back stair. At least that way we can funnel them some. I assume it’s closed off, right?” Percival was already leading the way to the other door.

“The first part is.” Evan pushed past Percival. He toppled sideways with a scream that was difficult to differentiate from the screech of the stalker as it leapt from the shadows and pounced onto him. “Get it off! Get it off!”

A cacophony of gunfire erupted from Percival, Karl, and Sarah. The stalker gurgled, stopped flailing, and lurched to the side. It fell off of Evan.

Evan whimpered and didn’t get up. His entire front was splattered with red.

Percival stepped over him and roughly pulled him up. It was too hard to tell where the stalker’s blood ended and Evan’s began, if any of it was Evan’s to begin with. Percival pulled Evan’s arm across his shoulders and helped him remain standing. The boy was dead weighting even if he was unharmed.

“Karl, get the rifle and his bag. We’re not leaving him behind. Sarah, door.” Percival’s words were short and terse, fired out in a tone that left no room for imagining them to be anything other than the orders that they were.

Sarah opened the door and leveled her shotgun at empty space. She then cleared the small room and started down the stairs.

Percival moved after her, half carrying Evan. He carefully started down the stairs with the kid. Percival concentrated on making it down the stairs, not even bothering to turn around at the sharp sound of the rifle firing behind him. Karl was a competent marksman and Percival trusted him not to do something stupid.

Percival rounded the landing and started down the second set of stairs. He frowned. Sarah had stopped in front of him. He pushed Evan to the wall and let him gently slide down before moving around Sarah.

“Oh, great. Barricade,” Percival groaned. Desks and chairs had been stacked at the base of the stairs blocking off the stairwell to the casual walker. “Of course there’s sign of resistance here, in our way.”

Percival looked down at Evan. He shook his head.

“Unless he snaps out of it…” Percival trailed off. He looked to Sarah. “Sling your shotgun, grab his legs. We’re not leaving him.”

“He could be—“

I don’t give a rat’s ass about ‘could be.’ We’re not leaving him.” Percival turned to face the top of the stairs. “Karl, we need cover.”

“Comin’,” Karl shouted. His shout was followed by a couple sharp cracks from the hunting rifle. He slammed the door behind him and came trotting down the stairs. “Wounded three, killed at least another one.”

Percival crouched down and slid his arms underneath Evan’s and lifted. The boy didn’t resist him at all. Sarah bent and picked up Evan’s legs. Together they carried him down the second flight of stairs and to the barricade.

“Lousy place for a blockade,” Karl muttered. He kept his rifle trained upward, waiting for the stalkers to follow.

“You’re telling me.” Percival lifted Evan and laid him on the first of several desks. He climbed up and bent to lift Evan again, only to drop him and draw his pistol as another stalker skidded around the landing.

Karl fired first. The bullet shattered through the stalker’s shoulder, and it spun away, thumping into the wall. Percival squeezed the trigger and put lead down range. Bullets pounded into the stalker, the last splattering brain matter onto the wall.

Percival released the slide back and holstered his pistol without reloading it. He picked Evan up and stood. “Come on Sarah.”

Sarah climbed up onto the desk and lifted Evan’s legs again. They slowly began navigating over the barricade.

Percival listened to the growls echo down the stairwell as he climbed down on the other side of the barricade. Sarah followed suite slowly.

“Come on, Karl,” Percival shouted.

Karl came crawling over the barricade. He turned at the peak and fired a shot from the rifle before jumping down. He slung the rifle and held Evan’s bag out to Percival.

“I’ll carry him. No questions, I’ve done it before.” Karl bent and picked Evan up. Percival took Evan’s bag as Karl adjusted the youth across his shoulders. “Reload your pistol, Percival.”

Percival silently did as he was told, ejecting the spent magazine and dropping it into his pocket before slapping in a fresh one. He racked the slide and led the way out of the building. He moved along a concrete wall, clicking his flashlight off as it wasn’t needed in the sunlight.

*

It didn’t take long to make their way back to the car. Evan was still unresponsive, and the stalkers seemed to have given up their pursuit.

Percival and Sarah stood watch as Karl tried keys. The eerie silence and the feeling of being watched crept up over Percival. He was certain that the stalkers were just laying in wait for them to go somewhere dangerous where they’d have the advantage of confined space.

“We’re in luck,” Karl said over his shoulder. He opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat.

“First time today.” Percival cast a dismal glance down at Evan. They were putting off checking him for wounds until after they got back to the safe-house.

“The lack of zombies was lucky,” Sarah said.

“I think the stalkers killed ‘em all.” Percival broke his gaze from Evan and resumed watching for stalkers to appear.

“You don’t know that.”

“Stop bickering, children. I have more good news.” Karl turned the key and the car started. “We have three-fourths of a tank a working engine, and four tires that aren’t flat.”

“Does the radio work?” Sarah asked. Her tone was sarcastic as she opened one of the backdoors and helped Percival move Evan onto the backseat.

“Let’s find out.” Karl reached out and twisted a knob on the console. A click marked the radio turning on, and after a moment of static, a voice piped out through the speakers.

“’Ear this, there are other survivors. We’ve got guns and provisions and can protect you. Come find us at the military depot south of Hankersville, Tennessee. Take the third exit off of I-24. We’re the only building with power. If you get to Nashville, stay out of the city and turn back. Only the dead walk there.” There was a five second delay before the man’s voice began again. “If anyone is out there and can hear this…”

Percival stared at the radio. “There’s more people alive out there.”