Deadman's Switch & Sunder the Hollow Ones (6 page)

“Speaking of which.” Reggie points. Ashley and Kelly are just returning from scavenging for food. The remaining Insta-Meals had done little to satisfy the gnawing holes in our stomachs.

Their backpacks are full and heavy. I can hear glass clinking.

“There's not much worth eating,” Ashley reports. “Enough to last us a couple days, if necessary, but nothing you'd want to eat long-term.” She digs into her pack. “Pickled olives and canned maraschino cherries from the bars. We found some peanuts, but they didn't smell right so we left them. Oh, and beer. Lots of beer. And hard liquor.”

“I think it'll better if we lay of the alcohol,” I tell them. They all nod. Most of them know about my problem with my mom's drinking. Only Kelly knows about my own drunken history.

“Leave everything in the packs for now. We need to move.”

“Upstairs?” Jake asks, and when I nod Ashley gives a noticeable shudder. It means going back to where we left Nurse Mabel. Back to where were were prisoners.

“At least to begin with,” I tell them. “We need to know what happened to those other two, see if they're up there. I'm hoping they are and we can, I don't know, catch them. If we can, then we'll have a much better chance of figuring out how to deactivate this thing in our heads.”

“In
our
heads,” Jake says. “Not yours.”

“What's your point?” Kelly asks.

“I'm just saying.”

“No, you're not just say—”

“Both of you,” I nearly shout, “knock it off. We're going upstairs. If it turns out we have to stay here for a couple days, that'll be the best place. At least there's power.”

“Still got the cardkey?” Kelly asks. I lift it up to show him. He nods.

“Reggie?” I spot him standing over to one side, talking with Ash. “Can you get Micah? Kelly, keep an eye on Stephen. Ashley and Jake, help Tanya.” I grab the four backpacks and somehow manage to shoulder them, even with my sore wrist. It's swollen and starting to bruise, but at least it doesn't hurt as much anymore. “Let's go.”

We go slowly, cautiously, so it takes us nearly twenty minutes to get back up to the rooms where we'd been held. When we do, we stand outside the TSA security door for several minutes, watching and listening. The door is closed, just as we'd left it. It's eerily quiet.

Too quiet.

Kelly snaps his fingers. “The gennie's off.”

“Might've run out of fuel,” Reggie suggests.

Kelly shakes his head. There was plenty. “I think they might've turned it off so they could get inside here. No power, no power door locks.”

“Wait. All the doors?”

Kelly nods. His eyes widen. We all know what this means. “
Mabel
,” he whispers.

The silence inside now troubles me even more. I check the time on my Link. It's now been almost six hours since we ran into the man and the woman downstairs and we escaped on the tram, more than enough time for them to free themselves and get up here.

“Could be a trap,” Reggie suggests. “Why wouldn't they restart the generator?”

“Maybe Mabel got them.”

Kelly shakes his head. “Or they could've come and gone already.”

“And taken Mabel with them?”

“Wishful thinking. But there's only one way to find out for sure.”

“I'll do it,” I tell them.

“No, Jess. I'll—”

“Kelly, please. I'm already…”

He purses his lips and shuts up.

“Already what?” Reggie asks.

“Nothing. Just watch my back. I'm just going to see if I can hear anything. Sit tight. I'll be right back.”

I get up and slip over to the security door and place my ear against it. I don't hear a thing, but that doesn't mean very much. The doors are thick. This one's metal and plastic, unlike the wooden one we broke through inside.

I close my eyes and concentrate. After a moment I think I can hear the faintest sound, a whisper. It could be Zombie Mabel pawing on her door inside the room I'd locked her in. It might just be the distant sound of the waves of the East River on the shore coming through the ground. Or it could be something else.

Like my own heart trying to scratch its way out of my chest.

“Hey,” Kelly whispers, startling me as he kneels down.

“I told you to stay put.”

He frowns. “I checked the gennie. It's got fuel, just as I thought. It was turned off.”

“So they were here.”

“And left.”

“Ever the optimist.”

He pulls me up by the arm. “The door should be unlocked, though. Like I said, it needs power to stay latched. Did you hear anything?”

I shake my head.

He places both hands on the handle and slowly begins to pull it open. There's a puff of air. Carried on it is a thick, coppery smell, stinking of saltwater and rotting meat.

“Shit!” he says, gagging. Letting go of the door. It bumps closed.

I hurl myself against it just as something heavy bangs against the other side.

“Don't just stand there! Help me!”

Kelly pushes. The door shudders beneath Mabel's weight as she throws herself against it.

“Reggie! Jake!” I scream.

They come running over.

“Hold the door! Quick. Kelly, you need to go back and restart that generator. We need to lock this thing! Now!”

Jake crawls beneath Kelly while Reggie reaches over him. Kelly slips out the side. Nurse Mabel's first moans are barely audible through the door, but they're definitely growing louder, more frantic. She starts scratching. The door pops open an inch and just as quickly slams shut again.

“How the hell can she be so strong!” Reggie shouts.

The door slams again, even harder this time.

“Christ! She's going to fucking break it!”

“Hurry up, Kelly!” I scream.

“I'm trying. Shit! I can't see where the starter is. Who's got the flashlight?”

“I do,” Reggie shouts back. “Hold on a sec.”

“No! Don't you let go!”

Kelly comes running back. “Where is it?”

“Back poc—
oof!
Shit, she's like a god damn battering ram! Back pocket, Kelly!”

Kelly runs off again. I turn to switch shoulders on the door and see Ashley standing helplessly off to the side. “Go find something to defend ourselves with!”

“There's a machete in my pack,” I hear Kelly shout.

Jake rips the pistol from my waistband. “Just shoot her through the fucking door!”

“Give me that back! We can't waste the bullets.”

“Screw that, Jessie. We need to save ourselves!”

Ashley runs over with the machete in her hand. It's from Jake's uncle's army surplus store. Kelly must've brought it with him when he came the second time.

“Just hold onto it, babe,” Reggie says, grunting. “Let's see if Kelly can get the generator going again.”

“Who's watching the others?” I say. “Ashley? Who's watching Stephen?”

“Shit!” She spins around and runs off again.

“Leave the machete!”

Mabel's moans growl louder. She doubles her efforts, clawing and hurtling herself against the door, which bangs and rattles in its frame, threatening to come off its hinges.

“Hurry up, Kelly!”

“He's gone,” Ash shouts.

“Kelly's gone?”

“No, Stephen's gone. Oh, god, it's my fault! I was supposed to watch him!”

“Never mind that, Ash. Get back here with that machete!”

“Screw that,” Jake shouts. “I'm using the gun!” He pushes away from the door and moves back. “Get out of the way.”

“Get back here, Jake!” I scream.

Mabel slams through the door just as the generator starts. I get a glimpse of the horror inside as I'm flung to the floor. Mabel grabs Reggie's arm. She's amazingly fast. Reggie screams and pulls back. The door slams shut, but not before she comes through and locks us out here with something much worse than anything we'd encountered in Long Island City.

She opens her mouth and seems to smile as she bends down to bite Reggie in the face.

 

 

There's a flash
and a loud explosion. A puff of red bursts from Mabel's back and half of her shirt disintegrates. She rocks backward, but the impact of the bullet and the damage it does to her body don't slow her down at all.

Reggie backpedals as fast as he can. Mabel doesn't let go of his wrist, so he ends up dragging her along with him.

There's a second blast from the gun. I feel the bullet whiz past my head. This one completely misses her and explodes into the wall.

“Shop shooting!”

“Get her off of me!” Reggie screams, swinging her around. “Help me!”

Jake fires a third time. This time Mabel jolts before collapsing onto her side. Half of her thigh is missing. Incredibly, she's still holding on to Reggie. Now she's getting back up again.

“Jake! Stop shooting,” I scream. “You're going to hit one of us!”

He lifts the pistol again and takes aim.

There's a flash, and a silver arc appears between Mabel and Reggie, seeming to split the air. They fall apart, each to the floor. Reggie quickly scrambles away, waving his arm frantically and slapping at the stub of Mabel's hand still attached to him. “Get it off! Get it off!”

I spin and kick out at Jake, directing my foot at his elbow. The pistol goes flying out of his hand.

“What the fu—”

Ashley screams.

I turn just in time to see her drop the machete—the blade stained almost black from Mabel's clotted blood. She turns and starts to run as the zombie hisses at her.

“Ashley!”

Mabel spins and lunges at me, her teeth gnashing. I step back. She falls, gets back to her feet and takes a lurching step forward, reaching out with both arms. One of them ends in a grisly stump that leaks a vile, thick goop. The fingers of her other hand claw the air. She moans with hunger and desire. In an instant, the distance between us closes.

Jake and I stumble into each other as we try to get out of her way. I'm knocked off balance. My ankle twists on something and I go down. Jake spins and stumbles but plants a hand on the floor and manages to stay on his feet.

Mabel's on me in an instant, the bones in her stump pressing down on my neck, tearing at my skin as she leans in to bite. She bares her bloodstained teeth at me, her tongue reaching out like the fetus of some kind of evil parasite emerging from the belly of its host. I reach up and grab a handful of her shirt, feeling it squish in my fingers. With a sickening, slurping sound, my hand sinks into the gaping gunshot hole in her chest. She pushes down on me, extending her neck, dripping blood and saliva onto my cheek. I try to push her away, but she arches her spine, and now I'm up to my elbow inside of her, pushing against the back of her ribcage and hoping my hand doesn't slip through the exit wound.

Her mouth gapes wide, a black maw cavern of death. My mind goes blank with terror.

But then she shudders and jerks to the side. Out of the fog of my shock, my mind registers something slamming into her face. A thick, putrid fluid splatters over me. Mabel jerks and tumbles away. I manage to pull my arm free from her chest and scramble off in the opposite direction.

Reggie steps into view again, brandishing the stump of Mabel's arm. He hits her with it again, square in the face, but it does little to stop her. It only draws her attention to him.

“Jessie! Get out of there,” Kelly shouts.

Mabel spins around, spraying blood and spittle in a wide arc.

“Over here!” Reggie shouts.

For a moment she can't decide between them, but then she turns back to Reggie. He's closer.

“That's it, bitch! Come get your arm back.”

“Don't piss her off, Reg,” Kelly warns.

It's such a ridiculous comment that I bark out a crazy laugh. Mabel hears it and turns back to me.

“Use the machete, Jessie!”

I realize it's in my hand. It must've been what I'd tripped over. I quickly get my feet beneath me and stand.

“I killed you once already, bitch. You should've stayed dead!”

“Hey!” Reggie shouts. Mabel spins toward him again, exposing the back of her head to me. “Over here!”

“Get that column between you and her,” I hiss. “To your left, Reg!”

His eyes flick in the wrong direction.

“Your other left!”

“That's my right!”

He starts edging toward the column, but Mabel has turned back to me again.

“God damn it, bitch!” Reggie shouts. “Make up your mind!”

Mabel doesn't listen. Her eyes lock on mine, those inkshot, blackened orbs that show me what hell must look like. There's a hint of something in them, the ghost of a fire, a spark of life. But then it's gone as she passes into the shadow of the column.

Reggie hits her one last time with her arm. It smacks against the side of her face with a sickening sound. Quick as a wink, she spins on him, grasping, reaching out with her hungry arms.

“Shit!” he yells, ducking just out of reach. He edges toward the column. “God damn thing was waiting for me to do that!”

I almost argue with him, but don't. Moving quietly, keeping entirely in her blind spot, I move up close behind her. I grip the machete in both hands, testing its weight, noting the sliminess of her congealed blood on the handle. I shudder, knowing I'm also covered in the same stuff, but there's little I can do about that now. If anything, the tackiness will help me keep my grip.

Reggie begins to circle around the column, making sure Mabel follows.

“You better do something quick, guys!”

I step up behind her and raise my arms. Mabel shuffles toward him, deceptively slowly, unbelievably fast.