Hard Choice (2 page)

She reached for the handle and pulled open
the door to exit the stairwell getting her first glimpse of the
lobby. The building entryway included an alcove with postal boxes
on one wall and a hall leading back to the first floor offices.

A briefcase, two grocery bags and a backpack
lay on the terrazzo tile, lost or discarded in the confusion.
Contents of a purse lay near the security desk. Lynette leaned into
the room to locate the sound. It was coming from behind the
semi-circle of the security station.

“Don’t go over there!” Norma grabbed
Lynette’s arm. “We should just leave.”

Taking a deep breath, Lynette opened the
door wider. She shook off Norma’s grasp as she left the safety of
the stairwell.

“Hello? Who’s out there?”

The crying stopped, and the person’s
breathing turned into wheezing gasps. Lynette pressed her back to
the wall and sidestepped deeper into the room. She could see the
infected outside the large front windows stalking the streets
searching for prey.

“Are you alright? I’m not going to hurt
you.”

“I’m here.…” A timid voice called out.
“Behind the desk.”

Lynette groaned softly. She glanced toward
the door and front window. Someone had jammed a metal chair leg
into the door handles. She glanced at the window one last time then
left the shadows to duck-walk across the blood-splattered tile
floor. After a dozen hurried steps, she got to the edge of the
desk, rounded the corner and stop. A pair of legs stuck out from
behind the desk. The lower half of the body wore a pair of khaki
pants and leather shoes.

“You’re not alone?”

“My daddy.” The little voice whispered. “I
tried to stop the bleeding. One of the sick people hurt him.”

Lynette peeked around the corner of the desk
and saw a nice looking black man on the floor. She recognized him.
He was a lawyer with an office down the hall. Beside him sat a
preteen of similar coloring. Her hands were covered with blood. A
blood-soaked sweater lay on the floor in a red-brown lump. The girl
clutched the man’s hand to her chest.

“My daddy died.” The child’s big brown eyes
betrayed her terror and sadness.

“I am so sorry, sweetie.” Lynette held out
her hand. “My name is Lynette. We need to go. It’s not safe
here.”

“My daddy said we’d be safe from the sick
people after he put the chair in the door.” The girl whispered as
tears slid down her caramel-colored face.

“Honey, what’s your name?”

“Jacky” She whispered. “Jaqueline Bradford.
My daddy’s name is Jackson Bradford.”

“Jacky, your daddy was right. He protected
you, but now he would want you to stay safe so you need to come
with me.”

“What about my daddy?”

Lynette looked at the man and noticed his
eyes were clouding. “We can’t help your daddy now, but he would
want you to come with me, okay?”

Jacky nodded and gently laid her father’s
hand across his chest. She kissed his face and got to her feet.

Lynette saw a finger twitch on the man’s
chest. She held out her hand to the child. “We have to hurry.”

Jacky stepped away from her father and
reached for Lynette’s hand. “Where are we going?”

“I’m not sure right now, but away from
here.”

They hurried across the lobby to the fire
escape. The door was closed. Lynette scowled as she tapped lightly
on the door. “Damn it Norma, get out here.”

Norma opened the door and saw the young,
black girl. “Who is that?”

“Her name is Jacky, and we’re helping
her.”

“Is your car big enough?” Norma asked
pointedly.

Lynette shrugged. “You’d better hope
so.”

At the first moan from the lobby behind
them, Lynette hurried the pair of refugees to the exit door. Norma
stopped and pulled at Lynette sleeve.

“We can’t go that way. What if there’re
infected people out there?”

“I know there’s one in here!” Lynette pulled
free from Norma’s grasp. “If there’s infected out there; hit ‘em in
the head with the metal end of the cane. Keep up or not. It’s up to
you.”

Lynette opened the door and perused the
parking lot. No more than a dozen vehicles remained. Her car was in
plain sight, with only three vehicles nearby. They would have to
hurry since at least a dozen infected stumbled around two cars
locked together by front fenders.

She grabbed Jacky’s hand and pulled her
close. “Stay close to me. My car is a red Fiesta, three rows back
and to the left. It’s straight out and to the left.” She pulled her
keys from her bag. “I’ll unlock the doors as soon as I get outside.
Jacky, go to the passenger side, and jump in the back as fast as
you can. Norma, move your ass and get in the passenger side. If
infected get close use the cane on ‘em.”

Another groan came from behind them, and
Lynette flung open the door and bolted through the opening with
Jacky and Norma close behind.

The dash to the car was a clear path until
two infected appeared from behind a ten-year-old Buick. The grey
sedan had blood smeared across the driver’s door and the front
quarter panel. The trio made it to the first row of vehicles before
the infected drew close enough to be a threat. Lynette reached into
the bag and retrieved the .38. She raised the gun and fired.

The infected man with a blood-splattered,
white shirt ignored the report that made all three freeze in place.
The bullet shattered a windshield six feet away from the target.
The second infected, a blood-splattered woman in a brown skirt, and
missing a shoe caught up with the man. They both focused on Jacky
and Norma immobilized by the walking horrors.

“Move, damn it!” Lynette screamed, and the
pair headed for the car.

She fired the .38 again. This time, the left
side of the woman’s head exploded. The man continued his steady
march toward them without a sideward glance. Lynette turned and ran
between cars. Jacky veered off to head for the passenger side of
the Fiesta.

Norma rounded a large green panel van and
bloodied torn arms reach for her. The clawed fingers grabbed at her
fleshy arm, and she spun clear, but fell to her knees losing her
grip on the cane. The wood skittered across the asphalt out of
reach.

Lynette rushed to Norma’s side, grabbed her
arm, and pulled up trying to get the woman to her feet. A skinny
infected youth appeared from behind the van.

“Get up!” Lynette yelled as she kicked out
at the knee of the infected reaching for Norma.

The teenaged monster fell to the asphalt in
a heap while the infected man in the blood stained white shirt
continued his pursuit. The kid rolled and tried to pull his
shattered knee under his body, but he fell back to the ground each
time he tried to stand.

Lynette pulled at Norma’s arm but it was
impossible to move her bulk. “Damn it, Norma. Get off your ass and
move it!”

“I can’t,” Norma whimpered.

“Jacky! Get in the red car!” Lynette threw a
look toward her then turned back to Norma. “You can crawl your
sorry ass that far!”

More infected approached while Lynette
pulled at Norma’s arm and screamed. “You’ve got to move now!”

The teen monster clamped his clawed fingers
around Norma’s ankle and pulled his body toward the bare flesh of
her leg.

Lynette felt the panic rising as three more
infected stumbled toward them.

“Hurry!” Jacky yelled. “They’re coming!”

Lynette called over her shoulder at Jacky.
“Get in the car!”

Norma screamed. It was a sound of agony and
terror. Lynette looked down and saw the monster kid leaning over
Norma’s leg. Lynette raised the gun and fired twice. The first shot
hit the kid in the shoulder while the second smashed into his
forehead and ripped through his skull in a spray of blood and grey
matter. .

Lynette fired at the business man, and he
collapsed in a bloodied heap. With the reprieve, she rolled the
body off Norma to see a patch of flesh hanging from his mouth. When
she looked at Norma’s leg she saw blood spurt from the mouth-sized
wound.

Sobbing, Norma crawled from under the
infected kid. She tried to get to her feet, but when she put weight
on her injured leg, she fell back to her knees. Blood spilled from
the ghastly wound to pool around her as she sat there sniveling.
More and more infected stumbled closer.

“We have to go now. Move!”

“I can’t!” Norma wailed.

“You have to!” Lynette screamed as she
reached out.

Norma shook her hand off and Lynette
stumbled back just as three infected fell on her. Lynette righted
herself and backed away from the attackers as they fell on Norma.
She looked to Lynette with pleading eyes as a thin man leaned into
Norma’s neck with his mouth wide open.

Lynette stepped back, raised the gun, and
fired one last time.

THE END

About the Author

Charlotte Hoaks spent the last twenty years
working as a Technical Writer for some of the largest companies in
Houston, Texas. Now retired, she is devoting her time and energy to
a new kind of writing.

A life-long love of the written word has
provided a solid foundation for her fiction writing. She’s been
involved in local writer’s groups for over 30 years and published a
number of on-line articles, editorials and special interest
newsletter. As a founding member of the Houston Writer’s League,
she organized and coordinated their first national writer’s
conference.

Thank you for reading “Hard Choice”. If
you’ve enjoyed this short story please leave a review. Authors
thrive on those reviews and other readers are guided to books you
enjoyed by your words.

Book 1 in the Torn Apart Series “Terror in
Texas” is now available:
https://www.amazon.com/Terror-Texas-Torn-Apart-Book-ebook/dp/B01FBI0JVA

Charlotte is now working on the second full
length novel in the “Torn Apart” series. If you are an avid reader
and like to get in on the front end of a developing novel check out
book 2, “Dead Texas Road” online:
http://charlottehoaks.com
.