The Real Night of the Living Dead (8 page)

“No,” Melvin cried. “We’re not going to make it that way. Front
door’s
down that hallway.”

I didn’t care what he said at the moment. I knew there was no other way. The tunnel was the safest route for us, but they had the path blocked off. If we didn’t leave now, then we would be trapped in N-3.

We took a few steps up the staircase, heard screams, looked up, and saw the infected people from the second floor coming down the stairs, toward us.

Then we heard the door slam open and saw the group coming through from the first floor.

We were surrounded.

Chapter Twelve

Some of them began showing signs of moving slower as they walked toward us. I wasn’t sure why? One of them loss their balance and fell down the stairs, landing right at Billy’s feet.

Billy didn’t give the man in the denim overalls a chance; he stomped the end of the broom into his head. The crack in his skull echoed throughout the stairwell. Billy exhaled through his mouth, his lips flapping together, and said, “The rest a
yall
should make it that easy. Just fall right here,” tapping the broom on the floor, “so I can bonk them retarded brains
a yours
.”

As they moved closer, Billy inched back further and further, pushing me and Melvin against the corner wall.

Now the lights began to flicker. Every second that they flicked off, all we could see were the terrifying yellow eyes inching closer.

The hospital generated its own electricity from an electrical substation right off Southampton Road and, whenever it rained heavy and the creek
overflowed,
the hospital would lose its power for minutes to hours at a time.

One of them darted out and ran to Billy. He swung the broom and hit him in the neck. The infected patient dropped, but was alive (if that’s what you want to call “alive”.)

“The bastards got us boxed in,” said Billy. “You ready to get your asshole eaten out?”

My eyes widened as the yellow eyes circled us. Think fast. Think fast, I thought.

I heard the wind howl outside, and the rain beginning to slap against the window behind me. I turned and gazed at the storm. I raised the mop and smashed it through the window, glass shattering everywhere. I hit it again and again, until the broken window was big enough for us to fit through.

I dropped the mop on the sill,
then
pulled myself up. “Billy, out here,” I said. He looked at me and backed up as he stood guard while I grabbed Melvin’s bloody hand and pulled him up and over.

The steady thick raindrops were hitting us both. Melvin looked down and saw the distance to the ground outside was about ten feet. He hesitated. I shouted, “Jump. We don’t have time.”

He leaped, but weak, and fell to the front steps of the entrance to N-3. I heard the soles of his boots thumping against the cement below. I stole a quick glance and saw him lying in a fetal position with his hands holding his knee, wincing in pain, and blood from his wounds mixing with rain on the cement.

My attention was on Billy now. He was cornered, up against the wall. The two groups of lunatics were forming into one, about five feet from him now.

I leaned forward, grabbed my mop from the window sill, “Billy, get your skinny butt up here,” and started swinging at the heads moving in on Billy. He tossed his broom out the window, they reached out their bloody hands, he began pulling himself up, an attendant wrapped his thick fingers around Billy’s ankle and tugged on him, Billy was turning red as he struggled to rise and not fall.

There were so many around him, I wasn’t sure who to hit first. “This
lil
’ critter’s got a hold.” said Billy. I looked and saw the attendant trying to pull him down. I screamed as I whacked the thick wooden mop handle on the side of the attendant’s head. His grip was broken, and Billy pulled himself up so hard that he didn’t stop once he was on the sill; he went right out the window. Damn kid was so light on his feet.

I gazed at the sick people. They were staring at me, reaching up, with their hands brushing against my pants. I looked out the window, the hard rain blinding me for a moment, wiped my face and saw Billy half on Melvin who was still holding his knee.

I tossed the mop to the ground below and jumped out, doing my best to avoid hitting Melvin and Billy.
Landed beside them, right on my ass.

I got to my feet. My eyes inspected the parking lot that surrounded the therapy building. There were two cars parked here, the rest were gone; any staff
who
were lucky enough to escape must’ve driven away. Hopefully, they went for help.

The building and its parking lot were enclosed in a black wrought iron gate, a little over six feet high, that wrapped around the building. There was an opening in the gate, about a hundred feet in front of us.

 
I noticed an attendant, to the right of us, near the corner of the building, moving our way. The noise of the window shattering probably caught his attention. His white shirt was torn down the center and there was a gaping hole in his stomach; looked as if his intestines had been removed. The blood was still running out of his wound and down his front.

Scattered throughout the parking lot were another five of these infected creatures, wandering, like they had no place to go. I couldn’t see further than the gate; the rain was too hard, and it was too dark to see if there were any outside the gate.

But the two cars were nearby, both parked within a few spaces of each other and maybe fifteen feet or so from the opening of the gate.

Billy was getting to his feet as I said to Melvin, “You feel good enough to walk?”

He shook his head, “I feel weak, but I got a job to finish, see? I
ain’t
ready to die.”

I stared at him. We saw it happen a few times already. I knew what would happen to Melvin. I wondered if he knew and was just lying to himself and hoping that he wouldn’t become one of them, or if he really believed their bites didn’t infect him the way it did the others.

But there was no way I would hurt Melvin. He was my friend. I was going to do anything possible to make sure he would live to see this nightmare come to an end.

We helped Melvin to his feet.

“Let’s check those cars for keys,” I said. “If nothing, we’ll have to go on foot to N-5.”

Me and Billy stood on either side of Melvin, threw his arms around our shoulders and moved to the cars before the mutilated attendant could reach us. We carried the mop and broom in our hands.

We got to the first car, no keys. Melvin groaned seeing this, not wanting to hike the hundred or so yards to N-5.

As we moved to the second car, we attracted the attention of two of the infected in the parking lot. The mutilated attendant was also moving in, about twenty feet away from us.

Billy smashed the window of the driver’s door of the second car.
Again, no keys.
Melvin cursed,
then
I could feel his arm, around my shoulder, twitch.

“Keep your cool, feller,” said Billy. “We
gonna
walk. I’ll give you a piggyback ride if you feel you can’t make the hike.”

“I’ll be fine. I just hate rain. That’s all.”

We moved toward the opening in the gate. That’s when the entrance doors to N-3 opened and the mob of creatures that surrounded us in the stairwell came flooding out, spilling down the stairs and moving toward us.

We heard the noise and looked back at them. “Shit,” I said and looked at Billy. “Grab his legs, we
gotta
bolt.”

The three of us were outside the gate now as the mob continued moving closer. I ran to the gate and closed it. From what I could see, there was no lock, so I left it shut and just hoped it would hold them off for some time.

“Let’s cut across the field,” said Billy. “It’ll save us half the time than if we took the road.”

“Yeah, but who knows what’s in that field,” I said.

“We need to take that chance, partner.” Billy motioned to Melvin, saying, “This mess here
ain’t
gonna
make it if we
gonna
take the road.”

I gazed at Melvin. Billy was
right,
Melvin looked really weak and pale. Christ, I knew he wasn’t going to make it. Probably wouldn’t even last to N-5 if we did take the field. But he was my friend, and this was a chance I had to take. “Fine,” I said. “Let’s move it, across the field. Keep your eyes peeled.”

“Hey, don’t you worry ‘bout that. The Kid’s always prepared for any cunt dog queers that try and sneak up on him.”

Again, we threw Melvin’s arms over our shoulders and began to move ahead, across the dark field. All we could see were the lights of N-5’s parking lot in the distance, probably about a hundred yards away.

Around us was nothing but darkness and heavy rain. The ground below us had become very muddy and was making our trek sluggish and backbreaking; more than once, our feet would sink a few inches in the mud, and we’d have to stop and free ourselves.

The sound of the crashing rain was loud, but we could still hear faint moans and shrieks behind us.

“Looks like the cavalry came this way,” said Billy, motioning to the ground below us.

My eyes went down and saw trails of footprints and handprints, even body-prints. I’d imagine there was blood at one point, but the hard rain washed it away.

We were in the middle of the field now, closer to N-5. I turned back to see the mob pressed against the wrought iron gate, doing all they could to try and get through.

Facing N-5 now, we drudged forward. Then, the lights went out. Everything everywhere was black.

Melvin moaned and screamed as he said, “What? God, what’s going on?”

“
It’s
fine, pal,” I said, trying to relax him. “The power got cut off. Calm down, we’re still walking.”

“No, no, they’ll get us in the dark, see? They’ll find us. And eat us.”

Billy interrupted, saying, “Pipe down. You keep
ballin
’ like that and they will find us. Just keep them chapped lips puckered.
We
movin
’
along. Soon we
be
safe again.”

“Listen to him, Melvin,” I said.

We walked in the dark. I was nervous. It was just so goddamn dark. I tell you, if
I’d’ve
put my hand in front of my own face I wouldn’t be able to see it. I mean, it was BLACK.

Then the goose bumps shot up on my arms as I heard the wheels of the gate screeching. I could only imagine what was going on at that moment. The screams and moans grew louder, like the bastards were excited.

A minute later, Billy fell. His face hit the mud. Still holding Melvin, he brought him down, and Melvin took me along for the ride.

We were lying in the mud now, moving fast, trying to get up. “What the hell was that, Billy?” I said.

“I hit
some’um
on the ground,” he said.

I reached back, trying to feel what tripped him. It was a body. As my hands wandered, trying to figure out who or what it was, it said, “
Heellpp
…Please…Let them…No…”

“It’s a chick,” said Billy. “You all right there,
darlin
’?” She screamed again. “Calm down now.
We
got’cha
.
Ain’t
no one
gonna
hurt
ya
.”

“No, she could be one of them,” said Melvin. “Leave her and let’s get going before it’s too late.”

“She
ain’t
sick,” said Billy.

“And how in the heck would you know?” Melvin shouted.

Billy shouted right back, “’Cause, by now she’d be
treatin
’ us like a goddamn T-bone steak.”

The lights flickered again and were back on.

I looked at Billy and Melvin, then at the woman on the ground; she didn’t appear to have been bitten, but was covered in mud and was semiconscious. Then I turned back and, with the light from N-3’s parking lot reaching the edge of the field, I could see the silhouettes of the figures heading our way.