The Regulators - 02 (8 page)

Nope, for all I knew, the entire planet had gone to shit. As
for that boy, I wasn’t going to leave him behind. I was hoping that maybe he
had a parent or parents hiding somewhere nearby, and I could reunite them. Maybe
he even had a single mom that would be very grateful to have her son back, if
you know what I mean.

I was almost beginning
to respect his sleazy honesty. It seemed that since I already knew he was a man
whore, he offered up no further attempts to be anything but his normal self
.

I knelt down under the table and whispered to the terrified
kid.

“What’s your name little guy?”

“Jason,” he answered after removing his headphones.

“Are you here all alone?”

“No,” he answered.

“Are you with your Mom?”

“She’s not here.”

“Then who are you here with?”

“My Dad,” he answered.

“Where’s your Dad at now?”

“Behind you,” said Jason as he pointed with a shaky finger.

It was one of the corpses I had passed earlier. Most of its
torso had been eaten away. Silly me, I thought that was enough to keep it from
coming back. Still, it seemed to be having a hard time standing upright without
all the necessary muscles. It was leaning heavily on the bar as it made its way
over to us.

I had never seen one of those things up close and personal
before. I was lucky enough to be safe inside my room and looking out at them
through the window. Now, the thing was a mere five feet away from me. I
couldn’t help but take in all the gory details and wonder how it could keep
moving.

It was a young guy. I could tell that easily enough, because
his face was completely intact. He must have died not very long ago; there was
no sign of decay on his face at all. It wasn’t a normal looking face though,
make no mistake about that. It was filled with hatred and all twisted up in a
blind rage.

The chest and arms were also intact, but his button up shirt
was savagely ripped away from his stomach area. I say stomach area because his
stomach seemed to be missing, along with whatever other vital organs were
normally in that area. His legs seemed unmolested, but ropes of torn intestines
hung from his stomach cavity down to his kneecaps and smeared gore all over his
Khaki pants.

Without warning, he screamed at me.

It was the first time I had heard a scream up close. It sent
a surge of adrenaline straight into my body. I reacted immediately and jumped
straight to my feet while swinging my fist straight into the side of the
zombies head.

He went limp as soon as I connected. His body slammed into
the bar behind him and then crashed to the floor amid a smattering of
barstools.

He was back on his feet almost instantly.

I picked up one of the barstools and swung it at his head. I
hit him square, but unfortunately it was the cushioned part that connected.
When he dropped, I brought the barstool down on his head once again.

He tried to rise as soon as I stepped back.

I brought the barstool down on his head again and again. The
barstool broke apart after about three more hits, so I picked up two legs from
the pieces and hit him again and again and again and again. I hit him until my
arms felt like lead, and his brain was a smashed puddle on the floor.

I was about to throw the gory wooden legs of the barstool
away from me in disgust, when I heard another scream coming from down a hallway
to my right side. I reacted without thinking and grabbed the kid. I ran back to
the kitchen. It was about the worst place I could have chosen. It was a dead
end, but like I said, I wasn’t thinking.

I gave the kid a shushing gesture and wondered if the new
monster would leave if we stayed quiet. I guess I was hoping it would get bored
if it didn’t spot us immediately and leave the area without trying to find us.

It searched the room, found the gory remains of the kid’s
father and made a beeline for the kitchen.

How this one knew where we were hiding, I had no idea at the
time. Obviously now I know that they have a great sense of smell when it comes
to humans, but at the time I didn’t have a clue.

I was able to get a good look at the creature’s face as it
peered at me through the circular window of the kitchen door. This one had its
lips torn away from his mouth. It was missing one eye, and it looked as if some
of the skin on its forehead had been peeled away.

The kitchen door was one of those doors that swing forward
and backward. I braced my body against it as the zombie slammed himself forward
in an effort to get inside the kitchen. I’m a strong guy. I’m a very strong
guy, but I was having a hell of a shoving match with this thing and I only had
a flimsy wooden door to separate us.

I scanned the room behind me and noticed that a stainless
steel oven wasn’t very far away. I told the kid to open the oven and move off
to the side of the room. When he did as I had asked, I moved away from the
swinging door just as the zombie gave a final charge of fury.

The walking corpse flew into the room and cracked his shins
on the open oven door. The impact didn’t seem to faze him, but it did trip him
up, and he sprawled over the open door. I quickly ran behind him, grabbed him
by both legs and pulled him backwards until only his head remained over the
open door.

I slammed the oven door shut on his head and neck. He
squirmed and fought for freedom, but I had all the leverage and I used all of
my remaining strength to push that door against his head and neck. I’m not sure
what gave out first, but I heard the crunch and saw his body go limp.

I was beat. I just slid to the ground right beside the
zombies still form. I knew I should grab the kid and get the hell out of the
area, but I was exhausted. I just wanted to sit there and get my breathing back
under control. I wanted to shake the lead out of my limbs. My legs felt as
though I had just run a marathon.

I didn’t get my wish.

I heard the pounding in the distance. It didn’t sound very
far away. I grabbed the kid by the arm and pulled him along behind me. I
stopped in the bar just long enough to grab the two trash bags of food, but I
left the pillowcases behind.

I couldn’t lead the kid anymore; my hands were full. My left
hand gripped the ends of the two trash bags, and my right hand carried one of
the bar stool legs. I passed the second bar stool leg over to Jason and told
him to keep right behind me.

I still heard the pounding. It was coming from outside. It
was louder now and more frantic. I was pretty sure it was coming from an area
of large windows. At least, it sounded like a bunch of fists pounding on glass.
I had seen that area before, I just couldn’t remember when. Still, it was in
the back of my mind somewhere. I think I must have seen it when I arrived at
the hotel.

I had a vague recollection of where those windows were and
avoided them by taking a longer route back to the elevators. I wasn’t exactly
sure where we were going, but I figured that it was best to stay away from any
windows.

Eventually, we passed some offices and I felt Jason tug at
my shirt.

“My Mom’s in there,” he said.

Acidic fear dripped into my stomach.

“Is your Mom still alive?”

“She was trying to find a phone or a computer,” he answered
with a confused look on his face.

I realized that Jason probably didn’t understand that it was
his father’s corpse that attacked us. In his eyes, if his father was walking
around and making noise, he must have been alive. There was also the
possibility that his parents kept the truth about what was happening out there
from him in order to keep him from panicking. The poor kid was shaking
violently. It was a miracle that he hadn’t run away from me screaming after he
saw me beat on his father. Still, he didn’t look very well, and I briefly
wondered if he was going into shock.

“Is your Mom angry like your Dad?”

“No, she was really scared.”

That sounded much better, but I wasn’t going to take any
chances. I had my bar stool leg held high and ready. I went into the small
waiting room of the main office. The stench rose up like a fist once again and
punched my face. It was awful. I found myself fighting to control my gag
reflex.

When I calmed down somewhat, I dropped my trash bags and
motioned for Jason to hide behind a desk. I didn’t want anything eating him
while I checked out the closed door just beyond the waiting room.

I tightened my grip on my weapon as I tested the door knob.
I turned easily and quietly. The smell was worse beyond the door. It was
creeping out from under the space between the door and the floor.

The floor.

I don’t know why I missed it when I walked into the room,
but there was a nasty slime trail as if something oozing came into this office
and then closed the door behind it.

Ah fuck it, I thought.

I threw the door open in a rush and prepared to nail
whatever lurked inside. I saw nothing, but that wasn’t very shocking. The room
was pitch black. I heard a scratching noise.

The growl came at once. It was low in volume, but that
somehow made it even creepier. I felt the chills crawling up my spine as I
fumbled for a light switch.

Click.

The room was instantly bathed in fluorescent lighting.
Beyond the main desk was a closet. The door had been closed on the sleeve of a
pitiful looking zombie. The beast was once a woman, but she was now missing the
lower half of her body. She even lacked the hanging entrails of Jason’s father.

She also happened to be missing her left arm and lower jaw.
Her face was hideous. It was in an advanced stage of decay. The nose was
missing, the ears were barely nubs; still, the look in her eyes was
unmistakable. It was rage.

It was her trapped arm making the scratching noise on the
door as her fingers clenched and released only to clench again in frustration.

I brought the bar stool leg down on top of her head in a
muffled crunch.

After making sure the disgusting corpse wasn’t getting up, I
knocked on the door.

There was no answer.

I knocked on the door once again.

“If you are alive in there, you better let me know!” I
yelled. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m coming in swinging if you don’t
answer.”

“I’m alive,” she said from behind the door.

She sounded like she might be sort of sexy.

I opened the door and pushed the corpse out of the way. Luck
wasn’t on my side, she was just sort of average looking.

“
At a time like that,
you were concerned about her looks
?”

So?

“
What about her well
being
?”

I saved her didn’t I?

“
I guess you did
.”

Whatever. You’re judgmental. It’s not like I looked at her
and left her ass there. I even offered her my hand and helped her to her feet.

Together, we walked back into the waiting room. Jason took
one look at his Mom and ran into her arms. I let them have their moment as I
gathered up the second bar stool leg that Jason had just dropped.

I told Jason’s Mother, her name was Katie, to pick up the
trash bags and I led the way to the elevators. It was a struggle for her to
carry the weight, but Jason helped her and I needed to have my hands on my
makeshift weapons in case we met any other hostiles.

We were near the elevators when the glass finally shattered
from the continued onslaught. I heard the sound very clearly. I fought off the
temptation to run away in a blind panic. I couldn’t leave behind Katie and
Jason. I needed them to carry the food so we wouldn’t starve once we reached
the safety of my room.

I can’t tell you how freaked out I was when we reached the
elevator and the doors did not immediately open after I pushed the button.
There must have still been more people in the hotel and one of those dumbasses
had used my elevator.

I could now hear the sounds of running feet combined with
growls and snarls. We were going to have company very soon and it sounded like
there were a bunch of them.

Just a slight moment later, I heard that stupid scream they
make. I roughly shoved Jason and Katie behind me and prepared to fight the two
zombies that just rounded the corner of the elevators hallway.

Then, two became ten and ten became thirty.

I lost count after that because none of them stood still.
They just saw us and charged. I knew I was going to die; I just wished I could
smack the mother fucker that stole my elevator in the head before I went down.

I wasn’t going to go without a fight, however, the hell with
that. I was preparing to charge them right back when the doors suddenly opened
behind me. I felt Katie’s hand on the collar of my shirt. She was pulling me
backwards into the elevator when the first two zombies reached the door.

I started swinging like a madman. I was screaming as loud as
they were. In no time at all, the rest of the large group had joined them. I
was swinging and swinging in an effort to keep them out of the elevator, but it
wasn’t easy. My arms were rapidly getting tired, and I was only slowing them
down.

“Close the fucking doors!” I screamed. “Close the fucking
doors!”

I was pounding away when Jason hit the button and the doors
began to close. I was still pounding when the doors came to a sudden stop on
one head and a bunch of reaching arms. I battered at them as well. I battered
and pounded until the head and arms were battered away and my blows began to
fall upon only the metal doors of the elevator.

I had cleared the way. I had survived. I crumpled to the
floor. I couldn’t get my breathing under control. I began to scream. That’s all
I really remember, just laying there on the floor of the elevator and screaming
my head off.

I came back to myself hours later in the bed of my hotel
room. I didn’t remember telling them what floor and what room, but I was
finally safe in my room once again and I had even managed to save my new
friends.