The Safe Zone (The Dead Zone Book Two)

Chapter 10

 The horde spills through the doors of the office building seconds after Bryson and the group of men he'd been working with break through in a fast sprint. The doors, which were solid glass, cracked under the weight of the undead pressing against it, splintering and hitting the ground in a thousand tiny shards.

Fear tightened Bryson's chest, but he controlled it like he so often did. Several members of the group split off, disappearing around a corner as Bryson and Travis ran for the stairs, not stopping to see if anyone followed them. He knew it was a bad idea to split up; the only advantage they'd had against the roamers was strength in numbers, and now that was gone. They were divided and vulnerable.

  A cry of pain called out behind him and he turned just long enough to see one of their men go down, a swarm of roamers surrounding him. He tried to block out the sounds of the dying man as they feasted on him. He wanted to do something to help him, but he couldn't. There were too many roamers closing in on them.

"Damn it!" He curses, following Travis as he ran through the building, their footsteps echoing across the marble floor of the lobby on the second floor. Several screams could be heard echoing through the building; the other part of their group that had split off from them.

  "Travis, there's nowhere to go!" They were trapped inside the building, the first floor crawling with the roamers, and the horde still chasing them. He turned, taking out a few behind them. He rounded the corner, sliding to a halt. A fresh batch of roamers turned on them, jaws snapping. There were more roamers on the second floor!

Panicking, Travis opened fire, and Bryson did the same for the roamers coming up behind him. If they didn't figure something out, they'd die in here. Bryson considered jumping out of the window, but knew that it was too high not to sustain any injuries.

Damn it!

It was then he noticed the elevator. Grabbing Travis by the collar, he began dragging him towards it, seeing no other option. It took a couple seconds longer than he would have liked to pry the lifeless doors open as the two squeezed inside, pushing the doors closed behind them. One of the roamers managed to get its arm through, keeping the doors from closing all the way. Pulling out a wicked looking knife, Travis hacks the diseases arm clean off, pushing the doors the rest of the way shut as more roamers closed in on them, the sound of their hands pelting the metal door sounding like thunder.

Flipping on his flashlight, he shines it in Bryson's face, blinding him.

"Damn it Bryson! We're going to die in here. At least out there I could have died with dignity!"

"We're not going to die. We just have to think of a plan!"

"And what plan might that be? We're trapped. Nobody's coming to rescue us!"

Travis was right. By dragging him into the elevator, he'd sealed their fate. They would have died either way, right? Only now, instead of getting ripped limb from limb by the monsters outside, they'd slowly starve to death. Had what he'd done been cowardly? Maybe, but he wasn't ready to die.Not like this.

"I don't know, man. But we have to think of something. We can't just sit here and give up."

"Maybe the roamers will go away after a while. I'm giving it twenty-four hours, then I'm opening these doors and going back out there."

Travis clicks a button on his watch, effectively starting their countdown. It seems like hours pass by as the two sit in silence, listening to the mayhem outside of their bubble of protection. Several loud thuds mix in with the steady staccato of hands banging on the door, and Bryson imagines the roamers throwing themselves at the elevator. The roamers hiss and growl, a sound he's become very accustomed to.