Armageddon

Six

Niall slipped past Trinity a few steps down the hall before they were presented with a staircase  leading down to the first floor. The pipe held tightly in his hands, he stepped lightly onto the wooden steps, a low creaking noise followed soon after. Standing frozen on the steps, Trinity close behind, Niall eyed the darkened room a few feet in front of them at the bottom. He sunk his teeth into his tongue, taking another agonizing step forwards and stopping once more, repeating the process over and over until reaching the bottom. Trinity released a breath that seemed to have been held in for the entirety of their journey to the bottom of the steps. Getting outside would be the hardest part. They had gotten into the building itself through a shattered window, which also gave easy access to the undead if they decided to have a visit. As Niall eyed the window shards more carefully, he realized that dark crimson dripped onto the floor; undead were in the building. He eyed the surrounding area, looking for any signs of movement around them, but nothing seemed touched or moved, the only indication that there was someone or something in the building besides them was the dragged foot prints in the dust on the wood floor. "It has to be in the other room..." He whispered, tilting his head to the side to slightly face Trinity, yet keep his eyes forwards. Taking a step towards the window, Trinity close behind, he maneuvered to the side so he faced her, his back towards the entrance of the other room. Trinity eyed the area behind him as Niall pressed his side against the wall surrounding the opening. 
"What now?" Trinity's eyes were filled with confusion, anticipation and anxiety all mixed into a cocktail of fear. Niall's gaze flew to the window; the shards of glass that remained intact with the windowsill stuck up, ready to slice into anyone's skin if they dared touch them. Niall sucked in a breath, then in one swift movement, swung out with the pipe, connecting the metal to the glass with a loud shatter. Trinity flinched away, but as she looked up, her gaze filled with panic and she screamed. "NIALL. LOOK OUT!" Spinning, he came face to face with one of those damned creatures, it's mouth dripping with a black ooze, teeth gnashing together feverishly like a starved dog. Niall froze for a moment until the creature reached out for him, it's body pushing forwards. Niall held his pipe in both hands length wise, then pushed outwards, shoving the undead away. Trinity stepped back, frozen by the sudden happenings. Niall's jaw clenched tightly, the strain of the oncoming creature pushing him over the brink as it lunged again. He shoved it away once more before reeling his arms back for a batters swing and slinging the pipe forwards until it connected with the creatures head, knocking it down. It struggled to stand again; it was weakened. Niall took the chance and stood over it, then began beating down on it's skull with blind madness. Blood spurted around him and onto his clothing, but after five hard whacks of his pipe, the thing lay still. Niall's breathing was labored, his hands on his knees as he panted. Trinity walked to him slowly, laying a hand on his back, but he shrugged her away, straightening his spine and sighing. 
"We need to go now... That glass had to have alerted more.." He whispered.
Assisting Trinity through the window took some effort, since it wasn't very large in height, but they both managed to wiggle through without issues; Niall got out with a small cut on his left thigh, but it wasn't deep. Ripping off a piece of fabric from his sleeve, he managed to tie the cotton cloth around his thigh tightly until he was certain the bleeding had stopped. A slight limp rattled his walking, but he managed easily with a slow jog. "Trinity?" He mumbled lightly as she came up behind him. 
"Yes?" She replied softly, her left hand lifting to flick her hair from her face. Niall could tell that she was filled with panic and confusion. They had just killed a man; or what resembled a humanoid creature. 
"You good...?" He questioned her lightly, stopping his movements. The air was oddly still. The familiar hum of electricity and movement was gone. Everything sounded strange. Only the often ringing of the ears or the thump of something moving in the distance reminded you that you weren't going deaf. It was all deathly silent. Something that a normal human wouldn't want to deal with. It let you be alone with your thoughts. It could drive you insane not to have the hum of white noise always in the back of our minds. Even at night, before the world went to shit, you could sit outside, all electric off in you neighborhood and yet still be able to hear the distant honking of horns or the whirling noise of the wind. 
But now, the world has gone quiet. The wind wasn't started blowing. No cars were beeping. No people were chattering. Not even the slightest movement of life remained, besides the two of them in the damaged street, cars abandoned, building windows smashed and shattered, clothing and other belongings scattered over the pavement of the road. 
"Yes. I'm good." The sudden response surprised him. He had been lost in thought, and the loud burst of noise startled him. 
"Great. Let's get going. There should be a department store just up the street." He stated calmly, picking up the pace before stopping every once in a while. His ears were oddly sensitive to every noise around them. If Trinity knocked over a can a few yards behind him, he would jump and spin on his heels like it was directly at his back. Trinity would blink at him, then shrug it off and continue to walk. It happened more than once; Niall jumping at every small sound. 
A few blocks up, they finally reached the department store, the automatic sliding doors chained off, a sign in the front window with the statement "Take what you need and God bless". Niall snorted; he wasn't much of a religious person, even though he would attend the church services every other Sunday at the clinic. He only went because the nurses would force him. Nurses like Cait. She had woken him up from more than one nice dream before. And he hated her for it, but at the same time, he liked her most for being the kindest nurse towards him. She was gentle, apologetic, and overall sweet, though she did have a short temper. 
"Hey," Trinity spoke gently. Niall was snatched away from his thoughts once again, but for the better; there were hand prints on the windows, some bloody, some smudged. Niall stepped closer to the dusty glass and knocked his knuckles against the transparent surface.