We Are Survivors (BOOK 2)

Chapter Fourteen

We were close to the zoning office by noon. "We've got to get up four floors. There's no telling what's in there so stay as quiet as possible." Valerie called back to us.

"Surely nobody has taken over that office. There's nothing good their anyway." I said to Shawn.

He shrugged, "Who knows."

When we reached the building, we all climbed down off of our horses. We stashed the horses in the first floor lobby, so if anyone went by, they don't know we are here. To the right in the lobby, there was the fire escape door. "There." I pointed.

Valerie hurried to the door and went in first. Shawn and I were in the back, it was very dark and creepy. The only lights coming from our flashlights.

As we passed the door to the second floor, I peeked in. It looked like it might have been a café. Wondering around inside were around a dozen rotters. They must have gone in after someone in their group was infected. Seeing all of them in their sent chills down my spine. They were so close to us, hopefully the didn't all of the sudden learn how to open doors.

When we got to the fourth floor door, Valerie peeked in. "It looks clear, let's get in and get what we need."

Inside the room, everything was a mess. Someone had come through and all but destroyed the room. "Fan out and look." Peyton said opening a cabinet.

I walked towards a desk to search. I was startled by a skeleton in clothes, leaned back in a chair behind the desk. This man must have died during the first plague. I slowly pushed the chair back so I could access the desk. I must have pushed too hard, because the skeleton fell to the floor with a loud crash.

It wasn't a new thing, seeing skeletons. I've seen hundreds just between North Dakota and here. It still startled me at times though, skeletons are creepy.

"My bad." I called out, then began pilfering through the desk.

The drawers were filled with mostly office supplies. But hidden away I found a flask, full of alcohol, and a small hand gun. I don't know why this man would need this combo at work, but I grabbed them and slipped them in my bag.

"Found it!" Shawn called from across the room. We all hurried over to him.

Shawn had found a stack of maps that showed all of the sewers in the city.

"Just grab them all, we can look through them back home." Valerie said walking towards the door.

This time we went down the stairs, we weren't worried about being quiet. We need to get back as soon as possible to save the others. I watched the second floor window as we passed it. The rotters inside were riled up at the sound of us running down the stairs. They were clawing and growilng at the door.

On the ground floor, our horses were still there, hidden behind a wall. I went to get mine, when Shawn grabbed me and yanked me down behind a desk.

"What the hell?" I snapped, he covered my mouth and pointed. The others in our group were crouched down behind desks as well. And coming from outside were voices. There were deep male voices echoing off the buildings around us.

After a few minutes the men finally came into view in front of the building. Five tough looking men, carrying big guns. They were laughing loudly and in the middle of them was a woman. She looked terrified, with her hands tied and a gag in her mouth.

I looked up at Shawn, we needed to do something. But he shook his head no, he knew what I was going to say. I glared at him, but he was right. We couldn't do anything to help her.

After a few more minutes, the men passed without noticing us. Valerie was the first one to move, and we all followed her lead. "We need to get out of here fast." She said, pulling her horse out the front door.

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Charles met us at the front gate, "You get the maps?"

"Yes." Valerie handed him the maps.

"Alright, you all take ten. I'll call you all back after we figure out these tunnels." Our little group dropped off our horses and went our separate ways.

Shawn and I walked into our house, it was empty. Shay was probably at the hospital. "I really hope we take all of those men down, so we can finally be safe. We fought Dian and her people, thinking we were safe. But instead we ended up infecting the whole world. Then we get here, and we still have to fight." I flopped down on the couch, frustrated. "I guess I'm just tired of fighting."

Shawn joined me on the couch, "You don't have to go when we attack."

I held up my hand to silence him, "You're going, I'm going. So don't even start." I leaned back and closed my eyes, "We're so close."

Shawn squeezed my hand, "We will be safe soon."

Charles finally called everyone back to the guard shack, just before dark. Shawn and I squeezed in with the others.

"Okay everyone. Valerie and her group found the maps we need. We found the entrance we want you to take. Unfortunately it's a few miles from the hospital. We also found an entrance from the sewer into the hospital. It leads to the morgue in the basement. You will have to sneak in and use knives. You will have to be silent as you move so you don't alert the whole building. Also, you will be going after dark. Were hoping most of the men will be sleeping. Any questions so far?" Charles asked.

"What do we do if we get trapped inside?" A man asked.

"Well, we're going to have two large teams. One in the sewers, and one above ground. The leaders of each group will have a walkie-talkie. The leader inside will radio to the leader outside if you get into trouble. You don't want to be seen going in, so you will be going on foot. Any volunteers for leaders?"

I watched Valeries hand shoot up, and another man, who I don't know. "Okay, Valerie and Paul, you two are the leaders. Who wants to go into the sewers?" Charles asked.

"Me." Valerie spoke up.

I nudged Shawns arm, "Guess we're storming the hospital."

He cut his eyes at me, "We will talk about that." He snapped.

I rolled my hand at him, then threw my hand up. "I'm with Valerie." I called loudly.

"Good. If you would like to volunteer, I've got pencil and paper up here. Write your names under the leader you want to follow before you head out. Tomorrow before dark, we will meet again and get you all geared up. For now, go get some rest." Charles dismissed us.

I hurried to the sheet and signed my name under Valeries name. I turned to Shawn, who was standing behind me. "Shall I write your name?"

"What do you think?" He snapped.

Again I rolled my eyes, and wrote down his name under mine. Then I grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the guard shack away from the others.

"Look." I snapped, "I know you worry about me, and with good reason.  But you're going to have to face the fact that I really can take care of myself now. Yeah I know I tend to get shot occasionally. But that's besides the point." Shawn went to interrupt me, but I glared at him. Effectively stopping him. "When are you going to realise I want to protect you, and this place! I'm not a child, I'm strong. I can do this! I am doing this. So you better get over it!" Shawn looked at me, probably trying to see if I was done. I nodded at him.

"I get that you're strong. I just don't want you getting hurt." Shawn said quietly.

I grabbed his hand, "You can't control that. And there's no use in worrying about it all the time either. Besides, when we take those men out, we won't have to worry about them anymore. Just rotters. Oh and the tigers."

He groaned in frustration, "You're impossible, you know that?"

"I know." I turned and walked towards the house.