Z: In The Heart of the Queen City

Chapter 3

We all held our breath as we watched the door close. Backing away a bit, I tried to digest every single thing, every single image that I saw back in the office. Like when Marl's brain smashed when Chris hit the extinguisher on it, or when pretty Nicole had her neck bitten by Vincent. She stood up screaming, then her screams stopped and all she did was moan. Moan and pounce at the victims.

I put my hands over my ears, I could hear the moans from the inside. It was terrible, I was scared. I looked outside for a trace of comfort. The fire exit had a small window which had a view of the field behind the office.

What I saw was horrifying.

People were scrambled everywhere, then I realized that the moans were also coming from the outside. There were cars that collided with each other and human after human were slowly falling prey. Mila and Chris looked from behind me. “Holy shit” I said. Mila had her hand over her mouth then she began to cry. I was too scared to cry, I didn't even know what to feel, I just knew something was making its way out of my mouth. I gagged and puked. I couldn't take it in anymore.

“Sorry” I said wiping my mouth with the sleeve of my shirt. “We have to get out of here” Chris said. “My motorcycle is in the basement maybe we can get out.” “Motorcycle? There are three of us!” Mila cried. She looked at me, “We can't fit in a motorcycle Emma!” I rubbed my eyes, why in the world were they looking at me like I was Alice in Resident Evil? I could barely even make decisions at work. “Mila's right, we can't fit in the motorcycle but we still need to get to the basement then we can decide where we need to got next.” I said, full Alice mode and all. “The basement?” Mila hissed, she was getting frustrated now. “Yes Mila, the basement, it's fucking 10 o' clock. Employees are, uhm, were arriving since a while ago.” I said, Chris finished my sentence for me, “Genius Em! We can get to one of the cars for better protection!” That was the plan, to get all full GTA mode and steal some random car. Easy right? No not really, as soon as we made our way downstairs to the 4th floor we already heard footsteps of the uhm, inhuman kind making its way to us. “No! Back up!” I had been leading the pack, with Mila next and Chris in the end. I looked at the creature from the floors down as soon as it smelled us it began to speed up. I'm a screamer I admit but this time I held my breath. “Shit! Mila open that door!” Mila was already at the door, she was turning the knob and slamming it in an idiotic attempt to see if someone would actually open it. “Up! UP!” I shouted.

We sprinted towards the 5th floor. There were even more coming from the upstairs apparently all our screaming had attracted attention. Chris went for the door, no, it was locked. We were doomed for sure. The thing from below us actually jumped from one stair case to our floor. I had recognized him, it was the guard from the building, he was still in uniform and a bite wound had formed in his collar, he seemed like he had been one the building's first converts since the wound was beginning to dry already.

Gross.

Mila screeched as it grabbed Chris' leg and tried to bite it. I wouldn't know if it was a stroke of pure bravery or if I just wanted to get that thing off my officemate quick but I went all Manny Pacquiao on it and punched that undead asshole on its face. It fell with a thud, hitting the railings first, then dropping the gun that used to hang on its waist. I looked at the weapon as the door miraculously swung open. “Emma!” Mila called out, they were already in the room with whoever was kind enough to help us. I took no chances, I sprinted for the gun despite the fact that two undead employees were already making their way downstairs. I ran to door when I picked up the gun but they were already inside the same room with us. The stranger who let us in was armed, he axed them quickly chopping their heads. Blood sprayed our shirts, no not the red kind, black sticky rotten blood.

“Everyone okay?” He was wearing a helmet. “Jaycee?” I asked the guy, he took the helmet off. “Jaycee” He smiled letting everyone know who he was. He was working for sales. “How the fuck did you manage to get to the next floor don't you work in the same floor as we do?” I asked again. “I was late, didn't want the boss to see so I took the fire exit.” Jaycee replied, he was pretty athletic but still I couldn't help but ask, “Seven floors? You decided to use the stairs?” “Yeah, the elevator wasn't working so I took the stairs. We all know now why it wasn't working.”

“It started in the elevator?” Chris asked, “How did it get to the building? Where are all these zombies coming from?” Mila winced, nobody has mentioned the “Z” word until now. “What? What are you guys looking at me like that for?” Chris turned around. Then he lowered his voice, “You saw it didn't you? Upstairs, Marl, Allen, Nicole and our boss, Mr. Lansing turning to some rabid creatures” He had an insane look in his eyes. “Zombies” Mila whispered. “What did you see?” I asked Jaycee again. “People, or at least they used to be people started running to the building. It started this morning, in the road. A huge traffic jam then running. I thought it was nothing so I paid no attention to it when I parked my motorcycle downstairs. As soon as I made my way up people were starting to act weird.”

Jaycee, could be an idiot at times but I owe him my life for opening that freaking door for us.

“So what do we do now?” He asked us. “Wait, you mean you don't have a plan? What were you planning to do when you were here?” I asked him in return. “I don't know, wait for some people so they can think for me.” I rolled my eyes, this was one of the top earners in our company people. “We were going to go to the basement and steal a car.”

“Cool! So what were you planning to do after?” Jaycee asked. It was one of those questions, we all wanted to ask but were probably too tired too. “We don't know” Chris said rubbing his forehead. “Sure you do, you Emma. You know.” Jaycee looked at me. I blinked at him, “Remember we were drinking last Christmas party and you were so drunk you blurted out your whole plan if there was a zombie apocalypse in the city.” He urged on. “Shit man, I was drunk. This isn't some sort of stupid game this is real fucking life!” I said shaking a bit. “You said you'd go to Mango Avenue to the ammo shop there near the Iglesia Church then go for supplies in Fooda” Jaycee continued in a matter of fact tone.

I remembered it, of course, I kept that plan so close to my heart since forever. But Jesus Christ, I never realized that it would actually be put into use. We only talked about the zombie apocalypse when we were drunk or playing Left for Dead or something.

Chris spoke, “Uhm guys.”

I froze, please no more zombies. But Chris was pointing holding something, a phone. Oh God, I had totally forgotten about my mom, my dad, my family! Were they okay? Did they become zombie meat too? I reached for my pockets. No, left my mobile phone then we all looked at each other and everyone said they didn't have a phone on them either. “So, are we all going to take turns using this line?” Mila asked. “The other lines are dead, chewed off I guess.” Chris said. “Okay, so who goes first?” We all drew hands, Jaycee's palm was the only one facing up. We all looked at him, a little relieved or a little jealous it was hard to tell. Maybe they were just as nervous as I was. Jaycee let out a nervous laugh, “I'm phoning my girlfriend,was it dial 9 for mobile phones?.” I shot him a look, rumor has it this little hotshot was dating a girl half his age.

Then he dialed but there was no ring, so Chris went next, he dialed his pregnant wife who worked in IT Park for an Australian account in some call center there (again, company names don't matter anymore).

No ring.

It was Little Mila's turn next, then no ring for her too. She and her parents lived near the Capitol. It was near from where we were.

“Just out of curiosity, how old is your girlfriend?” I asked Jaycee. “She's legal.” He replied then I turned to the phone. It was my turn to dial. I dialed the number to my house, my fingers were shaking a bit when I touched the buttons.

3-4-0.. Then a miracle happened. The other end rang and a bigger miracle happened, someone picked up. Then I heard my mother's voice, it was a little frantic, a little stressed. “HELLO?”

I choked, “Mom?”