Annihilation

Chapter 13 - Moving Up

TATIANA'S P.O.V

It takes Lucien a while to sort out whatever the hell he's doing in the office, but none of us complain - after all, this is gonna save our lives. Elias swings his pistol around his finger, silently eyeing the dead corridor we wait in. Cassius is slouched against the wall, almost dead to the world as he sighs about something in his little dream world.

Lucien yells something, sounding panicked and hysterical about whatever his crisis is about. Causing a helix of panic to generate inside of me, I look to Elias in an attempt to get his attention - and a hug. His warm embrace is something I love, something I miss. I'll admit, I've isolated myself since Dyson's death, but no one really wants to discuss the world around you after it's caused your two best friends' deaths.

Suddenly, the door swings open and Lucien stands there with his pistol in hand, loaded. His jagged breath catches in his throat as he eyes the three of us before he parts his lips and sighs. "There's a mass swarm of the freaky lunatics outside. Get to the top floor. No questions." No one objects; the other teenagers and I have no knowledge of this building at all.

Our shoes squeak against the marble floor beneath us as we dart down the corridor. "What if we block the way with filing cabinets and such?" Elias calls out, looking at me as he does so. "We can't hold them off with just ammo." I smile at him, wanting him to acknowledge my appreciation for his idea; he sees and weakly smiles back, making my heart flip in the process.

Lucien hates being told what to do, but I can see that death is so close that for once, he isn't going to argue about anything. If this was all Lucien's plan, we'd fire all of our ammo at the zombies, killing a minute percentage in the process, before giving into them; letting those blood-parched undead freaks bite our skin and leave us to join the mass.

Noticing a walkie-talkie in Lucien's pocket, I have a feeling that we're going to be the only ones to survive this mental breakthrough, that we're the only ones who've contacted America, pleading to be rescued. Trying to shake the thought that four Brits are left alive in this country, I help the boys drag a large cupboard in front of the stairs, leaving a slight blockage. We're going to have to do this on every floor at this rate.

Lucien has told us that there are no working elevators and there's only one long set of stairs to climb, so we're blocking the only way around this building anyway. Cassius and Elias pick up one filing cabinet; Lucien and I take the other. Putting the two heavy cabinets in front of us, we run up that particular flight of stairs up to level five.

"We're blocking this one too, right?" I ask, looking around for something that I can drag to the top of the stair case. "Look, over there!" I point to a large table that could definitely fit through the doorway if we turned it on its side. "It'll require at least three of us to carry it through though." Elias walks over to the window as if to say that he wasn't going to take part; Cassius, Lucien and I grab a part each and turn it onto its side before Lucien places his finger to his lips.

"They're outside, but I don't think that they know that we're here." I notice that Elias doesn't stand up so that he's directly visible through the window. "Guys, maybe we shouldn't walk past windows unless it's absolutely necessary." Taking his point on board, the three of us bow our heads as we carry the table through the doorway and stand it up in a way that it's almost impossible to get past. These zombies are going to have an obstacle course to get through at this rate.

Just before the window sit another three filing cabinets. Elias and I grab one, Cassius and Lucien grab another. Placing them in a way that we can get through and manage to drag the last one into place, Elias and I slip through the gap and allow the stronger men to lift the last one. There's no point in doubting the growth of our physical abilities; I used to get out of breath just walking up the hill to get to my school. Now, I feel like a superhero, able to do anything.