Subject 48

Volunteer

We open the doors of broken glass. The place doesn't seem to be in too bad of shape. It's actually pretty bright despite the lights being off. It's probably because the windows are made mostly out of glass windows. One of the walls and its windows look into an area with some sort of colorful mess of staircases, slides, giant tubes. It looks extremely childish. The main room, the room we currently find ourselves in, is fairly pitiful. Chairs are sitting on their sides. One of the huge windows has been shattered. The tables have seen better days. I can relate. Looking past all its faults, this place is actually in better shape than I expected.

Drew flicks a switch on the wall which I'm pretty sure is a light switch. I'm unsure since none of the lights are turning on. "That's odd," he says. "The electricity's out. Isn't it a bit early in the apocalypse for a black out?"

"Anything could happen in times like these!" Trix says, crouched down like she's on a stealth mission.

Brett roles his eyes at Trix and her antics. "I saw an electricity pole down while we were on the road," he brings up. "Don't worry about it. We don't need the lights anyways. They'll attract the attention of any zombies that're still here."

I take a second to look at our group. I have a lantern that I might not need after all. Drew has his gun out and is holding in a way that makes me think he's a professional. Well, at least he looks that way compared to Trix's posture. She's still crouching down with her gun held close. It's not long before she gets bored and standing up to read something on the wall.

I look over at Axel. He's not acting as wary as everybody else. Instead, he's staring at the childish area of nonsense. Why? I don't know. It seems to be a common thing for me to be clueless.

"We haven't been attacked by zombies yet, so we should be clear to go into the kitchen," someone says. I turn towards them and see Brett is taking charge.

"But first," he continues, "I brought some empty bottles with us so we can refill them with water." He puts the bag down on a table and pulls an empty bottle from it. "That being said, we can make it a little less crowded in the kitchen by having a volunteer fill these in the bathrooms. It would be best if there were less people in the kitchen on account of how destructive Trix likes to be." Brett shoots Trix a dirty look but she doesn't seem to notice.

"Are we gonna have groups of one or two?" Trix inquires. "Two could be more useful but it would be two of the boys going in there."

"Why specifically us?!" Brett exclaims.

"Because I dont want a woman going in the men's room and do I want a man going into the women's room."

"Then why not you and Terra?"

How dare you bring me into this.

"Because if you and you're pea brain can't remember, there's no electricity. No electricity means no lights. No lights in a windowless room means that there's zero way to see. I am not going into a pitch black room in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. That's just asking to be killed."

She does have a point. There could be a zombie in there, not that it would be much of a problem for me. Plus, I have a lantern.

I think Axel realized this because he states, "We shouldn't need to worry about the light since one of us has a lantern." I lift up my lantern and turn it on. I'm take extra care not to drop my bat.

"That's cool, but I'm still not going," Trix says.

Brett sighs, gathers the bag back up, and holds it out to me. I place the lantern down on a table and take it from him. I let the handle slide to my wrist so I can carry my lantern in that hand instead.

"Do you want someone to come with?" Brett asks me. "You do seem to have your hands full."

I shake my head no. Making the assumption that the darker hallway is where I need to go, I make my way over to fill the water bottles.

---([])---

The bathroom doesn't look to bad. Y'know, besides the big blood splotch in the corner and the fact that my lantern is the only light source. Okay, I lied. This is pretty scary. The stall doors are closed, but I don't feel like checking them.

I had closed the door behind me when I entered. That way if there is zombie in here, it won't get out.

I walk over to the sinks and place the lantern and bag on the counter. I prop my bat up on the wall beside me. My hands are empty. I feel vulnerable.

Pull a bottle from the bag. The bag makes a loud crinkling sound on account of it being . . . what's the word? Plastic? I think that's what it is. Not many things were made of plastic in the lab, so I'm not fully informed on its properties. I'm pretty sure the bottle is plastic as well. I can tell be the way it crinkles as I take it in my hands. 

I unscrew the also plastic cap, place the bottle under the faucet, and turn on the water. Once that bottle can't carry another drop, I carefully put the lid back on, as to not spill the water. I put that bottle in and take out another empty one, the bag being as obnoxious as possible. I can't help but notice that there are five bottles altogether. This might take a bit.

I fill second one and exchange it for the third. Not a second after I take it out of the bag, I hear a thump behind me, like something had hit the floor. It wasn't loud, nor was it faint. I'm not sure what I could have been. I check my plastic bag. All the bottles are there, excluding the one I'm holding. I look over to find my spiked bat still leaning against the brick wall. My lantern obviously didn't move or I would have known. This is really odd and is freaking me out. Or maybe I'm just being stupidly paranoid. Yeah. I'm just being paranoid.

I fill the third bottle as much as I can and return it to the bag. Pulling out another bottle seems to trigger another sound. A faint creaking. Like a door being opened slowly.

I know what it is before I even look over my shoulder. One of the stall doors is open. I didn't open that door, and I know for a fact that it was closed when I came in. I quickly place the bottle down, grab my bat, and face the stall door.

I don't think I'm alone in this room.