The Rot: Book 2

Chapter 18

I woke up earlier than everybody else. Big Mick had actually fallen asleep right by the front door barricade. I don't think a horde of biters would be able to get by him should our barricades fall down. And besides, Mick isn't the type of guy you would want to wake up too early. He has a tendency to get a little grumpy when he gets up too soon.

When the sun came up, everyone was still fast asleep. Rather than just sit around in the lobby, I got off my ass, grabbed my axe, and moved about the rest of the office. Even though Cyn and I did a quick sweep of the place the night before, I wanted to be sure there would be no surprises waiting for us.

Walking down the small corridor and checking each examination room, everything was nice and clean. I guess heading off to the dentist isn't much of a priority when the world decides to come to an end. Although, seeing some of the dead things' rancid teeth, those bastards sure could use a dentist.

The last room at the end of the corridor gave me a decent enough view of the road out in front of the building. There was a small group of five or so biters meandering by the office, but other than the dead things, all seemed quiet.

"Reid?" Cynthia called out to me from back in the lobby. "Where are you?"

"I'm here, Cynthia," I answered. I didn't know if I was bragging or complaining.

Cynthia was rubbing her neck. "That floor was not comfy."

"I slept like a baby."

"Good for you."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah. What were you doing back there?"

"Just checking things out. Making sure there were no surprises waiting to jump out and bite us."

Mick got up from the floor and stretched out his arms. "Screw this floor."

I chuckled. "You slept like a rock, Mick."

"It wasn't easy, let me tell you, Reid."

"We could just use you as a barricade."

Mick laughed. "If you pay me enough."

"So what's the first order of business for today?" Angie asked us.

"I think we should work on the barricade out here in the lobby and cover up these windows," Janice replied.

"Before we work on the front doors, we better check on the back door Just in case we have to get the hell out of here in a hurry," said Mick.

"The door looked pretty sturdy," Angie said. "At least from what I could see when we were running up here."

"Let's take a look," I told Ang.

The back door to the building was the first door on the left in the main hallway. The staff had been using the area as a storage closet. But the back door was a thick metal and locked in place by a big, sturdy deadbolt.

"Keep an eye out for a set of keys, Ang," I said. "They could come in handy."

"Will do, Reid," Angela replied. Before we rejoined the others out in the lobby, Angie spied mop that was resting inside of a bucket.

"We can clean later, Ang," I said.

Angie sighed at me. It reminded me of Cynthia. She then broke the mop handle across her knee. "Now I have a weapon."

"Impressive," I replied in my best Darth Vader voice.

Back out in the lobby, Angie handed the other end of the broken mop handle to Nicole. Good, now we were all armed.