Final Hours

Chapter Four

I pulled the hunting knife from the sheath clipped to my belt. The knife was about half the length of my forearm, so I easily had distance from me and the walker. "They must be attracted to sound." He said, pulling out a kitchen knife he kept in his belt. "You wanna test that theory." I said quietly back to him. He nodded and looked down grabbing a hefty sized rock and chucking it down the street in front of us away from the town. It made a heavy crashing noise as it hit the ground and bounced. The group blocking our way into the town stumbled towards the noise mindlessly. "Let's not waste anymore time." He said stepping over the twigs and walking into the concrete road. There weren't many walkers in the town, we were in a smaller area of Georgia, it was more rural country based and it didn't seem there was much for us to worry about. I followed behind him and we bent down as we carefully rushed across the road to the back of the building adjacent to the street we left. We slammed our backs against the brick building and I finally took the ragged breath I had been holding in since we left the wooded area. I laid my head back and felt the prickly brick wall stabbing into my neck and arms. I took a deep breath in and followed Chris around the side of the building to the front street. It was to my surprise empty, thankfully, he walked over to the door examining it to make sure it wasn't rigged to a bell. "Chris." I whispered. He looked away from the door and up to what I was pointing at. "Perfect." He said looking up at the big letters spelling out 'Police'. He grasped the door handle and pulled it open slowly and carefully. It seemed empty, the lights were out and the blinds on the windows were down making it seemingly impossible to see. We walked in closing the door behind us and he carefully pulled the blinds up halfway to let in little light. "Look for some keys, we need to see if the armory's stocked." He uttered as he walked away. I walked over to the front counter while he checked the waiting room. I couldn't see much and I reached over the counter pulling open one of the cabinets looking for keys to get to the back. I pulled my hand up and pushed myself higher up the counter, the counter digging into my hips. I leaned down over the counter digging into the counter and moving things. I struggled to see in the darkness and was going off of sound. I looked up to tell Chris when I felt a tight hand grip around my wrist and rip me off the counter towards it. I let out a Yelp as I crashed to the ground making noise as it shoved chairs and file cabinets around. I caught a glimpse of the walker in the light as I fought for my wrist back. I'd never been this close to one before and it was stronger than I expected. "Chris!" I yelled fighting for my wrist. I yanked my wrist back and failed to regain control, I pulled my other hand back and reached for the hunting knife above me. It spun as I missed it and the walker pulled me closer to it biting at my wrist and missing. It made an obnoxious low growl with a hissing undertone and I couldn't stand it. I pulled my foot out from behind me and kicked at it, I managed to loosen its grip enough to pull up and grab my knife thrusting it into its skull. I ripped my hand away from its grasp even as it held on in death. I sat back and breathed heavily rubbing my wrist and checking for any bites or scratches I might have missed. "Jen!" Chris said, finally coming into the front room. "Are you bit!...a-are you okay!" He said leaning over the counter and giving me a hand helping me up. "I'm fine." I said calming my nerves and breathing slower. My heart was racing and I could feel sweat dripping down my neck. What felt like an hour of fighting had only been mere seconds. "You have to be more careful Jen." He said dropping his head in his hands and looking back up at me. "I-I'm sorry." I said bending down on my knee and pulling my  knife out. "Hey Chris." I remarked gleefully staying over the corpse. "What?" He questioned. "Look what I found." I said unlatching a handful of keys. I rolled the corpse over, it was a female cop. I stood up jingling the keys with a smile. "Great, C'mon let me help you." He said placing his hand out. I took his hand and swung my foot over the counter and pulled myself to sit on the counter and swing over. I slid down and walked over to the officer only door. A small black and silver key unlocked it and a swinging yellow light left a warm glow in the room. "Electricity must still be on." I said walking. "Probably a backup generator for emergencies." Chris mumbled walking in behind me. The room was full of lockers and it looked like a middle school gym locker room. Above the locker names were pictures of each of the officers. I looked over all of them as Chris popped open one of the lockers grabbing supplies. I found one of a young woman, she looked familiar. She could have been any other cop that I could've passed on the street before this all went down. "Ramirez, Janice." I whispered, rubbing my finger over the bumped letters and looking back up at her picture. She was smiling, she looked like a nice person with stern body language. Someone you would respect, the background had an American flag and a her station. I slid my hand down to the handle and pushed it up, popping it open. A pair of black leather boots and a winter jacket were left behind. Her ID and wallet were on the top shelf. I pulled the boots out and switched into them from my worn out sneakers that I'd been longing to get rid of. They fit well and they were structurally sound and actually quite comfortable. I tied the jacket around my waist just in case because Georgia weather could be unforgiving and I looked up to grab the wallet. I flipped through it finding a picture. She was seated on her knee with her arm around a little girl maybe three. I could feel myself tearing up and I only hoped that she was somewhere safe with her daughter. I flipped through more finding a pair of dog tags and receipts. I set it back in the locker and turned around. "You okay?" Chris asked looking back at me as he slid two chocolate bars into his backpack. "Ya I'm fine." I responded quietly walking away from the locker and over to another door. It was a cage door and inside were weapons, tactical, riot, and just normal handguns. "Chris...I found it." I said opening the cage door and walking in. "Jackpot." He laughed walking past me and grabbing a gun bag throwing in everything he saw and any ammo he could fit. I looked down at the bottom shelves grabbing flashlights and batteries, and smoke bombs just in case. I stood up dropping them into the gun bag. I grabbed an axe and zip ties off the wall and slid them into my bag. "Are you ready to go?" I said walking out of the gun room and grabbing a pair of black sunglasses I saw on a shelf. "Ya I think I got it all, we're definitely gonna be covered for a while." He said laughing. I smiled and walked over to the door, I pulled it open and walked back out to the waiting room. I looked over the counter pulling out a flashlight I had before. A young female cop with silky black hair and a bite on the cheek looked back at me. I panned down to her navy blue uniform when something shined back at me, a nametag. "Ramirez, J." I gasped.