Day 18: Detached

Group 2: Katrina, Troy, Dominic, Mathew, Ryan, Aisha
Location: Police Station

Aisha waited out in the hallway as Katrina entered the office. The foul odor of death permeated the room, seeping into the walls. She thought she would have been used to it by now, but it still caused a reaction in the pit of her stomach. Inhaling a deep breath, and releasing it slowly through her mouth, she advanced, carefully looking over the partitions and in the corners for any surprises.

Once she made it over to the desk sergeant she knelt down. A smile spread her lips. It was as she’d hoped. A set of keys were tucked in the officer’s hand, and with any luck, they would match the lock on the backdoor. The guys had done a great job setting up the barricade, but if they could lock the door, it would definitely relieve some of the stress on the hinges.

“Come on,” Katrina said, rushing from the room, “We need to get back.”

“What is it? What did you find?” Aisha asked. Katrina showed the girl the key ring and saw for the first time an ounce of hope that caused the scared teen to breathe a sigh of relief. She smiled and followed after Katrina towards the main hall.

Dominic dropped off another box and rested on the ground beside it, “That’s the last of it,” he sighed, wiping a hand across his brow. “Let’s get this stuff to the lobby and see how the others have fared.”

Entering the front rooms, Dominic noticed Ryan and Troy settled in desk chairs and panic hit him. But the sudden quick beating of his heart settled as he saw the set of keys dangling from Katrina’s hand. “It’s locked,” she said with a smile, settling any further discussion. “It’ll hold for a while. That plus the barricade anyway.” 

“Good. You guys wanna give us a hand with the stuff?” With the other’s help, Dominic and Mathew moved the supplies to the main hall in a little under five minutes. The group returned to the lobby and discussed their next plan of action. Even though the lock on the door seemed to hold, they needed a more permanent solution if more, undoubtedly showed up at the back steps.

“What was that?” Aisha turned at the sound of thumping. It was coming from the hallway and seemed to echo around them. “Someone’s out there,” she said, moving away from the door. Aisha clutched the knife to her chest, taking slow, deep breaths to steady her nerves.

“Did you finish searching upstairs?” Dominic asked, glancing in Katrina’s direction.

“No,” she said, shaking her head as she thought back. “We heard a commotion down here. That’s when Troy and Ryan came from outside. We stopped what we were doing and came running.”

“Shit!” Dominic cussed and grabbed one of the automatic rifles from the stash. “We need to see where that’s coming from.”

“Or, better idea,” Ryan chimed in, “We stay put. Lock ourselves in here and not worry about what’s out there.”

“Yeah? And how long will we last before whatever or whoever that is coming down here to take us out?” Dominic retorted. “Weren’t you the one so gung-ho a minute ago about killing whatever moved on the other side of those doors?”

“That was before we got our equipment and enough food to last us a good while in here. What’s the point of risking that now?”

“No,” Mat spoke, interrupting the argument before Dominic could fire back. “Dom’s right. If we want to be sure we’re safe here, at least for a while, we need to make sure nothing and no one can get in here. That means securing the rest of this building.” He grabbed his military rifle that was resting against the wall and tossed it over his shoulder. Checking his sidearm, he placed another magazine in his pocket before returning his attention to the others. “We move as a unit, watching each other’s backs and we get back here safely.” Troy and Katrina armed themselves and followed the others out of the room. Carefully the group made their way upstairs, taking each corner with precise execution as Mathew lead the charge.

Boom, boom, boom! The banging was constant. The thundering roar echoed and the group watched with anticipation as the door shook from the force of whatever waited on the other side. With no more thought or hesitation, Mathew started forward. “Wait,” Katrina cautioned, stopping him in his tracks. “The cells are on the other side of that wall. If those are escaped prisoners…”

“Or worse; escaped zombie prisoners,” Troy added with a bit of humor. The momentary pause delayed the group’s reaction. The door swung open, and just as they’d feared, a large group of undead inmates stumbled out of the opening. “Holy fuck!”

Out of nowhere their expedition to the upstairs escalated into a full scale riot. They rushed to beat back the advancing and growing crowd, but quickly found themselves outnumbered. “Fall back! There are too many! We need to get back to the lobby!” Dominic shouted, falling to the floor as dozens of cold, dead hands reached through the crowd. The moans drowned out his screams as he felt them ripping and pulling at his feet and legs. He kicked them off and crawled back, cornering himself against the door leading to the evidence room.

“Move! Move! We gotta get out of here!” Troy yelled, firing into the group of undead. Decaying bodies tumbled forward and he knocked them away as best he could, watching as the others desperately fought to get to him. One shot after another and the monsters fell but another quickly took its place.

A spot opened within the thick mass of limbs and rotting flesh, like a parting of the waves, and Katrina, Aisha and Ryan ducked between them. Pushing their way through to the room at the end of the hall, the door slammed shut, and Katrina screamed as she realized not everyone had made it inside. 

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