***
The door was unlocked. Claire wondered if it was Henry’s doing when he came out to get them supplies several weeks prior, or if it was left unlocked by the residents. The front lobby looked clear. Claire looked at Thomas.
“Ready?”
“Can I say no?” he said, nervously.
“What?”
“I’m jus’ scared.”
Claire smiled warmly at him. “Remember the medical building? You were awesome there.” Thomas nodded. “Come on. What do we have to lose?”
“Nothin’, I guess.”
Claire stepped through the door and began creeping toward the stairwell. Thomas followed behind, watching their backs. Before they made it to the door of the stairwell, they heard a couple of shots fired outside. Claire grabbed the handle and paused. She turned back and looked at Thomas.
“Be ready.” Claire pulled open the door and the smell of death wafted out at them. She let go of the handle, allowing the door to slam shut, before she vomited. Thomas handed Claire the axe, then pulled off the long-sleeved button-down shirt he borrowed from Elaina’s father’s closet.
“You think she’d be mad if I tore this up?”
“I doubt it.”
Thomas tore off the sleeves. He helped Claire tie one around her nose and mouth, and Claire helped him tie one on himself. She opened the door again. The smell was still exceptionally strong, but the shirt helped filter it some. They only needed to go down one flight of stairs, but it was pitch black. Claire clicked on the flashlight and screamed.
“Shh!” Thomas hissed.
“Sorry…,” she said. There were two true dead bodies rotting at the foot of the stairs. They had to have been there for a couple of weeks. It was a horrific, gory mess. “How do we get past them?”
“We jus’ have ta step over ‘em.”
Claire shuddered. She felt bile threatening, and it took all of her might to keep it down.
They descended the stairs and Claire pulled on the door. She could barely get it open far enough to squeeze through because the oozy, decaying bodies were blocking it. She flashed the light down the hallway, then grabbed Thomas’ arm. There were a half-dozen undeads roaming, bumping into each other at the other end of the hall.
“We need to go to the end.” Her voice was dripping with fear.
“I’ll get ‘em.” Thomas handed Claire the axe, pulling the gun out of the back of his pants. He pushed past Claire, making it about halfway down the hall before shooting all of them, not missing a single time. He fist bumped the air. Claire shined the flashlight on them to make sure they were true dead.
“Nice work!” she shouted.
When they got to Nick’s door, Claire turned the knob, hoping it was unlocked. No such luck. “Shit. Now what?”
Thomas tucked his gun in the back of his pants, and grabbed the axe from her.
“Stan’ back.” He raised the axe, and came down hard on the door handle. The metal on metal sound was deafening in the heavy silence that was around them. He hit the doorjamb a few times and the door popped open. Quickly, he pulled out his gun, and Claire pointed the flashlight around the apartment.
“Good god. What a slob. We’ll have to talk about this.” They stepped inside, Thomas looking around at the mess.
“He left it like this?”
“Looks like it. There’s one thing I want to find. Be on the lookout for an acoustic guitar.” They slowly worked their way through the tiny, chaotic apartment. “Looks like a tornado ripped through here.”
“There!” Thomas pointed over by the bar stool.
“Yes! That’s it!” Claire said enthusiasm. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Nick’s face when she showed up with his guitar.
“Is tha’ all?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we can get…” They heard the telltale click of the hammer of a gun behind them. They turned around, and saw a man pointing a gun at them. Claire and Thomas both raised their guns in response.
“I suggest you put that down.” The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place it.
“This is my boyfriend’s, and I’m bringing it back to him.”
The man laughed. “Your boyfriend’s? I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that one over the past few weeks.”
“Listen, asshole,” Thomas growled as best he could. “Do you really think we’d go through a pitch black stairwell, walk down a pitch black hallway, shoot six undeads, bus’ open this particular door just to steal a fuckin’ guitar? Don’ you think if we really were just lootin’, we would have just hit the apartments closest to the fuckin’ entrance?” Claire couldn’t believe her own ears. She was pretty sure that was the most Thomas had said in her presence.