“Aren’t they zombies? You called them undeads,” Justin said.
“Well, yes, I guess you could call them zombies. We just…”
Nick interrupted, “I think we should get moving.” Thomas nodded with a grunt.
“Is there anything else you have stored up here that you want to get? We won’t be coming back.” Henry looked at the kids, and they all looked at one another.
“We have some food and juice left.” Rosa went into the storage room for a few moments. They could hear her rummaging around. She struggled with a large backpack, stuffed full of supplies, as she came out of the room.
“Ready?” Henry asked.
“I would like to get Julianna to her mom’s classroom.” Rosa stood strong, much like her mother, even though the backpack seemed to weigh more than she did. Justin grabbed it off of her back and put it on himself.
“Where’s it?” Henry asked, as he rolled his neck and rubbed it. Nick and Thomas noticed his issue, and looked at one another.
“The second floor,” Rosa said with fear.
“Have you cleared that floor?” Henry asked, and Rosa shook her head.
“We just tied the door handles together. All the bodies on the stairs came from up here and on the landings.”
Henry looked at Thomas and Nick, then pulled them aside. The kids stood there, watching them intently, while the three of them whispered back and forth. They walked back over.
“Here’s the plan. We’re all going to go at once. I don’t want to have to backtrack, unless we absolutely have no choice in the matter. I have a few rules, though.” Justin rolled his eyes. “You may not like that but, I can assure you, I’m well equipped for this.”
“What are you? Some sort of comic book freak zombie fighter?” Justin’s words were dripping with sarcasm.
“You would get along well with my fiancée,” Henry added, smiling.
“Whatever, dude. I just want to get the fuck out of here.” Everyone looked at Justin. “What?”
“Anyway…” Henry piped up, “we’ll be going in this order, and we do not break our order unless I instruct otherwise. Nick is second-in-command. I will be first. Rosa will follow me, then Julianna, Shay, Justin, Thomas, and Nick. Are we clear?” Justin and Rosa looked at one another and nodded.
“Yes.” Justin passed out the weapons that they had been using.
“We’ll stick together. We mustn’t separate. Oh, and one more thing…” He grabbed his torn shirt from his pack and tore off sections for each of the kids to put around their mouth and nose. “It doesn’t help much, but it’s better than nothing at all.”
They began their slow descent down the stairs to the second floor. It was exhausting, climbing over the rotting, sludge-oozing corpses. They stopped once for Shay to throw up. Rosa ended up carrying Julianna so she could hide her face from the gore.
They made it to the second floor landing. Rosa set Julianna down and kept her face pressed into her abdomen. Henry pressed his ear up to the doors, then looked at Nick. “Thomas, hop up on my shoulders.” Henry squatted down and lifted Thomas up. Henry grimaced, even though he was a lightweight. His body aches were getting worse.
“Holy shit,” Thomas said quietly, a slight edge of panic in his voice. That was all Henry needed to hear. He lowered him back down.
“Have your guns ready. On three, people. Be ready because they won’t hesitate.” Fear hung heavier than the smell of death in the stairwell. Henry rolled his neck again.
“You okay?” Nick asked with concern.
“I’m fine!” he snapped, but then realized that the venom in his words frightened the kids. “Sorry. Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for asking,” he corrected and turned back around.
Henry took a couple deep breaths. He pulled the chain that held the door shut off of the handles. When he placed his left hand on the handle, he gripped his Sig in his right. A sharp pain ran up his arm. Thinking he must have injured his hand further, he switched his gun to his left.
Henry knew that he had been trained to shoot with his left as well as he did with his right, but he had some doubt of his abilities. It was not the time to let a flicker of self-doubt enter his mind. He closed his eyes briefly, then reopened them. He forced himself into program mode. Instinctive behavior is a survivalist’s best friend, and Henry was in form.
He counted, “One, two…” He paused momentarily, worrying that he was putting these kids in jeopardy. Stop thinking, he thought to himself, pulling himself back into program mode. “Three!” he yelled. Henry whipped open the door and forced his way in. There were several undeads staggering toward him. Julianna and Shay screamed, as he shot all of them. They dropped to the floor in awkward piles of gore and grimy fabrics.