I felt my legs shaking, but I doubt anyone could see them in those huge workout pants of Henry’s. My heart was doing its best to pound through my chest and expose the fear that was running rampant through my veins.
Henry opened the door and crept into the hall. Like good little soldiers, we followed behind him. Sophie made sure the door didn’t make a sound closing. At least she was good for something besides plucking every last one of my nerves.
The first door was immediately on our right. I could hear everyone’s heavy breathing. Henry listened with his ear up to the door. He looked back at Sophie and nodded. He knocked.
The anticipation was killing me. I was second in line so I knew I would probably be the first to shoot. I readied my Sig. Everyone else followed suit. We heard footsteps. Sophie continually scanned around us, watching for undeads or whatever else may creep around the corners. A nervous woman’s voice called from behind the door. “Who is it?”
“It’s Henry from three-oh-five.” He spoke in his American accent, which took me aback for a moment. I was finally used to his British accent so his American accent sounded wrong. It didn’t fit him.
“What do you want?”
“My…uh…friends and I are sweeping the building. We are looking for undeads and checking on survivors.”
“The radio said not to let anyone in.”
“You have nothing to fear if you are not infected.” He signaled for us to lower our weapons.
We heard the deadbolt click. The door cracked open about two inches, and we could see the tired brown eyes of a middle-aged woman.
“Is there anyone infected in your apartment?”
“Why do you want to know?” She was unsure about our vigilante crew.
“We are just looking for undeads, and seeing if anyone needs help with anything.”
“I’m fine.” She slammed the door shut.
“Well, we aren’t off to a good start,” he sighed.
No one answered in the next three apartments. We made it to the last apartment without coming across any undeads.
Henry pressed his ear up to the door. He looked over to Sophie and shook his head. She tapped Nick on the shoulder and leaned into his ear. “Take over rear cover.” She walked up to Henry and he mouthed, Undeads. My breath caught in my throat, and I felt as if I would choke.
He turned to us and quietly said, “Everyone back up a couple steps. I’m going to knock first, just in case. When we get the door open, be ready.” We all nodded.
We stepped back and I swallowed hard, trying to keep my stomach in its proper place. I looked back at Claire. She had a blank expression on her face. Nick nervously half smiled at me.
Henry knocked, and, without pause, something slammed up against the door. We all gasped and jumped back even further. Henry turned around to shush us. He leaned back to the door and then nodded at Sophie.
It looked like they had some sort of system already in place. Henry shot the door handle and Sophie kicked the door open. I was impressed that she could do that in her spiked heels, but then I realized that was why she wore them. They definitely weren’t just for looking good.
Three undeads came stumbling out at us. The smell of rotting bodies was overwhelming, making my stomach protest. It was a man, woman, and small boy…maybe five-years-old. He was the first undead child that I had seen. His eyes were glazed over and putrid gray, like Nick described Jenna’s being. I couldn’t stop looking at him. A deep sadness ran through me.
Then I saw all the gore. All three of them had their throats torn out. The man was missing an arm. The woman had a massive gash across her face so her jaw was exposed. The child looked virtually untouched, if you didn’t count the blackened sludge oozing from the wound in his neck.
The woman lunged at me, and I fell back into Nate and Claire. The three of us tumbled over. I was fiercely trying to crab-crawl backward to get away from the undeads, when I felt someone grab my arms and drag me back. The child was snarling and grabbing at my feet. I had a feeling, if he had gotten me, I would have been his first meal.
Henry and Sophie shot all three of them. The undeads collapsed on the floor, half in the hall and half in the apartment, in a pile of rotting-oozing flesh.
It seemed like an eternity from the time Sophie kicked in the door to when they shot the family. In reality, it was only about ten seconds. Henry was trying to pull the rotting true dead corpses back into the apartment, with ill success. Their bodies were pulling apart as he tugged them back through the door.
I became overwhelmed with emotion, paralyzed with fear. Nick was kneeling over me. “Elaina! Elaina!” He was shaking my shoulders. “Did they bite you?! Elaina!” I couldn’t respond. I just laid there, oblivious to the scurry of activity that surrounded me. I felt bile starting to fill my mouth and began choking. Nick flipped me over and I threw up.