Those Who Remain

Chapter 20

"Ridge? Over." I said frantically into the walkie-talkie, "What's happening? Do you guys need help? Over."

All we received back was static, so Brian and I stared at each other with lost expressions. "What do we do?" Brian asked. 

"One of us needs to go in," I said back slowly.

"Do you have any experience up close with a zombie?" I asked him, and he shook his head. I sighed and said, "I'm going in. Stay with the truck, and if I'm not back out here in five minutes, come inside and try to help out."

Before he could say anything else I turned to the door, looked around, and hopped out of the car, booking it to the front door. I started banging on it hoping to get the attention of the zombie on the inside, but after about ten seconds of waiting, I got nothing.

I slowly opened the door and crept inside into the waiting area, while I pulled my kitchen knife out of the side pocket of my backpack. Nothing was moving or making any sound in the waiting area, so I slowly next to the opening of the hallway and peaked my head around. I could see nothing abnormal in the part of the hall before it curved to the right.

I slowly made my way past the opening to the front desk and looked behind it, only to gag when I say what looked like a human carcass. The odor emitting from it was easily the worst smell I had ever smelt.

Covering my nose, I walked behind the desk to check the back room, and since the door had a window, I was able to look in without making any noise. I saw a zombie through the window, but he seemed to be alone and unaware of any human presence in the building, or so I thought because he turned and started snarling at me.

I jumped, which knocked a picture frame off of the wall, so I dove under the front desk just in case a zombie came running. Thank god I did, because I heard that familiar screech coming from the hall and the thunder of feet as it came running. I could only pray that that was the zombie giving Ridge and Lila trouble so they could get out.

The zombie's footsteps came to a screeching halt as it came into the lobby, and I held my breath, hoping that it wouldn't wander behind the front desk. Of course, that was wishful thinking because the zombie in the back room started pounding on the door since it was not able to open it with the handle. My only worry was that the zombie in here would push the door open considering it was a push on this side.

I saw the skinny legs of the zombie, probably a female, walk in front of me, past the carcase, and towards the door. Since I didn't hear any other footsteps, I assumed that this was the only zombie that wandered over here. As quietly as possible, I crept out from under the desk and behind the zombie ready to attack it with my knife. As quickly as I could, I grabbed the zombie by its arm and shoved it into the wall plunging the knife right into its eye. It immediately fell to the ground lifeless, and I backed away turning around to go down the hall it came from.

I let out a quiet sigh as I saw and heard nothing else coming for me. As I made my way down the hall, I heard the faint sound of footsteps around the corner, so I slowly looked around the corner to see Ridge and Lila creeping along the hall towards me. They each had a box in one arm and a weapon in the other. However, Ridge's arm looked to be bleeding substantially, and it made a tiny gasp escape my mouth. This alarmed them because Lila immediately pointed her gun in my direction.

"Whoa," I whispered as I put my hands up, "It's me!"

"Oh my god," Lila whispered, lowering her gun, "What are you doing in here? We didn't radio for you."

"We heard the screech," I said coming over to take the box from Ridge, "and when we radioed you guys, we got no answer."

"Sorry," Lila said back as we all crept towards the lobby, "I turned down the volume so nothing could hear it but us. I guess I put it too low."