Life After Z

Chapter 41 - Lucas

We were all gathered around the stairs that led down to the first level. The bottom of the steps looked like a war zone and Ivy explained that she had mixed together some volatile chemicals in a makeshift bomb to take out the first ten or so steps. We tried to be as quiet as possible but as always, the Zs seemed to just know that we were near and were gathering near the decimation of the stairs.

The lore about zombies had gotten a lot of it wrong. For one thing, they didn't moan. The people that whatever made Zs reanimate were dead and therefore did not breathe. No breath meant no air passing through vocal cords thus they made no sounds other than the clumsy shuffle of their feet or the banging when they ran right into walls.

The lore also got the whole, zombies will die if you shoot them in the head, thing wrong too. Headshots definitely slowed them down and seemed to shock the parasite living within the desiccated flesh but after an hour or so, even Zs with a bullet in the head would rise and attack. This meant that we could down all of the Zs on the first floor, go and get what we needed from the security office and in a little while, they would all rise again and maintain Ivy's camouflage strategy.

Our biggest problem was that the top of the stairs provided a horrible vantage point of the first floor. Coop was in no condition to fight Zs so he was going to stay on the stairs with a rifle and pick off the ones that he could. Coop was an amazing shot so we would be in good shape at first. It was when we ventured out of his line of sight that I was worried about.

Everett, Ivy, and I were loaded for bear with guns, knives, and axes. To my dismay, Jen was staying with Sebbie in the greenhouse but I didn't see a better option. If I insisted on staying with my son I would be putting Ivy and Everett in even more danger. Logically I knew that Sebbie was safe here, but after he almost died the last time I left him with Jen to say I was anxious would be an understatement.

"Alright, let's go over it one more time. I will cover your entry and exit from the stairs. Once you climb down the rope, stay in a tight formation. Everett will take the lead with Ivy and Lucas staying tight to his back on the left and right. No going off on your own. Keep your eyes on a swivel and don't be afraid to use ammo. It is more important to come back safely than get the camera feeds up, so don't do anything stupid or heroic. Remember, slow is steady. Steady is fast," Coop said, ending with the saying that Jed always said before we went out on a run.

I glanced over at Ivy to see that she looked focused and completely badass with an ax strapped to her back and dual handguns in shoulder holsters. She hadn't even batted an eye when Coop came up with this plan. She had originally assumed Jen would come with us and tried to give her a machete and a Glock. The look on Jen's face had been priceless before she stammered out the excuse of watching Sebbie. But I knew the truth. Jen wouldn't willingly go into a floor invested with Zs if her life depended on it. She would hide behind us, avoiding doing anything remotely selfless, and would run the second that things got the tiniest bit hard.

"Alright. You guys have this. Yell if you get into trouble. I will come after you," Coop promised but I knew that if we got to the point where we needed Coop to come riding in to the rescue then we weren't coming back with everyone. I have been on hundreds of runs in the last eighteen months. I knew what I was doing and I trusted both Everett and Coop to have my back. But even knowing that this time felt different. The stakes felt higher. The mission felt more dangerous.

Before I could voice my desire for us to find another way to set up security cameras, Everett signaled Coop and he started shooting the Zs that had gathered at the foot of the ruined stairs. He took out a half dozen before Everett slid down the rope that we tied to the banister earlier. Ivy quickly followed and then it was my turn. I took a deep breath, wiped my sweating palms on my jeans, and then slowly followed them to the lower level.

Even before my feet hit the ground, I heard the bark of a gun discharging and knew that either Everett or Ivy was taking out Zs that Coop couldn't see from his vantage point. Fear that one or both of them needed me while I got over my nerves rushed through me and I jumped into the fray as soon as I reached the bottom of the rope. Ivy had told us that she estimated that there were about twenty Zs on this level but I was having trouble counting to keep track. All I knew was that there was a pack of pale flesh marred with deathly black veins was descending upon us.

Ivy and Everett were both standing steady with guns drawn, efficiently taking out the Zs one at a time. Just as Coop had directed me to earlier, I turned my back on them and searched the opposite direction for any Zs that tried to sneak up on us. Sure enough, there was a couple making their way out of rooms to the left of the stairs. My first shot was low, clipping the Z in the chest and doing nothing to slow his motion. I aimed again and squeezed the trigger on an exhale just as Coop had taught me more than a year ago. This time I found my target.

I downed the second Z and kept my eyes forward even when I itched to look over my shoulder to see how Ivy and Everett were doing. The gunfire slowed to a stop and several seconds passed before Everett declared it was time to move. I halfway turned so that I could side-step with them while still watching our backs. Together we moved as a unit through the main area of the gym with exercise machines and free weights.

We got to the far end of the large open room without any trouble, and I guessed that all of the Zs trapped within this space had come to the stairs when the gunfire started. However, between us and the hallway that Ivy said we had to go down was a door and the mindless banging from the other side signaled there were Zs. A significant number of them.

"I didn't know this door would be closed," Ivy said, a little bit of defensive fear sneaking into her voice.

"It's okay. We know that you haven't been down on this level," I reassured her before returning my gaze to the big open room, making sure that no Zs came up while our backs were turned. "Everett, how do you want to play this?"

"You two back up. Get some room so that we have space to maneuver and time to take them out. I will pull the door open and retreat. Together we will down the Zs and then move forward. If they start to overwhelm us, retreat to the stairs and Cooper will provide cover."

"Don't play the hero. There has to be another way to get that door open," I hissed, my heartbeat jumping up at the thought of him opening up that door alone. "Maybe there is another way around."

"There is an exterior door. An emergency exit that is locked from the inside. A big steel door that I didn't even bother trying to reinforce because it seemed fairly impossible to break into," Ivy said, her eyes never leaving the barrier between us and where we needed to go.

"What about one of those grenades that we took from those men? We can crack the door open and throw one inside," I tried, my mind racing for alternate possibilities.

Everett looked like he was giving my idea thought but Ivy was quick to shut this one down too. "This is directly below the greenhouse. We would take out our food source if we did that."

We didn't say anything for a long minute and the inevitability of what we were going to do sank into my bones. "Okay. Let's fucking do this. We are wasting time. Back up. A good twenty feet. Once I open the door I will dive to the left, so don't fucking shoot me," Everett declared before cupping Ivy's head in his hand and nearly devouring her in an intense kiss.

Great, now Everett is going to do something especially stupid because he believed he had something to prove to Ivy.