Killing Corpses (zombie novel)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Old floorboards, dusty with lack of sweeping groaned underneath our footsteps, each step agonisingly loud. We had just made our way into a large office place, with overturned office desks and smashed glass everywhere. I went first.

I sneaked into a larger, open plan sort of room, were there was bloodshed all over the floor, mixed with the scent of decay. I unsheathed Senshi, feeling uneasy. Where was that smell coming from?

I walked around the room, surveying it as Liam, then Matt followed. I was trying to locate the site of the smell, but I couldn't.

"Split up." I mouthed silently, in case there happened to be any Reapers around. They both nodded and fell away from me. I carried on walking forward, Senshi poised, eyes searching. Matt and Liam were still in the destroyed open plan area, so I continued myself down a hallway.

It smelled more and more disgusting the further I walked, and so I concluded this must be where the Reapers were located. As I got to the end of the hall, I heard shuffling from inside the room to my right. It sounded like people, but I didn't know whether they were dead or not yet. I used the trick Alex had taught me to discover this, and lightly knocked on the door. Suddenly, the shuffling turned into a quicker pace towards the door, groaning and moaning emitting from the room. It sounded like there were two. I sighed. They were Reapers.

I braced myself and took a deep breath, not even bothering to call on Matt or Liam. I could take on two by myself. I placed my hand on the door handle, and as soon as I opened the door, they came spilling out, as did the foul smell. There were more than two. There were four.

"Shit!" I swore, backing up. "Matt, Liam!" I yelled, launching Senshi's blade into the soft skull of a decayed woman, dressed in tattered work clothes. "A little help here!"

The woman fell at my feet, black blood oozing from the wound I had inflicted on her. She lay twitching slightly, then fell still, soaking the outside of my hiking boots red. I kicked her body away in disgust, watching even more blood pour out. Disgusting.

The three left were two women and a man. They looked as if they had been rotting in that room since the beginning, pieces of flesh hanging off at precarious angles, exposing green and pale tissue underneath the surface. Their infected eyes were bloodshot and glaring, staring hungrily as their limp and swollen limbs tried to work their way towards us. It was terrifying, but also pretty sad.

Matt and Liam arrived behind me. I swung Senshi at the man, but missed, scathing his arm. He was the closest, and happened to have the same build as Jacob. He threw his head back and screeched loudly, furious. Matt lifted his gun and fired three bullets into his head, while Liam took care of one of the other women with his katana. When they were done with them, I raced over the corpses and swung lethally at the last woman, who seemed dazed. Her eyes bore into mine for the split second before my blade made contact with her neck, stabbing her. She fell limply, her once blonde hair now stained crimson. I panted heavily, blowing hair out of my face. "Thanks," I breathed.

"No problem." Matt smirked. Liam nodded.

"Let's get out of here," He said, swinging his katana back into its sheath. "Matt had to fire shots, if there's anything else around here it'll be attracted to this spot like a magnet."

"Good point," I agreed. "Let's go."

We jogged out of the building to see ten or eleven Reapers heading our way from various buildings. There would be more to come.

"C'mon," Liam urged, jogging into the shadows. "This way."

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Liam got us to the top of a building where we could survey the city in safety, Matt watching the entrance we had arrived in. The building was clear of Reapers, and we had even found a couple of roles of masking tape. Masking tape was always useful.

"Okay so if we keep to the shadows, we could make it over to that street just over there, it looks like it leads to a central area, which might have a tourist point." Liam said, mapping it out in his head.

"Yeah but can we take that risk?" I asked. "What if there's no tourist point?"

"Isn't it our best bet?"

"Well what if we roof jump like Seth suggested, since Jacob isn't here anymore? Keep out of sight and in safety."

"That could work. Yeah! Then we can keep a bird's eye view on everything." He grinned.

"Exactly. What do you think Matt?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me!" He smirked, grasping his gun.

I smiled. "Okay then. So-"

Our conversation was interrupted by mine and Liam's walkie-talkies bursting to life, in a series of screams and Reaper moans. I whipped it out of my belt and looked worriedly at the thing. The screams sounded like Seth.

It buzzed in and out of reception, they must have been in a building, because we weren't receiving any great feedback.

"Buzz... Guys help we're stuck in... Buzz... HELP US!"

I'd never heard Callum so scared before, and I immediately heard Abbie spark up. "Oh my god Callum where are you!? I'm on my way. Copsyn do something!" My head lifted as I suddenly noticed a horde of Reapers, swarming around a small building not far from where we were. They must be stuck in there, I thought.

"Callum," I spoke clearly, my voice wavering. "What's going on?"

We waited for some feedback, my breathing replaced by panting. "DAMMIT CALLUM ANSWER!" I screamed.

Liam grabbed my shoulders, telling me to calm down. How could I calm down?

"Buzz... IT'S... Buzz...SETH..." The walkie talkie screeched. "Buzz... SETH...Buzz... I REPEAT, SETH IS BIT, SETH IS BIT! "