A World Apart

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Stella

My feet don't move fast enough.

Before I've even begun twisting back towards the hall, the oldest looking of the infected has already reached me. I swing the shotgun out before its hands manage to get a grip. The barrel slams against the side of its face, hard enough to dislodge its footing and have it go staggering off to the side. It crashes against the cabinet filled with plates and falls to the ground in a waterfall of shattered glass and china. I sprint out of the room as the other two take its place.

Back in the hallway I have three options for where I can run and no time to contemplate any of them. My eyes land on the stairs first, so I grab hold of the banister and swing myself up the steps. I've almost cleared half of them when the shotgun catches in the railing and is pulled from my grasp. I hesitate for half a second, long enough to see it go clattering down to the first floor and become irretrievable, before I turn back to running.

When I reach the top of the stairs I pause again, this time to determine how much of a head-start I've managed to secure. It turns out to be very little. Unlike the infected at the museum, these two have no trouble maneuvering up the steps. In fact the one in the lead even looks like it's taking them two at a time. They're already halfway up when I rip a photo from the wall and hurl the frame down at them. It clips one in the shoulder but does nothing to slow its ascent.

The hallway here is narrower than the one downstairs. I glance down the opposing ends and take off down the left. I'm running so fast I almost don't notice the little marble dangling overhead. It's attached to a cord hanging down from the ceiling. It must lead to an attic. I think for a moment of pulling it down and scrambling up to safety, but I doubt I'll be able to climb the ladder and hoist it back up in time. The infected are practically snapping at my heels as it is.

So I disregard the attic for now and dive instead into the first room I come across. I barely manage to slam the door shut before I feel the wood already pressing back against me. It rattles violently on its hinges as they start to attack. I've thrown myself against it to stop the door from swinging open and I notice the small deadbolt above the handle. I'm not sure if it'll make a difference, but I slide it into place as soon as I get a chance.

The door shudders with every strike, but slightly less than before it was locked. Still, I keep my weight against it, too terrified it'll come crashing down the second I step away. I can't stay like this forever though. I've made a mistake coming upstairs. Now I've just gone and trapped myself. I should have run outside, into the forest, and found a sharp stick like I told Gale to do.

A quick scan of my surroundings turns up the bare essentials needed for a bedroom. A single mattress is tucked into a corner beneath a window, a chest of drawers sits across from it and there are two doors on either wall. You can tell one opens into a closet, but I'm not sure where the other leads. At a glance there's nothing I can see to use as a weapon. I'll need to rummage through the closet, or search the other room to find something.

The door continues to bounce wildly beneath my hands though. I look down again at the thin deadbolt. I'm not sure if such a feeble restraint will be enough to hold them back, but I don't see many other options for myself. It's a lot of trust to put in such an old looking lock, but I start peeling myself away from the door, shifting until it's just my shoulder against it. Then slowly, so slowly, I move further away until only my hand is left on the wood. One step back and just my fingertips remain.

They're still trembling against the door when a massive crack splits down its middle. The hinges shriek as they're torn out of their frame and the whole thing comes crashing down in a rain of splinters. The infected behind it must not have anticipated this victory, because they fall to the ground along with the broken door. A second earlier and I would have been on the floor with them, but I've just managed to jump away from it all.