Zombies Can Go To Hell!

"Why Hasn't He Turned Yet?"

  The security guards unlocked the door to let the injured officer and his partner inside.
  Craig pushed past the crowd and made his way towards the front door. He looked down at the officer, who was holding his wound with his right hand and kneeling down on one knee, bent over, as if he were trying to hide his face. Blood was pouring down his arm, staining his blue uniform. The blood had already darkened around his fingers and he groaned in pain.
  The crowd parted as the other office made his way around to grab a first aid kit from the security guard, who had rushed to get the kit from a room nearby.
  Rhomello moved up beside them and his eyes moved from the officer to Craig. "He's gonna change soon," he muttered.
  Craig looked up and over the crowd. The woman who had come in earlier was still laying on the ground. "I wonder if she was bitten, she should have turned by now," he said, and started to make his way towards her.
  Rhomello followed. Craig was right, she should have changed by now.
  When they approached the woman, she frowned up at them. "Is the officer okay," she asked. Her face twisted a little and they knew she was fighting off some kind of pain.
  "Are you hurt?" Craig asked, taking a knee down beside her. As far as he could tell, he saw no bite marks, just the blood on her fingers, no wounds, no missing flesh.
  She shook her head. "No," she said, "I don't think he had the chance to bite me. I took off running so fast."
  Rhomello bent down so that he was eye level with them and inspected her as well. He saw nothing. "How did you get the blood on your hands," he asked, beyond curious.
  The woman shrugged. She looked puzzled and stared at her hands for a few seconds.
  A loud bang was heard again at the front entrance, then screams from the crowd. Craig and Rhomello stood up quickly and turned to see what was happening. They moved so that they could see the front door. The crowd backed up, scared and some of them horrified. Two more men stood outside, bumping into the glass door, over and over, but clearly focused on the people inside. There was blood around both of their lips. One man had blood all over one side of his face and in his hair. The other man, who looked much younger, a teenager maybe, had blood smeared across one side of his face and down both his arms.
  A child started crying in the crowd and her parents rushed her off somewhere. "What the hell is going on?!" A woman yelled out, panic thick in her voice.
  Rhomello turned to look at the woman they had just spoken to. He looked at Craig and said, "She could have gotten bitten. We never checked to see if she was bitten on her back. If she was attacked from the back, it could be possible that she never knew it. The shock of the attack could have blocked it out."
  Craig nodded. "We'll keep an eye on her," he said, and walked off towards the officers once more.
  "Wrap it tighter," said the injured officer to his partner.
  Craig read the name tag on the uninjured officer. "Did you call for back-up officer Jones," he asked.
  Officer Jones briefly looked up. "They should have been here a while ago," he said, mostly to himself. It was obvious that he was concerned about his fellow officers.
  A woman stepped out from the crowd and asked, "Can I leave through another exit? I parked on the other side of the mall. I want to go home."
  Jones finished what he was doing and stood up. He put his hands on his waist and looked around. He could tell that everyone was scared and confused. He swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped closer to the crowd of people. He glanced at the woman who had just asked him if she could go home, but spoke to everyone. "I don't know what's happening outside," he said, his voice carrying as far as it could project, "but, I don't think anyone should try to leave the building. You all are safer inside than you are outside. I called for assistance and they should be here any minute."
  Voices throughout the entire mall roared to life. Everyone spoke at the same time, drowning out each other in waves of emotion.
  Craig and Rhomello turned around to look at everyone who had gathered and stopped to see what was happening on the first level. People from the upper floors were leaning over the balcony railings and stairs. It was a sight to see. So many worried people trying to see if it was okay to leave. The news of what officer Jones had said made its way up to the other levels in record time. Voices echoed throughout the building, most angry, others worried for their family's safety. 
  Craig shook his head slowly as he watched everyone around him react. "People are still gonna try and leave," he said. He watched as crowds of people started to thin out in some places, other people waited as if they were being obedient citizens.
  Jones took a step back towards his partner and sighed. Images of what he had seen outside, in the streets, played through his mind again. He hoped that none of these people tried to leave. If they ran into those things outside, they might not make it. The way that the man had torn into his partners arm left a scar in his mind, one that he hoped wouldn't haunt him when he closed his eyes at night.
  Screams erupted from the floor above them and the security guards took off running.
  Craig pushed past a couple of people and Rhomello followed once more. They rushed up the escalators and past more people. Something was going on towards the center of the mall. The second level was more crowded than the first floor and they had to maneuver their way to get to the commotion. When they got closer, they both stopped in their tracks. There was a man on the floor, fighting with someone. A bunch of people were trying to get one man off of the other, but they looked hesitant. It took Craig and Rhomello a second to realize that one of the men was a zombie. Someone was being attacked!
  Rhomello looked around and spotted something going on towards the nearest exit and headed there. Craig elbowed someone out of his way and went to help the man on the ground.
  Craig didn't hesitate like the other people, he reached down with his right hand, and with all his upper body strength, he pulled the zombie off of the man.
  The zombie wasted no time though, he turned to look Craig in the face and lunged for his throat, hissing as he opened his mouth wide.
  Everyone around them screamed and stepped back and out of the way.
  Craig shifted his body to the left and the zombie flew past him. The crowd moved out of the way and the zombie hit the railing with a heavy thud. But, it was back on its feet and heading for him again in no time. Craig braced himself, thowing out both his arms in front of him, bat held high, pushing against the weight of the thing. He had to admit, the zombie was strong, but dumb. Gripping his bat with his left hand was easy, because the tip of his bat had nails in it, he had to find a way to hold the top with his right hand without piercing his own skin. Thankfully, the zombie was brain dead and only using the part of the body that seemed to matter, its mouth. He watched as the zombie's chest sank into the nails on his bat, lodging into the skin as if it were trying to become one with it. Blood seeped out of the small wounds and Craig made a face of disgust. He wondered why the zombie hadn't clawed at his face of gripped any other part of him. It just kept pushing into him, hands down at his sides as if they were immovable.
  Rhomello moved along the side of people, keeping closer to the wall, and made his way towards the exit. He looked up at a sign and saw that the area was an entrance from another side of the parking lot. A woman screamed out and his eyes darted to the doorway. She was trying her best to keep the door closed with whatever weight she had on her slim body, and no one was trying to help her! He frowned and dashed off to help. When he got to the door, he leaned on it with his back and pushed with the help of his feet. He remembered how the security guards had locked the doors on the first floor. "There are deadbolts on the bottom," he yelled to her, "I'll get the ones on the top!"
  The woman nodded and then winced.
  Rhomello found that the door was harder to keep closed and turned his head to look outside. Three more zombies were pushing against the door now! He gritted his teeth and pushed back, harder, with all his might. One of the zombie's finger poked through the middle opening of the door and the woman gasped. Her eyes went wide and Rhomello pushed harder. A crunching, cracking, sound was heard and they didn't bother to look as the finger tip broke off and fell to the floor under them. It meant that they had the door fully closed. Rhomello slightly turned his body forward, so that he could see what he was doing, reached up, and shoved the bolts into place, locking the top. The woman slide her body down, still pushing the door, she reached her hand around, found what she was looking for and did the same. They both moved away from the door quickly.
  Rhomello held his bat up in front of him, just in case the glass doors gave out and the zombies burst through. When nothing happened, he glanced at the woman who he had just helped. She wore a T-shirt with the words, Gothic-Queen, written over the front and her hair was up in a high ponytail. She smiled at him briefly and then dashed off into the crowd. A security guard made his way over to him and asked if he was okay. Rhomello nodded and headed back towards Craig.
  If he didn't get the zombie off of him, first, it would be stuck to his bat and he would lose it. Second, his arms were starting to ache a little. He worked out four times a week, was in great shape, but still, holding your arms out in front of you at a distance while something was pushing to get closer to your face, would eventually tire anyone out. Craig looked past the zombie and had an idea. It would be a bit over-the-top, but it would get the zombie off of him and its head would be smashed in, hopefully. He leaned forward, pushed with his legs, and inch by inch, the zombie backed up. Craig was just stronger. When he pushed it back to the railing and it couldn't move anymore, he increased his strength and watched as the zombie's body arched back.
  "Duck!" Rhomello yelled out.
  Craig did as he was told and let go of his bat. He dropped down to the ground.
  With a loud clunk, and the sound of the bat connecting with the zombie's head, it went flying off the side of the railing. Down it went. People screamed out, and then a loud crashing sound was heard.
  Craig and Rhomello looked down below and saw that the zombie had fell through a cellphone stall. An arm hung loosely from the body and so did the head. The bat was no longer stuck to the body and its leg was angled weirdly.
  "My bat," Craig said sadly.
  Rhomello almost laughed. "We'll get you a new one," he said, amazed that his own bat didn't get lodged into the side of the zombie's skull. He glanced at the bat and saw blood, hair, and thicker things dangling from the nails.
  The security guards on the first floor ran up to the scene, looked up at them, then headed for the stairs.
  "Thank you," said a woman.
  They turned towards her and saw that she had tears streaming down her face. Her makeup was smeared and she looked as if she was having a horrible time with what was going on. She held onto a large shopping bag in one hand and she looked at them with sad, but appreciative, eyes.
  "You helped my husband," she said and hugged Craig. "I'm so grateful to you."
  Rhomello smiled. Even though his friend liked to horse around a lot, deep down, he was a very caring person. He had a heart of gold. Four years of friendship, and he knew that Craig was the kind of friend that had your back. Sure, he would body slam you into the grass one minute, but the next, he was helping you up and wiping the dirt from your eyes.
  "You're welcome," Craig said. He pulled away from the woman and blushed. He watched as she walked off, joining her husband at the far end of the hallway.
  "We have to warn the other security guards," Rhomello said and headed off. He turned as he neared the elevator and added, "You should go to the next floor and do the same. Find them and then get yourself another weapon."
  Craig nodded and headed towards the steps.
  When Rhomello found the three security guards on the third floor, they were helping a family who had lost their little boy in all the chaos. He looked at the name tag of one of the guards and tapped him on the shoulder.
  The guard looked over at him and frowned. "Why do you have that?" He eyed Rhomello and the bat in disbelief. He tapped another guard on the back to gain his attention and the other man turned to look at him with the same expression. "What the hell?" Said the other guy.
  "You guys have to secure all the exits. Bolt them all shut," Rhomello said.
  The two guards looked at each other, put their hands on their hips, and gave him a stern look. "What do you think you're doing with that bat," asked the one on the left. "Where are your parents," asked the other.
  Rhomello almost rolled his eyes. They didn't have time for twenty questions. They needed to secure the mall. People were gonna get hurt or worse, die. "We don't have time for this," he said, not bothering to hide how irritated he was. "I'm well over eighteen, I'm trying to help, let's go lock all the exits."
  The guard on the left laughed. He held out his hand and said, "Give me that and go find a safe place to wait this out."
  "We might not be waiting this out," Rhomello spat, looking at his name tag again and adding, "Tom."
  Tom frowned at the way his name was said and reached for the mace on his holster. His partner didn't like it either and went for the grab. Their movements were so quick, Rhomello was stunned that he was on the floor in a matter of seconds, face cold against the white marble tiles. They wrestled the bat out from his grip and held him in place.
  Rhomello rolled his eyes. These idiots, he thought to himself.
  Craig made it up to the fourth floor and found one of the guards standing at the center of the food court. He warned the chunky man of the dangers of not locking the doors and watched as he radioed someone. He then turned and looked over the balcony. The view wasn't that great, but he could see Rhomello talking to two guards. He turned back around to see if the security guard had went to lock the doors, but the man stood there like a statue. "What the heck," he mumbled. Why wasn't he listening? He should have left already!
  "What are they doing to him," asked a woman.
  Craig turned to his left and saw a woman looking off into the distance. He frowned and followed her gaze. The two security guards had Rhomello on the ground! Before he headed off to help his friend, the woman caught his arm. He looked at her as if she were crazy.
  "I'll help you," she said.
  He looked down at her shirt and read the words, Gothic-Queen. He looked into her brown eyes and watched as she let his arm go. She looked to be around his age.
  "Sorry," she said, looking embarrassed.
  He shook his head as if to say, it's okay, but she didn't get the chance to comprehend because someone screamed.
  Craig turned to see a zombie coming up the escalator, its eyes bloody and clothes ripped.
  A few more people screamed and ran in the opposite direction.
  "Come on," yelled the woman with the black and white gothic T-shirt. She ran up to a table and grabbed an empty food tray. Then, she headed for the zombie, who was about to attack a teenage girl who wasn't fast enough to get away. She swung her hands upwards as if she were using a tennis racket and wacked the zombie in the head. It staggered for a few seconds, eyed her for a few seconds, and went for her.
  Even though Craig was amazed by Gothic-Queen's bravery, he dashed forward to help her. He caught the zombie by the arm and tossed him across the floor. He slid a few feet away from them and Craig looked around for something to use as a weapon. The problem with that was, they were in the food court. All he saw were tables and chairs.
  The zombie headed for him.
  Craig had no choice. He picked up a chair and flung it with force. It collided with the zombie's chest and sent him flying back to the ground once more. He had to think quickly. He looked around and had an idea. He picked up another chair and headed for the zombie before it got back up. When he stood over the man, he used his foot to turn him on his back, then, he used the chair's leg to drive it into his eye socket. Wet sounds and bones were heard cracking and the crunch was so loud that it sounded as if major damage was done inside its head. When the zombie lay there, still, no movement at all, Craig stepped back.