We stepped into the room. It looked like any other condo. Very neat and clean. There were no dead bodies waiting around and it seemed like someone cleaned the place up before they left. Apparently, no one has been here since the outbreak started. We checked each of the rooms for any sign of the dead. There was nothing. Whoever lived here kept a very clean home. I didn’t see anything of interest or anything that looked important.
I made it to the back of the hallway. I found the only door that seemed to be closed in the whole place. Surprisingly it was unlocked. I turned the knob and went inside. Chuck and Stephanie came up behind me as I looked around the small office. Whoever lived here kept a very clean office as well. It was strange how normal this place looked. Everywhere else I’ve been since this whole thing started has shown signs of the outbreak.
Sitting on the middle of the desk was a plain black brief case. It looked just like any other brief case. I didn’t think much of it, but Chuck said that it was definitely what we were looking for. I asked him how he knew, but he just shrugged. He didn’t pick it up though. Neither did BW, who had just entered the room. They looked happy to finally find what they were looking for, but none too eager to take it.
“You’ve got to take it”
Chuck was looking right at me as he said it. I have no idea why.
“Why? Don’t you guys want hold onto it?”
“No, you have to carry it. We can’t.”
I just shrugged it off and picked up the case. “What was so hard about that, guys…”
Just as I said it, an alarm went off. The blaring noise was deafening. Then a voice came on. “Please evacuate the building, it will self destruct in ten minutes.”
“What the hell?”
BW and Chuck looked at us, they didn’t seem too surprised. No wonder they wanted to clear the building so we could make an easy escape. The alarm was ringing in my ears as we took off running down the stairs. I’m not sure how many floors there were, but we were flying down them as fast as we could go.
“T-minus nine minutes until self destruction.”
We were sprinting down the steps two at a time. BW led the way with Stephanie close behind.
“T-minus eight minutes.”
Chuck and I kept a close tail on them. The stairs seemed to go on forever.
“T-minus seven minutes.”
My heart was pounding in my ears. I was drenched in sweat and kept getting the case caught.
“T-minus six minutes.”
We had ten more stories to get down. I couldn’t breathe I was running so fast. Even BW started to get winded.
“T-minus five minutes.”
One more flight to go down. We were going to make it. I jumped down the last few and almost knocked Chuck over. BW kicked the door at the bottom open and we stepped out into the brightly lit lobby. It was crawling with the dead. There must have been fifty of them and they looked hungry.
“T-minus four minutes.”
We didn’t have time for this. I opened fire, blasting off the head of one on my left. Stephanie unleashed a hail of gunfire into a group of about four or five of them. The bullets sliced through their skulls like butter. BW went to work with his revolvers. He took down about ten before he even had to reload. The dead kept on coming even though they were being slaughtered.
“T-minus three minutes.”
Chuck was tearing them to shreds with his two machetes. They didn’t stand a chance. Stephanie took out a few more while I made quick work out of a bus driver and woman with dreadlocks. BW dropped a couple of valet parking attendants.
“T-minus two minutes.”
We took out enough of them so that we could make it to the truck. We all clambered through the driver side door and Stephanie took her post out the roof clearing the way with round after round of well placed lead. BW turned the key. The truck roared to life, but then quickly stalled. He tried again with the same result.
“T-minus one minute.”
We tried again and again to get the truck started. The dead were closing quickly despite Stephanie’s best efforts.
“Forty-five seconds.”
Just as we were about to get out and run for it, the truck started. It roared to life and I couldn’t have been happier.
“Thirty seconds.”
We swung around, running over at least five of the dead, and flew away from the building as quickly as possible.
“Fifteen seconds.”
I looked back as we tore down the street. Any second now the place would blow. The dead were still chasing us, oblivious to what was about to happen. Then there was a huge blast. The building went up in a huge fire ball, and then came down in a massive pile of fire, smoke, and debris. All of the windows in the near by buildings blew out. The blast hit our truck, throwing it around like a toy. We tipped and rolled over. There was glass, metal, and hot ash everywhere. The truck rolled over and slammed a small car. The second impact somehow flipped us upright again. I sat there, stunned, looking at the others. I couldn’t believe what just happened.
My eyes were full of soot and ears were ringing, but I swear I saw BW mouth, “Yippie Kai Yea” and laugh.
He started the truck again as I yelled, “We’ve got to pick up the others.”
Chapter 19
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