I had no idea where I was, but I crashed into something cold and hard in the smoke. My head started to clear and I realized I was lying on the ground. The smoke drifted away some and I wondered why I wasn’t dead. I could see again and looked around. It was Stephanie who grabbed me while I was blind. Everyone was dazed from the blast. We must have all landed in the same area. I helped her to her feet and we got the others up. Surprisingly nobody was dead.
Then I realized that we had crashed into the IDS tower. We were actually here. BW picked Steffanie up and Chuck helped Ben to his feet. Ben looked pretty bad. He could barely walk on his own. Osiris seemed fine despite what we just went through. Jeff was in bad shape. He had hit his head pretty bad and was bleeding. It must have been a concussion because you couldn’t understand a word he was saying. He just kept spouting off gibberish every time we asked him if he was alright.
Osiris pushed past me and said, “This way.”
He hurried to the door and started digging around in his pack. The strange man pulled out the key card from the Carlyle building and swiped in the mechanism next to the door. It slid open easily and he went inside. He leaned out the door and motioned for us to follow. I pulled Jeff along while the others dragged themselves inside.
The main area was empty. There weren’t any dead in sight and it was actually quiet inside. Osiris told us to be quiet and led us through the lobby. We walked past the deserted shops and restaurants. The whole place gave off an eerie vibe. It was so quiet we could hear our footsteps. I could feel the blood pounding in my temples as we made our way through the empty room. The strangest thing was that all of the lights were on and there were no signs of the outbreak anywhere. Unlike the other buildings I’d been in, there was no blood or bodies on the ground. The place seemed like it was just closed for the evening.
We got to the elevator and Ben sat down, “Guys, I can’t go any further. I’ve gotta stay here and rest for awhile.”
“Were almost there buddy. Pretty soon this will all be over.”
Ben answered, “It’s alright man, I’ll just hang here and wait for you guys. I won’t be much help up there anyways. I can stay here and watch the door.”
Steffanie looked up and said, “I think I’ve gotta do the same. I pretty beaten up too.”
Jeff just grinned at me, “I watch tacos too. Fuck post office. Pickle. Mustang in a bucket.”
“What the..? Maybe it’s best you guys stay. Keep him out of trouble.”
Ben laughed, “I’ll call you on the radio if we see anything come in. Then I’ll blast the shit out of it.”
Before we went up, I looked outside. It was just starting to get dark outside. It looked like it was going to rain soon. The city was full of smoke and I could see the blasts in the streets.
Osiris, BW, Chuck, Stephanie, and I said goodbye then got into the elevator. Osiris swiped the card again and the doors shut. We started to rise just as that creepy elevator music started to play. It was almost funny.
Chapter 43
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