Run from the Dead: Book 5: A Zombie Apocalypse, page 13
“This is as well.”
“Then, we listen. They’ll check in, in the next few minutes if they did let them know. If not, then they probably didn’t bother.”
“Ok, let’s keep going up, then. Should we find where they were?” Anna asked.
“Yeah. Let’s split up, though,” Rob suggested.
Anna stood and moved closer to Rob, clutching his muscular arm. “Tess and Liz with me, then.” Then she leant over and kissed him.
Rob looked like the cat who got the cream, his teeth lighting up, even in the darkness. “Ok, babe. We take each floor and check for unlocked doors. Only the ones above, as they clearly came down. We’ll do the left, and you guys do the right. We always meet back in the middle.”
“Cool.” She grinned at him, and the last embers of anger left Tess. They were too damn cute together.
The group moved through the next door and separated out, Anna and Liz holding guns and Tess gripping her bat with a deep-seated need to batter someone. The guns had only a handful of bullets again, but they could well be useful in a tight situation or even simply as a deterrent.
Tess dipped the first door handle she came across, but it didn’t budge. Liz stayed close by her side and watched their backs as Anna did the same on the other side of the corridor.
The next door Tess rattled, but didn’t open. A zombie inside slammed itself at the door repeatedly, growling and scraping at the wood.
“Only one in there,” Tess said as she studied the door. “Do we leave it?”
“Yeah. No point risking it. It’s too dark in here to see much, anyway,” Liz stated.
“Ok.”
They headed down the hallway again as Anna opened a door at her side. “Back me up, guys.”
Anna and Tess entered while Liz loitered in the doorway. Anna moved ahead with her hatchet raised. She angled her body and slid along the wall towards the next doorway, then peered around it as Tess listened for any movement.
Anna stalked into the next room, then the next. All doors within the flat had been left open, and there was nothing of interest.
“The kitchen stinks, as usual.” Anna moved into the small space and opened a few cupboards before sighing. “No point searching this place. I bet they’ve gone over it with a fine-tooth comb.”
“Yeah. And we need to get a move on, anyway.” Tess headed back to the front door, where Liz raised her eyebrows in question.
“Nothing in there.” Tess squeezed past her into the corridor and pulled at the next door handle. That one opened as well. “They can’t have checked this whole place out if there are still locked doors.”
“True,” Liz answered, but didn’t comment further, making Tess frown. The woman was a closed book in so many ways and had been over the years Tess had known her. But had she really ever known Liz? It’s not like she’d ever spent much time in her company.
Tess studied Liz as she checked the next door, finding that locked too. Liz had never got cross at Tess for all the shit she put her through. She never pushed her to speak to her. If anything, she gave her space. Probably far too much, making Tess think she could do whatever the hell she wanted.
Yeah, the woman cheated to get my dad, but she obviously fell in love. As much as Tess felt her mum had been treated badly, Liz had simply fallen in love. It added to the betrayal that they were close friends at one time, but Tess was finding it harder to stay mad at the woman.
Tess sighed and rubbed at her forehead with her free hand. Time to grow up, Tess, and find out what really happened.
Tess moved closer to Liz as Anna checked doors on the other side. “Liz?”
Liz turned to face her. “Yeah?”
Tess opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted when the radio clipped to Liz’s belt squawked to life with a deep voice.
Chapter 26
“Where the fuck are you two?”
Shivers ran over Tess’s flesh as the soldier on the other end of the radio growled through it. Liz lifted her eyes to Tess’s as she unclipped the radio and Anna joined them.
“Tower watch, respond now.”
Liz shifted on her feet and peered over Tess’s shoulder. Tess followed her gaze to see Rob and Ollie heading their way. Rob held the other radio and stormed over to their location.
“They’ll be on their way if they aren’t already here. We better get out now.”
Rob led the group to the only set of stairs the building had, then froze, holding his hand out towards the others at the top. Male and female voices drifted up from the ground floor, and Liz sucked in a breath, closing her eyes.
“There’s no way they’re taking me again. I won’t go. I’d rather die than let that happen again.” It was whispered, but Tess heard every word.
Liz opened her eyes to see Tess staring at her, but Rob broke the moment when he indicated they should all move farther along the corridor. He pointed in the direction the ladies had come from, then towards an open room.
Tess, Liz, Anna, and Ollie went inside as Rob followed and clicked the door shut behind them. He turned to face the others, whispering. “I can’t lock it without keys, and if I put something in the way, they’ll know we’re in here.”
“We can hide… maybe?” Anna suggested.
Rob lifted his hands in the air. “Fuck if I know what to do. I couldn’t see or hear how many there were, either. It was too fucking dark.”
“No.” Tess moved closer to the door. “We draw them in.”
“How?” Rob asked in an irritated whisper.
“Me and Anna go into the hallway, as if we’re looking for the other two soldiers… you know, like we were with them.” Tess looked from Rob to Anna and the others. “Then you guys get ready to batter ’em.”
Anna nodded as if she was ok with that suggestion, but Rob’s face was a picture of rage. “No. Not gonna happen.”
“Rob, it’s a plan and the only one we have. We have to do it before they get up here.” Anna pulled her jacket and boots off.
“Why are you taking your boots off?” Ollie asked.
“Then they’ll think we’ve been here a while with them… you know.”
“Oh. Fair enough.”
Tess followed suit and undid the top three buttons of her shirt so her bra was showing. She then pulled out her hair tie to let it fall around her shoulders.
Ollie, Liz, and Rob all stared at the two women as they prepared to head out into the hall. Then Rob grabbed hold of Anna’s arm. “Anna…”
Anna lifted a hand to his cheek. “Don’t worry. This way, we’re not sitting ducks. We’re in control here.”
Tess didn’t look behind her, but she felt Liz’s eyes boring into her. She couldn’t help but wonder if Ollie was worried for her too. Or did he still not give two shits? The man was confusing as hell, so she really didn’t have a clue.
She moved over to the door and listened as Anna caught up to her. Tess felt the urge to grip something in her hands like she would her bat. Walking out there without a weapon was an alien concept, but right now, she would utilise her other assets.
She had grown up a feminist through and through, so even suggesting this felt wrong. But if it saved their arses and got her friends back, then she’d do whatever it took. This was survival at its most primal level, and she was ready for it.
Tess eased the door open a crack, seeing the hall was still empty. They either weren’t on their floor yet or they were down the other end, in the darkness. Then she heard doors being kicked open and rooms being ransacked. They wouldn’t have got out of this place without being found; the fuckers were going through it flat by flat.
Tess looked at Anna, then raised her eyebrows in a silent “Are you ready?” Anna gave a tight nod, so Tess pulled the door back all the way and sauntered out as if she was supposed to be there.
“I wonder where the guys are. They’ve been gone a while,” Tess said light heartedly as Anna followed her out into the hallway.
“Yeah, I know,” Anna said loud enough to be heard down the other end of the building.
“Hey, you there. What are you doing here?” One of the soldiers materialised from the shadows down the hall, weapons raised and speaking too loud for the narrow space.
“Woah… woah. Calm down.” Tess put her hands in the air. “Where are the other two? They said they’d be right back.” She did her best impression of looking around him, as if searching for them.
The soldier pointed his gun in their faces as they stood and waited. Tess wanted to turn and run, but she fought every instinct in her body instead. They needed to remain confident in what they were doing, or they’d be dead on the spot. Or worse.
“You were with those two?” a second soldier ran over as the others continued searching the flats farther along.
“Of course. Why else would we be here?” Anna rolled her eyes and looked bored, sighing at the end of her sentence.
The two soldiers—one, a youngish guy of around twenty-two, and the other a thirty-something disgustington—met each other’s eyes in question. The older one asked, “Did they ever have women here before? Just for themselves?”
The younger one shrugged and looked back at Anna and Tess. The light in the hall was too dark to see the soldiers properly, or how many there were, but Tess could see enough to know what they were thinking.
The older one glanced behind them, then licked his lips as he let his eyes roam over their bodies. The younger one checked behind them again and shuffled from foot to foot, the muzzle of his gun dropping a fraction.
“What flat were you in?” The older guy’s voice had dropped significantly, so only Anna and Tess could hear him.
“This one right here.” Tess pointed to the side of her. “Why?”
“I’m not sure about this, dude.” The younger one checked behind him again. “What if they get mad at us?”
“Don’t be stupid. We’ll say we were breaking them in.”
Bile rose in the back of Tess’s throat, making her want to attack these two bastards where they stood. But that would get them exactly nowhere, so she kept her mouth shut, and the smile plastered on her face.
“You wanna come in, then?” Anna asked, leaning against the door.
That question almost made Tess want to laugh because of the beating these two were about to receive. Their smiles made it even more hilarious.
Anna opened the door and gestured at the two men down the hall. “Come on in and make yourselves comfortable.” Anna smiled seductively at the older one, then gave a much sweeter smile to the other.
When Tess looked into the dim apartment, she could see no sign of the others. She stepped back, giving the men space and mustering a smile of her own through the nausea filling her at the sight of them removing their gun straps from their shoulders and untucking their t-shirts from their trousers.
They walked in slowly, and Anna followed close behind. Tess entered last, closing the door softly behind them. They dropped their guns onto the sofa as Anna brough their attention to her.
“So, how can we help you guys?” she asked sweetly.
The older one glanced at his friend, then smirked as he took a step towards Anna. “Well—”
Rob, Ollie, and Liz darted out from around the corner. The butt of Rob’s gun struck the older one in his face, cracking his nose and spraying blood everywhere as Ollie and Liz attacked the second one. Tess kicked the back of the knee of the younger one. He went crashing to the ground after taking a punch to the face from Ollie. Rob smothered the older one, making sure he didn’t cry out as the younger one took a direct hit to the skull from Liz’s metal rod.
“Are we tying them up?” Ollie asked, his hands held out in front of him.
“Nope.” Liz drew a knife across the throat of the older guy who squirmed under Rob’s hold. “They’re all bad. And we all know that.”
Tess’s mouth dropped open at the chill in Liz’s demeanour, her fear from earlier replaced with hatred and cold blood. She moved over to the unconscious younger one as the others watched on and slit his throat as well.
Blood poured from both bodies, coating the ugly carpeting. Rob casually stepped out of the way of the growing puddle as if it was the most normal thing in the world while Liz bent down and wiped her blade on the back of one man, then straightened her spine, looking at the others as if seeing them for the first time.
Tess clamped her mouth shut and nodded at her. The woman was right. There was no way she’d risk any more of the people she cared for.
They weren’t taking any prisoners.
Chapter 27
Her actions may have been ruthless, but Liz didn’t regret them for a second. She had seen what leaving those bastards alive had done in the past, and she wasn’t taking risks with Tess’s life. Every soldier needed to die, and she was more than happy to provide the knife to do it.
Tess and Anna put their stuff back on, then Rob checked the corridor again. “They’re still down the other end. We should make a run for the stairs.”
“Run for it? They’ve got guns,” Ollie said.
“Nearly all guns so far have been empty or nearly empty,” Rob growled at him. “We just need to go.” He turned and peered through the gap again, then pushed the door back into its frame quietly. “Shit. Too late. They’re heading this way.”
Rob stayed near the door and looked through the peephole. Liz held her metal rod tight in her hands and waited along with the others. There was no point in picking up a gun; there weren’t any bullets. She’d rather use what she had: her metal pole and her knife pushed through her belt.
The sound of a door being broken open reached them. Rob stepped away from the door and gestured for everyone to hide around the corners, then ducked into the first alcove near the door.
Liz moved closer to him, then an idea struck her. Everyone else was out of sight, but she stayed standing in the middle of the long corridor. She was going to wait right there for them.
A few seconds later, the noise of a flat being turned over stopped and their door handle squeaked downwards. Liz watched the shiny handle move, then stop before the door pushed inwards.
She lifted her metal rod and held it out in front of her, ready for them; the weight and touch of the smooth, cool metal was comforting. It would allow them to believe she was in there alone and wanted to fight them.
The door swung open, then several soldiers stood still, staring at her. Can I still call them soldiers? They’re more like traitors.
The front man blinked at her, then entered with a smile widening his mouth. “You think you can fight us with that, little woman?” He passed his gun to the woman behind him, then cricked his neck to the side as he stepped closer.
His eyes were trained only on her as he drew level with the kitchen door to his left, where Rob hid, and a bedroom to his right, where Ollie and Tess hid. Anna was a little farther down in the next bedroom.
He stepped past the first two rooms, not taking his eyes off Liz. The others followed behind him, all grinning and looking back at each other as they filed along the narrow corridor. They moved along the space in a line until the front man had almost reached her.
Liz straightened, letting a smirk cross her lips. She flicked her eyes over the people behind him, counting five in total. But they were penned in like cattle and didn’t have a clue what was about to happen.
The front man cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “Why are you smiling?”
“Because I can.” She gripped the rod tighter. They hadn’t coordinated, but she was sure Rob would jump out any second.
Then he did.
Rob lunged from the small kitchen and carved up the man at the back. His machete plunged into the space between his neck and shoulder, making him cry out and reach for the blade. Rob pulled it straight back out as all the others turned towards the noise.
Tess jumped out next with Ollie right behind her. Her bat struck one of them on top of their head as Ollie’s crowbar stabbed a female soldier in the gut.
Anna lunged at the other female, swinging her machete across her face and making her scream out in pain. Then Liz lifted her metal rod as the nearest man to her turned back to face her. His puzzled expression tightened as his hands roamed his body for a weapon to defend himself. But it was too late. Her rod struck his head, sending him crashing into the nearest wall, then sliding down to the floor, streaking red down the pale wallpaper.
He gripped the doorjamb as if to stand, but Liz was on him a second time, bludgeoning him with the heavy metal. She pulverised his head and face until there was nothing left to see. His facial features were no longer visible under the bloodied mess she’d left him with.
She stood panting over him for a few seconds more, then moved away as she realised everything else inside the room had stopped. When she lifted her eyes, she met every single eye with her chin held high. She hadn’t been this woman two months ago. But events had made her this way, and she would not feel ashamed at the pleasure she felt killing in such a brutal fashion. Liz had killed plenty of the dead, but nothing had made her feel as alive as she felt right now. She needed this.
Tess pushed past the others and strode over to where Liz stood. She dropped her bat to the floor and reached her arms around Liz, pulling her into an embrace. Tess didn’t speak or do anything other than hug her.
Liz lifted her free hand to Tess’s back and let her head drop to her shoulder, allowing herself to be comforted for the first time since losing Nick and Lena. Mary had hugged her back at the tower block, but it wasn’t the same as this. Tess’s care meant so much more than she could ever say out loud.
“Right. We need to go…” Rob started talking, then stopped when banging and shouting entered the flat.
The door was still wide open, but the area beyond was dark. Liz pulled away from Tess, and they all shuffled closer to the door as everything became much louder. Footsteps stormed up the staircase, then growling made Liz’s eyes widen.
“Zombies?”
Rob’s head spun back to the group. “Zombies.”
