S. Davis - 900 Miles

Flooding through the opening like mice trying to escape a storm, scattering down the hallways, each person headed to what they knew to be our only remaining option.

Richards stood by the entrance, waving his hand as we darted by. Worriedly making eye contact with Kyle, nothing was said, but we knew exactly what he needed us to do. We just had to make sure everybody was in the bunkroom, one of only two reliable places that the gas wouldn’t penetrate. The other being the cafeteria, where Richards would be heading off to in just moments.

Sprinting down the long hallway, I winced as the florescent lights above flickered, followed by an earthshaking blast. I couldn’t be sure, but I was guessing they had just broken through the metal blast door leading into the Great Hall itself. They’d only have one final door to bust through before our halls would be filled with the enemy.

Screams of the dead floated down the corridor, slapping into my face like a brick, as I realized we hadn’t gotten them all. Somehow, some of the Zs had managed to escape from the Yard, infiltrating the only safety we thought we had left. Stepping over the body of an African American man with a blade sticking out of his forehead, Kyle and I continued charging further into the depths of Avalon.

Monsters inside, Gordon’s men coming in soon… death was floating around the walls of our home, looking for anybody to tap on the shoulder.

Deanna and Claire knew to be in the bunkroom with the kids, along with nearly half of what was left of Avalon’s inhabitants. The steel doors protecting the place, where most of Avalon’s people normally slept, would be our last line of defense against anything living or dead. Kyle and I knew we needed to get to the bunkroom, where the switch to our final weapon, Project BOHICA, would need to flipped on.

We had the thing rigged so that it would automatically shut all the doors to both of those rooms just moments before the gas was released into the air ducts running through the hallways, which we learned early on were not connected to the bunkroom or the cafeteria, creating a perfect delivery system.

There was screaming from around the corner, then a woman yelling in pain. Her last words were those to God before I could hear her gurgling on what sounded like her own blood. Pulling my hammer up high as we reached the end of the wall, I slid through a puddle of blackish-red gore as we turned the corner.

A stain. It’s all that’s left of us when we’re gone.

Three creatures were hunched over, tearing into the flesh of the woman. All stopped and looked up at us with those savage red eyes. Things seemed to stop for a moment, frozen in time, as drool mixed with bile slipped from their mouths; they looked like a set of starving bulldogs. With the same effect as the sound of a gunshot to start a race, I could see a drop fall, splashing to the concrete. Things were so quiet in that instant, I actually think I heard it hit. Then things sped up fast. The monsters all leapt to their feet in unison and charged toward us.

Dropping my shoulder, I flipped one of them over my back, watching it fall to the ground with a hard thud. Kyle shoved the butt of his rifle through one of their faces while I raised my hammer from my crouched position, bringing it directly through the third monster’s jaw. As it dropped to its knees, I put my foot on its shoulder and yanked, pulling the bottom half of its face clean off.

Finishing up the monster who had flipped over my back, Kyle looked up at me and nodded down the corridor. We were beyond talking. Our primal instincts had taken over. One single objective shared between our two minds. We needed to launch BOHICA, and the switch was sitting in the bunkroom.

Racing past the communication and monitoring room, I noticed blood smeared down the inside of the glass wall that would normally display the dated-looking equipment blinking in the darkness. A crash from within the black depths of the room grabbed my attention as I realized there was a Z in there destroying the place. Someone appeared to have locked it in, helping me understand why no one had seen Gordon coming in from the rear.

We were, for all intents and purposes, blind to the exterior walls from down there.

Calling into the microphone on his shoulder, I heard Kyle try to confirm that the bunkroom was filled. A few gunshots could be heard in the background as Mia’s panicked voice came back, telling him that they had everybody they were going to get, but that they wouldn’t be able to hold back the creatures trying to enter through the entrance much longer.

“We’ll be there in twenty seconds!” One final sprint, the door just fifty yards away. Bodies were piled up, creatures that the men guarding the entrance had dropped as they tried to penetrate the room. Nearly being mistaken for the dead before calling out to the firing squad, we slipped in through the door just as they dropped a few of the Zs at our heels.

“Hold the hallway,” I heard Mia order to a few men, including our sniper God, who held a larger than life rifle. One by one, they fell back into the room, keeping their weapons pointed down the dark tunnel. A few shots rang out as we were joined by a few other final Avalonians from outside. Meanwhile, Kyle darted over toward a metal closet in the back of the room, which contained the BOHICA switch, as I turned to look into the crowd. I needed to find Tyler.

Panic sucker-punched me in the gut as my eyes darted around the room from bunk to bunk. Tyler was nowhere to be seen. Calling out his name, the only response I received was from Mia, who ran up next to me.

“Deanna, Claire, and the kids haven’t shown, John.”

I didn’t respond, looking blankly into the air.

“Before the intercom went out, they signaled to us that they were trapped in their room with some of the creatures outside in the hall.”

Gripping my hammer, I dropped my head then looked to the door.

“Sorry, John. We just couldn’t get to them. Maybe they made it to the cafeteria. They could be fine.”

I wasn’t willing to bet on it.

Glancing at Kyle, who was frantically playing with a bunch of wires by the switch, I sprinted over to him.

“Rodgers must have fucked this thing up too!” he yelled out while twisting two yellow wires together.

“I’ve got to go back after my son!” I said, looking into his beaten-down face.

Pausing for only a second, he slid his grandfather’s watch off his wrist and tossed it to me. “I’ll have this up and running in seven minutes. Get your son and head to the cafeteria.”

He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the weapon light that he’d picked up at the Stripes’tree fortress. “It’s dark out there. This thing may work on the Zs,” he said as he slapped it into my palm with a handshake.

Sliding the watch over my wrist, I looked up, making eye contact with him one last time.

“I want that watch back when this is over,” he said with a half-smile.

Nodding with as much confidence as I could muster, but not saying a word, I turned and sprinted back toward the door to the tunnel. Looking out into the darkness, I had the realization that Gordon’s men were likely moving in through the hatch by now. The place was crawling with Zs, Kyle was about to pull the switch… and I was about to step back into the nightmare to get to my son.

Calling to one of the men in the firing squad to throw me his handgun, I caught the nine mil in my left hand, squeezing the base of my hammer tightly with my right.

“Keep that door open,” I said, staring toward the men guarding it while they were just starting to push the hatch closed.

They glanced to Mia.

“NOW!” I screamed.

Mia yelled, “Well, what are you waiting for!”

Stepping my right foot out the door, I looked back to God who said, “The door stays open. Not one of them will touch you while you’re in my sight.” Nodding, I turned my eyes down the corridor and stepped into the hall as I heard Mia screaming to God and the rest of the firing squad, “Cover him!”