Michael Ford - Z

“But this place is huge,” Charlie said. “There’s no way we can cover it in two hours. You know that.”

Clatter nodded. “You may well be right,” he admitted. “But as you yourself said,” he added, looking at Josh, “you are the best Torchers I have.”

Josh pushed down the urge to rush Clatter.

“Of course, if you do not complete the task…” Clatter left the sentence unfinished. They all knew what would happen.

“We’ll become zombies,” Firecracker said. “Yeah, we get it.”

Clatter looked at Firecracker with an expression of amusement. “For someone who has never played the game outside of his bedroom, you’re remarkably confident,” he said.

Firecracker returned the stare. “We’re all good at something,” he said slowly. “I’m sure one day you’ll figure out what your something is.”

Josh enjoyed watching the look on Clatter’s face change. Firecracker had landed a direct hit. You might not be the brightest guy, he thought, but I’m glad you’re on my team.

“Your torches are through that door over there,” Clatter said, his tone decidedly less friendly. “I’m afraid we forgot to pick up communicators for you. You’ll have to stay in contact the old-fashioned way. You must remain here while we return to the control center. Do not enter the room until you hear the command to begin.” He removed a watch from one of his pockets. “Who’s going to be the team captain?”

Scrawl nodded at Josh. “I guess I am,” Josh told Clatter.

Clatter handed him the watch. “When the game begins, this will start to count down the time remaining,” he said. “As usual, there are cameras throughout the building. Your progress will be followed with much anticipation.”

Clatter, Finnegan, and Seamus returned to the elevator. As the doors began to close, Clatter looked at Josh and smiled. “Good luck,” he said. The sound of his laughter followed the elevator as it descended.

“No communicators,” Scrawl said. “Great. He wants us to yell so the z’s hear us.”

“How are we going to find a dozen zombies in this place?” Charlie added. “We could spend an hour on each floor.”

“We’ll have to break up,” said Firecracker. “Each of us take a floor or something.”

“No,” Josh told him as he put the watch on his wrist. “That’s what Clatter wants us to do.” He spoke quietly, knowing that if Clatter had put cameras in, then he had undoubtedly installed microphones as well. “Remember what we agreed on—we stick together. All of us get out of here or none of us do.”

Scrawl nodded. “Josh is right,” he said. “We have to do this as a team.”

“All right,” said Firecracker. “Then what’s our plan?”

“This place is basically a big square,” said Scrawl. “Four corridors around a central open area that used to be a garden. It’s where the patients went to go outside without being able to escape. I say we do a basic sweep pattern. Start at one corner, go around until we come back to it, then go to the next level. The place was designed so that the stairs alternate position. On floors two and four they’re in the southeast corner. On three they’re in the northwest. They did that so that nobody could have a straight shot out of here if they ran. We can use the stairs as a starting position.”

“Are we all okay with that?” Josh asked.

Charlie and Firecracker nodded.

“I know I said we would all stick together,” Josh continued. “But if we all stay on the same floor, maybe it’s okay if we sweep in teams of two. That way we can cover the floor twice as quickly. Whichever team gets to the stairs first waits for the other. We’ve got half an hour for each floor. If the second team doesn’t show up by the time thirty minutes is up, the first team—”

“Goes to the next floor,” Firecracker interrupted him.

“No,” said Josh. “They go find the other team. Remember, we’re all getting out of here. Now, does anyone else have a watch?”

“I do,” Firecracker said.

“Then you go with Scrawl,” Josh told him. “Charlie will come with me. We’ll alternate partners on each floor.”

“Why?” Firecracker asked.

“So we don’t get too comfortable,” Charlie explained. “It keeps us fresh.”

“All right,” said Josh. “Now we wait for the signal.”

It came five minutes later, just as Josh thought he wouldn’t be able to stand the suspense any longer. A screeching sound filled the hallway, followed by Clatter’s voice. It was tinny and faint, and Josh had to strain to hear it.

“Time begins now,” Clatter said simply, and the air went dead.

“Go!” Josh called out, and ran for the doors.

He burst through them into a small room. Two beds were against the wall, their metal frames rusted and the stained mattresses on them bursting open. Four torches lay on one of the beds.

“Could these be any older?” Scrawl asked as he picked one up and slung it over his shoulder.

“Another advantage for the other team,” Josh joked grimly. He turned his flamethrower and checked the fuel level. It was at half of what it should be.

“Do you know how to use that?” Scrawl asked Firecracker, who was looking at his torch.

“I’m not sure,” said Firecracker. “Where do the arrows go again?”

Despite himself, Josh laughed. He’d missed his friend’s careless sense of humor. He suspected Firecracker wouldn’t be joking once he saw his first zombie up close, but for now his attitude helped ease the tension, at least a little bit.

“Ready?” Josh asked.

“Ready,” Charlie said as the other two nodded.

“Let’s go find us some zombies,” said Josh.

The first zombie was waiting for them right outside the door. Because they weren’t expecting one so soon, none of them were prepared for it. Charlie, who went first, walked right into it. The zombie, a huge man in a coverall with HOWARD stitched over the pocket, wrapped his arms around her and immediately went for her neck. Charlie didn’t even have time to scream.

Scrawl, following behind her, butted the zombie in the face with his torch, causing him to fall back a step or two. It was enough for Charlie to slip out of his grasp, and with a fierce yell she kicked the zombie squarely in the stomach. It doubled over, and she delivered a roundhouse kick to its shoulder. A moment later the zombie was in flames as Scrawl torched it.

“Come on!” Charlie shouted, waving Josh and Firecracker out of the room.

They skirted around the zombie. Josh saw Firecracker stop and stare at the man, who was on all fours crawling slowly toward them. Firecracker wore a confused expression as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing was real. For a moment he even started to go back toward the zombie.

“Firecracker!” Josh yelled. “Move!”

Firecracker tore himself away from the site of the flaming zombie, and the four of them moved down the hallway. “It was alive,” Firecracker said as they went. “It had a name. He had a name.”

“You can’t think about it,” Josh told him, although he knew this was impossible. How could they not think about it, especially now that they knew how the zombies had been made? But they had to try. Josh reminded himself that nobody would want to live that way, and that if he and his friends wanted to get out of there, they had to do what they had to do.

“Here’s our starting point,” Scrawl said as they reached the end of the corridor. “Josh, you and Charlie go right. Firecracker and I will go left. We’ll meet at the stairs. Remember, we’ve got eleven to go.”

They split up. Josh and Charlie walked side by side as they began their search. The fourth floor seemed to be nothing but patient rooms. Every door they passed opened into a room very much like the first one, with two beds and one small window covered by thick bars.