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.I trod cautiously but quickly up the concrete steps, listening for any sounds above.The others in the group remained silent and I just wanted to find the pumping station as quickly as possible so we could get the hell out of this place.Much to my relief, we arrived back at the top of the staircase without any untoward incident.I stopped and leaned on the balustrade, waiting for the others to catch up.Something or somebody banged around in the corridor in front of me.It sounded like a few people bumping across the walkway up ahead.Moans and wails drifted through the air.I leaned back over the balustrade and saw the other three emerging from the darkness.“Come on, you guys, hurry it up.I think we’re going to have some company real soon,” I hissed.Smith mumbled something I didn’t catch but all three of them quickened their pace.We started down the opposite staircase with Smith leading this time.“We need to keep out of sight of those things, otherwise we’re going to be trapped down there,” Johnson said.“Too true,” I muttered, wondering how we were going to get out of the building when and if we got the fuel pumps going.At the foot of the staircase, the area opened out into a corridor with several doors on each side, leading off to God knew where.We stopped and looked up and down the passageway.“Which way now, Smith?” I asked.Smith handed me his M-16, took out the map and unfolded it.He shone the flashlight over the document, deep in thought.“It looks like this whole area is the power source of the whole place.The generators should be located in a room at the end of this passage.” He pointed further down the corridor.Smith took back his rifle and shone the flashlight down the corridor.The concrete ground was painted gray and the block walls were whitewashed.A few notice boards, with health and safety flyers pinned to them, hung on the walls between the doors.We moved deeper into the passageway, following Smith but I stopped when I heard a clanking sound from behind one of the doors to our right.Johnson bumped into me from behind.“What was that?” I hissed.“I didn’t hear nothing.You’re just getting spooked,” Johnson grumbled.“No, I definitely heard something or somebody behind one of those doors,” I insisted.“I’m not playing games, something made a sound.”Johnson sighed.“There’s nothing down here, man.Look, I’ll show you.” He pushed open the door immediately to our right.A dark shape lurched from the room beyond and wrapped itself around Johnson.That was when all hell broke loose.Chapter Twenty-EightJohnson screamed and more shadowy figures emerged from the doorway.I heard snarls and snorts coming from the looming figures.It didn’t take a genius to work out these figures were zombies, and they were on the attack with the smell of fresh blood in their nostrils.Cordoba shrieked behind me.“What the fuck is going on?” Smith yelled, spinning around and shining the flashlight back in our direction.I caught a glimpse of a set of gnashing teeth and a blood encrusted white face in front of me.I batted the face with the M-16 muzzle and felt the metal hit flesh and bone.Johnson went down and was immediately pounced on by several figures.Somebody fired their weapon and orange muzzle flash briefly lit the corridor.I saw Smith’s flashlight rolling along the floor, illuminating the scuffling feet of either zombies or living humans.I held my M-16 in a horizontal position across my chest to stop a ghoul from biting at my throat.The stench of rotting flesh and old diseased blood attacked my senses as I grappled with the attacking zombie.I wasn’t sure if Smith, Johnson and Cordoba were still alive or still with me in that corridor.I pushed the rifle away from me as hard as I could, sending my assailant back into the darkness.I fell back against a door, which pushed open under my weight.I stumbled through the doorway into pitch darkness.The door swung closed on a spring and I heard the snaffling and snarling of the zombies outside the room.They obviously hadn’t realized I’d exited the corridor otherwise they would have followed me.The sound of Johnson’s screams made me wince.I didn’t know whether to go back out there and help or stay put.The earsplitting sound of more gunfire caused me to drop to the floor.Bullets ripped through the wooden door frame above my head.I crawled further into the room, gripping the rifle tightly as I moved.I hit something hard and metallic head first and felt the shape with my hand.The object was some sort of large piece of machinery, maybe a generator or a control panel.I crawled alongside the bulky, square object and moved behind it so I was hidden from the doorway.I leaned my back against the machinery panel, breathing heavily and feeling myself for bites in the dark.I didn’t know who was dead and who was alive.Johnson was pretty much a goner as far as I was concerned.The last I saw of him, he was on the ground with at least three zombies ripping into him.Cordoba was probably the one doing the firing.She seemed a trigger happy type.I didn’t know about Smith.Maybe he’d been hit by a stray bullet, that’s why he’d dropped the flashlight.The whole situation had rapidly turned to rat shit.I held my breath when I heard the door creak.A rush of cold air indicated somebody had opened the door.I listened intently, breathing slowly through my nose.Hopefully, it was Smith or Cordoba looking for me with a pile of dead zombies in the corridor behind them.I heard a footfall scuffing across the concrete floor, then another, slow and plodding.The noise of the door banging shut echoed through the dark room.I heard a groan, deep and low.Then the footsteps started again, slowly clumping in my direction.I gripped the M-16 and desperately tried to remember how to use it.Did the weapon have a safety catch and if so was it on or off? I couldn’t remember and couldn’t see to check.My mind had turned to a blank mush.The footsteps came closer and I’d have to do something or I’d be zombie food.I hoped there weren’t more of them shuffling around the room in the darkness [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]