The first few were shot in the knees to slow the others down, but that just clogged the center and forced them up the winding staircases riding both walls over to Samuel, Chambers, and Marcus. They used their ammunition sparingly, only shooting one and then kicking it back on top of the rest behind it trying to climb the stairs. The mess in the middle let out and up the main staircase. Marcus looked back and forth at Samuel and Chambers nervously. He was the only one without a gun. and so he took a deep breath and stepped forward. Marcus felt the resistance of Samuel grabbing his shoulder and could have cried.
"There's no stopping them. Fall back...C'mon....let's get out of here."
They started
retreating back, all three, unharmed, Samuel, Chambers, and Marcus, but the
zombies were following closely. Alice hurried down the stairway and out the
fire exit with Quinn right behind her. Outside the fire exit was the alleyway. Rebecca and Atticus were out
in the adjacent street firing back towards the inn’s main entrance. Everyone
else staggered outside in an all out sprint.
Quinn left her
pack behind, barely getting her glasses on to catch up with Alice. Tyrell and Jill on the other hand stopped to fix each other up and get their clothes
back into their bags when Samuel, Marcus, and Chambers came rushing in to get them
Everyone shuffled out of the inn's fire exit. In the madness,
Chambers knocked into Tyrell and Jill, landing all three of them on the ground.
The zombies poured out of the stairwell right on top of them. Samuel grabbed
Tyrell as Marcus grabbed Chambers; both he and Tyrell
went for Jill, but it was too late.
The zombies had her leg pinned down and now everybody was caught in a game of tug of war.
The zombies had her leg pinned down and now everybody was caught in a game of tug of war.
Samuel pulled Tyrell, who pulled Jill along with Chambers. The rabid undead got stuck in the doorway behind them as they struggled. They crawled out to Jill and bit into her leg and side. Jill watched as everyone else ran away, too scared to face the door and what they were running away from. By now the zombies were too close.
The pain was insurmountable, and so she just blocked it out, it was warm, numb, and wet. But the horror was real. People with feral eyes, and torn up faces eating her alive all the while Tyrell writhing like a madman in Samuel’s arms. Chambers forced himself to let go of Jill and dive at Tyrell before the zombies broke free from the door, helping Samuel get them out of the alleyway safely. Samuel, Tyrell, and Chambers left Jill behind and caught up with the others.
Tyrell punched and shook his way free of Samuel and Chambers. With the boardwalk
cleared, it took the added force of both Atticus and Marcus to get Tyrell to
calm down and give up going back.
“SHE’S DEAD,
MAN!” Chambers kept yelling as they dragged him through the sand.
“We have to go,
Ty” Samuel insisted.
“I can’t leave
her,” Tyrell cried as he clutched his own head in agony, and let them drag him
away.
They were on the
beach now; Alice was showing them the zombies stuck in their own quicksand, as
they loosely navigated around them.
“I don’t see a
boat anywhere…”
Everywhere they
looked down the beach there were no signs of boats or docks, just lifeguard
benches and dunes. Now the day would get them, with all the options and chances
failing, the zombie horde stormed over the boardwalk and onto the beach.
“We need to choose now!” Atticus yelled.
“We need to choose now!” Atticus yelled.
Nobody had ever
been to this place before. The only reason they came here was because of a hunch. A hunch which turned out to be like every place else, desolate. Back when Corey and Jill were still alive.
That’s when Samuel realized; splitting up often ends in death, but is necessary
to their survival and the greater good. So Samuel split the group in half:
Samuel, Rebecca, Atticus, and Tyrell, and then Marcus, Alice, Chambers, and
Quinn. One group went up the beach and one group went down.
Samuel fell back and let Atticus
lead their group in search for a boat. He needed to make sure Tyrell was
alright, along with Rebecca who was back in doctor mode, making sure Tyrell
wasn’t scraped or bit. “He appears to be clean.” She told Samuel, “But I don’t
think he is okay…emotionally…”
“Who would be?”
Samuel logically deducted. It is normal to be shocked or devastated when you
lose a loved one. If any two people could relate, it was Samuel and Rebecca.
“In time... he will get better."
“In time... he will get better."
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