Zombies Apocalypse

Chapter 8

For that to happen, he knew, he would have to make sure to keep the vast majority following after him. He began stomping and shouting all the more, jumping up and waving his hands as high in the air as he could get them to ensure their due attention. The creatures were getting close, very close, and he began to step backwards as he continued his display. He knew if he lost too many going down this hallway, then his efforts were pointless. However, he also knew that if he tripped and fell while walking backwards it would be the end of him.

He tried not to think about that part.

The hallway was eerily dark. The cloudy sky brought on the fear of it being late evening, and what little ambient light there was did not reach all the way down the hallway. Normally, this issue was dealt with by a number of small lights along the hallway walls, but with the power out those lights were gone, leaving part of the path in almost complete darkness. It was almost the perfect mood for a horror film, Gabriel thought to himself. All it needed was for one of the wall lights to be flashing occasionally.

The journey was excruciatingly slow, though every now and then he had to speed up a little. A few times he took several steps backwards instead of just one. Once, after a creature almost grabbed him, he turned and ran several steps before returning to the task of keeping all attention focused on him. Despite this, it seemed to Gabriel that there was no progress being made at all. He began to think he’d be trapped down that long, dark hallway for the rest of eternity, forever trying to stay just out of reach of hundreds of creatures trying to devour him.

Suddenly he was back in the daylight. He had reached the other side. He turned his head quickly, realizing that he had to be close to the next set of stairs. Sure enough, the metal railway was right there, so close that if he had taken so much as one more step he would have run into it, hard, and probably have knocked himself flat.

Ducking, he came around the side of it and hurried off a few steps, trying to again put some distance between himself and his rabid followers while he pondered his next move. He had never really been over to this part of the complex much, and had completely forgotten what was over here. What he saw surprised him, but also put a smile on his lips.

Before him, the path split off to his left and to his right. On both side it came to an end at another hallway leading through another of the apartment buildings, but before him stretched a clearing. On the far side of this clearing was the outside gate of the apartment, and he could see the empty streets beyond. But, before that, in the center of the clearing, was the second pool.

He had completely forgotten that the complex even had a second pool. Even if he had remembered, he probably wouldn’t have realized it was in this part of the complex. Yet this was the perfect opportunity, the very saving grace he needed at just that moment. The pool was surrounded, on all four sides, by a metal gate just like the one around the first pool. This one wasn’t connected to any buildings, and only had the one entrance, but that didn’t really matter. He was going to use basically the same trick twice in one day. And considering how well it had worked the first time, he had little doubt that he could get them all attacking the gate and then loose them.

The entrance to the pool area was down the left path, so that’s the way he headed. He didn’t bother trying to wave or shout and grab attention as he went, he just hurried off, assured that enough of them were following at this point. He reached the gate and tried to open it, and the smile quickly fell from his face.

A thick, heavy looking padlock hung, locked, around the opening lever for the gate. There was no way he was getting this door open. He looked around for another solution, but realized with a sinking feeling that it was either keep running or climb the gate. Taking a glance back the way he’d come, he realized that enough of the creatures had followed him that this was still his best solution. Just my luck, thought Gabriel , a disgusted grimace on his face. With a deep sigh, he climbed up onto the first rung.

He reached up and grabbed the upper rung, and began trying to pull. Almost immediately he could feel exhaustion entering his limbs, and he inwardly cursed the amount of sodas, fast food, and video games he had consumed in the past couple of years. If only he had taken a P.E. class instead of computer science, this might not be so hard. His face was beat red, and the strain was almost unbearable. His feet kicked about, fighting for any kind of foothold to help push him up, but there was nothing - just the one rung at the bottom of the fence and the second rung at the top. Still, he could feel himself slowly moving upwards, his arms shaking wildly as he did, but not giving out. With immense effort, he managed to maneuver himself into a position where he could raise his right knee up and onto the upper rung. This gave him slightly better leverage, and with a look of great determination he pulled himself the rest of the way up. Once he was able to set his other foot down on the top rung, he knew he had made it.

With a triumphant yelp, he leaped down to the ground on the far side of the fence. He hit hard and rolled, coming to a stop on his back. His chest was heaving, and his eyes couldn’t focus. The world seemed to be dancing a tango around him, moving up and down, this way and that, much too fast for him to make heads or tails of anything. The dirt was soft, maybe even a little moist. Gabriel felt like he could lie on that patch of grass forever.

Something patted woodenly at his shoulder, bringing the young man out of his stupor. He sat up with a jolt, remembering where he was and what he was doing. Looking behind him, he saw that one of the creatures had fallen, but its arm reached between posts in the gate and was attempting to grab at him, had nearly grabbed him. Several of its compatriots were already pressing themselves against the gate as well, trying desperately to reach him, to feed on him. But they couldn’t. Metal bars left him perfectly safe. He smiled, pleased with himself.

A loud crash, followed by a horrible screech, split the air.

Gabriel covered his ears, horrified by the sound. It didn’t seem to be coming from the creatures, but he couldn’t tell where it had originated. It did, however, have the unfortunate side effect of pulling the attention of some of the things, and they began turning back in the direction of the parking lot. He knew he had to do something, and looked around for an answer. There was only one.

With yet another sigh of annoyance, Gabriel climbed up onto a table. Turning to face the monsters, he resumed his jumping up and down, waving his arms as high in the air as he could get them and shouting. “Hey, you stupid dead guys!” he called. “Don’t you see me? I’m alive. Eat me! Come on!”

It was maybe not the best solution, but it did seem to get the creatures to turn back around. At least, most of them turned, which was going to have to be enough. Gabriel climbed down from the table, then hoisted it off the ground and began carrying it across to the other side of the pool area. Every few feet he stopped, putting the table down and taking a quick breather. This was more exercise than he had gone through in years. He was quickly remembering why he hadn’t taken one of those P.E. classes. FeGabriel ng this tired sucked. A lot.

With a great big grunt of determination, Gabriel lifted the table and carried it the last few feet to the fence. Carrying it had been hard work, but not nearly as much work as climbing the fence had been. Now, he had a boost. He glanced around, taking stock of his enemies. Most of them were still at the gate entrance. A few had started around the side of the fence, but it didn’t exactly seem as though they were following him. In fact, considering that there were others that just seemed to be wandering about aimlessly, he figured those few that were a little bit closer probably had no clue what they were doing, and wouldn’t notice him being on their side of the fence.

FeGabriel ng safe enough, he climbed the table, and then up onto the top rung of the fence. Taking one last look around to make sure none of the creatures were anywhere particularly close, he jumped.

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

From his position in what was now the lead car, Mac watched the events unfolding. He could hardly bGabriel even his aviator sunglasses-covered eyes. Reaching up, he pulled off his red and white trucker cap and scratched his head through his shaggy, brown hair.

“The sonuvabitch is actually pulling it off.”

Jake had moved up from the back seat, and was now clasping the back of the passenger seat, surprise every bit as evident on her face. “They’re actually going after him,” she commented.

Sure enough, almost all of the creatures from the parking lot were quickly disappearing down the hallway they’d seen Gabriel enter just moments before. A few stragglers stayed behind, but a few stragglers they could deal with.

“It looks like we’re clear to go.”