CHAPTER ELEVEN

DING! GOES THE DINNER BELL!

 

After days of scaling slowly down the elevator shaft, after pushing the kid to his limits leaving him a physical mess, after getting into near shouting match with Alex over another bottle, they finally made it to the lobby.  Frank was getting agitated.  Sarge wasn’t sure if it was just Frank being Frank or if the confines of the elevator were finally getting to him.  Hell, it was getting to them all.  None of these people asked to be thrown together much less in the middle of an undead apocalypse.  In the past ‘reality, there would be no way this group would stay together for five minutes without somebody dying.  But reality had nothing on the present.  What was going on was way beyond ‘reality’.

They were all ready to exit that box that threatened to become their tomb.  It was clear that if the zombies (if you could call them that seriously) didn’t get us, we would end each other in no time.  So, when the door opened, they were armed and ready to run.  It was a good thing too.  For the serenity of the lobby filled with shambling dead things would be suddenly interrupted, alerting all of those damned, hungry shells to this small group’s arrival.

As was said before….DING went the dinner bell.

As soon as the door was open and the damned ringing finished echoing throughout the lobby, all those lifeless eyes were turned toward the elevator.  

“Damn!   Let’s get moving!!”  Sarge ordered while dragging Donovan along.

Alex stepped out in front of them all and unloaded both six shooters across the lobby, “Die, ya freakin’ monsters!!!”

He only dropped four of them, but nobody wanted to get in his way as he reloaded.

Sarge, however, felt the need for caution, “You’re gonna need those bullets, Alex!
  How about goin' a bit more easy on them?!!”

As the hardened military man stared at Alex, waiting for a reaction, he systematically took out five of the approaching horrors with only five bullets and hardly flinching.

Alex just grinned at Sarge and smirked, “I got plenty of bullets.”

Suddenly, he was blazing glory through another group of them while Sarge saved his butt more than once with precise aim and deadly force.  Frank had exploded into action also.  The sword was out in no time as he kept pace behind Alex taking out a few more that would have most likely killed the two gun maniac.  Sarge couldn’t help but marvel at Frank’s precision.  He took a stance right out of a Japanese Samurai movie and executed every stroke with a calm focus.  Dean had joined in; clearing the way ahead with his expert, long distance execution.  

The monsters were falling like dominoes between the group and the front door.  That was the plan, after all.  Make a beeline to the front door and plow a path across the road and into the police station.  Simple enough, right?

Alex was starting his second reload when three of those lumbering creatures appeared around the corner and caught him off guard.  He found himself in their clutches.  Frank went to help but suddenly had problems of his own.  Dean couldn’t get an open shot and Sarge was in the middle of a reload himself.  Fear took over.  Alex struggled, but knew it was over already.  He began to remember what he was losing.  Remembering what he was fighting to get to in the first place.

“Natalie”
 

BLAM!  There was a flash and all three of the undead arms let go as their body exploded across the lobby.  Alex stopped in his tracts and turned, opening his fear filled eyes.  There, still holding the smoking shotgun in place as if still aiming, was Rachel.

 

“Damn, woman.  You could have taken my head off!”  Alex blasted.

 

Without a care, the Cajun walked past him, “And, if I hadn’t of been there, you wouldn’a had a head, darlin….”

 

Alex was still stunned as Frank just grinned slyly at him.

 

“What the hell are you grinning at, asshat?”  Alex said clearly trying to save face.

 

Frank just shook his head and stepped past him.

 

Dean was too busy shooting  a path to the door as Sarge, still dragging Donovan, stopped and glared at Alex.  

 

“You best be careful, Lexy.”  Sarge stated as he wiped the blood across Alex’s face, “Next time, the woman might not be there to save your ass…”

 

Sarge grinned and continued dragging the boy and shooting as many of the zombies as possible.  Alex was now bringing up the rear and, although he was mad as hell, he realized those walking dead things were coming up from behind.  So, as he unloaded on them, the others kept clearing the path to the door.  

 

The group continued to systematically make their way to the front door.  It seemed simple, easy even.  But, just as it always is, just when you think you have it easy, things go to hell.  For, the small group had apparently made plenty of noise and gathered the attention of a mass of bodies even now pressing against the door.

 

Rachel stopped within a foot of the door and said, “Damn, must be about a hundred or so waitin’ for us!  How the hell do we plow through that?”

 

“We just keep pluggin’ on, sweety!”  Sarge said with a grin as Rachel lost hers.

 

“I can try and clear…” the still weak voice of Donovan was suddenly heard as the youth tried to raise his head.

 

Sarge stopped grinning, “Don’t you even think about it!  Ain’t no way you can control it in the state you’re in!  We got this.”

 

Alex had caught up, “Yeah, we've got this alright.  We’re lunch!”

 

Dean was now kneeling down and checking out some electronic equipment.  He was reading the screen and grimacing,“Maybe.  There are a lot more of them out there than there was when we started down here.  Almost like something is calling them here.  And I don’t think it’s the noise we’re making.”

 

“Why do you say that?”  Sarge asked.

 

Dean looked up, shock on his trained face, “I’m picking up some strange power readings here, Sarge.  Almost…”

 

Sarge was getting impatient, “Almost what?”

 

Dean went on, “Almost like life sign readings.  A LOT of them.”

 

“Uh, guys…”  Alex blurted.

 

Sarge doesn't even look at him, “Can this wait, Alex?”

 

“No, not really…”

Sarge and Dean turn away from the monitor and blurt in unison, “WHAT?”

What they see is the front doors and a crack running down the middle and splintering, fracturing the doors.

“Oh, shit…”  Was all Sarge could muster.

“ARRRRRRRGGGGG!!!!”

“What in the Sam Hill was that?”  Rachel asked looking around wildly.

Sarge reported, “Came from outside…”

“Great, what now?”  Alex began to reload wildly.

“Wha?”  Dean began to speak but was cut off as he could feel the ground vibrate around him, “Uh, Sarge…something big’s coming our way!!”

Sarge began to plot and plan, “We need another exit.”

From behind the voice of Frank could be heard, “Another exit, you want?  Another exit you’ll get!”

All eyes turned as Frank produced a gleaming, silver toaster from his back pack with an evil grin.

“What the hell?!! Where did he get that?”

“Fire in the hole…” Frank announced as he tossed the toaster and the others began to dive for cover.

If the ding of the elevator arriving had been like a dinner bell to these creatures before, the fiery explosion from that toaster bomb blowing a hole in the front window was like a freaking siren.  Sarge could only stare and cuss as the zombie hoard began to pour through the burning hole and the vibrations whatever it was that was coming was gaining momentum.