06 - Death Trap

The rooftop had a spacious helipad for air transport. But somehow, it was a death trap, too. Getting up there would be a dead end if the monsters found us before we were rescued.

My schoolmates desperately discussed the helicopter that was about to save our lives. We opened the windows and waved our hands as if to get the chopper’s attention. However, it seemed to stay overhead, its blinding light cutting through the glass panes.

I glanced below. The sickos flailed violently with their hands reaching skyward, roaring angrily at the hovering vehicle. Then, a sudden shattering of glass interrupted the whirring and roaring. The windows splintered in the neighboring rooms, and the undead inside began to stagger through the broken glass. A waterfall of bodies overflowed the lawn, joining in the flailing herd.

The rooms were thinning out of monsters.

The noise from the helicopter must have angered them. It must have pulled them away from the rooms.

“Mark!” I called, frantically looking for him in the crowd. But he found me first. “I think it’s time to move upstairs.”

Lenore, Andrew, and Josh gathered with us.

“What do we do?” Lenore asked, grabbing my arm.

“Let’s try upstairs,” Andrew added. “That’s where we’ll meet them.”

Then I said, “We can try breaking the lock up.”

Josh nodded. “We could try.”

“If this goes south, we’re done,” said Mark.

“Stop looking so miserable and let’s just do it!” Andrew grabbed Mark’s shoulder and shook him.

“You said your dad would be here,” Lenore interjected.

Mark looked down at the floor, tapping his foot, then nodded. “Alright. We go for the rooftop.”

“What about the other group?” Isaac chimed in, standing behind me.

“You get them,” Mark answered quickly. Then he turned to us. “Let’s let everybody know.”

Mark yelled across the room, and everyone sprang into action. Gwen looked around, standing still. It took her a few seconds to begin pushing the stacked chairs that surrounded her.

Isaac slowly opened the front row door, peeking through the gap. A second later, he turned to us and nodded. It was time to go. First, he tiptoed into the hallway, followed by his sister. Then Gwen, then the others, one by one.

Just as expected, the hallway was full of sickos. They had all fixed their attention on the swarm unfolding next door. I tiptoed to the east, holding my breath. The trip to the nearest stairwell felt like a mile, as it was at the very corner of the left and center wings. The east did not have any sickos around…

Or, at least not in the hallway.

They were all pressing toward the broken windows.

Seeing the others before me run quietly to the stairs, I broke into a sprint. A scream pierced through the corpse-reeked air. I looked back and saw Lenore falling to the floor. She struggled to move away as a crawling monster with no legs held tightly on her foot.

“Lenore!” I yelled. I couldn’t move as I watched Lenore kick at its chest, screaming and crying for help. I breathed heavily, my feet weighing me down in place.

The sea of monsters tilted their heads toward us. Their chests heaved as they gritted their teeth. Their arms rose from their sides as their limping feet lurched forward.

Air hitched at my throat. My eyes began to shut as my breathing became shallow. My hands began to numb.

“Amari!” Lenore’s scream woke me up. A huge gasp of air dried my throat.

My feet began to move. I grabbed her hand, kicked the riser off of her, and pulled all her weight up. As she regained her footing, I pulled her into a sprint, with the sickos in hot pursuit behind us. I nearly collided with Mark.

“This way!” he pointed to the stairwell heading downstairs.

I glanced at the left wing and found another horde sprinting toward us. The stray ones had already found the stairs to the rooftop, where the others had gone. They were trapping the only way to get out if things did go wrong. I gasped at the thought. Lenore and I sprinted to the stairwell, with Mark staying close behind us. We reached the lower floor, bracing for more sickos. We skidded, taking the other way—the next stairwell leading to the ground.

We were taking the last steps of what seemed like endless stairs. I panted, dreading the answer to my own question. “What about the others?”

“Josh and Andrew?” Lenore asked.

“I don’t know, but I saw Isaac and Nathalie taking the left wing earlier, " Mark said.

“I just saw the horde—” The answer made me stop.

“I know.” Mark looked at me with those sympathetic eyebrows. “We gotta keep moving.”

Lenore and I exchanged glances as if we were thinking of the same thing. Then we found ourselves on the first floor. The hallway was nearly empty, with all the sickos heading for the lawn just to our right. We took the opposite direction, exiting through the now broken glass doors. Careful, I told myself. Don’t wanna get cut by it.

As we made it as far from the building as possible, I looked to the rooftop.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I caught the chopper’s spotlight spinning erratically. Suddenly, the helicopter exploded, sending fiery debris flying in all directions. A loud boom accompanied it, so deep and loud that the earth shook at my feet. Flames engulfed the top of the building, lighting up and ascending in the dark night.

“Duck!” Mark pushed Lenore and me into a squat. A big chunk of metal appeared right in front of my eyes, flying over us.

Lenore shrieked, both hands covering the top of her head.

Well, shoot…

I fell to my bottom. My breath could not keep up with my heart. The group that went to the rooftop—Nathalie, Isaac, and the others. They’re… gone.

“You alright?” Mark asked.

I nodded.

He crawled towards Lenore and smoothed her hair, asking the same question.

Lenore nodded, tears dampening her eyes. She sniffled. “Josh and—and Andrew—” she succumbed to her tears.

Mark pulled her into his chest, nodding at me with lifted eyebrows. He mouthed, “You okay?” while lifting a thumb. Then his gaze shifted past my shoulder. I turned around.

I saw figures lining up, looking like monsters. I sprang to my feet, quickly clapping off the dirt on my hands. They started jogging while looking back at the building. Some of them had their arms draped over their shoulders. Are those really monsters?

“No way. It’s you!” A male voice exclaimed.

As they came closer, their faces caught the light.

“I can’t believe it!” Lenore shouted, running past me. She threw her arms around Andrew and Josh at once.

They laughed together, embracing.

Then there was Nathalie. Her arms were crossed stiffly, shuddering as she sighed. She found me. Her doe eyes gazed at mine. She beamed a smile before looking away.

My heart skipped a beat. I looked to the ground, trying to hold back a smile.

“Where were you?” Mark asked. “I thought we lost you at the explosion.”

“We went to get ‘em,” Isaac answered, gesturing to the others from the laboratory room.

I recognized the dark curls next to him. He was Gwen’s twin, Ivan. He held hands with his sister as though they would never separate again. A few others were there that I recognized but never spoke with.

“Did you find my dad?” Mark asked. There was sadness in his tone. Yet no one answered. He dropped his head and said, “We gotta keep moving.” He pointed past the group. “They found us.”