While the girls were getting comfortable in the office on blankets and pillows he brought them, Ralph was heading for the door. He wanted to be ready to leave as soon as he could. His hope was that the bikers would be gone long enough for the girls to feel better before he tried to move them. He didn’t want the bikers to return while they were still in the building, but his biggest fear was having them return while he was trying to move the girls to a vehicle. He had a list of things he wanted to do, but first he needed to obtain a vehicle and have it waiting by the door for a quick getaway.
Occupied in thought, Ralph did the most mundane human actions mechanically, such as breathing, walking, and opening doors.
Ralph had taken only two steps out the door when in one horrifying split second, between the end of his second step and the door snapping shut, he realized what he’d done. He had no weapon and no way back into the building. He hadn’t even told the girls where he was going. He heard moans and the shuffling of feet in the darkness. He tried to open the door just in case, by some miracle, it was unlocked. It wasn’t.
39.
The dark figure moved quickly, but nonchalantly, down wide cement walkways, occasionally considering the surroundings. At one point it stopped to listen, and after a moment it cut across the grassy area to the right and melted into the shadows.
Jeff spent a lot of time exploring the office parks in the area. He had a map in his mind and took note of dead ends, desirable items, and other details. His long-term plan included a host of projects for the structure. He walked the parks, as he called them, checking on his detection systems. He’d rigged up some simple devices to determine if anything passed through a certain area. Although some of these had been disturbed, he didn’t see any evidence of the buildings having been breached. All the doors, warehouse doors, and plate-glass windows were still intact. He entered several of the buildings through the roof vents or by a door he could jimmy open. He even thought to look on the ground for any signs of passage. The area was important to him, and he didn’t want anyone taking anything he already had his eye on. He moved, hid, or disguised many things he couldn’t take with him. But seemingly, there weren’t many survivors, and when the world was in orgy mode the last place they wanted to go were the office parks.
The area was so well landscaped and neatly maintained that deep ruts from a set of large tires were glaringly obvious and easy to follow. The tracks entered the park, drove around a few buildings, and pulled close to one building before moving on. The tracks left the grass and drove over the smooth tarmac streets, leaving an equally obvious path to follow as large chunks of mud and grass marked their passage. The tracks disappeared under a warehouse door.
There was a window on the side of the warehouse, and climbing up to it was easy. It was unlocked, and inside was an ambulance. Jeff cautiously entered and examined the ambulance. It looked as if it had plowed through a thousand corpses. The smell was horrific, even from a distance. There was a general tannish sludge smeared all over the front and sides of the vehicle, and in it could be found strands of cloth and hair. He looked inside and it was empty, so he proceeded, with caution, through the building, assuming that there might be people inside. He found no one. He was confused by the presence of the ambulance. Someone had gone to some trouble to hide it. Maybe they wanted to come back for it. He left through the window and followed the tracks back, hoping to see something new. He didn’t see anything, but he heard something.
In the supreme quiet of the new world, sound drew the attention. It was so quiet it took getting used to, and Jeff had been used to it. The sound of a cough, slight as it was, delicate and low, was clearly a cough. There was a human around, or maybe not. Years ago he’d heard his dog cough, and he was sure other animals might cough too. Or maybe it was his imagination, but no, he heard it again. He had no idea where it was coming from and spent almost thirty minutes listening and quietly moving until he was sure of the origin of the noise. The cough led him to the spot where the ambulance had pulled close to the building.
He circled the building, one of his buildings—hell, they were all his buildings—and found a large set of pipes. He knew the pipes contained electrical wiring. He used the pipes and their brackets to make his way to the roof, and when he drew closer he could hear low chatter. He peeked over the edge and saw two females under a tarp fashioned into a tent. The edge of this building extended about four feet past the roof, so they were shielded from view. One of the females was fat, and he wondered how she’d managed to get on the roof, and then the ambulance pulling so close to the building made sense to him. The other girl was hot, really nice looking.
Boxes, blankets, cushions and more surrounded them. It looked like they were living up here. He watched them for a while and listened. They seemed to be decent individuals, people he could invite back to the garage. He didn’t know how to announce his presence without startling them, so he just pulled himself up on the ledge and did it.
“Hi.” He was smiling even before the girls reacted.
They both let out little screams. The skinny one looked scared. The fat one looked like she was passively watching, but he got the feeling she was sizing up her options.
“Don’t be scared.” He slid off the ledge and walked closer to the ladies.
“That’s far enough,” the heavy one said, so he stopped.
“My name’s Jeff. I’m with a group of people, nice people, and we’re setting up a nice place. Are you interested in maybe joining us?”
“Lisa and this is Ana.” Lisa was looking at the young guy in the baggy coat with hidden hands and a large backpack. “We’re waiting for someone. They’ll be back soon.”
“Let me guess, your two Navy SEAL husbands are cleaning their machine guns just minutes from here.” He tried a smile. “OK, I just wanted to extend the invitation. We’re in the parking garage by the airport, the long-term one across the highway.”
Lisa piped up. “We really are waiting for someone. Besides, I need some serious help getting off this roof.”
“No way I am leaving her,” Ana said nervously, eyes wide and her voice a pitch higher than normal.
“OK, later.” Jeff turned and left the roof the way he had come.
Ana ran to the edge and watched him walk away. Then she ran back to Lisa. “I don’t trust him.”
“Well, he’s gone now.” Lisa was dismissive.
“What if he comes back when we’re sleeping? What if he brings others with him?” Ana looked frantic.
“Now you have me worried.” Lisa was trying to look Ana in the eyes, but she was looking around like a scared bird. “What do you want to do?”
“I have to follow him. I want to see what he does and if that parking garage story is true.”
“You’ll be by yourself, and you’ll be leaving me here alone.” Lisa was frightened.
“What are we going to do, wait until he returns? Never sleep again if he doesn’t? I need to get going.”
Ana took nothing with her. She hung off the roof and slid-climbed down the pipes. She took off after Jeff. She could see him walking in the distance and ran to get closer to him.
She slowed as she came to where he turned off the concrete path. She saw him enter a building. The door snapped shut behind him, and she slowly walked toward the door, debating whether she should enter the building or wait for him to leave. She was concerned he might leave through another exit.
Ana was staring at the door, deep in thought, when a hand grasped her arm. She expected it to be this guy Jeff for some reason, but when she turned, a mouth full of cracked teeth was snapping at her face. She let out a scream and reflexively pushed the zombie away. It flew backward, toppling two more behind it. She only saw four, but it was four too many. She turned and ran in the only available direction, toward the door Jeff had just entered.
She reached the door and frantically pulled on the hardened steel handle. It didn’t budge. The door was so secure it felt welded to the building. She kept pulling on it irrationally, hoping it would open. She gave up after a few pulls and turned as all four zombies came at her. The one in the lead looked to be a large man, nude when he died, with chunks of his flesh just gouged out of his body. He was wearing one shoe.
She was trapped between the door, the zombies, and a three-foot-high wall on either side where the landscaped garden butted against the building. The shrubs looked thick and impenetrable, but maybe she could step up on the wall and throw herself on top of the shrubs. All these thoughts raced through her brain. She stepped up on the wall and was pulling her other foot up so she could jump, when a hand grabbed her leg. She fell back and onto her back. Her breath was knocked from her chest, and she was struggling to breathe as two of the zombies dropped to their knees, grabbed her, and started tearing at her.
Suddenly, both zombies fell back. Jeff was bashing their heads in with a hammer. When he was done, he put his hand out to her.
“Sorry, that took a while. I had to run around the building. I didn’t want to open the door and push you into them.” He was still holding his hand out.
Ana was getting her breath back. She took his hand and stood. He turned and walked off.
“Thank you,” she called after him.
“No problem.” He was getting farther away.
“Hey, wait.” She was walking after him. “You’re just going to leave me here?”
He stopped to face her. “You want to come with me?”
“No,” Ana began.
“Do you want me to wait here with you?” Jeff asked with all seriousness.
“No. I’m alone. Can you walk me back to my place?”
Jeff kind of shrugged and started walking toward the building Lisa was perched on.
“Wait, are you mad at me?”
“No.” And he wasn’t.
“You seem mad.”
Jeff stopped and faced her. “You’re going to attract more of the dead by talking. I don’t understand why you think I would be mad at you.” He looked serious.
Ana realized he was probably like the nerdy guys she’d met who didn’t really have great social skills.
“What do you want? I already invited you to the garage, and I just saved your life. Are you following me for a reason, or is this a coincidence that you’re here?” He figured she was following him, but there was a chance they’d just ended up at the same place.
Now she felt awkward. “I just wanted to see if you were for real.”
Jeff looked confused. “Why would I lie?”
“Any number of reasons,” she said, but he looked disinterested.
“I’m going in here.” He was fumbling through a large ring of keys. After breaking into a building the hard way, usually through the roof, he would almost always find the keys to the building in an obvious place like the front desk. He collected them all. Jeff unlocked the door. “Is there something you want from me?”
“Um, yeah, I guess I would like to check out the garage you mentioned. I’m not sure what my friend thinks, so I need to talk to her.”
“OK.” He turned to go inside.
“Wait.” Ana looked around nervously. The dead had snuck up on her so quickly she was extra cautious. “I’m scared to be alone.”
“Weren’t you just following me…?” Jeff often didn’t understand people. They never made sense, saying one thing, doing another. “Never mind. Come in and we’ll talk to your friend on the way back.”
Back at the building, Ana told Lisa how Jeff had saved her, and Lisa had many questions for Jeff. After a lengthy discussion, they agreed to go check out the garage. Jeff got the ambulance from the warehouse while Lisa wrote a note for Cooper. Getting Lisa off the roof was easier, but still a challenge. She fell off the bench, landed on the roof of the vehicle, and dented it in. She was lying in a two-foot-deep crater and was rolling back and forth like a turtle on its back as she tried to stand. She would have fallen off if Jeff and Ana hadn’t been there to help her. She looked pained and aggravated at the whole experience.
§
The drive to the garage was quick. Jeff gave the signal for all’s clear and got the same back. By the time he rolled up to the structure, the elevator was slowly descending. He pulled the ambulance next to it.
Jeff and Ana opened the rear doors to let Lisa out, but she had lain down and was flat on her back. All that could be seen were her legs and stomach. Jeff turned to Ana, who was holding her mouth shut so as not to laugh.
“Wow, she looks bigger from this angle,” Jeff said to himself. Ana snorted loudly. A hand shot up from behind the belly.
“A little help here,” Lisa said.
Ana squeaked as she attempted not to laugh. Jeff just watched as Ana jumped up on the bumper and attempted to straddle Lisa. Her petite legs didn’t touch the ground. She was sitting on her. She slid off to one side and looked up at Jeff.
“I need a little help.”
“Looks like you need a lot of help,” Jeff said as he joined her.
Lisa looked miffed. “I don’t know you very well, but that was just shitty.”
“I’m sorry.” And Jeff was serious. “I just meant that you are very heavy, and she will need a lot of help getting you up.”
Lisa looked Jeff in face, and he seemed to genuinely not know that what he’d said was offensive.
“Oh, OK, that’s what you meant? Sorry,” she said as if she’d misunderstood him, and in a way she had.
Jeff wondered what else he could have meant as he grabbed an arm. “OK, now for the hard part.”
“You really don’t hear it, do you?” Lisa said.
“Hear what?” Jeff looked startled. “Oh, that’s just the electric motor that moves the elevator up and down. It’s very strong, so it’ll even lift you.”
Lisa let it go. He really seemed clueless. Couldn’t be mad at him for that. He was like those kids that pointed in public and asked her point-blank why she was fat. They just didn’t know any better. But it did still hurt.