Something More

The rough, grey concrete walls in the hallway were lit fairly evenly by the flourescent lighting overhead.  Plastered upon the nearby tan colored doors were various colorful printouts.  Somewhere within the corridor one tube giving light was producing a faint buzzing.  Evan thought he could even see a slight wavering in the level of light in that direction.  Voices from elsewhere echoed faintly with the slight breeze persisting in the building.

Esteban stood with Casilda to the right, a couple apartments down.  They were speaking quietly.  Not far behind them, the window was a gaping black void, the underside of a few slender tree branches just visible because of the automatic lights in the park blocks below.  Beside them was one of the stairways that led to the ground floor, the edges lined with a thin barrier railing.

"Are they going to be okay?"  Esteban asked, looking down the hallway as Evan approached.

"I think they'll be okay for a little while at least."  Evan lifted the key for the restraints in his hand.  "I thought it best for now that one of us out here keep this.  As a safety precaution."

"Seems reasonable."  Esteban frowned, concern on his face as he mulled over the thought.

"I told them that if Rob needs to have the restraints removed for any reason, they should come out and someone will be out here to help them."

"So one of us is going to need to stay out here at all times?"  Casilda asked, her face still a little flush from her earlier embarassment.  She averted her eyes from any direct contant with Evan's.  "All night?"

"Maybe we can ask some of the others to do this too."  Esteban ventured.  "So we don't have to do this by ourselves."

"I hope we can."  Evan said, thinking that Lucas at the very least would be willing to help.  "We're only going to need to worry about this until help arrives, though.  Tomorrow morning, according to the news.  But Rob might not make it that long."

Somewhere downstairs there was some excited chatter, diverting the group's attention to the stairwell.  The commotion quickly diminished, indicating that whatever had led to the noise, it was likely just a temporary flareup.  Esteban finally turned back to Evan.  "So what do we do now?  Get some people to wait out here all night?  Take turns?"

Looking out the window briefly before replying, Evan spoke tentatively.  "Well, one of us is going to need to stay here for now.  But one of us will need to get some more volunteers to stay out here until morning.  We should also see if there's anything else we can do to make sure that Rob makes it that long."

"He'll definitely have my prayers at the very least, but is there anything more we can do?"  Esteban replied.  "I can't think of anything."

"Leon probably did all he could, but if there's anything more that could be done, he might know."  Evan replied, thinking about how sudden the news of the outbreak came, and the likelihood that people would be adequately prepared in the first place.  Compared to the residents of the Mansfield building, the people in Blackwood dorm were significantly less organized.  They were just now getting a late start on all the things Evan's dorm handled as soon as this began.

"If he could do something more, wouldn't he have already done it?"  Casilda spoke as if she didn't really want to draw attention to herself, still peering down the stair well.  Evan had the impression she was doing it so that she didn't have to look directly at him.

"If he didn't have the right supplies, maybe there's something he couldn't do."  Evan replied.  "If he had something more, maybe he could.  We won't know about that for sure until we ask."

Cost Benefit Assertion

The zombie in the business suit moaned again, rattling the glass doors as its eyes focused on Lucas.  Staring up from his clipboard, Lucas pondered whether the moaning really was why the zombies clustered together.  From watching the news and other videos, he knew they exhibited a swarming behavior.  Their moaning wails could be the underlying mechanism that could explain how they all seemed to group together.  Moving around in random patterns, then moaning and attracting the group once a discovery had been made by a member.

Lucas set the clipboard against his pack and stood tall, turning to look at George.  "Hey, we might be able to use that."

Simon emerged the security office he had entered not long before.  He jostled with some keys, securely locking the door behind him.  George glanced over briefly, then replied with a modest shrug.  "Use it for what?  We don't want more of them here."

"No, no.  To make it go somewhere else.  Try recording that sound and playing it on the other side of the building."  Lucas speculated, wondering if it would follow its own sounds or only respond to another's.  If that was even something they did, which he had no way to be certain about until they tested it.  "If it can't see any of us in here, then it should follow the noise."

"The military is coming tomorrow to kill those things."  George regarded Lucas with a strange look and sighed.  "And it's already barely able to walk.  I don't think we're going to need to do that."  Simon turned around and replaced the key ring on its belt, clearly listening to the conversation.

"What if there's more of them out there before the military comes?  We might have to figure out some way to escape on our own.  If we did know how to make a whole ton of them move at the same time, it might matter."  Lucas insisted using everything he could think of to justify his desire.  Really, he was mostly excited with having stumbled upon something else to do.  The concept made so much sense to him he thought it was a pretty sure bet.  Still, on the remote chance that they might need to rely on it, things would be best if they knew it would work for sure.  "I don't think anyone else has tried this yet.  I don't think I read anything about it on the Internet.  Not on any of the news sites at least."

"The sound could attract more of them."  Simon shook his head, his arms crossed over his broad chest.  The long sleeves of his thick wool sweater had bunched up around his elbows.  There was a chill breeze in seeping between the frame and door each time a gust blew outside.  It brought the iron smell of dried blood with it.

"If there were more of them around here to attract, it already would have happened."  Lucas pointed to the thing outside.  "It's been making that noise for hours now."

"Listen.  If I catch you trying to do anything like that, I'll beat the shit out of you."  Simon flatly declared, stomping towards Lucas with an angry stare.  Lucas instinctively stepped back, almost tripping over his pack and knocking the clipboard to the ground with a clatter.  "There's already one of those god damn things in the building.  I'm not going to have any more of those things around here for any reason.  Understand?"

Lucas was pressed up against the glass doorway and Simon.  Simon was almost a foot taller than him and had around twice his weight.  Enough of it was muscle to matter.  "Y-Yes.  Okay."  Lucas whispered, looking away.  A wave of relief washed over him once he felt the warmth from the man's body heat diminish.  Simon proceeded to stomp away.

"Hey."  George's voice sounded a little nervous.

"What?"  Simon glared at the skinny black man angrily.

George replied hesitantly.  "Uh, Lucas actually said something interesting.  He thinks it won't make any noise if it can't see us."

"Well then why the fuck are you even down here at all?  Get out of here so it can't see you!"

Still not looking at Simon, Lucas spoke hesitantly.  "But we don't know-"

"NOW!"  Simon angrily pointed up the stairs.

In a rush to pick up his things, Lucas retreated.  Running up the stairs he heard a sharp command for George to stay behind.

Safety Procedures

Checking upon the security of the clasps one last time, Evan took a step backwards.  He still slept, but with his left ankle and left wrist restrained as they were, Evan hoped it would be enough in case the worst happened.  His breathing was still heavy and slow.  At least he was getting some rest.  That could only be good for him.  Evan inspected the bindings one last time to make sure they weren't too restrictive to be uncomfortable but tight enough to serve their purpose.

Confident in the security of the bindings, Evan stood.  Evelyn, the heavier white girl had gone silent while Evan worked to put on the cuffs.  The slender asain girl had attempted to help Evan find the best choice of limbs to restrain, gingerly helping to move Robert's left leg into a better position to be locked down.  She had an unhappy look on her face, but she was determined enough to not let her discomfort get in the way of what should be done.

The room was growing darker as the single light was a little inefficient to completely replace the setting sun.  A chill blast of air blew so hard outside he could hear the branches of the trees clattering.  The glass in the window vibrated faintly.  Evelyn hung her head down, her curly blond hair obscuring her face as she tenderly clasped Robert's hand.  Evelyn sniffed, trying to suppress her emotion.

Esteban and Casilda were still waiting in the hall outside. Evan could hear the sounds of their talking in the hall, but it was muffled by the door and the other slight noise sources audible within the chamber.

Running his fingers over the smooth metal key for the handcuffs, Evan wondered momentarily if it would be better to restrict both arms instead.  Or one hand and leg on opposite sides of the body.  He thought the comfort of the patient was probably a little more important than whatever small level of safety increase that would add.  No matter how they did this, there was going to be at least a little risk involved.

Waiting until Minoko looked towards him, Evan caught her attention with a careful head movement.  Then motioned her to join him at the other side of the small room.  Once there, he held the key out so she could see it, and whispered faintly.  "This is the key for those cuffs we just put on Robert.  Now, we're going to have to leave those on him until he gets better."

Minoko swallowed and nodded, briefly looking into Evan's eyes with a shaken, injured look on her face.  Her long black hair obscured her face when she turned away.  She clearly didn't want to think about what was happening.  But she still had initiative enough to help Evan attach the cuffs to Robert without a word spoken.  She was paying attention and being active.  She was resilient enough to swallow her emotions and do what was needed to help her friend.  Evan had a great deal of respect for that.

"Now what we're going to do, is someone will be out in the hallway with this key."  Robert motioned to the door nearby with his head.  "When Robert wakes up, and needs help getting comfortable, or getting water or is hungry or needs anything.  Or if either of you needs something, come out into the hall and there will be someone there to help you.  Until that happens, keep this door locked.  Do you understand?"

Minoko nodded slightly, but added with a faint voice.  "Yes.  I understand."  Her accent was fairly pronounced as her speech wavered slightly.  "Th-Thank you."

Evan continued, whispering so Evelyn wouldn't be overly distracted.  "But if Robert starts to act different, or strange, you need to get yourself, and Evelyn out of the room.  Don't wait.  Do it as soon as you notice something is wrong."

"Yes, I-"  Minoko broke her speeh for a moment, her lips quivering as she paused.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath while Evan patiently waited for her to regain her composure.  "I will."

Sensing a need, Evan opened his arms to offer an embrace to provide what reassurance he could to the small woman.  She was much shorter than him, so he had to crouch down a little.  Evan waited until Minoko broke away from him on her own.

Feeling bad for already intruding into their privacy too much, Evan quietly left the room.

Taking Notes

"I came down to watch the zombie."  Lucas said as he crouched by the front door to unzip his backpack and take out the clipboard inside with fresh paper already prepared.  He already had an idea for a note to make.  "I came to see if there's anything I can discover about the infected."

"Well if you want to go see it, I'll trade you doors."  George shook his head, the whites of his eyes looking more extreme against his dark brown skin.  "He can't get in over there, but he's really starting to freak me out."

"Sure, just give me-"  Lucas began while rooting around for a pencil; a heavy thudding march came from upstairs before he could finish his thought.

Pausing for a moment to observe, Lucas watched as Simon's heavy frame bounded into view, his face contorted into an angry scowl as he thumped down the steps.  "That jackass is infected!"  He looked right at George as he reached the bottom step.

George widened his eyes further, his grip tightening on the steel bar as he gazed past Simon up the stairs.  "What?  Are you sure?"  George's wiry body was suddenly looking very tense.

"He's got a fever already.  He's getting worse fast.  He's definitely got it."  Simon moved past George to a doorway at the far end of the lobby from the place where Lucas was crouched.  "They're hiding him in Esteban's room."  Simon removed a keyring attached to his belt and unlocked the door.  The door closed behind the large man with a slam.  There was an awkward silence.

Returning to his task before he forgot, Lucas partially jotted his thoughts onto the notebook paper.  A startling rattle at the door behind him produced an ugly ragged line of graphite across the paper.  George snapped his head around in fright.

Turning back to the glass behind him, Lucas found the undead had returned to its former place.  A howling groan came from the monster as it watched Lucas mere inches away through the glass.  Its teeth chattered as its mouth pressed against the glass near Lucas's arm.  A faint trace of blood scraped onto the glass from where a couple of teeth had been broken.  The lower part of its pants legs were stained black in the shadowy light still available.  Lights behind the zombie let its shadow spill into the building.

"He snuck up on us."  George exhaled sharply with relief visible on his face.

"Yes, it did."  Lucas concurred, breathing a heavy sigh.  Taking a couple of steps away with his pack, Lucas sat down again, and stared at the zombie.  Rattling the door again, it emitted another unsettling groan.  "They also know how to use doors.  Let me ask you something, George."

"What is it?"  George asked almost with a whisper, his voice shaky.

"When that zombie out there came over and surprised you, did you hear it coming first, or did you see it first?"

"I don't think I heard anything."  George paused.  "I was watching the door, but saw it out of the corner of my eye.  I was reading when I suddenly noticed it at the door."

"That's what I thought."  Lucas watched the bloodied zombie staring right back at him, shaking the door handles.  "It knows not to make noise if we can't see it.  Or if we're distracted by something."

The zombie wailed unhappily.  Otherwise there was silence.  George whispered.  "God damn it.  That's scary.  The last thing I want to have to worry about is that it's too quiet."

Lucas turned his head a little.  "Yes it is.  So why do you think it's making that sound in the first place, then?"

George gasped, taking a sudden step backwards.  "You mean, you think that's to let other zombies know that we're in here?  So they can swarm us?"

"We're probably just lucky that there's no other zombies quite close enough to hear it right now."  Lucas said as he watched the infected continuing to strain its body at the locked glass door.

Safety Measures

Long shadows cast by the surrounding buildings were now visible through the window.  With the fading red light from outside, the single overhead bulb in the dorm room was providing a gradually increasing fraction of the total light to Esteban's room.  The diminishing quality of light made Robert's pale skin appear even worse.

Waiting patiently by the window, Evan occasionally glanced outside at the empty park blocks below.  The automatic lamps along the walkways beside the park were on, objects close to the source casting their own shadows.  The few large trees nearby swayed their branches in the breeze like skeletal fingers.  Thanks to the shadowy illumination below, Evan's attention was momentarily drawn to a small dead branch that had fallen upon one of the wooden benches surrounding the amphitheater.

Across the park blocks, the Sanders building stood empty.  Most of the rooms were dark, but lights on the outside were on.  A couple of lights were visible in the building.  Likely from someone who had turned them on before the building was abandoned.  Evan wondered for a moment if the building had been locked.  The ground floor was a cafeteria.  They might not need the food, but perhaps they could have something there that could help Robert.

The whole campus had a surreal appearance while devoid of its usual populace, the same as the previous night.  But now that Evan knew a zombie was down there, it was a little more unnerving.

On Evan's suggestion, Esteban had left to wait in the hallway for Casilda's return.  But until they were certain that Robert was securely restrained, he didn't want to leave him unattended.  The sick man's heavy, slow breathing indicated he was still alive, but he had fallen asleep shortly after their conversation ended.

Minoko and Evelyn quietly watched over their companion, silent and whispering reassurances to each other.  Now and then Minoko leaned forwards, and gently adjusted the covers on Robert, who was too exhausted to awaken.

It had only been a couple of minutes, but it felt to Evan like an hour had passed.  The tension of Robert's condition was uncomfortable.  Although he had never seen it firsthand, reports indicated that the transition was quite sudden once the victim appeared to die.  Given that it took some time for the illness to run its course, Evan thought there was still hope for recovery, however slim it might be.  And no matter how slim it was, everyone deserved the best shot they could have.

Footfalls came down the hallway, prompting Evan to approach and quietly open the door.  There was a whispered snippet of conversation outside as Evan unlocked the door.  Peeking through the crack, he saw Casilda had finally returned.

Not saying anything, Casilda turned her gaze away, a flustered look on the glimpse of her face Evan had glimpsed.  Esteban held two pairs of handcuffs in his hands and whispered so not to disturb the sleeping man inside.  "Here, take these.  And here's the key for them."

"Are these going to hold?"  Evan skeptically examined the implements as he accepted them.

"Yes."  Casilda chirped faintly, without looking at him.  She retreated a few steps down the hallway.

Evan nodded in approval.  Pausing just before closing the door, he whispered in reply to Esteban.  "Don't worry, I'll make sure everyone knows we don't know where these came from."

"We appreciate that."  Esteban replied as he stepped back.

Carefully closing the door, Evan approached the guests quietly, stepping up to the foot of the bed.

Minoko looked up with a frown.  After Evan held up one cuff, she nodded sadly and pointed to her left wrist.  Robert's left arm was splayed out near the edge of the simple frame, it was a fairly easy choice where to place the first restraint.  It was quickly attached without much fuss.

Evelyn closed her eyes, whispering repeatedly while Evan gingerly worked to attach the second.  "It's only a scratch."

Nerves

Just before leaving his room to make observations about the undead outside, Lucas checked one last time for more news.  Unfortunately, there was still little publicly available about the unnatural plague.  But then, people didn't really need to know much of anything about it other than how to keep safe; there would be a rescue effort the following day.  They just had to wait until then and things would return to normal.

Lucas stepped into the empty hallway, his shoes producing echoing footfalls against the hard, cracked tile.  Closing the door and locking it before moving on, Lucas could hear faint voices coming from somewhere in the building.  A conversation here or there was muffled by the heavy cement of the walls or the sturdy doors.  A chill wind could be heard blowing against the outside windows at the end of the hallway as red, evening light filtered in through the window.

Most of the time, such quiet isolation would be something of a relief.  But being recently startled, Lucas began to notice just how much noise he was making in each of his normal movements.  The eerie feeling of the empty hallway was accented by the faintly buzzing, flourescent lights overhead.  Making a conscious effort to silence his movements, Lucas proceeded to the stairway and began to descend.  An echoey, muffled conversation was happening somewhere upstairs.

Thinking about noise during his walk, Lucas rationalized it was unlikely the zombies could be a surprise.  From what he could tell, they were careless about producing sounds.  Despite the uneasy feeling of the eerie silence, he thought they would likely be unable to sneak up on someone aware of the environment around them.  That just meant that if everyone was careful and aware of their surroundings, they would probably be okay.  There shouldn't be anything to worry about.

While descending the final set of stairs in the front lobby, Lucas noticed the chamber was empty.  Stopping halfway down with a clear view of the glass doors, he could see the zombie was no longer lingering there.  Although the long shadows cast by the building were growing darker and making it more difficult to see, it had clearly wandered away.  Lights from the park blocks illuminated the stain of dried blood on the ground just outside.

Or maybe, he had gotten inside somehow.  Lucas couldn't tell from here if the door was still locked, but because of its injuries it would probably be unable to catch him.  He continued down the stairs carefully, listening for any indication of the undead nearby.  A couple feet from the bottom step, a hallway opened to the right, listening to the sound of muted activity from the common room down that direction.

Carefully proceeding, Lucas watched the door as he reached the bottom of the stairs.  The door was still closed firmly, and the pool of blood had dried.  From the hallway to the right at the bottom of the steps, he could make out the sound of activity in the common room.  He gazed down the hallway at the other side of the lobby, then steeling his nerves, peeked around the corner to find nothing.  At the end of the hall, he could see the lights were on in the common room, but nobody was visible from this angle.

Still not quite comfortable, Lucas carefully approached the glass doorway, wanting to ensure it was still locked tight.  He took a few steps at a time, wary of his surroundings.

Reaching the glass doors, Lucas gripped one handle and pulled gently, as if worried he would break the locking mechanism.  The door gingerly rattled in the frame.  Lucas tried the other, relieved that it also refused to budge.  Then, pressing himself against the cool glass, he looked around, trying to see where their visitor had gone.

The pool of blood had trickled to the left, down the slight slope alongside the building, but it had dried out a while ago.  With the fading light it was a little difficult to tell if there was any indication which direction the blood trailed off towards.  The zombie was neither in the distance, or to any side that Lucas could see.  It was just gone.

A rustling sound from the the hallway behind Lucas snapped him back to attention and made him twist around.  A second later George peered around and looked relieved.  "I thought we had another one trying to get into the building."  He nervously gripped a long steel bar in both his hands.

"No."  Lucas began with a quiet voice.  "The zombie left.  I guess when it couldn't see anybody down here, he wandered away."

"He didn't wander away."  George shrugged as he rested the steel bar against his leg.  "He came over to the door I've been watching a little bit ago.  Scared the hell out of me when I first saw him over there."

Lucas thought about coming down to find an empty room.  Once it could no longer see them, it circled around the building to look for another way inside.  Naturally, once it reached the other glass doorway, it saw George and lingered there instead.  Lucas sighed, wondering what that could tell him about the zombies.  "Well, if it was looking for a way in, I'm glad it didn't find one."

Secret Resources

Evan glanced around the room at the nervous, uneasy faces as the awkward silence lingered.  Casilda stood by the doorway, leaning against the wall and fidgeting over the fabric of her pink dress.  Esteban stood nearby, with an uncomfortable frown on his face, silent.  After a couple seconds had passed in awkward silence, it had become clear to Evan nobody would respond immediately.  "We're going to do everything possible to help, but I think we need to plan for every possibility.  Just in case."

"We can't leave."  Minoko declared with her slight Japanese accent, her right hand gripping Robert's left, as a worried look lingered on her face.  The blue coat she had worn earlier was draped over the back of her chair.  "Rob's in no condition to travel."

With a bit of a regretful tone for bringing it up, Evan replied.  "Nobody is going to make anyone leave.  But we need to figure out what we can do in order to make sure we're all going to be as safe as possible."

On the other side of the bed, Evelyn looked distraught, her wet eyes still puffy from the emotion of the last few hours.  She wiped her face and sniffed loudly then looked up into Evan's eyes with a pleading look.  "It's just a scrape."  She said, as if unsure of that herself.  "He's going to be okay."

Rob shifted uncomfortably in the bed, his pale face beading with tiny droplets of sweat.  The thick rimmed glasses he had arrived with were placed on a small table beside the bed.  Eyes half closed, he spoke.  "I shouldn't be in here with you.  I should go outside."

"Robert, no!"  Evelyn looked up at him in shock.  Her hands clasping at his right arm as her voice trembled.

Robert pulled his hand away and pushed himself upright.  "I think it was a bite.  And everyone bitten gets sick.  You're not going to be safe around me for much longer."

"You don't know that!"  Minoko added as she looked at Robert with a desperate frustration.  "You have to stay here!"

"I agree, you're staying here, Rob.  I won't let you leave."  Evan approached the bedside, holding his hand out to halt Robert's movements.  "Lay down and relax.  Whether or not you were bitten, sending you out there isn't going to solve anything.  The only thing it would do for sure is wind up killing you."

"I agree."  Esteban added from close by.  He had approached while Evan's attention had been focused on Robert.  "It's too cold out there for someone sick to be walking around outside."

"I didn't really like that idea either."  Robert let out a weary sigh, leaning against the wall where the simple frame butted up against the far side of the room.  He took a deep inhale of air, closing his eyes.  "But what did you have in mind?"  He had a heavy exhaustion in his voice, as if he was about to fall asleep.

Evan had been wondering about that himself.  Unfortunately, he had very few ideas for what would be best.  Of course, any plan they came up with would only need to last until their rescue sometime the next day.  Assuming of course that Robert survived for that long.  "I'm not sure.  I thought maybe we could use one of the office rooms or maybe make this room a little more secure."

"He wasn't bitten."  Evelyn insisted, looking a bit upset.

"I didn't think I was at first."  Robert replied without opening his eyes.  "But I'm sick now, aren't I?  I don't want to endanger either of you."

"You won't endanger us.  Just focus on feeling better, okay Rob?"  Minoko said, stroking a hand over his sweat covered, pale forehead.  And encouraging him to lay down again.  "Try and get some sleep, and let us worry about taking care of everything."

Evelyn quietly pulled the rumpled bedsheets up and over Rob's form as he tentatively relaxed on the bed.

Evan waited for a few moments for the ill man to get comfortable.  "Rob, if we had something to tie you down onto the bed with, would that be safe enough to alleviate your worry?"

"I guess so."  Rob replied without opening his eyes.

Evan nodded, motioning to the others to listen to him.  He spoke in a respecting, quiet voice.  "Well, if we had something to tie him down with, that would keep him and us safe.  Just as long as we keep someone with him to make sure that he can get water and is as comfortable as we can make him."

Casilda spoke, almost with a whisper as if she didn't want to be a nuisance.  "I- I think I might have something in my room that could help."

"Then go ahead and get it, we're going to need anything we can get."  Evan idly glanced among the other people present.  Since the only other building resident in the dorm was Esteban, it wasn't like they could search through a lot of rooms.  "Do you have anything in here which might help?  We might have to ask the other people in the building for help."

"Uh-  No."  Casilda added, while purposefully avoiding looking anyone in the eyes.  "I mean, I have something that will definitely help.  Handcuffs."  She opened the door, her cheeks flush, and quickly departed.