"What are you going to do?" Jennifer clasped at Evan's forearm as he reached for the door handle. Her eyes met his with a pleading gaze. The two flashlights they had to see by shone upon the floor and the wall, bouncing dim light around for their adjusted eyes to see.
"Relax. I'm just going to check to see if we're really trapped." Evan shrugged off the grip and tested the broad double glass doors. They did not open.
"That might work better if it weren't locked." Zach stepped forwards and produced a jingling set of keys. He handed the flashlight to Ryan, then stared long and hard down the brick walled corridor to the faint outline of the figure shifting about at the gate. Then, apparently satisfied, fiddled with the lock.
"You're going back to get Lucas now?" Ryan asked, incredulous. Ryan was fairly short (but not as short as Zack) and an unhealthily heavy young adult of nineteen years old. He had long brown hair hanging down in front of his eyes- which almost always appeared greasy. Wispy, uneven patches of not-quite stubble dotted his face. His broad, round features were dotted here and there with the acne that often plagued the youthful and stereotypically excessively nerdy.
"It's not that. Someone needs help."
"Dude, there's zombies out there. Everybody without a gun needs help right now. Nobody will blame you if you just hang out in here."
"I would." Evan said, recalling how deftly he was able to incapacitate a single, inelegant attacker. "If I learn later on that I could have done something to help when I hadn't, I don't know if I could live with that."
"Good luck out there, then." Ryan shrugged as he returned the flashlight to Zack. "I'll see you later, man."
Zack stepped aside and gave a silent nod towards Evan. Quickly (so as to not let much heat escape), Evan opened the door a crack and slipped through first, allowing Jennifer to follow behind.
Fingers of invisible ice reached down from the skies to greet him, nipping at the exposed flesh of his face, neck and fingers. The oppresive chill
of each gust of wind was largely mitigated by the surrounding
building's walls, but could be heard as it whistled through the streets of the empty city. Evan's coat guarded against the worst of the
oppressive chill even as he felt it clawing at his skin.
Jennifer rapidly came up alongside Evan, shining the beam of light helpfully a few feet before them as Zack followed behind. Splashes of scant color and form appeared before them as the dim echoes of vision bounced around the tiny space. The unhappy, sick wailing of the undead grew louder as they neared. The shape shifted and flickered about as its owner repeatedly tested the entryway. Its shadowy form alternated between reaching out in vain to grip them through the bars and naive attempts to open the gate.
Now that he was closer, Evan could see the zombie's appearance more clearly. She was fairly short with medium length dark hair and bore a heavy sweater and jeans. The sweater's torn left arm bore several loose strands- yeilding evidence of perhaps the victim's final struggles for survival. Although her face and skin were very pale, and tinted ever so slightly from the cold, she appeared to have been in her late twenties. Exposed bits of skin were intermittently covered in small, inky streaks. Dark stains further discolored her long jeans and heavy sweater.
Most grotesque of all to Evan, she had an ever so slight, suggestive bulge in her abdomen. That glimpse made him particularly uneasy.
The small group came to within several feet from the sturdy gate, lights shining directly upon the former woman for only a moment before retreating in a sharp motion. Apparently neither bearer of light had the nerve to witness the figure with the clarity of full illumination. Evan halted just a little closer to the gate than either of his companions dared.
Moving from each side to spy around the obstructing body, Evan spied the immediate environment outside. There appeared to be only the one, but this was also the only exit from the building. Although now that he was so close, the shadowy form alternated tactics between naive attempts to open the gate and vain attempts to reach between the tightly spaced bars to grasp at him.
"Huh. Look at that." Evan exhaled a cloudy breath of air. He was acutely aware of the snarled, open fingers grasping in the air less than a half foot away.
"There's only one, it looks like." Zach observed. "If we had a gun, we could just shoot it. But I guess the noise would probably attract more."
"But we don't have one." Jennifer added, reaching forwards to give a gentle tug on Evan's left wrist. "Come on. Don't stand so close."
"I don't think we really need a gun." Evan edged backwards slightly, watching the alternating activities of reaching for him and the antagonizing rattling of the metal gate. "We can deal with this."
Evan took a moment to explain and prepare his idea, while retrieving a light pair of gloves he stored in one of his coat pockets for cold days. Once they had been placed on his hands, he returned to the distance he had been standing from the gate before, but at the left edge of the corridor. Sure enough, the corpse reached through the bars, straining the limits of its own grasp as its shoulder and face butted against the heavy bars.
Evan reached up and grasped its forearm in a sudden motion, holding tight and leaning backwards slightly. The figure resisted with more strength than he had expected it to manage, but the position was more than compromising enough to ensure it could not withdraw. The hand twisted and strained in an attempt to clutch his arm in response. He whispered tensely as Jennifer provided ample lighting. "Belt!"
Moving just close enough to manage, Zach drew a heavy loop of leather-substitute tight around the cold, dead wrist. Tentative, Evan released his grip and pried the zombie's fingers from him as he stepped to the side. The binding held as the thing emitted another of its hollow wails. "Just one more." Evan puffed out as he eyed the other arm and retrieved his belt. "And we'll be ready."
