The small cluster of people approaching the Mansfield building quickened their already frantic pace as the sounds of heavy footfalls reached their anxious senses. From the uneven clamor, it soon became distressingly clear that the distant noises could not have been caused by a mere individual, but a small cluster at the very least. The distant echoing, clattering slap of shoes upon the hard surfaces within the city echoed and mingled together with the undead's distinct moans.
With the heavy iron gate just within sight, Evan felt an uneasy dread as he realized what his senses indicated. The absense of light spilling out from Mansfield's corridor revealed that nobody was waiting directly on the other side of the locked gate. "Zack!" Evan called out with a harsh, gutteral voice as the frozen air blew against his exposed skin.
"Not so loud. I'll check." Jennifer barely whispered before darting ahead. Eagerly crossing the street, the restrained undead woman became visible again as the bearer of their light source moved closer to the building. Thankfully, Jennifer kept the beam of the flashlight aimed low, ensuring the trapped figure was only partly revealed in shadow by the immediate environment's reflected illumination.
Feeling the burden of Robert grow heavier upon his shoulders, Evan realized the sick, overweight man's footing was faltering with their shared sense of forced urgency. "Hold up a second." He whispered, exhorting his companions to halt in the street; allowing the illness ravaged man a brief respite to regain his footing. Minoko and Robert were both panting in exhaustion from their efforts, their breath billowing out into the air in a dense cloud. Taking just a few seconds to allow a repreive, Evan ensured once they did resume that it would not be at a pace that would sabotage their own progress. "Slow, steady. We'll get there."
Standing before the wrought iron bars, Jennifer lifted her hand to strobe the beam into the dark corridor beyond. After a moment, she lowered the light again and turned around to look back at those still lagging in the middle of the street. "He sees me!" She harshly whispered back. Helpfully, she returned the radiant orb to linger just before those following her; careful to keep her distance from the zombie tightly threaded into the nearby iron. It wailed at her, its teeth clattering forcefully with each snap of its jaws.
As Evan led the group through the center of the narrow street, the avalanche grew into a riotous crescendo, echoing between unseen buildings and seeming to arrive from multiple directions. With growing clarity, he realized he could discern new sounds within the chaos. He could hear a heavy, gasping noise trapped within the approaching wailing and the thumping clamor of the stampeding horde. The heavy breathing was almost reminiscent of weary panting.
The undead did not gasp for air. The sudden realization came to Evan only a moment before a horrified scream cut into his ears, making his skin crawl. The screaming only lasted a few seconds before abruptly clipping out. At the same moment the footfalls and wailing ceased. The avalanche of noise had ended with a sudden finality, only leaving what echoed for the moments before that too was swallowed up into frigid silence.
Now the eerie calm was only disturbed by the nearby zombie woman locked in place, the harsh breeze whipping against coat fabric and whistling between buildings. A soft metallic scrape as the bindings still on Robert's ankle dragged behind them. It was almost as if the experience had been a nightmarish hallucination. Jennifer peered around herself, a skittish, frantic look on her face as she gazed down the calm street towards the limits of vision strictly enforced by the environment. Her hands jittered from either cold or anxiety.
Time had seemed to lose its normal flow to Evan as events transpired. Robert wheezed heavily as they finally arrived at the chained gate. Down the narrow corridor, Zack emerged from the doorway and bounded towards the group with his own flashlight in one hand; keys in the other. Minoko exhaled a fearful breath of air, producing a slight whimper along with the humid fog of her heavy breathing. Jennifer turned her eyes fearfully towards Evan as the group now stood with her at the heavy gate.
"What happened?" Minoko whispered, her voice shaking as she spoke, making her mild accent all the more noticeable. "Are they gone?"
"I don't know." Jennifer croaked with restrained fear as she peered into the darkened city streets. Zack halted before the gate, proceeding to unlock and peel back the heavy chains keeping the gate shut.
Jennifer tentatively shifted her arm to match where she was peering, the illuminating cone crawling along the pavement towards the vacant city streets beyond. Revelatory light spilled across the stark stone or brick facades of the nearby buildings. Recognizing the potential disaster of such curiousity came too late.
Looking over just in time, Evan witnessed the shadowy silhouettes of two figures standing in the road a couple hundred feet distant. In that instant, Evan could see the moving figures clearly enough to feel a pulse of dread clawing at his heart. The light only flicked across their form for a moment, but it was long enough to recognize them. As if on cue, their reveal prompted the pair to break into a nearly blind dash. Their wailing voices breaking out in unison.
Evan responded just as reflexively, gingerly shouldering away Robert's weight and moving past Jennifer. "Get back!" He swiped the flashlight from Jennifer, springing forwards to meet their would-be assailants away from the gate and entering the nearby intersection. The refugees clustered together in his wake, one of the group shouting out with alarm, but all remained behind. Rapid footfalls echoed across the empty street.
Shifting the means of sight into his left hand, Evan angled it down the street to make the approaching pair easily visible for cursory inspection. Snapping the light back onto the figures, he could determine they were looking right at him as they dashed. The direct shining glare did not phase them, but Evan already didn't expect that to make any difference. Thankfully, they were both focusing on their nearest target- him.
The leading zombie was a tall man who had been wearing a dark jacket over a rumpled suit and tie. The other- lagging behind by ten or fifteen feet and a little to the right side- was a below average in height pudgy man still wearing a bulky coat and jeans. Their pallor had been tinged by the unrelenting bite of winter, but other than that they didn't have anything immediately obviously wrong with their appearance. Like the zombie he had encountered earlier, they both charged forwards without any grace.
With tense muscles waiting for the proper instant to act, Evan took a deep breath. The chill numbed exposed skin, but his important muscles were still warm and ready on a hair trigger. Within the backdrop of a whistling gust of wind, Jennifer called out to him. Comprehension of the words were lost as all his focus was drawn to the task at hand. Precious seconds mattered for his companions to escape, and Evan would buy them in one way or the other.
The moment came. With the undead reaching out to grasp him just feet away, Evan leapt leftwards. The illumination moved away from the figures, rendering their forms nearly invisible. The tall zombie's momentum clumsily faltered with the sudden shift, but would inexorably carry it forwards into striking range. Whipping his leg up and out in one expert motion, the blow connected solidly along the right side of the zombie's body with a meaty thump. A strong echo of the strike's force reverberated down Evan's leg.
In the darkness, sounds provided the sole indication of what transpired as Evan lowered his leg and quickly hopped back. The force of the strike sent the thing off-kilter, its shoes scuffing hard against asphalt as it struggled to maintain a faltering balance and slowed. The sudden change in the tall undead's motion led to a hard thump as the other zombie's momentum forced a collision. Unable to anticipate, the undead could topple like dominoes with a single blow.
As Evan reoriented the light upon the undead from a slightly safer distance, both figures were still tumbling on the nearby ground in a tangled heap of flailing limbs. In another rapid strike, Evan circled around and chose a relatively safe ankle to hammer upon with his foot. Of course, he would have felt better delivering the blow with a heavy object, but the flashlight would be too flimsy to use for that purpose and it was far more useful as a tool providing light to risk damaging it. He hoped the attack would at least inflict some minor damage before he had to back away from a lunge.
Standing again where Evan had waited for them in the center of the intersection, the zombies disentangled from one another and rose up again. Taking a brief moment to look beyond the former men, Evan could see that the chains threading the gate closed were being tugged loose. Just a few more moments and the refugees about fifty or sixty feet away would be entering safety. Now the attackers were somewhat between him and the gate; he just needed to delay them a little longer.
Luckily, both undead still turned their heads and bodies to Evan as they regained their footing, the overweight form rising up first and beginning a charge. With a heavy exhale, Evan took a step back and prepared to move again. With less distance between them, the zombie's full momentum was not attained and thus, it wouldn't quite be possible to do the same thing as before.
Instead, Evan focused on nimble dodging and knocking the reaching arms away with his free hand. It wasn't as easily accomplished as he would have liked, considering the coat he wore was restrictive. But fortunately, the zombie was just uncoordinated enough and short enough for the tactic to succeed. Against a human with his bare fist, such diversionary strikes would have pained the muscles, but it didn't deter or slow down the zombie at all. Carefully, Evan led it towards the building on the corner opposite from Mansfield, careful to not trip over the sidewalk.
With his weaving motions, the cone of illumination jittered all around the environment as he moved. Flashes quickly spilled over objects, making it quite difficult to sense his surroundings beyond what he needed all his focus to accomplish. As the tall undead stood again and ran to join the assualt, Evan tightly gripped one outstretched, chubby arm with his hand. Pivoting back on one foot, he whipped the form around forcefully, guiding him towards the brick corner of the building. He let go just slightly before the zombie collided with a hard brick corner. Then leapt to the side to dodge the other coming zombie.
The dodge came just too late, and Evan tumbled to the ground as the taller zombie roughly tackled him and sent them back onto the road. A meaty crack echoed from the nearby collision as he tumbled upon the ground with his assailant. The tall zombie attempted to bite his neck as they rolled to a stop on the sidewalk pavement, but Evan shielded the attempt with his arm. He felt the tight pinching as the human teeth pressed against heavy coat fabric. A piercing scream came from somewhere.
Kicking out with his legs and pushing his arm back, Evan tossed the figure from himself and leapt to his feet. As he whirled around the light, another zombie came into view merely twenty feet away, a dark skinned woman in a heavy dark coat. Two more were behind her, walking. The instant he recognized them they leaned forwards, engaging in a run with a bellowing wail.
There was no time left. The swarm they had heard before was now nearly upon him. Turning to flee, he saw the gate was open just a crack and the others were helping Robert squeeze through. Charging in that direction, Evan came in just behind the others, crashing into Jennifer as he tugged the iron bars shut with a loud squeal and slam. The first zombie came forwards to collide with the heavy bars just after they were shut.
In his adrenaline fueled state, Evan realized the sturdy binds that held the gate closed on his side still needed to be weaved through the bars, and acted. Kneeling, he dropped the light source where it clattered to the ground and grabbed one end of sturdy chain. Reaching his hands through the bars just long enough to loop around cast iron, he jumped back. A new set of teeth hit against iron, producing an unpleasant scraping noise where his gloved hand had been moments ago.
Evan passed the chain end to Zack and held on tightly as more grasping appendages reached out, gripping his hands and arms. Holding firm so the zombies would not unthread their primary means of protection, Evan tugged and leaned back with all his strength. The undead's grip was strong, but it slipped along the fabric of his coat or gloves. He lost one glove to their grasp before Zack managed to ensure the lock was once more secure and dropped it against the firmly sealed entryway with a heavy clatter of metal on metal.
It was a harrowing few seconds as Evan used all the strength he could muster to shake off the grip of those on the other side of the gate. Thankfully, with the primary task complete the other survivors gripped his shoulders and chest and engaged in a brief but successful tug of war with the undead. Finally, he slipped free and they stumbled backwards. Evan breathed deeply, recovering from the activity with a great sense of relief washing over him.
Looking at him with a shared sense of nervous relief, Jennifer spoke. "You're bleeding!"
Becoming dimly aware of a hot sensation on his cheek, Evan reached up his ungloved hand to touch at his temple. With cold numbing him, he could barely feel the sensation, but his fingers did come away moist with blood. "It's not a bite." Evan replied with a heavy breath, remembering the moment he was tackled and crashed upon the ground. "It's a scrape from falling down. It did almost bite me though, but I blocked it with the sleeve of my coat."
There was still concern at his assurances, but they put it aside for now and proceeded into the warmth of the Mansfield building. Evan remained in the lobby to let Jennifer clean and bandage the injury with their medical supplies. The others worked to find Robert a safe, empty room to continue resting.
Before leaving with Robert, Evan made sure to pass off the antibiotic medicine he had come out to fetch for Robert originally. Minoko briefly spoke to Evan in reply. "Thank you for everything you've done for us."
"No problem." Evan replied as Jennifer applied an alcohol soaked cotton ball to his skin. "If we're expecting someone from outside to send help to us, then we've got to be willing to help those around us when we can."
