As she was reveling in her victory her phone started to ring again, and ring, and ring, and ring, it did not cut off after four rings as it should have, but continued to ring, she did not hear any grunts or footsteps returning to her desk and in a brief, maniac moment, Amelia jumped up and grabbed her phone. She saw Fitz as she rose, he was only ten feet away and between her and the elevator, worse he was coming right towards her. This phone call had better have been worth it, hopefully it was the police, the army, or building security.
“Hello? Is anybody there, Kirkpatrick’s gone crazy he…he’s noticed me! Help me! Send help! Oh God! Stay away from me!” It took her a second to realize she was speaking to a dial tone.
Chapter 9
Nancy remembered the terrible panic she felt when Fred’s teeth punctured the skin above her right ankle. At first she had felt no pain. Much like when you touch a hot stove, your body automatically jerks your hand away to prevent further damage. Nancy tried to pull her leg free from his grasp but Fred had a firm hold on her. He worked his jaw up and down tearing flesh with each bite.
It didn’t take long for the pain to become very real. She could feel Fred’s teeth scraping against her shin bone like a hungry dog chewing on a treat. He had pulled her from the window and they were both lying on the floor, Nancy, face down on her stomach. Fred resembled a child at a picnic eating a piece of corn on the cob. He too was face down with his elbows braced against the floor, hands securely holding her. When Nancy felt her Achilles tendon snap and roll up into ball inside what was left of her calf muscle her vision went pink and then black. She willingly let her body go into shock and passed out.
Fred had not been dead long and the energy he absorbed from Nancy crashed upon his body like a strong ocean wave. It was as if he had been awakened from a deep sleep. He was still almost completely blind from Nancy’s coffee and yet, he could see colors, energy. Fred did not need his eyes to see this energy as much as he could feel it. It radiated like thermal heat patterns he had seen on the nightly weather forecasts. Fred looked down, he was holding something, as he stared it went from a bright red color to, orange, yellow, green, and then a deep blue. His black fingers contrasted against the color of Nancy's leg as if he held a fluorescent light bulb. His whole body radiated this black, ghostly energy.
Even though Fred could already start to feel his new energy fading, he had fed on enough to make himself feel better, much better. It was like the best rush he had ever experienced. He got to his feet. He had to find more. He scanned the room. The computer had a green tinge, outside Nancy’s office the coffee pot was a burning red, and rest of the room was cool blackish violet color.
Fred was drawn to the hot red of the coffee pot and he eagerly started moving towards it. He was close to his destination when he was forced to a sudden stop. Fred looked down to see what was blocking his path. In his hands he still clutched Nancy’s leg. It had gone from blue to the same blackish violet color that radiated throughout the room. Unknowingly he had been dragging her body. She had flipped over onto her back and upper body had become wedged between her office door and it's frame. He watched as the remaining color from her body vanished, she was now as black as he was.
Fred forced his hands to release their grip and continued towards the red energy. The coffee blistered his throat but he felt no pain nor did he receive the same rush as he had experienced from Nancy. Confused he dropped the coffee pot to the ground.
Fred thought about waiting for Peggy to arrive, he desired her as much as ever but in a much different way. Somewhere in his malfunctioning mind he knew that the woman was supposed to be here. Peggy would have the same energy as Nancy. In the end Fred couldn’t wait that long, he needed to feed. There was nothing left in the Marketing Department that attracted Fred’s attention so he decided to see what the rest of the building had to offer. He stepped into the hallway looking for that delicious red energy.
Chapter 10
Max took the lead heading up to the second floor, with Officer Stewart behind him and Steve bringing up the rear. It came as a surprise that Steve did not make any remarks about Stewart’s ass, which probably saved his life. As they approached the second floor landing high above them in the stairwell the fourth floor door swung open. They could all hear a shuffling sound on the top landing, but could not quite see anything. Max switched to, a slower, quieter pace and listened intently as he approached the door leading to the second floor. The shuffling sound continued above them.
“Should we yell out?”
“Fuck that, no way.” said Steve.
“We don’t know that they are zombified yet, they might be human.”
“We can’t leave them in our exit, either Steve.” whispered Officer Stewart, “What if we have to make a hasty retreat, we don’t want to be dealing with this guy in the stairway?”
“Look he or she or it will hear us on the PA, I’ll watch the stairwell from Kirkpatrick’s office and if no one comes out the door we know we have zombie issues here, right? Why find trouble?”
Max found both arguments reasonable, however he was in favor of just yelling up the stairwell to see if he got a response.
“Wait, what if I snuck up the stairs for a peak? I could motion to whomever it is to get them to join us if they are still human?”
“Hmmm… It should be me, I have the gun.” stated Stewart.
“No-no, I should go, I have a bat, it would be easy enough to whack someone if they are shambling along, right? Almost no danger at all.”
“Yeah like the bathroom?”
“Hey! I didn’t know what I was up against then! Plus I had dropped my bat!”
“Fine, fine if you think you can handle it go ahead and go…”
“Hello!?” a man’s voice called from the top floor landing, “Is someone down there?”
“Oh sure, see! You let it know we are here!” whispered Steve angrily.
“What are talking about, the guy is alive, he is calling for us. Why are we still whispering?”
They all heard someone coming down the stairs, “I can see you there. Why won’t you answer me?”
Sure enough the trio saw a face peering down at them through the railings, the face stopped coming down the stairs, waiting for an answer.
“Sure we are here.” said Stewart, “Who are you? I am Police Officer Stewart.”
“A police officer! Friggin-a! You gotta come up here, old man Sawyer went insane and killed Rhonda Pulcher and attacked me! I locked him in the break room, he does not seem to be thinking too well and can’t get out. Come on!”
“No, you come here, where we can see you. Sawyer will have to wait we are trying to get to somewhere else. We have to do one thing at a time right now, that’s it, come on down here. What is your name?”
The figure coming down the stairs was a young male, maybe twenty two, he had brown hair and a straight, lanky build. He had an id card and name badge, but it was still too far away to be read. He came forward slowly, but steadily and seemed to be favoring one arm. His pant leg on one side was coated with blood.
“I’m Tom. Tom Eby. I work in ITC, networking. Who are these guys?”
“I am Max, this is Steve, we work for George Gains down in Licensing, I think you reset my password for me about two months ago when I locked myself out, you work nights right? What happened to your arm and leg?”
“Gains, yeah, I keep the batch processes going and help out any of the early birds who have problems in the morning. Sawyer friggin’ grabbed my leg and tried to bite me. Bite me! Couldn’t believe what I saw, I saw him munching down on Rhonda in the break room, I went to back out and slipped on all the blood, none of it is mine, but it made a mess. Anyway I punched Sawyer in the face, musta broke his nose, cause he backed right off and let me go. I crawled out the door and slammed it behind me. You know that file cabinet by the break room? No? Yeah you probably don’t get up to the fourth floor too much. Anyway Joe and Frank blocked me in the break room one night as a joke by moving that cabinet in front of the door. I just heaved it over, I got it about halfway over the door and Sawyer couldn't get out. I think I sprained my shoulder.”