Now, the place seemed void of the creatures.
“Where did they all go?” Nitsy whispered to him.
He shrugged.
The place was empty of the infected.
Or was it?
The entire perimeter of the circular room was hidden in darkness. Robbie imagined the zombie-like students standing with their backs against the wall, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce on them. Were they that smart? Were these things intelligent?
“The phones,” Nitsy whispered.
He nodded and followed her to the spot on their left where Mrs. Price and her crew had set up shop. This was where they watched the students and waited for their turn at the podium. It was where the computer sat on a table that was now controlling the Kennedy flick. The bucket of phones had to be over there too. It was the only place that made sense.
Nitsy moved with purpose, stepping over the body of a fallen student and walking stealthily over to the laptop on the table. Robbie stood behind her and acted as a guard while she squatted down and searched the area around the floor for the bucket.
While she was busy under the table, Robbie thought he saw something at the rear of the auditorium, way back near where he’d sat earlier with Nitsy. Where they’d made their escape. It was so dark back there, but Robbie thought he saw a girl standing with her arms at her sides. Perfectly straight, as if she were a statue frozen in time.
Robbie tapped his foot softly against the floor to try and get Nitsy’s attention. He wouldn’t dare take his eyes off the shadowy figure at the back of the auditorium. Yet, he wasn’t sure if what he thought he was seeing was real at all. His mind could be playing tricks on him. If one of the creatures were back there, wouldn’t it have attacked them by now?
The one outside didn’t.
“Found it,” Nitsy whispered from under the table.
She reached up to the table and grabbed hold of it to pull herself up, and when she did, her fingers accidentally mashed the spacebar on the laptop. President Kennedy’s voice came to life, finishing his heartfelt moment, and throwing Robbie and Nitsy into the frying pan.
“Shit,” Nitsy said as she realized what she’d done and hit the space bar again to pause the video.
The sudden disappearance of sound seemed louder than the video popping on at full blast. Nitsy stood up, beside Robbie, with her arms hugging a big white bucket. Her shovel was on the floor. Robbie wanted to tell her to just grab a few of the phones, but what if those few were locked and were useless. It was better to bring the whole bucket. Robbie’s eyes were on Nitsy when he heard it.
“Huh,” came a noise at the back of the auditorium.
It was the shadowy figure Robbie thought he’d seen. Its head jerked up and to the left, like the woman outside.
Nitsy held the bucket in her arms and stood next to Robbie, staring out at the sea of scattered chairs where one by one figures emerged from the floor. Shadowy strangers popped up to their feet as if they’d been sleeping or lying on the floor in confusion. Now, everywhere, at least fifty of them were staring back at Robbie and Nitsy. But none of them moved.
Robbie jerked when loud banging suddenly came from the door behind them. Growling followed and Robbie knew it was the woman outside in the hall. She’d heard the sound of the movie, and now she was furiously pounding on the door.
The noise from the door threw the others into action. It seemed to excite them, and suddenly they all shrieked at the ceiling and started forward. Running at full sprints, the creatures fell over chairs and kicked them out of the way as they charged toward Robbie and Nitsy.
“Run,” Robbie told her.
Nitsy turned to flee. The only way out was through the door they’d entered. They would have to barrel right over the woman outside. If any others were out there, they would be fucked, but it didn’t matter. That was their escape route, and Robbie raced beside Nitsy as they headed for the door.
From seemingly out of thin air, one of the creatures pounced on them from the left. Robbie reacted quickly and swung his machete down at the crown of its head. He kicked the creature’s chest and yanked his machete free, but in trying to save them from the attacking monster, he took his eyes off Nitsy.
21
Nitsy was almost out the door when she felt claws dig into her left shoulder blade. One of the things was on her, digging its fingers into her flesh. She tried to reach for Robbie. He was close but slightly ahead of her, holding onto the door when one of them came at him and he struck with his machete. Blood rained down over her, hitting her lip, and covering her hands.
The world seemed to move in slow motion. Behind her, the things were coming fast. She heard their footsteps, shrieks, and growls. Metal and plastic crashed as they threw things out of their way to get to her, and she was stuck running with this plastic bucket in her hands.
When she reached for Robbie again, her fingers couldn’t keep hold of the bucket, and then the weight of the other creatures was on her, pulling her down. The bucket slid from her hands and crashed to the floor. She tried to reach for Robbie, but she couldn’t get her hands on him. Then she was on the floor with creatures piled on top of her.
The sound of the insects crawling around so close to her made her scream.
She couldn’t become one of them. She wouldn’t.
“Nitsy!” Robbie called out to her.
For only a moment, through the crowd swarming all over her, she caught a glimpse of him swinging the machete again.
He looked at her with his brow furrowed and his mouth open wide with horror.
“No!” she screamed.
The buzz and the clicking from the insects rang in her ears. It was over. They had her. She would become one of them.
Infected bodies smothered her, and as they moved, she caught quick flashes of Robbie swinging his machete. He wasn’t giving up. He wouldn’t leave her.
She tried to scream, to assure him she was still in here, but her breath caught in her throat.
A heaviness fell on top of her head.
The insects were on her. She could hear their gnashing, feel their squirming, and smell the foul rot of their tiny bodies.
Nitsy’s body went slack. Her chest hit the floor, and then she noticed something. There was wiggle room beneath all the creatures. They’d piled on top of each other in their efforts to attack her, and in doing so, they’d left a hollowed-out spot beneath them. She grabbed hold of whatever limbs were in her way and pulled, dragging herself across the floor.
Now that the bugs were on her, it seemed they’d lost interest in her. They began to crawl away from her, and she headed toward the door.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her nose ran. Slobber fell from her desperate, crying mouth. She only wanted to get away from them.
But they were on her. They were there, digging their way into her scalp. She could feel them.
Realization hit her as she crawled on all fours and fought her way back to her feet. Her fingers dug into the mouth of the creature Robbie had hit with the machete and her left palm pressed against the back of another fallen monster. They were everywhere around her, and she knew she needed to get away.
Finally, Nitsy found her feet and yanked open the auditorium door.
“Robbie!” she yelled as she watched him swing the machete into the face of the infected woman who’d been outside.
Up on the balcony, a creature fell into the bushes. This one didn’t break his neck like Elias. It rose to its feet quickly and charged after her.
Nitsy’s shovel was gone. She’d dropped it when she went for the bucket of phones, which was also gone.