The door opened with a slight squeak and two desks flanked the door. This small office looked like it was for secretaries, since there was another door on the back wall. The room was sparse and utilitarian, having little more than the desks, chairs, computers, and file cabinets. I didn’t bother with the file cabinets, they probably didn’t have what I was looking for anyway. I did notice there were long scratch marks on the interior door’s wood frame and that added another clue as to what happened here.
I tried the door, but found it locked. I took the butt of my rifle and tapped the glass, the sound seeming enormous in the quiet building. I listened carefully, but didn’t hear anything else. Looking into the room through the hole I had made, I didn’t see anything off kilter. I reached into the hole and pushed on the handle, opening the door.
The office was neat and tidy with a large view of the compound. The sunlight was a welcome relief to the dark of the building and I circled the desk to see if I could find anything.
Boy, did I ever. I turned the high-backed chair around and jumped back as a corpse fell towards me. It thudded to the floor and didn’t move. Once my heart calmed down, I approached the body cautiously. Not seeing any movement, I put the rifle barrel into its shoulder and turned the corpse over. One look told me this one was dead for good. The man had a single bullet hole above his left ear and what was left of his brains was scattered on the far wall. I wondered if this suicide was related to the scratches on the door as I pulled the Beretta out of his hand, tucking it away for future use if needed. A quick search of the office revealed a laptop, which I took, two binders labeled “Communications”, and another binder labeled “Solutions”. I had no idea what might be in that one, but my curiosity was piqued. I figured if the laptop could be fired up, maybe there were files that might shed some clues on the world’s situation. I found a small box of ammunition for the Beretta, so that was a plus.
I packed up the binders and ammo and tucked the Beretta into a side pocket. I heard something, but it didn’t register as important. I looked out the window and I could see Tommy walking back from the building he had checked out. He was dragging something on the ground, but from that distance I couldn’t tell what it was. I couldn’t see anyone else, so I figured they were busy.
I left the office and headed towards the hallway. I would look through the information later. I opened the door to the hallway, then quickly closed it again. The empty hallway I had walked through earlier was now filled with ghouls. The noise I had made earlier must have stirred them. The two in front who turned to look at me when I opened the door were in sorry shape, being little more than emaciated skeletons. But their intent was clear as they stumbled towards the door with clawed hands reaching out for me. They were dressed in filthy hospital gowns, so I wondered what was going on in this building. I locked the door and backed away, bringing up my weapon as dead hands started to beat on the glass. I mentally kicked myself as I watched the glass I had broken start to develop cracks from the undead onslaught. I could see more hands start to pound the door and I knew I had little time.
I moved one of the secretary’s desks in front of the door, then moved the other one on top of the first one. The desks were cheap metal government-issue garbage and not much good for anything, but I just needed a little time. The glass broke as I levered the second desk into place and I shoved the grasping hands back with it. I ran back to the inner office just as the horde of hands shoved the top desk out of the way and corpses began to squeeze through the opening, tearing their skin and clothing on shards of glass still embedded in the door.
I didn’t wait for more. I closed the inner office door and slid the heavier desk in front of it. I didn’t have much time and needed to get out of here fast. I figured I could make it out the window since I was only on the second floor. I grabbed the office chair and threw it at the window and watched the damn thing bounce off and clatter at my feet.
Well, try, try again as the sounds of the outer door crashing open and the desks being shoved out of the way filtered through. I grabbed the chair and threw it harder, causing only a small crack in the glass.
“Fuck this.” I said as dead hands started to pound on Rickerson’s office door, shaking the desk. I drew my SIG and fired two shots through the glass, the reports sounding unbelievably loud in the office and causing the Z’s to groan and scrabble at the door all the harder.
I picked up the chair again and hurled it through the window, the glass finally shattering outward and cascading down like sharp rain. I looked out the window and ducked as Tommy raised his rifle at me. He didn’t shoot and I poked my head up again to see him raise a tentative hand in my direction. I waved back and climbed out the window as the desk gave way and ghouls started falling through the door.
I hung down for a second, then let go, falling about ten feet and landing in a pile of leaves. I looked up to see three zombie heads staring down at me and I scrambled to my feet to get some distance in case they decided to follow me. I walked backwards towards Tommy and the two of us just watched as the office filled to capacity with dead people. They milled around the room, not really understanding where their meal went.
“Find what you’re looking for?” Tommy asked, not taking his eyes off the zombies.
“Don’t know yet. Got some binders that may have some answers, but there were some labs up there that might have some real interesting information” I said.
Tommy raised his eyebrows. “Labs?”
“Yeah, some strange things on the doors like Cross Contact and such,” I said.
“Creepy.”
“Yeah.”
I checked my watch and we saw Charlie heading back our way. He was carrying a small bundle and moving quickly towards us. When he reached our position he stopped and looked back. Apparently what he saw was good news to him because he visibly relaxed.
“Well, that was close,” Charlie said, putting the bundle on the ground.
“What’d you find?” Tommy asked.
“Ammo. About 600 rounds. You?”
Tommy patted his find. “Got a small output generator here. Found it in the office of the garage over there.”
I nodded. That was a good find. “What do you mean ‘That was close’,” I asked Charlie.
I heard a crashing and looked back towards the barracks. Two soldiers, obviously dead, stumbled out of the building and lurched slowly towards us. They were dressed in full battle gear, complete with Kevlar armor and helmets.
“Oh,” was all I could say.
Charlie shrugged his shoulders and I pointed to the office window, which was nearly bursting with zombies. Two of them were being squeezed out the window and grimy handprints covered the glass and wall.
Movement on our left caught our attention and we looked over to see Sarah, Martin and Rebecca heading our way and fast. On their heels were Jason and Casey and they were moving at a dead run.
A couple of seconds later a horde of zombies came pouring out from between the two main buildings, stumbling and tripping, but moving forward, nonetheless. The graying mass surged forward when they saw additional victims, and we all gaped for a second before I found my voice.
“Run! To the cars now!” I grabbed one end of the small generator and Tommy and I bolted for the cars, followed by Charlie and the rest. Sarah and Rebecca actually beat us to the cars and jumped into the driver’s seats, getting the cars ready for a quick exit.
Charlie dumped his ammo into the back seat and climbed in, followed by the others. Tommy and I actually wound up bringing up the rear. As we passed the gate I shocked the heck out of Tommy by dropping the generator and running to the left, dragging the heavy gate into place. Tommy saw what I was doing and ran to the other side, swinging the right hand gate into place.