Zombie survivor

Chapter 6.

"We have to leave now.”

"You said it would be until ten o'clock tonight?”

"That was before we knew this was a worldwide outbreak, we have to get to the USA before they close the borders and force us to stay here.”

I looked at the people around me and asked: "Who did you tell them?”

"All the exchange people. It's just us, the rest refused.”

"We can't leave them...”

"We can't force them to come with us either" he told me seriously.

I nodded, he was right after all. I went straight to the stairs on my way to the room. I quickly walked in and found Austin finishing packing, I just ran to grab my suitcase.

"You were supposed to have everything ready by now" I observed.

"He said, ten o'clock at night, it was still a long way off" the boy excused himself in a hurry.

I rolled my eyes and stayed to help him so we could leave as soon as possible. We met Janet in the hallway and went downstairs together. We met the rest of them at the back of the lobby where no one else could see us. Everyone was too distracted watching the TV anyway.

I still couldn't help thinking that we were abandoning them to their fate, that the city was probably already lost, we would manage to escape. But they would have to stay there locked in certain death. I remembered what Jeff said, they were free to leave or stay if they wished, however, I did not want to leave them there.

"Are they ready?" asked Jeffh, looking as nervous as we were.

"No" I replied: "But I doubt I will be any time soon.”

Jeffh shrugged his shoulders before we started walking towards the sclares leading to the parking lot, then one of the guards stopped us.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?”

"To Narnia, are you coming?" Alex replied sarcastically.

"You can't leave the hotel" he pointed out.

"And you can't force us to stay inside" Vanessa replied.

"If you leave, you will put us all in danger" he said angrily.

Jeff ignored him and went down a steep, challenging him. The guard, as scared as he was angry, took his gun from his belt and pointed it at us.

"No one is getting out of here!" he shouted: "Those things will come in and kill us all!”

Everyone in the room decided to ignore the TV to watch the scene. Behind the people, I watched as the noise in the lobby drew the attention of the monsters in the street, many approached the glass interested. Jeff set his luggage on the floor and advanced to stop right in front of the guard and his gun.

"Come on, man. Shoot, if you're so brave" he challenged.

The guard hesitated, his hands shaking too much. I was just afraid he would pull the trigger. Jeff rolled his eyes and turned back towards the stairs, I was ready to follow him when I heard a shot behind us. The officer had fired into the ceiling to get our attention.

"The next one will go to your head if you don't turn back!”

As Halston and Jeff answered him trying to calm him down, I watched the monsters in the street. One, in particular, backed away slowly, then took off running and rammed into the glass with such force that it shattered.

Janet let out a scream as the creatures approached the security gate and began to push her. They stretched their arms between the holes, trying to reach us. I watched the hinges on the edges, they were buckling under the force of the monsters. The guard took his gun and started shooting at them. He hit every one of them, although only a few of them fell down. People began to scream and run from one side to the other, furniture and objects that we had used to protect the entrance away began to fall to the ground.

"Let's get out of here" said Jeff as he grabbed Janet by the arm and they ran together towards the parking lot below.

Everyone followed him without thinking, I stayed a few seconds longer in the room. I watched as the security fence came down, the monsters easily passed our makeshift barricade and pounced on the people closest to us. I followed my friends while behind me I was still listening to what was being said on the TV.

"...according to testimonies of those who survived the attack at the Vatican, it is recommended to stay away from the infected as soon as they stop showing traces of their identity. And if escape is not possible, defend yourself. And something that they emphasize a lot... does not let yourself be touched by these beasts.” Was the last thing I could hear.

We went down to the basement while the screams and gunshots from the upper floor completely tormented me. The place was too big, surely I could fit at least a hundred cars in there. That only made me more frustrated to see it empty. Meters and meters of gray floor and steel columns, with equally large beams in the ceiling. Drawers and signs were painted on the ground in a horrible yellow color, and not a car in sight.

"Damn it!" blurted Austin.

"What now?" asked Sam in fright.

I heard some strange moans coming down the stairs, a shiver ran through my body. Death was already coming after us.

"That way!" Vanessa pointed to the only exit insight, a huge metal gate.

We all ran towards the point, somewhat difficult to carry the luggage, I promised myself that if I got involved in a complicated chase I would have to get rid of it. When we arrived we all pulled the sliding gate to open it, I was surprised to realize that it was not secured with a padlock or lock.

We opened just enough space so that we could get out one by one, and then we continued down the back street, narrower than the main avenue and with much smaller buildings. I turned quickly to look at the huge hotel from the outside, screams still reaching the street, while smoke from some fire escaped through two broken windows.

As I ran I couldn't stop thinking about all those people we had left behind...it wasn't fair. I felt terrible. Sam's muffled scream brought me back to reality, behind us about five of those things were following us; although they were going pretty fast, not fast enough to pose much of a threat, still, having them behind us worried me too much.

We turned onto a street, with a few parked cars. Without saying anything to each other, we knew what to do. Every time we passed one of them we stopped to see if it could be opened somehow, although we were not so lucky. Up ahead, above the buildings rose a sign: "Petro Gas.”

"There!" I pointed to the sign: "It's a gas station, there must be something...”

Without another word, we all ran in the same direction, as we turned right at the next crossroads, I could see it. A few meters away from us was the establishment, with a huge paved esplanade with those gas dispensers, behind it a small building with glass walls... a*****e.