Whispers on an Undying World

Run

The fifth floor was clear, though it looked trashed. There wasn’t any blood here, but clearly the people left in a hurry. It looked like the only floor that didn’t do that was the top floor. Bad luck being on the top floor.

They walked through the empty corridor, to the other side of the building. Before they opened the door to the stairwell Micha remembered that it wasn’t just food that was inside her bag. She pulled it off and crouched down while looking through her supplies. Laughing, she was glad she had this habit. Looking up at Thomas, she held up a baton and a knife in its belt case. “Would you like a baton, knife, or both?”

Frowning down at her, he undid his belt and strapped the cases to his belt. “Aren’t batons illegal in California?”

Pulling out a second of both, she put them on her belt. “Yes they are but I live in Oregon and they are legal there. I just happened to forget it was in my bag.”

After fitting herself with weapons, she looked through the rest of the bag. Although there was less water than she wanted, there were food bars and supplements that didn’t go bad. Along with the food were ponchos, emergency blankets, Para cord, and an extra pair of clothing, fishing supplies, duct tape, bandage wraps and a few other things.

Looking around Micha found magazines and quickly started taping them to her fore-arms. Now that she had time to think, she figured out a plan. Thomas stared at her in confusion while she went through her bag, when she got to the magazines he realized what she was doing and did the same. He didn’t ask questions, but he had to have some by now.

With her bag back on, she grabbed the baton off her waist and stood ready. Thomas tried the door, but it was locked like the last one. Rolling her eyes, she put the baton on the ground and continued what she did earlier and picked the lock. She was quiet this time, opening the door slightly so she could look in the stairwell before going in. To her dismay there were more of those things at the half-floor mark. She closed it, shaking her head at Thomas.

They sat there a moment before Thomas walked around the floor, looking out each window. When he returned he told her there was a fire escape on the opposite side but it was also by the stairs that were not behind closed door. There was a high chance that there were more of those things waiting just out of view. Thomas pointed at the window next to a fractal painting; outside there was a fire escape stairs. Across from the art building was another building, she opened the window and looked down; the alleyway was blocked off on both sides by chain-link fences. It was empty but she got out of the window and onto the landing quickly. Thomas was behind her, shutting the window. He could hear screams from down stairs, and they would have to be very quiet so they don’t attract attention.

“Hey, shouldn’t we go get the people from upstairs?” Micha whispered at the hulking man, his unsure look made her think that he thought it was a bad idea. “They don’t know and they’ll just stay up there until they can’t get out.”

Thomas clenched his jaw. “If we bring them down and they make too much noise, those people down stairs will come up and attack us. Are you willing to chance that?”

Micha looked at him, trying to hide some of her disgust. “Are you willing to leave those people to die? Without even trying?”

He stared at her blankly for a solid minute, the longer he didn’t answer the longer she thought it was a bad idea to let him come with her. “Fine. But if they attract those things I’m running without looking back.” For a second Micha questioned his empathy for others but as they climbed the stairs again she heard him mutter. “There will be more people in danger if this spreads.”

They ran back to the last staircase, picked it, and then ran up to the last floor. When they burst through the door everyone they had left before stood there staring at them like they were insane. Their shock leads to silence; in that time Micha rushed an explanation. “Hello, my name is Micha. This is going to sound insane but you need to come with us. There are people down stairs that won’t think twice about killing you.”

That was the worst way to break it to them, they began shouting questions and telling them that they were crazy. It took five minutes to get them to talk quietly, though sometimes it wouldn’t work. After another five minutes they only got fifteen to leave with them, everyone was clear about it being safer to stay in the locked room until help came. Regardless of what the two of them said the others wouldn’t believe that help wasn’t coming.

Now that they had a group, they gave up on those that refused and left. They climbed the safe shaft to the fifth floor; it was here that they could hear the screaming from the floor below. Some people whimpered but over all were quiet. They walked by the carpeted stairs to the window with the fire escape, they opened it and Micha went out first. One after another they got everyone ranging from ten to sixty years old out; Thomas was going around the room trying to find anything to block the stairs and tried to quietly move it.

Thomas ran back quickly and motioned her up; she followed him but stayed quiet. Something about his urgency made her silent while she followed. They were the last to crawl through the window. Shutting the window, they jumped out of view when someone ran up the stairs covered in blood. By the incoherent screaming it was easy to assume that the body was someone infected.

Leading, Thomas pulled her down the stairs, urging them to go faster while being careful to look in the windows to make sure they weren’t seen from anyone inside.

“Do you have a car?” Micha tiptoed down the stairs, careful to not make too much noise as they went down. The last thing she wanted was to be caught on the landing being chased by those things.

Thomas shook his head. “I was staying at a hotel.” He followed as she descended to the next floor, slowly checking again. “On a business trip from New York.” It looked like they were fixing the road in the alleyway and shut it off recently, the fences were temporary.

They were down to the second level when they saw a small group of people running down the road. Although it wasn’t the busy side of town it was odd that it was only now they were seeing people. Right behind them were two men that were running funny. Thomas froze at the same time she did, it was pure luck that they weren’t seen, but they didn’t want to chance it. They ran the rest of the flight down, kicking down the stairs when they reached the suspended level. “I have a car, it’s a few blocks from here but if we run we can make it.”

When they got to the ground, everyone ran in different directions clearly not wanting to stay together. That drew attention but they would make do.

Although Micha hadn’t considered it because numbers were better when things got out of hand, right now would be the perfect time for him to go off on his own. It seems that he hadn’t considered that either because he nodded, following close behind with his baton at the ready. It was then that they heard screaming; luckily it was the opposite way they were going. She ran for the right exit, pushing it aside the fence then looked left and right. There were people everywhere on this side, most were alive and trying to get into houses or cars but there were a few covered in blood and running with weird strides.

Micha didn’t let herself think about what she did next, they ran by bodies being eaten and women getting attacked without stopping. Somehow the police found it impossible to stop them, shoot at anything covered in blood, and now it made more sense. They weren’t organizing the people because the police didn’t know which were not infected.

A few times they were run at they managed to knock the things down with the batons. They went into game mode, forgetting that these things were people not long before. In fact they didn’t let anything get in the way of making it to her red jeep. The two ran the entire way, ignoring police, zombies, hurt people, and laws along the way. Survival of the fittest kicked in.

Micha was breathing heavily, still holding the baton she grabbed her keys from her pocket and unlocked the door. Thomas beat in the head of a man that looked like he was in his thirties before turning crazy and bleeding from the eyes.

She threw off her pack and got in, turning on the truck as Thomas got in the passenger seat. Micha flipped the car into reverse and flew through the streets, ignoring every light while driving over curbs. Micha had to swerve to avoid hitting a couple covered in blood running out of a diner. Taking a turn to sharply they skid into an intersection, and were forced to a stop when she almost hit an army truck.

Thomas was the first to get out of the car; he shook his hand at her when she turned the gear into reverse again. “It’s fine let me handle this.”

What happened next was something she wouldn’t have thought would, he saluted the nearest marked soldier and began talking. After watching them for a few minutes it was clear he had a history with the military but she had no idea what. They continued talked adamantly for five minutes, which seemed like so much more.

Unsure of how long she could wait, even with her truck being surrounded by an armed guard, Micha leaned over the console and rummaged through her larger bag she kept in the truck. Micha might not have the chance to go through it again so she grabbed what she thought she needed most. Another pair of clothes, a sweater and jacket, her small first aid kit, and satchel that she always kept under her back seat that held her quick camping gear. It had everything from a C.B. radio to matches and a map of the west coast states.

Micha was quick to pull off the magazines and replaced them with archer bracers. Although she rarely used it, she kept collapsible arrows and bow below that. When she was finished setting up her pack she looked back at Thomas’ back. The soldiers left her alone for the most part, but they occasionally looked in the window as they passed by.

More than once she heard screaming and gunfire.

Thomas appeared and jumped back in the truck. “I got us a ride, follow that truck.” His scowl hadn’t softened, though it was clear he was figuring stuff out. Micha did what he asked, though reluctantly.

They were in silence for a while; nothing was on the radio either except the emergency broadcast.

They were stopped at a barricade when they were rushed out of her car; she had enough time to grab her gear before they rushed them into a very tall building. There were hundreds of people in there, along with the military moving them along. Thomas ushered her to the stairs. They were up six stories like it was nothing; Thomas rushed to get on the helicopter that was getting ready to take off.

It was then that the first bomb hit.

A jet zoomed overhead, dropping the first hit just south of their position. It was so loud that everyone on the roof fell to the ground and covered their ears. Thomas dragged Micha to her feet then threw her into the helicopter. The two other soldiers jumped up as well, after taking a headset to tell the pilot to take off.

There were three other passengers, all of which were men that looked oddly similar to each other despite being different races, ages, and personalities. The man on the far left was in his early twenties, his skin was near coffee colored which matched his clothes, and he wore a leather jacket and jeans. Despite having a bad boy look, he was holding onto a backpack tightly something obviously important to him.

Next to the man in the leather jacket was an Asian descendant, he was in his late twenties to early thirties but looked so fit that it was odd. Even though it was stereotypical, he could have been a samurai despite being in modern day clothes. To be closer to his description, he would be a pop-singer playing a samurai including the attractive face and stern look. He was more casual, wearing a t-shirt with captain America shield on it with blue jeans.

The last man was in his early thirties with bright red hair, Micha wasn’t sure if it was dyed or natural but it was pulled back into a braid. He was just as tall as Thomas and very similar body build, but somehow he looked like he could be a Viking despite wearing thick black glasses. He had blue eyes that didn’t seem like they were actually seeing anything, but at the same time seeing more than she was.

They were clearly from different clicks yet they had the same look, they knew something that they weren’t telling. Whatever that could be.

Micha had the feeling that this was a high profile group and yet she was on the same copter.

No one besides the pilot and the co-pilot spoke the entire flight. It might have been the overwhelming noise or the awkward silence that caused it.

The group was rushed to the airport where they ascended within ten minutes.

Thomas managed to commandeer a few seats next to each other leaving Micha thoroughly confused against the window seat; it was only after they were in the air that anyone dared to talk.

“Thomas.” Micha leaned over so she could talk with him quietly; it was then that she realized that they were the only ones that were covered in blood amongst the passengers.

He looked down at her, brown eyes looking tired. “Yeah?”

“Why am I here?” She sighed and rubbed her head. “What I mean is, how did you get us on that helicopter in front of everyone else?”

He laughed then shrugged. “You came prepared.” Thomas said that like it explained everything.

Now that it was calm, Thomas’s face reflected that.

The Asian guy was sitting in front of them now; he turned around then and sat in the seat on his knees. “What did you study?”

Frowning she looked at him for a minute, “Mathematics and engineering.”

He smirked then held his hand out for her to shake. “I’m Matt, Bio-engineering.” He pointed to the red head. “That’s Garett Physics, and that is Sean ‘Bio-science.’ He mainly deals with human blood work.” Matt did quotation marks in the air when he said Bio-science; she completely missed the point of that.

“I’m Micha.” She was too confused at how they could be related that she looked at Thomas. “So why are you guys on this plane?”

Matt laughed, curling his bangs around his ear. “We were renting the same house when this hit. It feels like it’s been longer that a few hours right?” He chuckled again then waved at the rest of the plane. “Everyone being air-lifted out was going to the university or the lab. Except public servants, some of the people we passed were the senator and his wife.” He whispered the last bit while ticking off his fingers, telling her their statuses.

“What is he talking about?”

“So you’re a student too, who would have guessed?” Thomas chuckled while adjusting in his seat. “Why were you carrying around that bag Micha?”

“Did you lie to that guy?”

Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. “I guess I didn’t.”

“What did you tell him to get us on this flight?”

“You were a student going to her dad’s funeral, and you were most likely useful because you were the one that made the plan that got us out.” He smirked at her while crossing his arms, clearly intending to sleep. “I have a knack for finding useful people.”

Matt laughed. “There’s no way that would work.” He pulled at his phone then, quickly typed in something that she couldn’t see. When he was finished he was showing her the inside of the building they ran through to get to the helicopter. It looked like he hacked into the cameras and was switching between them. “That looks like one of the richest families in Sacramento; there is nothing this guy could have said that got you two in front of them.” He pointed at the two of them. “We are the top three in the school; all of us have jobs waiting for us at a research center. That explains why we are here, but not you.”

“This was the easiest way out.” That was her reason for being on this flight, but it because obvious that Thomas had his own reasons. Micha turned to ask him but his eyes were shut and head leaning against the cold helicopter window, clearing pretending to sleep. Rolling her eyes, Micha tried to get service on her phone. She was able to piggy back a signal and sent a SOS out to her home hub, it would start backing up all files to an exterior memory source. Micha had the feeling she had been found out, it was the only explication as to why Thomas would get her on a helicopter with Ivy league smarties.

Thomas pretended to be asleep for the rest of the flight; he refused to answer any more questions. Somehow that man managed to make more questions than answers.

The number one question: why the hell did Thomas get her on this helicopter?