January 9, 2012 by Mark Lidstone

Zombies II – Chapter 6

VOTING FOR THIS CHAPTER IS NOW CLOSED. A NEW CHAPTER IS POSTED EVERY TUESDAY

This is the sixth chapter in my Vote Your Own Adventure series. You are in control. Vote on the options at the end to decide what happens next. A new chapter will be posted every Tuesday and the voting will end every Friday. Read chapter five here.

JACOB

Victoria stares at Elizabeth as she contemplates her answer. Elizabeth’s red hair is dangling in front of her face and her doe eyes stare at her. For the first time, Victoria notices the fresh bite wound on Elizabeth’s wrist. Elizabeth follows her gaze and pulls her sleeve over the wound before looking away in shame.

“Alright,” Victoria says. She knows she’s taking a risk letting Elizabeth join her but her conscience won’t let her leave her behind. Besides, she could use the company. “But my number one priority is my son. I won’t let anything stop me from getting him away from here. Understand?”

“I understand.”

Victoria nods and walks out of the room. She hears Elizabeth’s footsteps follow her into the blood-covered hallway.

“Where are we going?” Elizabeth asks.

“To the lobby downstairs. He definitely isn’t up here.”

“What about the second floor?”

“That’s where I came from. I saw him run toward the stairwell and disappear. If he didn’t come up here he must have gone down.”

The hallway is much quieter than when Victoria had first entered it. The screams of the maimed man have stopped. She can see him at the far end of the hall, his eyes are white and his mouth is gaping. He pulls himself through the thick blood and guts aimlessly.

Elizabeth walks past Victoria and checks each room in the same manner that Victoria had done earlier. She stops when she reaches the dorm that had housed the family with the dead daughter. She gasps and places her fingers over her lips.

Victoria joins Elizabeth and stares into the room. The body of the daughter lays on the floor and next to her is the slumped, mauled corpse of her father. The mother is nowhere to be found and the walls are covered in blood. Victoria takes Elizabeth by the arm and leads her away from the room.

They catch the attention of the legless zombie but easily avoid him. He stares up at them and forces out a raspy moan. One of his hands reach for them but Victoria ignores him and opens the door to the stairwell. Elizabeth gives him a sympathetic look as she follows her. The door closes behind them with a loud bang.

The two walk down the stairs in silence. Victoria pauses when they reach the second floor. She cautiously peeks through the battered door frame. Dunville is nowhere to be seen and the hallway is empty.

“What is it?” Elizabeth asks.

“Nothing.” Victoria tries not to think about where Dunville may have gone. She feels sick as she recalls the last encounter she had with a Savage – the feeling of dread when she’d barricaded herself in David’s office, silently praying it wouldn’t find her.

“Elizabeth,” Victoria says. “David is down there. He’s in his office.”

Elizabeth turns her head towards the hallway and stares down it in silence.

“He left something for you. There’s a note on his desk and another on his computer.”

After a long pause, Elizabeth turns to face Victoria. “I’ll go see him,” she says. “To say goodbye.”

“I can’t wait for you,” Victoria says.

“I know. I won’t be long. I’ll find you.”

Victoria nods. “Be careful, Elizabeth,” she says. “There was a Savage on this floor when I left.”

A worried look flashes across Elizabeth’s face. “Do you think it will attack me?”

“I don’t know.” Victoria forces a smile. “Hey, you’re already dead, right? How bad could it be?”

“No,” Elizabeth says. “I’m not dead.”

Victoria is immediately struck with guilt. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I didn’t mean…”

Elizabeth smiles at her and turns towards the hallway. The thought of David’s suicide runs through Victoria’s mind.

“Don’t forget to come back to me,” Victoria says. “No matter what you find.”

“I won’t,” Elizabeth says. She doesn’t turn around.

The two part ways and Victoria walks down the final flight of stairs to the lobby. As she reaches the door, she can hear a low, buzzing noise coming from the other side. The sound gets louder as she pulls the door open.

The room is very dark. The only source of light is a bulb in the middle of the room with a small, buzzing speaker under it. It had appeared in the building a few weeks back. It had been encased in a plastic dome with a keyhole.

Now, the case hangs open and the light blinks rhythmically, illuminating the room when it’s on. Two seconds of dark, two seconds of light.

Hundreds of white eyes float in the darkness, each one staring at the blinking light on the wall high above them. When the light flashes on, Victoria can make out dozens of zombies tightly packed into the room. They don’t seem to notice her.

At the far end of the room is a dim fluorescent light that reveals the exit. In the light she can see a small, standing figure looking in her direction. Jacob.

Victoria nearly shouts to him but she notices Jacob’s finger pressed against his lips telling her to keep quiet. She nods her head and Jacob motions for her to come to him.

She cautiously steps closer to the crowd but they pay no attention to her. They are packed together from wall to wall. The only way to get to Jacob is to push her way through.

She slowly reaches out and touches the arm of one of the closest zombies. A young girl who appears to be in her early twenties. She doesn’t turn her attention away from the blinking light. Victoria pushes her way into the crowd.

The smell is thick and musty – a mix of blood, dirt and decay. The light splashes over the pale faces around her. Victoria stares at each one cautiously as she pushes through them.

She gets further away from the light and one of them slowly turns its head towards her. Before its eyes connect with her, the light flashes out. Once it turns on again she finds herself face to face with her husband.

A knot tightens in Victoria’s stomach. A mixture of fear and sadness almost brings her to her knees but she holds her ground. After a few minutes, Kyle loses interest and turns his attention back to the blinking light and buzzing speaker. Victoria lingers for a moment, staring at his profile.

“Goodbye, Kyle,” she whispers. She pushes past him.

The further she gets from the light, the more heads turn to look at her. Their stares linger longer and longer. Each time, Victoria stands in place waiting for them to look away again. After what feels like hours, she reaches the end of the mob. A dozen heads turn to look at her at once. Eventually, all but one turn away. An elderly man continues to stare at her.

Victoria waits for nearly ten minutes but he doesn’t turn back to the light. He continues to stare at her until she is forced to move.

He turns his head to keep his gaze locked to her as she moves away from him. His body turns to face her when she finally steps out of the group but he doesn’t pursue her. She slowly backs away, keeping her eyes on him.

Victoria feels a tug on her pants and looks down. Her eyes immediately connect with Jacob’s. They aren’t white. They look completely normal. She drops to her knees in relief and pulls him into her arms.

“Daddy and Elena are in there,” he says. His voice is flat and emotionless. Victoria begins to cry and she pulls her arms from Jacob and takes his hand.

“I know,” she says. “But we can’t think about that now. It breaks Mommy’s heart but we have to leave them. We’re still alive and they would want us to get out of here. It isn’t safe here.”

Jacob’s eyes look into Victoria’s.

“I’m not,” he says.

Victoria scrunches her brows in confusion. “What do you mean? You don’t want to leave?”

Jacob’s eyes leave hers and he stares at the mob behind them. Victoria follows his gaze. Standing at the outskirts of the group, staring at the light along with the others, is a small boy. He looks identical to Jacob.

“I’m not alive,” he says.

Victoria stares at the zombie that looks like her son. She doesn’t say anything. She can’t say anything. His shirt and face are covered in blood but she’s sure it’s him. She turns back to the boy standing next to her.

“They broke the door while you were gone to the bathroom,” he says. “Daddy tried to fight them off but there was a lot of them. They grabbed me first. They pulled on my clothes and I tried to get away but they were too strong. I saw Daddy’s face for only a little bit before they covered my eyes. He was scared.”

Victoria falls from her knees to her bottom and tears pour from her eyes. She stares up at her son’s expressionless face as he continues his story.

“It hurt,” he said. “Even worse than the time I broke my arm. They bit me. My shoulders, my legs, everywhere. All at once. I couldn’t even scream. I was waiting for Daddy to save me but he couldn’t. I was hoping that you wouldn’t come back because they’d get you too. Then their fingers pushed into my belly and they tore my skin.”

Victoria’s hands shake as she struggles to wipe at her face. This can’t be happening. None of this is real. It can’t be.

“I…I’m sorry,” Victoria says.

“Then, I don’t know how, but I was OK. I was standing in the room and I wasn’t even bleeding. Daddy and Elena were being eaten. I wanted to help them but it was too late. I had to find you. I wanted to make sure you didn’t get eaten too.”

Victoria struggles to absorb everything that Jacob has told her. She stares at him in complete confusion trying to figure out what he is. What’s happened to him. She pushes herself back to her knees and grabs him, hugging him tightly.

“You found me, Jacob,” she says. “Now we can leave. The both of us. We can get away from here.”

“No,” he says. “You leave, Mommy, I think I have to go somewhere else.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t go with you. I’m dead. I have to go where dead people go.”

“Heaven?”

Jacob shrugs. “I don’t know.”

Victoria can hear a voice behind her saying her name. She slowly turns her head away from Jacob and sees Elizabeth standing behind her.

“Who are you talking to?” Elizabeth asks.

“Jacob,” she says. “I…I found him. He’s not a zombie. His eyes…”

“There’s nobody there, Victoria.”

Victoria’s head whips back to Jacob. He is still standing there, staring up at her with an amused smile on his face.

“Goodbye, Mommy,” he says playfully. “I’m glad they didn’t get you.”

Jacob turns his back to her and runs through the exit doors without her.

“Victoria?” Elizabeth rests her hand on Victoria’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Victoria doesn’t answer. She turns her head towards her son’s body in the mob. It sways quietly with the others.

Elizabeth catches sight of Jacob and a sharp gasp escapes her lips. She pulls a reluctant Victoria to her feet.

“Come on,” she says. “You can’t do anything for him now. We have to go. We don’t have much time before Project Gerra happens. I found this.”

Elizabeth places a folded piece of paper into Victoria’s hand. She stares blankly at it.

“It’s a map,” Elizabeth says. “It shows bases in the area. Army bases.” She takes the map back and unfolds it, pointing to a circled area. “This is the closest one. I thought we could maybe head there. Find some help.”

Victoria slowly begins to acknowledge what Elizabeth is saying. “No,” she mumbles. “They will shoot you. Your eyes. We need to get away from here.”

“And go where?” Elizabeth says. “To the city? We have no idea what to expect there.” She sighs. “Alright, you decide. All I know is we’re running out of time.”

VOTING FOR THIS CHAPTER IS NOW CLOSED. A NEW CHAPTER IS POSTED EVERY TUESDAY

Where do they go?
A: To the base
B: To the city