The Arklay Outbreak

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Smoke drifted into the engineer’s compartment like a heavy fog, seeping down through the shattered windows. Rebecca smelled it first and coughed involuntarily, sitting up as she gasped for breath, a wave of nausea and disorientation washing over her. It was almost totally dark and she had no memory of where she was or how she had gotten there. When she felt another body moving beside her, she panicked and quickly moved, crawling through the pile of debris she was surrounded by.

“Rebecca?” a pained, raspy voice said in the darkness.

At first, she wondered how the other person knew her name. And then suddenly her memory returned like a flash of insight. “I’m here, Billy,” she said, and slowly stood up.

“Are you okay?”

“I think so. How about you?”

Billy sat up and gradually managed to get to his feet. “I have a splitting headache. Other than that, I think I’m fine.”

Rebecca tried to see anything through the window but there was nothing to see. She stepped forward and put a hand on Billy’s arm to steady herself. “Here,” she said. “Give me a boost.”

Billy stood underneath the door to the outside and put his hands together like a stirrup. Rebecca stepped into his hand and jumped up, and Billy lifted her up high enough to reach the door. She grabbed the edge, lifted herself, and swung her leg up to climb out. For a few moments, she sat on the lip of the door and surveyed the area. Billy stood underneath her, looking up expectantly.

They were in a storage warehouse of some kind. The room was full of high metal shelves, most of which were now knocked over, their contents strewn around the room. Large paper bags full of things like fertilizer and rock salt, boxes of all sizes containing everything from garbage bags to engine parts, metal canisters full of motor oil and various chemicals. Small fires burning here and there gave light to the extent of the destruction. Smoke and floating dust made it hard to see, but Rebecca could make out almost everything. At the far end of the room was a set of sturdy double-doors. As far as she could tell, about half of the locomotive had made it into the room before the train came to a stop.

“Well?” Billy finally asked.

Rebecca knelt on the edge of the doorway, and reached down into the engineer’s cabin. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll help you up.”

Billy jumped and grabbed her hands. She pulled back as much as she could, trying to lift his two-hundred-plus pounds until he was able to grab the edge of the door. A simple pull-up later, he climbed through the doorway. Rebecca made room for him, breathing heavy just from the exertion. It was easy enough to see Billy’s muscular arms, but she hadn’t realized exactly how strong he really was. She guessed he probably could have climbed out even without her help.

“Do you hear anything?” he asked, kneeling down and looking out across the demolished supply room.

Rebecca listened for a few moments and shook her head.

“Me neither,” Billy said, grabbing onto the metal railing and swinging his legs over it. “Maybe we got lucky and none of those zombies made it through the crash.” He lowered himself down expertly and dropped a few feet to the rubble-strewn floor.

Rebecca followed him down, albeit more slowly and less confidently. When she had two feet firmly on the dirty cement floor, she breathed a sigh of relief. She patted her holster to make sure her pistol was still there. Its presence reassured her.

Billy headed toward the doors at the other end of the room, stepping cautiously around the debris, making as little noise as possible. Rebecca walked behind him, placing her feet in the same places he had stepped. It occurred to her that sometime in the last few minutes, Billy had effectively taken command, and she was more than happy to let him. At least until they made it to safety, and then she was taking command right back. It would not be hard this time to persuade him, because it also occurred to her that he no longer carried the Desert Eagle. He must have lost it in the crash.

Somewhere nearby, some rock crumbled to the floor. Rebecca spun around at the sound, gun already drawn. Motion directed her eyes to a pile of rock and broken cement against the wall. There was an arm sticking out of the rubble, its hand waving feebly. The fingers flexed weakly, scratching at the rubble as if trying to dig itself loose.

Rebecca, for a fraction of a second, felt the urge to rush there with her medical kit and attempt to rescue the person buried under the rubble. She even leaned forward and put her hand to the kit attached to her hip. Billy hand reached out and gently touched her shoulder.

“We should really get out of here,” he said. “Before any of them find us.”

“Yeah,” Rebecca said vaguely.

As they walked away, she could not help but look over her shoulder at the arm as it moved, the zombie trapped underneath making a pathetic effort to dig itself free. Even the zombies had some basic instinctual intelligence left, just enough to try to dig itself out from under a ton of rocks.

The doors opened with a rusty squeak and led them to a pitch black hallway. Billy fumbled on the wall and found a light switch. When he flipped it, the hallway erupted in bright yellow light, enough to make them both shield their eyes. The hallway went forward for a few yards, split to the right, and ended in a staircase heading up. Although clean, the hallway was obviously long unused. A visible layer of dust was on the floor and it smelled stale and old.

Down the hall to the right was a door with an “Authorized Employees Only” sign on it. They passed it and went up the stairs instead, taking one step at a time and then waiting for any noise before taking the next step. Rebecca held her gun out the entire time, even though Billy walked in front.

There was a door at the top of the stairs. Billy turned the door handle and gently pushed it open, bracing himself as if ready to expect anything on the other side. But nothing waited for them. It was just another dark hallway.

“Maybe I should walk in front,” Rebecca finally suggested. “I have a gun, after all.”

Billy considered it, then shook his head. “No, stay behind me for now. And don’t shoot anything unless you have no choice. How many shots do you have left?”

“Seven, I think.”

“Okay,” Billy muttered. “Well, try to conserve your ammo.”

“Do you think there’s more of those zombies here?”

Billy looked down the hallway, illuminated only by the light shining over his shoulder. “I would prefer not to take any chances. We don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”

They were unable to find the light switch for the hall, so they made their way slowly in the dark. They passed two doors, both of which were locked. The hall turned to the left ahead of them, and Billy poked his head to take a look. “I can’t see anything,” he whispered.

Rebecca searched her pants pockets. “I had a flashlight,” she said. “I have it here somewhere.” She found it and took it out, but heard the sound of broken glass trickle to the floor. She felt the front of the flashlight and almost cut her hand. “Sorry, I guess it broke in the crash.”

Billy sighed and looked into the pitch darkness ahead. “I guess we do it blind, then.”

He reached out and took Rebecca’s hand before heading down the rest of the hall. Rebecca followed him, but tried not to stay too close. She didn’t want to appear too afraid or too dependent on his help. As for Billy, he did not squeeze her hand or hold it too gently either. It was obvious from his grip that he was holding her hand solely to keep from losing track of her in the dark. Somehow, that fact made her feel better.

She felt carpet under her feet, and then Billy stopped moving. “Found a door,” he said. She heard the sound of a doorknob turning and then they were moving again, creeping in complete darkness. She had no idea where they were going or what was around them, so she just let Billy lead the way, keeping her eyes and ears open just in case. But for all she knew, she was walking right past a crowd of hungry zombies.

Suddenly, she saw pale blue light up ahead. Billy saw it at the same time and the two of them hurried their steps. The hallway ended in what looked like a large room with tile floor and a smell slightly less musty than the rest of the building. There were large bay windows at the front of the room, shining ethereal moonlight inside, which reflected beautifully off the floor and glittered on objects all around the room. Billy let go of her hand and crept to the front of the room between the windows. He slid his hands on the wall and found the light switch, flipping it on.

The entire room exploded in light, and once again they had to shield their eyes and squint from the overpowering glare. Rebecca walked to the center of the room and looked around her in undisguised awe and wonder, her arms hanging at her sides. Even Billy seemed stunned at the splendor of the room they were in.

It was unmistakably the entrance lobby for some kind of mansion. Right in front of them was a staircase covered in red carpet leading up to the right and left to the second story of the building. Over their heads hung an enormous golden chandelier with dozens of small lights, all shining brightly and reflecting off the golden staircase bannister, golden railings, golden trimmed woodwork along the walls. The place was decorated in gold and mahogany.

“Jesus,” Billy whispered. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know ...” Rebecca said, rendered almost speechless by the exquisite beauty of the room, and a lurking confusion as to why a gorgeous place such as this was completely abandoned in the middle of the Arklay Forest.

“And who in the world is that?” Billy asked, pointing up above the stairs.

On the wall was a gigantic portrait of a middle-aged man with thin white hair and glasses. His mouth was closed in a harsh expression and his eyes seemed to shine with dark intensity. To Rebecca, he looked like a brutal schoolmaster from the last century.

Under the portrait was written the name “Dr. James Marcus.”

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