Chapter 10 The Escape

May 26, 2191
Sunday, 10:23 Military Time
After we all gathered all our things and toppled the tent, we prepared ourselves to evacuate the place. There was no reason to wait anymore. All we heard about the bunkers under the railroad sites were enough to give us the motivation to look for it. I couldn't wait any longer to see my dad and Carl again. Dad might already be worried sick and Carl must be looking for me while they're staying inside in any of those bunkers.
Li improved his radio and made it portable. He affixed it inside a suitcase together with its batteries, hoping the device will be of great use again during our attempt to look for the nearest refuge. Since yesterday, we've been planning how fast we could get there while using the map of this place that I kept in my backpack before me and my family left Coleshire. I thought of keeping it to get more familiar with the place. But instead, it is now a great tool guide to escape from the Creepers that dispersed around the city.
Upon examining the map, the location of the underground train station was nearly two kilometers from here. It would be more advantageous if only we had an AI map that could point our path in real-time towards the place.
Last night, Jayson and I went and inspected the inside of the building we speculated was impossible for the Creepers to reach. We took all the things that we thought were still beneficial to us. We both almost yelled in joy when we saw a rifle gun inside the CCTV room.
We took some knives from the residential apartments and scoured if there were still any preserved goods or bottles of water that we could carry. Jason saw a firebox on one of the hallways and took the fire ax. It would be a nice weapon against those Creepers.
I knew it was risky but we still went to the lower floors of the building to check where the safest exit we could use. We expected that there were already Creepers prowling around the ground floor to level 9, and there were two on level 12. We just had to get past floor 12 and get down to floor 11 to use the fire exit. We confirmed there were fewer Creepers on that side of this place. We just had to be careful and not make any noise that might snag their attention.
I took the gun from my bag. It was a little heavy for my hand but I've been taught how to use it since dad always brought me with him during hunting season in Coleshire. He taught me how to be a good hunter. Since then, I got fond of practicing my shooting skills in one of the firing range facilities in our place. Greg, my ex, was not happy about it but honing that skill gave me a lot of confidence in myself.
I couldn't believe that I was going to use it in a situation like this.
"Ready, Harriet?" Jason uttered in a challenging tone while holding the rifle.
"Let's go," I replied and cocked Timothy's gun in my hand. I inhaled and gathered all the courage I had because this time, I never wanted to be a burden to anyone, anymore.
"The sun is high, the sky is clear... it's a good day to die!" Li cried, his wide, forced smile made us all grin aside from Timothy who was looking bleak, leaning on the couch.
Li couldn't hold any weapon because the radio in the suitcase was so heavy that he had to carry it with both hands. Mona made sure that all her medical stuff was stashed neatly in her bag while Timothy had the fire ax, his face was pale with anxiety.
I worried about Timothy because I knew he couldn't handle his fear well.
After I held up the rucksack on my back and adjusted my balance to its weight, I walked closer to Timothy and put one of my hands on his shoulder to ease him down. He looked at me in the eyes, his face vexed with fear for his life.
"It's ok, Timothy. Just think they're just dumb people. Never hesitate to fight if one of them attacks you." I encouraged him and he nodded at me, his face became a little at ease.
"Yeah! Dumb people who want you dead." Li sarcastically interjected and chuckled at his humor.
Mona's brows furrowed, annoyed by Lis insensitive words, and slapped him on the shoulder.
"AW! Fine. I'm sorry. I was just trying to make you all laugh." He reasoned out. He pouted his lips to Mona and made a phony sad face by her spanking.
I just rolled my eyes on Li and looked back again at Timothy. The color on his face was better than before as he pursed his lips, trying to appear brave. He nodded at me with a new determination on his face.
I guess my little pep talk worked.
I smiled at him and eyed Li, giving him a warning not to scare Timothy again.
With the grit to find my father and Carl, I shut my eyes and inhaled all the courage I needed, and exhaled all the uncertainties that were threatening to suffocate me. I walked alongside Jason as we commenced to enter the door of the fifteenth floor.
"You don't look like you know how to use a gun, princess." Jayson grinned at me, his eyes glinted with amusement as he saw how skillfully I held the gun in my hand.
"Well, there are many things you still don't know about me," I retorted with a low voice and raised one of my eyebrows at him. It was obvious he was toying with me.
"Tell me then when we reach the bunker." He grinned and silently but quickly, sprinted ahead towards the corner of the hallway, checking for any sign of a Creeper that might thwart our way.
"Yeah... when we reach the bunker," I repeated, grumbling sullenly to myself. I don't want to be a skeptic but I wish we reach that place with our limbs still attached to our bodies.
Jayson led the way, then Timothy, Li, and Mona. I decided to position myself at the back so I would know if any Creeper was behind us. I trained my eyes to be more sensitive to any movement and my ears to hear any unusual sound. A groan or a moan, a sign that a Creeper was just near.
The inside of the building was dark despite the broad light of early noon outside. We strived to evade any object that might create even a tiny sound that might divert the attention of the Creepers to us. There was random stuff scattered on the floor as we carefully moved them out of our way.
The stillness of the floor was fretting as I heard my heartbeat in my ears. I wish there won't be a Creeper that would suddenly appear in front or behind us because I swear, I won't be able to stop myself from screaming if that happens!
We kept our quick but silent pace down the staircase of the twelfth floor. This was the end of the stairs because the way down the eleventh floor was across this floor. I uttered a profanity and was annoyed at how bizarre their design of staircases was. It occurred that on every fourth floor of the building, the staircases were alternately placed across each of its sides.
We had to enter the twelfth floor that had two Creepers inside.
We all lined beside the red metal door and Jayson slowly opened it slightly, cautiously scanning the area ahead. The floor has three corridors. There were three rows of apartments and each row had five doors. It was kind of a hotel but with a much wider space. We needed to get to the end of the corridor in the middle to get to the staircase, down the eleventh floor. We have to use the fire exit down to the small alley outside and towards the street.
Jayson peeked into the small space between the doors. He frustratingly glanced at us, positive that a Creeper was still in there.
Another wave of fear emerged in my throat and I moved closer to see how bad the situation was. There, in the middle of the aisle, was a female Creeper wearing a uniform of a hotel attendant. I wonder how she got infected since we didn't see any people when we first got here in the city and there was no hotel in the airport where the disease had spread. How could a Creeper that used to be a hotel attendant wander in a place like this?
"We can't fire a gun," Li hissed at Jayson. "That will create too much noise."
"I know," Jayson retorted, his brows furrowed as he watched the movement of the Creeper. It was slowly moving back and forth in the middle aisle.
I took the ax from Timothy's shaking hands and handed it over to Jayson. "Take this instead." And I took a butcher's knife from my satchel full of sharp blades. "I'll back you up."
Jayson nodded. But just before we prepared ourselves to attack the hotel attendant Creeper, another one had appeared.