Chapter 4 - Observations

Mark got anxious as he noticed the hostility from the people in the room not decrease, but rather increase. All of them had their weapons pointed at him, keeping their guard up. Before he could ask the reason, the man who opened the door anxiously grabbed his shoulders and asked, "Are you bitten anywhere?"

"No, I'm all clean. No zombie came near enough to scratch me."

The man exhaled in relief and waved his hand indicating everything was alright, making the rest of the people exhale and retract their hostility towards him. Mark looked around and noticed a zombie to the corner of the room with its brain completely pulverized and the blood oozing out around it..

Noticing Mark's attention on the zombie, the man beside him said, "We killed that one earlier. Anyway, make yourself comfortable. My name is Denton Cox, and I am the owner of this company." stretching out his hand.

Mark shook his hand and replied, "Nice to meet you. My name is Mark," not willing to tell the hideous last name of his.

Denton caught this but did not pursue it as many people have their own problems and he wasn't the kind to pry on others. Ne nodded and walked towards the others while saying, "Come to me if you have any problems."

Mark went and sat near the windows alone. He looked down and saw the roads were now filled with zombies, Cars on fire, and blood everywhere. He couldn't believe how quickly everything happened. From almost ending his life, Mark was now seeing the beginning of the end of the world.

He turned to the other side and noticed the lobby was the same as the 11th floor. He took out his phone from his pocket, as he tried to call Kevin to find out his situation, but the phone was destroyed.

Feeling down and worried at the same time, he kept his phone back inside. He looked around to ask someone for a phone. He noticed a girl around his age beside him sitting on a chair and asked her, "Do you have a phone?"

Feeling startled at the sudden question, the girl answered hurriedly, "No, everyone here is an employee and we generally keep out phones on the 12th-floor lockers."

Seeing her startle, Mark got confused but let slide it as panic. He exhaled, feeling hopeless about the situation and the dumb rules of the company to have their phones kept aside. He looked out and noticed the sun almost setting.

He started to think about the escape route out of the building. Looking at the number of people on the floor, panicking and shaking with fear, Mark understood getting out of the building is nearly impossible.

He wondered if the company owner had any plans and stood up. He walked over to Denton, who was talking to a group of people.

"Excuse me, Mr. Denton. Do you guys have any plans on how to get out of here?"

Hearing Mark, Denton and the group of people near him turned towards him. Looking around him Denton slowly whispered into Mark's ears, "I have contacted the army but they informed us that they would be able to rescue up only tomorrow and not today. If this gets out, the people might panic and we do not want that now. So please do not tell anyone else."

Denton only said this to Mark as he was the outsider in their group and was able to make his way up. He was the owner of the company, and he naturally followed different rules and brought his phone along with him.

Mark nodded and went back to his seat. He started thinking about the way out. But before this, he collected the information on the zombies he has so far. He looked around to find a book and noticed one on the receptionist's desk.

He slowly took the book and the pen on the coffee table beside him. He tore the filled up pages and slowly wrote his observations. He noticed that it would take at the very least of 5 minutes before a human becomes a zombie when bitten.

He also noticed how the zombies are highly sensitive to sound and it's a way for distraction. They were highly sensitive to the smell of blood and humans. He wondered if the zombie's actions were more violent in the night compared to now.

Looking at the fading sun and he started thinking of some plans. His first thought was the rooftop. He could simply stay on it till the military arrives. He looked at all the people around him and thought about how he was the only one who could survive. It would take too much time to transfer all these people if he ever found a way up.

He slowly stood up to check the distance between the two side buildings. He first went to the right and noticed the gap was too big for him to do. It would be a suicide mission if he tries it. He then walked to the complete left and noticed the distance was lower, but the building was higher.

If he jumped, he would have to break into a window of the building to get in. He squinted his eyes as he tried to get a view on the situation inside the building and noticed it was full of zombies just waiting for people to feast on.

Exhaling, he went back to his place and sat once again. He knew it would only take an hour or less for the zombies to come up to the last floor. He started to roam around the entire floor to check for a way to get to the top.

He slowly entered a hallway and made his way across, searching for a route up. He noticed many cubicles and offices to the left in the middle for the employees. He reached the end but couldn't find an exit. He came back to the lobby and went into the hallway across the lobby. A similar scene greeted him and but there was a window at the end of this hallway.

Opening the window, he looked down and to the side to notice a ladder hanging to the top. He faintly smiled seeing this and caught the ladder. He tried to shake it but noticed it was tight. He decided to come back here once the zombies arrived on this floor and went back into the lobby.

But what he failed to notice was a woman noticing him as he checked the ladder and hid inside a cubicle when he walked back into the lobby.