Chapter 5 - Change In Plan

Mona Ray was the typical university genius who landed a big-time job at a top company after finishing her university life. But never would she have imagined that the day she would join would turn out such a way.

She was one of the lucky few who were at the last floor during this time. She could not believe what was happening around her. She wondered about the cheerful faces of her parents when she exited her house that day.

She could not come out of the panic and shock she was in for a very long time when she saw a zombie on the floor from the top. She stayed rooted in her place as she noticed all the people running around on the floor trying to seal all paths leading to the floor.

She woke up from her stupor when the noise of a door being knocked came from the doors leading towards the stairs. She got scared as she thought about the zombies behind the door and curled herself. 

But what she saw blew her mind. Once the door opened, she saw one of the most handsome men she had seen come in. She got even more surprised as she heard his calm explanation of how he came up.

She continued to observe him and followed him into the hallway near her and hid inside a cubicle as she saw him search outside the window. She waited inside the cubicles for him to go by her and leave the place. 

As Mark made his way out, she slowly stood up from one cubicle in the office. She slowly went towards the hallway and peeked out to confirm Mark was gone. Once she saw it was empty, she made her way to the window and peeked outside. She saw the zombies wandering around underneath and almost screamed in horror.

Covering her mouth with her arm, she could slowly calm down. She turned her head to the side and noticed the ladder to the top. Her eyes shot wide, and she became excited. She quickly made her way out of the hallway.

Mark slowly sat back in his place, sighing in relief. He then noticed something which made his eyes shot wide. A woman was coming out of the hallway he found the ladder in. His eyes slowly followed her as she made her way to Denton. He saw her whispering something to him and knew she exposed the ladder he found.

He could only curse his luck and carelessness and continue to observe them in silence. He saw her talking with Denton in private and his surprised expression as he turned towards him. Both of them slowly made their way towards him..

"Mr. Mark, I never thought you will be able to find a path up towards the rooftop," said Denton, while sitting beside Mark on the ground.

"I was just lucky."

"But it came at the right time for us. If you hadn't found the way up, we all would have been in a huge problem at night. The zombies outside would have easily barged their way inside the door and we wouldn't even survive till the military comes to rescue us in the early morning."

Mark nodded and asked, "So, when are you planning to tell this to everyone?"

"In a short period of time."

"Please make it quick cause I think the zombies might make their way into the floor anytime soon." and walked away to the side of the lobby and leaned towards the mirror, looking outside.

He noticed the sun already completely out and the daylight becoming dimmer and dimmer. He wanted to make his way up before the light went out. He still didn't know what would happen at night and wanted to stay alert.

He felt his stomach grumble. He kept the metal rod to the side and opened the bag. He took out an energy bar and slowly opened the cover to eat it. But as he kept it in his mouth, he felt someone sitting next to him.

He turned around and noticed it was the same woman who informed his findings of the ladder to Denton.

"May I help you, Ms.." trailed off Mark not knowing her name.

"Oh! It's Mona Ray, I just came by to check on you." looking at the bar in his hand.

Mark noticed her gaze and asked while sighing, "Do you want some."

As Mona almost rejected her stomach grumbled, and she nodded with shame. Mark could only pity the poor woman and give it to her while he took out another bar from the bag to eat. Noticing another bar from his bag, Mona wondered how many more he had in it.

Noticing her gaze towards the bag he knew her thoughts, so he told, "There are not many, I found them while climbing from the 11th floor."

Nodding her head, she slowly ate the bar. She was hungry for quite a while but couldn't ask anyone in the situation. She ate in a hurry and coughed. Mark exhaled as he noticed her and gave her a water bottle.

Drinking some water, she calmed down and continued to nibble on the bar like a squirrel. Looking at her, Mark realized how beautiful she was and her outstanding figure. He could not help but ask, "Did they not give you guys anything to eat from the afternoon?"

"They gave us some fruits that were on this floor. But those were not enough."

Mark nodded as he saw the no of people here and the probability of some not getting them. He then noticed Denton telling everyone his plan and the excited faces of the people. He couldn't help but sigh at how everyone got into his perfect plan and knew it was going to get tougher. He had to start making some changes in his plans to survive the night.

Seeing him sigh, Mona couldn't help but feel a bit guilty and say, "I know you didn't want to tell anyone about this and I understand that in this situation everyone has to look out for themselves. But I couldn't keep quiet, so I'm sorry." as her volume decreased as she apologized.

Knowing that nothing can be done now that it's out, Mark waved his hand while saying, "It's ok you did what you thought was best. I won't be that angry with you."