Chapter 9 - Hallway

As he peeked inside slowly trying to not make a single sound, Mark noticed the hallway only lit with flickering tube lights, and not all the tube lights were lit up. Some were hanging from the ceiling, broken.

He noticed some black blood near the window by the side and saw the body of the zombie, which almost reached him while he was trying to get to the window before. Its head was a bit ahead of it, looking towards the window into his eyes.

Feeling his hair stand up, Mark couldn't help but close his eyes and take a deep breath. He then slowly opened them and noticed the zombies inside the hallway. He noticed only 2 zombies in the whole halfway and then felt better.

Observing the situation, he noticed a zombie slowly come out of the cubicles section. He pondered about the zombies inside.

After noticing the 3 zombies which stood some distance to each other within the hallway, Mark slowly kept a leg on the window frame and made his way inside. He kept his second foot on the ground and looked up to notice the zombies in the same place.

He took out the machete he made and wanted to one-hit all the zombies as silently as possible. All three zombies were near the wall. Deciding that the best course of action was to chop their head's against the wall so that the zombies would slide and fall down, making less noise.

He crouched down and made his way towards the first zombie on the right side, a few inches from him. Slowly making his way towards it, not making a single sound, Mark gripped the machete tighter.

As he got closer, he noticed the zombie was a female and looked like a worker in the office with the dress it was wearing. He could see one of its hands almost cut off and only hanging by the skin. He could smell the nasty smell off of it. It was like a rotten fish and other gross stuff combined.

As he reached enough distance for his swing. He lifted his body and pulled the machete back for a good swing. Gripping the handle as hard as he could and taking a deep breath, Mark swung the machete sideways right at the side of the neck.

The machete struck the side of the neck and went through it like it was butter for more than half of the length of the neck. As the machete went through the zombie's neck, Mark felt completely disgusted and almost lost the grip of the machete.

He dragged it back and the zombie slowly fell on the wall without making a sound and slid down to the ground. He saw the black blood gushing out of the zombie's neck as it slowly fell on the floor and on his clothes.

He felt the energy bars he consumed coming right back through his throat and forcefully sent it back in. He looked up and checked the other zombies in the hall. He exhaled in relief when both the zombies were still in their position, not disturbed.

He slowly took some deep breaths to calm his nerves and violently shaky hands. Seeing the zombie he cut down, he confirmed it was not alive after observing it for a few seconds. He slowly took a step forward as his legs were shivering. He couldn't stop them and could only continue to go on.

He slowly reached the cubicle's entrance and noticed the zombie was to the left of the hallway while the cubicles were to the right. Noticing the zombie not moving, he kept inside the cubicle room for any zombies.

As he scanned his eyes over, he noticed one zombie to the extreme right corner. As he carefully observed it he noticed the zombie was on the ground with its legs spread out and his head lowered. It looked like a dead body.

Slowly exhaling, he turned his attention to the zombie to the left. He noticed it slowly groaning and Mark only crunched down and quietly went towards it. He gripped the handle and slowly brought the handle back to get a good swing at the neck.

The Machete similar to the previous zombie went inside the neck like a knife into a block of butter and stopped almost at the end this time. Taking a deep breath, he looked at the last zombie in the hallway and found it undisturbed staring into the lobby.

He exhaled in relief and took out the machete that at this point was black covered in the zombie's blood. Mark looked down at his own clothes and noticed bloodstains on them. He could only sigh and decided to wash up when he had time.

He looked at the nearly completely cut detached head of the zombie, and this time he felt a bit accomplished instead of the previous disgust. He understood he had enough strength and grit in him to survive at least a bit in this world.

His legs stopped shaking like before, and he had a bit of extra confidence than before. He made his way towards the last zombie. This one was almost at the end of the hallway near the lobby.

Mark was almost skeptical of this last one. He did not know how many zombies were in the lobby, and the probability of a zombie noticing him is high if he kills it.

As he made his way to the end, he got a better view of the lobby. He counted the zombies in the lobby and by the small portion of the lobby he could see there were over 5 zombies. He reached for the zombie and it was a male of his height.

He slowly gripped the machete and swung it at it, right at the neck. As it reached the zombie, the zombie suddenly turned back.