Chapter 12 - Staircase

Sitting down using the door as support, Mark tried to relax and catch his breath for a while. He looked around and observed the stairs. He noticed various equipment on the stairs and it looked like there were some renovations in progress.

He could feel the zombies ramming into the door on the other side, trying to get through. After a few minutes of rest, Mark stood up once again ready to go to the 14th floor. He could feel the zombies on the other side give up as the noises became less. He peeked from below to notice only a few zombies left in the hallway.

He prayed that the zombies would scatter away when he would be on his way back after getting the inhaler.

Mark slowly made his way down, carefully. Even if there was almost no chance that there would be any zombies in the stairway, he could not let his guard down.

Mark did not know what was on the 14th floor. On his way up, the door was locked and he could not make his way inside. He hoped the survivors were still alive and kicking, so he need not face zombies.

But the chance that these people are still alive is as low as it could get. The zombies would just busy their way in and once they do, the people inside can not stop the horde without proper weapons.

After slowly walking down, Mark reached the door for the 14th floor. He noticed they locked the door from his side and remembered that Denton told him to use the same key he used to get into the staircase on the 15th floor.

Slowly inserting the key and opening the lock, Mark opened the door as slowly as possible, not making a single sound. He peeked inside the hallway and noticed 4 zombies in the hallway leading to the lobby.

He observed each of the zombies and noticed the one nearest to him can easily notice Mark if he enters the hallway. After a few more minutes of observing the zombies, Mark closed the door back and sat on the stairs thinking of a way to kill the first zombie. All the other ones were not facing towards the door, making it easy to kill them.

As Mark thought, he came up with a simple plan to draw out the one zombie into the staircase to kill it quickly. He had to do this in such a way where only one zombie came while the other in the hallway remained undisturbed.

Mark slowly stood up and went behind the door. He took a deep breath and quietly opened one of the double doors. He remained behind the door and opened it till his back touched the door. He took out a nail from his pocket and threw it towards the wall opposite the entrance.

The zombie near the door noticed the small sound from the opened door and made its way towards the staircase, following the sound is heard. Mark concentrated on the footsteps he could hear and noticed the zombie was out of the hallway.

Not rushing towards it, Mark closed the door and stood behind the zombie, as it continued towards the source of the sound. Noticing its attention on the nail, Mark sliced its head off without any hesitation.

The body and the head fell onto the ground. He did not want any more noise, so he hurriedly caught the head with his free hand while stretching a leg to support the body. He noticed the metal rods below and knew a lot of sounds would be made when it fell.

Mark was not up to the risk and so he set the body and head down, creating no noise. As he killed the first one, Mark opened the door again and observed if there were any reactions from them.

After deciding they weren't disturbed by him killing it, Mark slowly made his way inside the hallway, leaving the door open to escape in case anything happens. He quietly crouched down and made his way inside the hall and the first zombie.

The other two of the zombies were only a little distance from him, and he hoped to not gain their attention when he killed this one. He slowly reached its back and struck it down cleanly in one swing.

But as he looked up, he noticed the zombies making their way towards him. Not waiting any longer, Mark took out the rod from the bag and slowly dropped the machete down. He knew his actions would only be restricted with a machete, and it was better if he took the rod for two zombies at a time.

The zombies slowly growled and as the first zombie reached for Mark, he brought his rod to the head, not waiting anymore. He estimated the distance the rod could reach and struck the head once it was within the limit.

Not waiting any longer, he swung it again while backing away a bit when the next one already reached too close for comfort. The rod struck the head once again and the zombie slowly fell down. Mark checked his shirt and noticed a small rip in it when the zombie came too near him.