ShowerKrogan

  Her scream was cut short when her mouth smacked against the bottom dder rung. The first woman cried out something unintelligible while she watched the other crash onto the top of the dumpster. The other woman tried to scramble to her feet, but the mob of zombies wasted no time grabbing at her the moment she was within reach.

  Their nasty, undead fingers dug into her ankle and calf, cwing into her flesh and drawing blood. The scent of her fresh blood in the air sent them into a frenzy. The zombies began snapping their jaws, biting everything in range, no matter if it was her shoe, each other, or even the dumpster.

  She fought with everything she had against their grip, kicking and trying to pull their hands off her, but that only led to the zombies digging further into her leg. She screamed out as she was slowly pulled down from the dumpster, and one lucky zombie could finally get its teeth into the back of her ankle.

  The zombie bit down then yanked its head up, ripping flesh and tendons from just below her calf and mashed them in its jaws, sloppily swallowing down. The zombie's teeth, now stained red, went back for another messy bite, and the woman sobbed as the others pulled her completely off the dumpster and began their feeding.

  The first woman jumped down the dder three rungs at a time to get down to her friend.

  “Stop! You can’t help her now!” I shouted through the drone, but the woman showed no signs of slowing down.

  The dumpster rattled as the first woman jumped down, past the st five rungs. The force of her nding dropped her to her knees; from there she scampered to the edge of the dumpster and tried to reach down for her friend. One bloody arm emerged from the mob of zombies and smeared red liquid across the face of the first woman. She winced and drew back, only to realize it was the arm of her friend and dove to grab the hand. The hand was too slick, and all the first woman ended up with was a handful of her friend's blood as her arm disappeared within the mass of feasting zombies.

  The woman stared down at the decayed feasting on her friend and screamed into her hand, not caring that blood was getting into her mouth. One zombie took the scream as an invitation and leapt at the screaming woman, and was able to grab a handful of her hair.

  “Ah, damn it! It’s always the hair!” I said and took over control of the drone.

  The woman was trying to pull her hair from the zombie's grip, but it wouldn’t release her. The decayed had insane grip strength, and it was not easy to take anything from them once their rotting fingers were wrapped around it.

  When she could not pull her hair from its grip, she yanked a knife out from her side and started hacking at her hair in a desperate attempt to free herself. But the blood on her hand made the handle too slick and the knife popped out of her hand and disappeared in the group zombie dinner featuring her friend.

  She had sprang after the knife while it was in midair but was pinned down to the dumpster by the zombie holding her hair. From there, she reached out for the knife, praying that it would somehow appear in her hand. The zombie grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward it so its personal meal could begin. She kicked at nothing, twisted her body to break its grasp, but nothing worked.

  The zombie’s teeth drew close to her arm, saliva dripped from its mouth as its excitement grew. Just as it went to close its jaws around her wrist, I drove the drone right into the side of its head.

  The sudden force of the drone collision knocked the zombie to the ground and released the woman from its grasp. The metal bdes of the drone sank into the zombie skull which severed its jaw. I heard a thunk-thunk-thunk as the bdes worked their way into its brain; the drone bdes slowed to a stop inside the zombie's head. The zombie y motionless on the wet concrete and was no longer a threat. The other zombies paid no mind to the commotion, too busy enjoying their warm meal.

  The woman took advantage of the drone’s heroics and jumped straight up onto her feet and flew up the dder, never looking down until she made it to the third floor and rolled through the window onto the apartment floor.

  The drone's bdes slid out of the zombie, and the drone cttered to the ground.

  Damn it! I might have broken it. Stupid ass zombie brains always messing up my drones. After several frustrating moments of yelling at the drone, I gained back control and it soared back up in the air. It flew a little wobbly after its zombie assassination. I might need to bring it home for a deep cleaning and some adjustments.

  “Holy shit, that was close,” I let out a breath that I was very aware I had been holding.

  “I will go prepare your lunch and that beer you requested,” Becca said as if we hadn’t just watched a woman get torn apart in front of us and barely saved a second from the same fate.

  “I need to go now!” I said to her and rushed to the wall next to the screen. “So please hurry with the beer.”

  I pushed my hand against the wall and waited the five required seconds. There was a quick fsh of light to signal my hand was accepted, and a door size chunk of the wall sunk into the ground, revealing a hidden staircase.

  I bolted down several floors and eventually emerged in a darkened garage.

  “Lights,” I said, and there were a few muted clicks as lights flicked on along the metal walls and ceiling. The fact that I couldn't cp on the lights in this facility is entirely absurd. This timeline sucked.

  The garage was mostly empty. Once the apocalypse hit, nearly everyone cleared out to find their families. By the end of day one, the only people who remained at the facility were me, Dr. Ava, and Quinn. The only vehicles left in the garage were Dr. Ava’s new fancy Mercedes, the motorcycle I took during the initial outbreak, and Quinn’s Jeep Wrangler. Which reminded me.

  Grayson: Becca, do you see him up there? Even with the armor, I hate heading out alone.

  Becca: Negative. I have not seen him today. I imagine he is lounging out by the pond. He’s as zy as you are.

  Grayson: Hey! I would not cssify myself as zy! I do a lot. I just also sleep in sometimes. Who sets arms during the apocalypse?

  Becca did not respond, but she didn’t see him in the facility, so I accepted my fate of heading out into the zombie-infested nd alone. I would talk to him ter about keeping us aware of his location in case of emergencies like this. He had gotten too comfortable around here.

  I walked to the back wall of the garage where my special suit of zombie armor was waiting for me. It was a metal exoskeleton suit designed to respond to my movements from within with ease and near-human reaction time. As long as I was wearing this bck, near skintight outfit, which I was dashing in, and the battery was charged, then this thing was a zombie-fighting wet dream.

  I could crush the heads of the zombies with my hands, and they could do nothing to pierce my armor. Most humans, especially in the apocalypse, would not possess weapons that could tear through the metal exterior of this thing. The bad part was it weighed several hundred pounds, and if anything went wrong with its computer system, then I was going nowhere in this. I sure as hell wouldn't be able to carry it anywhere.

  Becca was smart enough to install a manual release tch inside the armor after I trapped myself inside for twelve hours one day. It took a lot of time to get the inside of the armor cleaned up and smell normal again.

  I’m just happy the doctor got this thing mostly built before the incident. The armor comes in clutch!

  I walked up to the back of the armor, which was opened up and invited me to climb inside to begin a zombie-killing spree. But Becca had still yet to return from her venture to the kitchen. It’s hard to find good help in the apocalypse.

  “Boy, I sure am thirsty. I sure wish I had something to drink!” I yelled into the empty garage.

  Right on cue, the wall door slid down, and Becca entered the garage holding my drinks and some food.

  “I have been made aware of a human ritual that involves ingesting an alcoholic beverage from their backside for a faster and more potent effect. If you are so desperate, then maybe I can provide the drink to you in that way?” Becca said it so sincerely I almost missed her offering to shove beer up my ass.

  “Let’s save that for the celebration when I return,” I said, and stuffed the st bits of leftover ham into my mouth and washed it down with some beer. I gave her my gsses to hold since they wouldn’t fit in the suit. “After the butt chugging, we can focus on getting your body ready for some excursions so you can physically venture out into the beautiful world that surrounds this facility.”

  “I look forward to finally getting a kill with my own hands,” Becca said and forced me to drink some water before armored up.

  “I’m not sure I like how you qualified that with the ‘my own hands’ part, but hey, who hasn’t killed a few people here and there,” I said and finally climbed into the armor.

  “You’re smiling again,” Becca pointed out. “I think you’re enjoying this too much.”

  “Okay, yeah. I’m having fun. It’s a rush, Becca. Gets the adrenaline pumping! A life or death fight with what was thought to be fictional monsters. You know my life before all this went down. I was built for this,” I squeezed into my position and waited for the armor to shut. “Besides, my life was over before you. So if my choice is life in prison, a possible death sentence, or battling it out with the undead and a hot mess of an AI in my head, then clearly I’m taking option two.”

  “I am hot. Thank you for acknowledging that,” Becca said and flipped her bck hair into the air.

  “Not what I said, and you know it.”

  The back of the armor closed automatically behind me, and there was a soft beep that signaled the armor was powering on. It was initially roomy inside the suit. I could move around and get comfortable in the squishy walls. Once I stopped moving, a visor pushed against my forehead and the internal goggles connected to my eyes, which allowed me to see from inside the suit. The squishy walls swelled until I was fully enveloped and could no longer wiggle around; any movement I attempted was mimicked by the armor. I was in full control.

  “You seem ready to go, Mr. Stark Grayson,” Becca said as she gave the armor a quick look-over.

  “Don’t get Disney on our ass. Zombies are bad enough; the mouse is worse,” I said and quickly examined the suit's vitals to ensure everything was running fine.

  “Do exercise caution while you are out there. The suit offers top-level protection, but nothing is perfect,” Becca said. She was such a worrywart.

  “If you end up running into him, send him after me. I may need help to get the woman back to the facility. More zombies might show up since there was a fresh kill. I think it could take a while before I can clear out the area and move her to safety,” I said, and my voice came out of the armor, powerful and authoritative. I sounded like Darth Vader without the asthma.

  “I will locate him shortly and send him to aid you. I have no doubt he will arrive precisely when you need him most,” Becca said and stood back to give me room to maneuver.

  “Just like a wizard,” I said and took several heavy steps toward the garage door. The door rose when I got near and I entered an underground tunnel rge enough for two of these suits of armor.

  "Alright, Becca, let’s do whatever it takes to bring that woman home. Off to a zombie battle I go!” I charged down the tunnel, determined to have finally saved someone.

  “Well, you’re zero for two in bringing women back to the facility, so maybe don’t lose this one. Or rescue a man next time,” Becca said, and her voice came through the speakers in the armor's helmet.

  “Third time's the charm, my cranky AI. Now, let’s do this the right way. Please py ‘Curse’ by Architects.”

  “Good thinking, your screamy music will scare off the undead predators,” Becca said and started my jam through the suit's speakers.

  “Hey, it may be a little screamy, but that chorus is fucking clean. It gets me there, Becca, it gets me there,” I said and prepared myself to leave the tunnel.

  “I will be sure to keep an eye on your arousal levels for confirmation,” Becca said, and I believed her. She checked those every chance she got. I couldn’t even watch Jurassic World without being constantly alerted to my rising levels. I just really like dinosaurs!

  The side of a hill sank into the ground, unveiling a secret tunnel from which I emerged. This time I wouldn’t fail; it was time to actually save someone.

  “I’m outside. I’ll be running as fast as I can to get to the apartment. Because Becca, this is a… Race of Life,” I said and began my sprint to the apartment building. Surely everything would go smoothly this time.