Episode 26: Escape

Waldo just barely got through the door with Elli in his arms before it shut. As soon as she was through, Sally had begun entering the codes to shut the door, and as soon as it slid shut with a second “zzznk”, the crashing explosion had erupted. It knocked the door with such intensity that it sort of became dented in. Marty stared at in horror, knowing suddenly that this was serious, and that she could’ve been blown up moments ago.
Todd examined their new surroundings instinctually. It was another one of those bright white corridors, but now the lights were flickering. It looked like the concussion of the truck falling through the ceiling and hitting the ground had ripped a few things apart that they couldn’t have seen from the control room. A pipe hung from a tear in the ceiling, dripping tepid water. He watched a trickle splash down, splattering a little water on a pair of sandled feet. They stepped back quickly and shifted. He followed the bend of the legs, and the curves of the torso up, and his eyes met Jennifer’s. They locked for a moment, and then she smiled faintly. She turned to Sally, who was looking fiercer than ever; Todd smiled faintly too, and his eyes lingered on her soft yet powerful features for another moment, and then he turned to Waldo, who had just set the unconcious Elli down.
“Is he okay,” Todd asked gently.
“He doesn’t look like he’s going to die.” Waldo said in his usual monotone. Todd sighed. Sylvie walked over and kneeled at Elli’s body and checked his pulse.
Mina once again collapsed in the corner of the room, tearful, horrified at what was happening. Dawn wandered dreamily over to her, but didn’t know what to do besides look sadly down at the top of her head.
“What now?” Jennifer asked Sally, not giving her any time to confirm their survival with her husband. “You’re the only one who knows these corridors at all. Besides, you’re the new head of the Department of Extranormal Affairs.”
Sally glowered at Jennifer. “Listen, you little bitch. If Joe is dead, there is no goddamn Department of Extranormal Affairs. Without him, we have no purpose. And besides, you know...”
“I never die, said he,” Jack said vaguely. Jennifer smirked sinisterly. Sally used all of her willpower to only glare at Jennifer, and then turned to Jack. She struck up a quiet conversation making sure that he was okay.
Todd left Elli Waldo and Sylvie and crossed the narrow corridor to the decimated Mina and the unsure Dawn. He smiled woriedly at Dawn, who smiled fainly back and nodded faintly, then looked back down. Assured of Dawn’s status, he kneeled down to Mina.
“Hey, Mina, are you okay?” He said quietly. She just continued to sob. He turned and sidled up to her, and put his arm over her shoulders. He had half expected her to pull away, but instead she leaned in and began sobbing on his shoulder. He pulled her in. “It’s gonna be okay. We’ll make it,” he said softly. Her sobbing continued, but Todd hoped that he had helped nonetheless. He chuckled weakly. “This is the part that Elli would usually be doing, isn’t it?” he whispered. One of her sobs burst into a weak chuckle, and the sobbing became gentler. He tugged her in closer, in the first platonic hug with a girl of his life that he wasn’t disappointed in.
Jennifer approached Marty, who was still just looking at the slightly dented door. She stood next to her, looking at the door soon.
“Scary, isn’t it,” Jennifer said after a moment. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Marty nodded. “Well, don’t let it scare you too much. We’ve got to keep focused on what’s next. The survival of humanity may depend on that of us.” A flash of Todd’s face appeared in her mind. She shook it off and smirked. How... Novel it would be if she were actually falling for him. She smiled inwardly at the thought of him leading to her reform and redemption. Considering that the world had been overrun by zombies, she supposed it was plausible now. She reached over and touched Marty’s shoulder.
“Snap out of it,” she commanded, her voice gruff. “We’ve got to get moving soon. Joe’s sacrifice only slowed them down. And we have no idea what could still be between us and freedom.” Marty shook her head, and turned her back to the steely door. Her walk was dazed as she approached her parents and joined their hushed conversation about their safety.
Jennifer glanced around; the Asian girl and Waldo were hovering over Elli, who still seemed to be unconcious. In the other corner, Dawn was standing looking down. Why was Dawn so familiar to her? She felt like she had known her... Ten... Years ago... She suppressed a gasp. Her eyes wandered down, trying to comprehend this turn of eventsw and... She began to fume when she saw Todd pulling that crying girl to him. She knew that there was absolutely no reason to be angry. He was comforting a friend, it was a deed of nobility, not romance. But she also knew that her jealousy was just a part of the development; it made just as much sense as everything else that was happening. She couldn’t suppress it. Nor could she suppress the gasp she felt when she realized why that girl seemed familiar too. Ten years ago... A wave of emotions crashed in her head. How were both of them here, and how were both of them still so... Not that looked like it had been ten years... Her heart sank at this realization. She may have been too old for Todd, in a way...
Todd looked up suddenly at the sharp intake of air. Jennifer was standing there, suddenly looking very sad. His heart welled with misplaced guilt; it looked like he was being more than platonic with Mina, with Jennifer right there... There was no way, though, that this was why Jennifer looked so sad. So the guilt felt misplaced for a brand new reason. He squeezed Mina caringly and briefly, whispered once more that it was going to be okay, and then detatched from her. He stood up and walked over to Jennifer. Mina began to fall towards the void that Todd had left, but then swung the other way and leaned against Dawn’s legs. Dawn was slightly surprised, but didn’t move away. She reached dwon and lightly tussled Mina’s hair, it being the only friendly action she knew. A wave of Deja Vu enveloped her, followed by a wave of presque vu. She felt like a veil on her memory had been lifted and replaced very quickly. A look of puzzlement enveloped her face, but she still didn’t act on it.
Todd approached Jennifer, and was practically touching her when she noticed him. “Hey, you’re the one who’s kept it together this whole time. Don’t fall apart now, you’re keeping me going.” He smiled so sincerely at her that her frown broke down.
“What about in the van?” she asked.
“Shh, no one needs to know that you panicked there,” he chided. “You’re the only leader we have. Don’t leave me as the pillar. One blow with a sledgehammer would knock me out.” Jennifer giggled, even though it wasn’t really funny.
“How can you be... Er... Joking? You weren’t trying to be funny like this just half an hour ago.”
“I don’t really know. Just trying to keep the mood light, I guess?”
Her giggles turned suddenly back to a frown. “Todd... When we’re out of here, when we’re moving again, there are some things I have to tell you.”
“I know you do,” he smiled. “I can think of two offhand, and I must be channeling Elli, because there’s a third thing that you’re going to tell me and I’m going to tell you.”
Jennifer gaped at him. He continued to smile. “We don’t have time to talk about it now. As soon as Elli wakes up and Mina has control of herself, we have to book it.” The expression of shock on Jennifer’s face became more intense.
“Her name is Mina...?” she asked cautiously. Todd stared at her for a moment.
“Okay, make that three things that you have to tell me...”
“Come on Elli, wake up,” Sylvie said, rubbing his shoulders slightly. He was clearly alive. His pulse was steady, and his breathing was deep. He seemed to be just sleeping. He had probably been knocked unconscious, but then been just so tired that when he “came to” from being knocked out, he just started sleeping. Sylvie stopped massaging his shoulders and started shaking himgently. His eyes fluttered open.
Light flooded into his eyes, and then it started flickering. He shut his eyes tight against the strobing flashes, and then opened them slowly.
“I wake up to an angel and Waldo,” he mumbled, smirking. “Is this purgatory?” Waldo frowned genially, which is something he did often. Sylvie made her cheeks blush, and she forced herself to giggle coyly, none of it seeming forced. Waldo reached behind Elli’s head and propped him up.
“Oh, man,” he said. “I forgot what happened. No, don’t remind me, I want to remember it slowly, so that I don’t pass out again. You know what, tell me later. What’s going on?”
“We’re moving, people!” Sally commanded suddenly. All eyes turned to her; Mina was looking through tear-stained eyes, and Elli was looking through an early-morning fog. “Anyone who can’t walk on their own, pick them up. We’re getting out of these corridors and above ground.”
“Here here!” Jennifer chimed, just to rile Sally’s nerves. Dawn experienced the Deja Vu-Presque Vu sequence once more. She pushed her hand to her head, trying to comprehend whatever it was she couldn’t quite grasp. Meanwhile, Sally glowered at Jennifer, who grinned menacingly back. Todd saw this.
“Oh yeah. Make it four.” Jennifer’s menacing grin vanished into a look of shock at him. He smiled sardonically at her, proud that for once he was managing to stay a step ahead of someone. He walked over to Mina and helped her up, because he saw Dawn wasn’t. When she was standing, he touched Dawn on the shoulder. She was snapped out of her trance, and after another faint smile, she turned to her mother, listening to her orders.
“Joe has sacrificed himself so that we could get out. So let’s get the hell out! This corridor opens into a field just a mile down. Once we’re out, there will probably be zombies on every side of us. Even now there may be zombies ahead of us, and we don’t know when they’ll make it through the door behind us. So lock and load, and let’s move out!” Sally turned and advanced down the corridor.
Waldo propped Elli up on his shoulder and handed him a spare handgun. Elli nodded at him, detatched, and began stumbling sleepily after Sally. Jennifer and Todd went forward together, and all the others went with them.
They walked for nearly twenty minutes without any significant incident. After the first three minutes, everyone walked in silence. The whole time, the tension grew. It grew to massive proportions, and quickly began to rattle nerves. After that twenty minutes without actual incident, a crash echoed through the corridoor behind them. Marty panicked, spun, and emptied a clip at random into the empty hallway, screaming at the top of her lungs. Her mother came up behind her and tugged on her arm, stopping her, before she could reload. Marty began to cry softly, and fell on her mother’s shoulder, moistening her shirt.
“Marty,” she said, the mother back in her voice, “We have to try to keep calm . Everything’s going to be alright, dear, you understand that? We’re going to be alright. But right now, you have to keep calm.” She reverted to her commando voice. “The corridor situation has obviously reached critical stages. We have to get out of here NOW. So we’re going to run. Now move!” And they all did. They were careful to stay behind Sally-except for Jennifer, who made it her business to run alongside Sally pointedly.
Five minutes later, they burst out, single-file, into a familiar, vaguely wild field, and were assaulted by rain.
“Do you like Pina Coladas?” Waldo asked when they were out. Elli looked up at him in confusion.
“What?”
“We just made our escape, and now we’re caught in the rain.”
“Ah, of course. Where did we escape from? No, never mind. Where are we now?”
“Caught in the rain.”
“We’re in a field...” Sylvie said, giving Waldo a playfully dirty look.
Sally had stopped only a few feet past the exit, and so everyone else had stopped behind her. They scattered vaguely, just as they had when they passed through the steel door. She swung her gun out and looked around intensely, just like the soldier she was.
Jennifer frowned when she realized just what field they were being rained on in. Mina looked around and recognized the field in horror; then she recognized Jennifer, and began to panic. She scrambled herself up from the ground (which she had fallen to upon escape from the corridor) and hid behind Sylvie, hoping that Jennifer had not yet recognized her. So many problems were attacking her; she hadn’t felt like this for ten years. Sylvie gave Mina an odd look, but didn’t brood on it too much. Everyone acts strangely in an apocolypse. Dawn felt the Deja Vu and Presque Vu once again.
Todd ignored all of that and turned to look behind them. It was a stone structure sticking out of the ground, a block about three feet across, eight feet high, and four feet deep. Where they had emerged, there was a steely door that looked like it had been not just ripped out by its hinges, but actually sliced open.. He turned to the rest of the group.
“What now?” Jack panted, looking admiringly and worriedly at his wife.
“I... Don’t know.” Sally looked around. She had hoped that their path would be obvious once they were out of the complex, but nothing was presenting itself. For the moment, they seemed to be safe. She knew it wouldn’t last, but she didn’t know where they could go to prolong their safety.
“I need to get back to my car,” Jennifer said suddenly.
“That’s a good idea,” Waldo said. “We need a way to get around.”
“What about Zach?” Dawn asked.
“He’s out of the complex,” Todd said, smiling.
“How can you tell?” Dawn watched him cautiously.
“The fact that the steel door that should have been blocking our way out was sliced clean open.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Zach,” Elli chuckled. He could tell that he was glad that he couldn’t yet remember what exactly had happened. He kept trying his best to ignore the swelling memory.
“Where exactly are we?” Marty asked, her wits temporarily about her.
“The field,” Mina whispered, her eyes wide with terror. “The field!”
Jennifer’s face was impassive as she watched Mina. Inside she was sad. Now she knew some of what had happened to Mina and Dawn, but... What about the others? Seth and Summer swam into her mind’s eye. She set it out and came back to the current situation. “We’re just down the street from George Custer Memorial High School,” she said in hushed tones, failing to keep her voice as impassive as her expression.
“That’s a long way from my house,” Sally said, considering in her motherly tones.
“And my house,” Sylvie said, “Is just down from the street from yours.”
“My car is at Sylvie’s house,” Waldo monotoned.
“And Jennifer’s car is at Dawn’s house,” Todd sighed. Most of them were beginning to wonder if that line of thinking was hopeless.
Mina watched Jennifer nervously, and was conflicted. Jennifer-just like her, still the same, after ten years. And Dawn, too. But Dawn she understood. Dawn had been explained. But how had Jennifer escaped, when so many others didn’t? Had she been infected with something too? And Jennifer had already been scary... Now, if she had powers... Mina shuddered to think about it. And now, she was forced to decide between almost certain death, and placing her lives in the hand of that psycho. As she brooded about it, Dawn caught the look on her face. It was cute. Dawn blushed lightly looking at it, and also got a headache from it. The Presque Vu was getting stronger, and it began to concern her.
“We could steal a car,” Elli said. That sparked a vague, quiet, nervous laugh. None of them had ever thought that they would have to actually consider that course of action, much less to avoid zombies. They stopped laughing, and did actually consider that course of action. Until Mina interrupted them.
“I still live near here, and my car is at my house,” she said sheepishly. Much to her surprise, Jennifer did not give her a terrible, soul-cutting look, but instead flashed her a brief, approving smile.
“Lead the way, Mina,” she said kindly. That worried Mina more than anything.
“Will all of us fit in your car, Mina?”
“No, we won’t,” she said, suddenly feeling terrible and worthless again, as she had since she had first started cowering in the corridors before Joe had killed himself.
“That’s alright,” Todd offered, diffusing Mina’s descent into depression before it became severe. “We can go in groups. Waldo and Elli can go get Waldo’s car, and Jennifer and I can get her van.”
“And I can get my car!” Sylvie tittered.
“Groups of two are safest, and we’d be pushing it to get even six people in. I’ve ridden in Mina’s car before,” Todd chided.
“That’s okay,” Mina squeaked a little bit. “Your car is nicer than mine. Newer, too.”
“We’ll need better gas milage,” Waldo offered, purely to support Sylvie.
"But, we'll also need all the space we can get. Mina's car can seat more." Todd said partly to counter Waldo, and partly tobring a dash of logic back to the situation.
“Alright, then,” Sally said. “Let’s get to Mina’s house. Mina, I’m sure you know the best way to get there, so you had better lead.” Mina let loose a squeal of vague fear at being on point for such a trek. Sally sighed. They had to get moving. The zombie hoard behind them could burst forth at any moment.
“Let’s just go,” Jennifer said, kindly taking the pressure off of Sally. This disconcerted Sally, but not nearly as much as it did Jennifer. Mina cowered ahead of Jennifer momentarily, but then her ancient fear got the best of her, and she began to walk quickly in the direction of her house.
Before they had even traveled two yards, a moan erupted from the door behind them. All of them spun and, after a few seconds of fumbling for a few of them, trained their weapons on the door.
“I...” The ghastly voice wailed. “I never diiie....”
A grey skinned Joe emerged from the door, clutching at his side, wild, pained abandoned in his eyes. He stumbled towards them, and locked his eyes on Jennifer. “I never die!” He cried. His skin seemed to become scaly as he fell to the ground. Within moments, he had seemingly dissolved.
Looks of horror plastered every face there. It was two and a half minutes before anyone could say anything.
“What the fuck was that?” Marty screamed.
“I’ve got no idea...” Jennifer whispered. “No goddamn idea...”

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