First up -
That goddamned heating duct. I have a friend who works on said a/c units and the ducts attached to them and, I'm going to be giving him a piece of my mind, that is if he's not a flesh eating Zombie right now and actually wanting a piece of my mind. It was gaaaarohs, gross. Little dead mice and bugs, under my hands and feet, I crawled through that fucker and out into the other side.
I pushed out a vent and found myself waaaaay to high to simply climb down. I had forgot that The Bay is two stories and has extended ceilings, at that. So I sat there for a bit, looking out over the store, the beauty products, to be exact, and as I'm sitting there this lady goes running by. I was about to call out to her but thought better of it, as she had a Zombie-ish look. I was about to turn back and just head back to Stitches when out of fucking nowhere this guy comes running up behind her, whilst carrying an ax, and, grabbing her hair, throws her to the ground. He yells something at her, something like "Who the fuck do you think I am!" and then buries the fucking ax in her head. Right about this moment I'm thinking, let's just go back to Stitches and pretend we didn't see anything. But then I look down and see the grate, I pushed out, laying on top of a rack of clothing. I realize that if he sees that he'll know someone came over. As I'm contemplating all of this he begins to pull her body to the back of the store, leaving a long trail of blood behind him.
I was still sitting there thinking about how to get the grate when I see one of the cabinet doors, in one of the glass cases holding face cream, open and an older woman sticks her head out. One side of her head is matted and red and holding itself flat, as though she fell asleep in a puddle of blood. She looked around, I guess to see if the murdering bastard was still around, and almost as if she knew where I was, she looked up and caught me looking at her. I know the world must have changed, and me with it, because my first thought is...now I have to kill the bitch. Those exact words ran through my mind. Survival first, baby. But something else came over me, sympathy, maybe? No, maybe not. But something, something that told me I need to step up here and save these people from the savage with an ax.
She walked towards me, her eyes desperate. Looking around and seeing no one, she broke the silence. "Save me, pull me up." She ran at me.
Her arms came about halfway up the wall.
"Grab the vent." I tell her, thinking it would make up the distance between our arms.
She grabbed it and held it up, a divining rod looking for safety.
I grabbed the top of the vent, feeling the cold metal cut into my skin, and, forcing my feet into the corners of the duct, I was sitting in, began to pull.
Well, no longer will I listen to some unidentifiable voice in my head about how to handle life altering decisions. That fucking bitch pulled me down, so hard, I crashed into the clothes rack with a loud clang. My shoulder pretty much dislocated and a buzzing in my head, I gave her a quizzical look. She just looked back at me with this "Sorry, sucker." look upon her face and then she opened her mouth.
"HERE!" She yelled. "HERE! I'VE GOT ONE!"
Laying on my side, on the floor of The Bay, I kicked her knee right the fuck out, sending her down onto her side and gasping for air. Then I put my heel into her face and got up and ran.
Now I'm hiding, not going to say where, since I don't want the word to get to the ax wielding maniac. Now I wish I had listened to that lady, yesterday, the one running by the store bleeding and yelling about some 'crazy' guy.
We're in a different world now and even the smallest of details can cost a life, she was not a small detail, a bloody, hysterical, woman, running into the Zombies, instead of away.
She was a sign.
More, later, after I decide what to do and if I'm still alive to write it.
yes!
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