Novocain (© Rich Restucci)
Page 2 After witnessing some awful shit out my
apartment windows, I decided to get the hell out of Dodge. I stealthily packed
up my Honda and split. I got exactly two point six miles before the street got
thick with walking dead people, and I had to high-tail it out of there in
reverse. My 1991 POS Civic picked that exact time to shit the bed too, so I
was on foot from there, having to leave my meager supplies behind. I didn’t
even shut the door to the Civic. I ran and ran. As these dead things are
pretty slow and easy to avoid in ones or twos, I just kept running until my
legs and lungs decided to admit defeat. The whole legs-lungs thing happened
when I was in front of a dark, and forebodingly open doorway to a building I
had never seen before. I wasn’t new to town or anything, I just never came
this way. I mean, I worked in the other direction. There wasn’t shit over here
I needed either. I had only come in this direction because I thought there
would be less traffic when I tried to split. The open door led into the very
warehouse thingie I’m in now. Although I was not the first occupant. I slammed the steel door closed, ratcheted
closed the lock, and breathed a sigh of relief. I looked up and noticed a
light over the door illuminating pretty much just me. It was coming from one of
about ten skylights in the ceiling, but there still wasn’t a lot of light.
Then I looked down. I was standing in a rather large pile of viscera, complete
with obligatory puddle of congealing blood. Ew. The slamming of the door must
have alerted whoever was in the building with me, because I heard footsteps
through the darkness. It’s fair to say I added a bit of pee to the steaming
gore pile I was standing in. I stepped out of the light and moved to the
side. The place I was in was big, and the footsteps seemed to come from
everywhere. I walked as quietly as I could, but my shoes were squeaking so
loud it sounded like a herd of mutant guinea pigs. Then there were the bloody
foot prints I was leaving behind me. Whoever was walking sounded like they were
dragging something. I wasn’t stupid enough to yell out "Hello?" which is a
classic horror movie blunder, nor was I foolish enough to pretend that this was
a supermodel coming to give me a smooch. I knew then as clearly as you know
right now what was in the building with me. It was getting closer too. Oh man. I squinted and peered into the gloom. I
couldn’t detect any movement with my eyes, but those god damn footsteps were
driving me crazy. I tried circling around to get it in one of the beams of
light from the skylights above, but that didn’t work. I didn’t know where I
was in the building, and kept running into things. There were shelves and
pallets of stuff everywhere, and I kept knocking shit to the floor, making the
most dreadful clattering noises. The thing pursuing me made no noise save for
the dragging footsteps I should also probably mention that the only
weapon I had was Bic Lighter. I had a crowbar with me when I got in the Civic,
but in my haste to extricate myself from the car, I forgot it. The footsteps had become a palpable terror,
and I could feel cold beads of sweat between my shoulder blades. Coming around
a tall stack of pallets, I noticed a stairway with a lighted railing and
walkway at the top. Thinking that if I were on the top of the stairs, I could
see whatever was coming for me as it reached the bottom. I bolted up the metal
steps, clanging loudly with each footfall. There were twenty two steps, and an
office loft at the top. To my utter dismay, I found that the office had no
door. The realization that I had no door between me and my pursuer came at the
same time as another epiphany: Whatever was below could see me, but I still
couldn’t see it, and I had no weapon. Smooth. The thing came into view a couple of seconds
later. It had been attractive before the shit hit the fan. Long raven locks,
and a shapely figure, dressed in a purple halter top and what used to be white
shorts. Her right arm had some serious damage, but her right leg was nothing
short of mangled. Pity, probably had nice legs too. Amazing what goes through
your head when you’re terrified and your tooth hurts. [ Continue to page 3 ] |