Nighshift 63: Sheriff's Office

[fourstonewalls]

[from here]

The door was locked, but just with a latch; the credit card they'd issued her for the trip was worth far more sliding down the thin space between jamb and door than it had been earlier. The latch clicked, and the door swung open with a loud creak.

Lana held the door open, gesturing for everyone to come in. In her other hand she'd grabbed one of the waiting-line chairs and was holding it, ready to jam it under the doorknob. As long as they were all inside before the zombies arrived, they'd be fine.

That was, of course, assuming the office was empty.

Comments

[survives]

"Uh... I guess they might have guns in other places too?" Leanne shrugged, a small smile coming to her lips. With any luck, it didn't look as awkward as it felt. Suddenly being the one leading them was unexpected, and just the slightest bit uncomfortable, but she wasn't about to back down from it. She could do this. It couldn't be that different from taking point during a job, and she'd done that plenty of times. "But the lockers were where we checked the last time I was here. I don't know if there's anything else anywhere else..."

That said, she turned around and walked briskly toward the doors. Three doors... Which one had she walked out of that night, after they'd teleported inside? It had been...

Right. "I'm pretty sure it was in this room," she said, even as she reached for the doorknob. Before turning it, however, she glanced back over her shoulder, at her three companions. "You guys ready? I don't know if there are any more of those... things in there." After all, couldn't one of the officers have easily stayed inside past sunset? Running again wouldn't exactly be easy while they were inside either.

[dualistic]

So Lana was also looking for ammunition. That meant she must have gotten her hands on a gun already, and Harvey was curious as to how. That was something he could discuss with her later, though. The others went about searching the main area, and it quickly became clear that there wasn't much of interest here beyond some office supplies.

For that reason, Harvey didn't think there was any point in holding off on searching those lockers Leanne had mentioned. He moved up behind her and was about to give the go-ahead for her to open the door, but then--

"Wait." He reached out and grabbed Leanne's hand, pulling it away from the doorknob. He motioned for everyone to be silent for a moment, and after a few seconds he heard it: a thumping sound from behind the door, followed by some faint scratching.

"There's something in there." It was really no shock that they were going to have to fight for what they wanted. They couldn't just leave weapons unguarded, even if they'd gone to enough trouble just to make it all the way down here. Still, there wasn't much point complaining about it now. Instead, Harvey moved to grab one of the desk chairs, lifting it up to use as a bludgeoning instrument. "All right, ready."

[fourstonewalls]

A stapler wasn't going to do Lana that much good against a zombie, but it was better than nothing. And she'd seen people killed with less -- a sharp blow to the head was easier than most people thought. Not quite as effective on things that could walk around with their brains rotting and falling out, but enough damage and they'd go down as well.

She stepped in and put her hand on the knob, just where Leanne's had been, and threw a smirk at Harvey. "On my mark, " she called out. The zombie -- let's be optimistic and assume there's only one -- already knew they were there; whether by sound or smell, it didn't matter, so synchronizing their attack could only help. When everyone was looking at her, she started the countdown. "Three, two, one, mark." She pulled open the door, stepping behind it so that she might have a fighting chance of closing it again.

The smell of rotting flesh rushed out, followed quickly by its source. A badge on its breast hung from the tattered remnants of a dress shirt, and Lana shuddered. She would rather not have thought about the fact that these were people, once.

[dividedby]

Wasn't all that surprising to find that the group wasn't alone in this place. At least it was only one moaning remnant of a human and not an entire group. Four against one - and the one seemed to be mostly dead already. This shouldn't be much of a challenge.

Zero took Harvey's lead and armed himself with one of the desk chairs; certainly, something like that would do far more damage to an enemy than his coat would. Then it was only a short wait before Lana pulled the door open, putting everyone face to face with their enemy.

Unexpectedly, it wasn't a physical form that struck Zero the moment the door was opened, but a wave of smell that caused his stomach to grow queasy. Just because he was used to seeing corpses didn't mean he was used to their smell...and what a smell it was. Still, despite its strength, it wasn't enough to immobilize him. As the zombie moved out of its hiding place, Zero moved as well, stopping only a short distance away before pulling the chair in his hands back in preparation for a swing.

It didn't matter what this thing was (or used to be)... All that mattered now was that it was in their way, and it was going to be terminated for that.