Chapter 10
Jack raced through the dining room, dragging Fawn behind him. Once the soldiers found the bodies outside they'd be hot on their tail, he figured. The best tactic was to get inside a large building and take every possible twist and turn. His current approach was to really make their pursuers work for it and hope they got lazy.
He slipped down a service corridor and into a large kitchen. He stopped short. A soldier was kneeling inside the doorway, struggling to remove a dead waiter's watch. He looked up in surprise and scrambled for his rifle. Jack killed him with one short burst. The sound of gunfire sent Fawn into uncontrollable shakes.
"It's okay Fawn. He was a bad guy." He said softly.
Other bodies littered the floor. There were about ten, and from the looks of things they were all waiters or cooks… locals. Fawn saw the corpses and buried her head in Jack's shoulder.
"It's okay honey, we're staying right here," He said, patting her head gently.
"But there's dead people all over the floor," She replied, body shaking. “What’s happening?”
"I’m not sure, but whoever did this is already gone. I've been in a lot of war zones and troops rarely return to a killing field."
Fawn looked up at him, clearing tears from her eyes, "I thought you were, like… a travel writing guy?"
"Well, not really. I work for the NSA."
Fawn looked confused, "The tax people?"
"Let's just say the CIA… you've heard of them right?"
Fawn's eyes widened in awe. Jack went to a stack of dining chairs, pulled one off and gently sat Fawn down. Leaning against the steel counter he typed a coded message to his bosses. "Coupe in progress, at least thirty armed combatants, American fatalities and hostages," He pounded out more specifics and waited for a reply from his handler. Fawn was still shaking.
"It's okay honey, I'm getting help."
"You're calling the police?"
Jack's IPad beeped, and he took a moment to study the reply and grinned, "Screw the police, we've got the United States fucking Navy coming for us."
Fawn managed a smile, "That's awesome Jack." She became lost in thought for a moment. "That was going to be my first one you know."
"First what?" Jack asked, confused.
"Porn shoot. I know I sounded like a total slut who'd done a hundred, but I’m not. I just really needed money.”
"Yeah, I could tell."
"Really?" Fawn said, her face lighting up.
"Absolutely, I knew right away you were really a nice girl," Jack shot her his most sincere smile. He was only telling a half truth, but he saw no need to say how lost she looked. The poor kid was a wreck.
Fawn's smile suddenly vanished. She screamed, pointing behind them frantically. Jack turned, rifle at the ready… and froze. Despite training for every situation he was still taken totally aback. He couldn’t believe his eyes.
The dead bodies were moving and unsteadily actually climbing to their feet. Jack could have believed one person surviving a massacre like this, but not all of them. Jack knew they couldn't be alive because one of them was missing the entire top of his head. A chef rushed forward and Jack fired a long burst into his chest. The attacker staggered backwards, stunned for a moment, but then came right at them again. The rest of the murdered workers fell in behind him as they rushed the couple.
Jack grabbed Fawn's hand and they both raced down the kitchen aisle. He paused to shove a huge pot of seafood bisque off the stove, spilling it into the oncoming zombie's path. The zombie-chef lost his footing in the slippery liquid, toppling backwards, slowing the onslaught for a moment.
Jack turned to find another pack of zombies approaching from the other end of the kitchen, blocking their escape. They were surrounded… but there was a heavy steel door to his right. With no time to think he yanked open the door, pushing Fawn through. Before he could follow the zombie-chef grabbed his arm from behind. Jack spun, raising the rifle in the process. He emptied the magazine into the chef's neck at point blank range, severing his head. Jack shoved the headless, but still groping, zombie into the oncoming horde, buying him the second he needed to duck into the room.
Jack slammed the door behind him, sighing in momentary relief as it clicked shut. Then he took a moment to survey the space. It was an industrial cold room, stocked with fruits and vegetables. He glanced at the door handle, "Shit, it doesn't lock from in here!" It actually had an emergency escape sort of button or lever to prevent people from being locked in. He jammed the butt of the rifle into the door handle, as it were. A second later one of the zombies began pulling frantically as other undead pounded on the door. Jack was sure the steel door would hold for a while, but fuck, it was cold as shit in here, he thought. He glanced over at the nearly naked Fawn.
"It's really cold in here Jack," She said, already shivering.
Great, Jack thought, the door would probably hold up just long enough for us to freeze to death.