Dead Sector: Miami: The James' Strain Read Free Page B

swing and the thing goes flying.  It also screams “what the hell?”  It turns to lie on its back and raises it arms to protect itself.  It is not a zombie but a man. I was so sure.
    “Oh shit man, I am … I am so sorry. I thought you were one of those things,” I say.
    “Why the hell did you think that?” says the man as he rises. He is an older, slender man. He has a slight beard and his hair is mostly gone. “I am the overnight janitor-Tom Covey-not one of those god damned monsters.”
    “Zombies,” I say.
    “Whatever you say. I was in the building when it all started and decided this was the safest place to be. I have been raiding offices with this-looking for a weapon. Gets me through pretty much every locked door. No luck yet.” He is holding up a security card with his face on it. But a younger version of him. I imagine he has had this job for a long time.
    “Are you alone?” asks Danny.
    “Yeah, normally I have at least two people helping me but neither showed up for their shifts. Frankly, I showed up an hour early so I could eat before getting started. Otherwise, I would be on the way here when it all happened.  Is it just you two?”
    “No,” I say, “there are two others just down the hall. We barely made it here alive, but figured the building might be the best place to wait this out until …”  I trail off because I don’t know how to end the sentence-I don’t know if we can wait this out because I don’t know if it will end. “Do you know if the building has been breached?” I ask.
    “Not as of an hour ago.”

Chapter 3
    The Girl in the Car
    “Danny, take him back to the others. I have to go check on something downstairs.”
    The elevator ride again shows me the city in ruin. I try not to look. The door opens and I jump back expecting to be overwhelmed. Nothing comes and the lobby is still clear. I only look around the corner from the elevator banks to the front doors, not wanting to be seen by the zombies that are clustered at the front of the building. There aren’t any there.  At some point in the night, they must have given up. They are still in the street, so I get low and crawl to the front and hide behind some fake plants to avoid being seen.  I look at the car and I can see nothing. I am too low and there are too many zombies running by it. But then there is break in the zombies and I see eyes peeking ever so slightly from the car window. She does not see me, so I take a chance and stand up. Her eyes widen and she sees me. She waves and I can tell she is about to open the door when she drops out of view. I follow suit and hide again behind the plant. The zombies are again in force in front of the building. I use the time to find paper and a black magic marker at the security desk. I crawl back and write three words. Ten minutes goes by before there is a lull in zombies again, and before I can see the girl again. When I can see her, I hold up the paper and she sees the message- “Next Break-RUN.”
    It is almost exactly ten minutes again when that break occurs. I stand by the door, frantically waving her in. She looks around, and after hesitating for just a second or two, she steps out of the car. She is wearing last night’s dress- a dress made for a night of clubbing. She is not running fast enough and stumbles twice before I decide to help her. I prop open the door with the plant, set down the golf club, and run to her. She falls into my arms as I reach her and I turn to run back to the building. She collapses and I am basically carrying her. She screams and I turn my head in the direction she is looking. The thirty second window we had is almost up and the zombies are barreling towards us. Her scream alerts them and they begin running even faster towards us. I run even faster than I would have thought possible while dragging a person and we make it through the door-falling inward.  I kick the plant out of the building and kick the door shut with both feet, but not