The Regulators - 02 by Michael Clary

the
pillowcases full of food. I jokingly whispered to him that he didn’t even need
me and for all the good I was doing, I might as well just wait for him in the
elevator. He laughed at that and squeezed my arm.
    “You’re the hero here, my friend,” he said. “I may know the
way to the food, but I may also need your muscles to get us there.”
    I didn’t like the idea of everyone seeing me as the tough
guy. Like I said before, I wasn’t feeling very tough. I gripped the handle of
my axe very tightly. I was determined not to let him down, no matter how I was
truly feeling.
    I used the axe four times in order for us to get to the
food. In all four times, we were lucky and had the element of surprise.
Therefore, there were no screams. We didn’t want them to scream. Screams led to
more zombies. Too many zombies and Ruben and I were going to die.
    After the food was gathered up, we headed to the manager’s
office. Ruben pulled the laptop out of the desk drawer along with a power cable.
All of it and some of the manager’s personal items were safely secured in a
nylon case complete with a shoulder strap. I carried the laptop along with most
of the food.
    “ Did you gather more
food along with the pillowcases full of cans ?”
    Yeah, we were pretty set. We gathered up enough to last us
about a month and maybe more if we rationed them properly. After those ran out,
we were out of luck. At that point, the kitchen was empty.
    The attack came when we reached the elevator.
    Ruben and I were busy marveling about how easy things had
been. We were amazed at how much food we had gathered. We were just happy to
have succeeded.
    The corpse came at us as soon as Ruben stepped into the
elevator behind me. He was joking around and pretending that he was having
problems dragging the large trash bag he was carrying through the door.
    The zombie was moving so fast that he actually collided with
the one side of the elevator doors before he fell on top of Ruben and tore into
his stomach.
    Ruben screamed. I will never forget the sound of that
scream. I will never forget the way he reached out for me as if I could help
him. Once the bite punctures the flesh, it’s all over.
    There was blood all over the floor by the time I managed to
pull the zombie off of him. I threw the corpse against the wall opposite the
elevator. It was a young man. He was probably in his early twenties. There
wasn’t a mark on him except for the bite on his hand.
    He screamed and charged at me. I swung my axe and took him
off his feet. I stomped my foot on his neck in order to retrieve my weapon. I
enjoyed the crunching sound the weapon made as I pulled it free.
    Three more zombies responded to the call. They were rushing
down the hallway as I stepped back inside the elevator and closed the doors.
    Ruben died on the ride back to our floor. Later that night
he came back and I killed him again.
    Up until that moment, they had all been faceless and unknown
to me. It’s a different feeling when you know them. It’s not a good feeling. I
liked Ruben. I liked him a lot.
    Nobody ever asked what happened. Nobody said a single word
the rest of that day. I threw my clothes away; they were covered in Ruben’s
blood.
    It took another week or so before we even remembered the
laptop.
    “ Is that when you
first heard about the General ?”
    Yes, but we didn’t pay much attention to the rumors at
first. We were more concerned with how the rest of the world was dealing with
things. Imagine our surprise when we realized it was only in El Paso. On one
hand, it was great news. If we ever got out of here, we would be safe. On the
other hand, we had the misfortune enough to be stuck at ground zero when the
undead bomb went off.
    The people on the website were really nice. They patiently
answered all our questions. They were genuinely happy that we were alive. Some
of those people were trapped just like we were. Some were as of yet
undiscovered but had nowhere to run to.
    “Don’t