-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Chapter Sixteen

The Office

Melody's P.O.V

"Mel they have a tank! They're gonna blow it up!"

I expected fear to overwhelm me. To consume me like it had so many times before. Instead, the fear that was slowly devouring me, fled. All the despair, the dread and the panic. They all vanished and left in their place a devastating rage that left my hands shaking at my sides.

"Why?" I all but growled into the radio.

"The infected are climbing up the tower! Mel you have to hurry! The tank's already in position!"

I hurled the radio at the wall of the kitchen and screamed in frustration. I kicked the counter and grabbed on to the first loose item my hands could reach, throwing them in all directions. I picked up a large plate and smashed it on the floor, stamping my foot down on its shattered remains. A hand curled around my wrist but I flinched back. Spinning around I looked at Alan as he surveyed the destroyed kitchen.

"Mel..."

"We have to go! Now!" I hissed through gritted teeth. My nails dug into the palm of my hands as I walked past him and over to Robyn. She had lost consciousness and lay still on the table, a blood stained bandage wrapped securely around her abdomen. Alan walked into the room and stared at me closely, keeping his distance.

"Pick her up," I said, pointing down at Robyn. "We have to go now." I explained with a hushed urgency. I ran over to the elevator and pressed the small button.

"Mel were safe up here! We can't go, not yet!" Alan exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders and forcefully guiding me back towards Robyn. I slapped his hands off of me and turned to face him.

"We need to go! They have a tank and there gonna blow up the restaurant!" I yelled pushing him away from me and stepping towards the elevator. He just looked at me confused before a large explosion crashed the silence around us. The ground shook violently and knocked us both off of our feet.

Alan regained his balance quickly and dived towards Robyn, picking her up in his arms. I looked past them towards the window and involuntarily gasped as the tower gradually began tilting towards the ground. Slowly my body began to slip towards the window as I heard the crashing of plates in the kitchen. I clawed out at whatever I could but there was nothing around me. I dug my nails into the carpeted floor to slow my decent but it made little difference. The whole building began to creak and moan as the tower propelled towards the street.

I grabbed onto the leg of a table as my feet began dangling in the air. I looked down and watched the snapped wires flail about as the tower fell closer and closer to the building beside it. I threw my head up, the burn in my arms already begging me to let go. Loose chairs and cutlery from the kitchen flew down and crashed into the windows. I looked around frantically, trying to find Alan or Robyn anywhere.

I looked down just in time to witness the tower clash into the building. All windows shattered as glass and debris flew everywhere. The sudden jolt of the collision knocked my grip off of the table and sent me falling into the other building. I hit the ground with a harsh thud. The impact of my weight broke the floor and sent me spiraling downwards. As my body hit the floor a cluster of debris fell from above and rained down on me. Uselessly, I held my hands up before my face but it was no use.

The last sound I heard was the wailing of the infected.

-----------------------------------------------------

Several hours later

-----------------------------------------------------

The large hole in the ceiling above me allowed for a stream of moonlight to filter in to the small room. I had spent what felt like hours just staring through the large jagged hole.

My body, too broken and bruised to move.

My mind, past the verge of collapse.

My soul, torn from my being so long ago.

I was broken.

So broken I could barely move. I could hear them mulling around in the room beside me. Rustling through papers, knocking over a chair. Their chilling moans still sent a cold breeze of fear over me. But I didn't dare move. An arrangement of rubble had piled itself atop my body, restraining me to the spot.

An ache resounded through my skull, mimicking the feeling of my entire body. I could vaguely see my arms in the darkness, still cut up from the car crash there didn't seem to be any new wounds covering them.

The ache in my left leg was accompanied by a burning yet numb sensation. I tried moving it while making as little sound as possible. As soon as I tried a small rock of cement rolled off the pile and fell to the floor. Thank god it was carpet and not something that would make a noise. I tried moving it again but it was no use. I had fallen into what looked like a small closet for office supplies. To my left was a torn box with paper clips spewing out of it like a small river. To my right was a thin wall where I could distinctly hear at least three infected stumbling about.

I could feel the small pistol in my back pocket. The barrel of the gun sticking directly into my spine. I doubt there were enough bullets left in it. Even if there were, the noise would only attract more. After waiting several minutes the pain in my head slowly subsided as the noise of the infected quickly receded. One by one I began slowly pushing parts of the debris off of me. Eventually I freed my left arm and used that to quickly push the large pile off. Once everything was off I lay still on the ground, watching the dust molecules drift through the air. It didn't sound like the infected had heard me. Slowly I pushed myself up off the floor, gripping the shelf beside me for support.

I needed to find Alan and Robyn.

That would be my first goal. After that we would have to get out of the building and somehow meet back up with Carl. I reached into my pocket and seethed at the memory of throwing the radio away.

My entire body ached but the worst pain was radiating from my left leg. I shifted most of my weight onto my right foot and limped towards the door. Cautiously pressing my ear against the wood I listened quietly for any sign of life. Silence greeted me.

I gripped the cold door handle and pulled the door open as far as it would go without the rubble constricting it. I stepped out of the small closet and looked around the large room. it was clearly an office building. Desks, chairs and computers were all lined up around the place. The lights were off, leaving me in a dark abyss. I toyed with the idea of calling out for Alan but quickly thought better of it. Infected were here not long ago.

They would have had to have landed somewhere near me. Unless they were still in the tower? I rounded the corner of the office and stepped back in surprise. The entire wall was missing.

I stepped closer to the edge and looked down toward the street. The remnants of Sydney tower lay jumbled in a smoking, burning mess. If Robyn and Alan were still in the tower when it fell, they surely weren't alive now. I shoved that thought away from my mind. If I had survived there is no reason as to why they wouldn't have. When I landed I fell through a floor, so maybe Alan and Robyn were somewhere in the offices above me. I pulled the gun out of my back pocket and held it up close to my face. I had no idea how to check how many bullets were left in it so instead I tucked it back into my back pocket and snatched up a pair of scissors that were lying on a desk. I walked away from the edge of the building and looked for any sign that pointed towards the stairs. The sooner I found them the safer I would feel.

I found the small sign that pointed towards the stairs and followed it without question. I held the scissors tight in my hands as I slowly opened the door to the stairwell. I sighed in relief when I found it empty and silent. I quietly shut the door behind me and trudged up the steps as efficiently as I could. I opened the door of the next floor and walked inside the large office, holding the scissors up high. I limped down the small corridor and peeked my head around the corner. Like the floor below it, the entire side of the building was missing. Loose pieces of paper fluttered in the wind whenever a cool breeze whipped by. A few electrical wires dangled from the ceiling, sparks flying every now and then. I had no idea how I was going to find them, especially if I couldn't call out for them. Deciding that there was no way that I was going to find them unless I called out at least once, I clutched onto the scissors tighter and readied myself to run.

"Alan?" An infected woman snapped her head up from behind one of the desks before I even had time to finish saying his name. Half her face had been bitten off but it didn't stop her from gnashing her teeth towards me. She jumped over the desk she was hidden behind and began running towards me, tripping and stumbling on chairs along the way.

I quickly turned around and began limping back down the hallway as best as I could. My muscles were already beginning to ache as I pushed myself to run from her. I could hear her getting closer and closer to me. I reached the doors to the stair well and burst through them, slamming the door shut behind me. She stuck her face between the gap and snarled at me animalistically. I stabbed the scissors in her forehead and cringed at the sloppy sound it made. Pulling them out again I stabbed them back in for good measure. She slid down the floor lifelessly and hit the ground with a thud.

Panting tiredly I moved towards the nearest step and sat down on it, throwing the bloodied scissors into a corner. I stretched my legs out in front of me and groaned at the pain I felt. A door in the stairwell above slammed shut making me jump. I moved closer towards the railing and looked up, only to see two infected faces looking down at me. They wailed loudly before they began running down the stairs. Their footsteps sending audible echoes all around the stairwell. With no time to pick up the scissors I began running down the stairs. My left leg throbbed with pain every step I took but I knew that I couldn't stop. I clutched the railing for support as I continued running. Each step sent shocks of pain throughout my body but I refused to stop. I ran down eighteen flights of stairs before I arrived at the third floor. I burst through the doors, barely having any air left in my lungs. They were mere inches behind me now, I could feel their fingers entangling in my hair. At the end of the small corridor I vaguely made out the shape of a fire extinguisher. Quickly reaching it I pulled it from its hook and swung it behind me. Its metal surface made contact with the infected and issued a loud crack to emanate around the room. Pulling it up again I swung it again and hit the second infected man in the face. They both fell to the ground.

Holding it up higher I smashed it down on both their skulls until nothing was left besides fragments of brain with sharp remnants of skull sticking out. I threw the fire extinguisher, now covered in dents, to the side and slid down the wall. Sitting on the floor covered in blood I couldn't tell whether it was worth it anymore. Another infected burst through the stairwell door and began running towards me. I could barely see him in the dark. Quickly standing up I scooped up the fire extinguisher and quickly swung it at the infected.

"Woah Mel stop! It's me!" Alan screamed dropping to the floor and avoiding the fire extinguisher. He stood up and looked at me, holding his hands up. "It's just me," he whispered.

I stared at him for several seconds in the darkness before I dropped the fire extinguisher at my side, barely hearing the loud thud it made as it fell to the floor. I flung myself at him and tightly wrapped my arms around him. Silent tears began to fall as he combed his fingers threw my hair, whispering soft reassurances.

"I thought you were dead," I mumbled as I nuzzled myself into his chest. He tightened his hold on me before slowly letting me go. I stepped away from him and brushed the tears away with the back of my hand. In the darkness he was just another body, but his presence still managed to lull me into a small sense of security.

"Robyn's upstairs, we're gonna get her and then we're gonna get out of here. Alright?" He whispered, clutching my hand in his. I didn't have the strength to speak so I just nodded my head. He licked his dry and cracked lips and lead me down the corridor, carefully stepping over the two bodies. We walked up fifteen flights of steps before we walked down another corridor. He opened the door to the women's bathroom and I stepped inside.

It was extremely dark but I was able to make out the outline of Robyn's body lying down on the floor, her back propped up against the wall. I wasn't able to see her eyes in the dark so I assumed she was unconscious.

"If I carry her I won't be able to fight." Alan stated meekly, kneeling down beside her and checking her forehead. "I think the bullet hit a major artery, it hasn't stopped bleeding yet." He explained while lifting her bandage up momentarily before wrapping it around her once again. I nodded my head at him, barely registering what he was telling me.

"You carry her and we'll sneak out." I mumbled, going over to the sink and turning the tap. I wasn't surprised when no water came out, I don't even know why I bothered. I turned around and watched him pick her up before moving to open the door for them. I pulled the pistol out of my back pocket and held it up in front of me, my finger lightly squeezing the trigger.

I moved so I was in front of them and limped towards the stairwell. We moved down all the flights of stairs until we were at the bottom. The task alone took us around an hour in its entirety. Luck was on our side as it was easy to sneak past the shambling infected on the first floor. They were preoccupied with dragging corpses from outside into the pure darkness of the office building. I averted my gaze from the gruesome site and focused my sights on the back door we were quickly approaching. I gripped the handle of the door and slowly pulled it open. I froze to the spot as the door creaked loudly. I ducked down instinctively and pulled Alan and Robyn down with me.

One of the infected snapped there head up from the small child they were feasting on. They shakily stood up, sniffing the air vigorously. After a minute of sniffing the air he moaned quietly and dug his teeth back into the child's neck. I turned back to the door and opened it at a much slower rate this time. A cool gust of wind caressed my face as the sweet scent of night air infiltrated my lungs. I stepped back and wildly gestured for Alan to take Robyn and go and followed behind them. My stomach dropped at the amount of blood that painted the streets. Dismembered limbs were scattered everywhere. A trail of intestines had been ripped from someones torso and smeared across the road. I cupped my hand over my mouth to prevent any sound from being made. We pressed ourselves against the side of the building. Hundreds of infected were still milling around the streets, aimlessly picking up a stray arm to sniff or bite. It was a miracle none of them had seen us yet.

"Plan?" Alan tightened his grip on Robyn as he tried to push himself further and further into the wall. I looked at everything that was near us, anything that could help us in any way. A plan formed in my mind but it was one that would most likely get us killed.

"Yeah, I grab that rock," I explained, pointing towards a rock the size of my fist. "Use it to smash the window of that car," I continued, pointing towards a small silver Toyota that was sitting on the other side of the street."And hope I can hot-wire it before any of them reach us." Which sounded extremely unlikely us there was an infected standing by the lamp post two feet away from the car.

"Can you hot-wire a car?" Alan asked pointedly.

"I could when I was sixteen" I stated with a weak little shrug.

He shook his head and sighed. "We'll think of something else." We both exchanged a look at his words. There was nothing else. Only other option was to wait until one of them spotted us. The infected man by the lamppost began stumbling further away and soon became nothing but another shadow in the night.

"Wish me luck." I breathed, scooping up the rock and limping as fast as I could towards the car. I felt Alan reach out and try to grab my arm but I quickly pulled it out of his reach. He cursed loudly before I heard his footsteps running behind mine.

I lifted the rock up and smashed it down into the passengers window. It shattered as the car's alarm instantly began blaring. I climbed inside and looked out the windshield. Nearly every infected head had snapped towards us. Before I had time to blink they were sprinting. I went to work on the car, doing everything I remembered my brother teaching me. I ignored Alan's constant cursing as he tried to lay Robyn down on the back seat.

"Mel give me the gun!" Alan yelled. I handed it to him silently as I began connecting and twisting the wires. I looked up quickly. Alan fired the gun, the bullet hitting the nearest infected in the skull. A spurt of blood streamed out and fell across the windshield, obscuring my view.

My hands shook as I fiddled with the countless wires, praying that one would work. Another shot rang out before the gun began to click uselessly. Alan cursed loudly before he threw the car door open, slamming it into the body of an infected woman. He held it against the woman before more infected appeared and began crowding around the car. A large man began throwing his fists against my window as a small child crept across the hood of the car, smiling as he smashed his small fists down on the windshield.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I screamed hoarsely as I frantically connected the wires. Alan's door slammed shut and the infected woman violently jammed her head inside, her arms flailing wildly. Alan elbowed her in the jaw and again in the chest, pushing her out. The large man moved from my window and climbed into the bonnet of the car, joining the child in smashing his fists down on the windshield. More infected stuck there head into the car, gnashing their teeth towards Alan. He pushed himself away from the window and squeezed himself against me as he kicked wildly at them.

Almost as if happening in slow motion, the fat man lifted his fist up and slowly brought it down. The windshield cracked, and with the effort of the child it quickly shattered. My heart faltered as I watched the man reach his arm out towards me. I jammed the two wires I had clenched in my fists together and jumped at the sound of the car starting. I smashed my foot down on the reverse pedal and watched as the child and man rolled off. I backed the car up as far as it would go and maneuvered it around the large group that had quickly formed.