The Zombie Threat: Part 6

The combination of the banging on the door and the moaning was dreadful. The men knew they didn’t have very long.

“Dmitry! Take my shotgun and run. I’ll hold them long enough for you to escape!”

“Stepan! Don’t be a hero! You’re coming out with me!”

“I can’t. I’ll be dead either way. I’m infected.”

Stepan rolled up one of the sleeves to his shirt revealing a swollen bite mark.

Simultaneously, Dmitry grabbed the shotgun and the one of the barricades gave way. Dmitry removed the chair from under the doorknob at the other exit. He ran out as fast as he could. Right before the door closed he looked back and saw Stepan being torn apart by the zombies.

Dmitry limped down the hallway. The stairs were right ahead. This part of the building was still under construction. The handrails have yet to be placed.

Dmitry made his way to the stairs. He could see that he was not alone. He reached for his belt and grabbed a grenade. Seconds latter, the stairwell was clear. Once he was on the stairs, he was confronted by several zombies. He brandished his shotgun and released a slug at the closest zombie. Shrapnel bounced off of the wall and made a deep cut on his right arm.

Carrying the heavy shotgun was doing more harm than good. He tossed it over the edge of the stairs. Zombies were still ahead. His only weapons were his own two hands.

As he drew closer to the nearest zombie, he punched it in the jaw. It was stunned just enough for Dmitry to push off the edge. As it was falling, the zombie grabbed onto the bandage on his leg. Dmitry slid off, but at the last moment he grabbed onto the ledge with his hands.

Summoning up all his strength, he managed to pull himself up the ledge. He crawled up the remaining stairs and grabbed the last zombie by its foot. With his depleting energy he made the zombie loose its balance, and by complete luck the zombie fell to its death.

At the top of the stairs Dmitry pushed open the emergency exit and collapsed into the snow.

~~~~~

Dmitry was picked up by a rescue helicopter. He awoke from a coma two weeks after the incident. Because of the secrecy of the assignment, he was threatened to keep quite and never told anyone while he was in the USSR. He never went back to his old job as a biologist, and moved to America after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.