Chapter 10 I Believe
I got Burger’s trying to come in through the closet door (the one before the restroom door). Acid is raining from holes on the ceiling, seems we left unattended the fact that the ceiling was not acid proof. The hole in the bathtub seems to be the best exit… I just don’t know how far the jump is and what the hell am I gonna do down there. Actually I don’t even know if there is something under it, the lights seem to have failed with the acid leaks. I have heard a couple of rock falling, from the walls I guess. I’m trying to make up my mind as the burger people and the acid try to get me to freeze. Its one of those situations in which you never really feel certain that what you did was the «best choice». So I set one foot inside the tub’s hole. Bam! Burger people are hungry. I set the other foot in. Bam! Im about to shit myself cause I’m actually thinking of letting myself fall into a black unknown hole. I take a deep breath and pull the rest of my body down into the tubs hole. Brruuum! The door is down. I can hear them run into the closet. I close my eyes. Bam! Bam! Bam-bam-bam. Gun shots? As I open my eyes I see a woman in a riot suit extending her hand to me (what the fuck?).
– No time, give him a gun and lets move- she says to her help. A dude in riot gear pulls a handgun from his backpack and extends it towards me. Fuck yeah, I have a fucking gun.
– Was there more people with you?
– Were, we had a fall out.
– You know where to find them?
– I just, no.
– We got to move, boy. I don`t know if you reckon the building is coming down. We have a chopper coming for us within four hours and a half. Be there or be gone.
– Na, I’m coming with you.
– No can’t do. That gun is what we can help you with. As you might imagine we are not here to rescue you.
– I ima-, but, what?
– Give him a couple clips. Look son, shits gone wrong. Try to look for your people, whatever happens, (and she handed me a plastic chronometer) you got to be outside at 16:55. There is an underground path you can follow to the outfield. If you are there, with or without your friends, we can lift you to the base. There ain’t much freedom with 32 thousand refugees but its not falling apart.
– She raised her fist and pointed to the outside of the closet. I noticed there was four people. The one with the weapon bag, one with a rifle and a dud with laptop hanging like a mailbag. They left without making much noise. I followed them till we got to the main hall, there she reminded me I was not allowed to follow them any further since I was not properly trained and would get in their way. She explained once more how to get to the basement without running around the full complex «looking for trouble», and reminded me to be there on time while tapping her wrist.
So I did not know where motherfucking Cyclist and his traitor posee where, and neither should I care, but there was something about the burger people that made it so much easier to forget and forgive. I stood there in the hall listening unintentionally at the sounds they made as they left me alone in the hall. The smell of blood was fresh. I was starting to freeze with indecision. Where the fuck should I go look for them? Since I could not come up with one single good place to look for them- The entrance! Main entrance!
I ran cross a hall filled with death burger people and their earlier victims. I slipped on blood and fired a round on accident. Remembered there is a safety pin on the gun and cliked it. I hid myself behind a flower base for a while waiting for a sound. After what felt like an hour but the clock revealed to be a minute and a half I decided to move on. When I got a glance of light come in through the shutters I noticed it was dark even with though it was only 13:12. When I got outside the main entrance I noticed no sound, no sign of luggage left unattended, not even fresh foot prints. When I looked at the land scape I stood there in aw of what the acid had done to the trees and the rest of the plants, or animal even. It looked like giant ants had crawled out of infertile earth. Or that a fire had had place outside. No white snow, not even firm tree trunks, just black and gray gunk and holes in the dirt. The museum itself looked like a cake caving in, the top was already falling in, all designs carved into the walls were mostly rubbed of. Some windows had cracked in glass falling in or out. A bunch of burger people could be seen running from one side to the other on the upper floors. I took a walk around the building and looked for the kitchen’s entrance. When i got to the trash cans I saw a rat and did not think twice to shoot it. However the safety was on. When it heard the clim it rushed toward me. I kicked it (and screamed like a bitch). I think I even closed my eyes. it went down hill. I did not go in through the kitchen. I went back to the main entrance. There I took a couple breaths, looked at the safety setting. I went in sliding my feet close to the floor with two hand on the gun and square shoulders. I was most certainly gonna die in a hallway. I thought about all I could as I walked, since thinking about incoming burgermen did not help at all. I stopped to rethink the rout the cop woman had suggested. First I had to get to the basement through the dinning hall, the hallway that went from the restroom to the gym had a service stair that I could use to get into the storage room. There, a steel door behind the wine cellars had been opened by the team to go in and out. There should be a couple emergency flares burning in the way there. So all I had to do now was get safely into the dinning hall.
I went back in the same path Cyclist and I had taken to get the topper wares. I looked inside the room where burger people had bitten Cyclist in the arm. It was dead. I did not trust it so I kept on going. Silently. I noticed my breathing so i did all I could to slow it and silence it. The smell of blood got in my mouth hardcore. As I thought it disgusting a heard a sound coming from the kitchen. I froze. My body rotated to the wall and glued itself with the gun in hands like a rosary. I was focused. My nostrils widened. I could sense my nose sniffing into the blood cloud trying to make something more out of it. I took the safety off and them fucking BAM! I shot Neutral Blonde on the fucking hand. Gypsy covered Blond’s mouth instantly and looked at me in complete fear. While she screamed muffled we started running into the best lit part of the hall. I said I was sorry in every way I could imagine eve though Gypsy told me to stop. Neutral passed out and I was getting really anxious. I was happy to see them (some) but I felt that this was gonna cost me getting in time to the extraction point. I told Gypsy about the cop team that gave me the gun, the exit plan and the time we had left for it was not enough.
– Well it wasn’t that smart to hand you a gun was it.
– …
– And what now, you seen Cyclist?
– I…
– Look I know you must not be liking him too much right now-
– You guys fucking left me!
– Lower your voice!
– Fucking left me.
– Cyclist was mad, we were afraid. You went unconscious and then he left… I mean you know me and Blonde-
– It’s ok, i guess, I- was prepared for this…
– what?
– waking up al- never mind.
– Whatever, look I say we go for Cyclist. If that underground road leads us out then we gotta go get him.
That’s when it hit me. Blonde was unconscious, but Gypsy was insane, burgermen apocalypse is no place to get all touch filly. If we went looking for Cyclist we were gonna die in here. And thats what they were ready to do. At least Gypsy. I guess she had had a thing for him for a while now and know that her wife was decorating the floor directly under the bathroom, there was no better time to go get him. So I lied to her crazy ass.
– You know what… you take care of Blonde, I’ll go look for Cyclist.
– But- how- what?
– You can stay in the restroom there. You close the door. I’ll go give a lap around the rosie and holler for the man. I have the gun anyway.
I left them in the room. They closed the door, then locked it. I took a deep breath and started jogging around in small circles at first, then I noticed how dumb it was and started thinking about actually looking for Cyclist. Sigh. I checked that safety and it was off. Liked it in, clicked it out. I could get to the passage alone, but something about having shot Blonde on the hand made me feel I had to actually try to look for him. The asshat had left me unconscious and alone in a cosed bathroom, and I had to fucking save him. However I had been saved by the fucking cops too so there was no way out of the Karmic debt. I knocked on the restroom door.
– What.
– ehm, where did you see him last.
Gypsy opened the door and looked at me in disbelief.
– He left us behind once we got out of the closet. before we came down to the dining hall. It was in the stairs we lost actual eye contact with him. He was completely out of himself.
– Ok. thanks.- she closed the door and I went back to playing with the safety switch.
