Reborn on Death Row (part 3)

Continuing from Part 2

‘Fat lot of good that is!’ Lee said, the youngest and smallest in the cell, ducking to look from behind Pete’s arm.

‘We could always stay here in the cell and starve?’ Pete said. ‘How ‘bout that?’

‘Sheets!’ Jock said.

‘What?’

‘Get some sheets. We’ll trap his arm and keep him pulled forward. Then someone can duck in under him and grab the keys. We’ll be home free!’

‘Jock, you’re a marvel,’ Pete said, and pulled his sheet free. He took a corner and made a large slip-knot, checked it was sturdy and walked towards the zombie guard.

The guard pressed forward again and swiped his arm, then pushed both arms through and flailed at him.

‘I think we need another lasso,’ Pete said.

‘I’ll do it,’ Lee said and pulled his sheet free and fashioned a knot in the same way that Pete had.

‘Try not to let him grab it,’ Pete said. ‘We need to get the loop onto his wrist and pulled tight.’

Lee just nodded, eyes on the guard.

They both walked closer, holding the sheets in front of them. Lee surged with his and the guard grabbed the sheet, and Pete used the distraction to loop his over the other arm and pull the knot tight.

The zombie let go of Lee’s sheet and gripped Pete’s, trying to tug free. Lee backed away and reset his loop, then tried again. The free hand whirled and Lee waited. The zombie swung its hand back around for Pete’s sheet and Lee struck, slipping the loop around the wrist and pulling it tight. He stepped away with a sigh of relief and held the sheet tightly.

Pete and Lee kept their sheets under tension, pulling the zombie tightly into the bars. It pulled back strongly, sliding them forward.

‘A little help!’ Pete called, and Mitch jumped to hold on behind Pete, and another, Ed, helped Lee.

‘The keys! Someone get the keys!’

‘I’m on it,’ Jock said, and crept in under the snared arms. ‘Keep ‘em held up high. If he bites me I’ll be sure to pass on the favour.’

The zombie watched him come and it pulled its arms down hard, but the four men pulled back, and Jock’s back was untouched.

Jock reached for the keys and unclipped them from the guard’s belt. He pushed himself backwards and stopped, looking at the belt again.

‘Now what?’ Pete said.

‘I wouldn’t mind that gun and baton while I’m here. Could be the only weapons we get close to.’

‘Just be quick!’

Jock unclipped the holster and slipped the gun free, then hugged the bars to reach around for the baton, pulling it free as well. He dropped to the floor and slipped away from the guard and stood in the middle of the cell holding his catch up in triumph.

‘All right!’ he said, and the prisoners clustered around and slapped him on the back.

‘Now what do we do with this guy?’ Lee asked.

‘Don’t let him go!’ Jock said. ‘We’ll want to go out there soon and I don’t want him roaming around with us.’

‘Get another sheet,’ Pete said, and Nathan pulled his free from his bunk. ‘Now, tie it to the ends of ours.’

As Nathan did so Jock nodded, realising what Pete was doing.

‘Good work, Nathan. Nice and tight. Now tie the other end to the bunk frame.’

Jock helped and they pulled the sheets tight, squashing the guard into the cell bars and giving him no slack to play with, and then they tied it off against the bunk frame that was bolted securely into the floor. The four men who had been playing tug of war with the zombie let go and relaxed, while the guard continued to struggle in vain.

‘That’s a pretty sight, no question,’ Mitch said.

‘I’d like it even more if he weren’t a zombie,’ Tim said. ‘Then I’d show him who’s boss!’

The room laughed at his safe bravado.

‘Save it, tiger. You could need it to fight off zombies,’ Pete said.

‘So where we going?’ Jock asked as he fumbled with the keys for the manual override of the electronic lock.

‘Out of this wing. That’s as far as I’ve got so far, but we’ve got nothing to look forward to in this cell but starvation.’

‘Very true,’ Lee said as the door slid open.

‘Shit,’ Pete said, looking to the light from the window.

‘What?’

‘How long’ve we got until all the doors open automatically for the morning shift?’

‘Shit,’ the room chorused.

‘I say we go now,’ Jock said, ‘or we’re gonna be visited by the rest of “G” wing for breakfast.’

His words sparked a response in the rest of the room and they scrambled for the door. Jock handed the baton over to Pete, and the two of them took the lead out of the cell.

‘Should we lock these cells as we go?’ Lee asked. ‘Since we’ve got keys we can override the locks and keep ‘em all shut inside past opening time.’

‘Good thinking,’ Jock said and handed him the keys.

Lee walked to the door of the next cell and jammed the key into the lock. He twisted it shut and looked up as Ellis slammed into the bars in front of him. Lee screamed and fell away backwards from the dead hand that clutched at him.

‘Oh shit,’ Pete said. ‘Keys.’

The keys sat safely inside the cell door lock and Ellis lurked above it, moaning his desire to join his friends in the corridor. Lee looked at his arm where Ellis had inflicted a slight scratch and sighed in relief when he realised how small the mark was.

‘Are you bit?’ Pete asked.

‘No, thank Christ!’ Lee said.

‘Well, no more locking cells,’ Jock said.

‘Ain’t that the truth,’ Mitch said, looking at the door.

‘Get ready, Lee,’ Pete said and marched to the door. ‘I want those keys back.’

‘Are you mental?!’

‘You help me get them now, or I’ll feed you to him and take them while he’s busy. What’s it to be?’

‘I’ll get them now,’ Lee whispered.

Pete held the baton by its business end and lunged at Ellis’s arm with the cross piece of the hand grip. He pushed it up and pinned the arm against the bars, pressing it into place and staying out of reach of the snapping mouth.

‘Now, bastard! Take the keys now!’ Pete yelled, and Lee shuffled in carefully and twisted the keys out of the lock. Lee and Pete both leapt back as the entire cell of zombies pushed against the bars, reaching out for them.

Lee lay flat on his back and held up a trembling arm with the jangling keys. ‘H… here…here’s th…the k…keys.’

‘Thanks Lee,’ Jock said and took them back. ‘Alright, let’s not do that again.’

‘Agreed,’ Pete said.

The entire “G” wing had woken up with unnatural life and a turbulent sea of arms waved into the open air of the corridor. The dim light provided by the automatic floor lighting cast the undead prisoners as shuffling black silhouettes in the background.

‘This dark is scary as shit,’ Mitch said, ‘but I’m sure as hell glad I can’t see ‘em properly.’

‘The sound’s bad enough,’ Tim whispered.

The surviving cell mates of “G” wing stuck to the centre line of the corridor and crept to the end, peering down the next wing.

‘Should we shut “G” off behind us?’ Lee asked. ‘Then they won’t be out roaming in the morning.’

‘That’s a good thought,’ Jock said, waving down Pete before he could reply. ‘But I wouldn’t want to cut out all our options before we know what’s in front of us. We know back there’s an empty cell we can lock and hide out in.’

Lee looked away and nodded, not saying what was on his mind.

‘Let’s keep moving,’ Pete said, and pushed on in front.

‘Christ, “F” wing’s the same as “G”,’ Ed said.

‘They’re all dead,’ said Tim.

‘Just keep moving,’ Pete said, trying to avoid looking into the cells as they passed.

The corridors were empty and they travelled unimpeded through the halls of the dead. The fence of the central courtyard waited before them and they stopped and waited, searching for movement.

‘I say we should lock off these other wings behind us now,’ Lee said. ‘Nothing in there but trouble.’

Jock nodded and gave him the keys again. ‘Close ‘em off. We’re not going back now.’

The steel gates rolled shut with a clanging finality, and they heard the keys jangle as they were locked off.

Concluded here

Constructive criticism welcome. © 2008 Damian Herde

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Tags:

damian, horror, jail, prison, seasonal, short, story, writing, zombie and zombierock