Gauntlet: Chapter 2

“Don’t make me throw you in,” Britt called. She made as if to hoist herself up, and Clio took a couple of hasty steps back.

“Okay, okay!” She took off her jacket and sandals, then somewhat shyly slid the straps of her sundress off her shoulders. The dress fell down to her hips; she pushed it the rest of the way off and stepped out of it.

She rubbed at the hair standing up on her arms and stared doubtfully at the water, where Britt was floating on her back with her eyes closed. Quickly, ignoring her self-consciousness, Clio unclasped her bra and let it fall.

Instead of diving, she sat down on the edge of the pool and lowered herself into the water. She sucked in a breath as the cool water eddied around her shoulders; she sank a little lower, hugging herself.

She finally slid her head beneath the surface and stroked forward underwater, the tension bleeding out of her body. She emerged halfway down the pool and gasped for air.

Hands landed on her shoulders and pushed her under again. Clio thrashed and came up sputtering. Britt’s teeth flashed as she laughed and kicked away backward, sending a volley of water in Clio’s direction.

Clio heard their voices echo against the wall as they raced and played, for once not cautious about being heard. Since Britt didn’t seem worried, Clio was happy to relax. It was wonderful. The heavy weight of fear and captivity gave way to freedom, almost like the waters had the power to cleanse more than grime.

But it was only temporary. Much too soon, Britt lifted herself out of the pool. The sheen of water made her skin look like deep brown lacquer, highlighting her long-limbed form. With perfect ease she strode naked to the pile of her clothes and picked them up. Clio bobbed in the water, reluctant to leave behind the moments of pleasure.

“Ready for that hot shower?” Without waiting for a reply, Britt walked through a pair of swinging doors, leaving Clio alone in the large room–which suddenly seemed to hold more shadows. Staying where she was became much less appealing.

Clio swam quickly to the ladder and climbed out. She glanced once more at the quiet water before grabbing her things and running to the showers.

Britt was already under the spray in one stall. Clio dumped her things and climbed eagerly into the next.

When the first stream of hot water hit her, Clio moaned in pleasure. She rotated under the spray to let it hit every part of her. She finally met Britt’s gaze, and they grinned at each other.

Britt’s close-cropped hair was sudsy with shampoo, and Clio’s eyes widened. “You have shampoo?” she squeaked.

“Here.” A small bottle arced over the partition, and Clio made a fumbling catch.

Clio portioned out a dollop. “Oh, God,” she moaned as she massaged it into her scalp. “That feels so good.”

“You sound like you’re auditioning for a porno,” Britt quipped.

“Sex couldn’t possibly feel this good.”

Britt snickered. “Well,” she said dryly, “that all depends.”

“If you say so.” Clio was too blissful to think about it. She peeled off the underwear she hadn’t removed in the pool and spread the rich lather all over her body, reveling in the slightly fruity scent. Another happy moan escaped her, followed by a giggle. She did sound like a porn star wannabe.

“Don’t take too long,” Britt warned, although she had the grace to sound regretful that she was cutting their time short.

Clio lifted her petulant scowl into the hot needles of the spray. She began to scrub harder, washing away the accumulated filth of the past several days. White foam swirled around her feet, and she bent to retrieve her underwear, giving them a good rinse before sadly shutting off the water.

After she’d wrung them as dry as she could get them, Clio put her underwear back on and went out to stare morosely at her dress, which could hardly be called white anymore. She was beginning to hate the sight of it. Older stains had mixed with the latest dingy streaks from the vent slide.

Pragmatic as always, Britt threw on her green-brown cargo pants and white tank top. Clio looked at her enviously. Britt’s clothes were dirty, but they didn’t show it nearly as much, and they were so much more practical than her stupid dress and sandals.

“No time to clean our clothes today.” Britt eyed Clio critically as she stepped into the dress. “You need new ones, anyway. Those are crap for getting around in here.”

“Yeah?” Clio snapped. “Well, maybe we can go to the mall tomorrow.” She regretted her tone instantly, but Britt just looked amused.

“There’s a wing I’ve been wanting to check out,” Britt offered. “Maybe we can find something there.”

“Okay.” Clio tucked her wet hair behind her ears and smiled apologetically. “Thanks for bringing me here.”

Britt gave a light shrug of one shoulder. “No big deal.”

“It is,” Clio said quietly.

The sincerity in Clio’s voice seemed to surprise Britt. She looked up, her eyes searching Clio’s. After a moment, Britt smiled widely, and Clio felt her own lips curve in response.

Britt ducked away and made a show of checking her pockets. “All right,” she said at last. “Let’s go.”

The gruff order sent warmth to bloom in Clio’s chest–something she hadn’t felt since coming to this place. She put on her jacket and backpack, strangely excited for another foray into the bowels of this endless building.

“Quiet from here on out,” Britt said, all cool practicality again. “Just because I haven’t run into trouble here before doesn’t mean we won’t today.”

Clio’s positivity vanished as quickly as it had come.

***

“This sucks,” Clio hissed. The dropped water bottle leaked at her feet, but the growing puddle was the least of her concerns.

She gripped Britt’s arm tightly as they backed further into the large auditorium. The slow tide of vacant-faced shufflers advanced on them, silent but for the flat-footed swish of their soles on the floor.

“I’ve never seen so many of them at once,” Britt murmured, and she actually sounded worried.

Sheer panic was Clio’s first inclination. “You said they don’t hurt people, right?” The slender beam of her flashlight swept back and forth while she and Britt backpedaled down the central aisle of metal chairs.

The uncanny military precision of the ranks of shambling droolers was disturbed when the first of the herd began to stumble into those chairs. The screech of metal on floor made Clio’s skin crawl.

“Britt,” Clio repeated. “You said they don’t hurt people.”

“I don’t think so,” Britt replied at last. “I told you, some of them don’t even move. It’s like their brains are so fried they can’t function at all. Sometimes you’ll find them curled up in the weirdest places.”

“But what about these?” Clio wheezed. “Are you sure we’re not going to be zombie chow in a minute?!”

“I’ve never seen them bite anyone. It’s more like they just…cling.” Britt dug through one of her innumerable pockets. “And we can move faster than them.”

“Oh, that’s reassuring.” Clio tugged at Britt as she eyed the closest of the shambling creatures; the flashlight lit up her pale and papery skin. “A group hug that never ends.”

Pity welled up in Clio, but it couldn’t drown out her revulsion. It was so hard to think of the droolers as human, with their slack faces and empty eyes that wiped them of all personality. Whoever had done this to them was truly inhuman.

“What are you even doing?” Clio demanded.

Britt held up a small spray can as she continued to step back.

“Pepper spray?” Clio’s fingers dug into Britt. “Seriously?”

“Just covering my bases.”

Clio and Britt edged quickly to a door on the far side of the room, listening to the shuffling figures blunder through the rows of chairs. Britt grabbed the door handle.

“…It’s locked.”

A spike of adrenaline burned Clio’s chest. Don’t panic. Breathe.

“Can you pick it?” Clio whispered.

Britt passed her the flashlight, and Clio shone it at the door where they’d entered the room. A few stragglers were still coming through. Clio figured they could probably go back that way if they needed to, assuming more droolers wouldn’t show up out of nowhere. She pointed the light back at the lock, though she knew Britt didn’t really need to see to do the job.

“Yeah.” Britt was already down on the floor, coolly inserting her tiny hook and wrench into the lock.

Clio bit her tongue. She didn’t need to tell Britt to hurry, so she just tried to keep her knees from shaking. The screech of chairs was evidence of the droolers’ progress.

Britt cursed, tossed down her pick, and grabbed another one from her pocket.

Clio swept the flashlight beam around again. The female drooler from before was barely twenty feet away now–and the others weren’t far behind.

“Britt,” she warned.

“I got it. Just shut up and let me concentrate.”

“Okay.” Clio took a deep breath. Even if she was deadweight most of the time, she could at least buy Britt some time. “Be right back.”

Clio ran as close to the woman as she dared, flashing the light in her face and letting out a resounding yell. She veered off to the right.

“Hey, zombies! Over here! Pay no attention to the bossy girl by the door!”

She glanced back to see Britt’s middle finger pop up in a quick salute. Clio grabbed a chair and jogged along the wall, scraping the metal legs against the concrete.

She knew that if she ran along the length of the entire crowd, they could change course to reach her and cut off her exit. Don’t go too far, she warned herself. Clio dropped the chair and sprinted toward the back of the room, letting one hand on the wall guide her.

“It’s open!” Britt called. “Come on!”

Clio cut around the stragglers at the back of the group to race down the center aisle to Britt. But then she slipped on the water that had pooled in the middle of the aisle.

She went down hard. The rough landing jarred the flashlight from her grip, and she helplessly watched it roll down the aisle.

“Clio!”

Her knee flamed to life from the impact, but she grabbed onto the back of a chair and heaved herself up. Her leg didn’t buckle; she sighed in relief that her knee wasn’t twisted. “I’m okay!”

The light bobbed as Britt snatched up the flashlight and ran toward her. As Clio stumbled from the bodies that closed in, Britt came up through the chairs, kicking them into the droolers until she could loop Clio’s arm over her shoulder. She half-dragged Clio back toward the door.

“I’m fine,” Clio gasped, twisting forward as grasping hands caught at her arms and hair. The throbbing of her knee barely registered.

Britt hauled her forward, ignoring everything but getting them to the door. When the two of them finally rushed through, Clio slammed the door shut.

As they stared down the new dark hallway, Britt didn’t give them time to catch their breath. Her usually steady hand shook as she shone the light down the corridor.

It was empty–uncharted territory.

Her mouth brushed Clio’s ear in the barest whisper. “Let’s go.”

Clio wanted nothing more than to leave the auditorium behind, so she grabbed Britt’s hand and squeezed. They almost made it to the end of the corridor before the lights burst on.

Clio blinked wildly against the painful intrusion of the unaccustomed brightness. She stumbled, disoriented, as she tried to focus on the figures heading rapidly toward them.

They were dressed in black, wearing some kind of mask–no, those were goggles–that obscured their faces. They looked like bulbous–eyed subterranean creatures.

Clio recoiled as Britt hissed out one word:

“Prowlers.”

Male laughter rang out. That sounded human.

It was only when Britt’s hand was ripped away that Clio came to life. She kicked and struggled, but strong hands her pulled back. Britt had already sent one of the masked figures to his knees, clutching at his balls. Clio reached for her as more men flooded in from nowhere.

Clio stomped down hard on the foot of whoever was holding her. He cursed loudly as his grip loosened. She twisted out of his hold and ran toward Britt, who was being violently dragged back the way they’d come.

Clio threw herself forward, but her way was blocked by two of the masked prowlers. They pushed her back easily to fall against the hard body behind her.

“Britt!” she screamed, thrashing wildly against the hold on her arms. She was hoisted to her feet.

“Six!” Britt yelled as Clio was dragged in the opposite direction. “Remember number six!”

The hallway plunged back into darkness.

Continued in Chapter 3.

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