Nadya’s Nights: Road to Vengeance
Night Four: Revelations
Chapter Forty-Nine: Escape Route
by Indy McDaniel
Copyright © 2009 Indy McDaniel
Nadya and Samantha stepped into the elevator. The heavy metal doors slid shut behind them and Nadya turned to the row of buttons, hitting the one for the ground floor. The elevator jerked and began to rise. Nadya blinked and turned to Sam. “Are we going up?”
Samantha nodded. “We’re underground.”
Nadya looked back at the row of buttons signifying each floor. “How far?”
“Pretty far…”
Nadya was about to remark that ‘pretty far’ wasn’t much of an answer but before she could, the lift jerked to a stop. A moment later, it started to move again, only downwards. “Now what?” She could hear loud cursing coming from Sam’s phone.
“Lulu says the system just kicked her,” Samantha relayed. “She’s trying to hack back in and override.”
Nadya’s upper lip curled into a snarl. “So where the fuck’s this big metal box taking us?” She looked over to Sam, saw the answer before it left her lips and cut her off. “Aside from down, I mean.”
Sam gave her a helpless shrug. “Buggered if I know… I never got the grand tour.”
Watching the floor numbers change, Nadya could almost feel all the ground around her. She’d never been claustrophobic, but she could definitely see how someone could become that way. “Knowing these assholes, this thing probably goes right down to Hell.”
As if reading her thoughts, the elevator continued to drop until it reached the bottommost floor. “If some fucker with horns and a pitchfork is sitting on the other side of those doors, I’m going to shoot him right between the goddamn eyes.” She pulled the handgun she’d looted free from her waistband and held it ready, Sam doing the same. Each of them took aim at the elevator doors and waited for them to open.
The doors opened and both women were struck simultaneously. Nadya put a hand to her mouth and coughed. “Where the fuck did they send us? The septic tank?”
Samantha seemed less effected by the horrendous smell. “Smells more like something rotting.”
“Beautiful,” Nadya muttered. She reached over and hit several buttons, trying to get the elevator to do anything other than sit there. Sit there was all the elevator did, though. “How long till she gets back into the system?”
“She’s trying,” Sam replied. “From the level of her voice and colorful language she’s using, it’s not being cooperative.”
Nadya let out a humorless laugh. “Why should it? Nothing else in this place is.”
The area outside of the elevator was dark. There were large tanks and piping leading upwards toward the ceiling. There were red lights in various areas, adding an eerie tinting to the place. Nadya still wasn’t totally convinced that it wasn’t hell. When a low moan came from somewhere in the darkness, she was even less sure.
“One thing’s definite. I sure as fuck ain’t leaving this box until we reach the ground floor.”
Just then a man emerged from the darkness and lunged towards Nadya. The smell of death became even stronger as his fingers clawed out at her. She took a step back, aimed and fired a round into the man’s chest. His forward momentum was slowed, but he kept coming, seemingly unaware that a slug had just ripped through his ribcage and punctured a very large hole in his left lung.
Nadya took another step back. “What the fuck?” She lifted a leg and kicked out, nailing the man in the gut and sending him back out of the elevator and falling to the ground.
For a few moments, the man lay still and Nadya started to suspect that he’d finally realized he was dead. Then he started to push himself back to his feet. “Son of a bitch…” she muttered, taking a step forward and firing another round through the man’s chest. He jerked, gave her an annoyed look and continued to stand, dark blood slowly oozing from his lips. “What’s this fucker’s prob – “
Another loud bang filled the air as Sam fired, blowing the man’s head off. Blood and brains sprayed from the back of his head and he dropped back to the ground in a twitching heap. “It’s a zombie.” More moans sounded from outside the elevator. “Or rather, zombies. Kill the brain. The body follows suit.”
A second zombie emerged from the darkness, approaching the first. This one was a girl who couldn’t have been more than twelve. She was missing an arm. Her feet bumped against the body of the dead man and she looked down at him for a few moments, as if perplexed by the discovery. Then she dropped to her knees and lowered her head, ripping a chunk of flesh from the man’s cheek and starting to chew on it.
Nadya raised her gun and took aim at the girl.
“Don’t bother,” Sam said. “She hasn’t noticed us so she isn’t much of a threat at the moment.”
Nadya hesitated a moment, then fired anyway. The girl’s head shot back and she fell to the floor as well, half-chewed pieces of flesh falling from her mouth.
“Waste of ammo.”
“Fuck you,” Nadya shot back. “Call it a mercy killing.”
More zombies began to shuffle forward towards the elevator. One of them snagged a hold of the dead girl’s remaining arm and started dragging her back into the darkness. A couple more dropped to start tearing into the dead man. Still there were about five others that had their milky white eyes focused on Nadya and Samantha. “Looks like someone rang the dinner bell.”
“Well, why don’t you tell your friend on the phone to hurry, then?” Nadya said, giving Sam a dirty look.
“She’s working on it,” Sam replied, popping another zombie in the head. “If they keep showing up like this, we’re not gonna have enough ammo.”
“I know, I know…” Nadya said, watching one of the zombies reaching out for her before shooting out his right eye. “And we don’t exactly have room to maneuver either.” She let out a sigh. “Fuck…” She blew the brains out of another zombie in her way then charged forward, leaping over the falling corpse and planting a foot onto the back of one of the crouched zombies eating the dead man, launching herself into the air.
The zombie lumbering out of the darkness wore the same slack-jawed, dead expression as the rest of them did, but Nadya thought she caught a glimmer of surprise a moment before her foot slammed into the side of his head. His neck snapped like dry kindling and there was a wet tearing sound as rotting flesh was ripped apart. The zombie’s head was sent flying off on its own, bouncing off a pipe before hitting the ground. When Nadya landed, she found she was standing on top of the headless corpse.
Looking back, she saw that Samantha was taking a less aerobatic but equally effective approach. Kicking a female zombie in the shoulder and spinning her around, Sam grabbed hold of the head and twisted it nearly completely around before letting the dead woman drop to the ground. The zombie Nadya had used as a launching platform lifted his head to look at Sam, chewing on a bit of intestine. A moment later, her boot came down, smashing his head into the dead man’s stomach. Nadya watched the zombie head pop like a rotten pumpkin.
Cold fingers grabbed hold of Nadya’s shoulder and she realized that taking in the sights probably wasn’t the smartest plan of action. Spinning, she brought her gun up and slammed the butt of it into the groping zombie’s nose. The nose crunched flat, squirting congealed blood. She brought a fist up and punched the zombie in the same general area she’d smashed the gun into and was rewarded with something particularly gruesome. A look of disgust crossed her face and Nadya quickly yanked her hand back out of the zombie’s head, looking down at the blood and bits of brain that now covered it.
As the zombie dropped to the ground, spilling what remained of its brains out through what was left of its face, Nadya flicked her hand, trying to dislodge the bits of gore stuck to it. “Yuck…” she muttered, wiping the rest off on her pant leg. Not wanting to stay in one place for very long, Nadya turned to keep moving and came face to stomach with a giant. Nadya arched her neck back to look up into the badly scarred face of the huge man snarling down at her.
“What the fu – “ was as far as she managed to get before the giant’s fist slammed into her gut. The air was knocked from her lungs as she was sent flying backwards. Her back slammed into one of the many pipes that were running through the area; this one going vertically from the floor up to the ceiling.
The pipe bent from the collision and somewhere up above it must have cracked, because steam began to spray out in a constant hissing sound. Nadya’s ass hit the ground and she coughed as she tried to suck in fresh hair, which was made all the more difficult with the smell of rotting flesh that permeated the air.
The Big Man stomped towards her and Nadya realized if she didn’t get to her feet quickly, she’d be crushed into paste. That thought was hammered home even more as one of the zombies that hadn’t been killed yet wandered into the guy’s path. The giant placed one extremely large hand on top of the zombie’s head and squeezed, popping the head easily and continuing on his way without even hesitating.
Nadya tried to find her gun, realized she’d dropped it, glanced around quickly to see if she could spot it anywhere nearby, couldn’t, and then got to her feet. The bastard had punched her right into a dead end and was currently closing the distance.
As the giant drew nearer, gunfire rang out and he jerked slightly. The fact that Nadya read his expression as one of annoyance instead of pain didn’t make her feel very good. The Big Man turned slowly to face Sam, who had her gun trained on him after having finished up the rest of the zombies.
“C’mon, then, big boy. Let’s have a dance.”
The giant responded with a wide grin, revealing a set of teeth that looked as if they hadn’t been brushed in quite some time. She aimed higher and fired again, striking the Big Man right in the mouth, blowing several of his plaque-encrusted teeth right through the side of his cheek. That seemed to strike a chord in his pain receptors as he let out a bellow and charged Samantha.
Thanks to the distraction, Nadya had managed to find her gun and scooped it up. She took aim quickly as the giant charged towards Sam. The Brit backed up along a narrow corridor.
Firing low, Nadya nailed the Big Man right behind his right knee. Another bellow filled the air and the giant stumbled a bit but continued his forward momentum. Nadya aimed higher and emptied the rest of her clip into the Big Man’s back. It got his attention and he turned back to face Nadya.
At least he’s not that smart, she thought as the giant started towards her again, hobbling on his now crippled right leg. Or that fast, she added as she darted off down a side hall.
“Tell her to get that fucking lift working!” she yelled to Sam, then turned forward, just in time to see the lunging arms of another zombie.
Ducking under the grasping hands, Nadya somersaulted forward and rose to her feet again, continuing to run. She heard an annoyed moan from the undead person cut off suddenly by a wet smashing sound that her imagination provided colorful pictures for. If the dumb brute kept after her, all she’d have to do was give him the run around for a bit until Lulu managed to get control of the elevator.
Rounding a corner, Nadya let out a long string of Russian curses. She turned quickly to head back the other way, then dove backwards as a fist the size of her head swung passed her.
Apparently, the dumb brute wasn’t as slow as she’d thought. Backing up quickly to put as much distance as she could between herself and the Big Man, she tried to think of a way out of the second dead end the fucker had forced her into. He rounded the corner, saw her and gave her a grin, made all the more disturbing by the teeth he was now missing and the large hole in his cheek.
Remaining still as the giant approached, Nadya watched him closely, trying to see what kind of attack he’d use to smash her into a blonde, Russian pancake. He stopped a couple feet in front of her and brought a large fist back, holding it in the cocked position for a moment and letting out a deep chuckle. When he swung his fist forward, Nadya saw that he was indeed faster than she’d suspected.
She was still faster, ducking low and launching herself forward between his thick thighs. She slid forward along the ground, going right under him, then rolled onto her side and gave him a hard kick to the knee she’d put a bullet through. The giant cried out and fell forward. Nadya was running again before he’d even begun to push himself back up.
Another zombie jumped out of a dark corner. The fuckers were everywhere and it was really starting to piss Nadya off. This one managed to snag a hold of her right arm as she passed and give her a yank. She spun, trying to pull her arm free and her butt hit against a horizontal pipe, flipping her backwards and pulling the zombie along with.
The zombie, another female, still had a firm grip on Nadya’s arm and was trying to pull it up to her mouth, teeth gnashing. Nadya bared her own teeth as she simultaneously tried to shove the undead bitch away and pull herself up out of the small cranny she’d fallen into.
Working a leg up, Nadya planted her foot against the zombie’s stomach and kicked out. The zombie was thrown backwards but still refused to let go of Nadya’s arm, which actually worked out for the assassin as it helped to pull her free of the cranny. She didn’t have long to celebrate her freedom, though, since the zombie was still clinging to her and the Big Man had righted himself and was now charging towards the both of them.
Yanking back hard, Nadya felt a pop and a rip and the zombie girl’s left arm came free of the rest of her body. The fingers were still wrapped tightly around Nadya’s forearm but she wasn’t so worried about that. She turned and took off down the corridor, leaving the one-armed zombie girl to get smashed into even more pieces by the angry behemoth chasing her.
Nadya pried the fingers open and let the severed limb drop to the ground. The Big Man was still behind her and it seemed as if the longer he gave chase, the faster he got. She didn’t know exactly what the fuck he was, but she had a good idea. She suspected that, among other things, he had a fair amount of the Lazarus Serum pumping through his veins, which meant his bum leg wouldn’t be very bum for much longer.
Nadya felt a terrible craving for a bazooka. Or at least a bandolier of grenades.
“Oi! Lift’s ready!”
Nadya wasn’t a religious person, but she thought that the best way to describe Sam’s calling out was as a blessing. Now she just had to find her way back to the elevator before the Not-So-Jolly Giant caught up to her. Sam’s voice had come from off to the left, so Nadya made a left at the next intersection in the corridors and headed that way.
She could both hear and feel the Big Man’s footsteps as he gave chase, and it sounded as if he were closing in. Nadya pushed herself to run faster. A quick glance to the right as she passed another intersection let her see the elevator.
Putting on the breaks, Nadya slid forward, reaching a hand out to grab hold of one of the pipes, using it to help her spin around the corner. The pipe was hot and Nadya thought she felt some of her skin tear away as she released it but she didn’t bother checking. If she made it out of the hellish sub-basement with her body intact, she could worry about what degree burns she’d just gotten.
Samantha was already in the elevator, ready to get the doors closing. Nadya put on the speed and she could hear the giant doing likewise behind her. The elevator loomed closer, but it seemed to be taking forever to get there. She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it or not, but she thought she felt hot, giant breath on the back of her neck.
“Close the door!” she yelled. The elevator was still a good ten feet away and Sam looked uncertain. “Fucking do it!” Sam complied and the elevator doors began to slide shut. Nadya pumped her legs harder, putting on even more speed.
There was a fair amount of corpses piled up in front of the elevator, which would make speedy running difficult. As she reached the bodies, Nadya leapt into the air towards the elevator. The doors were almost halfway closed. Her teeth were clenched tightly, turning her body sideways as she passed through the closing doors with only inches to spare and then she was crashing into the back wall of the elevator and falling to the floor. The doors finished shutting.
A moment later and the giant reached the doors. There was some loud pounding and Nadya turned to see large, fist-shaped dents appearing in the doors. Then the elevator jerked and began to rise, leaving the angry giant below.
Nadya panted heavily, trying to regain her breath. “I hate this fucking place. So bad.” Her leg muscles were throbbing and she decided to remain on the floor until the elevator reached the ground level, hoping they wouldn’t be taken on another detour.
