Dead Frontier/Issue 105

This is a preview for Issue #105 of Dead Frontier, titled ''The End, Part I. This is the third Issue in 'Volume 18. '''The entire issue is planned to be posted the week of September 09, 2013.

Issue 105 - The End, Part I
Cole’s eyes snap open, and he sits up straight, placing a hand to his heart. His abrupt awakening has him disoriented for a second, as does the tightening sensation in his chest, and he looks around him. He lies in his bed, the space to his left empty; unsurprising, given it’s nearly noon. He slowly lays his head back down on his pillow and closes his eyes again.

Details of the nightmare he just had quickly disappear, as they always do, leaving only small bits and pieces of it in his memory. But the terrible, daunting feeling he has afterward still lingers. Like it always does.

He grabs the clothes strewn on the floor around his bed and gets dressed. Afterward, he continues his morning routine: drinking a cold glass of water, and brushing his teeth and fixing his hair in the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, he pushes his hair back from his forehead and leans in closer to his reflection; he mutters a few curses under his breath when he spots two strands of grey among the light hairs. Just another consequence of his stress.

He goes to open the door, his hand on the knob, when he hears a thud from below. He’s only on the first floor (he’d been transferred to a lower floor to compensate for his leg. The less stairs he has to climb, the better.), so the sound can only come from the lobby. He exits the bathroom, and limps to the front door. He presses his ear against the wood and listens intently. He can hear other doors opening from inside the hall, and mutters of confusion. Then, a scream and the pounding of footsteps.

It doesn’t take much thought to know something isn’t right; he goes to the kitchen and pulls open drawers, sifts through cabinets. He’s forgotten where he keeps his gun, but eventually finds it hidden under rags in one of the drawers. He places it into his waistband before opening the door and exiting into the hallway, right into the mass confusion. People run, looking behind them. A few still linger in the doorway like he does.

“What the hell’s going on?” Cole shouts to a balding man peeking out his door. The man just shrugs, but his expression makes him look uneasy. As he tries again to get answers, someone nearly runs into him, knocking them both off balance. He steadies himself, and sees that it’s Lucy. “What’s going on?” he asks again, but she pushes him back into the room and shuts the door before answering.

“There are people out there,” she says. Her eyes are frantic, and she runs a hand through her hair as she sets her back against the door. “They killed the guards, they got past the gates, and now they’re inside--I don’t know how they did it, but they did.”

“Okay. Okay,” he says slowly, trying to calm himself. “Where’s everybody going?”

“I don’t know. Maybe trying to leave through the back doors.”

“They might’ve come in through that way, too, though.”

“Exactly.”

"So, we can run, or we can hide in here,” he suggests.

“We’re on the first floor; these are the first rooms they’d check,” she says.

“So we go out there--and then what?”

“And we find a way out.”

“Yeah, that’s great,” he says, more harshly than he intended to. He falters at the sound of gunshots, but manages to keep his focus. “You’ve got a--a fucking stampede out there, and guys with guns.”

“And your suggestion is to wait in here until they find us.” She sighs and closes her eyes in attempts to get her thoughts in order. The layout of the hotel flashes through her mind, and she begins to think of an alternate route of escape. “Okay. If we...if we go down the back stairwell, there should be an emergency exit. There might be two; I don’t remember. But instead of going to the lobby, we’ll have to make a left. Maybe...thirty feet down and there’s a door.”

“Are you sure?” he asks.

“It’s the only idea I have.”

So that means it’s their only choice. He opens the door and grabs her hand. He hesitates for a few seconds before leading her out into the hallway again. He winces at each step; every time his right foot hits the ground, he feels a sharp pain shoot up his leg, but he ignores it for now. No one has time for manners now: people bump into each other, push one another out of the way to save themselves. The stairwell shouldn’t take that long to reach, but the hallway is backed up with people, most not even aware of the seriousness of the situation.

“Move!” someone shouts, and he shoves Cole out of the way. Cole loses his footing, feels his leg twist in an odd direction, and nearly screams at the white-hot pain that engulfs his knee. He lets go of Lucy’s hand and falls to the ground. He scoots against the wall, and Lucy crouches down next to him.

“What happened? Are you okay?” she asks.

“No, no,” he mutters, clutching his knee. He nearly tears up at the agony.

“You’ve gotta stand up.” He dares to try and stand; his leg explodes with pain, and he wants to collapse again, but she keeps him on his feet. He takes another step, but the pain is nearly blinding.

“Stop, stop. Holy shit,” he says. He’s out of breath from the effort of walking, and he’s forced to stop.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t take a break right now,” she says.

“I’m serious--I can’t,” he says. He pulls the pistol from his waistband and hands it to her. “You don’t have to take a break, but I can.”

“What?” She doesn’t take the gun, so he places it in her hand for her.

“You know where the exit is...and you’ve got two working legs.”

“Are you serious? You can’t be serious.”

“I’ll be right behind you, okay?” He sees her start to tear up, and he forces himself from doing the same. “Find the exit, and I’ll find a way out, too. I always do, right?”