Step by Step/Issue 31

This is Issue #31 of Step by Step. This is the first issue in Volume Six.

NOTE: THIS IS UNFINISHED AND UNEDITED SWAG.

Only Dream
"What happened?"

Malcolm awoke with a start, rubbing his eyes dry. He was slumped on a chair, eyes open at the middle when he heard voices. Screams came from all directions. He didn't have the time to find out what was happening. Malcolm rose on thin legs, doubling over and nearly slipping. He went for his pistol and yanked it from the holster. It was a stiff cold though the back of his uniform was damp, and getting damper. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, and he noticed he teardrops on his cheeks. He dreamed of something, something close. A scream a bare two feet from where he was broke his trance.

He marched out the room, taking a shooter's stance. Sweat dribbled down his face profusely. He was in the complete dark hallway and waited. Out of the blue someone tore up a window and sunlight broke through. An orange haze glazed over the rooms. Malcolm saw Wayne and the Davis man shuffle into a room carrying a body, then Joseph came tumbling up the stairs with another body.

"They're everywhere! Damn it, from all–"

Malcolm raced down the hallway and looked with terror. It was Carter. From what he saw, the man's face was bloodied and his lips had turned a purple. Splotches of crimson covered his chest and over his center mass. Malcolm grabbed Carter under the arms and dragged him into the room with the other body.

"Is he dead?" Malcolm asked, gasping in large puffs. He was almost certain.

"No." Joseph said, trying to sound sure. He pointed shakily at where Wayne and Jacob, standing over a bed. The two dispersed, one grabbing a blanket and the other throwing it over the other body. Malcolm saw them tug it over the lady's throat, where it instantly stained red. He looked down and there was a trail of blood leading from outside to the cot. And when he looked at Lilian again, the whole cot was drenched red.

"Sergeant." Hector had stumbled into room, hands clenched on a shotgun. Behind him, a few faces who Malcolm couldn't distinguish. Hector's voice croaked out, and he grabbed Malcolm by the shoulder and hauled him out to the stairs. He bent the man over and made him look at what moaned beyond. A light, from a flashlight held by Amanda, shined down the stairs. Before Malcolm could think it over, he was stricken with horror.

Six or eight people were shambling about. A many of them were going up the stairs. There was a crack of gunfire and one fell and tumbled downward. Malcolm gulped down what he saw. The scared man tried to inch away. A stiff man came into view. It was a businessman, a large gash on his throat. Then from behind, and Joseph saw this with a perfect distance, a boy of about twenty shamble along. People screamed as the dead continued up. Malcolm aimed his pistol and fired once. The man's chest exploded into a shower of gore, yet still came on. The Sergeant took one step back and narrowed the gun again, pulling back the trigger only for the slide locked back empty.

"Shoot them in the heads!"