The two men who slammed the door closed looked frantic. One of them started bracing the door with their back, just waiting for what seemed like the inevitable pounding.
Both of them are covered in splattered blood; the one holding the door was even still dripping blood onto the floor as one of his pant legs was soaked.
The other scrambled around before recklessly opening a medical box on the wall with a single hand, spilling most of the contents onto the floor, for a bandage. Only then did he raise his other hand, and by then, it was clear what had happened.
There was a collective gasp from a few people nearby at the sight. He raised up his left hand only for us to catch glimpses of a hand missing a couple of fingers. His index and middle were gone, and they weren't a simple clean cut either. It seemed more as if they were violently torn off together as the flesh and bone that was missing went past the point of his index finger's knuckle.
The man unsteadily started trying to wrap the bandage around his disfigured hand, yet struggled. Abby swiftly went over to what I could only assume was to help.
"What the fuck are you all doing?! Get ready to fight! There had to be at least 7 of them chasing us. One of them had a massive mouth and razor-sharp teeth."
The entire room had basically frozen the moment they opened the door, and it was only now that they started to act as if the situation involved them. The room livened up instantly; whether they were getting ready to fight or starting to cower was another question, though.
Soon, there was pounding emanating from the door propped up by the bloody man's body. Every hit that was hammered onto the door was clearly felt by that man and seen by us as he visibly moved every time, even if he pushed back immediately.
Minor dents, bulges, and warps were forming on our side of the door. I looked around to see the number of people that would be fighting back. If there wasn't enough, I might just have to run. There was no way I was going to be the guardsman holding off the enemies while others escaped, only to die here.
Jordan moved up with a bit of excitement, clearly influenced by his new weapon. The welder who was being taught came over in his entire set of welding equipment, which, to be fair, was quite protective. He was clutching a few of the weapons of shoddy to moderate quality that were handed out to both of the people who had just come back and one more person who had come over.
If Abby joined the fight too, then it was an even fight. I glanced at the group of nine or so people who stood back and huddled in the corner and saw Josh in pain with each huff. Seeing him in that state, I felt a bit of guilt for thinking about leaving them behind.
With our numbers, I felt pretty confident about the battle. It should be even, but even if they had a couple more, I felt it should be fine.
'Wait, I shouldn't feel too confident. A number of things could go awry, from skewed numbers to simple hesitation on our side. I can't think that every encounter will go as well as the first one, well except for Josh.
But besides that, if they were really so easy to kill, that cafeteria group wouldn't have been wiped out. I can feel it: the moment that one of our own gets severely injured, our morale might just crumble.
It's not like everyone here has been in numerous fights before and certainly not several life or death fights.'
"Alright, everyone! I'm gonna move away, get ready!"
The tension in the room heightened immediately from those few words. Some tightened their grips on their weapons, and sweat seemed to pour down their bodies.
After the hammering stopped for a moment, the man took his chance to move away. The doors were damaged so much that it is incomprehensible that they were only using the human body to do so.
We formed a semicircle around the door with our various weapons pointed at the door. Abby and I were on one side of the curve towards where the door swung to.
The moments of silence were deafening to me as everyone focused on the door. A door that no longer resounded throughout the room from the pounding of the other side, instead it was now eerily silent.
After 15 or so seconds, someone started whispering.
"Do you guys think they just left?"
That sounded like a red flag if I ever heard one!
"No way, right? They were pounding for a minute straight! Would they just leave like that?"
"Well, they stopped, didn't they?"
Honestly, I was expecting the moment that he said that sentence, the door would burst open, and someone might meet with a gruesome end, but it didn't happen. I suppose not everything happens the moment a red flag is ticked, nor does it mean that something dramatically ironic will happen.
As they argued, I felt someone tugging on my clothes. Abby looked wide-eyed at the door while pointing with one hand. I looked to see something more terrifying than if they simply busted the door down.
The door handle was twitching and jiggling on our side.
"Come on I bet they're still out there just waiting for us!"
I spoke up to get their attention.
"Hey! Get ready, look at the door."
The room turned to silence as I felt a wave of dread wash over all of us, at least most of us.
"So what! It's just grabbing the handle, whats the big deal?"
"Do you not understand what this means? They're already becoming smarter to the point of opening a door! It's only the first day of this shit!"
"Just fucking lock it then!"
"Do you see a damn lock on that door?!"
"Shit… you know, why do we even need to fight them? Can't we just exit through the back door?"
"We could, but what if the situation just gets worse on that side? We're out in the open there; what if we get surrounded? At least here we can just funnel them."
After Abby pointed out the handle, I had been watching it the entire time. At this point, it started turning the handle. I got the others' attention before they could argue further and split us up.
"Guys, it's opening the door!"
Silence reigned as their voices immediately halted. The air stilled as we each held our breaths.
The handle rotated 20 degrees before their grip must have slipped, and it returned to being horizontal. It was a moment before their next try, and it rotated further, but still not enough to open before they slipped again.
One of us started trembling for a moment; perhaps being in such a tense situation for so long was beginning to get to him. Regardless, he managed to reign in his fear. It's worthy of respect.
*Click*
The moment we were all dreading was approaching. The soft click resounded in the room as the door angled inward and stirred our emotions.
The door was barely ajar, and since I was on the other side, I didn't see a thing. The closest man to the door opening had a spear and must have run out of patience as he cracked the door open a little with the head of his spear and stabbed out.
He pulled his spear back, and the head now had a fresh splatter of blood. A second later, the door was more forcefully pushed open and revealed a body that fell onto the ground, now oozing a puddle from its neck.
It's a good start, bringing our morale up as we stabilized our emotions.
*Bang!*
The door swung open with such force that it startled Abby, the welder, and me for just a moment. A moment which was used perfectly by the mimic to pounce onto Jordan, knocking him onto the ground.
He was using the sword that I made for him to hold it back; luckily, only one side of the sword was sharp else his hand would be sliced open.
The fingerless logistics guy had a makeshift machete and was able to lodge it into the mimic's head.
When I recovered, I saw another rush in, it targeted the very same fingerless logistics guy. I stabbed forward, just barely landing a hit on its shoulder and just after the other spear barely hit its other shoulder. The force from both our strikes altered its course a little, but not enough.
The mimic tumbled a little and fell on its side but still tackled the fingerless man down on his stomach as he had to turn away from the door to deal with the one on Jordan.
"Gaaahhh!!"
The mimic had a hand trying to claw into his back as it tried to bite into his sides.
The other spearman hesitated to stab the mimic, I could only assume it was because he didn't want to accidentally stab his friend. Since that was the case, I stabbed as I had a position where, even if it pierced through, it would only hit the ground.
I stabbed from the midway of its neck through to its skull before pulling out. Jordan finally started picking himself up, but it's a shame that those monsters finally decided to rush us all at once.
The spearman had enough time to turn but not enough to point it at the monster now grappling with him. Jordan had his own to deal with, and from the looks of it, he was winning. The fingerless man was trying to crawl away and stand back up.
Out of from my left, the welder appeared and bashed the monster that was grappling with the spearman away with a makeshift shield. In his other hand was a similar makeshift machete to the guy that was currently on his hands and knees.
With that enclosed welding helmet of his, he somewhat looked like a knight if that knight didn't have plate armor and minus a bunch of other little details.
Five more of them rushed in, and by now, the door had been fully swung open. A figure outside caught my eye with its abnormally pronounced mouth and jagged teeth haphazardly growing out.
It was a worrying sight, but I had to deal with the mimics in front of me now.
One rushed at me, but I cleanly stabbed up under its chin. The spearhead dug deep into its skull and micro rivers of blood flowed down the shaft. The mimic made eye contact with me and I saw its eyes soften for a moment as it stared at me before it inevitably became blank.
That small moment just now made me remember that these were once people, but I quickly reigned in that emotion else I might die.
Abby was struggling with one, and as I went to help, I saw the one from outside pounce past everyone else onto the fingerless guy. It was a quick, yet brutal kill from this monster. It sunk its gaping jaw into the back of the man's neck, violently ripping and tearing that vulnerable flesh away. It must have managed to shred his jugular as well, since it took no time at all for a massive pool of blood to form under his neck.
"Ahhhh!!"
The sight of such a visceral death must have been too much as the people in the corner started to scream at the sight, not that I blame them. I just hope that these sounds don't attract more of them.
Quickly, I helped finish off the one that Abby was dealing with and I made up my mind.
I reached for my hip and took out that weighty piece of metal that could end it all. Cupping the weapon with both hands I aimed steadily at the target that was slowly standing itself up and staring at the corner. The woman who screamed loudly a moment ago was staring at it in fear, but in a way her scream helped out as she gathered its attention.
*Bang!*