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                “I find that if I just sit down, the solution presents itself.”

                                Dr. Henry Jones, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

                I sit with my back against the far side of the cafeteria. The smell of the bodies and the blood is lost on me as I stare at the far door. It’s blocked shut with the vending machines that once failed to keep it shut. But it’s all I had.

                Around me are the wrappers of the food from the vending machines that I had to kick in. I glance over at the food in the cafeteria trays, but I have no real concept of how long it’s been there. And given the fact that there’s a virus all around, I can’t bring myself to trust unprocessed food.

                So I sit, a Snicker’s bar in my hand, as I stare at the far wall. My bloody, bent walking crutch is next to me, the elbow brace kept at a safe distance.

                And I sit.

                And I watch.

                “Project 525.” I whisper aloud, my eyes staying on the far door. “So it was some type of big deal, enough to have a whole research facility dedicated to it. And the containment was violated or something. The cells were too violent.” I take a bite. “And apparently it’s causing some type of reaction, because it was based off of Type B blood, so B and AB are susceptible to it.”

                I chew.

                “Which means that fifty percent of this facility is affected by the virus.” I say, looking around the cafeteria for the first time.

                I hear skittering.

                I sigh and stand up.

                I grab up my crutch and march across the wide cafeteria towards the door. As I walk in a wide circle around the bodies, I see him. The monster I saw when I first came in.  He’s trapped under a Coke machine, just slowly regaining enough function to be conscious and to fight his way out from underneath the large mechanical box. His head’s just barely exposed.

                I come over, and put my foot down onto the machine.

                I draw back on the crutch.

                I repeatedly beat his brains in.

                Literally.

                “Stay dead.” I demand at the motionless zombie. I shake some of the blood off the crutch and walk away from the once-again motionless monster. As I walk, I notice the two other blood trails that mark my repeated trips around towards the beast.

                I walk over and toss my crutch down and resume my Snicker’s bar dinner. “The thing’s got to be airborne.” I surmise, looking around the facility. “I mean, how else could the whole place get exposed? So it’s got to have developed or something.”

                “But what’s the difference between Project 525 and the Ever-After thing?” I ask to no one. “And why was Anton’s driver’s license from the mid-west? And how the hell did I get here?”

                My spine goes cold as I consider.

                “And who was that big dude?”

                I think for a moment, then shrug. “Right now, I just need to get out of here.”

                I take a last swig from my soda can and stand up. I grab up a few bags of peanut M&M’s and a spare can of Coke and head towards the door. Snatching up my crutch, I walk around the usual path.

                I hit the monster one last time to keep him quiet.

                My confidence of escape drains once I’m out in the halls again.

                The maze-like facility seems endless. The place goes on in all directions, segmenting regularly, with almost no break in the monotony. The only escape I find is the illogical stairwell.

                So I head there.

                I stand at the head of the stairs, looking around at the open air, trying to see what’s around. I look down at first floor, then up at the third and fourth.

                I see shadows moving.

                I hear the skitter of feet, then the hiss.

                Two faces peek over the side of the stairwell at me.

                I don’t have time to react.

                Before I can gasp, they leap over the side of the railing from the fourth floor.

                Tragically, their momentum carries them past the third floor, past the second floor, and down to the first.

                If they hadn’t been flesh-eating monsters bent on devouring my brains, it might have been funny.

                Both their legs give out. I watch as their knees give first, then their hips pull out of alignment. Last, their whole bodies crumple against the impact. Blood comes out of the one on the right.

The one on the left just kind of crumples up like an accordion.

                I lean over the railing to get a better look.

                They move.

                They’re still alive.

                I look back up at the railings, but I don’t see any more. I also don’t see any convenient stairs from up there down to here.

                Just the same, I leave. Quickly.

                “Maybe it’s not airborne.” I consider as I make my way back down to the first level. “Maybe it’s like an STD. Maybe they bite someone and that’s how it contracts.”

                As I come to the edge of the stairs, I look at the two monsters. They start crawling towards me. I stop and consider them for a moment, then turn away.

                “Better not.” I say. But I stop.

                I turn around.

                Beyond them, a few dozen yards away is the mass of bodies. But I’m closer.

                I look around at the empty halls, then start to walk away from the monsters.

                Shortly after I’m farther away, they turn.

                They head towards the bodies.

                I start towards them.

                As I start to get close, they turn their broken and distorted attention back to me.

                “Weird.” I say, leaving them behind.

                The walk is long. I try to be careful at every intersection, but soon it starts to get routine. I approach from one side; checking down the opposite side, then glance over my shoulder and around the corner, to see if there are any more monsters.

                But there never are. And between my crutch and their apparently lacking mentality, I start to find it hard to be worried. But as I walk, searching for the front door, or any door, I reflect. Him and them moved a lot faster than these last three. Or maybe I was just so afraid.

                I decide that’s got to be it. Of course they seemed to move faster. I wasn’t armed and I was scared.

                But then I think about him. The big guy.

                And again, I start to sweat.

                The sweat reminds me of the cold I had forgotten, but not gotten away from. I walk around in the empty halls, reminded of myself in the echo of my stolen shoes and I hug my stolen lab coat around my otherwise bare chest. And I keep on walking.

                After a while, something new happens.

                I see a door.

                And unlike all the others, this door is metal. Large and secure, it has an actual key card port.

                I smile.

                Jackpot.

                I head over to the door, making sure the coast is clear. Deciding that it’s safe, I pull out my trusty stolen wallet and pull out the cards. I fish through them, looking over the four triangles. I pull out one arbitrarily and I try the red one.

                Nothing.

                I try the blue one.

                Second try.

                The door rumbles a bit, like it’s an ancient menace, trying to decide if I’m worthy, but then it parts in the center. Rather than opening in or out like I would have expected, it slides open. And before I see anything, the first thing I feel is the warmth.

                A gust of fresh, beautiful air comes coasting out as the doors part. It hits me like an angelic dream, making me gasp orgasmicly. I stand for just a calm moment in the presence of the fresh air and the warm, sweet breeze, then I open my unbelieving eyes.

                A garden stands before me.

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