Jason crosses the square and enters the new corridor straight away, hoping the staff toilets are near; they are, just inside the corridor, on the left.
“Here they are,” Jason informs Tyrone, who backs up towards him, keeping his rifle trained on their rear.
“Go and get him, I’ll cover us from out here,” Tyrone says.
Jason lets his rifle down, its strap holding it against the front of his body and he pops the holster on his hip open and takes out his Glock sidearm, which is far more suitable for confined spaces. Holding the piston up but close to him in his right hand, he pushes the door of the Gents’ toilet open with his left and enters.
A second door is just in front of him and he pushes this one only slightly open and peers into the toilets through the crack.
“Den, you in here?” he says quietly, but no answer comes.
Surely Den hasn’t decided to use the Ladies’, Jason thinks to himself, Den can be a strange one sometimes and I wouldn’t put it past him… There is only one way to find out. He pushes the door open wider and goes in.
Jason sees the feet first, sticking out of the end cubicle, along the floor and he immediately feels his body tighten. Something is horribly wrong. He goes in further towards the cubical and as he does, he hears a squelching sound. Fear is now coursing through his body again and he fights the urge to retreat back into the corridor, to tell Tyrone and get him to come back with him; his mate needs help and there isn’t a second to lose. Jason takes three quick steps forward and turns swiftly into the open cubicle, his Glock out in front of him at arm’s length now, his finger on the trigger.
Den’s face stares at Jason, his head pointing to the right and propped up against the base of the toilet. Den’s eyelids quiver a small amount, but all the colour has disappeared from the skin of his blood-splattered face. And he must see Jason’s arrival because his mouth opens slightly in a futile attempt to try and say something to him.
Jason’s fear is partly replaced by rage, rage at the creature that is on top of Den, its head buried into the side of Den’s neck, the top of the head moving as it eats. Jason himself had been so close to this fate only minutes ago, but Tyrone had found him just in time. He only wishes he could have been there for Den.
The shot rings out around the close confines of the toilets as Jason shoots the Zombies in the back of the head if only that gave him any satisfaction, it doesn’t, all he feels is disappointment and sorrow that he wasn’t in time to save his friend.
Quickly holstering his weapon, Jason drags the creature off Den, his anger giving him the strength to pull it out of the cubicle before he slams the limp body against the nearest wall. He then goes back into the cubicle to try and help his friend, even though Jason knows it is too late, the mission briefing making it very clear what happened if you were bitten. Den is not moving at all now, even his eyes are still, the quivering ceased. There is no sign of life at all, and there doesn’t even seem to be any blood coming out of his horrific neck wound.
Jason barely hears Tyrone come into the toilets and stand behind him at the cubicle’s opening.
“Bloody hell, man, how did that get in here? Err fuck, sorry Jay, this is bad,” Tyrone says, stumbling over his words before gathering himself. “Jay, we gotta go, sorry about Den, but we gotta go. They could be anywhere, that shot was loud!”
“Okay, just give me a second to think!” Jason barks.
“We gotta go, man,” Tyrone says, getting panicked.
“I can’t leave him like this.” Just as Jason says it, Den’s body starts to convulse.
Jason backs away from Den quickly, taken by surprise and not knowing what to expect next. The convulsing stops as quickly as it started though, and Den’s body goes limp again. Jason takes his Glock back out of its holster and aims it at Den’s forehead.
“Whoa, what you doing?” Tyrone exclaims.
“He’s going to turn; I’m not going to let that happen to him.”
Jason refocuses his aim and goes to shoot, but can’t seem to pull the trigger. He tries to block out Den’s face, but it’s still there, looking at him. He tries to shoot again, his face grimacing, but he fails. He is just about to give up when Den starts convulsing, badly this time, and he doesn’t stop. Jason steels himself, aims, and shoots his friend in the head. Den’s body goes limp.
“Let’s go,” Jason tells Tyrone as he pushes past him.
They both have to put these recent appalling events out of their minds, and they both know that without it being said, they need to be fully focused if they are going to get out of this building and back to their Squad—if their Squad is even still alive?
Jason takes the lead as they exit the toilets and he quickly takes the decision not to go back the way they came. The Zombie that got Den must have wandered in through the open alleyway door into the building, and that means there could be more in that direction, so Jason takes them left out of the toilets.
Moving slowly, Jason’s rifle aims forward up the new corridor while Tyrone’s rifle aims backwards, covering their rear. At the first door on the left, they come to
