Apocalypse, Part 5
Title: Apocalypse [5/?]
Disclaimer: Don't own Heroes. Don't claim to own Heroes. But I sure do love Heroes.
Main Characters: Matt Parkman, Mohinder Suresh, Molly Walker
Word Count: 4149
Rating: This chapter is rated M for violence *shock, horror* and sexuality *glee, joy*
Genre: General/Drama/ZOMBIE.
Notes: Yay! This chapter didn't take me an entire freaking month to get out! My regular beta, ibroketuesday, was in Costa Rica for the week, so I had to get a replacement. tawabids did a fantastic job stepping in. Thank you! Hope ya'll enjoy it!
May 3, 2008. 3:14 P.M.
Matt looked out the window from the hallway of the fourth floor. In the streets below was a smattering of ghoulish beings. They wandered aimlessly, in search of something their brains had not yet defined. He tapped lightly on the window with his fingernail and watched with entranced horror as the closest few turned and waddled towards the source of the sound. A boy of no more than seventeen raised his milky eyes and let out a guttural moan when it saw Matt's figure in the window. “God, I hate the noise they make. It's so...sad and pathetic,” Matt muttered. The boy below bared his teeth, exposing his broken braces, and clawed at the side of the building.
“For God's sake, Matt!” Mohinder chided from a few steps back. “We don't know how they operate yet. If you alert one, maybe others will follow suit.”
Matt obediently stepped away from the window and refocused his attention to the task at hand. “Let's run through the plan one more time,” he said to Mohinder as he stepped up to apartment 406.
Mohinder rolled his eyes. “We've been over it five times, Matt. I just want to watch her. I want to see how she reacts to us when we enter. I want to see how strong she is, how violent, how smart. I don't intend on getting anywhere near her, so your presence isn't really necessary at all.”
Matt tightened his grip on the baseball bat and glowered at Mohinder. “I'm just trying to be careful. From what I've seen, they don't feel pain. Estelle was in a wheelchair because she had severe arthritis in her knee. If she doesn't feel pain, she could be up and walking again. I'm coming in.”
“Fine, but we're here for observation only. Don't go poking around her apartment for anything, even food.”
Matt nodded and pressed his ear to the door. He knew his ability was useless against these undead creatures, so he listened for more conventional noise. Movement, vocalizations, the rustling of clothes. He heard nothing. He used his knuckle to knock very lightly against the door. Almost immediately he could hear the ruffling of clothes and the squeak of her wheelchair. Unlike the boy outside, she failed to moan. “Well, she's in there.”
Beside him, Mohinder had already begun to write furiously on the tiny notepad that he had with him. 'Subject reacted to sound not caused by natural means. No moan,' Matt heard Mohinder think as he scribbled. 'Cognitive ability to decipher sounds? Or just some strange instinct?'
“Shh, keep it down,” Matt chastised with a ghost of a smile curling his lips.
'Partner unfocused,” Mohinder thought tersely, narrowing his eyes at Matt. 'Will surely lead to death.'
Matt rolled his eyes and grinned, gesturing to Mohinder that he got the point. “It doesn't sound like she's close to the door,” Matt reported as he dug through his pockets for his keys. “Ready to go in?”
“After you,” Mohinder replied calmly.
Matt flipped through his set of keys, resting on one that had the name 'Estelle' taped across the top. He unlocked the door as quietly as he could and pressed his ear against the wood. There was a more distinctive movement this time, like she was twisting her body around on the chair, but he didn't think she had actually moved closer to the door. Matt rested his hand on the doorknob. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and swallowed. Was he really ready to see Estelle? Worse, was he really ready to defend himself if she attacked? She had been so vibrant, so full of life. The stories that she told Matt when they played Scrabble were so eclectic and full of joy that Matt could have sworn the wrinkles in her face lightened and her wheelchair disappeared. Her laugh had been so contagious and hearty. Now she was nothing more than an animated husk. A warm hand fell on his shoulder and Matt opened his eyes to see Mohinder looking at him with genuine sympathy.
“You can do this, Matt.”
Matt looked back at Mohinder and nodded, offering his thanks in his small smile. Tightening his grip on his bat, Matt slowly pushed the door open. Light from the hallway swept across the apartment floor, illuminating a toppled game of scrabble, an old Bobby Darin record and Estelle's diabetes kit. When Matt looked deeper into the apartment, Estelle's cold, blank eyes stared back. Although her wheelchair wasn't facing the door, she had twisted her body in a way that allowed her to make direct eye contact. She peeled her lips back and issued a croaky, guttural moan that chilled Matt to his core as she threw her arms in their direction and began to claw at the air.
'Despite warnings to our presence, vocalization was emitted only after visual contact had been established,' Mohinder thought, his pencil scratching on the cheap paper. 'Despite being hampered by her wheelchair, the subject continues to reach unsuccessfully for us. She appears to lack the cognitive ability to undo her restraining belt.'
Despite what logic told him, Matt's heart begged him to try and reason with the abomination in front of him. “Estelle?” he peeped quietly, like a frightened child in a dark hallway.
“She can't understand you, Matt,” Mohinder chirped clinically beside him, his eyes remaining focused on the paper.
“I know that,” Matt said, mentally kicking himself for being so stupid. He didn't expect full comprehension from her, but he had been hoping for some semblance of recognition in her face. But there was only a hungry snarl under blank, milky eyes.
Beside him, Mohinder finished scribbling notes and peered inside the room for a moment before taking a step forward.
“Woah!” Matt laid his bat across Mohinder's chest. “What are you doing?”
Mohinder looked back at Matt with annoyance. “I'm going to collect a blood sample.”
“What? Are you crazy, Mohinder?”
“From the window, Matt, not from her!”
Matt looked at the window on the opposite side of Estelle's apartment and saw a splattering of blood that had dripped down to pool on the windowsill. His eyes then rested on the struggling Estelle, still trying to reach them from her wheelchair. “I don't think that's a good idea, Mohinder.”
“She's wheelchair bound, Matt. Even if she could walk, she doesn't have the mental capabilities to understand that undoing her belt will allow her to do so. I'll only be in there a moment.”
Matt sighed and lowered the bat. Mohinder certainly had a point. “Fine, but be quick.”
Mohinder slid past Matt into the room and carefully made his way to the window, avoiding Estelle's outstretched arms by at least ten feet. Estelle herself set her eyes on Mohinder and twisted her body to follow him, her moans and gurgles becoming more animated with his proximity.
Seeing that Mohinder had made it safely to the window, Matt strode down the hall to make an observation of his own. He peeked out the window to the street below and noted that the boy who had spotted him a few minutes earlier had wandered off. Matt let out a sigh of relief. 'So they lose interest in you if you hide yourself well enough. That's good to know.' Satisfied, Matt turned and started to head back to Estelle's apartment. As he approached the door, however, he knew something had gone wrong. Estelle's cries had grown less needy and sounded more expectant, as if her goal was suddenly more attainable. Matt rushed the last few steps and gasped.
Without either of them realizing it, Mohinder had stepped into Estelle's direct line of sight, so that she didn't need to twist her body in order to see him. With the resistance of the wheelchair angle gone, Estelle had dropped her feet from their rests and had begun dragging herself towards the still unaware Mohinder. Her outstretched arms clawed at the air until one of her gnarled hands managed to secure a chunk of Mohinder's jacket in its grip. Estelle pulled. Mohinder yelled. Matt rushed forward with his bat.
A few minutes earlier...
“I'll be careful, Matt,” Mohinder assured his companion. “I'm just going to observe her, that's all.”
“I don't care! I don't want you to do it!” Matt replied.
It's not that Molly didn't believe that they would be careful. She knew they would. It's just that she had seen so many horrible things in her dreams. She had seen people who were trying to be careful get caught and ripped apart by hungry ghouls. She didn't want Matt or Mohinder anywhere near one of those things! She knew Estelle would probably be nicer than the other zombies, but still! Alas, the protests of a frightened ten year old girl was not enough to convince the adults to stay away from apartment 406 and a few minutes later, Molly was alone in the apartment with Holly. Although the men tried to keep their voices hushed, Molly could hear Matt and Mohinder squabbling about something in the hallway.
An awkward silence fell between the two girls and Molly deliberately avoided eye contact. It wasn't that she didn't like Holly, she just hadn't spent too much time alone with her. If she was being honest, Holly scared her a little. She was always cussing, and so forward with everything she did. It was kind of intimidating.
“Want some eggs?” Holly asked from across the table. Her voice was light and optimistic, but Molly could tell Holly was just as uncomfortable with the silence as she was. “Scrambled?”
“Sure...” Molly said without commitment. Eggs, no eggs. Whatever. The preparation style of Holly's eggs was the least of her worries at the moment. Still, she didn't want to be rude. “Yes, please. Scrambled, please.”
Holly nodded and set about the kitchen, grabbing the necessary ingredients and two plates. She cracked the eggs into a bowl, added the milk and began to whisk them together. “So, uhm...” She began hesitantly. “So Mohinder and Matt. They aren't... together, are they?”
Molly shrugged. “They both live here with me.”
“No, I mean...” Holly smiled self-deprecatingly. “That's okay, forget it.”
“Oh!” Insight dawned on Molly. “Ohhhh. You mean, do they kiss?”
Holly remained silent, but the tilt of her shoulders told Molly everything she needed to know.
“No, they don't kiss. That would be gross! Like, double the cooties! Naw, they don't even look at each other with flirty eyes or anything.” The tension that left Holly's shoulders made Molly smile. “Not like the eyes you give Matt.” And just like that, the tension was back.
Holly failed to comment, instead focusing her energy on whisking the eggs with a little too much vigour. “What are they to you, anyway?” Holly poured the mix into the pan, which began to sizzle immediately.
“Matt and Mohinder? I don't know...” Molly shrugged. The kids at school, even Miss Gerber, had asked her that and she never had a clear answer. “I guess they're my best friends, ever. I can talk to Matt about anything and Mohinder always helps me with my homework. Matt reminds me of my dad sometimes...” Sudden tears welled in Molly's eyes and she wiped them away angrily before Holly could catch a glimpse. If she saw, she would tell Matt and Mohinder and then they would sit her down to have another talk about her parents and she just didn't want that right now.
“Parkman talked about you all the time, you know.” Holly said, perhaps sensing Molly's sudden decline in mood. She slid the cooked eggs onto the plates and set them on the table, slipping into the seat opposite Molly. “Almost everybody at the station knew who you were. He has your school picture on his desk and everything.”
Molly's face brightened considerably, her smile so wide that the dimples she thought she outgrew formed in her cheeks. “Really?”
Holly nodded, shoving a fork full of eggs into her mouth. “Yup. Let's see what I know about you...” Holly looked up at the ceiling and tapped her finger against her lip. “You have soccer on Wednesdays. You play goalie and pretend to hate it, but you secretly love it. Your favourite colour is green, you're in love with Zac Efron, and you've seen High School Musical at least eight times.”
“He really talks about me?”
Holly smiled sweetly across the table. “Yup he does. He loves you very much.”
Molly beamed down at her eggs. She knew that Matt loved her, but she didn't know that he talked about her! A warm pride blossomed from her heart and coursed through her veins until she felt like she could burst. A little too much pride, maybe. She began to feel a little light headed and suddenly had two plates of eggs in front of her. They began to rotate around one another and the corners of her vision blackened and closed. Ohh, this didn't feel good. There was a warm hand on her shoulder, and somebody was saying her name with concern. Molly looked up and saw two Hollys staring at her with four worried eyes.
“Molly?”
Molly's stomach began flip-flopping around and she could feel her throat begin to tighten. Her vision was quickly disappearing, becoming little more than a pinprick surrounded by blackness.
“Molly! Molly, you need to focus on me, babe! Look at me!”
But it was too late. Molly felt a distinctive tug on something that wasn't quite her body, and she was once again carried away...
Miss Gerber sat huddled with the handsome, red-haired phys-ed teacher of St. Claire McKelway elementary school, tables pushed up against the cafeteria doors. Her breast was exposed, covered only by Mr. Ackart's heavy hand. Their faces were pressed together in some sort of desperate attempt at last minute intimacy. The tearstains on their cheeks robbed the scene of all sensuality. Around them reverberated the thumping of dozens of tiny fists banging and pushing against the weak doors.
Mr. Ackart pulled his lips from Miss Gerber's and held her head in his hands. He pressed his forehead against hers and his gaze delved into her eyes. “Do you want to?”
“Patrick...”
Mr. Ackart planted a cold and meaningless kiss on Miss Gerber's lips. “It could be the last thing that we do, Annette.”
“You're married, Patrick. I don't want adultery to be the last thing I do on Earth.”
But Mr. Ackart insisted with his lips, squeezing her breast and circling her nipple with his thumb. Despite her protests only a moment ago, Miss Gerber succumbed almost desperately. She pressed her body against his, swirling her tongue in his mouth and sliding her hand down his torso. She slipped her hand under his belt and began to massage. Within minutes they were naked, Miss Gerber leaning over one of the tables and Mr. Ackart pumping her from behind. She moaned into the wood, the same table that her pupils sat at to eat their lunches, gossip and shot spitballs across the room. The ghouls outside applauded their efforts with fists against metal and moans of a different variety.
They both came in a cold and disconnected way, and retook their huddled position in the corner. He held her close to his naked body and watched as their barricade began to fail. As the ghouls pushed against the door, flashes of their bloody and manic faces could be seen. Small arms reached through the crack of the double doors, preventing them from closing fully.
“Should we try and push them back?” Mr. Ackart asked.
“I don't see the point,” Miss Gerber replied, keeping herself wrapped in his strong arms. “I just hope that at least one of my students is alive somewhere.”
Mr. Ackart pressed Miss Gerber's head against his chest and watched with resigned eyes as their barricade was finally broken. The doors gave way to the heavy mob and swung inwards. Beyond the swarm of infected students, the half-eaten corpse of the janitor lay in the hallway. His large intestine, stuck to the sneaker of one of the zombies, unravelled as the ghoul pressed forward.
Yuri Chu led the pack, her delicate lips, now torn and bloody, pulled back in a vicious snarl. They descended on the helpless, naked pair and promptly consumed them. They didn't seem to notice their teeth breaking when they bit into Mr. Ackart's femur, nor when Miss Gerber begged them, by name, to leave them alone. Miss Gerber's throat was ripped out by a hungry Allan Danter a few moments later, her trachea dangling messily from his jaws. Despite having no vocal cords, Miss Gerber tried to scream. All that came out was a splattering of blood that soaked the faces of her beloved students.
Meanwhile, in apartment 406...
Matt stood frozen for a few critical seconds, watching Estelle creep towards Mohinder. He could have yelled a warning, he could have commanded Mohinder to look out...instead, he just watched with horror as Estelle scooted in for the kill.
She was reaching for Mohinder, leaning forward over her belt, her gnarled hands only inches away from Mohinder's flesh. The afternoon sun cast a lining of a heavenly gold around her twisted figure as she finally made contact, wrapping her hands in the leather of Mohinder's jacket. She pulled with a strength that Matt never knew her to have, pulling Mohinder towards herself forcefully, and sank her teeth into Mohinder's side. Mohinder screamed, and in that scream Matt could hear all of the dreadful implications a bite held.
Matt's instincts kicked in and he rushed forward with his bat. He side-stepped Estelle's coffee table and crushed her Bobby Darin record with his foot as he dashed towards Mohinder. It took only a few moments for him to clear the apartment, but those moments were enough for Estelle to notice his presence and make eye contact a final time before Matt swung.
Matt had closed his eyes in the final moment, but the resounding crack and the vibration that scurried up the bat and into his hands told him more than he needed to know. Despite the close friendship he had had with her, Matt used all the strength his muscles would allow to bring the bat against Estelle's skull. Weakened by her age, Estelle's skull caved where the bat made contact. Her neck snapped to the side, causing bits of bone and brain to spray across the carpet, the sun's light making them seem like bright little jewels.
Matt's chest heaved more with emotion than with exertion as he cracked his eyes open. Estelle's body hung limply to one side of her wheelchair, her gnarled hands now softened. Matt's world began to spin around the image of Estelle's crinkled body. His breathing quickened and the edges of his vision grew murky and dark. A soft, almost apologetic voice broke through his daze.
“Matt?”
“You okay?” Matt asked Mohinder, his eyes still locked on Estelle's ruined skull.
“I'm...fine. She got a mouthful of leather.” A warm hand pressed against Matt's upper arm. “Matt, you're shaking.” The grip on his arm got a little tighter. “Are you okay?”
Matt pursed his lips and tried to control his shaking. The mangled mess in front of him was his doing. This wasn't some crime scene that he walked into after the violence had been committed. He couldn't disconnect himself from this. He had been here when the violence happened. He had committed the violence. On one of his closest friends, no less.
“Matt?”
“People,” Matt answered as soon as his body would allow him to. He paused and took a deep breath, trying to banish the suffocating negativity away. “People should only have to die once, Mohinder. Especially good people. Estelle was a good person.”
Mohinder said nothing for a long time, dropping his hand and stuffing it into his pocket. “I'm sorry,” he finally said.
“We shouldn't have even been in here,” Matt muttered. His shaking began to ebb for a few moments, then surged back though his system as something new. It wasn't fear or regret, but a deep anger that ran through Matt's veins. He didn't want to come here, he didn't want Mohinder to study her. But Mohinder had insisted and now Estelle was gone for good. His anger sent a jolt of energy to his arms and he threw the bat across the room, denting the wall. “Damn it, Mohinder! We shouldn't have been here!”
Mohinder looked taken aback at Matt's outburst but didn't answer with anger of his own. “I'm sorry about Estelle, Matt. I truly am...” Mohinder started, choosing his words carefully. “...but understand that she was already gone. You saved my life by doing what you did.”
Matt huffed out a mighty sigh. Mohinder was right, of course. Estelle was already gone and Mohinder was safe now. Could he really ask for anything more, given the situation? No, but that didn't stop it from hurting. He turned away from Mohinder and hung his head. “Would you mind if I just...stayed here for a while. Alone?”
“Of course,” Mohinder said. He patted Matt on the shoulder and left the apartment quietly.
The moment Mohinder left the room, Matt realized that he really didn't want to be alone. Having Mohinder with him gave Matt an excuse not to cry. Now that Mohinder was gone, all bets were off. Matt sat down on his favourite chair and studied Estelle's body for a few minutes. The skull was caved in and the mouth still hung open, as if still waiting for a meal. Matt didn't like that. It was obscene and predatory, the opposite of what Estelle had been. Matt rose from his seat and gingerly stepped closer to Estelle, grabbing the small blanket she used to keep her legs warm on the way. With great care, he pressed his fingers under her chin and closed her mouth. In that small action, Matt felt as though he had somehow restored a small portion of Estelle's being. He then draped the small blanket over her head. Deciding that her place by the sunny window was appropriate, Matt turned away from Estelle's body and left the apartment.
He locked the door behind him and walked to the end of the hallway, where he had looked down at the boy only minutes before and pushed the window open a crack. He rolled the key with Estelle's name taped to the top of it around in his hand with a forlorn expression on his face. This was it. This was the final goodbye. With a heavy sigh, he gave the key a quick kiss, pressed it against the window and let it slide through the crack to the ground below. He wasn't particularly religious, but he still muttered a brief prayer for Estelle before turning away and heading back to his own apartment.
May 3, 2008. 3:41 P.M.
Molly awoke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright and flying into the arms of a waiting Mohinder. She was in her room now, and her sheets were damp with her sweat. She sobbed into Mohinder's shoulder and recalled to him what she saw. Her friends - her very dead and very violent friends - ripping open Miss Gerber's throat, tearing the flesh off of Mr. Ackart's leg.
“It's all right now, sweetheart. They can't get you here,” Mohinder said as he stroked her soggy hair.
“I want Matt.”
Mohinder's embrace grew just a little tighter. “You're safe with me,” he repeated, his voice a little gruff and robotic.
“I want Matt!” Molly begged. There was something awkward and unconvincing in Mohinder's embraces, like he didn't know how to properly hug somebody. She knew that Mohinder loved her the best way that he could, but there was always something distant and half-way-there about his snuggles. Even though she felt protected in Mohinder's arms, she also felt completely exposed.
Mohinder pulled away from Molly and she could see a shadow pass across his face. The muscles around his mouth and eyes were loose with rejection, but his cheeks held a certain tension that Molly didn't like at all. “I'll go and get Matt, then,” he said before disappearing from her room.
Matt hurried in a moment later and threw his arms around her. Where Mohinder's hugs were awkward and incomplete, Matt's were all consuming. They were warm, strong and filled with love. She fell into his chest and imagined his whole body morphing into an impenetrable sphere around her, a ball of Matt that was warm, comfortable and safe. A place where nothing bad could get inside; no men with glasses, no zombies and absolutely no bogeymen.
Disclaimer: Don't own Heroes. Don't claim to own Heroes. But I sure do love Heroes.
Main Characters: Matt Parkman, Mohinder Suresh, Molly Walker
Word Count: 4149
Rating: This chapter is rated M for violence *shock, horror* and sexuality *glee, joy*
Genre: General/Drama/ZOMBIE.
Notes: Yay! This chapter didn't take me an entire freaking month to get out! My regular beta, ibroketuesday, was in Costa Rica for the week, so I had to get a replacement. tawabids did a fantastic job stepping in. Thank you! Hope ya'll enjoy it!
May 3, 2008. 3:14 P.M.
Matt looked out the window from the hallway of the fourth floor. In the streets below was a smattering of ghoulish beings. They wandered aimlessly, in search of something their brains had not yet defined. He tapped lightly on the window with his fingernail and watched with entranced horror as the closest few turned and waddled towards the source of the sound. A boy of no more than seventeen raised his milky eyes and let out a guttural moan when it saw Matt's figure in the window. “God, I hate the noise they make. It's so...sad and pathetic,” Matt muttered. The boy below bared his teeth, exposing his broken braces, and clawed at the side of the building.
“For God's sake, Matt!” Mohinder chided from a few steps back. “We don't know how they operate yet. If you alert one, maybe others will follow suit.”
Matt obediently stepped away from the window and refocused his attention to the task at hand. “Let's run through the plan one more time,” he said to Mohinder as he stepped up to apartment 406.
Mohinder rolled his eyes. “We've been over it five times, Matt. I just want to watch her. I want to see how she reacts to us when we enter. I want to see how strong she is, how violent, how smart. I don't intend on getting anywhere near her, so your presence isn't really necessary at all.”
Matt tightened his grip on the baseball bat and glowered at Mohinder. “I'm just trying to be careful. From what I've seen, they don't feel pain. Estelle was in a wheelchair because she had severe arthritis in her knee. If she doesn't feel pain, she could be up and walking again. I'm coming in.”
“Fine, but we're here for observation only. Don't go poking around her apartment for anything, even food.”
Matt nodded and pressed his ear to the door. He knew his ability was useless against these undead creatures, so he listened for more conventional noise. Movement, vocalizations, the rustling of clothes. He heard nothing. He used his knuckle to knock very lightly against the door. Almost immediately he could hear the ruffling of clothes and the squeak of her wheelchair. Unlike the boy outside, she failed to moan. “Well, she's in there.”
Beside him, Mohinder had already begun to write furiously on the tiny notepad that he had with him. 'Subject reacted to sound not caused by natural means. No moan,' Matt heard Mohinder think as he scribbled. 'Cognitive ability to decipher sounds? Or just some strange instinct?'
“Shh, keep it down,” Matt chastised with a ghost of a smile curling his lips.
'Partner unfocused,” Mohinder thought tersely, narrowing his eyes at Matt. 'Will surely lead to death.'
Matt rolled his eyes and grinned, gesturing to Mohinder that he got the point. “It doesn't sound like she's close to the door,” Matt reported as he dug through his pockets for his keys. “Ready to go in?”
“After you,” Mohinder replied calmly.
Matt flipped through his set of keys, resting on one that had the name 'Estelle' taped across the top. He unlocked the door as quietly as he could and pressed his ear against the wood. There was a more distinctive movement this time, like she was twisting her body around on the chair, but he didn't think she had actually moved closer to the door. Matt rested his hand on the doorknob. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and swallowed. Was he really ready to see Estelle? Worse, was he really ready to defend himself if she attacked? She had been so vibrant, so full of life. The stories that she told Matt when they played Scrabble were so eclectic and full of joy that Matt could have sworn the wrinkles in her face lightened and her wheelchair disappeared. Her laugh had been so contagious and hearty. Now she was nothing more than an animated husk. A warm hand fell on his shoulder and Matt opened his eyes to see Mohinder looking at him with genuine sympathy.
“You can do this, Matt.”
Matt looked back at Mohinder and nodded, offering his thanks in his small smile. Tightening his grip on his bat, Matt slowly pushed the door open. Light from the hallway swept across the apartment floor, illuminating a toppled game of scrabble, an old Bobby Darin record and Estelle's diabetes kit. When Matt looked deeper into the apartment, Estelle's cold, blank eyes stared back. Although her wheelchair wasn't facing the door, she had twisted her body in a way that allowed her to make direct eye contact. She peeled her lips back and issued a croaky, guttural moan that chilled Matt to his core as she threw her arms in their direction and began to claw at the air.
'Despite warnings to our presence, vocalization was emitted only after visual contact had been established,' Mohinder thought, his pencil scratching on the cheap paper. 'Despite being hampered by her wheelchair, the subject continues to reach unsuccessfully for us. She appears to lack the cognitive ability to undo her restraining belt.'
Despite what logic told him, Matt's heart begged him to try and reason with the abomination in front of him. “Estelle?” he peeped quietly, like a frightened child in a dark hallway.
“She can't understand you, Matt,” Mohinder chirped clinically beside him, his eyes remaining focused on the paper.
“I know that,” Matt said, mentally kicking himself for being so stupid. He didn't expect full comprehension from her, but he had been hoping for some semblance of recognition in her face. But there was only a hungry snarl under blank, milky eyes.
Beside him, Mohinder finished scribbling notes and peered inside the room for a moment before taking a step forward.
“Woah!” Matt laid his bat across Mohinder's chest. “What are you doing?”
Mohinder looked back at Matt with annoyance. “I'm going to collect a blood sample.”
“What? Are you crazy, Mohinder?”
“From the window, Matt, not from her!”
Matt looked at the window on the opposite side of Estelle's apartment and saw a splattering of blood that had dripped down to pool on the windowsill. His eyes then rested on the struggling Estelle, still trying to reach them from her wheelchair. “I don't think that's a good idea, Mohinder.”
“She's wheelchair bound, Matt. Even if she could walk, she doesn't have the mental capabilities to understand that undoing her belt will allow her to do so. I'll only be in there a moment.”
Matt sighed and lowered the bat. Mohinder certainly had a point. “Fine, but be quick.”
Mohinder slid past Matt into the room and carefully made his way to the window, avoiding Estelle's outstretched arms by at least ten feet. Estelle herself set her eyes on Mohinder and twisted her body to follow him, her moans and gurgles becoming more animated with his proximity.
Seeing that Mohinder had made it safely to the window, Matt strode down the hall to make an observation of his own. He peeked out the window to the street below and noted that the boy who had spotted him a few minutes earlier had wandered off. Matt let out a sigh of relief. 'So they lose interest in you if you hide yourself well enough. That's good to know.' Satisfied, Matt turned and started to head back to Estelle's apartment. As he approached the door, however, he knew something had gone wrong. Estelle's cries had grown less needy and sounded more expectant, as if her goal was suddenly more attainable. Matt rushed the last few steps and gasped.
Without either of them realizing it, Mohinder had stepped into Estelle's direct line of sight, so that she didn't need to twist her body in order to see him. With the resistance of the wheelchair angle gone, Estelle had dropped her feet from their rests and had begun dragging herself towards the still unaware Mohinder. Her outstretched arms clawed at the air until one of her gnarled hands managed to secure a chunk of Mohinder's jacket in its grip. Estelle pulled. Mohinder yelled. Matt rushed forward with his bat.
A few minutes earlier...
“I'll be careful, Matt,” Mohinder assured his companion. “I'm just going to observe her, that's all.”
“I don't care! I don't want you to do it!” Matt replied.
It's not that Molly didn't believe that they would be careful. She knew they would. It's just that she had seen so many horrible things in her dreams. She had seen people who were trying to be careful get caught and ripped apart by hungry ghouls. She didn't want Matt or Mohinder anywhere near one of those things! She knew Estelle would probably be nicer than the other zombies, but still! Alas, the protests of a frightened ten year old girl was not enough to convince the adults to stay away from apartment 406 and a few minutes later, Molly was alone in the apartment with Holly. Although the men tried to keep their voices hushed, Molly could hear Matt and Mohinder squabbling about something in the hallway.
An awkward silence fell between the two girls and Molly deliberately avoided eye contact. It wasn't that she didn't like Holly, she just hadn't spent too much time alone with her. If she was being honest, Holly scared her a little. She was always cussing, and so forward with everything she did. It was kind of intimidating.
“Want some eggs?” Holly asked from across the table. Her voice was light and optimistic, but Molly could tell Holly was just as uncomfortable with the silence as she was. “Scrambled?”
“Sure...” Molly said without commitment. Eggs, no eggs. Whatever. The preparation style of Holly's eggs was the least of her worries at the moment. Still, she didn't want to be rude. “Yes, please. Scrambled, please.”
Holly nodded and set about the kitchen, grabbing the necessary ingredients and two plates. She cracked the eggs into a bowl, added the milk and began to whisk them together. “So, uhm...” She began hesitantly. “So Mohinder and Matt. They aren't... together, are they?”
Molly shrugged. “They both live here with me.”
“No, I mean...” Holly smiled self-deprecatingly. “That's okay, forget it.”
“Oh!” Insight dawned on Molly. “Ohhhh. You mean, do they kiss?”
Holly remained silent, but the tilt of her shoulders told Molly everything she needed to know.
“No, they don't kiss. That would be gross! Like, double the cooties! Naw, they don't even look at each other with flirty eyes or anything.” The tension that left Holly's shoulders made Molly smile. “Not like the eyes you give Matt.” And just like that, the tension was back.
Holly failed to comment, instead focusing her energy on whisking the eggs with a little too much vigour. “What are they to you, anyway?” Holly poured the mix into the pan, which began to sizzle immediately.
“Matt and Mohinder? I don't know...” Molly shrugged. The kids at school, even Miss Gerber, had asked her that and she never had a clear answer. “I guess they're my best friends, ever. I can talk to Matt about anything and Mohinder always helps me with my homework. Matt reminds me of my dad sometimes...” Sudden tears welled in Molly's eyes and she wiped them away angrily before Holly could catch a glimpse. If she saw, she would tell Matt and Mohinder and then they would sit her down to have another talk about her parents and she just didn't want that right now.
“Parkman talked about you all the time, you know.” Holly said, perhaps sensing Molly's sudden decline in mood. She slid the cooked eggs onto the plates and set them on the table, slipping into the seat opposite Molly. “Almost everybody at the station knew who you were. He has your school picture on his desk and everything.”
Molly's face brightened considerably, her smile so wide that the dimples she thought she outgrew formed in her cheeks. “Really?”
Holly nodded, shoving a fork full of eggs into her mouth. “Yup. Let's see what I know about you...” Holly looked up at the ceiling and tapped her finger against her lip. “You have soccer on Wednesdays. You play goalie and pretend to hate it, but you secretly love it. Your favourite colour is green, you're in love with Zac Efron, and you've seen High School Musical at least eight times.”
“He really talks about me?”
Holly smiled sweetly across the table. “Yup he does. He loves you very much.”
Molly beamed down at her eggs. She knew that Matt loved her, but she didn't know that he talked about her! A warm pride blossomed from her heart and coursed through her veins until she felt like she could burst. A little too much pride, maybe. She began to feel a little light headed and suddenly had two plates of eggs in front of her. They began to rotate around one another and the corners of her vision blackened and closed. Ohh, this didn't feel good. There was a warm hand on her shoulder, and somebody was saying her name with concern. Molly looked up and saw two Hollys staring at her with four worried eyes.
“Molly?”
Molly's stomach began flip-flopping around and she could feel her throat begin to tighten. Her vision was quickly disappearing, becoming little more than a pinprick surrounded by blackness.
“Molly! Molly, you need to focus on me, babe! Look at me!”
But it was too late. Molly felt a distinctive tug on something that wasn't quite her body, and she was once again carried away...
Miss Gerber sat huddled with the handsome, red-haired phys-ed teacher of St. Claire McKelway elementary school, tables pushed up against the cafeteria doors. Her breast was exposed, covered only by Mr. Ackart's heavy hand. Their faces were pressed together in some sort of desperate attempt at last minute intimacy. The tearstains on their cheeks robbed the scene of all sensuality. Around them reverberated the thumping of dozens of tiny fists banging and pushing against the weak doors.
Mr. Ackart pulled his lips from Miss Gerber's and held her head in his hands. He pressed his forehead against hers and his gaze delved into her eyes. “Do you want to?”
“Patrick...”
Mr. Ackart planted a cold and meaningless kiss on Miss Gerber's lips. “It could be the last thing that we do, Annette.”
“You're married, Patrick. I don't want adultery to be the last thing I do on Earth.”
But Mr. Ackart insisted with his lips, squeezing her breast and circling her nipple with his thumb. Despite her protests only a moment ago, Miss Gerber succumbed almost desperately. She pressed her body against his, swirling her tongue in his mouth and sliding her hand down his torso. She slipped her hand under his belt and began to massage. Within minutes they were naked, Miss Gerber leaning over one of the tables and Mr. Ackart pumping her from behind. She moaned into the wood, the same table that her pupils sat at to eat their lunches, gossip and shot spitballs across the room. The ghouls outside applauded their efforts with fists against metal and moans of a different variety.
They both came in a cold and disconnected way, and retook their huddled position in the corner. He held her close to his naked body and watched as their barricade began to fail. As the ghouls pushed against the door, flashes of their bloody and manic faces could be seen. Small arms reached through the crack of the double doors, preventing them from closing fully.
“Should we try and push them back?” Mr. Ackart asked.
“I don't see the point,” Miss Gerber replied, keeping herself wrapped in his strong arms. “I just hope that at least one of my students is alive somewhere.”
Mr. Ackart pressed Miss Gerber's head against his chest and watched with resigned eyes as their barricade was finally broken. The doors gave way to the heavy mob and swung inwards. Beyond the swarm of infected students, the half-eaten corpse of the janitor lay in the hallway. His large intestine, stuck to the sneaker of one of the zombies, unravelled as the ghoul pressed forward.
Yuri Chu led the pack, her delicate lips, now torn and bloody, pulled back in a vicious snarl. They descended on the helpless, naked pair and promptly consumed them. They didn't seem to notice their teeth breaking when they bit into Mr. Ackart's femur, nor when Miss Gerber begged them, by name, to leave them alone. Miss Gerber's throat was ripped out by a hungry Allan Danter a few moments later, her trachea dangling messily from his jaws. Despite having no vocal cords, Miss Gerber tried to scream. All that came out was a splattering of blood that soaked the faces of her beloved students.
Meanwhile, in apartment 406...
Matt stood frozen for a few critical seconds, watching Estelle creep towards Mohinder. He could have yelled a warning, he could have commanded Mohinder to look out...instead, he just watched with horror as Estelle scooted in for the kill.
She was reaching for Mohinder, leaning forward over her belt, her gnarled hands only inches away from Mohinder's flesh. The afternoon sun cast a lining of a heavenly gold around her twisted figure as she finally made contact, wrapping her hands in the leather of Mohinder's jacket. She pulled with a strength that Matt never knew her to have, pulling Mohinder towards herself forcefully, and sank her teeth into Mohinder's side. Mohinder screamed, and in that scream Matt could hear all of the dreadful implications a bite held.
Matt's instincts kicked in and he rushed forward with his bat. He side-stepped Estelle's coffee table and crushed her Bobby Darin record with his foot as he dashed towards Mohinder. It took only a few moments for him to clear the apartment, but those moments were enough for Estelle to notice his presence and make eye contact a final time before Matt swung.
Matt had closed his eyes in the final moment, but the resounding crack and the vibration that scurried up the bat and into his hands told him more than he needed to know. Despite the close friendship he had had with her, Matt used all the strength his muscles would allow to bring the bat against Estelle's skull. Weakened by her age, Estelle's skull caved where the bat made contact. Her neck snapped to the side, causing bits of bone and brain to spray across the carpet, the sun's light making them seem like bright little jewels.
Matt's chest heaved more with emotion than with exertion as he cracked his eyes open. Estelle's body hung limply to one side of her wheelchair, her gnarled hands now softened. Matt's world began to spin around the image of Estelle's crinkled body. His breathing quickened and the edges of his vision grew murky and dark. A soft, almost apologetic voice broke through his daze.
“Matt?”
“You okay?” Matt asked Mohinder, his eyes still locked on Estelle's ruined skull.
“I'm...fine. She got a mouthful of leather.” A warm hand pressed against Matt's upper arm. “Matt, you're shaking.” The grip on his arm got a little tighter. “Are you okay?”
Matt pursed his lips and tried to control his shaking. The mangled mess in front of him was his doing. This wasn't some crime scene that he walked into after the violence had been committed. He couldn't disconnect himself from this. He had been here when the violence happened. He had committed the violence. On one of his closest friends, no less.
“Matt?”
“People,” Matt answered as soon as his body would allow him to. He paused and took a deep breath, trying to banish the suffocating negativity away. “People should only have to die once, Mohinder. Especially good people. Estelle was a good person.”
Mohinder said nothing for a long time, dropping his hand and stuffing it into his pocket. “I'm sorry,” he finally said.
“We shouldn't have even been in here,” Matt muttered. His shaking began to ebb for a few moments, then surged back though his system as something new. It wasn't fear or regret, but a deep anger that ran through Matt's veins. He didn't want to come here, he didn't want Mohinder to study her. But Mohinder had insisted and now Estelle was gone for good. His anger sent a jolt of energy to his arms and he threw the bat across the room, denting the wall. “Damn it, Mohinder! We shouldn't have been here!”
Mohinder looked taken aback at Matt's outburst but didn't answer with anger of his own. “I'm sorry about Estelle, Matt. I truly am...” Mohinder started, choosing his words carefully. “...but understand that she was already gone. You saved my life by doing what you did.”
Matt huffed out a mighty sigh. Mohinder was right, of course. Estelle was already gone and Mohinder was safe now. Could he really ask for anything more, given the situation? No, but that didn't stop it from hurting. He turned away from Mohinder and hung his head. “Would you mind if I just...stayed here for a while. Alone?”
“Of course,” Mohinder said. He patted Matt on the shoulder and left the apartment quietly.
The moment Mohinder left the room, Matt realized that he really didn't want to be alone. Having Mohinder with him gave Matt an excuse not to cry. Now that Mohinder was gone, all bets were off. Matt sat down on his favourite chair and studied Estelle's body for a few minutes. The skull was caved in and the mouth still hung open, as if still waiting for a meal. Matt didn't like that. It was obscene and predatory, the opposite of what Estelle had been. Matt rose from his seat and gingerly stepped closer to Estelle, grabbing the small blanket she used to keep her legs warm on the way. With great care, he pressed his fingers under her chin and closed her mouth. In that small action, Matt felt as though he had somehow restored a small portion of Estelle's being. He then draped the small blanket over her head. Deciding that her place by the sunny window was appropriate, Matt turned away from Estelle's body and left the apartment.
He locked the door behind him and walked to the end of the hallway, where he had looked down at the boy only minutes before and pushed the window open a crack. He rolled the key with Estelle's name taped to the top of it around in his hand with a forlorn expression on his face. This was it. This was the final goodbye. With a heavy sigh, he gave the key a quick kiss, pressed it against the window and let it slide through the crack to the ground below. He wasn't particularly religious, but he still muttered a brief prayer for Estelle before turning away and heading back to his own apartment.
May 3, 2008. 3:41 P.M.
Molly awoke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright and flying into the arms of a waiting Mohinder. She was in her room now, and her sheets were damp with her sweat. She sobbed into Mohinder's shoulder and recalled to him what she saw. Her friends - her very dead and very violent friends - ripping open Miss Gerber's throat, tearing the flesh off of Mr. Ackart's leg.
“It's all right now, sweetheart. They can't get you here,” Mohinder said as he stroked her soggy hair.
“I want Matt.”
Mohinder's embrace grew just a little tighter. “You're safe with me,” he repeated, his voice a little gruff and robotic.
“I want Matt!” Molly begged. There was something awkward and unconvincing in Mohinder's embraces, like he didn't know how to properly hug somebody. She knew that Mohinder loved her the best way that he could, but there was always something distant and half-way-there about his snuggles. Even though she felt protected in Mohinder's arms, she also felt completely exposed.
Mohinder pulled away from Molly and she could see a shadow pass across his face. The muscles around his mouth and eyes were loose with rejection, but his cheeks held a certain tension that Molly didn't like at all. “I'll go and get Matt, then,” he said before disappearing from her room.
Matt hurried in a moment later and threw his arms around her. Where Mohinder's hugs were awkward and incomplete, Matt's were all consuming. They were warm, strong and filled with love. She fell into his chest and imagined his whole body morphing into an impenetrable sphere around her, a ball of Matt that was warm, comfortable and safe. A place where nothing bad could get inside; no men with glasses, no zombies and absolutely no bogeymen.