Fic: Levicity AKA Planet of the Dead - Kirk/McCoy (7/7) A
Title: Levicity AKA Planet of the Dead (7/7) Part A
Author: blurhawaii
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy
Rating: PG-13. Bit of swearing, blood and zombies.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek.
Summary: Written for the st_xi_kink for this prompt - Zombies. A planet of zombies.
Word count: Around 11,000.
Notes: Sorry it has been many weeks, but it's finally finished. This one got away from me a bit and ended up being the longest part, though I hope you still enjoy it. Also, this is the longest thing I have ever wrote and finished. Altogether it's 40,000 words and I still can't believe I've have done it and not given up half way through. Yay me!
Previous part: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
Part 7
Ash’s footsteps echoed in Jim’s ears as he scanned the floor below him. They were fast and frantic, moving towards their area of solitude where Jill was waiting, most likely scared out of her wits. Jim couldn’t stop the swear words spilling from his lips, they rolled off fluently and without pause, and his hand tightened around the railing that separated him from the zombies underneath.
Slowly, they ambled in every direction. Jim didn’t know how they knew they were here as this place, according to Jill, had been relatively ignored in the past. Judging by the sheer number of bodies and their sudden synchronized arrival, something had tipped them off about their whereabouts. Yet, their information must have been pretty vague as they didn’t seem to have a set direction in mind. A large group followed the path they have recently taken, while the others wandered off to different parts of the shopping centre. Very soon, the entire bottom floor would be packed and they would be trapped.
Jim reluctantly turned his back on the growing armies downstairs and faced the hallway that lead to the staff room. He could see both Ash and Jill standing at the very end. They appeared to be arguing, as Jim could see the rapidly gesturing arms and wild looks. Ash had his hands clasped onto Jill’s shoulders, and although she kept trying to twist out of his grasp, he was holding steady and made sure that she was looking at him and not in Jim’s direction. Strangely, their voices didn’t carry so Jim couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but he had a pretty good idea regardless. Ash must have been talking in hushed tones to try and keep Jill calm.
After a moment of struggling, Ash seemed to win out. Jill stopped thrashing and stared at the floor, shoulders dropping in acceptance. Jim watched as Ash lifted her face and spoke slowly and surely, before turning her body around and pushing her towards the staff room. He followed her and came back a few seconds later with his cricket bat in hand and a look of determination on his face. It reminded Jim of the expression Ash had been wearing when they had first met him. By the look of it, Ash was ready to beat down some zombies. Sadly, Jim couldn’t say the say about himself.
A tap on his hand, still wrapped around the railing, caught his attention. Jim looked around, startled at the touch, to find Spock’s hand resting near his and tapping a rhythm on his fingers. Confused, Jim looked up at Spock and followed his gaze down towards to the advancing mob. He had almost forgotten the situation they were in. Jim would have smacked a hand to his forehead if things were a little bit less serious.
During the absence of Jim’s attention, the zombies had grown exponentially in numbers. There was barely a patch of tiles that didn’t have feet shuffling over it. Their combined noise and smell was enough to make Jim stagger back a few steps. All his senses felt like they had just been violated. They were also moving quicker than Jim had given them credit for. Already, they were climbing the motionless escalators and getting closer all the while. Panic flooded his body, and although it was pulsing in his veins telling him to start moving and do something, he couldn’t seem to get his feet to comply.
“Jill’s in the staff room. I told her not to open the door unless it’s for us.”
Ash had returned and was standing to Jim’s immediate right, while Spock was still waiting on his other side. Ash stared at the sea of heads and then back Jim, as if he was waiting for some sort of command, like Jim was going to issue a battle cry and then they would run into war. Jim couldn’t. He wasn’t sure what to do. It was three against hundreds. They might have the advantage of higher ground but that wouldn’t be for long. There were already a handful on their floor and only meters away.
Unsurprisingly, Ash was the first one to act. He must have seen the hesitation in Jim. He hopped on his toes like a boxer warming up for a fight, took a deep breath, and then moved around Jim and Spock. The closest zombies were less than five meters away now and he wasted no time in taking it down. He swung the bat with as much force as he could muster and it caught the zombie on what remained of its jaw. The malnourished bones cracked and splintered and Jim could say for certain that it was the most disturbing thing he had ever heard. The zombie was knocked off its feet and was propelled into the railing; which was only just over waist height so when it hit it, the force sent it toppling over the edge. It plummeted the short distance and took out a few more zombies with its impact with the ground. Ash grinned and moved on to the next closest one.
Jim was shocked and a little repulsed by Ash’s apparent joy. The noise that had sickened him, seemed to be some sort of reward to Ash, it fueled his actions and caused him to swing a bit harder next time. Jim lifted the baseball bat in his hands with trepidation. The cricket bat was heavier, he told himself. The baseball bat shouldn’t make as much noise. Or at least, that’s what he hoped.
Jim patted Spock’s back as he stepped past him and went to join Ash. The number of zombies that managed to climb the escalator was increasing, and they were steadily filling the upper floor as well. Jim didn’t know if it was as packed in other parts of the shopping centre, but something told him that they knew where they were now and would be closing in on them.
The first time Jim swung the baseball bat, it hit the offending zombie in the neck. The bones holding the things head up shattered and the head lolled limply on its shoulders. It didn’t slow the thing down at all. He swung again, this time over head. Even with his eyes clenched shut; he knew he had met his target. It was like a paper cut, he could feel the bat move through the zombies head. When he opened his eyes again, the zombie had crumpled to the floor, its skull in pieces, some scattered on the floor, some hanging off the bat. He tried to breathe in, but found he couldn’t. His chest felt tight and cold. His hands were hot and clammy.
Another zombie stepped over the corpse of the other one and lunged at Jim, scaring the breath back into his lungs. Instead of not being able to take a breath, he was now taking too many and he felt dizzy and light.
Spock joined them and was knocking down zombies almost as proficiently as Ash. The sickening sounds and jolts to his hands didn’t seem to faze him at all. Jim didn’t know whether to feel jealous or proud of the fact that it affected him so much.
Jim thought things were going well. The bodies piled up on the ground around them, and other zombies were beginning to have trouble getting closer to them because of it. They had defended themselves moderately well so far, Jim thought. Not one zombie had gotten close enough to attack them yet; one of them would jump in and beat the zombie to the ground before it got the chance. They looked after each others backs and made sure everyone was safe. Jim held a faint thread of hope. If it carried on like this then they might survive this. The thought of an entire world having succumbed to the zombies, and what chance would four people have of surviving, didn’t even cross his mind.
It didn’t cross his mind until he spotted the zombies approaching from behind them. The top floor looped around the edge and some of the zombies have taken up the fact to their advantage. Jim backed towards the hallway leading to Jill, shouting and alerting Spock and Ash about the others surrounding them. Spock turned and saw the group forming around them, choosing to follow Jim’s lead of retreating back down the hallway. Ash, on the other hand, either hadn’t heard him or was choosing not to. He pitched the bat at another zombie, this time aiming for its feet. It was swept off its feet, just like Jim had been when Ash had done that to him, but it didn’t stop it, it just climbed back to its feet while Ash attacker another. It was like Ash was just toying with them, if he wasn’t hitting to kill, then he was just hitting for his own enjoyment.
The top floor was swiftly becoming just as crowded as the bottom floor, and if they didn’t act soon, Ash would be surrounded. Spock seemed to understand as well and he stepped back towards them again.
Zombies had closed off the gap Jim and Spock had used to get into the hallway, and had formed a circle around Ash. Jim hoped Ash was doing more than playing with them now, because if he wasn’t fighting now he would be dead. With the zombies focusing on Ash, they had their back to the hallway, and removing most of them out of the way was unusually easy.
Eventually, Jim and Spock and make a path to the centre of the circle. They made it just in time to see Ash get completely surrounded. One hung off his arm and stopped him from lifting the bat, another lay on the floor and clung to his trousers, while another crept up behind him and latched onto his shoulder with its teeth.
Jim had to reevaluate his earlier thoughts when he heard Ash yell. It wasn’t just pain, it was anguish and anger, frustration and annoyance all rolled into one. It was officially the worse thing Jim had ever heard.
Instinctively, Jim rushed forward. He ran and crashed into the zombie tearing the flesh off Ash’s shoulder. A spray of blood hit Jim in the side of the face as he tackled the zombie to the ground. The coppery smell was strikingly obtrusive over the stench of rotting flesh and it caused Jim’s stomach to turn over uncomfortably. When they both hit the floor with a crash, the thing turned its attention to Jim instead. Its teeth snapped and reached for any part of Jim’s skin it could get close to, while Jim was trying to wrestle his way out of the zombies grasp and back on to his feet.
With blood dribbling down his body and two zombies hanging off his person, Ash seemed to explode with emotions and un-vented rage. Just like the life-sustaining-liquid coursing out of the fresh wound in his shoulder, the feelings of determination and purpose just couldn’t be contained. A harsh kick sent the zombie at his feet rolling a few paces away, and a whole bodily forced swing of a fist made sure that the other zombie attached to his arm had to stagger backwards.
Jim, meanwhile, was still struggling with the zombie he had tackled. He had managed to straddle the thing with the baseball bat pushed into its neck to keep it at bay, but every time he tried to move away, it would move with him. Its long fingered hands were digging into the arms holding the bat in place and scratching deep gouges into the flesh. Jim had no choice but to stay where he was and hold the bat firm while the zombie thrashed beneath him.
Ash’s head swam as he attempted to get his bearings back. He felt a little unsteady on his feet and his limbs were aching from holding himself up. He looked wildly around, only barely registering the crowd around him. A vaguely human-shaped blur sort of lumbered closer, its arms outstretched. Before it could get close enough to touch him another blur darted into view knocking the first blur back into the crowd. A spark of recognition went through Ash’s brain and he remembered where he was and who was trying to keep the area around them relatively zombie free. Spock struck out again when another zombie made to grab Ash in his confused state.
A sharp pain shot through Ash’s neck; it felt like someone had just poured boiling water onto his shoulder and it was streaming down his back leaving a trail of scorched skin in its wake. He prodded the epicenter of the pain, and was sure he passed out for a second. It flashed white and then suddenly, when his vision returned, everything was crystal clear. He pulled his hand back from his shoulder and marveled at the stained skin on his palm. It was then that he spotted Jim on the floor.
Ash reached over and tightened his fist in Jim shirt and pulled him back with more strength than he thought he had left. Jim yelped when he was lifted to feet by a hand he hadn’t realized was so close. The baseball came with him, but he was dragged so quickly that the zombie had no chance of getting a bite in by the time Ash swooped in and slammed the cricket bat into its face. Jim didn’t even glance at the mess that exploded over the tiles, and instead dragged Ash back, who had jumped right into defending them again.
“We had to get back to the staff room.” Ash struggled in Jim’s arms, and Jim had to completely encase him and hold him still. “If we stay here, it’s suicide.”
Jim had to force out the word suicide because he suddenly remembered McCoy’s words in his office before he left. McCoy had been right. This was a suicide attempt and it was all Jim’s fault that Ash was currently bleeding through his shirt and onto Jim. And if they didn’t do something soon, they would all be dead.
Jim tightened his grip on Ash when he tried to shake himself free. Ash managed to snake out a limb and nearly knocked Jim out when he flung it into his face.
“Enough!” Jim bellowed. “Spock, help me get him back to the staff room!”
Spock abandoned his efforts off trying to get rid of every zombie in the vicinity, there were simply too many of them now. He took the struggling Ash from Jim’s arms, and was doing a better job at restraining him with one arm than Jim had done with two. Jim quickly stooped down to retrieve the baseball bat he had dropped when he grabbed Ash. He spotted the cricket bat lying not far from it. Still, Jim chose to keep the baseball bat, something told him that the cricket bat wasn’t as lucky as Ash had believed it to be.
He rejoined Spock, flanking the side that he was holding Ash to him, and tried to see over the heads surrounding them; he had to orientate himself in order to find the direction of the hallway. He panicked for a second when he thought he couldn’t see it, and then with a wave of relief he spotted the darkened roof that stretched down into the hallway. The direction that they needed to go was thankfully only blocked by a small amount of zombies. With both Jim and Spock pushing their way through, they made it back to the hallway with surprising ease.
The zombies followed, trailing after the flesh they so very wanted to feast upon. They bumped into each other and the whole group tried to turn on the spot and grab the retreating bodies. The fact that there were now so many of them played to Jim’s advantage. They had forced themselves into an area that wasn’t that big to begin with and were now trying to following them down an even smaller hallway, but it wasn’t really working. Jim and Spock managed to drag Ash most of the way down the hallway before the zombies had spilled after them. A trail of blood leading to them seemed to be enticing the zombies and kept them on their path.
Jim banged on the staff room door with the palm of his hand, silently praying to god that it would be loud enough to alert Jill.
“It’s us! Open the door!”
There was a sound of something being dragged on the other side of the door. The door rattled and he could hear Jill mumbling incomprehensibly under her breath. Jim glanced at the door leading to the hallway, seeing that it was still empty; and when he turned back to the door it swung open and Jill’s hands reached out and grabbed the arm that was holding Ash on his feet. She didn’t say anything, but panic was evident in her eyes; she helped Spock drag Ash, who had gone basically limp now, into the room. As Jim hurried through the door and went to go shut it again, he glimpsed a hand reaching around the door to the hallway. They were coming. Jim slammed the door shut with more force than was necessary, and cursed quietly to himself once more.
He checked twice that he had correctly locked the door. Just to the side of the door, the desk had been hastily pushed aside. Jim grabbed the corner and pulled it back in front of the door; it didn’t expect it hold if at all, but it created a false sense of security which was all that mattered.
Returning his attention to the situation inside the room, Jim dashed towards the sofa where Ash was sitting hunched over. Jill sat next to him, her hands nearly a blur as she fussed over him. Spock was rummaging through a drawer in the kitchen with his back to the rest of them. Jim dropped to his knees in front of the sofa, reaching forward to tilt Ash head attentively to the side. What was left of the skin on his shoulder glistened from the shine of the torch that Jill was now aiming in his direction. There wasn’t much Jim could do, it was still oozing blood and was too big to cauterize, which was admittedly quite a drastic measure. Spock joined them and held out a large, clean dish towel. Jim took it with a nod, folded it and gingerly placed it over the wound. A feeling of déjà vu washed over Jim, and he hoped that Ash would have a better outcome than Williams had, but with McCoy not being here, there was very little chance of that happening.
Jill leaned across and continued her fussing by removing Jim’s hand and replacing it with her own. She lifted her towel, wincing at the amount of blood that already soaked through, and swapped hands wiping the excess blood off onto her thigh. She muttered reassurances as she worked and Jim tried to ignore them. The glazed look in Ash’s eyes probably meant that he also wasn’t really listening to her.
Jim could sense Spock’s eyes on him as he looked Ash over, making sure that there weren’t anymore serious cuts or wounds. After that he couldn’t stall any longer. He stood back up and walked towards the door, Spock followed as quickly as possible. It looked as though they were just reinforcing the door, checking that it would hold for an indefinite amount of time; but really Spock had just wanted to draw Jim away to say the thing that Jim was dreading. When Spock talked, it was quiet and steady, as though it was easy to say, but Jim was having trouble just listening to it let alone saying it.
“The logical thing to do would be to kill him. He will eventually turn into one of them. We can not deny that.”
“I know!” Jill looked, startled, in their direction. Jim tried to calm himself down, but couldn’t find anything to help him, all his thoughts just led to more desperation. “I know that, I do. It’s just, he isn’t one yet. We can’t kill him.” Spock looked as skeptical as he could, but Jim just shrugged it off. “I’m not clinging to false hope, alright, I know he’s gone. He just hasn’t gone yet and I’m not being the one to speed up the process, okay?”
Spock nodded. Jim tried to swallow down the lump in his throat. They both pushed at the desk even though it was already as close to the door as it could get, but neither man really paid attention.
Ash grunted in pain, and Jim heard Jill whisper an apology in a meek voice. Ash looked deathly pale in the eerily lit room. Jill had placed the torch on her lap as she tended to his shoulder, and its white bulb had made Ash’s bloodless skin turn almost colorless. He bared a striking resemblance to the creatures locked out on the other side of the door, but so far he hadn’t made any attempts of nipping at Jill’s arm which was teasingly close to his face, so that was a good sign. His eyes held a brightness that had been missing just moments before and he seemed more alert and aware of his surroundings, which was also good.
Despite this, Jim didn’t allow himself to build up hope. He still remembered what Ash had said to them when they first met, ‘One bite from those things and you’re infected as well.’ Ash had been bitten. It was as simple as that. No amount of spin on the situation can change that. It was over for Ash. But it wasn’t over for the rest of them. He couldn’t let himself get bogged down by this unfortunate turn of events, he still had a survivor to rescue.
The baseball bat was lying on the floor near where Jim had stooped to get a better look at Ash’s shoulder. He went to go retrieve it, but shuddered when he got that all too familiar sensation of someone’s eyes following his every move. His neck felt too exposed as he bent to grasp the metal, and when righted himself he met Ash’s glare. His eyes were glazed again and fixed firmly on Jim. Jim quickly stepped back and clutched the bat tightly at his side.
After he removed himself from Ash’s personal space, his eyes seemed to spark again and he just looked in pain. Something told Jim that they would have to think of a plan very swiftly. The door was holding so far, and Jim could barely hear their rasps and screeches, but it wouldn’t do them much good if they were also trapped with one on the other side.
---
“Captain!”
The noise and its echo, even though he was expecting it, made McCoy jump. He ran his bandaged hand over his cheek in a routine he had done many times since they had started searching through this supposed abandoned shopping centre. With the blood from his hand and the blood from his still bleeding face, the blue material was steadily turning a murky reddish brown colour. The adrenaline from their, undoubtedly stupid, yet courageous, entrance had long since warn off; McCoy was left with a shaky feeling of paranoia and jumped at every sound, even if he was the one making it.
Sulu was marching a few shop lengths ahead of him, randomly shouting at the top of his lungs. The ear shattering voice cutting through the silence didn’t seem to bother him as much as it did McCoy, and he repeated the action every now and then, hoping for a reply each time but never getting one.
From what McCoy could gather, the shopping centre was empty. They had yet to come across anything that gave them any reason to believe that someone was trying to survive in here. Though gutted at the thought, McCoy was beginning to convince himself that this was hopeless cause.
“Captain!”
McCoy froze. Rubbed subconsciously at his cheek. Regained his train of thought. Then continued following Sulu.
He spotted a closed book shop and stopped right outside of it. The familiar black bars kept him from getting too close, but the moon light filtered through the large windows near the roof and shone directly at the shops front window. Bookcases lined the wall with barely a gap between each novel on the shelves. Tables sat at odd intervals around the room and had handfuls of book haphazardly placed on the surfaces. He was too far away to read any of the titles so he just settled on looking at the covers of the paperback books.
Despite the grime that built up on the window after the amount of time it had been left unopened, McCoy could still see his reflection in it. He looked terrible. His shirt was ripped and ruined leaving parts of his stomach on show, and that was just the front. McCoy knew he had slashed open his back on the glass when he had dropped into the bathroom and he could only imagine what his back looked like. It stung with every step he took so he guessed it wasn’t pretty. Dark shadows covered one side of his face and some dipped down on to throat. He must have looked quite gruesome with blood stains covering most of his body. From appearances alone, he could probably pass as one of those monsters.
It was no wonder they hadn’t came across anyone here. With Sulu’s shouting and McCoy’s appearance, any survivors were most likely taking their chances on their own. Looking at his reflection he had to admit, he didn’t look very approachable.
“Captain!”
McCoy watched himself jump. His eyes when wide and he stared straight ahead. Behind his eyes, many different scenarios ran through his head; the most vivid one had zombies suddenly spilling out of every shadowed area of this shopping centre. In his head, they were both surrounded in seconds and there was nothing he could do. The world behind eyes was suddenly filled with stark red images and chilling screams.
Then it was gone. He was back staring at the bland colourless reflection. There were no zombies surrounding them and McCoy was safe for the time being. But, try as he might, he couldn’t shake the helpless feeling he had when he those things were so close to him.
“Sulu, that’s enough. I don’t think there’s anyone here.”
McCoy could have kicked himself. Seconds after he spoke, they heard a groan. They knew exactly what that meant; then sure enough, like clockwork, a figure stumbled around the corner, arms simply being used as paper weights and definitely not for balance. Another followed shortly after, then another and another. Soon, there were at least ten of them moving towards the pair.
Being the first one to jump into action, Sulu jogged back to where McCoy had stopped and grabbed him by the arm. McCoy didn’t notice straight away, as he had his eyes fixed of the approaching group, but when Sulu started to shake his arm he let himself be dragged towards the stairs they had just passed.
They climbed the steps as quickly as they could and took off around the second floor of the shopping centre. They got further around than they would have on the lower floor, but it wasn’t long until they came across another obstacle. The group, this time, was more than twice as big as the one that run into downstairs. McCoy and Sulu stopped and ducked into a large alcove to get their breath back.
Adrenaline had abandoned McCoy yet again. He had all the disadvantages; ragged breathing, a racing mind and a rapid heartbeat but none of the crazy ideas or a sense of indestructibility that usually accompanied it. He had no idea of what to do and he was slowly getting surrounded. That was when he heard it. That was when he heard the one thing that could clear his head and fill it with plans of escape and made him feel invincible. He heard Jim’s voice echo over all the groaning and shuffling feet.
The first thing they heard was a scream of anguish, which did nothing but push McCoy further into his spiral of defeat, but then the hazy overcast cleared and sun poked through the figurative spell that had been cast over him when Jim’s voice sounded over everything else.
“Enough! Spock, help me get him back to the staff room!”
Jim was still alive. He was alive and just around the corner. McCoy couldn’t stop the relieved grin that spread over his face. He quickly stopped though, when he felt the gash on his cheek strain and split open further. He turned to Sulu to see if he shared his feeling of euphoria and managed to catch him in the act of readying himself to shout out again. McCoy reached over and clapped a hand around Sulu’s mouth, cutting off his deep intake of breath.
“Shhh, we don’t want everyone knowing where we are.” He waited until Sulu nodded behind his hand, before he removed it, nodding back.
McCoy turned back to the direction Jim’s voice came from. He poked his head out of the alcove as far as he dared and tried to gauge how far away Jim must have been The wall of zombies that separate them could be two bodies thick or twenty bodies thick, there was no way of knowing lest he run full pelt into the midst of them, which was never going to happen.
The odd feeling of calm that washed over him, thanks to Jim’s voice, made plans form in head without much probing. He stared at the group and clamped a hand onto the communicator. He unclipped it and tested the weight of it by bouncing his hand up and down. He nodded to himself and turned back to Sulu once more, his plan now straightened out in his mind. He pushed the communicator in Sulu’s hand and closed his fingers around it for him, making sure that Sulu kept a hold on it.
“Run straight for the door. I’m going to distract them and get them out of the way for you.” Straight away, Sulu shook his head frantically.
“No, no, no. I don’t think so.” He pushed the communicator back at McCoy, but neither of them seemed to want to hold it in their hands for more than a few seconds. “You’re the doctor. You’re the important one; they’re going to need you more than they need me.”
Since no one could keep hold of the communicator, Sulu, when it was his turn to push it away, threw it forcibly at McCoy’s chest. He knew that McCoy would scramble to catch and that would give him the few precious seconds he needed to get past him.
Without giving McCoy a chance to retaliate, Sulu escaped from the alcove, shouting and waving his arms as he did so. He made sure to keep far enough away so that no one could unexpectedly grab him, but he moved as far away as possible from McCoy so that he would have a clear shot at Jim.
McCoy sighed in relief when he successfully caught the communicator and clutched it to his chest protectively; his reprieve was short lived though as he was back to panicking when he looked up and noticed that Sulu was gone. He quickly attempted to follow and leapt out of the alcove, searching for a fast moving blur in the moonlight with darting eyes. He spotted Sulu on the other side of the second floor; his actions had managed to draw most of the zombies in his direction, but some still remained crowded around the hallway. Sulu’s gaze locked with McCoy’s and he frowned at him. McCoy felt rooted to the spot.
Sulu pointed in the direction of the hallway, and then took off. He was still shouting and weaving dangerously close to the enemy, but always managed to evade it in the last second. The zombies left on McCoy’s side of the floor finally noticed the new target and began to hobble in Sulu’s direction; however, the way that Sulu had run meant that they would have to pass McCoy and the alcove in order to get to him.
McCoy acted quickly. He didn’t want the things to spot him and become deterred from following Sulu, so he dove back into the alcove. It felt smaller than it had just moments ago as he pressed his back against the wall. His arms were crisscrossed over his chest and his knuckles paled around the communicator. He even held his breath to make himself as invisible as humanly possible. Which was ironic as he knew the zombies themselves didn’t breathe either, and refusing to breathe wasn’t a very human thing to do.
He stood still for a long while, and even began to feel dizzy from holding breath. The moonlight kept playing tricks on him as well, every time he thought he saw a shadow approaching it turned out just to be a trick of the light. When a figure eventually did appear walking past, McCoy gasped in a lungful of much needed air then struggled to keep himself silent. His shoulder blades hurt from the force he was pushing them into the wall but he ignored it and focused on keeping his breathing if not nonexistent then shallow at the least.
The things moved past without noticing McCoy’s presence so close to them. Their shuffling gait was slow but eventually they were gone. McCoy clipped the communicator safely onto to his belt again, testing it by giving it a tug, and then leant off the wall. He placed his hands flat against the wall behind him and braced the toes of one of his boots where the wall connected with the floor. He looked like a sprinter getting ready for the starting pistol, only he felt a lot more nervous that he would have if he was actually in that scenario.
One deep gulp of air and he was ready. He pushed off the wall with his hands and foot and shot out of the alcove, praying that he wouldn’t run straight into a zombies that was straggling behind the main group. He skidded at bit at the acute turn he made upon exiting the alcove, but regained his footing and sprinted down the stretch of tiles that lead to the hallway Jim had disappeared through. His eyes were drawn to battered looking cricket bat that was discarded on the floor. Without slowing, McCoy stooped to hook the handle of the bat as he ran; he gripped it tightly and carried on.
The area was basically clear. There were a few bodies littering the ground and a handful of zombies were still milling about at random interval, but none of them were any trouble for him. He reached the opening of the hallway and finally skidded to a halt. In front of him there was a vast region of darkness. He didn’t know if it was just his eyes not adjusting to the dark, but it seemed to stretch on endlessly. Even his faint shadow, formed from the little amount of moonlight behind him, was being devoured by the black. He felt slightly safer by the addition of a weapon in his hand, but it still didn’t fill him with confidence.
There were scuffed shoes hitting the tiles somewhere behind him, so he had to make a decision quickly. He was debating whether to take the thing at a run, or whether he should step slowly and surely. If there were more zombies down there, would it be better to knock them out of his way or sneak past them quietly? How would be know when he was nearing the end of the hallway? What if he ran full pelt into one of them? Would he be able to fight back in total darkness? What if there were loads of them waiting in the shadows for him? He might be able to win if it was one against one, but how would he fair if he was outnumbered and blind?
“Fuck it.”
Author: blurhawaii
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy
Rating: PG-13. Bit of swearing, blood and zombies.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek.
Summary: Written for the st_xi_kink for this prompt - Zombies. A planet of zombies.
Word count: Around 11,000.
Notes: Sorry it has been many weeks, but it's finally finished. This one got away from me a bit and ended up being the longest part, though I hope you still enjoy it. Also, this is the longest thing I have ever wrote and finished. Altogether it's 40,000 words and I still can't believe I've have done it and not given up half way through. Yay me!
Previous part: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
Part 7
Ash’s footsteps echoed in Jim’s ears as he scanned the floor below him. They were fast and frantic, moving towards their area of solitude where Jill was waiting, most likely scared out of her wits. Jim couldn’t stop the swear words spilling from his lips, they rolled off fluently and without pause, and his hand tightened around the railing that separated him from the zombies underneath.
Slowly, they ambled in every direction. Jim didn’t know how they knew they were here as this place, according to Jill, had been relatively ignored in the past. Judging by the sheer number of bodies and their sudden synchronized arrival, something had tipped them off about their whereabouts. Yet, their information must have been pretty vague as they didn’t seem to have a set direction in mind. A large group followed the path they have recently taken, while the others wandered off to different parts of the shopping centre. Very soon, the entire bottom floor would be packed and they would be trapped.
Jim reluctantly turned his back on the growing armies downstairs and faced the hallway that lead to the staff room. He could see both Ash and Jill standing at the very end. They appeared to be arguing, as Jim could see the rapidly gesturing arms and wild looks. Ash had his hands clasped onto Jill’s shoulders, and although she kept trying to twist out of his grasp, he was holding steady and made sure that she was looking at him and not in Jim’s direction. Strangely, their voices didn’t carry so Jim couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but he had a pretty good idea regardless. Ash must have been talking in hushed tones to try and keep Jill calm.
After a moment of struggling, Ash seemed to win out. Jill stopped thrashing and stared at the floor, shoulders dropping in acceptance. Jim watched as Ash lifted her face and spoke slowly and surely, before turning her body around and pushing her towards the staff room. He followed her and came back a few seconds later with his cricket bat in hand and a look of determination on his face. It reminded Jim of the expression Ash had been wearing when they had first met him. By the look of it, Ash was ready to beat down some zombies. Sadly, Jim couldn’t say the say about himself.
A tap on his hand, still wrapped around the railing, caught his attention. Jim looked around, startled at the touch, to find Spock’s hand resting near his and tapping a rhythm on his fingers. Confused, Jim looked up at Spock and followed his gaze down towards to the advancing mob. He had almost forgotten the situation they were in. Jim would have smacked a hand to his forehead if things were a little bit less serious.
During the absence of Jim’s attention, the zombies had grown exponentially in numbers. There was barely a patch of tiles that didn’t have feet shuffling over it. Their combined noise and smell was enough to make Jim stagger back a few steps. All his senses felt like they had just been violated. They were also moving quicker than Jim had given them credit for. Already, they were climbing the motionless escalators and getting closer all the while. Panic flooded his body, and although it was pulsing in his veins telling him to start moving and do something, he couldn’t seem to get his feet to comply.
“Jill’s in the staff room. I told her not to open the door unless it’s for us.”
Ash had returned and was standing to Jim’s immediate right, while Spock was still waiting on his other side. Ash stared at the sea of heads and then back Jim, as if he was waiting for some sort of command, like Jim was going to issue a battle cry and then they would run into war. Jim couldn’t. He wasn’t sure what to do. It was three against hundreds. They might have the advantage of higher ground but that wouldn’t be for long. There were already a handful on their floor and only meters away.
Unsurprisingly, Ash was the first one to act. He must have seen the hesitation in Jim. He hopped on his toes like a boxer warming up for a fight, took a deep breath, and then moved around Jim and Spock. The closest zombies were less than five meters away now and he wasted no time in taking it down. He swung the bat with as much force as he could muster and it caught the zombie on what remained of its jaw. The malnourished bones cracked and splintered and Jim could say for certain that it was the most disturbing thing he had ever heard. The zombie was knocked off its feet and was propelled into the railing; which was only just over waist height so when it hit it, the force sent it toppling over the edge. It plummeted the short distance and took out a few more zombies with its impact with the ground. Ash grinned and moved on to the next closest one.
Jim was shocked and a little repulsed by Ash’s apparent joy. The noise that had sickened him, seemed to be some sort of reward to Ash, it fueled his actions and caused him to swing a bit harder next time. Jim lifted the baseball bat in his hands with trepidation. The cricket bat was heavier, he told himself. The baseball bat shouldn’t make as much noise. Or at least, that’s what he hoped.
Jim patted Spock’s back as he stepped past him and went to join Ash. The number of zombies that managed to climb the escalator was increasing, and they were steadily filling the upper floor as well. Jim didn’t know if it was as packed in other parts of the shopping centre, but something told him that they knew where they were now and would be closing in on them.
The first time Jim swung the baseball bat, it hit the offending zombie in the neck. The bones holding the things head up shattered and the head lolled limply on its shoulders. It didn’t slow the thing down at all. He swung again, this time over head. Even with his eyes clenched shut; he knew he had met his target. It was like a paper cut, he could feel the bat move through the zombies head. When he opened his eyes again, the zombie had crumpled to the floor, its skull in pieces, some scattered on the floor, some hanging off the bat. He tried to breathe in, but found he couldn’t. His chest felt tight and cold. His hands were hot and clammy.
Another zombie stepped over the corpse of the other one and lunged at Jim, scaring the breath back into his lungs. Instead of not being able to take a breath, he was now taking too many and he felt dizzy and light.
Spock joined them and was knocking down zombies almost as proficiently as Ash. The sickening sounds and jolts to his hands didn’t seem to faze him at all. Jim didn’t know whether to feel jealous or proud of the fact that it affected him so much.
Jim thought things were going well. The bodies piled up on the ground around them, and other zombies were beginning to have trouble getting closer to them because of it. They had defended themselves moderately well so far, Jim thought. Not one zombie had gotten close enough to attack them yet; one of them would jump in and beat the zombie to the ground before it got the chance. They looked after each others backs and made sure everyone was safe. Jim held a faint thread of hope. If it carried on like this then they might survive this. The thought of an entire world having succumbed to the zombies, and what chance would four people have of surviving, didn’t even cross his mind.
It didn’t cross his mind until he spotted the zombies approaching from behind them. The top floor looped around the edge and some of the zombies have taken up the fact to their advantage. Jim backed towards the hallway leading to Jill, shouting and alerting Spock and Ash about the others surrounding them. Spock turned and saw the group forming around them, choosing to follow Jim’s lead of retreating back down the hallway. Ash, on the other hand, either hadn’t heard him or was choosing not to. He pitched the bat at another zombie, this time aiming for its feet. It was swept off its feet, just like Jim had been when Ash had done that to him, but it didn’t stop it, it just climbed back to its feet while Ash attacker another. It was like Ash was just toying with them, if he wasn’t hitting to kill, then he was just hitting for his own enjoyment.
The top floor was swiftly becoming just as crowded as the bottom floor, and if they didn’t act soon, Ash would be surrounded. Spock seemed to understand as well and he stepped back towards them again.
Zombies had closed off the gap Jim and Spock had used to get into the hallway, and had formed a circle around Ash. Jim hoped Ash was doing more than playing with them now, because if he wasn’t fighting now he would be dead. With the zombies focusing on Ash, they had their back to the hallway, and removing most of them out of the way was unusually easy.
Eventually, Jim and Spock and make a path to the centre of the circle. They made it just in time to see Ash get completely surrounded. One hung off his arm and stopped him from lifting the bat, another lay on the floor and clung to his trousers, while another crept up behind him and latched onto his shoulder with its teeth.
Jim had to reevaluate his earlier thoughts when he heard Ash yell. It wasn’t just pain, it was anguish and anger, frustration and annoyance all rolled into one. It was officially the worse thing Jim had ever heard.
Instinctively, Jim rushed forward. He ran and crashed into the zombie tearing the flesh off Ash’s shoulder. A spray of blood hit Jim in the side of the face as he tackled the zombie to the ground. The coppery smell was strikingly obtrusive over the stench of rotting flesh and it caused Jim’s stomach to turn over uncomfortably. When they both hit the floor with a crash, the thing turned its attention to Jim instead. Its teeth snapped and reached for any part of Jim’s skin it could get close to, while Jim was trying to wrestle his way out of the zombies grasp and back on to his feet.
With blood dribbling down his body and two zombies hanging off his person, Ash seemed to explode with emotions and un-vented rage. Just like the life-sustaining-liquid coursing out of the fresh wound in his shoulder, the feelings of determination and purpose just couldn’t be contained. A harsh kick sent the zombie at his feet rolling a few paces away, and a whole bodily forced swing of a fist made sure that the other zombie attached to his arm had to stagger backwards.
Jim, meanwhile, was still struggling with the zombie he had tackled. He had managed to straddle the thing with the baseball bat pushed into its neck to keep it at bay, but every time he tried to move away, it would move with him. Its long fingered hands were digging into the arms holding the bat in place and scratching deep gouges into the flesh. Jim had no choice but to stay where he was and hold the bat firm while the zombie thrashed beneath him.
Ash’s head swam as he attempted to get his bearings back. He felt a little unsteady on his feet and his limbs were aching from holding himself up. He looked wildly around, only barely registering the crowd around him. A vaguely human-shaped blur sort of lumbered closer, its arms outstretched. Before it could get close enough to touch him another blur darted into view knocking the first blur back into the crowd. A spark of recognition went through Ash’s brain and he remembered where he was and who was trying to keep the area around them relatively zombie free. Spock struck out again when another zombie made to grab Ash in his confused state.
A sharp pain shot through Ash’s neck; it felt like someone had just poured boiling water onto his shoulder and it was streaming down his back leaving a trail of scorched skin in its wake. He prodded the epicenter of the pain, and was sure he passed out for a second. It flashed white and then suddenly, when his vision returned, everything was crystal clear. He pulled his hand back from his shoulder and marveled at the stained skin on his palm. It was then that he spotted Jim on the floor.
Ash reached over and tightened his fist in Jim shirt and pulled him back with more strength than he thought he had left. Jim yelped when he was lifted to feet by a hand he hadn’t realized was so close. The baseball came with him, but he was dragged so quickly that the zombie had no chance of getting a bite in by the time Ash swooped in and slammed the cricket bat into its face. Jim didn’t even glance at the mess that exploded over the tiles, and instead dragged Ash back, who had jumped right into defending them again.
“We had to get back to the staff room.” Ash struggled in Jim’s arms, and Jim had to completely encase him and hold him still. “If we stay here, it’s suicide.”
Jim had to force out the word suicide because he suddenly remembered McCoy’s words in his office before he left. McCoy had been right. This was a suicide attempt and it was all Jim’s fault that Ash was currently bleeding through his shirt and onto Jim. And if they didn’t do something soon, they would all be dead.
Jim tightened his grip on Ash when he tried to shake himself free. Ash managed to snake out a limb and nearly knocked Jim out when he flung it into his face.
“Enough!” Jim bellowed. “Spock, help me get him back to the staff room!”
Spock abandoned his efforts off trying to get rid of every zombie in the vicinity, there were simply too many of them now. He took the struggling Ash from Jim’s arms, and was doing a better job at restraining him with one arm than Jim had done with two. Jim quickly stooped down to retrieve the baseball bat he had dropped when he grabbed Ash. He spotted the cricket bat lying not far from it. Still, Jim chose to keep the baseball bat, something told him that the cricket bat wasn’t as lucky as Ash had believed it to be.
He rejoined Spock, flanking the side that he was holding Ash to him, and tried to see over the heads surrounding them; he had to orientate himself in order to find the direction of the hallway. He panicked for a second when he thought he couldn’t see it, and then with a wave of relief he spotted the darkened roof that stretched down into the hallway. The direction that they needed to go was thankfully only blocked by a small amount of zombies. With both Jim and Spock pushing their way through, they made it back to the hallway with surprising ease.
The zombies followed, trailing after the flesh they so very wanted to feast upon. They bumped into each other and the whole group tried to turn on the spot and grab the retreating bodies. The fact that there were now so many of them played to Jim’s advantage. They had forced themselves into an area that wasn’t that big to begin with and were now trying to following them down an even smaller hallway, but it wasn’t really working. Jim and Spock managed to drag Ash most of the way down the hallway before the zombies had spilled after them. A trail of blood leading to them seemed to be enticing the zombies and kept them on their path.
Jim banged on the staff room door with the palm of his hand, silently praying to god that it would be loud enough to alert Jill.
“It’s us! Open the door!”
There was a sound of something being dragged on the other side of the door. The door rattled and he could hear Jill mumbling incomprehensibly under her breath. Jim glanced at the door leading to the hallway, seeing that it was still empty; and when he turned back to the door it swung open and Jill’s hands reached out and grabbed the arm that was holding Ash on his feet. She didn’t say anything, but panic was evident in her eyes; she helped Spock drag Ash, who had gone basically limp now, into the room. As Jim hurried through the door and went to go shut it again, he glimpsed a hand reaching around the door to the hallway. They were coming. Jim slammed the door shut with more force than was necessary, and cursed quietly to himself once more.
He checked twice that he had correctly locked the door. Just to the side of the door, the desk had been hastily pushed aside. Jim grabbed the corner and pulled it back in front of the door; it didn’t expect it hold if at all, but it created a false sense of security which was all that mattered.
Returning his attention to the situation inside the room, Jim dashed towards the sofa where Ash was sitting hunched over. Jill sat next to him, her hands nearly a blur as she fussed over him. Spock was rummaging through a drawer in the kitchen with his back to the rest of them. Jim dropped to his knees in front of the sofa, reaching forward to tilt Ash head attentively to the side. What was left of the skin on his shoulder glistened from the shine of the torch that Jill was now aiming in his direction. There wasn’t much Jim could do, it was still oozing blood and was too big to cauterize, which was admittedly quite a drastic measure. Spock joined them and held out a large, clean dish towel. Jim took it with a nod, folded it and gingerly placed it over the wound. A feeling of déjà vu washed over Jim, and he hoped that Ash would have a better outcome than Williams had, but with McCoy not being here, there was very little chance of that happening.
Jill leaned across and continued her fussing by removing Jim’s hand and replacing it with her own. She lifted her towel, wincing at the amount of blood that already soaked through, and swapped hands wiping the excess blood off onto her thigh. She muttered reassurances as she worked and Jim tried to ignore them. The glazed look in Ash’s eyes probably meant that he also wasn’t really listening to her.
Jim could sense Spock’s eyes on him as he looked Ash over, making sure that there weren’t anymore serious cuts or wounds. After that he couldn’t stall any longer. He stood back up and walked towards the door, Spock followed as quickly as possible. It looked as though they were just reinforcing the door, checking that it would hold for an indefinite amount of time; but really Spock had just wanted to draw Jim away to say the thing that Jim was dreading. When Spock talked, it was quiet and steady, as though it was easy to say, but Jim was having trouble just listening to it let alone saying it.
“The logical thing to do would be to kill him. He will eventually turn into one of them. We can not deny that.”
“I know!” Jill looked, startled, in their direction. Jim tried to calm himself down, but couldn’t find anything to help him, all his thoughts just led to more desperation. “I know that, I do. It’s just, he isn’t one yet. We can’t kill him.” Spock looked as skeptical as he could, but Jim just shrugged it off. “I’m not clinging to false hope, alright, I know he’s gone. He just hasn’t gone yet and I’m not being the one to speed up the process, okay?”
Spock nodded. Jim tried to swallow down the lump in his throat. They both pushed at the desk even though it was already as close to the door as it could get, but neither man really paid attention.
Ash grunted in pain, and Jim heard Jill whisper an apology in a meek voice. Ash looked deathly pale in the eerily lit room. Jill had placed the torch on her lap as she tended to his shoulder, and its white bulb had made Ash’s bloodless skin turn almost colorless. He bared a striking resemblance to the creatures locked out on the other side of the door, but so far he hadn’t made any attempts of nipping at Jill’s arm which was teasingly close to his face, so that was a good sign. His eyes held a brightness that had been missing just moments before and he seemed more alert and aware of his surroundings, which was also good.
Despite this, Jim didn’t allow himself to build up hope. He still remembered what Ash had said to them when they first met, ‘One bite from those things and you’re infected as well.’ Ash had been bitten. It was as simple as that. No amount of spin on the situation can change that. It was over for Ash. But it wasn’t over for the rest of them. He couldn’t let himself get bogged down by this unfortunate turn of events, he still had a survivor to rescue.
The baseball bat was lying on the floor near where Jim had stooped to get a better look at Ash’s shoulder. He went to go retrieve it, but shuddered when he got that all too familiar sensation of someone’s eyes following his every move. His neck felt too exposed as he bent to grasp the metal, and when righted himself he met Ash’s glare. His eyes were glazed again and fixed firmly on Jim. Jim quickly stepped back and clutched the bat tightly at his side.
After he removed himself from Ash’s personal space, his eyes seemed to spark again and he just looked in pain. Something told Jim that they would have to think of a plan very swiftly. The door was holding so far, and Jim could barely hear their rasps and screeches, but it wouldn’t do them much good if they were also trapped with one on the other side.
---
“Captain!”
The noise and its echo, even though he was expecting it, made McCoy jump. He ran his bandaged hand over his cheek in a routine he had done many times since they had started searching through this supposed abandoned shopping centre. With the blood from his hand and the blood from his still bleeding face, the blue material was steadily turning a murky reddish brown colour. The adrenaline from their, undoubtedly stupid, yet courageous, entrance had long since warn off; McCoy was left with a shaky feeling of paranoia and jumped at every sound, even if he was the one making it.
Sulu was marching a few shop lengths ahead of him, randomly shouting at the top of his lungs. The ear shattering voice cutting through the silence didn’t seem to bother him as much as it did McCoy, and he repeated the action every now and then, hoping for a reply each time but never getting one.
From what McCoy could gather, the shopping centre was empty. They had yet to come across anything that gave them any reason to believe that someone was trying to survive in here. Though gutted at the thought, McCoy was beginning to convince himself that this was hopeless cause.
“Captain!”
McCoy froze. Rubbed subconsciously at his cheek. Regained his train of thought. Then continued following Sulu.
He spotted a closed book shop and stopped right outside of it. The familiar black bars kept him from getting too close, but the moon light filtered through the large windows near the roof and shone directly at the shops front window. Bookcases lined the wall with barely a gap between each novel on the shelves. Tables sat at odd intervals around the room and had handfuls of book haphazardly placed on the surfaces. He was too far away to read any of the titles so he just settled on looking at the covers of the paperback books.
Despite the grime that built up on the window after the amount of time it had been left unopened, McCoy could still see his reflection in it. He looked terrible. His shirt was ripped and ruined leaving parts of his stomach on show, and that was just the front. McCoy knew he had slashed open his back on the glass when he had dropped into the bathroom and he could only imagine what his back looked like. It stung with every step he took so he guessed it wasn’t pretty. Dark shadows covered one side of his face and some dipped down on to throat. He must have looked quite gruesome with blood stains covering most of his body. From appearances alone, he could probably pass as one of those monsters.
It was no wonder they hadn’t came across anyone here. With Sulu’s shouting and McCoy’s appearance, any survivors were most likely taking their chances on their own. Looking at his reflection he had to admit, he didn’t look very approachable.
“Captain!”
McCoy watched himself jump. His eyes when wide and he stared straight ahead. Behind his eyes, many different scenarios ran through his head; the most vivid one had zombies suddenly spilling out of every shadowed area of this shopping centre. In his head, they were both surrounded in seconds and there was nothing he could do. The world behind eyes was suddenly filled with stark red images and chilling screams.
Then it was gone. He was back staring at the bland colourless reflection. There were no zombies surrounding them and McCoy was safe for the time being. But, try as he might, he couldn’t shake the helpless feeling he had when he those things were so close to him.
“Sulu, that’s enough. I don’t think there’s anyone here.”
McCoy could have kicked himself. Seconds after he spoke, they heard a groan. They knew exactly what that meant; then sure enough, like clockwork, a figure stumbled around the corner, arms simply being used as paper weights and definitely not for balance. Another followed shortly after, then another and another. Soon, there were at least ten of them moving towards the pair.
Being the first one to jump into action, Sulu jogged back to where McCoy had stopped and grabbed him by the arm. McCoy didn’t notice straight away, as he had his eyes fixed of the approaching group, but when Sulu started to shake his arm he let himself be dragged towards the stairs they had just passed.
They climbed the steps as quickly as they could and took off around the second floor of the shopping centre. They got further around than they would have on the lower floor, but it wasn’t long until they came across another obstacle. The group, this time, was more than twice as big as the one that run into downstairs. McCoy and Sulu stopped and ducked into a large alcove to get their breath back.
Adrenaline had abandoned McCoy yet again. He had all the disadvantages; ragged breathing, a racing mind and a rapid heartbeat but none of the crazy ideas or a sense of indestructibility that usually accompanied it. He had no idea of what to do and he was slowly getting surrounded. That was when he heard it. That was when he heard the one thing that could clear his head and fill it with plans of escape and made him feel invincible. He heard Jim’s voice echo over all the groaning and shuffling feet.
The first thing they heard was a scream of anguish, which did nothing but push McCoy further into his spiral of defeat, but then the hazy overcast cleared and sun poked through the figurative spell that had been cast over him when Jim’s voice sounded over everything else.
“Enough! Spock, help me get him back to the staff room!”
Jim was still alive. He was alive and just around the corner. McCoy couldn’t stop the relieved grin that spread over his face. He quickly stopped though, when he felt the gash on his cheek strain and split open further. He turned to Sulu to see if he shared his feeling of euphoria and managed to catch him in the act of readying himself to shout out again. McCoy reached over and clapped a hand around Sulu’s mouth, cutting off his deep intake of breath.
“Shhh, we don’t want everyone knowing where we are.” He waited until Sulu nodded behind his hand, before he removed it, nodding back.
McCoy turned back to the direction Jim’s voice came from. He poked his head out of the alcove as far as he dared and tried to gauge how far away Jim must have been The wall of zombies that separate them could be two bodies thick or twenty bodies thick, there was no way of knowing lest he run full pelt into the midst of them, which was never going to happen.
The odd feeling of calm that washed over him, thanks to Jim’s voice, made plans form in head without much probing. He stared at the group and clamped a hand onto the communicator. He unclipped it and tested the weight of it by bouncing his hand up and down. He nodded to himself and turned back to Sulu once more, his plan now straightened out in his mind. He pushed the communicator in Sulu’s hand and closed his fingers around it for him, making sure that Sulu kept a hold on it.
“Run straight for the door. I’m going to distract them and get them out of the way for you.” Straight away, Sulu shook his head frantically.
“No, no, no. I don’t think so.” He pushed the communicator back at McCoy, but neither of them seemed to want to hold it in their hands for more than a few seconds. “You’re the doctor. You’re the important one; they’re going to need you more than they need me.”
Since no one could keep hold of the communicator, Sulu, when it was his turn to push it away, threw it forcibly at McCoy’s chest. He knew that McCoy would scramble to catch and that would give him the few precious seconds he needed to get past him.
Without giving McCoy a chance to retaliate, Sulu escaped from the alcove, shouting and waving his arms as he did so. He made sure to keep far enough away so that no one could unexpectedly grab him, but he moved as far away as possible from McCoy so that he would have a clear shot at Jim.
McCoy sighed in relief when he successfully caught the communicator and clutched it to his chest protectively; his reprieve was short lived though as he was back to panicking when he looked up and noticed that Sulu was gone. He quickly attempted to follow and leapt out of the alcove, searching for a fast moving blur in the moonlight with darting eyes. He spotted Sulu on the other side of the second floor; his actions had managed to draw most of the zombies in his direction, but some still remained crowded around the hallway. Sulu’s gaze locked with McCoy’s and he frowned at him. McCoy felt rooted to the spot.
Sulu pointed in the direction of the hallway, and then took off. He was still shouting and weaving dangerously close to the enemy, but always managed to evade it in the last second. The zombies left on McCoy’s side of the floor finally noticed the new target and began to hobble in Sulu’s direction; however, the way that Sulu had run meant that they would have to pass McCoy and the alcove in order to get to him.
McCoy acted quickly. He didn’t want the things to spot him and become deterred from following Sulu, so he dove back into the alcove. It felt smaller than it had just moments ago as he pressed his back against the wall. His arms were crisscrossed over his chest and his knuckles paled around the communicator. He even held his breath to make himself as invisible as humanly possible. Which was ironic as he knew the zombies themselves didn’t breathe either, and refusing to breathe wasn’t a very human thing to do.
He stood still for a long while, and even began to feel dizzy from holding breath. The moonlight kept playing tricks on him as well, every time he thought he saw a shadow approaching it turned out just to be a trick of the light. When a figure eventually did appear walking past, McCoy gasped in a lungful of much needed air then struggled to keep himself silent. His shoulder blades hurt from the force he was pushing them into the wall but he ignored it and focused on keeping his breathing if not nonexistent then shallow at the least.
The things moved past without noticing McCoy’s presence so close to them. Their shuffling gait was slow but eventually they were gone. McCoy clipped the communicator safely onto to his belt again, testing it by giving it a tug, and then leant off the wall. He placed his hands flat against the wall behind him and braced the toes of one of his boots where the wall connected with the floor. He looked like a sprinter getting ready for the starting pistol, only he felt a lot more nervous that he would have if he was actually in that scenario.
One deep gulp of air and he was ready. He pushed off the wall with his hands and foot and shot out of the alcove, praying that he wouldn’t run straight into a zombies that was straggling behind the main group. He skidded at bit at the acute turn he made upon exiting the alcove, but regained his footing and sprinted down the stretch of tiles that lead to the hallway Jim had disappeared through. His eyes were drawn to battered looking cricket bat that was discarded on the floor. Without slowing, McCoy stooped to hook the handle of the bat as he ran; he gripped it tightly and carried on.
The area was basically clear. There were a few bodies littering the ground and a handful of zombies were still milling about at random interval, but none of them were any trouble for him. He reached the opening of the hallway and finally skidded to a halt. In front of him there was a vast region of darkness. He didn’t know if it was just his eyes not adjusting to the dark, but it seemed to stretch on endlessly. Even his faint shadow, formed from the little amount of moonlight behind him, was being devoured by the black. He felt slightly safer by the addition of a weapon in his hand, but it still didn’t fill him with confidence.
There were scuffed shoes hitting the tiles somewhere behind him, so he had to make a decision quickly. He was debating whether to take the thing at a run, or whether he should step slowly and surely. If there were more zombies down there, would it be better to knock them out of his way or sneak past them quietly? How would be know when he was nearing the end of the hallway? What if he ran full pelt into one of them? Would he be able to fight back in total darkness? What if there were loads of them waiting in the shadows for him? He might be able to win if it was one against one, but how would he fair if he was outnumbered and blind?
“Fuck it.”