"What is that?" a co-worker asked, her voice laced with curiosity.
I turned to look at Bolaji, who was also staring at me as if I knew the answer.
"Beats me," I replied with a shrug. I was sure it was only a co-worker who must have fallen or perhaps had coffee plastered over her documents.
"It's probably no—"
Another scream interrupted me. This time, it came from the direction of the elevator. A few minutes went by, but no one appeared in view.
"Can't anyone check what is going on?" another person asked.
Bolaji opened his mouth, and I immediately knew what he had planned to say. He was going to ask why the said individual couldn't do it, and then, they would argue.
I had no time for that. If I could manage to do my work without gossiping or arguing around me, I would be thankful.
"Come on, let's see what's happening," I said before Bolaji could speak and pulled him away.
The others also looked perplexed as to what was going on, but as soon as we were out of view, the chatter in the workspace continued. Sometimes, I dislike my colleagues. They were often nonchalant about things.
Closing in on the elevator down the corridor, we spotted a female worker in her mid-twenties on her knees.
She was crying out in pain with tears flowing down her cheeks. She wore a lab coat and had a white head scarf wrapped around her hair. From where I stood, there was nothing that showed the cause of her tears.
She must have heard our footsteps as she looked up with tears welling up in her eyes. "H-help me!"
Quickly, we ran towards her.
"Ma'am, are you—"
Bolaji's question stopped as soon as we saw her appearance.
"Wait! What's happening to her?" I asked out loud.
"Dunno, but I don't like the looks of this..." Bolaji responded with an uneasy look on his face.
Something wasn't normal about her. She looked like she desperately needed help, but the purple mist her body was emitting discouraged proximity. It emitted a strong, pungent smell that was unbearable. We had to cover our noses to avoid inhaling it for too long.
Inwardly, I didn't like her look. It made me think of the people whom the news reports said had turned into monsters from the toxic gas rumors.
However, it was foolish to think they were here. It would mean I believed rumors the government hadn't said anything about. Also, where it originated from was far away, and there was no way it could reach here so soon.
Her appearance was disturbing, and though I thought of leaving her here for the medical staff to take care of it, there was no one to take her to them besides us.
"Well, we have to take her to the medical floor," I said. "I don't like her look but—"
The woman suddenly began to convulse, her body obeying the erratic wishes in her brain. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was agape, letting out a silent screams.
"Oh, my God!" BJ shouted beside me as he spotted a massive bit mark behind her head.
I also didn't know what to do, but I thought the best thing was to hold her down so she wouldn't choke on her tongue.
I made a move to get closer but was roughly drawn back by a hand.
"What the hell do you want to do?"
I turned to Bolaji's surprised face. "The woman is convulsing right here. Are we supposed to stare and do nothing?"
I snapped my fingers at Bolaji, "Quick, call one of the medical personnels—"
"Can't you see?" Bolaji whispered. "The purple mist around her. That was the same thing as what the rumors mentioned about the toxic gas... she must be infected!"
"Seriously? A woman is convulsing, and you want me to listen to a rumor?"
"Okay, fine!" He said, seeming to ignore my retort.
"Just hold on and do not do anything. I'll call the ambulance without letting the others know. If they do, they would panic. Promise not to touch her!"
"If you keep on shouting, everyone else will know for God's sake!"
He ran towards the cubicles, and I turned my attention towards the woman. She was now still like she was dead.
I figured her body had decided to take a rest while we were arguing. My friend was silly in believing the rumors of the West.
If it was true, there was no way it could happen in our city. We had the finest technology. It was amusing to think that infected people were going to be a threat.
I heard footsteps behind me, which told me that Bolaji hadn't been successful in keeping the situation a secret. At this moment, the affected woman suddenly awoke.
Her vacant eyes focused on my direction, which shocked me. She no longer looked the same. Gone were the clear eyes that had pleaded for mercy. They were now replaced by milky eyes that looked eerily disturbing.
I didn't like what I saw at all and rose to my feet. She did the same thing, though in slow motion.
"An infected?"
I didn't know if it was because of my co-worker's sudden girlish yell or if it was our presence that caused the woman's face to twist in a grotesque manner.
She snarled while reaching for me.
I dodged her, and she rushed toward the next person she could find.
In a single, swift motion, she sunk her teeth into Mary, the co-worker who had screamed, and they fell on the floor.
Panic ensued immediately. The others appeared from the production lab and began to scream, too, as they tried to ran in the opposite direction.
However, I was transfixed as I watched the purple skinned woman tear into Maria's neck, causing blood to spatter all over.
Mary's cries of terror echoed through the air as the other woman continued to feast, ripping and tearing at her body with savage hunger.
Bolaji suddenly appeared before me.
"Come on, we need to leave!"
"Leave? shouldn't we help?"
He began to pull me towards the elevator without replying.
I had a lot of questions. The others were also trying to flee and pushing one another in their haste to get into the elevator.
"Why are we running? We can still save her. Why can't we call the police?"
"Don't you get it?" Bolaji shouted at me. "The woman is one of the rumored infected! Soon, Mary might—"
Whatever he planned to say about Mary got stuck in his throat as he paused and stared at the view behind me wide-eyed. I immediately turned and was shocked at the sight.
Mary was on the ground, her body writhing and convulsing. It was the same thing that happened to the woman who walked out of the elevator before the incident. We all watched in horror as she rose to her feet and began to stagger after us. The second woman was not far ahead of her.
"The stairs!" Bolaji shouted in a desperate attempt to escape the two who had been infected while everyone followed him.
**********
[Present Time]
The infected were a lot.
As we kept on climbing the stairs, more people turned into them, and soon we had them in our midst.
Luckily, the man with the metal bar, Paul, was still alive but was the only one killing the infected that got close enough to the others. On the walls were blood and brains that told our story.
Still, he couldn't do it alone.
"We have to help!" I yelled to Bolaji after noticing the group of people following behind us.
Fortunately, he didn't argue but only pointed to a decoration on the wall, which had two swords in an 'X' fashion.
Glad that one of the unnecessary decorations hanging on the walls was finally going to be of great use, we rushed towards it. The rest joined ti assist us in breaking open the glass that kept the swords hidden.
Unfortunately, it was incredibly dense.
Peering downstairs, I realized that the infected were getting closer. They were all in lab coats, which made things ironic since another mantra of Mr. Badmus was 'work together'.
Now, they were out to kill us their co workers.
With them came a cloud of purple mist that wasn't easy to ignore. The pungent smell was enough distraction but we used everything at our disposal to stay alive. Someone was even using his shoes.
It sparked an idea in my mind.
"Quick, pull off your shoes!"
A scream came from downstairs, signifying the increase in the number of people who were about to join the infected.
Bolaji seemed to understand as he took off his shoes, and together, we hit the glass. After a few tries, it finally shattered and we reached for the swords. It was heavy but could lift and swing them.
"Victor! Behind you!"
I didn't need to ask. I turned around and, with all my might, swung the blunt sword towards the snarling man drenched in purple mist rushing towards me.
The blade slightly cut through his ashy skin due to the strength behind my swing, and he fell to the ground.
Black blood oozed from his wounds and made sizzling sounds as they drenched the floor.
There was no time to be amazed by my quick reaction and skill as the others ran toward us. We swiftly headed higher towards our destination and fought off the infected that came after us.
It was a struggle being on the stairs and having to manage between shutting out screams and fighting them off as it slowed our ascent.
Some people ran out of energy and slowed down a bit, which caused them to get caught by the infected. Their screams of horror caused our hairs to stand on end.
After a couple of hours, we got to the top floor.
"Let's form a barricade!" Bolaji shouted to the others behind us.
The infected were still a bit behind, so we had a few minutes to huddle together and form a solid barricade—I hoped—in front of the door.
There weren't a lot of things to use on the top floor, but we used whatever we could find.
Finally, we had a barricade of furniture, boxes, pieces of equipment, and manufacturing machines on the wall to create a shield against the approaching infected.
Now, there laid one last problem. Before us were five massive doors which were storage places.
So long as we could get into any of them, we would be safe.
The issue was that I didn't know which one would open.
I ran to the first one on the left. I wrestled with bringing out my key card from my shirt pocket the moment I arrived at the entrance.
It was as though the keycard knew it was about to perform an important task and wanted to take some time before doing so. Upon seeing my struggle, Bolaji threw his keycard to me, and I immediately swiped it on the slot that was supposed to open the door
I didn't hear any click.
Figuring it was my sweaty hands causing the issue, I cleaned them before trying again. Again, the red light above the scanner, which was also above the door knob only beeped twice.
I had no time to waste. My keycard obeyed my hands, and I made sure to swipe mine and then swipe Bolaji's at the slot, but the same thing happened to the other doors until I got to the fourth one.
At one swipe, BJ's keycard fell off my hand, and when I tried to pick it up, someone accidentally knocked me towards the side with their arm, causing my keycard to fall as well.
By the time I regained my balance, the keycard had been kicked over to the infected's side across the stairs. There was no way I could go over there.
"The keycards fell off my hands! We need another one!"