Day 3: An Atheist Who Learned to Pray II

Due to the height the zombies could only reach with their hands, however getting in was difficult for them since they could not climb onto the floor of the elevator and up because their intelligence was so null that all they could do was raise their arms and grunt.

—Just as Megan said. There's a man trapped in there... How are we supposed to deal with the dead if there are too many of them? —Matthew was dismayed as the only time he had seen that many dead was at the police station.

—We have our ways. —Nikolai smiled.

Nikolai saw what they could do to clear the dead. He saw that the elevator was stuck against one of the walls of the square, plus there were two shops on either side of the elevator. He also noticed that the elevator doors were made of some kind of glass, it could probably break if shot or hit.

—I have an idea.

Nikolai went to a restaurant in the plaza, one called "A Taste of Elegance". On arrival he saw the bodies of some people who had died at the start of the epidemic plus the characteristic spoiled food, expensive wine that no one bothered to drink, or even open, and of course the white velvet sofas that adorned the place were now stained with liquids that Nikolai wasn't interested in where they came from. Reaching the kitchens he grabbed two pairs of frying pans. When he came out he went to the other end where the elevator was located and looking at his colleagues who were hidden behind some flower pots. Before rattling the pans he received a call on the walkie talkie.

—You do know I can set off the alarms of the nearby premises, right? —Megan spoke on the other line.

—Oh, I thought...

—You thought? What a surprise! I didn't know you could do that! I'll activate two alarms at two locations I've seen that are clear of civilians. Apparently the elevator in which the man is trapped is out of order. I remember we received reports of it malfunctioning, it was supposed to be fixed on Saturday... but as you may know the viral outbreak broke out.

—Thank you very much, Megan! —Jason picked up the walkie-talkie. —Is there anything you can tell us about the civilians in the bar?

—They're still trapped. They're drunker than you can imagine... they're drinking almost all the alcohol of the bar.

—Are you serious?

—Don't blame them, Jason. —Greg put a hand on his left shoulder and shook him. —It's the end of the world. Maybe people want to do everything they couldn't before everyone started not-dying.

—I've already set off the alarms. —Megan cut off communication with the group and before long they heard the alarms sound, causing the zombies to scatter. Some, a total of three, still remained clinging to their initial objective, which was to kill the man.

In the confusion and seeing the zombies entering the premises trying to find the source of the noise, Nikolai gave the order to the other survivors to come out of the pots to help him charge the clinging zombies. With his great strength Nikolai grabbed one of the dead from behind as he wrapped his shoulder around it and shortly after embedded a screwdriver in its head, spinning the screwdriver to penetrate deeper, murdering the monster.

Jason was more aggressive as he raised his axe and fearlessly swung it at the zombie's head, cutting it in half. The last to act was Greg who pulled out his baton and stunned the zombie who was slow to sit up but it was too late when the sergeant stomped on its head, crushing it as if it were mashed.

Above them they could see the man who was still scared, besides Nikolai noticed that there was a yellow liquid coming out of the elevator, which dripped and fell to the floor of the square.

—This is funny. —The Serb laughed. —Can you come down? Come on.

The unknown man seemed frightened by the appearance of his rescuers who did not look friendly.

—We are policemen! We've been rescuing people from the mall and taking them to our shelter. Get down from there right now, and I'm not asking you, I'm ordering you. —The way Greg spoke made Jason's skin crawl, that deep, deep tone of voice and the seriousness that emanated from his face implied that he wasn't joking.

—I don't want to come down! I've seen... I've seen them do things... I've been trapped here for so long that I could see through the glass how they were killed! The dead... the living...

—Are you afraid the elevator will work and you'll get trapped? —Jason asked, and at the civilian's affirmation he knew how to help him. —We have to break that shit, Nikolai.

—Greg... Can I get on your back? I need some height to break this shit. —Kalinic took Jason's axe without asking for permission.

Greg nodded and soon got to his knees. As Nikolai put his feet against Greg's shoulders, the sergeant slowly repositioned himself so that Nikolai was high enough to give the elevator glass a good whack with the axe.

—This is going to get ugly. I suggest you stay in the corner while I break the glass. You could go down the easy way, but apparently people love to complicate their lives.

The civilian stood in the corner of the elevator. Nikolai used his strength to smash the elevator glass. The shards exploded inside the elevator, some of them fell on Nikolai who repelled them by his suit.

Jason noticed that some zombies seemed curious at the sound of the glass being destroyed, so they approached. At this Jason ordered the civilian to get down because otherwise there would not be another chance to escape. The civilian jumped out of the elevator and fell on top of Jason who was able to cushion the blow.

—Oh fuck, they're coming, they're coming, they're coming! —Matthew exclaimed watching the zombies growl as the sound of the alarms stopped mattering to them.

In the face of danger Nikolai cut open the stomach of one of the dead in order to protect the civilian who had urinated on himself. The survivor wanted to vomit when he saw Nikolai rubbing his chest, back and limbs with the guts of the man they had just killed.

—We must stay together and keep quiet! Our next stop will be the bar. Since we are in the plaza we can investigate what happened to the civilians in the bar.

Nikolai's Walkie-Talkie beeped. The group moved away from the area of the rumble and went back to hide behind some flower pots in the corner of the entrance to the square.

—What is it, woman? —Nikolai asked at the sudden call.

—Don't go to the bar now, if you were planning to. One of the civilians went mad and killed everyone... He slit their throats, Nikolai... he killed them... and now he's... he... Why am I telling you for? Go back to the shelter.

—Fuck...

The group had heard the call and they all looked at each other, surprised.

—That's why we always have Megan watching, she tells us which civilians might be good recruits. No use killing the bastard, eventually his buddies will come back and kill him. Let's get going now.

—If we'd gotten there a little earlier... maybe...

—Maybe we would have had a homicidal fucker in our shelter until someone took him out. We should go, there's nothing for us here.

And so the survivors walked all the way back to Grand Mont Plaza. None of them made a sound because they didn't want to alert the zombies. When they finally reached the rooftop of the safe zone they noticed that the civilians were indifferent, others more expressionless than usual.

The man was taken to the small checkpoint where he was asked to immediately undress, at first he didn't want to.

—You don't want to undress? Come on, man, we've all seen a cock in military service and don't think someone's going to be shocked to see your dick. Take off your clothes to see if you're not bitten. —Nikolai commented rather aggressively at the guy's insistence.

—Thank you for rescuing me... but... I can't take off my clothes, it makes me uncomfortable.

—Are you uncomfortable if anyone finds out that you peed on yourself? Is it because it's not big enough? It doesn't matter! The only thing that matters is how you use it. Come on, nobody cares if you stink of piss, take off your damn clothes so the nurse can inspect you and make sure you're not bitten.

—I can't! I can't... it makes me uncomfortable. I don't want them to see me... maybe if...

—What's your name?

—Jeff Bailey... Jeff... I wouldn't want a woman to check me out... you see...

Jeff Bailey—Don't explain, I don't care. This is the New World, Jeff, and the time will come when we'll have to eat out of the garbage and wipe the shit off our asses with our hands.

Nikolai took off his mask and unbuttoned his tactical suit.

—But what are you...?

—Making my point.

Eventually he removed his pads, his boots, his bulletproof vest, and not content with that, he took off his shirt, pulled down his pants, removed his socks and pulled down his underwear.

There was silence, no one laughed, no one gasped, no one said anything. Jeff looked around at the other civilians, some of them were drinking beer, others watched Nikolai for a moment and then went back to pointing their rifles at the lower level of the plaza. Lilly didn't flinch.

—Do you see that anyone cares?

—N-no...

Nikolai stepped closer to Jeff and looked him straight in the face.

—The clothes, or I swear I'm taking your ass is going back on that damn elevator, whatever it fucking takes.

—All right! Just... don't hurt me.

—With all the time you're wasting I'm getting the urge to **hurt** you. Somebody get George, goddamn it!

Jeff started to take off his shirt but before he could unbuckle his belt he was stopped by Jason.

—You don't have to do it in front of everyone, just do it in front of the group's medic and two guards. —Jason said.

—But this man...

George arrived as soon as possible once he heard about what happened between Nikolai and the new recruit.

—I'm not going to ask why you're naked. —George looked indifferently at Kalinic. —I don't care why, but I do care about the state of this man. Leave the exhibitionism to Nikolai... uh... What's your name?

—Jeff...

—Jeff. Yes. Let the Russian get naked in front of everybody, it's not like it's important, but what is important is you. We'll start with a very simple procedure, you're going to remove your clothes, I'm going to check your body to verify that you haven't been bitten. It is obligatory that you remove your clothes since I can not see any anomaly in your body under all that cloth. We will be accompanied by two guards who will observe the process. Do you have any concerns? Do you agree with the procedure? —George spoke with such seriousness that it made Jeff shudder.

—I just want that man away from me. —Jeff pointed to Nikolai. —He scares me.

—If he talks a lot and does weird things, all you have to do is ignore him. It's usually like an annoying "beep" that at any moment goes away.

—You have no right to talk to me like that, George. Not after I saved your ass.

—I have the right to talk to you any way I want because I'm the doctor in this group, and I deserve a lot more respect than you'll ever get. You should learn from Jason, he knows how to keep his mouth shut when he needs to. Right, Jason?

—George... I... —Jason laughed nervously.

—Do you see it, Nikolai? So shut the fuck up and let me do my job, you Russian fuck.

After that George ushered the survivor into the small office and after Michael and Bryan entered, Nikolai could see how Jeff was undressing in front of George's eyes.

—American asshole...

—I hear you, Kalinic! —George exclaimed from afar.

—Nikolai... get dressed. We have better things to do than argue. If you like, we can go back to the security room and...

—One of these days I'm going to kill that fag. —Nikolai asked Harry to go to a warehouse to get new clothes, as he refused to enter the shelter with his clothes stained with blood and guts. —You all should do the same, enter with different clothes to avoid getting into the shelter with clothes stained with blood and guts. All of you.

So Harry made two trips, one to bring clothes to Nikolai and the other to bring clothes to Jason and the policemen who had also begun to undress in anticipation of entering the shelter.

## Next Chapter

Day 3: An Atheist Who Learned to Pray III