Nano Z by Brad Knight

scientologists believe in. Mack had never felt relief like he did when he saw the sign on a door ahead that read “Stairs”.
    Mack didn’t even bother with the door handle. Without breaking his stride, he slammed into the door with his shoulder leading the way. It broke the hinges and opened the path for the rest of the group.
    “Go! Go! Go!” Mack stood at the doorway and made sure everyone got through.
    As the meat puppets came closer, Mack started to get idea of the numbers. According to his count there was at least twenty. With no weapons, he had to make sure that the monsters never reached his group.
    Unable to close the door to the stairs due to completely ruined hinges, Mack decided to just follow his fellow survivors. After every couple of steps he looked behind and down to make sure the puppets weren’t following. They were slow, but still they followed.
    “What are you guys doing?” asked Mack, perplexed. Amber and the twins were at the top of the stairwell. They weren’t moving.
    “Shhh,” Amber was at the front of the group. She had to turn around to shush him.
    “Why aren’t we moving?”
    “Shhh,” both of the twins proceeded to shush Mack in unison.
    Amber had the door out of the stairway slightly ajar. Through the crack she could see into the concourse. There were meat puppets everywhere. Some were once the redneck hunters who captured her and Mack, others were part of the pit crowd, and sprinkled in were a few SWAT guys.
    Within her reach, Amber saw an assault rifle, extra clips and a pistol. The weapons were on one of the SWAT guys who was missing his head. Rather than contemplate how he lost it, she tried to calculate her chances if she went for him.
    “We can’t stay here,” whispered Mack. He couldn’t help but keep looking down the stairs. The meat puppets from the rodeo arena loading docks were slowly making their way up them.
    “Hold the door open for me,” Amber whispered her request to the female twin who was directly behind her.
    “Okay?” The female twin held the door open. From her new vantage point she could see into the concourse. What she saw terrified her, but she kept her cool.
    Amber crouched and grabbed the headless SWAT guy’s corpse by his Kevlar vest. She used what strength she had to drag him towards the stairwell. All that work make her grunt a little bit. That caught the attention of some of the meat puppets. Not wanting to waste any more time, she stopped dragging, leaving the body in the doorway.
    Clever girl. Mack saw Amber strip the SWAT guy’s gear. She threw him the vest and assault rifle, keeping the pistol for herself. The male twin got a baton. His sister got a taser gun.
    “They’re coming,” said Amber as she watched more and more of the meat puppets in the concourse come towards her.
    “Be careful. Make every bullet count. Move!” Mack held his gun at the ready, pointed at the puppets that came up the stairs.
    Amber entered the concourse. She quickly scanned the area for any safe passages. In front of her were a dozen walking corpses. Behind her were six more. To her right, the stairway. To her left was daylight streaming through a tunnel. It led to the rodeo arena proper.
    As tempted as she was, Amber didn’t let loose a single shot. Instead she led the group of former prisoners across the concourse and into the rodeo arena. They all made it without a scratch. Once in the main arena, Mack once again took lead.
    The circular dirt “pit” area of the rodeo arena was filled with meat puppets. One of them was the bullet ridden bear. Mack knew they needed to get out of there before the beast saw them or they were dead meat, literally.
    “What do we do now?” asked the female twin.
    Good question. Mack looked around. He saw where the stands/bleachers ended. That was their way out.
    “We go up and over. Maybe we can climb down the side.”
    There was no time to contemplate Mack’s plan. The whole group heard the roar of the bear from the pit.