The Dead Walk The Earth II by Luke Duffy Page A

more than likely only prolonged the suffering of the young.
    A shadow flickered across from behind her, accompanied by a low rumbling groan. She spun and raised her heavy bar as a stifled yelp forced its way up from her throat. She released the tension, brought the curved end of the crowbar forward, and aimed for the head of the lumbering figure behind her.
    Christopher stood staring at her in fright. He could not speak or even raise his hands to protect himself. Instead, he winced and waited for the inevitable impact of the heavy metal against his skull. It did not arrive.
    Before it was too late, Tina realised that it was her brother and averted a catastrophe by throwing herself off balance and slamming her body into the doorframe.
    “You dick,” she gasped. “I nearly killed you, Chris.”
    “Yeah, I’m glad you didn’t, sis,” he quipped with one eye open as he watched Tina correct herself and regain her balance.
    Tina showed him what she had found and for a while, they both remained at the doorway, unable to take their eyes away from the scene. Both remained silent and lost in their own thoughts as they took in the tragic spectacle.
    “Poor buggers,” Christopher sighed thoughtfully as he imagined the suffering that had taken place within the room.
    “Yeah,” Tina nodded as she turned and made to walk away.
    “What do you think happened?”
    “It’s obvious, don’t you think?” She shrugged as she pushed passed him. “They froze to death in here.”
    “Yeah, but how?” He replied as he turned after her. “I mean, why would they all go and lock themselves in here?”
    “Desperation,” she grumbled over her shoulder. “Maybe they had absolutely no choice and preferred dying in here instead of out there with the others? Who knows what happened and why it happened.”
    “Yeah, but why lock themselves in?”
    Something had been troubling her and Christopher’s final question reminded her of what had been on her mind when she first entered into the cold storage room. She paused and slowly turned around. She caught sight of the blinking red light again and realised what it was. Subconsciously she had wondered to herself why they had not shut down the power to the freezer but when she examined the control box, she realised that it had not been through their lack of trying. The shutdown switch was set behind a thick glass panel and it was obvious to her from the damage to the surrounding casing that they had repeatedly attempted to open it and turn it off. For whatever reason, they had been unable to access it and the freezing air had continued to be filtered in through the vents. To add to their misfortune the interior door handle had failed them and left them trapped inside with no way out and no way of turning off the power.
    “They had no chance,” Tina sighed as she stepped back out from the cold storage room and into the warmth of the warehouse.
    Christopher followed her closely. He did not like being separated from her and he especially did not like being in the freezer while she was outside.
    “Do you think the place is safe now?”
    She nodded.
    “Yeah, I think it probably is,” she replied solemnly.
    “What about all those people that are in the fridge? Do you think they’ll come back to life, Tina?”
    “They’re frozen solid, Chris. I don’t think we have much to worry about from them at this moment in time.”
    Christopher stayed standing behind her for a while. He could tell that what she had seen in the freezer had deeply affected her but his sister’s upset did not distract him from the painful rumbling that emitted from his empty stomach. He silently agreed to himself that he would give her a few moments to herself before they began rummaging through the food stocks. He owed her that much at least.
    As Tina turned and walked towards the wall of the office, her torch light reflected from something close by to where Christopher was standing. While his sister pulled out a chair and