Free Hard Choice by C. A. Hoaks Page B

psoriasis. Now shut up and get the
shoes on or I’ll leave you.”
    “You can’t, I’m your manager.” Norma
snorted.
    Lynette stopped and turned to face Norma.
“There’s no more piss-ant company. You’re nothing to me and if you
threaten me again, I’ll leave you here and not look back. Am I
making myself clear?” Norma whimpered, but Lynette continued. “And
pop off those ridiculous nails before we get outside so you can use
that knife to protect yourself.”
    Lynette turned away and headed for the
office door. Behind her, she could hear the first acrylic nail snap
from Norma’s finger. She sniffed and gasped at the pain of removing
each of the remaining unnatural claws.
    “You don’t have to be so mean.” Norma
whimpered.
    “Remember the way you treated people around
here for the last two years?” Lynette glanced over her shoulder,
but Norma’s face was a study of denial.
    Lynette opened the heavy wooden door and
looked up and down the hallway. When she saw nothing, she stepped
out into the hall and headed toward the distance stairwell not
bothering to see if Norma was following. When they neared the
elevator, Norma reached out and pushed the button and stopped to
wait for the elevator.
    “No!” Lynette kept walking.
    “Why?” Norma followed with a groan. “It’s
four flights.”
    Lynette opened the door to the stairs just
as the elevator doors swished open. She looked back at the sound to
see two infected stumbling from the opening. Norma bolted through
the door knocking Lynette on her knees.
    “Norma!” Lynette got to her feet and turned
to see Norma staring at the infected shuffling toward them. She
pushed Norma back. “Out of the way!”
    Norma stumbled back, and Lynette slammed the
door closed. She glanced from side to side looking for a way to jam
the door.
    “Give me the knife!”
     
    “But…”
    “They can push against the handle and follow
us!”
    When Norma failed to relinquish the blade,
Lynette grabbed her wrist and pressed a thumbnail into the nerve at
her wrist causing her to drop the blade.
    Lynette picked up the knife and jammed it
between the door and frame on the floor. She shoved the cane into
Norma’s hand.
    “Don’t lose it!” She ordered as she headed
for the stairs.
    Together the two women hurried down the
flight of stairs to the third floor landing. When they got to the
landing, Lynette hesitated and pressed her ear against the door.
She heard nothing from inside so she turned and headed down the
concrete stairs again with Norma following behind. Suddenly the
silence was shattered with a body slammed against the door
overhead. Norma jumped and bumped into Lynette again. After a
pause, the sound echoed from above again.
    Lynette righted herself on the stairs and
turned back to Norma with a scowl. Norma stopped in her tracks.
Taking a deep breath, she headed down the stairs again.
    Lynette snarled. “They can’t get through the
door. Stay off my back.”
    She got to the next landing and pressed her
ear to the door again; she heard nothing. She crossed the landing
and headed down the steps ignoring the rasping sound of Norma’s
labored breathing. When she got to the bottom floor door, she
stopped.
    Again she listened but could hear little
above Norma’s gasping. She shot Norma an annoyed glance then turned
back to open the door into the lobby. The exit door to the parking
lot was ten feet from the stairwell. They could cross the short
distance then run to her car, only three rows back. With so many
people having left the office early, there shouldn’t be many cars
and hopefully, few infected.
    She opened the door to move forward and
heard something. A moment later, Lynette recognized the sound. Someone crying.
    She whispered over her shoulder. “Someone is
out there.”
    Norma sniveled. “What are we going to do?
They could be infected.”
    “They could also be fine and need our help,”
Lynette answered. “Stay here and don’t let the door close.