Room 408

Room 408

Mark D. Makinson

The rain lightly pattered on the metal roof of the shelter. Gabriel sat on a rusted picnic table, looking out into the playground. The playground that once was a beacon of joy for so many children had now returned to nature. The slide that once shined brightly as the centerpiece of the yard was beginning to deteriorate from rust. The swings that once guided gleeful children towards heaven were now broken or hanging on by solitary chains. Gabriel looked past the playground into the crumbling skyline of the city, his city. Gabriel had not laid eyes on his home in more than four years.

As Gabriel looked onto his city with tortured recall, his hand remained vigilantly in his pocket. His tears began to fall as he took the key out of his pocket and looked at it. His thumb traced over the raised numbers on the keychain, "408'.

"I swore that I would come back for you." He said, his voice merely a whisper.

Gabriel pushed the key back into the pocket of his worn black cargo pants and stood up. Deep down, Gabriel knew that he was not ready for this, but he had made a promise, a promise that he intended to keep.

As Gabriel walked out of the fence surrounding the playground, he began to think back to the last time he was in his city. The fear, the uncertainty, the hotel.

Gabriel reached the industrial sector of the city as the light began to fade. After climbing an access ladder to the roof of a defunct textile mill, he raised his binoculars to his eyes and scanned the streets ahead. He saw the all too familiar sight of the dead walking around the streets.

Gabriel waited for night to fall on the city before leaving the rooftop. With his old military knife in his hand, he made his way towards the hotel. With much practice, Gabriel had learned to sneak through areas that were populated with the dead with minimal detection. He only had to silence three of them before he reached the hotel.

Gabriel slipped down the alley on the side of the hotel and stopped at the service entrance. He kneeled beside the door and took a small black pouch out of his backpack. After unzipping it, he removed two small tools from it. Gabriel picked the lock in a matter of seconds as this was a skill that he had honed over the past few years. He slid into the now open door and closed it behind him. The darkness enveloped Gabriel and the smell of rot took over his senses. He took a small light from his pocket and clicked it on. A quick look around calmed his nerves as he found himself alone in a kitchen.

Gabriel opened the door in between the kitchen and dining room and was met by a pair of corpses staring back at him. The dead snarled and began to walk in towards him. Gabriel guessed that these had been dead for a long time. The older they are, the slower they seemed to move. Recently reanimated corpses tended to move quicker than their older counterparts. Gabriel sidestepped the first one and shoved him through the open kitchen door, closing it behind him. The second grabbed him from behind as he was closing the door causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor. Before Gabriel could regain his footing, the monster was on top of him, gnashing his teeth inches from his neck. Gabriel pushed the corpses head up by way of his chin and drove his knife into the side of his head. His attacker immediately slumped on top of Gabriel.

Following the encounter with the two dead bodies, Gabriel found the service stairs at the back of the dining room. Gabriel slowly ascended the stairs until he reached the sign that read “Fourth Floor”. Gabriel’s head sagged against the cool steel door and he exhaled sharply. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the key once again.

“I’m coming, baby.” He whispered.

Gabriel stopped at the door with the numbers ‘408’ printed on the card. He put his ear to the door and held his breath. Nothing. He slid the key into the doorknob and turned it. The door slowly crept open and he saw her. A woman was standing by the window looking down on the decay of the city. A tear rolled down his cheek as Gabriel stood in the doorway looking at his wife.

“Anna?” he asked quietly.

The woman slowly turned and looked at him with milky white eyes. Her decaying lips spread into a snarl. Gabriel charged into the room and closed the door behind him. He snatched a dusty towel off the rack and quickly wrapped it around her head as she was moving towards him. As he held the towel, he pulled a pre-looped zip tie from his cargo pocket and put it over the towel and her head, stopping at the point of her mouth. He tightened the large zip tie until the clicks stopped. Gabriel pushed the woman onto the bed and with another zip tie, secured her hands behind her back. He wrapped the woman in the fitted sheet and secured it with copious amounts of duct tape.

Gabriel moved the woman to a chair beside the window and cut the zip tie that was holding the towel around her head. As the towel fell, he sat on the bed in front of her.

“Anna, is that you?” he asked, staring into her face.

Her face was sunken in and she looked nothing like the woman that he had been in love with since high school.

“I know it’s you.” He said.

“I swore to you that I would come back for you.” He said, with tears rolling down his cheeks. “Here I am sweetheart, I’m here to take you home.”

The woman continued to stare at him, struggling against her confinement.

“Penny and I made it to Asheville, there is a community there that we have been accepted into. It’s amazing.” He said quietly, looking down to the floor. “I wish that you could be there with us. I miss you so much.” He broke down, sobbing.

Gabriel wiped his eyes and looked back into the empty eyes of his wife.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, but I got Penny to safety. She’s doing great there, she’s in school now. You would be so proud of her, she’s smart just like you.” He said.

Gabriel reached into the front pouch of his backpack and pulled out a small white box. He opened it and showed the golden heart-shaped locket to his wife.

“I almost forgot, Penny wants you to have this. She wants me to tell you ‘Happy Mother’s Day’.”

Gabriel removed the locket from the box and opened it. He turned it towards Anna so that she could see the contents.

“Here’s a picture of Penny, she wanted you to see what she looks like now. I haven’t let her forget about you. She wants you to know that she loves you very much and she misses you.”

Gabriel stood up and walked around to Anna’s back and opened the chain clasp on the locket. He slid his wedding ring off and put it on the chain beside the locket. Gabriel gently laid the locket on her chest and secured the clasp behind her neck. He moved her matted hair so the chain lay directly on her neck.

Gabriel moved back around to her front and kneeled in front of her.

“I love you and miss you so much, sweetheart. Life just isn’t the same without you, so I’ve come to take you home.”

Gabriel brushed his hand against her cold cheek and started crying again. He moved around to her back again and kissed the top of her head.

“I’m so sorry.” He cried.

Gabriel slid the blade of his knife gently into Anna’s brainstem and held the handle until she stopped twitching.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered.