Chapter 3: We Love It! #3

               Hugo and Ingrid had been jumping across rooftops and looting abandoned apartments all day. By nightfall, Hugo was burnt out. His legs were sore and bruised from his rough landings. The two took temporary residence in an apartment in Chinatown where they had found some leftover noodles in a fridge.

               “You’re getting better already,” said Ingrid, with a mouthful of noodles.

               “Thanks,” said Hugo with another mouthful of noodles, “I wouldn’t be alive if you hadn’t taught me.”

               “Cheesy, but you seemed fine when I met you. I watched you climb onto that balcony.” Ingrid swallowed her food.

               “Yeah. That doesn’t mean I was good at it. You should’ve seen how red my hands were.” Hugo, also swallowed.

               “You’re fine. Don’t worry.” Ingrid stabbed her fork into the cup of noodles, and pushed it away. She stood up from the folding table, almost knocking over Hugo’s food. “Sorry… I think I’ll head to bed.”

               Hugo looked up at Ingrid, seeing a weird look in her eye. “Uh, okay. Goodnight.” Ingrid left to one of the bedrooms with a cheap mattress and closed the door behind her. Hugo was left with the couch, but he was fine with it.

               Finishing his food, Hugo readied to sleep. He put his chair on the apartment door, laid on the couch, and closed his eyes.

               “Hugo! Play with me Hugo!” said Hugo’s little sister. She bonked him on the head with a toy clown.

               “Ah!” he smiled. He had fallen asleep on the couch in his old apartment. “Fine, gimmie that!” He playfully snatched the clown from his sister’s hand and made it dance. She giggled, laughing at the clown. The toddler opened her arms out to hug him, and he reached out to her. Before they could lock arms, Hugo awoke; a wanderer was an inch away from his face.

               “Ah!” Hugo screamed. He kicked it away, pushing it into the wall. Seeing the front door wide open, Hugo jumped from the couch and found Ingrid in the kitchen. She was fighting off three wanderers at once. Hugo ran to her and pulled one away. As it stumbled to the floor, Hugo and Ingrid pushed away the other two and they ran out of the building. Finding themselves on the streets, almost surrounded at every turn, they ran.

               Up and down the alleys, in and out of tunnels, the wanderers were everywhere. They became lost in the many streets of LA as they ran for their lives. Eventually, they found an opening. A street that led up a hill to Dodger’s Stadium. They ran to the front doors, finding them chained shut.

               “Hello?!” Ingrid screamed, banging on the doors, but her calls attracted the wrong sort of attention. From the streets, hundreds of curious wanderers drew near. The two of them ran around the side, finding a door that wasn’t chained but still locked. Hugo and Ingrid pulled on the handles, making a loud rattling noise. No matter how much they shook the doors, they wouldn’t open. Finally, surrounded again by wanderers, they were trapped.

               BZZZZZZ

               The bright lights in the parking lot came on, stunning the hoard of wanderers for a moment. Hugo and Ingrid tried to keep their eyes open but they couldn’t adjust fast enough. The doors behind them clicked and flung open. From inside, several men in white and blue uniforms came running to the rescue. One man escorted Hugo and Ingrid into the building, the rest bashed some wanderer heads with metal bats.

               When they were all inside, they sealed the doors shut with a metal bat. The wanderers began to bash on the door as their groaning leaked into the building. The group of survivors gathered in the bleachers on the bottom floor

               “You okay there?” said a man. Hugo rubbed his eyes and saw the men who had saved him and Ingrid. They wore white and blue uniforms with the word ‘Dodgers’ written on them.

               “Thank you,” said Hugo, out of breath. Ingrid nodded in agreement.

               “You’re welcome to stay here until the government finds us. Reckon it won’t be much longer from now,” said another, bolder man.

               “Wait, are you… the Dodgers?” said Hugo. Pointing his finger at the team.

               “Yeah, you couldn’t tell?” said another member. They pointed to the word ‘Dodgers’ on their uniforms.

               “And these are your families?” said Ingrid, motioning her head to the scared women and children.

               “Yeah, we’re lucky we were here when this all started,” said one member. He stepped up to Ingrid and shook her hand. “I’m Daniel Jordan. Nice to meet you. I don’t have a family of my own…to be honest.” Ingrid nodded, smiling warmly at Daniel.

               “Here, grab any that you like,” said one team member. He held a bag of snacks out to Hugo and Ingrid. “Took them from the vending machine,” the man said with a wink. Hugo and Ingrid both took snacks and begun eating. “How’s it like out there? I’m Jacob by the way. Jacob Curtis.”

               Hugo told them everything he’s witnessed, but the team seemed to deny that the military was gunning down civilians.

               “Are you sure that’s what you saw? Maybe they were infected,” said a bolder member of the team, Chuck Barrington.

               “No. I saw it. They were perfectly fine but the military shot them on sight,” said Hugo. The wives of the team were covering the kid’s ears. They all had a look of hopelessness on their face.

               “So, what then? We just gonna sit around here and die?” said Chuck. He stood up from his seat and walked around the bleachers. His large frame commanded attention. “We should be out there, killing them monsters. If the government won’t do it, then it’s our duty as Americans to-”

               “We get it, Chuck,” said team member Timmy Jones. “But that’s enough. We’re dead in the water, didn’t you hear the boy? They’re killing regular American’s!”

               “Dios mio,” said one of the wives, exasperated. She led the women and children to the back rooms, away from the conversation. Ingrid and Hugo stayed with the team, but Mike Browne, another member, followed his wife with the women.

               “Do we have any way of communicating with the military?” said Ingrid. “Or anyone at all?”

               “For all we know, there could be no one to call,” said Timmy.

               “Wait,” said Daniel, standing up from his chair. “Is Jerry still in the control center?” They all turned to the box above the bleachers, looking into dark windows. “Jerry!” Daniel shouted; his voice echoed across the stadium but to no response. “Shit.” Daniel ran around the stadium and up to the control room and was followed by the rest of the group; Hugo, Ingrid, Jacob, Chuck, Timmy, and the final member, Brian. “Jerry!” Daniel shouted, banging on the door of the control center. “Open up!”

               “I got this,” said Chuck. Daniel stepped aside and Chuck rammed into the door.

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               SLAM

               The noise echoed throughout the stadium, and the groaning of wanderers was provoked for a moment. Chuck stumbled forward into the room as the group rushed in. Jerry was fast asleep, leaning back on a rolling chair.

               “Jerry!” Daniel shouted.

               “AH!” Jerry jumped from the chair and fell backwards. “What the hell guys?!”

               “Bro you cannot be scaring us like that,” said Jacob, shaking his head.

               “Sorry. I just fell asleep, that’s all,” said Jerry. He got off the ground, rubbing the back off his head.

Ingrid walked over to the control panel, examining the buttons and switches. The group watched her for a moment, expecting her to do something.

               “Lady, you even know what you’re doing?” said Timmy.

               “Do you?” Ingrid snapped back. “There has to be something that we could use. How did you turn on those lights?” Jerry stepped forward and flipped a switch, the stadium lit up like a Christmas tree until he flipped it off. The groans outside grew a little louder.

               “Do we know how much power is left?” said Ingrid.

               “Not much. Without constant maintenance, our generators won’t last another day. Even with the lights off,” Jerry answered.

               “I have an idea,” said Chuck. He stepped forward and leaned over the controls. “We make a beacon.”

               “A beacon? Are you serious?” said Timmy. “That would bring us more than the military. Everyone in socal will be headed our way!”

               “The military has choppers. All they’d have to do was fly into that field and have us get on,” said Chuck. He and Timmy began to argue about the subject.

Daniel and Hugo stepped away and took a look at the room in the dim lighting.

               “Pretty cool huh?” said Daniel. They both looked at all the pretty screens and machines that ran the place. “You a computer guy?”

               “Heh, more of a car guy,” Hugo answered. He tried to seem interested in the tech, but couldn’t comprehend any of it. “I’m hoping that I’ll find a lambo out there. Not like there’s going to be much demand after this.”

               “Smart. Let me know if you find two of them. I’ll race yah,” said Daniel, he nudged Hugo’s shoulder.

               “Quit it you two!” Ingrid shouted. She was yelling at Chuck and Timmy, who were squaring up to each other.

               “If you hit those lights, we die,” said Timmy through his teeth.

               “If I hit those lights, we live,” Chuck answered.

               Ingrid walked over to Hugo “These people are going to get us killed,” she said quietly, she noticed Daniel standing right next to Hugo. “Sorry.”

               “Don’t worry about it,” said Daniel with a smile, he stepped between Chuck and Timmy. “Okay break it up! Now!”

               “Shut up,” said Chuck. He knocked Daniel in the nose and threw Timmy aside.

               “Woah there!” said Jerry. He, Jacob and Brian both dogpiled Chuck, but he broke free and threw everyone aside.

               “Stop!” they all shouted. Chuck flipped every switch he saw. The lights shined even brighter and the speakers blasted the Dodgers winning theme across LA.

               “Come on,” said Ingrid. She and Hugo ran out of the room and down the bleachers. The speakers clicked once more and blasted the sound of the team fighting amongst themselves along with the song.

Hugo and Ingrid found the wives and children, in a hallway below the bleachers. They were holding one another, on the verge of tears. Mike Browne ran up to them with baggy eyes.

               “What’s going on? What happened?” Mike asked.

               “They’re trying to get us killed!” said Ingrid.

               Mike looked at her, almost appalled.

               BANG BANG BANG came from down the hall. The doors to the parking lot were being violently shaken. The smell of rotting flesh leaked through, almost turning the halls into gas chambers. Their hungry groans were muffled by the metal walls.

               “Oh no,” said Hugo, holding in his breath, watching those doors become looser with each BANG.

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