(Ray)
After the two of them carefully stepping over the body and went out onto the fifteenth floor corridor, Meghan turned back towards her front door.
"What do we do with her now?" Meghan asked.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"We're not going to just leave a dead body on my doorstep, are we?"
"Ohh umm…" Ray looked around aimlessly, "That's a good point"
Meghan narrowed her eyes at him, "Let me guess… you didn't think this far ahead."
Ray scratched his head, "Guilty" he admitted, "But just give me a sec. I'll think of something."
He scanned his surroundings quickly. Ideas kept flashing into his head but none of them were very good. These included pushing her down the stairs, breaking into a neighbor's house and hiding the body, throwing her off the balcony… even stupid ones like burning the corpse or stuffing her in a giant garbage bag.
His eyes then met the elevator. The digital panel on the side displayed the number fourteen.
'It's still on my floor' he thought to himself.
Ray figured that the elevator probably hadn't moved after the woman had rode it up to his floor. That meant that it was very likely to be empty.
He walked up to the front of the elevator and stood poised, with his javelin in hand.
"Momo, could you call the elevator up?"
"Huh? Sure…" she said as she moved towards it.
"The moment you press the button just come and stand behind me, okay?"
"What? Is there another Deathless in there?" she asked nervously.
"No I think it should be empty but it doesn't hurt to be cautious."
Meghan nodded and pressed the button before rushing to his side.
Ray watched anxiously as the number on the digital panel went from fourteen to fifteen. The elevator dinged and the doors slowly opened up.
Empty.
Ray breathed a sigh of relief. There was quite a bit of blood on the floor but apart from that it was clear.
"Hold the door for me?" Ray requested.
Meghan moved forward and held the elevator button. "You have a plan?"
"Pretty much…" He replied as he walked up to the woman's corpse. "Have you ever heard of a game called Silent Assassin three?"
"Uhh—no?"
"Really? It was quite a popular one…"
Ray bent down and placed her into a sitting position. He then reached underneath her arms and locked his wrists together around her chest. He tried to stand up but the woman was heavier than he thought. He put more effort in his second attempt and managed to lift her up. He then leaned back and walked backwards towards the elevator with the woman's feet dragging along the corridor floor.
"Ah crap, this is a lot harder than it looks." He panted as he managed to heave the body into the open elevator.
He paused for a second in front of the control panel before pressing the number three.
He walked out and nodded to Meghan to let go of the button. The two of them watched as the doors slowly closed and the elevator made it's decent to the lower floors, taking the body of the Deathless along.
"That was actually a good plan." Meghan admitted.
"Thanks. It's lucky that I was right about the elevator being empty. If there were more Deathless in there… well, probably best to not think about that now."
Meghan looked over at Ray, "What were you saying about Stealth Assassin?"
"Ahh, Silent Assassin three." He corrected her, "Well it's a game when you play as a contract killer. You basically have to sneak into different establishments and take out your target without being detected. In mission seven of that game, you are tasked with killing a really corrupt politician in his penthouse. After you sneak in and take him out, one of the best places to hide the body is to drag it to the elevator and sent it to a random floor. This gives you enough time to safely make it out of the penthouse without alerting any of the guards."
Meghan raised her eyebrows, "wow… I'm surprised you remember all that."
Ray shrugged, "It was a good game. Anyways we better get going."
Meghan nodded and quickly went over to lock her front door. Ray stood in front of the stairs and remembered being chased up by that Deathless woman. He genuinely thought he was going to die back then. He couldn't put into words how elated and relieved he felt when Meghan finally opened the door. He vowed to never again take his life for granted for as long as he lived.
Meghan then came and stood beside him. She was ready to go. With a knowing look at each other, they both bent low and crept down the staircase as carefully as they could.
As Ray peeked out from the corner of the stairs, he saw nothing but an empty corridor.
"It's clear." He whispered to Meghan, "Let's go."
As quietly as possible the two of them tiptoed down to the fourteenth floor and moved towards Ray's flat. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. They snuck in swiftly as he closed the door behind them.
"Alright, I'll just be a minute." He told her.
"Take your time," Meghan started, "Actually no, don't take your time. Do it fast!"
Ray laughed.
"Yes ma'am," he replied.
He then went into his bedroom and changed into a full-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of joggers. He tossed his blood-stained clothes into a plastic bag and tied it shut. Ray planned to discard the bag when he got the chance. He didn't know if coming in contact with infected blood was harmful or not but he wasn't waiting to find out. He pulled out a small sanitizer bottle from his side table and disinfected his hands just in case.
"Might as well take you with me" he told the bottle as he slipped it into his pocket.
He pulled out a backpack from the bottom shelf of the wardrobe and dusted it off. It was a simple black bag with just one zip. Ray used it a lot when he went for short trips with his friends. Holding it in his hands now brought back memories of a simpler time, way back before the corona virus ever became an international crisis. Back when the only serious issue they faced was not having enough whiskey to last the whole night.
Ray unzipped the bag and stuffed in a set of fresh clothes, all the while reminiscing about all the fun he used to have with his friends.
Speaking of his friends, he hadn't heard from Leon or Adam. Had they made it out safe? He pulled out his phone and wondered if he should call and check up on them.
A sudden knock on the door startled him.
"You done changing?" came Meghan's voice.
"Yeah, come on in."
Meghan entered his bedroom and her eyes fell on the two single beds to her right.
"Your brother… you must be worried sick about him."
Ray felt a lump form in his throat.
"I'm trying to not think about that right now," He replied with a noticeable sadness in his voice, "Anyways, what's up?"
"Ahh it's just that… when we were fighting that woman, you told me to aim for the brain. But you weren't saying it as a suggestion, more like you knew it would work. As if it was the obvious thing to do. How did you know?"
"Oh, that." Ray began, "I play a lot of games. Most of them are Action or Fantasy. In a majority of the games I've played there are always enemies that are very similar to the Deathless. They are called zombies, ghouls, undead… different names depending on the game. But they all share one common factor. The best way to kill one is with a solid blow to the head. The brain is their only weak spot. Causing injury anywhere else is basically pointless."
"Oh lord, what's this world coming to! For some reason I have this horrible feeling like this is just the beginning."
"That might be true," he said, "the woman wasn't the only Deathless we'll have to face. I don't know what the situation in the basement is like. But we need to assume that we'll be fighting more of them going forward."
Meghan reluctantly nodded.
Ray wasn't happy about the prospect of facing another Deathless either. His hands still stung whenever he clenched his fists. Nevertheless, he knew better than to be overly optimistic. Thinking that the basement would be empty was impractical to say the least. Especially considering that the people would first run to their cars to try and escape from the flat. With everyone flocking to the parking lot like flies, it was only natural that the Deathless would follow them down too.
They weren't in the clear yet. In fact, the most dangerous part of their escape plan was yet to come.
Ray knew this all too well. But after facing the woman head on and surviving, a newfound sense of courage was instilled in him. He was more than ready to tackle the next part of their mission.
"Alright," he started, "Here's what we'll do. We'll use the fire exit and—"
Ray's exposition was cut short by the sound of his ringtone.
"Oh man, it's probably Rody again. I told him to…"
Ray's words got caught in his mouth as he pulled out his phone and saw the caller's name on the screen. A barrage of emotions attacked him all at once. He couldn't speak for a few moments, he was completely overwhelmed. He could feel his eyes start to water as his vision steadily grew blurry.
He had been waiting for this.
A weak voice escaped his lips as he read out the name on his screen, "Mom…" He said.