No Escape from the Dead

Part 12: TOGETHER

Gwen slowly blinked her eye open, and the room came into view as the black faded away. The empty socket where her left eye used to be, stung. She could feel that there was now a bandage there. She was still Murray's hostage. Gwen remembered now. For a second, where she was had completely slipped her mind. Murray must have put a bandage on her. He wanted to keep her alive.
Her head spinning and short bursts of pain still shooting through her eye socket, she looked across to the others. It looked as if the man opposite Connor had passed out, and the other two were barely able to keep their eyes open.
Suddenly, Gwen realised. Her machete. She looked down at her side. Argh. Of course. Murray had taken it. Why would he let her keep it? Her gun, her machete, everything.
Murray wasn't in the room. She looked behind her out of the window above her. It was pitch black outside. Murray was probably asleep. Knowing him, he probably had one of his men stood watch outside the door.
Gwen looked down at the rope that tied her to the radiator. It was on the ground, tightly wrapped around the pipe that attached the radiator to the wooden floor, binding her waist to the pipe. Gwen tried pulling at it to free herself, but it wasn't working.
She groaned with frustration, still muffled by her cloth. A thought crossed her mind. Maybe she could chew through the rope.
She moved her tied-together hands to her mouth, and pulled out the ball of cloth. She wouldn't dare do that when Murray was around. Spitting some loose threads out of her mouth, Gwen started to chew at the ropes tying her hands together. It was no use. It was far too strong.
"What are you doing?"
Gwen turned her head and saw that it was Connor who'd spoken to her. He looked afraid, as if Murray was going to come back and notice Gwen trying to escape.
"Well, we can't just sit here," she said, putting her teeth back on the rope.
"Hey," called the woman opposite her. Gwen looked across the room to the woman. "Look," she called to Gwen. It took her about a minute, but she managed to position her hands and feet so she could reach inside her boot. She pulled out a small pocket knife, which she held up in one of her tied-up hands, and waved it at Gwen.
Gwen's face lit up. YES! There's a chance!
The woman twirled the knife in her hands, and turned it so she could begin cutting the rope around her wrists. In no time, she managed to free her hands. The woman silently chuckled, and twisted her wrists around, happy to be free to move them again. She then took her knife and started cutting through the ropes on her ankles.
All the while, Gwen excitedly watched. Finally. She could get her revenge on Murray. Gwen saw that the woman was also tied to a pipe on the wall. Maybe Murray tied her there while Gwen was knocked out, she thought. When she had fully cut her ropes, she stood up, and immediately ran over to Gwen to untie her. Leaning over Gwen, she started to cut the ropes that bound her to the radiator. She looked at Gwen and proudly smiled. "I'm Laura," she told her.
"Gwen," Gwen replied, watching the knife cut through the rope. "Did Murray, uh... Do anything to you?"
Laura shook her head and sighed. "Nothing really. While you were passed out, he stabbed Wayne in the leg. Looked painful."
Gwen understood that Wayne must be the man opposite Connor. The one that was currently unconscious. She couldn't see a wound from where she was. As Laura moved on to Gwen's feet, and began cutting the rope, she took a breath and looked at Gwen's missing eye. "Being stabbed in the leg probably doesn't compare to... You know, losing a fuckin' eye."
"Good news is I don't really remember it happening," Gwen muttered. "Not much anyway." Laura freed Gwen's legs and started on her wrists.
"Thanks for this," Gwen said, watching the knife cut through the ropes.
"Ah, it's nothing. I've been carrying a pocket knife in my boot since this whole thing began."
Gwen looked up at her, curious. "How come?"
Laura smiled at Gwen and shrugged. "You never know."
The rope finally came loose and Laura pulled it off. Gwen stood up and stretched, clenching her fists and grasping her wrists, the rope burn still tingling.
"Let's get Connor and Wayne," said Laura, walking over to an unconscious, wounded Wayne on the other side of the room. "You get Connor. You should be able to just untie him with your hands," she called back, cutting through Wayne's ropes.
"Right," Gwen uttered, approaching Connor and kneeling in front of him.
"Thank God. Are we finally getting out of here?" he eagerly panted.
"This is just stage one," Gwen sternly replied, struggling with the knots. "Who knows if we'll ever get out of here..."
"Your name's Gwen, right?" Connor asked, trying to keep his mind off escaping.
Gwen nodded, concentrating on the rope. Connor then looked straight ahead and took a deep breath. "I'm Connor. You already know that... Don't you?" he said, realising his mistake.
"It's fine. What did Murray say you 'did to him' again?"
Connor gulped, still nervous about the possibility of Murray returning to the room. "I pushed one of his men into a herd, so I could get away," he admitted, suddenly becoming aware that he was shaking. "Sorry... I-I swear I'm a lot stronger than I'm making myself seem right now..." He nervously chuckled, his hands quaking so much, it was hard for Gwen to untie the ropes binding his wrists. She doubted he was much stronger than he seemed. Maybe he was a decent fighter, but she knew that the way people acted in dire situations like this was a telltale sign about how weak or strong they are.
Gwen loosened the final rope and Connor rose to his feet, stretching out, glad to be free. Gwen and Connor both looked at Laura, who'd just finished cutting Wayne's ropes. She took all of the ropes away, and lifted him away from the wall.
"How are we going to get him out of here?"
Gwen went over to Wayne, and tried shaking him awake. "He is... alive, right?" she cautioned, looking at Laura. Laura put her hand on Wayne's neck and waited a while. "Yeah. There's a pulse." She stood up and took her pocket knife in her hand, before making her way to the door.
"Where are you going?" shouted Connor. Laura turned and put her finger to her lips. Gwen and Connor watched nervously as Laura slid the latch open on the double doors and silently opened them, creeping outside. Gingerly, Gwen and Connor started to follow after her. When they got to the now open door, they saw a guard at the end of the corridor, with his back to them. Laura quietly crept down the corridor, knife in hand, and without the guard noticing, she stabbed him in the neck as stealthily as she could. He let out a small choking sound as the blade dug into his throat, and he fell to the ground. Gwen and Connor ran over to Laura and she handed Gwen the assault rifle the guard was holding. "Know how to use one of these?" she asked.
"Shouldn't be too hard..." Gwen replied, struggling to understand why Laura found it so easy to kill someone.
"But why me?"
"You're the one who lost an eye today. You're a tough cookie," Laura answered, looking Gwen up and down, realising what a good fighter she must be.
Clutching the assault rifle in her hands, she looked down at the weapon, and realised what a battle this was about to be.