Blood Alley Read Online Free Page A

quarters and kitchen area.
    As Pawlowski’s eyes adjusted to the hallway’s darkness, he noticed the last door on the right stood open, where it should have been closed.
    “Hello,” he called out. “Anyone here?” Pawlowski walked down the hall, making sure he did not miss anything as he made his way to the first door on the right. He slid open the viewing port and looked into the cell. Darkness greeted his eyes. He reached down and plucked the flashlight from his belt and shined the beam into the small cell. The only thing in the room was a free standing toilet and two made up cots, nothing else stirred in the room.
    Pawlowski crossed the hall to the door facing the room he had just inspected and threw back the view port and peered inside. The cell was just as empty as the first one had been.
    When he reached the third door, Pawlowski heard movement behind the door, a shuffling sound. He reached up and slid the hatch back on the door. He peered in to the room and could once again only see darkness, but the room smelled foul, almost dead. He brought the flashlight up and shined the beam through the opening in the door.
    The room was a mess. Both cots had been turned over, the sheets and blankets torn off. On the wall in what could have been blood or feces was written “Help Me”. Pawlowski holstered his revolver, reached down and tried the door. Jiggling the handle, he was satisfied the door was still locked; one of the guards would have the keys. Movement in the corner, left of the door, caught his attention from within the room. He tried to shine the flashlight’s beam over into the corner but could not get enough of an angle to illuminate the area.
    “Hello,” Pawlowski called out, barely above a whisper. “Hello? Anyone in there?” he turned his head and pressed his eye against the view port to get a better look into the room.
    Bloody teeth filled his view as a zombie stepped up to the door, the creature’s fetid breath washed over Pawlowski’s face, the smell making him gag. He fell back from the door and dropped the flashlight to the floor. The flashlight cut out as it struck the concrete and extinguished all light in the hallway.
    “Jesus fucking Christ,” he exclaimed as he fell onto the door across the hallway from the zombie’s cell. He grabbed his gun from its holster and pointed it at the door with both hands. “Back the fuck off.”
    A bang erupted from the door he leaned against as something hit it from the other side. Something moaned and growled from the other side of the locked door. Pawlowski retrieved the flashlight from the floor and knocked it against his thigh a few times to get it to work. He stood up and opened the port on the other door and found a second zombie trying to get at him from the small hole in the door. He slammed the port shut, cutting the creature off and moved to close the other door’s viewing port.
    Four more doors remained in the hallway; he noticed the last door on the right was wide open. He crept up to the open door, drawn gun and flashlight pointed at the opening. He choked at the smell from the room, rotted meat combined with the coppery, metallic smell of blood.
    “Hello, anyone in there?” he called once again as he halted just outside the door, as he waited for a response. Nothing, no response came back to him. He counted to ten in his head, pausing after each number, as he tried to take as much time as he could before entered the cell. Finally, not able to waste any more time, he rushed through the open door.
    His flashlight played around the cell walls as he tripped across something inside the open door. He fell face first, his right cheek bounced off the floor as he struck the concrete. The air rushed from his lungs and the flashlight rolled from his grasped to crash into one of the legs from the cot. The beam of the light spun around the room as the flashlight twirled on the floor making him feel sick from its erratic movement around the