What I was looking for was dangling from the back of the room, pinned to a corkboard.It looked like blueprints of a map of the building.I made to take a step into the room, but Eddie grabbed me by the shoulder, and his other hand appeared in view behind me to point down.
I followed his line of sight.Someone had spilled a whole thing of bouncy rubber balls.Along with them were metal pachinko balls.I followed the trail to where the security guard’s coat had fallen on a manager’s display of excess arcade junk.He’d spilled just about everything when he’d passed out.Even a few rolls of tickets.The little girl in my chest wanted to grab them, but I realized I could just steal one of those stuffed dinosaurs on the way out.
“Can you fly?”I asked Eddie when we withdrew to the next room.
“No,” Eddie said.
“I didn’t think so but thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask.That makes two of us, then,” I said.“I have an idea.Back to the prize case.”
“Not the sticky hands again,” Eddie said.
“Help me out!”I said.“We need to tie this really tight.”
We threaded at least five sticky hands together.Eddie grabbed the flat end and walked behind me as I aimed carefully.When he was at least six feet away, he let go.The sticky hand rope flew through the air, overshot the blueprints on the corkboard, and then slapped the security guard in the face.
He grunted, getting to his feet.All I could do was stare.
“The Arcade is closed,” he slurred and fumbled with his sidearm.He got to his feet, skidded out, and the gun fired half-out of the holster.I could feel something bright-white pierce me in the stomach.I looked down.I couldn’t even scream.
I fought a sudden swimming sensation as my fingertips came back coated with blood.
“Oh no,” I said and fell backward.
Eddie caught me.
“I’m so sorry,” the security guard said, staring up stupidly from the ground.He looked like he had suddenly, quickly sobered up.“Oh, shit.Shit.Let me call the cops!”
“The cops aren’t coming, you drunk idiot!”Eddie snapped.“Get some T-shirts from the prize case and help me pack the wound.I can’t look at it.”
“You squeamish or something?”the security guard asked.
“Go!”Eddie roared like a lion.The security guard got to his feet, almost slipping again, and ran.Eddie dragged me over to the eating area.He sat me down on a table, gingerly avoiding touching the wound, and hummed to himself.I could feel more liquid spurting from the wound, what felt like an endless open fountain.I didn’t even want to cry, though I felt like maybe it was appropriate.
I expect it was shock.There was this humming noise in my ears… I knew this was probably the end, or something close to the end, in any case, but all I could do was focus on Eddie’s look of panic.
“You’re struggling, aren’t you,” I said, reaching up.
“You have no idea the effect this is having on me,” Eddie said.“I’m sorry.I’m sorry I’m such a monster.”
“Just hold my hand,” I said.“It’s going to be okay.”
The security guard ran up with some arcade T-shirts.Eddie began to studiously strip them down, ripping them along seams like they were made of paper, and handing them one by one to the guard.
“Take this piece,” he said.“And that one.Staunch the wound.Hold it as flat as possible.I need you to try and pack the wound as much as you can to keep her pressure stabilized.Do you have access to a patrol car?”
“This is a Pizza Rat Arcade-a-torium.I’m lucky they got me a uniform.”
“There’s a plastic surgeon’s office in a suite in the same building as Feedworthy,” I said.“If you know the way through the underbuildings there might be something we can do there.”
“Fuck,” the security guard said.“Fuck all of this.Why can’t we call the paramedics again?”
“While you were drunk half the night, the undead rose from their graves,” Eddie said.“Most of the paramedics are probably gone by now or staying away from emergencies.Keep your hand there.I’m going to try and tie this into a knot so we can move her.”
There was a tense silence as Eddie worked.All I felt was pressure, and leaking, and pressure, and leaking.I remember looking up and seeing his face, paler than normal, looking nauseated and hungry and terrified and sad and somehow… animalistically angry, all in a row.I thought about how none of this would ever have happened if I never walked up to him that night at the club.
“I’d heard someone saying something on the news about corpses walking,” the security guard said.“Hang on.There might be a connection tunnel somewhere in the basement.This whole series of buildings are technically part of the same complex.And you know, this part of the city—it all goes back for years.”
“Let’s try and get her wrapped up and as stable as possible and then we’ll head down,” Eddie said.“Do you know for sure how to navigate the walkway?”
