Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

doors and found ourselves in one of the prisoner wings. It was empty. We whispered as we walked around the different levels, taking metal stairs with holes in them that made bonging sounds when the sneakers of our friends hit them. The moccasins were as silent here as they were in the swamp.
    “Where are all the bodies?” asked Jamal in a hushed voice.
    “Maybe there aren’t any,” said Bianca, whispering.
    “No, they’re here,” said Ronald. “Just not here here. They couldn’t have disappeared into thin air.”
    We found a big, industrial-sized kitchen with a connected lunchroom. The place could have easily held a couple hundred people.
    “Could you imagine the place filled with canners?” asked Jamal.
    I shuddered involuntarily, because I could. I was so glad we’d gotten here before them.
    “Come on, let’s go back,” I said. We’d reached a dead end.
    “Wait a minute,” said Ronald. He’d gone into the kitchen, poking around.
    “Come on, Ronald, I’m getting hungry,” whined his brother.
    I heard a banging around, the sound of Ronald’s gagging coming just seconds after. Then a horrible smell hit me.
    “Oh, shit, what is that?” asked Gretchen, pulling her thin shirt up to cover her face.
    “Help! Help!” yelled Ronald. “God, please, get me out of here!”
    Bodo and Jamal raced into the kitchen and came out pulling Ronald with them. He was bent over and still choking.
    I was totally confused, rooted to the spot. “What the hell happened in there?!”
    “He foundt da bodies. Some of dem, maybe.”
    Ronald lifted an arm weakly, gesturing in the direction they’d just come from. “They’re in the walk-in fridge. Stacks of them. Everywhere. Rotten. Gah!” He turned and threw up on the floor.
    “Great,” I said, breathing through my mouth, pulling in Winky’s sleeve. “Come on. Let’s get out of here and figure out what we’re going to do.”
    The smell followed us out into the main part of the prison and then into the guards’ area.
    We joined Peter and Jenny in the front, and he greeted us first with an expectant smile, and then an expression that made it clear the stink had followed us out here, too.
    “I take it you found something,” he said, screwing up his mouth into a tiny grimace.
    “Yeah. They were in the fridge.”
    “It was sealed and I opened it,” said Ronald, taking big gulps of air and fanning his face.
    Jamal was fanning him too.
    “We needt to find some carts to wheel dem out of dare. It’s gonna take a long time.”
    “Can’t we just close it up and leave it?” asked Ronald weakly. “You guys didn’t see it. It’s nasty .”
    “No. It’s toxic waste,” I said. “We just have to suck it up and do it. And find a place way the hell away from here so we don’t contaminate our ground with it.”
    “You didn’t happen to find any biohazard suits did you?” asked Peter.
    “No. But I wouldn’t be surprised to find some here,” I said, trying to think back to our tour and remember if I saw any storage closets with something like that in them. “It’s a prison. All kinds of crazy contingencies are planned for here.”
    “Did you find guns or bullets?” he asked.
    “Nope. None of that, either. It’s probably on that side,” I said, gesturing to the hallway to right of the front desk. “We need to eat. Then we can go see what’s over there in that section.”
    “I’m already on it,” said Peter, gesturing towards the blanket he’d laid out with what looked like a sad little picnic.
    I hugged him close. “You are the bestest, Peter Heggenburger.”
    He patted me on the back. “I know. Now eat.” He pushed me away and went to sit next to Jenny, helping her get up so she could join us. Her cheeks had some pink in them which was encouraging.
    We finished lunch, none of us having much of an appetite with that smell still lingering, so we packed up our wrappers and cans and regrouped at the door on the right side of the lobby.
    “Ready to do this?” I asked, looking at each of them.
    “Yes,” said Gretchen, looking at Ronald. “And may I suggest that we not open any fridges or other air-locked spaces this time around?”
    Ronald nodded, looking chagrined.
    “Okay. Let’s go,” I said, leading the way into the hallway.
    More of the rooms on this side were locked. We cheered when we found storage rooms full of prisoner uniforms and slippers of every size. I held up a pair at Bodo. “All you need is a robe and you could look