Chapter 36: Trading Up
Several walkers craned their heads up, howling toward his hanging position, rotted arms clawing upward uselessly.
"Damn it..." Glenn watched from the opposite platform, heart in his throat, hands clamped over his mouth.
Hanks's arm muscles tensed. He pulled himself up, nimbly vaulting over the windowsill and rolling into the station's second floor interior.
Inside appeared to be an office. Documents and dried blood scattered across the floor.
He quickly crouched, drawing the hand axe, scanning his surroundings alertly.
After confirming temporary safety, he walked to the window and gave the anxious Glenn an all-clear signal.
Only then did Glenn sigh with relief, slumping to the ground.
Hanks began carefully exploring the second floor.
The hallway was terrifyingly silent. Several office doors stood open, interiors equally chaotic.
He found the stairwell and looked down. The first floor lobby's condition was even more horrifying.
Dense walker silhouettes swayed below, almost impenetrable. No wonder the main entrance was so thoroughly blocked.
His objective was clear: the armory.
According to typical layouts, the armory would likely be on the first floor near the back courtyard or side entrance. But there might also be a separate safe on the second floor.
Hanks continued exploring the second floor.
Most rooms were completely empty. Only a distinctive door remained at the corridor's far end.
A heavy solid wood door. The frame was metal. The door even had a small reinforced glass observation window, but paper covered the inside, obscuring the view.
Most importantly, above the door handle sat an electronic keypad lock.
Though clearly disabled by the power outage, the door itself looked abnormally sturdy.
This was it.
Hanks was certain. Even if this wasn't the main armory, it definitely stored important items.
He tried pushing the door. It didn't budge. The lock mechanism was mechanical, not automatically opening due to power loss.
"..." He cursed under his breath.
Needed a key, or brute force entry.
The latter would make too much noise, definitely alerting the endless horde downstairs.
He backed up several steps, scanning both sides of the hallway, searching for anywhere that might store keys.
Duty room... captain's office...
He targeted higher-ranking offices, fingers brushing over various debris.
Finally, at the very bottom of an overturned drawer, he touched a distinctive metal object.
He pulled it out. A brass cross-shaped key. A somewhat faded label on the key handle read: Armory.
"I love Lady Luck!"
Hanks couldn't help kissing the key. He quickly returned to the reinforced door and inserted the key in the lock.
Click. In the silent environment, the mechanism turning sounded exceptionally loud.
His heart leaped to his throat. His ears perked up, listening intently to the movement downstairs.
The horde's howls didn't seem to change noticeably. The crisp sound hadn't drawn attention.
Hanks slowly pushed the door open. Inside was a not-too-large storage room.
Against the wall stood several heavy gray metal gun cabinets. But the cabinet doors all hung open, completely empty inside.
Empty magazines and packaging boxes scattered across the floor.
Hanks's heart sank.
The scene he'd envisioned—stacked full of weapons—didn't appear.
But following the spirit of "already here," he rummaged through the entire storage room.
Occasionally he found a few 9mm rounds in scattered boxes.
Behind a half-open low cabinet in the corner, he discovered some forgotten—or perhaps surplus—equipment.
A black SWAT uniform and a tactical vest with plate inserts, plus a 72-hour assault backpack.
The entire uniform was marked with "SWAT" lettering and looked relatively intact.
Two M590 shotguns leaned against the wall. Nearby lay a small box containing about a dozen 12-gauge shells.
One P226 pistol. Five magazines fully loaded with 9mm ammunition sat beside the gun.
The corner also held several sealed cardboard boxes labeled with calibers, mainly 9mm and 12-gauge.
Hanks quickly stripped off his clothing, changing into the SWAT uniform and the brand-new military boots nearby. The shoe size was reasonably good.
He opened the assault pack and found it contained not only two smoke grenades and one flashbang but also a tactical knife. He clipped the knife to his waist.
Then he stuffed the found pistol and boxed ammunition inside, along with his empty magazines.
Hanks used the glass reflection to examine himself. Suddenly he felt like he'd traded a popgun for a cannon.
His entire appearance was transformed. From a down-on-his-luck cop to a fully equipped tactical operator.
Originally down to just his pistol's magazine rounds, now he had five magazines clipped to his gear alone.
He only glanced briefly, not daring to delay. He quickly shouldered both shotguns and headed for the window.
Glenn saw the familiar figure appear by the window and was immediately overjoyed.
Hanks was about to speak—
BOOM!
A massive explosion suddenly erupted from downstairs. The entire building seemed to shake.
Immediately following came tsunami-like walker howls, along with sounds of heavy objects being smashed and torn.
Both men's faces changed dramatically at the same time.
"What happened?" Glenn screamed in terror.
Hanks stuck his head out the window, looking toward the sound's source—the armored vehicle parked on the first floor.
The SWAT armored vehicle had exploded and caught fire. Ammunition likely still stored inside detonated in a chain reaction. Thick smoke billowed instantly.
The massive explosion and flames immediately drew every walker's attention. They swarmed the vehicle in a frenzy.
Even more terrifying—the explosion seemed to have damaged the station's already fragile structure.
CRACK... RUMBLE!
The station's first floor side wall collapsed in a huge section under the external blast.
A massive breach appeared.
Swarms of walkers instantly flooded out like a breached dam. But even more walkers, stimulated by flames and noise, continued rampaging inside.
The entire sheriff's station became a lit powder keg. And Hanks was still on the powder keg's second floor.
"Officer! Get out!" Glenn shouted frantically from the opposite platform, no longer bothering to keep his voice down.
"Hide yourself! I can't get across now!"
Hanks glanced behind at the frenzied pounding and howling coming from the corridor's other end.
"This is bad..."
Every route back, every possible path—all consumed by the sea of flames.
"OFFICER!" Glenn's voice carried anguish, but he still turned and ran back with his baseball bat.
Hanks was forced to retreat to the storage room. He discovered another door on the far side blocked by shelving.
He rushed over and shoved the shelf aside. Opening the door revealed a narrow internal corridor.
There was still a route behind.
He didn't hesitate. He ran quickly down the corridor until reaching the end and stopping.
The corridor's end held another iron door marked "Emergency Exit," but it was chained shut from the outside.
By now the walker horde had surged up in a frenzy. Couldn't advance, couldn't retreat. Completely trapped with no way out.
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