Tales of the Urban Dead Part 6

It was the evening of the second day Albert had spent at St. Matheos' and the streets were still quiet. Albert was settling down to read a book on diagnosis methods he had found in one of the wards when the sound of shattering glass echoed through the night air. Albert rolled out of his chair and crouched, keeping low as he crept over to the nearest window, gun in hand.

There was another crash and a muffled yell as Albert peered out into the Kempsterbank night. The lights were on in a building across the street, and the ruckus seemed to be coming from inside. Someone needed help. Albert seized his axe and leapt down the hospital stairs two at a time.

A brief silence had fallen as Albert emerged into the cold night, glancing around as he stole across the street. Another shout came from the lit-up building, and a loud scraping like furniture being dragged across a wooden floor.

Albert steeled himself and kicked the door in, raising one hand against the brightness. Several voices cried out, and Albert stared around at the group of people dispersed around what looked like a hotel restaurant. Tables and chairs were stacked against one wall and several young men and women were grouped in couples in the middle of the floor, ogling Albert. A grizzled old man leaning against the bar broke the silence. "Well, you've come just in time for the dancin'."

A younger man with a sparse blond beard grinned as he lifted his shotgun to point at Albert's chest. "Friendly?"

Albert quickly lowered his axe. "Yes, friendly. What are you doing here?"

The man at the bar had taken a simple wooden flute from his jacket and was polishing it on his sleeve. "The zed have really won if they can keep us from our Saint Paddy's Day celebrations. Pull up a chair."

Albert nodded as he leaned his axe against a wall. The old man started up a merry tune on his flute, and the couples on the floor began a simple dance. Albert turned to the man with the shotgun. "Aren't you worried people will hear?"

"Let them hear, then. We're the Boardsies, and we can take whatever comes."