Max rolled onto his stomach and then frantically crawled on all fours back to the men’s room door. From inside he heard a low moaning. When he reached the door he spun around and sat on his ass and braced the door shut with his back. Something tried to open the door. Max sensed himself once again starting to slide on the highly polished floor tiles. The door cracked open an inch.

“Steve!” he yelled as he tried to dig his heels in. Was he still on the telephone?

Max tried to hold his position but the thing on the other side of the door had better leverage. Slowly he started to slide a little more.

“Steve! Get your ass over here! Help! Steve!”

Would Steve ignore his calls for help? He couldn’t. Could he? Not at a time like this. They had their differences but this was life or death; not who gets the next promotion.

Max heard footsteps, quick footsteps, running footsteps. Steve was coming. If he could hold the door for just a little longer Steve would be there and they could trap the thing in the men’s room.

The door was now about a foot open. Above his head he could hear the slapping of flesh on the metal of the door.

“Hold it right there!” The yell came from the lobby and was that of a woman. Max lifted his head and looked right into the barrel of a pistol. It was a police officer, a blond female police officer. Her feet were spread apart for stability and she held the gun firmly clasped between both hands. Her left eye was pinched shut but Max could clearly see her right eye looking down the barrel at him.

“I said hold it right there!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Don't move!”

“There is a…” 'There’s a what?' Max thought. 'A zombie eating someone on the other side who wants to eat me you if you don’t blow his head off? Would a trained officer of the law believe this story?' Not likely.