Surrender

The elevator descends and allows Iñaki to hear his heartbeat. The mirror on his right offers an image he is not willing to see. Iñaki closes his eyes and feels Sofia's trembling body against his ribs.

A little startle reopens them. The door starts to open. Roars.

Iñaki doesn't think twice. He shoots in the direction of the door that leads to the street. Behind him echoes the hymn of death. With Rambo at his heels, he grabs the door handle and, feeling a few fingers on his shoulder, pulls inside. Iñaki slams the door behind him and an infernal groan accompanied by a pair of hands crashing against the other side of the door.

The air caresses Iñaki's sweaty face. The glass of the door begins to break, hit by their deceased neighbors. Every cracked glass is a stab wound.

Iñaki runs to the street as every muscle in his body screams in agony. Sweat clouds his eyesight. Then the sunlight - the one he had eluded for so long - burns his skin and relaxes him. Sofia's nails stuck in his back and Rambo's barking become distant stimuli. There, with the light blinding him, Iñaki gives up.

Iñaki sits on the sidewalk and breathes the daytime air. He can already hear their footsteps behind him; the door has yielded and the dead come to claim him.

Iñaki hugs Sofia tightly and looks at Rambo with a smile on his face. "Valentina, " thinks Iñaki as he closes his eyes

Iñaki feels the vibrations of their footsteps and their moans, silencing everything. He relaxes his muscles. "It's time," he hears a voice in his mind, "it's time."

"I know," whispers Iñaki, "everything will be fine."

But suddenly a sharp scream rips through the air, enters Iñaki's ears, and breaks his dream state.

Iñaki opens his eyes and finds Sofia shaking and screaming in his arms. Iñaki looks back with resignation and sees a dozen hungry faces. With resignation, he stands up. There are no more forces in him. Rambo looks at him with his tongue out.

At that instant he hears it over the moans; the engine of a car. Iñaki looks for it with his eyes. There it is, a red vehicle a block away. Iñaki takes a step, his tendons burning with the effort.

"I can't take it anymore!" Iñaki yells advancing with tears in his eyes.

Rambo follows him just as exhausted. Claudia digs her tiny fingernails into him even more.

Iñaki picks up the pace and the driver speeds up. The dead are still after him. The slower ones are left behind while the faster ones roar and shorten the distance.

"Faster!" Iñaki harangues the driver.

It's a race for life. The car then arrives accompanied by a gust of wind. The co-pilot's door opens.

"Come in!"

Iñaki throws Sofia into the car, grabs Rambo by the collar, and jumps into the vehicle. Closes the door. The car starts. Iñaki closes his eyes and leaves his body.

"That was close!" Iñaki thinks he hears in the distance. "I'm Mike."