Brittany and I began the task of navigating the full cart out the store. The cart was so heavy, it almost tipped over twice. I strained to keep it upright. The last test for us would be to get the cart over the door.
“Wait,” I said as we made it to the last register by the door.
“What?”
I went back to the slow-moving zombie and pulled my knife out of its head. I found something to wipe it down with and stuck it in my back pocket. My knife total climbed back to three. Though we had no room for them, I saw a plentiful treat, so I grabbed them and put them in my other back pocket. The world was ending and I wanted a delicacy, what could it hurt?
We struggled to get the cart over the door. In the end, we kicked the bottom out of our way and wheeled our cart out. Under the tree, we went. Brittany grabbed and opened her backpack and handed it to me. She then went back and got Jones’ pack and opened it.
“Get the small canned food first, Zee. Start with the potted meat and then the Vienna sausages.”
“Okay.” I went to work.
“I’ll get the sardines and a couple cans of salmon for Jones. I’ll put it in his pack so he will be the one carrying it. I’m not carrying them, they are too heavy and I can live without them.”
“Okay.”
We worked in silence for a minute. They had found a whole case of potted meat and another of Vienna. I debated how much of each to put in her bag. My bag was full, but I knew its weight. I could carry more. I went and got my bag and put ten of the potted meat in its folds. After that, I could semi-stack the rest in her pack in a way that wouldn’t look so bulky. I lifted it to fill the weight. It was heavy, but manageable.
“Put more in there,” said Brittany.
She saw my test and didn’t approve. Her look was one I had seen many times at camp. Everyone misjudged her and called her everything from a wallflower to a paper princess. She was beautiful; there is no denying it, even on her ugliest day I couldn’t hold a candle to her beauty. She was, however, much more and had to constantly prove it. She wasn’t a weak female that needed coddling. Often, she would be the first into the fray. I could only assume hitting things gave her power and comforted her.
We loaded our bags and picked up new ones, Thompson’s and Charley’s bags. Not knowing and not wanting to ask what they preferred, I began putting random cans in their packs. Charley had a cloth sack he threw over his shoulder, it couldn’t hold as much as ours. He looked as if he liked vegetables, I put a lot of them in his sack.
Brittany opened Thompson’s pack and carefully stacked cans into it. The pack wasn’t as big as ours, but it held a lot. She put in flip-top soups and others that required no can opener for access. Most of the cart went into our five bags. The few remaining items we could carry or eat as we marched on toward Camp Brandt.
“Here,” said Brittany.
She handed me a can of Vienna sausages and a box of animal crackers. “Thanks.”
“Hurry, before they come out.”
“All right.”
I started eating. I wished I had something to wash it down with and that was the first time I thought about water. I knew we might not find it here, it’s been two years. I hoped for juices. They can survive in cans like the food.
“Aww! That sucks.”
“What?”
Brittany threw it to the ground. I looked at the small container; it had a straw in it. I couldn’t read the writing, but I knew it was a children’s drink. I wanted to pick it up and check the other side, maybe the writing was clearer. I never got the chance. Thompson stepped through the door carrying a bloody duffel bag, followed by Jones, then Charley.
They walked toward us. I remembered Brittany’s words and shoved a sausage in my mouth. For some reason, I reverted to a little child and thought they might take it from me. I managed to stuff another in my mouth before they were next to us.
Thompson laughed at me. I felt even smaller. He looked at the discarded container and at both of us. Brittany wiped her mouth, wearing an unpleasant frown. He judged her to be the drinker of the foul beverage. “I told you, didn’t I?”
“Whatever.”
“It’s not whatever. It’s common sense, something you are evidently lacking.”
“Hey,” I managed to say with a mouthful of sausages.
He turned his gaze on me. “Any liquid in a paper container is no good.” His voice boomed at me. As if I was an idiot, who couldn’t hear or understand basic English. “Besides that, it’s been a long time since you have had that stuff. It will tie your stomach in knots and god knows what else.”
“You could have just said that,” I said in Brittany’s defense, making sure not to spit out my meal.
Thompson glared, “I did.”
“Whatever.” I said it fast and went back to eating.
“What did you guys find?” Brittany asked.
Jones set his bag down and unzipped it. “I didn’t get anything, except this bag and a couple bottles of whiskey. I picked up a shirt we can cut and stuff into them.” When he stopped talking, I looked at him. His face widened into his evil grin.
“What?”
“Molotov cocktails. That is, if I don’t drink them first.” He chuckled.
“And you?”
Thompson was the only one I had seen with a bag. He shook his head. “I thought we needed something more to carry the food.”
“Why is it so bloody?”
“I pulled it from under a rotting zombie.”
I thought he said the last part for my benefit. I was the only one eating. I tried to think happy thoughts, like gutting him with one of my knives. I could draw a smiley face around his belly button.
I dismissed the thought, focusing on the good. He did a good thing. I guess I can give him an ounce of credit, as long as he doesn’t grin. It wouldn’t happen too many times, but I had misjudged him, he could be a team player.
“Don’t let him fool you,” said Charley. He grinned. “We found batons.”
“Oh.” Jerk! I didn’t misjudge him.
Charley turned his attention to Brittany.
“I thought maybe we might eat these on the way,” said Brittany.
“I heard that,” said Charley. He reached into the cart and popped open a can of the sausages. I offered him some of my crackers. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
The others picked a can from the cart and I packed the leftovers in Thompson’s duffel bag. We started on our journey, weighted down with our haul. If not for Jones going toward the overturned army truck, I wouldn’t have given it another thought.
“I saw that truck earlier. It may have weapons we can use.”
Jones debated. “I don’t know.”
“Let’s take a chance,” said Brittany.
“All right, people, let’s be careful.” Jones led the way, we followed. I took my rear position and looked everywhere. No zombies appeared in the parking lot. We had to zigzag around wrecked cars, glancing inside them as we went. I feverishly searched for the walking dead.
It took the longest time to do the simplest things. Zombies could jump out at you from anywhere. Even though the distance between the parking lot and overturned truck was short, it took forever to get there. We moved slowly because of our bags, but made steady progress toward our goal.
Charley broke off. It took a couple of minutes, for me to notice him missing. I looked around for him, it would be better for me to find him than to make a commotion. After all, I was watching our six and he disappeared right in front of me. I dropped back a little and looking to my left, I found him.
Charley sat inside an abandoned car with no front windshield. I was lucky to catch a glimpse of him, his head bobbed up for a split second, then was gone again. I looked up at the others continuing to walk to the truck before sprinting to Charley.
“Hey, what is going on?”
“I can get this to run.”
I looked at him, bent over the car, working on some wires. I looked around and then ba
ck at him, he had a piece of wire between his teeth, stripping the plastic cover off it.
“What are you doing?”
He gave me a confused look. “The battery is still good. If I can—” he touched two of the wires and the inside dash lit up. I can’t tell whose grin was bigger, his or mine. “This might be our lucky day.”
I looked at the dash and found the gas gauge, it read half a tank. I didn’t know how far we had to go, but this was a small four cylinder and it could surely take us a hundred miles or more. “Oh my god! If you can get this to work. We can be at the camp in a heartbeat.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“How much longer?”
Confusion spread across his face. “I have no idea. I guessed the thickest red wire was hot and I touched it to ground and it sparked. That let me know the battery had juice. With what I can remember, I think it is best to avoid black, brown, and gray wires. I’m going to touch the others one by one and see what happens, but first, I have to raise the hood and disconnect the horn.”
“Why? Can’t you do everything from down there?”
“The last thing I need is to activate the horn and send a thousand zombies down on us.”
I took a deep breath. “Well, good luck. I will catch up to the others and let them know. If you get it going, you know where we’ll be.” I have no idea why I whispered. It may have been to hide my anxiety.
Charley smiled up at me and then he was back down low, under the dash. I zigzagged through the mess and caught my people as they made it to the truck. I crept up, “anything good?”
Jones looked at me as if he wanted to kill me. I guess I was supposed to really guard our six. I’m sure he thought I slipped back into my old habits, only they took a new form. “Check the cab, Baker. We got this.”
“Yes, sir.” I was wrong, I can’t deny it. I wasn’t going to waste time arguing. I went around the front to search the cab for something useful. I wasn’t choosy, anything would do: a map, a compass from the glove compartment, a nine millimeter, or a good-sized stick. “Oh shit!” I knew it couldn’t last. Zombies saw us and came in mass numbers.
At first they moved slowly as if they had all the time in the world, a pack of them. When I took a step backward to run, that’s when one on the end howled and they all came at us, howling and running.
“Jones! Jones!” I screamed, racing to the back. “Brittany!”
They must have heard them. When I got to them, none of them searched the wreckage like before, all watched the approaching zombies.
“Run!” Jones shouted and we did. We ran back the way we came. Though we clutched our prized possessions, we or at least I, was ready to drop them and run even faster.
Beep, beep, beep. A horn blasted.
We ran in its direction, Charley barreled down the road. He screeched to a halt and we jumped in. Charley hit the gas, not to mention many of the cars, as he peeled out of the lot. For pure pleasure, I looked from the back seat at the chasing zombies. They howled and kept running, but they would never catch us.
Charley navigated the maze of streets and got us away. We gave him high praise and he ate it up, with a grin to end all grins.
Chapter Eleven
Zombie Zora Page 10
