by Thomas Baker
At the next intersection, Hannah motioned to her right. JT looked that way. He saw the shadowy bulk of some long, large building. It was hard to judge just how far away it was in the gloom. JT cursed the cloud cover.
When they got closer to what appeared to be the front of the building, JT looked up and could see the sign on it said 'Exchange', with a big X above it. They crossed an almost full parking lot. Each car they passed JT ducked down to shine his light inside. Each car was empty. He had learned his lesson. He didn't want to have anyone spring out of a car and have what happened to Randall happen again.
The entrance to the building had the wide automatic doors which didn't work now. On either side of the electric doors were regular glass doors, with stainless steel handles. Hannah tried one of those doors. She pulled the handle. It opened.
They walked into a large expanse. It was something like a mini mall. To the left looked like a food court area. To the right were rows of windows and fencing, which were more than likely stores.
As far as their lights would puncture the dark they could see everything was in shambles. Bodies, most of themin army fatigues, laid in scattered heaps. Around them and on top of them were bits of broken furniture, large shards of plastic, and piles of all kinds of stuff. As JT swung his head around, his light showed bullet holes in just about anything he looked at. Even the glass door had a few, when he looked closer. Looking down, he saw empty shells littered the floor. He guessed it must have been one hell of a firefight. Maybe even a last stand situation. Then the stench hit him. It wasn't the first time he had come across piles of bodies but he didn't think it was a smell he would ever get use to.
"I don't like the looks of this," Hannah whispered to them, her nose crinkling up. "Let's go back."
JT couldn't agree more. His gung ho, let's kill some zombies, take what we need attitude was pretty muchgone. Sheriff Randall's words were something he thought on every day since he died. His words seemed to be the last nail in that attitude's coffin.
JT walked backwards towards the doors. Headlights splashed through the windows and a low, powerful rumble of an engine vibrated from behind him. He didn't have a moment to wonder if it was Linda. JT turned to look out the glass doors, then flipped back around when he heard noise behind him, in the mall.
"What, now the zombies take naps?" Gus exclaimed. "This is the first time I'm jealous of these sons of bitches."
Looking around in a sweep, JT could see what Gus was talking about. Some of what JT had assumed were dead bodies stirred among the wreckage. The zombies scrabbled as one all along the open gallery that ran the length of the building. JT's quick count was twenty-five at least. This was new behavior, lying in wait. JT felt his panic rise and his confidence plummet.
"Out the door, now!" Hannah shouted.
JT was already turning back towards it. From outside he now heard the slamming of several doors. The parking lot was brightly lit up. JT didn't understand who could be out there. Maybe Linda came looking for them?
"I knew following them would be a good idea. Look at this place," a man's voice spoke, muffled by the glass between them.
JT skidded to a stop. Hannah did as well right next to him. Gus bumped into her. He was still walking backwards.
"You know exit is the place where you leave," Gus said.
JT could see the figures outside now, silhouetted in the headlights of their trucks. They were armed and headed their way.
"Run," Hannah commanded, jigging off to the right.
JT popped off his pistol as a runner streaked across the littered tile floor, stumbling as it closed in. JT got it in the head when it was only a few feet away. Its momentum caused JT to hold up for a minute as the zombie flew between him and Gus. Then the two took off after Hannah towards the mall stores.
"Over there," JT heard a woman's voice now. He did a quick over the shoulder look.
Four figures stood in the dark. They were inside the mall now. They didn't have lights, but they seemed to be able to see. The head shots they were popping on the zombies proved it. One of the newcomers turned in his direction and debris puffed up at JT's feet. JT took off with renewed effort, his knee already throbbing from the extra push. This was why he wasn't in charge anymore. Here was another decision he wanted and it might cause them all to get killed. It was a bitter thought he didn't have time to contemplate at the moment.
"Gus, they aren't friendly," JT said in a pant as he caught up to him.
"They usually aren't," was about all Gus could breathlessly reply.
JT thought fuck it, they shot first. He stopped, dropped to his one good knee, and fired at the shadowy figures still standing by the entranceway. He pulled back his teeth in a smile thatwas more of a snarl when he heard one of them cry out in pain.
"Gerard, Lydia's been hit," he heard one cry out.
"Let's go then," a different, more gruff sounding man said. "We can let the skin jobs take care of them. Plenty of other buildings to hit."
A wall of zombies cut off JT's sight of the attackers. The man may be right. The zombies might take get them before the people outside. There was a shitload coming towards them.
"JT, wake up!" Hannah shouted. "This way."
She was kneeling behind a big trash container bolted to the floor, taking shots at the zombies. JT ran towards her, not looking back. Ahead Gus was crawling under a half-lowered metal gate into one of the stores.
JT blew past Hannah, slid under the gate trying to look like a hotshot. He regretted it right after as his knee popped. He jerked to a stop on the carpet on the other side of the gate. He tried to scoot out of the way to make room for Hannah, holding his knee which screamed in agony. Gus came over and gave him a hand up. He stood one legged like a stork. Hannah tossed her rifle under the opening and then rolled under. Zombies smashed into the gate, making it screech as it jostled on its track.
Dead hands tried to reach through the opening of the gate. Grey and rotten flesh peeled back on the metal as they reached for the living. Some didn't even have fingers left. Bony stubs of fingers flapped without muscle and arms ending at the wrist tried to grab themas well. They strained for them without expression, without a sound. JT felt a pit open up in his stomach. This was Tyrone's state the last time he saw him.
Hannah shot two in the head at point blank, turning away as the gore splattered in every direction. She got her fingers in the gate and tried to push down it quickly to latch it shut, but had to jump back as more zombies rushed the gate.
JT got himself back into action and looked around for something useful to help. If they didn't get the gate closed, the zombies might figure out a way to get through it. He laughed out loud when he realized they were in a Gamestop.
"Game on," JT said, still chuckling.
How he would have liked to ransack a place like this back in the day. He had the feeling of someone who had won one of those five-minute shopping sprees, where you got to keep whatever you could get in a cart. He greedily looked around.
"When you're done laughing like a loon, a little help would be nice," Hannah grunted, kicking down at the gate to get it to close. A hand grabbed her ankle at just that moment and Hannah went down on her ass with a squeal.
JT came back to reality. He picked up a metal pole that used to be the side of a display rack and stabbed and smashing the zombies through the gate. Gus rushed up and helped Hannah off the ground. Together the three of them struggled to get the gate closed and locked.
JT shoved the metal pole as hard as he could into a zombie's head. It sank in deep and JT let it go. The pole caught on the gate and the zombie hung from it. It waved its arms and legs uselessly. It had no leverage to get off the metal that impaled it. The remaining zombies mindlessly pushed on the gate which shook and rattled under there collective weight.
"Great Hannah," said Gus as the three made it to the back of the store. "We're safe for now. What's the next move kemosabe? What about Linda, you think she's okay?"
"I bet she saw
them coming and hid," JT said, patting Gus on the shoulder.
"Let's check out the stockroom. There could be a back way out of here," Hannah said.
JT looked longingly at the video games around him. Even though he didn't have a way to play them anymore, he felt tempted to stick a couple video games in his backpack. With a sigh, he turned and followed Hannah. In the back room they found a door that opened out into a hallway of yellow cinder blocks. Hannah took point, with Gus behind her. JT brought up the rear. They came across a body a few feet down the hallway and another at the door that opened out into the mall. Thankfully, they were of the actually dead variety.
Back out in the open mall, Hannah ducked down and took off in a sprint for a door marked emergency exit. JT did his best to follow her, but he more limped than sprinted. I really did a number to my knee. Fuck, like it wasn't bad enough already. At least now the pain had dropped to low and dull. It didn't feel like Freddy Kruger was sticking his fucking blade glove into it. Outside, huddled up against the side of the building, he couldn't see any of their human attackers.
"Lights off," Hannah said, reaching up and switching hers.
JT did the same and his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
"How we going to find Linda?" Gus asked.
Just then headlights flashed across the street as a car turned on the road in front of them. The three of them hid back around the corner, until a figure got out and stood in front of the headlights and looked around. It was Linda. They scooted across the parking lot, attempting to stay low. JT thought they probably looked like the world's goofiest ninjas.
"There you guys are," Linda hissed to them, waving them over. "I was at the gate when what looked like a convoy turned in, so I turned off my lights and rolled back into the shadows. Later I thought I heard noises in this direction."
"It was just the always pleasant welcoming committee of the undead," Gus said.
"Along with some armed fuckwads," JT added. "I heard them say they were following us."
They all climbed into the car. Hannah took the passenger seat next to Linda. Gus and JT got in the back. JT winced and tried to keep from yelling as he bent his knee. He ended up falling in more than anything.
"It was dark but there was no mistaking one vehicle was a dump truck." Linda said.
"Those guys? No way." Hannah was incredulous.
"What now?" JT asked, massaging his injury.
"We keep looking for supplies," Hannah said, gritting her teeth. "I will not let them chase us away. For all we know they may have left. If not, then we will just deal with them."
"Let's not bring a knife to a gunfight," Gus said. "I recall they had a whole bunch of explosives."
"Which won't do them shit in close combat, unless they want to blow themselves up too," Hannah retorted. "Linda drive on."
As they rode on JT was afraid he would have to swallow his pride if they stopped again. He didn't think he could get out and run around. Having to fight, would be even worse. He might have to ask to stay with the car.
"There, that building looks promising," Hannah said, pointing out her window. "Maybe we'll find a something useful."
Linda pulled over in front. It was a long, low brick building. A short set of stairs led up past the pole where the American Flag fluttered in the breeze, to the front doors.
"I don't see any sign of the others." Hannah reached for the door then stopped.
"Linda drive around, see if there is a way to get to the back. I want us all to go in."
There they found a loading dock. Linda backed up the car and popped the trunk. There were two dock doors and a set of stairs going up to a grey metal door.
"Linda, always thinking," Gus said, giving her a wink as he opened the trunk.
"A compliment from Gus? You'll have to go on without me, I might faint right here," Linda said in a dramatic southern belle accent.
Hannah went first and tried the door. It opened. They all went inside, JT bringing up the rear, swallowing down his pain.
"You okay there buddy?" Gus asked when he noticed JT's limp.
"Popped my knee is all. I'll be fine."
"Try not to put too much pressure on it," Linda advised. "I'll look at it when we stop someplace safer."
"Yes, doc."
"JT, you want to wait here?" Hannah asked.
"No way. In movies it's always a bad idea to split up. I don't want to be picked off. I can make it fine. Not like my knee hasn't bothered me before." Later some whiskey will numb the pain right out, anyway.
Their headlamps were on, illuminating their way. They were in a plain hallway. Their shoes squeaked on the linoleum floor. They came across a sign pointing the way to the Armory.
"Bingo!" Gus said. "Hannah my sweet, you may have just won the damn lottery!"
The building was as silent and empty as a tomb. JT figured whatever fight happened at the base, all of it must have taken place down at the mall. There was no sign of anything being disturbed here.
Hannah stopped them at a door with a plaque on the wall that said Armory. A machine which looked like a credit card swiper was below the plaque.
"You think the door will open with the power off?" JT asked, more to himself.
Hannah tried the door. She just about fell over when she yanked on it, she was so surprised it opened. JT made a move to catch her, but she corrected herself.
"Ladies first," JT said, grabbing the door and holding it open.
Along one wall was a row of small lockers. To JT they almost looked like Post Office boxes. Some of them stood open. Along the wall across from them were six rows of gun racks, three on top and three below them. Each rack looked like it held eight weapons. Each rack seemed to be a different style. Some racks had empty slots in them.
"Either someone took things during the Outbreak, or we're not the first ones here," JT said.
"Still, there is plenty for us," Hannah said, heading over to the boxes. "Let's load up everything we can."
JT went over and with a firm pull he got a shotgun and what looked like a semi-automatic rifle from the rack. Slinging one over each shoulder he went over to Hannah. The boxes were filled with ammunition. None of them were experts on firearms, even now. They picked up and use what they had found along the way the best they could figure out. She wasn't sure what magazines went with what guns. Hannah was just dumping what she could into her empty pack. When they had taken what they could, Hannah declared it was time to go.
"Now thatwe're armed to the teeth, are we going to run around the mountains calling ourselves the Wolverines?" Gus joked.
"Why would we do that?" Hannah said, looking puzzled.
"Kids these days," Gus sighed.
"Fucking Randall..." JT smiled as he said the words to himself.
The little car sputtered and wheezed as JT coaxed it up the mountain road. The road twisted back and forth, this way and that. A mountain stream tumbled among the rocks on the left side of the road. It was pretty in the dawning morning light. He would have rather been in the passenger seat to admire it.
After leaving the army base with a trunk full of new toys, Hannah had said she was too tired to drive. Gus volunteered but JT didn't want to be stuck sitting in the back. Driving was painful but being stuck in the small space of a backseat for hours would have been worse.
So JT had driven all night from the fort. The sun lit the now clear blue skies, which JT could only catch a glimpse of between the towering walls on both sides. He followed the climbing road deeper into mountain territory. He felt the pull of sleep on his eyelids.
"Look out," Hannah called out beside him.
JT, startled, jerked the wheel. He didn't even know she was awake. He compensated with a sharp turn in the other direction to find himself heading straight for a truck lying on its side across the entire road. JT turned the wheel hard right. The little car went off onto the small, narrow shoulder and the passenger side screeched across the rocky face of the mountain. The back seat window shattered. The car
then careened in a circle when it hit a patch of slick ground.
JT was able to get the car to stop before he lost control. They were backwards on the road, facing the other side of the truck they had just barely missed crashing into.
The Honda sputtered again, then the engine died. JT tried to get it started again, cranking the key, but the engine refused to catch. Hannah pushed against her door, grunting as she applied more force. It wouldn't budge.
"Damn it!" JT shouted, slamming his hands on the steering wheel.
He got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side. It was dented in places and had huge scrape marks running from front to back.
"You're not going to be getting out that way Hannah. You either Gus. You'll have to slide out," JT said.
"Your license is revoked," Gus called out through the broken window. "We walkin' now bossman?"
"It would do you some good anyway Gus," Linda said as she got out, then extended a hand to Gus. "Get some fresh mountain air in those lungs."
"Yeah, and a heart attack from the steep mountain roads," grunted Gus. "I'm not some damn billy goat. After our luck of finding that car, I thought it would take us to the promised land."
"You should know by now our good luck never lasts for long, old timer," JT said, going around to the back of the car.
"I don't know if that's true," Linda said. "If you had swerved harder left instead of right, we would have fallen right off the mountainside."
JT looked to his left at the open space and shuddered. She did have a point. He walked to the back of the car and popped open the trunk. Inside were everyone's winter coats, hats, gloves, and three backpacks. Along with all their new weapons and a bag full of ammo. JT distributed them around. Everyone got a backpack except Gus, who was still too weak to carry much more than himself. However, Gus took the ammo bag, along with an automatic rifle.
JT shrugged on his backpack, settling it into a comfortable spot. Hannah stepped up next to him and put her gloved hand into his. Though it was still early winter, they were high enough up now that the cold was getting bitter, and snow was sticking to the ground. Every time they spoke, little puffs of steam trailed their words.
