Battered houses and shacks sprouted along the side of the road like mushrooms. Tents lined the exit, hanging on by frayed ropes. A teddy bear lay on the ground next to a small shoe. A half-mile more, and they saw signs for Wholesale Club, a hotel, and a shopping plaza.
The odds of it being picked clean were high, and she wondered if the risk was worth it. Daniel's voice sounded through a speaker. "We're stopping in a mile. I want three teams ready to go on supply runs. We won't be alone."
Ally saw the grey-skinned bodies moving around, decayed to the point a stiff wind would knock them over. She understood how the bacteria worked; it ate its host from the inside out. That's why some were easier to kill than others, their bones brittle and easy to shatter. Others though, the bastards, worked a bit differently. The bacteria survived on what its host ate and, only when necessary, on the host.
Looking at what had to be one thousand meandering bodies, she hoped this place was far enough from a city population that they were dealing with easy-to-kill zombies. She stepped down from the crates, deciding she would hit the hotel for bedding, clean clothes, first aid kits, and anything else she could dig up. The stores would be crawling with ghouls and weren't worth the risk, but Daniel was in charge.
"Kevin, I want you to stay here with Sean. This truck might not be the most comfortable place in the world, but it's safe. I won't be gone long."
He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. "You know I care about you right? Like…I need you to be okay, so we can–"
Ally held a finger up to his lips. "I know, but I can't have this talk right now. We will have it later, I promise."
He took her hand away from his face and kissed her palm. "Okay, as long as you know how much I care. I'd do anything for you."
She got on her tip toes and gave him a chaste kiss. With slow movements, he wrapped his arms around her. The warmth and sincerity that was Kevin broke through her outer shell. Her feelings were still muddled, but getting clearer when it came to him. Glancing down at Sean, she never would have guessed this would be her life after losing everything.
"Ben, you want to come with me? Pick three people who won't get us killed. I think that Liam guy is good, maybe I can make nice with him."
Five minutes later, twenty people were standing with Ally in the middle of a highway. To the south was the shopping plaza, behind them was the Wholesale Club, and to the east was the hotel.
"I'll take the hotel with these guys," Ally said, not waiting for an answer.
"Back in sixty minutes, Ally," Daniel said.
Chapter Nineteen
Ben chose Liam, a guy named George he knew from the facility, and Hector. Ally knew the latter from her trip to pick up Neal. George was tall and lanky with a hawk-like nose and cropped hair. Hector was more compact, his muscles easy to see. He hid his hair underneath a knitted cap and his dark eyes jumped from place to place.
"The place is probably going to have a lot of ghouls, so pay attention. You know what we're looking for. Ben and I will go in first, you watch the rear." Ally said.
Brickwork crumbled from the side of the building around cracked and broken window panes, and over three dozen vehicles were in the lot. Ally figured they belonged to people who thought they'd lay low until "the problem" blew over. She didn't discount finding survivors, but she didn't count on it either.
Glass littered the floor in the lobby overturned couches, old blood patterns sprayed across the wall, but Ally noted with unease…there were no bodies. Posted signs indicated rooms were to the left, the dining room and show rooms to the right.
Waving to the left, she led with Ben. He'd grabbed a wicked looking piece of metal and bent it at the end. Something clattered and she froze, counting to thirty. A few shuffled footsteps gave her an idea of the location of the zombie. Sliding open the door to the kitchen she spotted one wandering around the sink. Ben gagged a bit; never having gone on a supply run, he'd never had the pleasure of experiencing the smell of a human kept ambulatory by an organism eating it from the inside out.
Smirking at the big man, she moved in for the kill, her knife slicing through its skull with ease. Hector ran past her, smashing one on the floor with his boot heel. Ally went the other way around the center row of sinks and spotted another one barely able to move. Using the butt of her A-19, she cracked the zombie's head open, green and grey leaking out together.
"Grab anything you think is useful," Ally said.
She opened one of the duffle bags she brought and slid a few knives and forks into it. The butcher block held a sharpener which she scooped up. The cabinets didn't yield anything, which meant the food was most likely hoarded in a few of the guest rooms.
Exiting, she glanced toward the dining hall. Through the window, she saw over two dozen zombies sitting in chairs, lying on the floor, or wandering around. "There's nothing in there worth taking. Keep your heads low, we're going to search the rooms."
They spent the next ten minutes entering the guest chambers on the first floor, where they only found one zombie. Ally grabbed clean sheets and a couple of pillows, each of the men with her doing the same. They also picked up a few pairs of pants, shirts, and other items. She turned the taps in the bathroom and pipes moaned in protest.
"Okay, we're heading straight to the top. Leave your full bags here, there's no sense in taking them all the way up and then back down again." She opened the door to the stairwell, leaning out and looking up, and not hearing anything, she moved forward.
George piped up. "Why the top? This place is a bust. We should go somewhere else."
"This place was full of people; that means clothes which we're going to need when winter hits. As for why the top, it's where I would go if I was panicked and clueless."
Thirty flights of stairs later they were tired, winded, and—Ally had to admit to herself—a bit unnerved. At the entries to several levels, they saw bloody handprints on the handles and along the railings.
The top level was home to four suites, and when Ally entered the hallway even she had to plead with her stomach not to lose its contents. Ben moved ahead of her swinging his club. Ally heard the sound of skin rending and bones cracking. Once her eyes stopped watering she realized there were a dozen zombies milling around.
"Act fast, don't give them time to plan."
By the time Ally had her machete out, Ben had taken out two more. Hector ran to the left with Liam and George staying behind. Ally decapitated a maid and turned, skewering a bellboy before delivering a shattering kick to his head. A man in a business suit and a woman in a dress cornered her. She pulled her knife and threw it at the man's head, smiling when it struck him in the eye. He dropped with a thud and the woman shrieked, but Ally was quicker and sliced her face in half with the machete.
Wiping off the blade, she spotted the rest of her team, all clear of injuries. She glared at George; there would be talking later. He hadn’t moved to do anything.
"Hector, pick a door."
Brown eyes darted around the area, deciding on the one furthest from entry. These were high profile rooms, so the doors were a hell of a lot more secure than the ones they'd encountered below. Ben had to stop the poor guy before he dislocated his shoulder trying to ram it open.
Ben grunted with effort, but after the third kick the door splintered around the handle. Ally pushed the remains open with the tip of her rifle. The windows were covered in a layer of slime and the carpet was stained with blood. A chain hung from the wall, broken.
"Watch out. We got one in here, maybe more."
The closet hung open, full of clothing for both sexes. Off to her left she noticed a closed door, water stains on the carpet inside the room. She got Ben's attention and he joined her.
She slid the door open, and a bloated and naked man fell out. Ally reacted first, slamming the door shut and separating his head from his body. Looking inside the small room once more, she gave the all clear.
"Ben, take one of them and check another room, we need to move faster.
"
In the bathroom, Ally found a few bottles of prescription meds and toilet paper. She grinned and took the roll. In the main room, Liam emptied the bar of a few bottles of liquor and George shoved something in his bag, but she didn't see what.
The nightstand and dressers yielded nothing. She looked around the room one more time then exited to the next room, where the door was ajar. Ben was across the hall, so that meant someone else left it open. On the floor she caught sight of a rotten hand propping the door open.
When it was fully open she read the situation in seconds. Family holed up, someone went for supplies, didn't come back, fear kept them locked in here until someone panicked and took matters into their own hands.
On the bed were two small bodies, both with holes in their heads. In death they clutched one another's hands. A female body lay in the entryway, a bullet hole in the back of her head. A lone man sat in the chair next to the bed, the shotgun still in his hand and a black stain on the wall next to him.
Liam grabbed the weapon, and George hit the bar…again. Ally checked the bathroom. A few tabs of children's medicine, some headache drops, and soap. She tossed it all in her bag and searched the main room. She hustled out when she didn't find anything and met Ben in the hallway.
"We got some towels, clothes, a few knives, and some meds, you?"
Ally spoke while she went for the last door. "About the same, but no knives. George, watch the doors."
The door slid open with ease and she scanned the room. They had twenty minutes before they needed to return to the others. Inside was a room service cart, and everyone descended on it for little things now considered luxuries. Ally opened the door to clear the bathroom when a scream caused them all to drop what they were holding and raise their weapons.
Hector was being held in place by two large, greyish arms. Blood poured down the front of his jacket blending in with the black. Liam shot the zombie in the head. Ally took out Hector.
"Where the hell did that come from? George, you were supposed to be watching the goddamned entrances."
He stood there, a bottle of whiskey in one hand, his weapon held loosely in the other. "I didn't want to come on this damn trip. Last I checked, you weren't in charge of things."
Liam crossed the room in three steps and clocked the man. Ben intervened, moving faster than Ally thought possible.
"All of you, stop. We'll deal with this back at the truck. Right now we have to get the hell out of here. Those shots just gave us away."
Ally bent to pick up her bag and saw something metal under the bed. She got on her hands and knees and pulled out a military grade storage case.
Please let there be something worthwhile in here.
She smashed the lock with the hilt of her knife and opened it. Ben and the others looking over her shoulder. Inside were several weapons, ammunition, water purification pellets, bottles of meal supplements, and dozens of military meal pouches. Several low whistles sounded behind her.
"I have no idea why this is here, but we need it." A vision of Daniel and his men taking everything flashed before her eyes. She glanced at Liam wondering what he would say. "I suggest each of you take a few of these meals, just in case." Liam nodded, and she figured he knew why she was saying that. When they took their share she shut the lid. "Ben, you and Liam take it, let's go."
Ben picked something up off the floor and looked at Ally. "It's an ID, the guy in this room was working for a Firm."
"First and only time I will ever say this, but thank God for the Firms."
Ally entered the stairwell, clearing level by level as they went. The others followed and she hoped to God George didn't screw up again. When she hit the landing for the fourth floor, the door swung open, hitting her in the face.
"Stay back, let me handle this," she said. "If one of them gets by me, kick it down. That crate needs to make it back, no stupid risks." She held a hand to her forehead to stem the bleeding.
Three zombies poured out and she dropped her bags. The first zombie jumped for her, its tongue a black snake slapping against its chest. As she went down, Ally noted its lower jaw was long gone. She felt the edge of a stair hit her in the middle of her back and grunted. With her right arm pinned, she couldn't get her pistol, so she jammed the fingers of her right hand into both eye sockets. The other two zombies were looking at Ben and tried to move up the stairs. She ignored the pudding-like texture of the brains while she worked her hand through, hearing bone crack. The body stopped moving and she tossed it aside. Grabbing the lead zombie's ankle and yanking, she dropped it face-first onto a stair and she heard the snap if its neck. Her right hand finally free, she pulled her knife and planted it in the back of its skull, the pathetic attempts to get back up ceasing.
Pain surged thorough her when the last zombie launched itself at her. Bony finger tips dug in her neck. She struggled beneath it, feeling something warm make its way down her chest. Wrapping her legs around the thing's mid-section, she twisted the two of them over. With one hand on the zombie skull, she pounded it against the metal steps. An ear slipped off in her grip, but she didn't stop.
"Ally, it's dead." Ben's voice broke through to her. She grabbed her knife, wiped it on the clothes of the ghouls at her feet and slipped it back into its sheath.
That done, she picked up the bags and continued down. When they hit the main level, her heart was still beating like she'd run a two-minute mile.
"Put the extra bags on top of the crate, it's not safe for you and George to be too bogged down," Ben said.
They made it back to the truck a minute late, but when Daniel saw their grimaces of pain, and Ally covered in blood, any reprimand died on his lips.
"Get in the back of the truck after you clean off. One of the teams brought back some uninvited guests," Daniel said.
Ben tossed her one of the pouches of disinfectant powder. She peeled off her gloves, tossing them to the ground. She scrubbed everywhere she could reach, and tried not to gasp when the powder entered the wounds on her neck.
"Get rid of the jacket, too. We have an extra from Hector's stash," Liam said.
She smiled her thanks, she unzipped the stiff garment and dropped it next to the gloves. Ally hauled herself into the truck, tossing the bags to Kevin and a few others. Ben hefted the crate up and several people helped pull it on board. Gunshots started around them, and the barrier went up. Panting and exhales of relief filled the small space.
Neal and his group grabbed clean clothes, but stopped when the others looked at them.
"Sorry, we didn't mean…" Neal said.
Daniel knelt by the crate, when it was open a chorus of hollers and whoops by several men.
"Good work! Our rule is the people who go out and actually do something get first pick of items. The crate will be brought to the front and supplies doled out when needed." He glared at Neal, and Ally noted no one from his group had gone on the supply run.
Ally almost laughed, remembering Daniel's face with crumbs on it. She didn't feel bad about snagging those pouches now. She dragged a bag over and unzipped it, pulling out two pillows, rolls of toilet paper, soap, a purse she'd stuffed the medicines in, the sharpening tool she'd picked up in the kitchen, and a bunch of various clothes.
George held several bottles in his hand and walked to a corner. Liam selected what he wanted with Ben, then the bags were tossed into the center. In seconds they were empty. Ally thought Daniel could do things differently, but the adrenaline rush was wearing off and her neck hurt.
She felt something cool and realized Kevin held a cloth at her throat, the sting of disinfectant making her wince. He smiled and she knew it was forced. "How did the others do?"
Kevin shook his head. "Three people didn't make it back, and they didn't find anything other than some coats, gloves, and sports gear at that mega store. The shopping plaza was totally overrun."
"What happened to you guys?" he asked.
"We were doing fine, but then a damn zombie came out of nowhere. Geor
ge was supposed to be watching the doors, but…anyways, we got the supplies, that's all that matters."
Kevin put a hand under her chin and turned her face toward him. "That is not all that matters. You matter, and you better start acting like it. If not for me, then do it for Sean."
"Kevin–"
He silenced her with a kiss and she found herself falling into it. She wanted to blame the fatigue, the weariness she felt after a long day, anything but facing the truth…she liked him. After a few moments Sean issued an "eww." And the guys with energy made crude remarks. She pulled away, but placed her head on his shoulder.
"This is for you," Kevin said.
She took the small bag of food and looked at him.
"One of Daniel's men fed us while you were gone. I grabbed one for you."
Ally sat straighter. "What about–"
"The others?" He smiled. "They're eating too."
She eyed the back of the truck and saw several people digging into baggies similar to hers. After eating more than half, she gave the rest to Sean and let her head rest against the back of the truck. At least Sean had a pillow to use and fresh clothes to wear. She tucked the small bag close to her side; he would also have medicine and a few meals if anything happened.
The engine rumbled to life and Daniel returned. "We lost four people today, and the best way to honor their sacrifice is to survive. Thanks to Ally, we have more weapons, food, and a few items to make life on the road a bit easier. Our next stop is Lincoln, lower population, and a hospital that might still have supplies. I want to see some new volunteers this time," he said, eyes boring into Neal's.
Chapter Twenty
The rhythm of the truck lulled Ally to sleep again. Dark landscapes of blood and mangled bodies filled her nightmares. Joseph came back from the dead to warn her, repeating Victor's last words. A zombie grabbed her, shaking her shoulders. She pushed herself away, hitting her head in the process. She opened her eyes in a daze. Kevin knelt in front of her, eyes full of concern. "You okay? You were making... sounds."
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