by bret Wellman
"We're not out of the woods yet," said Dan.
A zombie was coming at them from the crowd, moving with its mouth wide. The thing looked like a middle-aged construction worker that had just fallen down a flight of stairs. It only had one eye; the other had been ripped out. It dragged its bum leg as it limped towards them.
Dan brought the sword around at head height, hitting the zombie in the temple and cleaving deep into its brain. It dropped motionless to the ground.
Barns looked shocked to see their new companions. "You gots people? I want ta get people too. I'm goin’ back."
He turned to head for the crowd but Dan caught his arm. "We can't go back, Barns. There are more zombies in that crowd every second, we have to keep moving."
Barns looked disappointed as he nodded his head in understanding. "Okay, Dan, but next time I get some people safe too."
They were almost through the next block when Dan spotted a shadow moving towards them on the ground. He looked up to see a helicopter spinning out of control roughly a hundred stories above them. There was no smoke, Dan assumed the driver must have been bitten, that or one of the passengers. Either way the thing was losing altitude fast. It spun through the air as if the rear propeller had been shot by some invisible rocket. As it got closer to the buildings, Dan imagined anybody still on it, and in their right mind, would be puking their guts out in fear.
The helicopter slammed into the side of a building in a plume of fire, twisted metal and broken glass.
One of the propeller blades shot through the air, impaling a building on the other side of the street. The repercussion caused every window in a thirty foot radius to implode.
As soon as the helicopter had struck the building, Dan came to a horrifying realization; the flaming wreckage was about to start raining down on top of them.
He yelled to do the one thing his body ached to avoid: "Run!"
Nobody objected, they all took off in a headlong sprint, passing by countless zombies. Chunks of metal crashed down all around like hail sent straight from hell. Dan avoided two zombies by jumping on a car that had crashed sideways in the street, sliding across its hood.
What happened next felt to Dan like it was in slow motion. The businessman was shoving a zombie to the ground as he passed by. He looked over, making eye contact. That was when the body of the helicopter landed. Both the businessman and the zombie vanished in an instant. The force of the impact shattered the pavement and sent Dan flying into a nearby car.
The world went fuzzy and began to spin after that. Dan wasn’t completely sure where he was at anymore.
He felt a hand pulling on his arm. Somebody was trying to yell at him through the ringing in his ears. He was staring down at the pavement, at broken glass from the car he had been thrown into. He must have blacked out for a moment.
"...moving and we have to do it now!" Zoey yelled.
He tried to get up but the world was still spinning; there was fire, and helicopter parts everywhere.
Barns was running in circles, clobbering any zombie that got too close. Dan spotted Randy picking up a backpack; it was all that was left of the businessman.
"Help me pick him up," said Zoey, putting his arm over her head and lifting.
The aristocratic woman helped her lift and he was soon on his feet, hobbling along with his arms on their shoulders.
"My briefcase," said Dan, realizing it was no longer in his hand.
Zoey lifted it in front of him to show that she had both his briefcase and his katana. "Don't worry, big guy, I won't let you show up for work without your supplies.”
He felt a wave of relief at the sight of his things. He would have crawled back had they forgotten them.
It was slow going with the three of them trying to move as one unit. Luckily, Dan was beginning to think that his injuries weren't all that bad.
They hadn't gone thirty feet before he felt he could hobble a little on his own. The initial dizziness was wearing off pretty quick. That was good because he was slowing the group down, allowing more zombies to come at them. He followed closely behind the others, letting them carve the path while he tried to reorient himself.
They heard a gunshot up the street, when they looked they saw a cop. It was the safe area.
The cop pointed his gun at them as they approached.
"Easy, we are alive," said Randy.
The cop turned his back on them, revealing that it was drenched in sweat. "Hey, Jay, looks like we got four more."
Another cop came out of the clothing store. "Any of you been bitten?"
"None of us have been bitten, now let us through," demanded the aristocratic woman.
"Alright," said the cop. "But I have to give you all the once over before I let you in."
He made them line up as he looked them over. It reminded Dan of being at an airport security checkpoint. He eyed their weapons for a while, looking like he might confiscate them. His eyes lingered on a gash in Dan’s forehead before letting them pass. Dan breathed a sigh of relief as they went inside.
They were met at the door with a breeze and the warm scent of lilacs. The clothing store had been built on a grand scale. There was a ton of floor space ranging on three levels, two escalators zigzagged up and down, from floor to floor. All the clothing was sectioned off into different areas, hanging on round metal racks. Every so often there were rosewood tables that held all kinds of accessories: sunglasses, necklaces, bracelets. All the fixtures were white, the railings made of glass.
"I don't belong in no place like this," said Barns as they passed the threshold of the store.
There were a lot of people inside, they hung together in packs all over the place. They looked tired and scared, many were crying.
"You can say that again," said the aristocratic woman.
"What the hell is your problem, woman?" said Dan.
She lowered her shades to look him in the eyes. "My name is not woman, it is Lady Rose."
"Lady Rose," said Zoey in a mocking tone.
Lady Rose looked at her in disgust. "Ugh, you wretched little creature. Who taught you to dress like that anyway? You are wearing perhaps the most detestable clothes ever put on a girl."
"At least I'm not dressed like Cruella De Vil."
"What is the putrid smell?" Lady Rose went on, ignoring Zoey. "Is that you?"
Barns nodded. "Yeah."
"My goodness, you would think you had already been bitten."
They heard guns going off as the cops continued to protect the front of the store. Dan turned to watch. One of the cops took down a zombie with his nightstick, saving precious bullets.
"Let's find a place to rest," he said.
Everybody followed him as he went up one of the escalators and down one of the main aisles, coming to a stop at one of the rosewood tables. He reached out with one hand and swept all the merchandise onto the floor and sat down on the table. Zoey hopped up next to him, Barns sat down Indian style on the floor: Lady Rose and Randy leaned against the glass railing, looking down at the rest of the store.
"Are you okay?" Zoey asked.
Dan was confused, he knew he was tired, it must have been making him look distraught or something. "I'm good, just another day in the jolly old zombie apocalypse."
"You sure? You took one hell of a whopping against the side of that car when the helicopter crashed."
"Oh, that. To be honest, I still feel a little dizzy but it’s coming back to me."
"I can't believe that happened," she said. "I can't believe any of this is happening."
He saw she was subconsciously playing with the string of her hoodie, her hands tainted with little specks of blood. They were also shaking.
Dan reached behind them and pulled a cardigan sweater off of one of the racks. He put it on over her shoulders and began to rub her back. He was about to try and say something reassuring when he spotted the store manager. She was tall and lanky in a skin-tight dress and she was furious, coming straight towards them.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" demanded the store manager. "You can't just come in here and throw our products all over the floor."
Dan could feel Zoey leaning against him, probably trying to get as far away from the manager as possible.
The lady was stone-faced from forty years of retail in a busy city. She may have once been beautiful but life had worn her down. The blond hair that hugged her cheeks was faded at the roots and wrinkles stretched from her eyes and cheeks.
"And what is this? Swords? You can't bring weapons into my store!"
Dan wasn't in the mood to take crap from anybody. "Why don't you try and do something about it, see where that gets you."
"How dare you. Get out, get out now!"
"Please calm down, ma'am," said Randy, turning to see all the commotion.
"Calm down? Calm down?" the manager stammered. "Get out of my store!"
Barns stood up. "But we would be dyin’ out there."
The lady looked disgusted to be in his very presence. "I don't care what you are doing, but you can be sure you won't be doing it here!"
"You want to bet?" asked Dan.
"We can't go back out there," said Zoey.
"You can and you will."
"What seems to be the problem?" said a man about Barns's size with a buzz-cut.
He had tanned skin as if he had lived on a beach for the past year and his shirt clung to his muscles. Where Barns had fat, this man had none.
Lady Rose stepped out as if to block the man's path. "There is no problem, just a minuscule misunderstanding, that’s all."
The man ignored her as he passed, brushing her aside with one hand.
"These people have been causing trouble and damaging store property," said the manager. "I am trying to make them leave but they refuse."
"Is that so?" asked the man. He looked at Dan and Zoey as if he were getting ready to physically toss them out of the store.
Dan hopped down from the table and walked up so he was face to face with him. He only came up to the man's chin so he had to look up. "Yeah, that is so."
Dan was ready to take whatever this guy could throw at him. There was no way he was going to allow their group to be tossed back out onto the street.
Barns walked up and stood at his side, he was eye-level with the man. "You best be on ya way now. We just looking for a safe place. You ain't gone take it from us."
He could feel Zoey stand up behind him. Even Lady Rose and Randy moved closer.
"You can stay," said the man, glancing back and forth at the people standing before him. "Just don't make any more trouble."
"What?" demanded the manager.
"Come on, Mary," said the man. "As long as these people agree to behave, I'm not throwing them out."
"But they have weapons!"
"Maybe we should consider getting our own, I don't think it is getting any better outside."
The manager had turned red faced but didn't say anything as she walked away with the man. Her tendons stuck out as she squeezed the hem of her dress.
"I told ya Dan," said Barns. "People like dat don't like me around."
Zoey patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, big guy, we like you around."
"Quit being so egalitarian ," said Lady Rose. "We need to find him some clean clothes if he is ever going to fit in. Perhaps we can find him something here." She began looking around as if she were about to pluck something off one of the racks.
Barns followed her, acting like he was really interested in her opinion. Whether he actually was or not, only he knew.
"You plan on using that backpack?" Dan asked Randy.
Randy looked at the backpack sitting by his leg. "Nah, I just didn't know what to do after the helicopter crashed. It didn't feel right leaving the poor guy’s stuff sitting in the street.”
Dan picked up the backpack and unzipped it. The thing was filled with college level textbooks, mainly on vector spaces. He dumped it all out on the floor, the books fell open to random pages as they spilled into the aisle. Randy eyed him suspiciously as he slid his briefcase into the backpack and put it on.
"I don't think he is going to need that stuff anymore," he said.
Randy nodded, "I would assume not."
Dan looked over his shoulder and down at the street when he heard a scream. The scream had come from a lady in the store, she was pointing at one of the cops. The guy had been overwhelmed by two zombies and was currently pinned on the ground.
"Barns!" Dan yelled, unsheathing his katana and taking off down the escalator.
He flew down the steps, hitting the floor and blowing past the manager who had just confronted him. The lady jumped sideways in alarm and tripped on a table, falling into a rack of clothing.
Dan burst through the double doors and ran up to the fallen cop. He beheaded the first zombie and impaled the second at the base of the skull.
The cop immediately pushed the bodies off and stood up. He held his hand over his arm, blood oozing through his fingers.
"Fuck!" He spat. "I ran out of bullets."
By the looks of his wound, Dan knew it was only a matter of time before he turned. It wasn’t as bad as some of the wounds he had seen, but when the guy moved his hand he could see four teeth marks where the blood was coming from.
"It's a good thing you had that sword, my goose would have been cooked."
"No offense," said Dan. "But you have been bitten. You're probably going to turn."
"Maybe," said the cop "maybe not. Only time will tell."
"No, definitely, that's how it works."
Right then, Barns burst through the glass doors with his baseball bat at the ready. He was now wearing a flannel shirt that, when coupled with all his facial hair, made him look like a grizzly lumberjack.
"I'm here, Dan," he said. "Where da zombies be?"
"Right there," said Dan, pointing to the two dead corpses on the ground.
Dan heard a gunshot and looked through the glass storefront. The other cop was holding his own at the other end, oblivious to what had just happened to his partner.
"You did good, Dan," said Barns. "Stopped 'em from movin’!"
"I have to go let my partner know what's going on, do you think you can keep things under control over here while I do?"
Looking down the street, there were hundreds of stumbling people as far as he could see. Smoke, destruction, death, it wafted around them like some horrific version of the Macy's Day Parade. Fortunately, there were only three close enough to be an immediate threat and only a small number were moving in their direction.
"Go for it," said Dan to the cop.
Dan began moving for the first zombie as the cop walked away. He had to watch his step or risk tripping over one of the many dead bodies that had accumulated over the hours since the cops had started protecting the store.
He was just about close enough to strike when Zoey jumped past and did the dirty work for him. It startled him, he had been so focused that for a moment he thought he might be getting attacked from behind. He almost swung the katana. Luckily he only flinched.
He was caught off guard again when she punched him twice in the shoulder.
"Two for flinching," she exclaimed as he drew back.
She had her hood down and her dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her face was smooth, and her eyeliner made her eyes look dark.
"I thought you were inside," he said.
"Well, I was, and then I saw you running out of the door in panic mode. I knew I had to get out here because you wouldn't be thinking straight if you were panicking.”
"I wasn't panicking."
"No?" She smiled. "Then I guess I misjudged as you were screaming for Barns and knocking over that poor woman."
"So it is panic to call out for a little assistance?"
"That was, yes."
Dan lifted his katana as another zombie approached. He dropped the blade in the top of its head, splitting it like but
ter all the way to the chest. The thing fell to its knees first, and then flat on its face. Dan stepped back and took a deep breath.
"Does this look like somebody who is panicking to you?"
She laughed, though she looked a little disturbed. "I guess I was mistaken."
Two more zombies came out from a restaurant across the street. They moved faster than the stumblers, moving at a moderate jog. Dan took out the first but didn't have time to recover before the second one reached him. He tried to pull the sword back but the thing was already within a radius that he couldn’t maneuver well enough.
It only brushed his shoulder with its fingertips, before Zoey took off its head. Dan had heard the whistle of the tip of her sword as it whizzed past his ear. It was not a very comforting sound.
They heard a solid thump and looked back to see Barns beating another zombie into the ground.
A third zombie was coming out of the restaurant; Zoey crossed the street to meet it at the door. She went through the eye socket with her sword to take out its brain.
"New rule," called Dan. "We stay on this side of the street."
He didn’t like the idea of her crossing the street and putting so much distance between them.
"Aw, what's a matter, is Dan scared?"
"Think about it, we have strength in numbers. For every foot we separate, it gets more and more dangerous."
She looked skeptical, "I don't think it is that bad yet."
No sooner than she had spoken, a nearby window in the restaurant shattered and a zombie came diving out at her.
She was caught off guard, swinging the sword and only coming up about waist high. The zombie was cleaved almost in half, it was enough to make it fall to the ground. The thing kept coming, dragging its limp, lower half as it went. It grabbed her ankle, opened its mouth wide, and bit down. Zoey thrust her sword into its head as it did.
"Damn it!" she said, sitting down and holding her ankle.
Dan had just reached her side of the street; he grabbed her heel and lifted her pant leg. What he saw was a dark purple ring.
"It didn't break the skin," he said, astonished. "You must have killed it before it could."
"Looks like it’s my lucky day."
