“I’m on lookout,” I said. “Me, and Martin.” I peered down to Martin. “Right, kiddo?”
Martin beamed at me and echoed, “We’re on lookout.”
Jessica was compliant, but Joni had to nag Travis twice to follow her over to the pizza by the slice restaurant. That left me alone with Martin and gave me a chance to be the “favorite uncle.”
“Hey buddy,” I whispered. “Why don’t we check out the ice cream place? They might have something there we need.”
“Really?” He asked.
“For sure.”
We were at the counter of the combo ice-cream/smoothie shop ten seconds later. I hopped onto the counter, reached back, and hoisted him up with me and then dropped him behind where I quickly followed.
There were several contraptions back there for making smoothies and squeezing out ice cream along with a freezer that had an assortment of flavors ranging from vanilla to rocky road to rainbow. All the flavors to delight the palettes of young and old alike.
“It’d be a waste of time if we didn’t check to see if this soft serve machine still works, right?” I asked him.
His eyes widened, and he said, “Really?”
I answered his question by grabbing an ice cream cone from one of those nifty dispensers that seemed to hold an endless supply of them. I place it under to the nozzle and pulled the handle for a mix of chocolate and vanilla, then said a silent prayer.
The machine hummed for a moment and made a little noise that sounded like a robot coughing. A second later, ice cream oozed out of the nozzle. I swiveled the cone to make sure I evenly distributed the ice cream into the cone.
It was only a small cone, but it seemed to mean the world to a small child who was looking at the very real possibility he might never see his father again. And I was a hero.
“Let’s head back out on lookout,” I said and reached under his armpits to lift him back onto the counter. I jumped up beside him and let him down a moment later.
No sooner had his feet hit the ground than I heard the words, “Grant, how could you?”
My hero days quickly ended, but at least she called me Grant.
I slowly turned to see Joni ten feet away, her arms crossed, and her eyes narrowed to slits, sending figurative daggers my way.
“He said he wanted ice cream,” I replied, knowing I didn’t have a leg to stand on.
“You heard what I said too, mister,” Joni snapped.
“Come on, what’s so wrong with the kid having a little ice cream?”
“Listen, you don’t get to come in here, trying to be dad for a day. He doesn’t need that. I don’t need that.”
“Mom,” Martin said from behind me.
“Not now, Martin,” Joni cut him off.
Jessica appeared at Joni’s shoulder. “Can I have ice cream, too?”
“See what you’ve started?” Joni said. The heat coming off her stare came close to melting me.
“Mom,” Martin said again.
“Martin!” Joni shouted.
“But mom!” Martin said.
“What?!” Joni said just as her temper came close to boiling over to tears.
“Is that grandpa and grandma?” Martin asked.
I turned and saw that he was pointing past Joni to the courtyard. I followed his finger and saw a couple people hustling across one of the walkways that ran along the southmost edge of the courtyard. I could tell they were on the older side. Her hair was silver and what I could see of his was nearly gray. They were not running toward an objective, but more away from something by the way they kept looking over their shoulders. I would put both of them in their late sixties. She seemed sprier than him, but refused to let the man fall behind as they hurried across the walkway.
We quickly learned what they were running from when a group of zombies came into view. Unlike the old couple, they were not spry but maintained a steady shambling pace.
“You think that all old people are grandma and grandpa,” Jessica said. She obviously hadn’t seen what was following these “not” grandparents.
“Grant, what should we do?” Joni asked and all of her anger was gone, replaced by fear.
I wondered why everyone kept asking me those type questions. Did I have the words “Boss” or “Leader” tattooed on my forehead and no one told me?
I turned back toward the door that Carl and Jenkins had gone into and yelled, “Carl! Jenkins, get out here!”
The two old people must have seen us and ran toward the doors right in front of us. I heard a door open and close behind me. A moment later, Carl asked, “What is it? We were finding some good eats back there.”
I pointed toward the doors that led out into the courtyard. “We have two old folks on the run and they’re being followed by a few of the dead ones.”
Carl quickly appeared at my side. “What do you want me to do about it?”
“Well, you have the keys to the kingdom,” I said. “You can let them in.”
The old couple made it to the bank of windows and peered in. Their faces were twisted in terror. They began to frantically beat at the windows, beseeching us to let them in.
“If I let them in, then those things can get in.” Carl shook his head vehemently. “No way, it’s too risky.”
Tears welled up in Martin’s eyes. “But the monsters will get grandpa and grandma.”
When I looked down at him, I could see that he had abandoned eating his ice cream. It melted down onto his hands and dripped onto the floor.
“They aren’t grandpa and grandma,” Jessica said with no small amount of annoyance. “Our grandparents are in Ohio.”
“They’re someone’s grandpa and grandma,” Martin shouted as the tears started to flow.
“Come on, Carl,” I said. “They don’t have a lot of options.”
“Well, neither do we. There’s only so much to eat and live off inside here. This is my home and I plan to keep it safe and sound.”
There it was. That was why he didn’t leave. He was claiming the mall for himself. We had just made it in before the brunt of the zombie storm hit and that’s why he let us stay.
“Carl, I think you need to rearrange your priorities,” I said. “Those are living people out there and if we don’t help, they...they…” I trailed off not wanting to be totally explicit about what was going to happen to the old couple if the zombies got to them.“Carl, give me your keys,” I said as I turned his way.
He took a step away from me and his hands went to his belt, covering up the keys. “No. I ain’t doing it. No way. No how. You can’t make me.”
“Carl, we really need those keys,” I begged. “Those people are going to die.”
He didn’t respond but just kept backing away.
“Give me the keys!” I yelled.
“Just ‘cause you’re some fancy U.S. Marshall doesn’t mean you have the right to order me around. I’m the security guard here and my rules are the only ones that count.”
The zombies were closing quickly on the old couple as they smacked their hands at the glass trying to get us to open up. They were yelling, but the windows just turned their voices into muffled, indistinct sounds.
“Carl, please give him the keys,” Joni pleaded.
Carl didn’t say anything but just kept backpedaling away from us.
“We need those keys,” I said, putting my hand out toward him.
He turned and ran down the corridor, leaving us all stunned. The sound of the old couple beating on the glass seemed to intensify.
I took a peek back over my shoulder and saw that the old couple had twenty to thirty seconds before they were in trouble. I looked back and saw Carl disappear around the corner and out of view.
It didn’t take a mental giant to know that if I went chasing after Carl, there’d be no time to return with the keys to open the door in time. And that was if Carl didn’t force me to fight him to get them.
I looked to Joni. “Get the kids down the hall and ready to run.”
I pulled my gun from its holster and said, “I have the universal key right here.” I started for the doors, watching the approaching zombies.
Of course, this wasn’t a bright idea. If I shot out the windows, then the zombies would come in along with the old people. But if I did nothing, these old people were toast. Toast with bloody jelly on them.
In my mind, it was the only choice and we’d deal with the next step after we saved the old couple. I motioned to the two of them to get away from the door. I’m not sure they didn’t initially think I was going to shoot them, but they finally got it. The man grabbed the woman and pulled her out of the way, using his body as a shield from any of the glass that was about to go flying.
I aimed low, then high, pulling the trigger three times. As expected, the glass shattered and flew onto the walkway, glittering in the sunlight like diamonds.
“Get inside,” I yelled and the old couple didn’t need any more encouragement. Motivated by sheer terror, they ran inside.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” the woman said breathlessly. She had the no-nonsense short hairstyle of a woman who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. He was a little soft around the middle and wore one of those herringbone skid lid hats that always made me think of Englishmen. Pip, pip, and cheerio, old chap and all that crap.
To the right of the now windowless door were several tables ready for the people who weren’t ever coming back to the food court. They were heavy duty plastic ones with metal legs and hard plastic bench seats.
“Travis, get up here and help me get these tables in front of the doors,” I shouted back at the gaped mouth teenager. “I need your help and I need it now!” I shouted.
He started in motion, but Joni shot out a hand to grab his arm. He shook her off and sprinted my way.
The zombies were less than twenty feet away when he and I got behind the first table and started pushing it along the floor like one of the tackling sleds that football players use. We had to be careful not to shove it too hard or else we’d break out more windows. He got it without me having to say anything and pulled back as we approached the broken door.
We both did some mental calculations, and he said, “Let’s put it on its side.”
I didn’t think we had time to Jenga it in place, so I just helped him lift onto its side and we rammed it into the now gaping hole in the bank of windows.
“Let’s get another one and jam it into this one,” I said.
He didn’t need any more directions. Just as we slammed it into the upended table, the zombies hit the windows and the table we had placed in the hole. I wouldn’t call it a jarring impact, but it was clear to see that this was a temporary solution at best. With us holding the second table in place, we could probably keep the zombies out, but that wasn’t really a viable long-term option. Holding a table in place for hours on end wasn’t the job I had signed up for. But I had no one else to blame because I let the old couple in.
More zombies poured onto the walkway, drawn in by my shots. They started stacking up outside the window like planes at O’Hare airport, ready for a landing. The ones that could see Travis and me holding the table in place tried to do what they could to get at us.
The other zombies ended up pressing themselves against the glass and I got this distinct feeling that this was how fish felt. We were on the inside with the predators on the outside looking in.
“Hey, can I help?” A voice asked behind me. When I glanced back, I saw the man who had just come inside. He was still huffing and puffing from the exertion.
“Not sure if you’re up to this, old timer,” I said.
“I’m not that old,” he replied and I could see him suck in his gut a little while inflating his chest.
“It’s okay. We’ve got it.”
“But for how long?”
I wanted to congratulate him for being Captain Obvious but decided I’d be better off keeping my mouth shut.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Oscar,” he replied. “And that’s Minnie.” He pointed back at his wife. “Listen, we’re really grateful for what you did.”
“Think nothing of it,” I said. “I’m sure you would have done the same for us.”
Something thudded against the our temporary barrier and I felt the table we were holding onto move back an inch or two.
“Grant!” Travis said with some alarm.
When I looked back out the windows, I saw a gargantuan zombie butting his body into the upended table. He looked like a giant mated with Big Foot. He was shirtless and had an expansive belly with a disgusting amount of body hair covering it. Some things can never be unseen.
I bent my back and pushed back for all I was worth. We regained an inch of the two we had lost, but I knew if two giant zombies started pounding away, we’d be in real trouble. Our only upside was that these things didn’t think. If they had decided to cooperate and push all at once, Travis and I would have been ten feet back into the food court and on our asses. It would be like taking the proverbial cork from the bottle because the zombies would have flooded inside.
“Grant, what are we doing?” Joni asked from behind me. I could hear fear on the edge of her voice.
“Can anyone find Carl?” I asked.
“He’s long gone,” Jenkins said. I took in a deep breath, looking down at the floor as the zombies pushed against our makeshift barrier, then let it out. “Listen up, folks. Travis and I will hold this in place for as long as we can, but I can’t think of a long-term solution for keeping it here. If Carl were still here, he might have some idea of what we could use to keep these tables in place. At least temporarily. But we’re on our own. So, everyone needs to get back up on the second floor. Once Travis and I let go of this table, it will only be a matter of minutes before they get inside.”
I made a quick assessment of the zombies outside and guessed there were at least forty. The ones at the windows pawed and slapped at the glass. Every once in a while, one would slam its head into the glass with a sharp thud. I wondered what pounds per square inch of pressure it took to break that glass?
“What then? Joni asked.
Gigantor the zombie slammed his bulk against the table and this time it gave almost three inches.
“We’ll have to take it from there. Now, you have to go.”
When I looked back, I could see the reluctance on Joni’s face.
“Don’t worry, both Travis and I are fleet of foot. We can outrun these undead bastards.”
It wasn’t much of a sales speech, but she bought it, mostly because she had no other choice. She shouted commands at the kids to get moving. Martin’s ice cream was nothing but a melted mass dripping off his hand and glopping down to the floor. Oscar and Minnie joined Joni and the kids and they were off and running. Not being fleet of foot, Jenkins followed up the rear.
“Travis, I’ll hold it for now,” I said. “See if you can push another table up here.”
He looked scared witless, but he let go, found another table, and started pushing it my way. It screeched along, the metal legs dragging across the tiled floor. Just as he had it at my back legs, I looked around and said, “We’re going to lift that one on top of the other one. It won’t keep them out, but it will slow them down.”
“You mean, they’re really getting inside?” He asked.
“Yes. There’s no stopping them.”
I could see his lower lip start to quiver.
“Travis,” I said with a bit of sharpness to my tone. “What we do right now could make the difference between whether your family lives or dies.”
It took a couple seconds for that to sink in, but he slowly nodded his head.
“Grab the other side,” I said, and I moved to the opposite side of the table. “Now, lift.”
It wasn’t exceptionally heavy, but still, it took some effort. We dropped it on top of the other table indelicately. Th
e sound of it clattering down excited the zombies outside.
“What now?” He asked.
“We run.”
That was something I didn’t have to work to sell. Less than a minute later, we were up on the second floor, standing next to the other members of our little group. Joni positioned them to have a view down onto the food court. Together we stood, waiting and watching.
It was sort of like waiting for a volcano to erupt. You felt the tremors and a few burbles of lava had broken through the earth’s crust, but you knew deep down that real trouble was coming. The big blow was inevitable, and it was going to be messy.
We watched as the zombies pushed the upended table inward, slamming into it again and again. Each impact moved it a few inches. Hands pawed around the sides of it.
That wasn’t the worst of it though. The forty or so zombies were adding to their total as more and more zombies came from wherever they had been.
“What do we do now, Grant?” Joni asked.
“First, I’d like to throttle Carl, but that won’t get us anywhere,” I replied.
“Who’s Carl?” Oscar asked.
“He was a security guard here at the mall,” Joni replied. “He was downstairs with us, but he ran off after he refused to use his keys to let you in.”
“Sounds like a selfish asshole to me,” Minnie said.
“I’ll second the motion,” I chimed in.
“Are there other ways out?” Oscar said.
“We could make a run out onto the street, but, and please don’t take offense, but you and Minnie don’t seem to be up to sprinting.”
“I’m not sure the kids are, either,” Joni added.
“Where does that leave us?” Oscar asked.
“Well, fu--” I started but stopped myself and looked down at Martin and Jessica. “Screwed.” I knew that didn’t go over well. “But I have this idea.”
I looked at the rest of our group and they actually leaned in closer to me like I was a stockbroker with some great insider tip.
“Look over there.” I pointed out of the windows and past the zombies gathering there just past the waterway. “Do you see any of them in the water?”
Undead Worlds 2: A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Anthology Page 12
