“See ya later, Stumpy!” he yelled, laughed like a loon and twirled the saw bladed axe over his head.
He let out a savage yell as they tore down the next aisle, the sounds of shattering glass behind him as the horde gave chase. They jostled to be first to the uninfected flesh. Jellies, jams and syrups erupted as they hit the floor causing some of them to slip and fall, only to be trampled underfoot by those following.
“Attention, Wal-Mart shoppers!” He roared as the thrill of battle surged through his Viking blood. “Be sure to check out our scratch and dent sale in the canned goods section!”
Tobias saw a flash of black to his right. It was Yewan racing down the top shelf of the aisle beside him. To his left he saw Donny. The silent boy thrust his long spear down through the tops of the skulls of the undead that were dogging Tobias’s heels. Zombies had spread out in the chase and came at him from both directions. The polar bear plowed through them without slowing and Tobias reined him in when there were no more undead in front of them. Popsicle spun, sent an endcap tumbling and Donny threw signs at Tobias and pointed across the store. More were coming, lots more. Some were leaping from the tops of the shelves from one aisle to another. It was time to go before they were boxed in, it only took one lucky jumper to pull him down. Donny pointed towards the lawn and garden section where the rest of the tribe were waiting to slam the steel security gate.
“I know! I know!” Tobias yelled back. “Go! I’m right behind you!”
The crashing of shelves and toasters and pots and pans was nearly lost in the cacophony of screams from the hungry undead. Donny and Yewan sprang down and sprinted for the safety of the outdoor section and Tobias saw the rest of the tribe yelling at him to hurry as his bear rose up on his hind legs, roared and took swipes at the broken undead that were close. He leaned forward to get him to drop on all fours then gigged Popsicle down another aisle, one without smashed and broken glass.
20
Watcher
Steven stared out of the mirrored windows of the manager’s office overlooking the floor and watched in fascination as heavily armored children and animals ran for the lawn and garden department and pulled down the gate. They were the ones he’d heard about on Radio Lakota. He was amazed at how well-trained the animals were as a white-haired boy charged through the store running down the undead, controlling the polar bear with his knees.
He’d been camped out in the Walmart for a few weeks and had been eating well, listening to a wind-up radio at night and playing board games against himself. It was a good hideout. He left the front of the store undisturbed except for whatever he took off the shelves. No one would suspect he was hiding out in the back if they came looking. Now all hell had broken loose and a horde of the undead was rampaging through the store, screaming their awful screams. The zoms chased after the kids but they were safe behind the gate. That left him a clear path out the back door and he’d best beat feet now while the undead were busy. He didn’t want to get trapped or be seen by the kids. If they told anyone, he’d have half the bounty hunters in the territories combing the area looking for him. He’d never heard his name on Bastille’s crime report but that didn’t mean anything. Maybe they were keeping the manhunt for him quiet, didn’t want to spook him. He was sure he’d been reported as a cold-blooded killer who had brutally murdered a young girl and hijacked a boat. There was probably a big reward. Who knows, maybe the kids would kill him for the bounty. It looked like they could use the money, they were a sopping wet bedraggled looking bunch.
He heard a shout directly below him and leaned against to glass to look down.
Analise ran through the sporting goods, through the hardware and paint. She heard the frantic cries of the tribe as they urged her brother and Donny to hurry. She had taken a few minutes to grab a towel to dry off and had been shoe shopping and barefoot when the horde broke through the carts. She could get to the lawn and garden by cutting across the back of the store, she had a few minutes and she wasn’t going to go without boots. She hurried but it took her a bit to find the right size. She heard the roaring and commotion, heard her idiot brother screaming battle cries that they pretended were ancient Viking curses but had no idea what the words meant. They could have been calling for a tax audit on purple dresses with extra pickles for all they knew. They didn’t even know if they were pronouncing the words right but that was okay. Her idiot brother was buying them time and what he lacked in brains, he made up for in bravery. She heard her own name, urging her to get to the lawn and garden section.
“I’m coming!” She yelled back and hoped Daisy was already with them. She shouldn’t have let her wander off.
Her voice was lost in the keening of the zombies and the roars of the bears. She hugged the outside wall, ran past the car batteries and mailboxes and pulled up short as she turned the last corner to dash through the paint section. The undead were leaping from aisle to aisle on the tops of the shelves scattering boxes and cartons of goods. They spotted her and screamed. She froze, she’d never seen anything like it, had forgotten how fast and vicious they could be when they were fresh. A dozen dead, black eyes locked in on her and leapt as one.
She ran.
They were fast, unbelievably fast and she was cut off from the rest of her tribe. They were right on her back, they were reaching for her and panic started to grip her. She knocked over an endcap filled with jugs of liquid car wax and heard them stumble and fall behind her but the others jumped the tumbling bodies and kept coming, never tiring, single minded in their desire to tear into her uninfected flesh. She angled towards the back of the store, grabbed a 4-way lug wrench from a shelf, and sprinted past the shoes and through the electronics department towards the double swinging doors into the warehouse area. There was a door somewhere in the darkness of the warehouse area. It would be near the docks and have a sign on it saying emergency exit only, do not open, alarm will sound. She just had to reach it before the zombies reached her.
Donny threw himself into a slide and slid beneath the rapidly closing security gate. Tobias was laughing, still pumped with adrenaline from the fight and chase as he ducked low in the saddle to clear the gate then rolled to the ground as soon as he was clear. Kodiak and Harper slammed the heavy steel closed seconds before the undead slammed into it at a full run.
“That was badass! Did you guys see me?” He laughed.
“More like dumbass.” Swan said but she had to admit, it had been kind of impressive watching the battle from a safe distance.
She slapped her tomahawks against the railing to make noise and joined the others in yelling and drawing the rest of the undead towards them. Vanessa was already spying around the corner of the building, checking for any undead stragglers still making their way through the front door.
“It’s clear.” She hollered to them over the roar of the horde.
“Okay, let’s go.” Kodiak said. “Swan, you and Donny first. Get out of sight and we’ll be right behind you as soon as we get Bert. Vanessa, you know what to do if any of them spot us.”
Vanessa nodded and raised her spear. She and Ziggy could run circles around them, even if they were faster than any they’d encountered. They’d lead them off.
“I’m not through with these clowns.” Tobias said as he taunted the undead. “Hey sis, grab my machete and let me spike a few of these things. I’m not done shopping yet.”
“Doesn’t count as battle kills.” Swan said as she gathered her wolves and started for the back entrance.
There was no response. He spun and looked for Analise.
“Where’s my sister?” He asked.
Everyone stopped their preparations and looked at Daisy who was looking back at them. She was sniffing the air. She was looking for her cub, too.
“Where’s my sister?” Tobias roared.
“She didn’t make it.” Kodiak answered. “She was on the far side of the store, in the shoe department. We need to get out of here, she must have went out the back door in the warehouse
.”
“We’ll find her.” Harper said. “She’s probably wondering what’s taking us so long.”
Tobias slammed his axe into the shelves full of yard gnomes and raged. “Open the gate!”
“Don’t be an idiot.” Swan said. “We can’t go through them. There’s too many. We’ll check the back exit.”
“What if she’s not there?” Tobias yelled. “What if she’s somewhere inside?”
His mind wasn’t working right, he couldn’t think. He’d never been without her and didn’t know what he would do if she was gone.
If she was bit.
If she was at the back of the horde with blackened eyes and screaming for his blood.
“If she’s not there, Vanessa and Ziggy will draw them off through the front and we’ll check every inch of this store. We’ll find her brother. I swear it.” Kodiak said through gritted teeth. “She’s too smart to get bit, you know this.”
“That’s right.” Harper said. “She’s found a spot to hide or she’s made it outside. We’re wasting time. Time she doesn’t have. We’ve gotta move.”
“Then let’s go.” Tobias said, sprung up into his saddle and headed for the exit doors.
21
Analise
Analise slammed against the double doors to the warehouse part of the store and bounced off of them. They were blocked from the other side. She caught her balance and swung wildly with the lug wrench, implanted it in the head of a man in coveralls. He went down but others were right behind him. More were coming straight down the aisle at her, and a few more from the other side. They were following the keens of the undead who had cornered their prey and were about to eat. Analise drew her machetes, threw her back against the doors and didn’t think about the odds. They were coming and she was ready. The first of the undead launched himself, black eyes wide, arms reaching, mouth hungry. She swung both blades with all the force she could muster and split his head into three pieces. She stepped aside and let his momentum splash their contents all over the wall. Two women dove for her, slammed her hard and forced the air from her chest. Yellowing teeth snapped at her face but found leather from her bracers. She slammed the heavy handle of the machete against the side of her head and felt the other one trying to burrow into her belly. Her boiled leather cuirass stopped the teeth but jagged fingernails raked at the binding and searched for skin. Another man jumped from the top of the shelves, mouth wide and screaming and suddenly she found herself falling backward. The doors flew open and she landed on her back. A man was there and swinging a thick bicycle chain. Analise fought to keep the undead away from her face, her most vulnerable spot. The rest of her was protected with leather unless they got lucky and tore into weak spots at the joints. The man roared and the chain ripped into the undead flesh. Bones broke and chunks of heads disintegrated into a black and yellow bloody mist. More were coming, they heard the desperate sounds of battle over the shrieking and keening at the gate.
“Go!” the man yelled and tore the thing biting at her leg off and shoved it away. “GO!”
Analise rolled to her knees and scrambled into the darkness. She’d lost her machetes in the melee.
“Follow me!” The man shouted and grabbed her hand, pulled her into the black of the warehouse. They undead came screaming after them but he dodged through obstacles and jerked her through ropes strung between shelves.
“Careful.” He whispered after they’d made a few lefts and rights down different rows. “You have to follow the path, I set booby traps.”
The rain beat down on the tin roof drowning out their quiet sounds. Behind them they heard the snarls and cries of the undead, the crashing and clattering of things being pulled off shelves by trip wires. Heavy things from the sounds of it. Dumbbells and microwaves. They climbed up two levels at a dead-end aisle, over to the next and dropped down. Her eyes were adjusting to the blackness and she could make out shapes.
“Thanks, mister.” Analise whispered. “I’m glad you were there, I thought I was a goner.”
Steven didn’t answer, he wasn’t sure why he risked everything to help a stranger. He could have been killed. He led her deeper through the maze and towards the back door. Now he’d have to run again. If she told anyone about him, they’d come hunting. From the office he’d seen her running for the rear exit and acted immediately. He didn’t think. He tore out the door and flew down the metal staircase, his feet barely touching the steps. He had pushed a riding lawnmower against the doors to jam them closed since the front of the store was wide open. He didn’t want any uninvited guests wandering around while he was sleeping on the managers’ couch. She wouldn’t be able to get through. She’d be torn apart. He didn’t know how he moved so fast, acted so quickly or tossed the mower aside like it weighed nothing. He had caused the death of one girl; he wasn’t going to be the reason another was killed. He tore open the doors as he reached for his gun but grabbed an empty holster. It was on the desk upstairs; he’d been cleaning it when he’d heard the kids come in. Somehow he’d got her out and hadn’t gotten bit. At least he didn’t think he had, he’d have to check. Everything happened so fast.
“Are you bit?” he asked, suddenly concerned about her turning.
“No, I don’t think so. My armor is thick.”
“Okay.” He said. “A few more turns and we’ll be at the back door.”
“What about you?” she asked. “You okay.”
The man wasn’t wearing any kind of armor, just a plain red T-shirt.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He said a little moodily.
Now that the adrenaline was wearing off he asked himself again why he’d risked everything for a stranger. It wasn’t like him to act like a hero. Maybe the scales were even now, maybe he couldn’t stop running but at least his conscience would ease a little.
“When you go out, take a left.” He said. “Your friends are down at the end, by the garden center.”
“What about you?” Analise asked forcing her nerves to calm.
She was breathing hard but the panic was subsiding. Adrenaline still coursed through her veins but she was already relaxing. She pulled her backup dagger from its sheath and felt a little better with the weapon in her hand.
During training Donny had told them something he’d read from a great Sensei. Those who are skilled in combat do not become angered. Those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid. It was hard advice to follow, to swallow all fear.
Steven took a minute to listen at the door before replying but it was difficult to hear anything over the pounding rain.
“I’m going to get my gear.” He finally said. “They’ll never make it through the maze before I get back upstairs. Go on, get out of here.”
“Thanks again, mister.” She said as she pushed open the door leading to the alley that ran behind the store.
Dumpsters, unused shelving units and ratty smoke break chairs lined the back walls of the various businesses. The other side was heavily wooded and bales of cardboard from the compactor were stacked along the curb waiting to be picked up and hauled off to the recycling center.
A waterlogged undead thing turned at the sound of her voice and jumped the twenty feet between them in two leaps. Analise saw it and reacted but not fast enough. She tried to slam the door closed again but lost her grip on the rain slicked handle. The thing shrieked and crashed into the edge of it in the middle of a leap. She thought she heard a collar bone break but it didn’t slow, it sprang at her as she backpedaled into the store. The bearded man ran back to help but she plunged her dagger into the top of its forehead when the thing jumped for her neck. He reached for the door but its legs blocked the opening and others were sprinting down the rain-soaked alley straight for them. He panicked and started slamming the door against the twitching legs as Analise tried to drag it out of the way. There were keens and crashes behind him as a shelf toppled and he heard the hunger cry of the zombies coming fast. They had bypassed his maze, had plowed right through it.
�
�We’ve got to get out!” Analise yelled over the din of screams, booming thunder and the torrential downpour pounding on the roof.
Steven glanced over his shoulder, saw the horde tearing though the tumbled boxes and shelves and shoved the door wide open. He’d take his chances with the two or three in the alley.
The door slammed open, bounced off its hinges and into the undead as they started streaming out. They ran, him towards his truck hidden behind one of the industrial buildings, her toward her tribe. They weren’t thinking, the panic was back and in full force. Most of them were coming after her. She couldn’t outrun them, they were too fast. She couldn’t outsmart them, there was nothing clever she could do in the alley. She couldn’t hide, they were only a few feet behind her. She pumped her arms, ran as hard as she could and looked for a ladder up to the roof. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could swing up and out of their reach but she didn’t see one. The rain was coming down harder and she heard the rush of running water through the woods behind the soaking bales of cardboard. She darted up a bale, jumped higher to the next and hoped it would slow them down. One grabbed her backpack and she let it slip from her shoulders. She could smell its rancid stench, hear its clacking teeth as it bit at her. The horde only fought over the pack for a few seconds but that was long enough. She jumped from the top bale, nearly twelve-foot-high, and into the woods. She landed hard and her ankle bent wrong. The tightly buckled boots were the only thing that saved it from breaking.
The Feral Children [A Zombie Road Tale] Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 112
