by Jean Booth
“Girls, I’ve found them,” he whispered. Jennifer was glad he’d had the sense not to raise his voice. Any noise seemed to attract the infected, and they were going to have a big enough problem trying to find two trucks, without having to deal with a horde of zombies.
“Awesome, good job. Let’s go find us some trucks!” Grinning from ear to ear, Jennifer slung her crossbow over one shoulder while hitting the door lock button on two of the key fobs. She sauntered out of the front door in search of the trucks with blinking lights.
Twenty minutes and a handful of used crossbow bolts later, they had three brand new trucks ready with partially full gas tanks. They grinned at each other, happy with the success of the first part of their mission.
“Should we split up and do this faster, or stick together to stay safe?” Jennifer asked her friends. She already knew their answer, but she just wanted confirmation.
“Stay together.” Kaitlyn and Mark answered simultaneously. All three giggled, the euphoria of the raid was finally getting to them and gave them a sense of giddy excitement.
“I have to stop by a hunting supply store to get more bolts. We should also grab some bleach and rags so I can clean these,” Jennifer said. The crossbow was effective in keeping the mass of zombies at bay without drawing more in to their position; she hoped Kaitlyn and Mark would agree that it was worth the trip to get more.
Once they’d agreed on the plan, they loaded into their respective vehicles and caravanned to the hunting store. Jennifer’s hopes were high, along with her excitement. So far they had met little resistance and their day was looking up. She hoped that they would be back at the compound before lunchtime.
They maneuvered each of the trucks so the tailgates were facing the doorway and the cabs were facing the street just in case they had to make a quick exit.
This store was darker than the dealership as it didn’t have any skylights installed. They stood as one unit with their backs against the glass doors, waiting for their eyes to adjust. Slowly, the store came into focus. The racks were all neat and tidy, the displays had a coating of dust, but other than that, everything was sale ready. It was eerie, especially after having come from the destroyed dealership.
“Cover me,” Jennifer whispered to her partners as she located the bow section of the store. She walked slowly, keeping her eyes on the racks, ready to shoot if there was anything hiding behind them. They made it to the arrows without any problems. “This has been way too easy. I don’t like it.”
Kaitlyn and Mark nodded.
Jennifer could tell that the ease of this raid was getting to all of them, making them wary of the shadows. She quickly grabbed the bin of crossbow bolts, looked at Kaitlyn, and jerked her head in the direction of the second bin. Mark watched out for them as they snuck back to the trucks, although this seemed largely unnecessary. They didn’t encounter any zombies the entire time they were loading up.
“Should we pick up some more ammo, as well?” Mark asked.
Jennifer shrugged.
“I’m not sure. I’m sure Sarah and Matt would appreciate it, but I don’t want to be late getting back to the compound either. Let’s grab one more armload of ammo, if we have time when we’re finished getting what we came for, we can come back. This just doesn’t feel right. It’s way too easy,” Jennifer whispered.
Quickly and quietly the group returned to the store, and loaded up the bins with as much ammo as they could carry. Mark carried the heaviest barrel to his truck while Kaitlyn took point. Jennifer’s barrel was almost as full as Mark’s but she moved slower, hampered by her crossbow still slung over one shoulder.
They left still pondering the ease of retrieval. If raids were always this easy, they shouldn’t have to worry about leaving the compound armed. Jennifer wondered where all the zombies were if they weren’t staking out the obvious supplies the survivors would want. She was strung tight with anticipation.
They were in front of the appliance store in a matter of minutes. They had to get a car with blood splattered across the windshield, and a decapitated body in the front seat out of the window of the store in order to get inside and obtain what they needed. That meant someone was going to have to get into the car and drive it out of the window.
Mark sighed.
“I’ll do it. You two are better shots than me anyway.” He quickly kissed Kaitlyn, and opened the car door before he could think about what he was doing. He slid into the blood-soaked driver’s seat, shoved the headless body to the side, and turned the key. The engine roared to life. He threw the car in reverse, driving it twelve feet from the entrance and leaving it there.
He stepped out of the car and immediately vomited. Jennifer and Kaitlyn swept the area for zombies as he relieved himself of his meager breakfast. When he was done, Kaitlyn handed him their hand-sized bottle of zombie sanitizer that mostly consisted of watered-down bleach. He wiped off his hands and arms with the smelly solution, even spreading some on his face for good measure.
Unlike the hunting store, this one was completely trashed. Couches, loveseats, televisions, and coffee tables were strewn everywhere. There wasn’t a single area undisturbed by the destruction. Blood, gore, and body parts covered every surface. A hand was crawling across the floor toward them, like a five-legged spider. It stopped three feet in front of them thanks to Jennifer’s carefully placed arrow. The hand continued to twitch and writhe where it was stuck.
“That has got to be the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen in my life. How does it do that?” Kaitlyn asked, breathing shallowly to contain her breakfast.
“Sarah’s seen this before,” said Jennifer, “she’s not sure why it does this either. She thinks that with the virus, the well-fed creatures are able to control their various parts independently of another. She’s not sure how or why or how long they can maintain the control, though. What we need to be aware of is what this means to us. Somewhere in this building is a very well-fed zombie. We have to be extra careful.” Jennifer finished speaking and started making a direct path through the debris to the appliance section of the store. She just wanted to be done with this raid; the constant flow of adrenaline was starting to get to her.
Together the three of them made a path wide enough for them to walk through side by side. That had to be enough room for them to get the freezers they needed. They’d be screwed if it weren’t. Kaitlyn kept an eye out for anything that moved as Jennifer and Mark cleared the area.
MATT
Sarah and Matt headed in the opposite direction from the other two teams. They were headed to a very small town they thought might still have power. He wasn’t sure if it had been hit as badly, or if the power grid there would’ve been affected the way the main town had been. They desperately needed to find food.
Sarah drove as fast as she could down the interstate, ignoring all posted laws and swerving in between piles of crashed vehicles. Matt watched the intensity on her face as she sped down the freeway. She impressed him with her courage and tenacity. She was a fighter, always had been and always would be. It was one of the things he loved best about her.
“I’m not sure if they have weaponry where we’re headed. We should’ve told the others to try and pick up some ammo up if they could,” Sarah said
“Sarah, we’re going to be fine. We may just have to go out into the mountains and shoot a coyote or horse or something. People have been surviving off the wild for centuries before us. We will figure it out. If all we find is canned food, then that’s what we’ll eat. It’s better than starving. Just relax. We’ll find what we need here, and if need be, we’ll go out tomorrow to the big city and pick off anything that’s left,” Matt replied in his ever constant, ever sure voice, knowing what was really bothering her.
Driving down the desolate road was depressing. This drive used to bring them both joy and irritation as they were one-finger saluted by people who thought they needed to be everywhere in five minutes. Now they passed shells of cars clustered together, some with the r
emains of humans still saluting the hot desert sun.
The twenty-minute drive had taken them almost ten. They both kept a watchful eye out for large vans and, as ever, zombies. They each knew what they wanted for this expedition, but not exactly where, or if, they’d find what they were looking for. Sarah spotted two large handicapped vans in a casino parking lot. They drove over and swept the area for the infected.
Sarah held both PPQs at the ready, pointing straight at the driver’s side door of the first van. Matt opened the door and the smell of decayed, rotten corpses assaulted their noses. Waving him on and encouraging him to ignore the stench, Sarah watched as Matt slid the side panel open. Inside was a gaunt zombie feeding on the remains of a wheelchair-bound person. Sarah shot it point blank in the head.
“This is so awful. I’m tired of having to do this Matt,” she whispered. Matt knew Sarah had reached her limit on terrible things a while ago, yet the nightmarish images hadn’t stopped. He wasn’t certain they ever would.
She moved over to the other van and took point again. Matt opened both doors, revealing a clean, spacious, and miraculously empty interior.
“Do you think we can just load this one, or should we look for another one?” Sarah asked. They both already knew that answer. They wouldn’t be satisfied until they each had a clean van filled with food and supplies for the survivors. “Never mind.”
She slid into the passenger seat while Matt fiddled with the ignition wires to start the van. They were lucky this was an older model van; the newer years had a computer chip in the ignition switch to prevent people from doing this very thing.
Matt hoped it wouldn’t take too long to find another van. He just added that to the list of things he hoped went well today. That list was getting rather long. He hated being responsible for so many lives; if it were up to him, he and Sarah would just leave and find another place to live, alone.
Once he got the van started, they drove across the street to the big discount store that would have everything they needed. Matt drove the van up close to the entrance to the store and they both got out. The hum of the air conditioner in the store caused Matt’s heart to soar. The electricity still worked.
They each grabbed a cart, and maneuvered them to the frozen food section. They loaded their carts with as much as they could hold, returned to the van, emptied them and returned for more. It took them two more trips before they had all the frozen foods loaded up.
“I’ll get the canned food if you want to grab toilet paper,” Sarah said as they unloaded the last of their haul.
“That’s great, but we’re going to need another van, too. I saw one in the parking lot that may work, you keep working on loading this one and I’ll go check it out,” Matt replied, smiling at the way Sarah wrinkled her nose at this idea. “Don’t give me that look. I’ll be fine and so will you. Don’t worry so much.”
He ran off holding a pistol in a two-handed grip and scanning the lot for the infected.
SARAH
Sarah went back inside and started loading the cart with as many soups as she could fit, placing them all in plastic bags and wincing at the noise she was making. She figured putting them in bags would make their transport easier and faster as she wouldn’t have to grab each individual can and toss it into the van, but she was worried about the noise.
“How are you alive?”
Sarah whirled around and found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. The woman holding it never took her eyes off Sarah.
“W-what do you mean?” Sarah attempted to steady her voice. “You survived, why couldn’t I?”
“You’re not part of quarantine, so I’ll ask you again. Are you human, and how are you alive?” Sarah could see the tenuous control the woman had on her weapon. She wasn’t sure how long the she would continue holding it without accidentally shooting. She had not expected to run into this problem, and cursed her carelessness.
The rifle the woman had looked to be brand new. Talking very slowly and quietly, Sarah said, “I’m not a zombie. I’m human. I live in a very safe house outside of town. Zombies’ eyes glaze over, no matter how smart they are. They also smell bad. I don’t smell, and my eyes aren’t glazed. Look at them if you don’t believe me.” Sarah opened her blue eyes as wide as she could so the woman could see that she had nothing to worry about. Silently she thought that this woman had better lower her weapon before Matt spotted them. Sarah was afraid he’d shoot her simply on principle.
“Oh my god. You really are human. How’s that possible?” The woman’s eyes went wide and she almost dropped the gun.
“Why don’t you sit down? You look like you’re going to fall over. My name’s Sarah, what’s yours?” Sarah talked gently, hoping to put the woman at ease.
“Jessica. I’m new to the Army. They told us to shoot on sight, they said that no one could survive this long without being in quarantine.” Her voice dropped to a horrified whisper, “I almost killed you.”
“No, I heard you coming.” Sarah could see that her lie put Jessica at ease. “Where’s your base? How many survived? Are you alone?” Sarah had more questions, but made herself stop. She needed to check in on Matt soon.
Jessica laughed, without much humor. “We’re located in a larger town east of here. We have about two hundred survivors and we’re all starving. The power blew last month and we’re almost out of all the canned goods we could find. I’m on a mission to find more and see if there’s another place we can move our survivors, a safer place than where we’re currently staying. Our town is completely overridden with the infected. They paw at our gates, searching for a way to get inside. There are five of us on this mission. I’m the first to arrive here, but others should be coming soon, as soon as they realize our town has been plucked completely dry.”
Sarah was taken aback. Two hundred survivors? She didn’t know how that was possible. They must have had warning before the infected reached them to have lasted this long.
“You can take this, I can go somewhere else to find food. I have a farm thirty miles west that’s protected, but not nearly big enough to house that many people. I know there are other farms hidden along the interstate, have you looked into them?”
Jessica shook her head. “Most of our survivors need to be in the hospital where we’re staying. Once we heard about the infection, we gathered as many as we could, and barricaded the first two floors. There’s no way in or out except through the roof, and even then, you have to jump down and across to the next building. I don’t even know how we’re going to get back in.”
The sound of Matt’s feet pounding across the floor toward them seemed to alarm Jessica. She sprang to her feet, swinging the rifle around and pointing it in Matt’s direction as he rounded the corner. Sarah placed her hand on the smaller woman’s wrist.
“He’s with me. Don’t shoot,” she said, hoping Jessica had enough wits about her to listen.
JENNIFER
Mark, Kaitlyn, and Jennifer were all uneasy. They could feel something in the air. They felt they were missing something, they just didn’t know what.
“We should check these before loading them up. Who knows what could be inside,” Jennifer said as she looked around for something she could use to open the freezer lid from a distance. She spotted a broom and handed it to Mark. “Use that to push open the lid. I’ll cover you.”
It took a few tries before he had the lid propped open, revealing an empty, musty interior. The second freezer was empty as well. They decided to wait on opening the third and the fridge until they were about to move them. No sense in checking them twice. They pushed the two that were clean out of the building while Kaitlyn scouted for zombies. Mark and Jennifer loaded them into Kaitlyn’s truck. They were panting when they finished with the second one.
“I can’t believe Sarah wants another one, as well as a fridge. What are we going to put inside? The power to the city’s been out for months. All the food has gone bad,” Mark complained, rubbing his lower back to try and reliev
e some of his discomfort.
“Let’s just get this over with. Sarah can figure it out when we get back. Come on.” Jennifer’s exasperated tone spoke for all of them. She knew they were tired and just wanted to be able to relax back in the safety of the compound. Together, they went back into the store to check the other two appliances.
As they swung the lid to the last freezer open, two zombies jumped out—like a macabre jack in the box—with unearthly screams. Jennifer shot one in the neck, missing her actual target by almost eight inches. She loaded another bolt and shot again. This time she hit the center of the forehead, effectively killing the creature.
Kaitlyn’s gun went off a few times and Jennifer looked around for her intended target. Zombies spilled from all of the appliances, rounding corners and crawling out from behind the upended furniture. Kaitlyn continued firing as quickly as she could. Mark added to the shooting. The couple had a gun in each hand. The gunshots echoed through large warehouse, making it difficult for Jennifer to concentrate.
She slung her crossbow against her back, not willing to waste bolts when the creatures obviously knew they were there anyway. She pulled out her guns and started taking them out. Blood and brains splattered everywhere. A zombie stood off to the side of the carnage, partially shielded by a refrigerator door. He was grinning like a kid at Christmas.
Jennifer aimed at the grinning man. She shot and he seemed to disappear. She blinked in surprise. This was new. She watched him move across the room so quickly he blurred. Her mouth fell open. Never before had she seen or heard of something like this. Zombies were supposed to be slow, dimwitted creatures bent on eating brains. They weren’t supposed to be ridiculously fast. This one defied all theories pertaining to the infected. She turned to Kaitlyn and Mark, knowing they had to escape, fast.
