by Bob Howard
From the sounds he could tell the infected was moving toward the back of the store, and it was nearing the end of the aisle. His best choice was to wait for it to come around the corner where it would either turn away from him or toward him. Because he would have a longer reach with the lug wrench, he raised it above his head and waited.
He heard the slow, shuffling sound of the infected only a few feet away. It was still moving but it didn’t appear at his corner. A quick look around the corner revealed the infected had made a right turn and was heading for the next aisle. The Chief took one long step to close the gap and brought the lug wrench down on the back of the infected dead’s skull.
Even as it went down, the Chief realized he had just stepped into clear view down the next aisle without checking to see if it was clear first. A glance to his right showed an empty aisle, but the fine hairs on the back of his neck had already caused a shiver to race across his scalp and down his back. He had seen too many infected dead bite outstretched arms, and his were extended as far as they could be. He made a mental note that he must be getting tired if he was going to make that mistake, and he made himself a promise that it would be the last time. It had been a long day.
The Chief stepped into the aisle so he wouldn’t be so exposed and began listening again. There were sounds coming from several locations now. Maybe the sound of the infected hitting the floor was louder than he had thought. He tilted his head to one side and tried to focus on the most distinct sounds, hoping they were also the closest. He also saw that the shelves that were lit by the light from skylights were now a bit more in the shadows. That meant the sun was going to go down before he could clear the entire store unless he got moving. He needed to take the hunt to the infected instead of waiting for them to come to him.
With that decided, the Chief also decided it was more likely to find the infected spread out rather than in a group. A smile crossed his face as he thought to himself there was no rational reason to believe such a thing, and maybe it was just what he hoped. There was also his gut, and he trusted his gut feelings to keep him alive better than almost anything else. His gut was telling him to get on with it, and it was telling him to get back to Allison before it was too late.
The Chief went back to the corner where he had dropped the first infected. He looked both ways and saw he was only on aisle three. It seemed logical to him to clear aisles one and two before the rest of the store, so he marched with resolve to his left onto aisle two. There was one infected walking slowly away from him and one on the floor. It was dragging useless legs behind it. The upright infected was closer, and the Chief unceremoniously did the same thing to it as he had the first one. He didn’t wait for the one on the floor to start groaning, which would draw other infected toward him in the store. He stepped on its back in the middle of its shoulder blades and brought down the full weight of the lug wrench as it tried to turn to look at him.
Without waiting, the Chief stepped into full view at the end of the aisle. A glance to his right showed he was clear that way, and a longer look down the front of the store revealed at least three more infected dead. One was walking along the front aisle just as one was turning out of view on row eight. The third was a former employee of the store who was stuck behind the enclosed area where cigarettes were sold. That was more evidence that this store hadn’t seen any living people in a long time, because the cigarette counter would have been looted by now.
Figuring it would be safe enough to clear aisle one before going after the three infected dead he saw, the Chief spotted what he needed for Allison. There was a pharmacy along the back wall of the aisle, and it had a cage pulled across its entire length. That didn’t matter because the Chief saw bottles of Scope arranged haphazardly on a shelf, and not far away was hydrogen peroxide. He grabbed one bottle of each and went through the back door without being spotted by the infected that deeper inside the store.
He found Allison curled up in a ball right where he had left her, but she was lying on her side and holding her stomach.
When she realized he was there she said, “It hurts bad, Chief.”
The Chief sat her upright and uncapped both bottles. This was something new to him, so he didn’t think to get anything for stomach cramps. He wasn’t even sure what would work for her. He had her take a mouthful of peroxide first, and he made sure she understood to hold it in her mouth for as long as she could and then spit it out. He had her repeat the process until the bottle was empty, then he switched to the Scope.
“Let’s see if we can’t do something about that nasty taste,” he said.
Between rinses she managed to gasp out that it was helping, but her stomach still hurt. She told him to get something called Phenergan. She said it was also called Promethazine, and every mother knew it would help with nausea. As she finished saying it, she accented the point by doubling over and dry heaving again.
The Chief got her to rinse a couple more times before going back in. He considered taking her inside and leaving her by the fork lifts, but then he remembered the smell. He seriously doubted she could get over her stomach pains in there, and the air outside was still cool enough to help.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he whispered.
This time the Chief moved with more purpose because it didn’t appear that the store was overrun with the infected. When he went through the doors into the store he went straight to aisle four. Since it was clear he checked five then six. He saw the infected he had spotted walking away from him along the front aisle, and it saw him. The groan it made seemed louder than any the Chief had heard, and it was going to draw plenty of attention.
The Chief didn’t charge at the infected because there was more concern for slipping on the messy floor than there was for being cornered. He just walked straight at it, and as it raised both arms to reach for him, he knocked its arms to one side using the lug wrench and then immediately brought his hand back the other way, delivering a blow to the side of its head. It was like a tennis forehand and backhand at high speed.
Even before the infected crashed to the floor, the Chief met the next infected as he turned the corner to aisle seven. It was a repeat performance on that aisle, but he had to be more careful with aisle eight. There were three infected coming his way, and they had somehow managed to get into a tight group.
If there was a lot of room to move, the Chief preferred that they would be more spread out, but if it was in a close area such as a grocery aisle, he preferred to get them into a group just like this. The one on the Chief’s right was leading the pack, so the Chief used the lug wrench to knock its arms to the left, but this time instead of following with the backhand swing, he stepped in closer and used his hands to spin the infected around to face its two friends. The Chief gave it a shove, and the infected flew into the outstretched arms of the other two. All three went down in a heap, and the Chief stepped over them to deliver three fast blows to their heads.
In only a matter of minutes the Chief had cleared every aisle and found himself standing in the wide produce department. It didn’t look like any produce department he had ever seen before because of the long ago fruit and vegetables that had gone through their stages of complete decay. There were no more infected, so he went up to the front of the store and down to the cigarette counter.
Despite feeling little emotion over the many infected dead he had put to final rest, this one he felt sorry for. Because the former employee was wearing a store jacket with the company logo on it, he knew she had simply shown up for work on a day when she might have lived if she had just stayed home. From what he had seen, though, staying home hadn’t done people much good either. He just couldn’t help wondering if she would have been a different story.
She leaned as far over the counter toward him as she could, and he put and end to her imprisonment. Then the Chief stood still and just listened to the silence. Out of the corner of his eye he saw motion in the parking lot out front. He couldn’t hear the car alarm in the ga
rage from this far away, but if it was still doing its job, the infected passing by outside would keep going. He didn’t think they could see him inside, but to be safe he decided to use the aisle that ran along the back of the store to get to the pharmacy.
It didn’t take a minute to get there, and he studied the cage that ran the length of the counter. It made the pharmacy the safest place to spend the night once he was sure he had blocked off the access to the loading dock. He went around to the door that went directly into the pharmacy and found it wasn’t as secure as the cage. He only had to use the end of the lug wrench to pry open the lock.
It took a few minutes to find Promethazine, but the Chief didn’t waste any time getting back to Allison. She was on her side again, so he had to sit her up again and help her take the pill.
“One or two?” he asked.
She looked at him like he was out of his mind and said, “Do me a favor, Chief. If we ever have to give Molly some medicine, let someone else do it. One will do just fine, but hang onto the bottle.”
After a few sips of water, she said she felt well enough to go inside and asked him to help her up, but he said he had one more thing for her. He slipped a hospital style mask onto her face and stretched the band over her head.
“This won’t block out the smell completely, but it will help you get used to it.”
“Thanks, Chief. There’s hope for you yet,” she said.
He couldn’t help but laugh, but there was still work to do, so he took her into the store and led her straight to the pharmacy. He got her comfortable with a box of saltine crackers that had probably gone stale and then tied the door shut with bungee cords he found in the hardware aisle. He wouldn’t be gone long, but he had to be sure he hadn’t missed anything.
The Chief also found some flashlights and candles because the sun was about to set. For what had to be the hundredth time he thought about his friends at Fort Sumter. They had to be worried by now, and if they saw the plane go down, they must have thought he died in the crash.They had no way of knowing that his last second maneuver was something he had seen done by other pilots, and they all walked away from the crash.
The loading bay doors were electric powered, but all overhead doors had the capability of being opened manually. Especially if the person opening them was strong enough to lift them by himself. He used a flashlight to find the release that would separate the door from the electric motor, then he pulled the cable that raised the door until it was high enough to allow the forklift to pass through. There was a battery cart with the forklifts, and it could jump start them if their batteries were dead, but luck was on his side. The first forklift started easily, and he drove it out onto the loading dock and across to the ramp. The ramp was wider than the forklift, so he wedged it across the ramp at an angle.
The second forklift needed a jump start, but it didn’t take more than two or three minutes to get it done. Then he drove it over to the steps on the other side and easily parked it so nothing could get by. Knowing that nothing could get in was half of the goal. The other half was knowing they could get out without a problem
With their safety greatly improved, the Chief got a small shopping basket and went through the store selecting a few canned goods that were likely to still be good. When he returned to the pharmacy and secured the door, he found Allison sound asleep where he had left her. He got comfortable next to her and helped himself to a cold but satisfying meal.
******
Rain started to fall on the dark city of Charleston, and the sound was enough to wake the Chief from a light sleep. At first he thought it was someone tapping on the glass doors at the front of the store. He raised himself just enough to see over the counter, and he could see that it was completely dark outside. He listened for the sound and zeroed in on the skylights up above. He couldn’t see it, but he imagined the water running down the glass in little streams. It did sound like tapping when he thought about it.
Allison was still sound asleep, so he took a flashlight and went to have a look around. He had something specific in mind and wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of it sooner. He didn’t need his flashlight until he was out on the main floor, and he didn’t want to mess up his night vision, so he found his way to the aisle that had party supplies for things like birthdays. He found what he was looking for and tore open a bag of balloons. He dumped them on a shelf and sorted through them until he was sure he found the red one. It was hard to tell colors in the dark. He stretched it over the end of his flashlight, and keeping the his body between it and the front of the store, he clicked it on. He was satisfied with the results as the flashlight gave him enough light without advertising his position.
The Chief went into the loading bay and quietly opened the back door. The loading dock was still empty, but he could see a few of the infected stumbling aimlessly through the tangle of cars. The horn in the parking garage had long since gone quiet, so they didn’t have anything to attract their attention. He backed into the dark loading bay and locked the door.
With the forklifts outside, the Chief had a better view of the entire storage area. At the far end in a corner was what he was looking for. A ladder went up the wall to a metal door set in the ceiling. It could only be the maintenance access to the roof. When he stood directly beneath it he could see there was a padlock on it. He had expected the padlock to be there, and doubted he would find the keys, but he really wanted to get up on the roof to see if he could survey the area. He needed to be able to tell if they had a chance of reaching the other side of the city.
He was just about to go back into the main part of the store to search for the office area when it occurred to him to take a closer look at the lock. He grabbed the ladder and started to climb.
When he reached the top, his suspicions were confirmed. In a modern age of security cameras and magnetic locking devices, there were still people who just plain trusted their employees instead of spending a few dollars to keep the employees honest. For whatever reason, the person in charge of locking this door had simply slipped the lock through the ring but didn’t close the hasp over it first. Maybe it was his way of coming back into the store at night, or maybe it was his way of hiding during his shift. Either way, it was the Chief’s way to get a better look at the streets.
The Chief pulled himself up onto the roof and found he had more than adequate cover to hide behind. The facade of the building, in keeping with local architecture, had a waist high wall around the roof of the building to keep the power and cooling units hidden from view. It was easy to navigate around the roof of the building until he was satisfied with their route. He was still content with staying on a course parallel to East Bay Street, but he wondered if it was possible to try for a boat at the dock used by the harbor pilots. If he could get a boat there, he would still circle the Battery and go to the Coast Guard base because they needed weapons. If they were confronted by the men who had come after them when the plane crashed, he couldn’t expect to beat them with a lug wrench and a knife.
Without binoculars the Chief couldn’t tell for sure if the harbor pilots had left any boats at their dock. For now he just had to be content with watching the streets to gauge the amount of infected in the area. Fort Sumter was just a dark spot on the water in the distance, and he couldn’t tell from his rooftop if there was even any activity there.
At least he was sure his friends were safe. When he thought about it, he felt like they were safer than the inhabitants of the surface part of the fort. Not only did they have the infected dead to contend with, they had a hidden enemy beneath them. The Chief thought to himself that he wouldn’t be surprised to find they had already figured out a way to take the fort away from its current occupants.
When the Chief got back to Allison, he found her sitting up and eating a can of Vienna sausages. Thanks to the Chief remembering to get a can opener from the kitchen utensils aisle, she was also working on a can of beans. He handed her a warm bottle of beer, and she gratefully accepted.
“The worst part about Promethazine is waking up hungry. I’m glad you left me a picnic basket, or I would’ve been stumbling around out there looking for the canned foods section,” she said.
“If you’re going to eat that whole can of beans, I’m sleeping out there,” said the Chief. “Are you feeling better?”
She giggled at his comment about the beans, but then she got stone cold serious.
“I was pretty sick, Chief. What does that tell us about getting any part of them in our mouths?”
“I wasn’t planning on cannibalizing them if that’s what you mean,” said the Chief.
Allison visibly shivered at the thought.
She said, “I was thinking more along the lines of what happened to me, Chief. Or what if one of us gets some bodily fluid in our eyes? We know what that scratch did to Jean, but I just got a finger in my mouth, and yuck! That was enough to make me throw up for hours.”
“Well, now that we know, we just have to be careful. Maybe we can find you a motorcycle helmet or something.”
Allison sort of brushed off the idea and asked, “Where did you go for so long?”
“I was up on the roof planning our next move. I don’t think we can make it all the way to the Coast Guard base on foot. The harbor pilots dock is closer, and if there aren’t any boats there, we might be able to get one at the Carolina Yacht Club.”
They both froze at the sound of tapping on the glass. At first the Chief wondered if it wasn’t the sound of rain again, but this was louder and came in sequences of threes. Tap, tap, tap…pause. Tap, tap, tap.
