by Shawn McLain
“Glad we have a cop to help us break in.” Beth laughed. Max turned to her, an actual smile on his face. Devin spied a delivery door and backed the truck up close to it. He put the truck in park but left the engine running. He got up from the driver’s seat and streatched. “Trevor. Take over driving for a bit, will you?”
Trevor nodded and moved from the passenger seat to the driver’s. Devin looked around the back of the truck for a moment and pulled up a panel in the floor. Inside was a spare tire, a jack and a tire tool with a wedge shaped end.
Matt gawked. “Sure now you think of that. Why couldn’t you have found that before I jumped out the truck at the bra place?”
Devin gave Matt an apologetic smile. He then moved to the back doors of the truck. Readying himself he looked at Hector, Beth and Max in turn.
“Ok I guess Devin’s going, who else?” Hector asked.
Beth leaned close to Devin and whispered, “No one blames you. You don’t have to do this.”
He nodded at her and patted her arm reassuringly. Beth smiled at him and placed her hand over his. She then returned to getting ready when Hector spoke. “Ok we need someone to stay out here and guard the truck, Beth that’ll be you and Max. Martin, Matt, the doc and I will go in.”
Beth began to protest but Hector held up his hand to quiet her. “You’re a better shot than any of these guys and god willing there will be more zombies out here than in there.”
The ones going into the store began to gather the guns they had. Max took the shot gun away from Matt and gave him a 22 instead. Matt frowned at the gun. Max gave a revolver to Martin. Stancy had already moved to the passenger seat and was making it obvious that she was going nowhere.
“You know I can push a cart and use it as a walker.” Bill protested.
“Come on Bill, what if we run into problems? There is no way you will be able to out run trouble if we get into it. What if there are a bunch of them.” Gillian explained putting a hand on Bill’s shoulder keeping him from rising.
“Seriously Mr. Reager, You’re better off here, for now. I’ll be just outside.” Beth comforted.
Bill lay back wearily against the side of the truck. He gave Beth a weak smile. Gillian nodded a silent thanks.
“Great stuck out here with Annie Oakley and a gimp.” Stancy muttered.
“Well you could get off your ass and help out.” Max commented.
Stancy turned her back on them with a huff. Trevor glanced at her sideways from the driver’s seat. The others spared the back of her head a look of annoyance before readying their assault on the huge package store.
The next few minutes held a flurry of activity. Devin and Hector worked to force the store’s rear door open. Beth took up a position at the rear of the truck while Max ran to the front. Matt, Gillian, and Martin nervously waited behind Devin and Hector.
“Hang close to me Kid.” Martin winked at Matt.
Matt looked over to Gillian, she nodded for him to go with the Mayor. Gillian hung close to Devin as he worked on the door. Hector it was decided would sweep the store front. If he saw trouble he would alert the others to get out quick.
The rear door of the store popped open. Instantly alarms began to blare, Beth instinctively covered her ears. The cold of the handgun she was holding against her ear reminded her to ignore the sound. This is going to bring them. She thought, and began to check around for the most probable places the undead would come from.
Hector had already entered the building. The others waited a couple of second then rushed into the blackness through the door. The alarm stopped. Beth stepped behind the truck looking toward the front. Max was sweeping his rifle back and forth across the area. Beth returned to her position. Looking at the nine millimeter hand gun she wished for something with more kick.
Movement at the far corner of the building captured her attention. Two of the undead rounded the edge of the structure. Beth watched them for a moment. From this distance they looked perfectly normal. Beth gave a hesitant wave to show she was alive; she quickly lowered her arm and adjusted the aim on her weapon.
The two had responded, it was the response of the undead, a low longing moan followed by outstretched arms and a quicker shuffled toward her. Beth’s heart ached with disappointment. She raised her weapon and sighted the head of the ghoul in a light windbreaker. Using the team emblem on the dead man’s ball cap she readied to fire.
The shots she heard did not come from her gun nor from Max’s. Max appeared at the front of the truck a questioning look in his eyes. Beth shook her head to say she hadn’t fired. They looked at each other then at the open door to the store.
Answering their question Gillian burst through the opening. Terror was etched deep onto the features of the young veterinarian. Devin followed closely on Gillian’s heels.
“Start the truck.” He screamed from the back door. Stancy shrieked, flailed and pounded the dash. Trevor turned the key making the starter scream against the already running engine.
Beth noticed neither Gillian nor Devin had any supplies. More gun fire erupted from inside the building. Devin paled turning to look behind him. He took a step back, stumbled, turned and fell right over the threshold. Running blindly Hector tripped over him as he came out next. Devin was clawing his way to the truck. Hector heaved him to his feet and pushed him into the back of the rumbling vehicle.
Beth was moving toward the door, “Where are Matt and Martin?” As if to answer her question several small pops and three really loud bangs sounded from inside. Beth spun as one of the back doors to the truck slammed shut by Max.
“MATT! MARTY! WE HAVE TO GO!” Hector was yelling from the still open door. He pointed to either side of the store. Zombies were streaming around both sides. He grabbed Beth’s hand and pulled her in. Trevor began to pull forward.
“Wait! WAIT! They are coming!” Beth screamed over her shoulder at him.
In the dark of the doorway she could see the flashes of guns firing. Then Matt flew out the door as if he had been thrown. He hit the pavement and didn’t get up right away. Beth started to move when Hector pushed past her. He jumped out and in one fluid motion scooped Matt up, turned and was back in the truck in a flash.
Martin appeared at the back door covered in blood. His face a mask of sorrow and terror as his eyes locked with Beth’s. They stared at each other. Beth took a step forward. Her hand found the door handle as she readied to jump out of the truck. Martin held up his hand wearing a look that begged her to understand.
“NO!” Beth screamed as Martin reached over, grabbed the door knob then slammed the door shut. Hector’s strong arms strained to hold Beth as she fought to get out.
“Trevor, Go! Max, get the door! Beth there is nothing you can do.” Hector yelled.
Beth fought against the military man. She stared at the closed portal through the open truck door. Max pulled the door shut, Beth broke free, scrambled around Max to the window. She watched the closed store door, the image of Martin’s face seared into her brain.
Trevor sped through the oncoming crowd of undead. Soon she could no longer see the door through the sea of zombies. Slowly she turned to see the faces of those that had been inside. They all held a look of horror and pain. “What…What happened?” She gasped.
Matt lay on the floor with his eyes half closed. He propped himself up slightly on his elbows, looking past Beth he slurred, “I thought that place was crowded when everyone was alive.” His eyes rolled back, his head thudded against the steel and he promptly passed out. Gillian checked his pulse.
Trevor’s voice came cracked and strained from the front. “I knew him for fifteen years. Fifteen. Since he was a city council man.”
Looking up from Matt, Gillian looked from Max to Beth then to the floor. In a shaky voice she spoke, “God, there were so many in there. So many. It was like they went there as a hiding place or something. It was packed…and so many.” With that she dissolved into tears.
Hector just sat and shook. He was t
rying to load his weapon but his fingers wouldn’t work right. Beth found a bottle of water and handed it to him. He looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. “Children, so many children.” He breathed. Only the sound of the engine was heard for the journey back into town.
Hungry
Britney stumbled out of the house to the front lawn. The bright sun blinding her momentarily after the dark of the house. The grass needed to be cut, but this had never been her job. That had fallen to her brother. Her brother had been missing since the outbreak had started. She wandered down the empty streets toward the downtown. She was so hungry and something told her she could find food this way.
She found her way blocked many times. It took a long time to get around the burned out cars and fallen ruble. She had left the house hours ago but time didn’t really matter anymore. What was time when no one was around to meet you, with no appointments needing to be kept?
Many times she saw several zombies shambling off in the distance. They took no notice of her so she kept moving forward. The life she had known was over. The things she had cared so much for no longer mattered. She just needed to find food. Her reflection showed a torn t-shirt with the logo of her favorite book and movie. She didn’t care about any of that now.
She stumbled out of the alley and tripped over a half full trash can. It rattled loudly along the empty street. Moving forward she slipped on the rotting corpses of several children all dressed in choir robes. She took no notice of the smell or the tragedy of the little lives lost. She tripped over more debris and headed for the fence. It was inside, the food was inside.
Steve was at his post in the bell tower of Saint Andrews downtown church. He looked through the scope of his rifle down to the barricade buses and whatever else they could pile up. Something moved to the right of an overturned car. Steve sighted in the rifle and waited. It had been a while since he had seen one of them wander this close. He wondered if it knew they were here or if it just chanced upon them. “If they knew we were here, this place would be covered with them.” Steve reassured himself. It seemed strange that of a city this size they had seen so few of the undead around. Especially after seeing so many at the ball park, it made him wonder if they might be safe and the zombies had moved out of the city. His thoughts interrupted by the sound of metal clanging down the street.
Steve returned to his scope searching for the source of the sound. Sweeping the street he discovered a girl stumbling out of the shadows. At least that was what he concluded judging by what was left of the thing’s clothes. She was a teenager, he thought. He noticed the “Twilight” t-shirt and had to laugh at the irony.
“Well you loved the undead,” he mused “now you are the undead.” He thought of Beth and how much she hated those books. “I guess you and Beth wouldn’t have been friends, I wonder if she knew you.” He thought back to the last time he had talked to his sister. Hadn’t he given her a hard time about that stuff? He smiled, it was just an older brother messing with his sister. A frown crossed his face, “She knew that.” He whispered, “Right?”
Steve looked back through the scope but he had lost sight of the zombie. He scanned the area, “Beth was too cool for that vampire soap opera crowd. Is too cool.” He corrected himself angrily.
Looking over the scope he spotted her at the fence. She was clawing at the interlocking metal rings, trying to get through. He returned to the eyepiece adjusting the cross hairs on her face. He flipped off the safety, exhaled, and squeezed the trigger.
Britney crumpled, now completely lifeless. Her broken body lay at the bottom of the fence outside the church.
“Beth you had better be safe.” Steve grunted.
Apartment
The truck rolled on in a deep silence, the quiet only broken by the huffing of Stancy or her whine of discomfort. Finally returning to the downtown area Trevor broke the spell. “Hey Doc. Where do we go from here?” They sat idling at an intersection.
Startled, Gillian looked up from Matt. She gave him the cold compress to hold against the knot on his head then struggled to moved up to the front. Looking out the window it took a moment to her bearings. The downtown area was littered with debris, crashed cars, and signs of violence. Gillian knelt down next to Trevor. Stancy had stayed in the passenger seat. She was staring out the window not looking at anyone but silently daring them to make her move.
It was uncomfortable for Gillian to sit on her knees giving directions. She heard grumbling and turned around. Max gave a disgusted look at Stancy and made to say something, but Gillian just shook her head. It took a while for Gillian to find her way back to the apartment. It had been several years and the way she remembered had been blocked by a fire. It looked as if an entire block of the city was burning out of control. Fear boiled up, what if that had been the building they needed? What if this was another wasted trip, another disappointment or worse. What if she got them trapped?
After a the third backtrack Stancy wasn’t the only one grumbling. Finally she breathed a sigh of relief. There it was, the place she was looking for, a Hardware store with two stories of windows above it. “There is a dance studio on the second floor and three or four apartments on the third.” She smiled pointing to the building. “Down the alley is the door to the stairs. You had to either be buzzed in or have a key.” She continued.
“No way!” Max exclaimed and slapped the back of the driver’s seat happily as they pulled down the alley.
Gillian looked at him perplexed. “What?” She asked.
He pointed at the fire escape hanging out into the alley. “Perfect. It is perfect. We don’t have to force the door we just have to climb up on the truck and up the fire escape.” He grinned at her pulling her up into a one armed hug.
Beth interrupted, “that is if we are the only ones here.” She pointed out the windshield to the open door just below the fire escape. Max’s face fell. “Damn it. Now what?”
“Maybe it got left open when the residence left?” Trevor noted hopefully. Beth felt the way their luck had been, he was being grossly optimistic.
Hector slapped a full clip into his rifle, “Well it looks like we need to check this out.” Beth pulled her gun and fixed him with a gaze, she refused to be left behind this time. He nodded. “The rest of you stay here. Beth and I will check it out.” She gave a quick nod and clicked off the safety.
Trevor pulled up to the door. Beth and Hector jumped out. As soon as the cleared the bumper the truck’s back door slammed shut. It sounded louder than a cannon being fired to Beth. Standing in the deserted alley, she was suddenly aware of how fast and loud her heart was beating. She followed close to the military man. The gun in her hand, again, felt light, too small, like a toy.
“What are you doing out here?” Her brain screamed. Shaking the thoughts away she charged forward. The door into the building swung a little in the light breeze. Beth hesitated. The breeze brought with it the smell of smoke and old garbage from down the alley. Hector signaled her to wait and to keep watch. He took a deep breath. Swinging around the door he aimed his weapon up a flight of stairs. He clicked on the flashlight attached to the barrel. Seeing nothing he reached into his pocket pulling out a second flashlight. Beth glanced over her shoulder as he flashed the light around the stairwell. She could see the streaks of blood on the walls and her stomach tightened.
“This is not going to be good.” She whispered.
Hector nodded while Handing Beth the flashlight. He motioned her to keep quiet and watch behind them as they ascended the stairs. Gaining the second floor landing there was a door to the dance studio and another that lead to more stairs. Beth wanted to go up the stairs but Hector indicated the door to the studio. They spent several seconds having a silent argument with furious hand motions and pointing from door to door. Finally Beth threw up her hands in frustration. She moved closer to Hector and the closed Dance studio door. She really didn’t want to see what was in there.
Carefully and quietly Hector opened the door. It ope
ned into a huge open room. The light flashed through the empty space. Beth’s light fell on a large pool of drying blood on the floor. There were no streaks to show a body being drug. Moving closer they checked the floor for signs of the blood’s owner. Only one set of bloody foot prints led toward the stairs disappearing before reaching the door. Scanning the rest of the room they saw no sign of the living or dead just a couple of doors at the far end of the room.
Moving further in Beth jumped with a squeak. She swung around to aim at the person who appeared directly across from her. She gave a small stifled laugh and sigh of relief as she saw only herself in the wall length mirror. Behind her she could see Hector trying to cover his amusement. She gave him the finger in the mirror. This did nothing to stem his mirth. She motioned him to move. He saluted, took a breath to regain focus, and moved on gun at the ready. She took a moment to calm herself and get ready. She followed him, keeping an eye on their backs as they snaked around the support columns.
Hector headed to a door in the middle of the opposite wall. He kicked it open and shined his light around. “Clear” he whispered. Beth was at his side. They were looking in at an office. The desk was messy but clear of any sign of violence. Hector pointed to another door. Together they eased silently toward it. Hector held up a hand. He showed three fingers then two then one. Beth nodded. Three fingers…Two….One…he reached out, turned the knob then threw the door open and stood back.
Beth held her flashlight next to the barrel of her gun, breath held. The light weakly illuminated the next room. Hector peaked around the corner and then went in. Beth followed him into a locker room. Again there was no one there. He motioned for them to head out and up to the next floor.
“Where did they go? Beth whispered as they returned to the stairway to head up to the third floor.
“I’m hoping out the front door and far far away.” Hector replied quietly when they were halfway up the stairs. Reaching the top of the flight they came to yet another door. Hector looked at the door then at Beth. She shrugged and raised an eyebrow. “How many doors do they need?” Hector grumbled. There was a small window on one side just above the handle. Beth mused this must be so people could see who was coming up. Hector reached out slowly and tried the knob, it was locked.
