“That’s what I figured. I just wanted to see if either of you had anything better”
I moved the bus to the south side of the lot about fifty feet from the last car in my direction. Mike and Tony got out and checked their crossbows. I revved the engine twice before shutting it off. It occurred to me to beep the horn, but I didn’t want all the zombies in the neighborhood just the ones in this lot. I came around to the passenger side of the bus and checked my crossbow, too. The zombies were shambling toward us at a slow pace.
“Let’s switch it up this time,” I said. “I’ll keep the rear watch. You guys kill zombies. Yell, if they get too close and you want help. Remember: slow is smooth and smooth is fast. I heard that in a movie.”
Tony and Mike chuckled and raised their crossbows. I went around to the driver’s side of the bus and scanned for trouble. Nothing in sight. I heard the first bolt fired and the next. Again, and again. Slow and steady. I sneaked a peek and the zombies looked pretty thinned out. A few minutes more, then Mike called out.
“Clear.”
I went around the other side of the bus and was impressed by the pile of zombies about 35 feet away.
“Good shooting, guys,” I said. “I think I’ve found our marksmen.”
“Those two over there look stuck or confused,” said Mike. “We may have to go get them.”
“Why don’t we get back in the bus and pull around to the front of the store?” I asked. “Maybe the change of direction will loosen them up.”
Mike and Tony retrieved their bolts while I kept watch. Then we got back on the bus and I drove around to the front of Target. I pulled up so the passenger side was toward the door into the store. Like the others we’d encountered, they were closed with the power out. We could see a lot of zombies in there, more than we could count from inside the bus. I looked over towards the lot and saw that the two stuck zombies had gotten themselves unstuck. One was about 50 feet away and the other about 50 feet further back.
“You guys check your gear,” I said. “I’ll get these two.”
I stepped out of the driver’s side after grabbing my crossbow. Looking left and right first to make sure it was clear, I raised the weapon and fired. Head shot! Then I reloaded and took aim again. The zombie, a woman, was farther away than I wanted to try so I looked around again. Confident that this was the only one around, I took aim again and fired. The zombie went down with another head shot. After retrieving the bolts, I returned to the bus.
“Nice shooting, Tex,” said Tony.
“Oh, thanks Gramps,” I shot back with a grin. Tony smiled at the jab and Mike laughed out loud.
“Hush up over there, Junior.”
“This reminds me of Costco, unfortunately,” said Mike.
“Yeah, but this part was the easy part. It wasn’t until the looters came that we had a problem,” I said.
“What’s the plan?” asked Tony.
“Same as Dick’s. Open the door a little, control the flow, and then shoot them in the head.”
“You make it sound easy, Ryan,” said Mike.
“I know.”
“There’s quite a few in there. A lot more than over at the other store,” Tony pointed out.
“And, there only the ones we can see from here,” I said. “But I don’t have another idea.”
“What if we moved the bus to the back of the lot and had someone open the door to the Target and run to the bus?” Mike asked. “They’d thin out in the cars and be easier to shoot.”
“Easier than one at a time?” I asked.
“It would also draw them away from the Target,” Mike continued.
“I guess it would be safer if we didn’t have to stand that close,” I conceded.
“You’re experience is that they’re attracted to sound?” asked Tony.
“So far that’s what we’ve seen,” Mike answered.
“What if we started one of the cars in the back of the parking lot and put some music on?” asked Tony.
“Oh, that’s good,” I said. “We’ll have to find a CD ‘because I don’t think we’ll find a radio station but they’d probably shamble right to it.”
“We can shoot out the doors of the Target from a distance. Then when they clear out we go in,” said Mike.
“We’d need a fulltime lookout so they don’t trap us in there. But, I like it,” I said.
Finding a car in the lot that had a loud stereo was easy. It even had a 6 disc changer which was a score in this age of mp3’s. Or, rather what was the age of mp3’s. It had a zombie occupant but she was easy enough to dispose of and it meant the keys were accessible. No one wanted to sit in the car so we put it in neutral and pushed it as far away from the front door as we could. We left it straight out in view of the door of the Target. Mike turned the key and it started right up. He set the player to ‘repeat’ and ‘random’ and opened all the doors.
“Where are going to leave the bus?” asked Mike as we walked back towards it.
“I think I want to put it just to the right of the door. That way we can pull back up when we’re ready.”
“Then we shoot out the doors from out here somewhere and disappear in the cars as we head back to the bus?” asked Tony.
“Makes sense to me, Mike?”
Mike nods and we continue to the bus. Once inside, I start it up and back up out of the way of the doors to the store.
“Leave the crossbows. I know that’s backwards of what I’ve been saying but I’m worried about them getting hung up on something out there in the parking lot,” I said. We exited the bus and started making our way out to the front of the store deep into the lot. “Keep your eyes open. We saw those zombies get stuck out in the cars. Don’t let that happen to you. And after we start shooting, remember that the noise will attract other zombies.”
We stopped about a hundred yards out from the door and opened fire on the entrance. Initially, the shots went everywhere. But, we settled down and started getting more on target. There were two sets of doors we needed to destroy, one behind the other. And we needed to do that for both the entrance and the exit because there were zombies at both side and we needed all of them out of the store. Mike dropped his mag and reloaded, then I did and finally Tony. Finally it looked like zombies were getting through on both side with no problems.
“Check 6,” I called out. There were a few zombies at the car already, but otherwise we were clear. Where had those zombies come from? We turned back towards the Target and saw the zombies were still a ways off.
“Who’s the better shot with the AR?” I asked.
“You and Tony,” Mike answered immediately. “I was all over.”
“Okay, Mike,” I said. “Watch our backs. Keep your eyes moving. Don’t let anything sneak up on us, got it?”
Mike nodded and spun around.
“Tony, let’s get some of these before we go,” I said.
“Fine, but let’s not waste too much ammo. So we do it right. Slow and steady. One shot, one kill.”
Tony and I brought our rifles up, aimed and took a breath.
Bang! Two down. Another breath.
Bang! Two down. Another breath.
We emptied two mags each that way. 60 rounds total. I missed 4 times and Tony only missed twice. But, there were still more zombies than we could count. So, we made our way through the cars to our right and back to the safety of the bus.
“Well, that was exhilarating,” said Tony.
“Tell me about it,” Mike responded.
“No shit” was all I could muster. “Let’s get our mags reloaded and rest here while the store empties. We aren’t done. Don’t go to sleep though, we don’t know what else the stereo will attract.”
By the time we finished reloading the mags, the flow of zombies from Target had stopped. There were, however, a huge number around the car with the stereo blasting. No other living people could be seen. I pulled up to the door and paused, looking around.
“To be honest, this makes me really n
ervous,” I said. “I don’t like having all those zombies right there.
“I’ll be the lookout,” said Tony. “You guys will do better in there and my knees are killing me.”
“That’s fine. Let’s do a radio check,” I said. The radios were good.
Time to go.
“I’m leaving the keys. It’s a diesel so once you turn the key you have to wait for this light to come on before you start it,” I said, pointing to a spot on the dash. “And this opens the door. Don’t get snuck up on. And call for anything suspicious. By the way, do you or Beth take and meds?”
“We both take Lisinopril for high blood pressure,” he said. I repeated it several times to get it set in my overloaded brain. There would probably be a pharmacy guide in there I could reference if I needed.
“We’ll try to go to the pharmacy first. Anything either of you won’t eat?” I asked.
“No, we’re not picky.”
“Okay, call for any reason.”
Mike and I slowly entered Target with our headlamps on and crossbows raised. I decided not to clear the whole store in the interest of time. Having all those zombies just out in the parking lot was making me crazy nervous. Did we check to see how much gas the car had? Crap. We made our way to the pharmacy first.
Things had gone bad at the Target pretty quickly from the looks of it. There were overturned carts everywhere and lots of blood on the floor. Several corpses were scattered about in different stages of being eaten.
The pharmacy was still unlocked. Another sign that things had gone bad quickly. I found what I wanted without much trouble since I’d done this before. Amoxicillin, Xanax, Vicodin, Keflex and the Millers blood pressure meds all went in the cart. I also decided to grab more first aid supplies. Can’t have too many of them.
“Ryan, come in. Ryan.”
“Go for Ryan.”
“Just wanted to do a radio check. How are things in there?” asked Tony. I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until just then.
“Shit, Tony you scared me. The store’s wrecked as you might think. Must’ve happened fast. We read you 5 by 5, over,” I replied.
We made our way to the water and filled our carts without incident. It didn’t take long to fill the two carts to overflowing. We found one zombie on our way out to the bus which Mike dispatched easily. I was very pleased that all the zombies were still interested in the car stereo. I was, however, equally displeased that there appeared to be twice as many zombies as before. Where had they all come from?
The next three trips netted almost all of the water, soda and juice. Having only regular shopping carts and not flatbed carts like at Costco made extra trips necessary. When the drinking options were exhausted we switched to food. Once again, canned tuna, canned chicken, soup, canned fruit, canned veggies, rice and dried beans filled the carts. It took two more trips for me to be happy with our haul. We loaded the bus with the last run.
But, damn, there were more zombies out at the car every time I looked.
“I wish we could do something about that,” said Mike pointing out to the horde of zombies by the car.
“It’s been on my mind, too,” said Tony. “The only thing I can think of is to set them on fire. It’s too many to shoot.”
“Would fire even do anything to them?” I asked.
“I think if you did enough damage to their bodies they would be unable to move even if some of their brain still worked,” Tony relied. “But, I haven’t figured out how to get close enough to set them on fire.”
“Gas cans with flares,” said Mike.
“Huh, we’d have to go get gas but they probably have flares inside,” I said.
“Would we try to throw the cans? Or, do we need to set up another distraction?” asked Tony.
“I don’t think we can make a distraction any louder than that one,” Mike pointed to the car.
“What we need is a propane truck,” I mused.
“Does Target do propane exchange?” Tony asked. We all looked up toward the door but didn’t see any.
“Damn, so we fill gas cans and tape flares to them then roll them over to the zombies?’ asked Mike.
“Maybe,” I said. “Let’s go back in and see if we can find some gas cans and flares. We’ll see if anything jogs an idea.”
Mike and I went back in Target and looked for our items. We found flares but only about 18. Christmas had taken over most of the outdoor section and we only came across two gas cans. I did grab several jugs of laundry detergent. Mixed with the gas it would create a gooey mess, sort of a kind of ‘bath tub’ napalm.
Back outside, we sat on the bus watching the zombies staggering around. Even without food, the music was enough to keep them all interested.
“You know, Sears at the other end of the mall would have gas cans,” said Tony.
“Shit, you’re right. They might even have a propane exchange. Let’s go over and look,” I said.
I pulled away very slowly to keep the noise down and headed around the back of the mall away from the zombie horde in front of Target. A few zombies looked up as we left but none were interested enough to give chase. The drive only took a few minutes.
There were only 20 or so cars in front of Sears. A few had zombie occupants but the rest were empty. And there, by the door, was a Blue Rhino propane exchange. I pulled right up alongside and we got out. A few blows from a hammer and the exchange was open. There were ten full tanks and we took them all.
“This will make one hell of an explosion. But we also need a burn. We still need gas,” said Tony.
“You’re right,” I said, burying my face in my hands. “I’m just so fucking tired right now. What time is it?”
“Almost noon.”
“Shit. Four hours of this crap. Let me get a granola bar.” I grabbed an energy bar out of my back pack and wolfed it done. I followed it up with some Gatorade. When I finished, I said out loud, to no one in particular, “Whose idea was this anyway?”
“Yours, don’t you remember?’ said Mike, smiling. “C’mon Ryan. Let’s get this done. Same as last time.”
We pulled the doors open a little and killed the few zombies there. Most had probably been staggering down the halls of the mall to get to the music on the other side. The outdoor section, what little there was with Christmas in full swing was just inside to the right. This would be a ‘run in and grab shit’ operation. We made it out with 9 gas cans and a few bottles of 2 cycle oil as 4 zombies were staggering up.
I drove across the street to a gas station and we used the hand pump to fill 7 of the cans with gas. Then we filled 2 of the cans with diesel from the tank of a large truck with a very angry zombie inside. While Mike put the diesel in the bus and refilled the tanks to take home, I put detergent and oil in the gas cans and shook them up. On the way back to the mall, we went over the plan.
“I think we strap the flares to the propane tanks ahead of time. Let’s use five and take the rest home to cook with,” I said. “When we get there, we get as close as we can in the bus and toss the gas cans into the mob. We light the flares next and roll the propane tanks toward them. Then we move a safe distance away.”
“Then we shoot them with the AR’s,” said Tony.
“And we watch the bastards burn,” said Mike.
Turns out that tossing a gas can full of gas is harder than you think. It’s heavy, at about 6lbs per gallon. We ended up parking the bus, getting out and walking up as close as we dared before heaving the cans in the general direction of the zombies. Some went where we wanted. The propane tanks were easier when we set up a little method. We got as close to the horde as we could and while Tony kept watch, I lit the flare and Mike rolled it towards the zombies. The zombies paid little attention to the burning flares. The whole process was ugly for sure, but nobody got hurt. I parked the bus about 100 yards away and the three of us got out with our rifles and formed a line.
“I’ll take the one on the left, Tony the middle and Mike on the right,” I sai
d.
They both nodded.
“Ready? On three. One, two, three.”
The rifles were loud but the explosion was just as loud, and more than we could’ve hoped for. Only Tony hit his mark on the first try but Mike and I fired again and connected as soon as we could see the targets. A few more shots found two more tanks and they added to the fire.
It looked like a scene out of a movie. I didn’t think anything could survive. Most of the zombies were burning, some more than others. The ones closest to the gas cans were covered with the gooey, fiery mess. Many more had been injured from the explosion. Some were already on the pavement not moving. I’m not sure I could be more pleased with the results.
“We’ll probably lose the mall because of the burning zombie mess. Some are bound to stagger over that way,” observed Tony.
“I never liked that mall anyway,” I replied.
The looters bodies were still in the truck as we drove by.
Back at the house, the group ate lunch before unloading the truck. Tabby was paying a lot of attention to Mike and he was paying it right back. For the rest of us, the talk was about the next few days. Everyone seemed happy about all the supplies except for me. And, I was getting angry.
“I don’t think you guys understand the reality of our situation. Let’s say we have food and water now for five months. That sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? But, it’s May. That’s it, May. How many times have you said ‘Gosh, where did the spring go?’ Or even, ‘where did the year go?’ Are we going to have a yard full of vegetables in May? Will we have a smoke house full of meat? Will there be enough rainwater collected? I don’t have the answers to these questions, people. What if our soil is crap? Do any of you know how to process a deer? I sure as shit don’t. Can we even get enough water from rain to begin with?”
“Ryan, you make it sound like we’re on the verge of dying,” said Karen.
“We are. Just ask Lois. That was just 24 hours ago.”
“Ryan, calm down. We always figure it out,” said Sam. She put her hand on my leg to try to comfort me. It didn’t work.
“How can I be calm, Samantha? Modern life doesn’t prepare us for this kinda crap. We’re all fat and lazy. Can anyone make soap? Candles? If we get vegetables does anyone know how to can them anymore? We can’t sit here and pat ourselves on the back. And now we have to worry about other humans taking what we’ve gathered and killing us in the process.”
Dead of Knight: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale Page 16
