by B. T. Wright
The next thing he was going to do was a perimeter check. Jake was finished underestimating the aliens. It was clear that they had begun to master their host bodies, and it seemed as though they might even be tapping into their individual host’s skill sets. Or former skill sets as it might be now. That was more of a hunch; Jake didn’t have too much to go on as far as actual data yet.
The five of them made a sweep of the area outside the back of the store. Everything was quiet, and everything looked clear. Jake walked up the bank to the wooded area. It was the middle of the summer, so the dense foliage made it impossible to see very far, but the peek he took made him feel better. If aliens were moving in those trees, Jake would easily have heard them snapping branches and shaking leaves.
He walked back down the bank and gave everyone a nod. He went over and opened the door for Amy.
“Looks clear, but that doesn’t mean it is,” Jake whispered. “You can’t stay in here. Follow me, and be as quiet as you can.”
He held out his hand for Amy and helped her down. He let Jess and Tyler go in front of him and the eight of them gathered by the back door. Jake moved to the front and tested the door. It was pulled shut, but the handle was busted. Someone had already been there and broken in. The door pulled right open, and he turned back to the group.
“All right. When we get inside, move to the middle of the store. Bryan, you, me, and Mark will do a quick perimeter check. Every isle. Tyler and I made the mistake of not being thorough in a Walmart a few days ago and it almost killed us. When your sweep takes you by a shopping cart, grab one, and grab a handful of grocery bags when you pass those too. We’ll meet back in the middle and all of us will grab essentials. Jess, you, Amy, and Mark will go grab water—get gallon jugs, they will be easiest to carry—and get some essential grooming supplies . . . deodorant, toothpaste and tooth brushes, feminine needs, first aid, etcetera. We may not get a shower for a few days, so let’s at least try to cover up our smell.
“TW, you, Tyler, and Jason hit the canned food section. Make sure you get meat and beans as well as vegetables. We’re going to need the protein. Bryan and I will continue to watch the entrances as you do so.”
Jake handed Bryan the second of the three hand radios. “These are all set. If you see anything funny, radio me immediately.” Then he spoke to the entire group. “I want one of you in your group to be a lookout the entire time. Gun in hand, head on a swivel.”
Jake made eye contact with everyone, making sure they understood.
“Okay . . . move fast, grab fast, and let’s get out fast. Four minutes tops. If at any point you hear me shout ‘run’, get right back to the trucks. Got it?”
Everyone nodded. Jake opened the door and walked inside. The back of the store was dark, but lit enough to see, and it was a mess. Pieces of boxes were everywhere—food, cans, and carts strewn about. They would be lucky if there was much left. It looked as though the store had already been raided. Jake moved quickly past the mess and through the door into the store. The smell of rotten food and spoiled milk that had spilled all over the floor was immediately apparent. It even drew a few groans of displeasure from the group.
Jake moved them to the middle of the store and immediately he, Bryan, and Mark split up to check the perimeter.
“Be right back. Stay ready,” Jake said to Jess. She tipped up the nose of her shotgun to signal she would.
The front wall of the building was all windows, so the light of the sunny day filled the store. Everything was quiet, and Jake grabbed a handful of bags and a shopping cart on his pass by the registers. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, and the three roaming the store made it back to the group at the same time.
“All right. When your cart is full, get to the cars. Let’s do this, and let’s make it quick!”
They dispersed to perform their tasks like ants fleeing their hill. Bryan went to the front of the store, and Jake moved to the back. He let the AR-15 rest on its strap and pulled his Beretta. He had refit it with the suppressor in the car. Everyone was busy gathering supplies, and all looked good in the main area of the store, so he pushed through the door into the back. He felt the seven of them could hold it down inside. He wanted to make sure everything was still quiet outside by the trucks for when it was time to exit.
His eyes were focused forward, which was why he didn’t see the piece of cardboard box under his foot. And when his foot landed on it just right, it sent him flying down on his ass. His immediate reaction was to make sure nobody saw. He turned back to the door that led out into the store, then laughed at himself for caring. He got up, and his right ass cheek was throbbing. He shook his head with a smile and made sure the path in front of him was clear.
There was a noise outside by the SUVs.
Jake’s smile was wiped away in a flash, almost as quickly as he raised his Beretta out in front of him. His stomach dropped as he imagined a mob of infected running around the back side of the store. He moved over to the door. There were no windows, so he would have to rely on his ears. He leaned into the door, his ear hovering over the crack. He heard shuffling. It was faint, but it sounded like shoes scooting over blacktop. He listened for a moment longer and heard the shuffling stop.
Jake didn’t remember the back door making a creaking sound when they’d opened it to go in, so he slowly began to pull it inward. He opened it just enough to where sunlight began to squeeze through the crack. If there were infected out there, they were being very quiet. And if he made a mistake and made too much noise, he and his group were in trouble.
Jake moved his eye to the crack. The first thing he saw was the right headlight of TW’s SUV. When he moved his line of sight to the left, a chill ran down his spine. Just a few feet from him, peering into the back of their SUV, was a shirtless man. Or what used to be a man. Human’s didn’t have a black tint that ran down his spine. This was an infected. An alien. And he was scouting their SUV, like a normal human being would. Even shading his eyes with his hands from the sun so he could get a better look inside.
16
Jake stared at the alien looking in the window of the SUV. With slow and deliberate movement, he removed his axe from the loop in his go bag, and moved it to his left hand. He readied the Beretta in his right. With the tip of his boot, he started to pull the door inward, but quickly stopped after only an inch of movement. He froze when he noticed two more infected beyond the one peering in the SUV. They were standing amongst the trees about twenty yards away, just close enough to the edge where Jake could see them. He swore they were looking right at him. The alien at the SUV moved one more time to the very back window on the driver’s side.
Jake did a quick scan of everything he could see through the small crack, and then decided he had to make a move. It was the only option. Whether there were just these three aliens, or three hundred, he believed they had evolved enough to know that if there were new SUVs parked at the store, humans would be inside. That meant the aliens’ next move would be to come inside after them. One of the many lessons Jake’s dad taught him before he died was that the best defense is a good offense. This had always worked for Jake, because he had never liked defense anyway.
He pulled the door open and extended his Beretta until the tip of it found the first alien in the trees. Jake squeezed the trigger twice, aiming for the neck up. Whether it was a kill shot or not, he didn’t know, but he knew he had hit the alien man, so he moved on. He squeezed the trigger two more times at the alien woman in the trees on the right, but couldn’t tell if he was successful. Though his gunfire was suppressed, it still made enough noise for the alien at the SUV to turn around. Jake moved fast, but rustling in the trees behind the alien threw off his aim, and the two shots he got off both missed. The alien ran right for him.
At the same time, an alien woman came bounding out of the trees. Jake jumped to his right just in time to avoid the alien man’s grasp, and it fell to the blacktop beside him. Jake moved his pistol to the right and lined it up
with the alien female running at him. She was fast, so he made sure he fired enough times to hit her and put her down. Three squeezes later, she faceplanted onto the ground. He moved the gun over just in time to beat the one who lunged at him from getting up, putting two in the side of its head. The slide locked back on his gun; his magazine was empty. When he reached for an extra magazine from his go bag, he was shocked to see two more aliens coming from around the back of the SUV. They must have been hiding there—waiting—in case the others weren’t successful at getting Jake.
There was no time for Jake to reload, so he dropped his gun and took the handle of his axe in his dominant right hand. Both of the male aliens were screaming at the top of their lungs as they ran at him side by side. Jake tossed the axe at the alien on the right. It made two full revolutions and was moving right for the alien’s head. Jake couldn’t believe it when he watched the alien move its head to the side and his axe went skidding across the blacktop behind them. He never suspected the alien might dodge it. If he had, he never would have thrown it.
The two aliens were on him before he had the split second he needed to pull up his AR-15, so he front kicked the alien on the right and grabbed for the throat, just below the gaping mouth of the second alien. The one he kicked stumbled backward, but the second one ran right through Jake’s outstretched hand, and the momentum knocked Jake off his feet. The worst position you can be in when taking on multiple assailants is on the ground. If Jake didn’t get up before the second alien came down on him, he was dead.
Jake used the momentum of his fall to somersault backward and kick the alien man off of him, sending it flying toward the cinderblock wall. Jake popped up and slammed the second alien in the jaw with a powerful right elbow. The elbow hardly fazed the alien, and it grabbed Jake by the shoulders, pushing him, and drove him back toward the side of TW’s SUV. Just before his back slammed against the door, Jake gripped the alien under its arms, turned his hips hard to the right, stuck out his leg, and used a Judo throw to turn the tables and slam the alien’s head into the side of the door.
Jake took a bounce-step back on the balls of his heels, ready for a retaliation. The alien he’d flung toward the grocery wall was already close, and when Jake watched the alien plant its right foot, Jake front kicked it in the kneecap, popping the knee out the back side of its leg. Its leg snapped like a broken matchstick, and the alien dropped to the ground. It didn’t make a whimper and gave no sign that it was in any pain. Instead, as soon as its stomach hit the pavement it began clawing its way toward Jake like a snake with arms.
Jake backpedaled when the alien he’d slammed into the truck screeched and raced toward him. No recovery time needed––Jake was almost back to his axe when out of the corner of his eye he saw two more aliens sprinting toward him. He really didn’t want to use the AR-15, because he knew the noise it would make would have any and all nearby aliens running his way. But he didn’t have a choice.
Jake push-kicked the alien away that was closing in on him from the SUV as he grabbed the AR-15 by the stock. He turned and fired multiple bullets at the two coming at him until both of them dropped, then moved the gun back toward the SUV and put two in the head of the last alien standing. The third bullet struck the alien in the jugular vein, and it opened up like a fire-hydrant, spewing all over Jake’s upper body. He managed to shut his eyes in time, but some of the blood made it into his mouth. As he spit out as much as he could, he couldn’t help but gag as he doubled over at the knees. That was when he felt a tug at the front of his boot, and with a forearm swipe at his eyes, he watched the crawling alien try to climb up his leg.
Jake stumbled back, reached down for his axe, and swung so hard his hand stung when the blade went through the alien’s neck and clashed with the pavement below it.
The back door of the grocery store flew open and Bryan and Jess came running out. Both of them had their weapons extended, searching for something to shoot. The look of horror on Jess’s face told Jake everything he needed to know about what he looked like. He imagined it was something like Carrie in the Stephen King novel when the students dumped the bucket of pig’s blood on her head.
There was no time to let Jess know he was all right. His fear about using the noisy AR-15 had been valid. Evidence of that had just run around the corner of the grocery store in the form of three more aliens. Jake’s attempt at a simple supply run had just turned into a complete disaster.
17
Outside the back of the grocery store felt like a sauna in the early afternoon sun. Especially on the blacktop that seemed to be soaking up the heat like a sponge. But Jake didn’t have time to worry about the weather, and he didn’t have time to worry about the strangers’ blood running all over him either. Tyler and the rest of the group filled in behind Jess and Bryan, full shopping carts and all. When he saw the worry on Jess’s face as she watched the three aliens dressed as humans run around the corner, it focused him, and combat Jake kicked in.
“Bryan, step up with me and let’s hold them off. Jess, get everyone out and unload the carts into the trucks. Fast! There could be more of them on the way!”
Bryan stepped around Jess and aimed his AR-15 at the oncoming enemies. Jake turned from Jess and did the same, putting the butt of his rifle against his right shoulder. With a couple of shots between the two of them, Bryan and Jake easily took down the three infected. But just like waves moving toward the shore, when the aliens they shot went down, another round came right in behind them. This time there were five.
Jake glanced over his shoulder and saw his group filling up the back of the two SUVs with supplies. A fleeting moment of relief hit him when he saw Amy jump into the backseat. When Jake put his focus back on the incoming aliens, he and Bryan took the five of them out straight away.
A shotgun sounded off behind him.
Jake whirled around and watched Jess fire at several infected running at her from the trees.
“Watch my back!” Jake shouted to Bryan.
“Copy!”
Bryan began firing immediately. More aliens must have rounded the corner of the grocery store behind Jake. But Jake didn’t turn to look. His eyes were trained on the end of his AR-15 as he began to fire on the infected running at Jess. He began to jog as he fired so he would be close enough to intervene if she became overrun. Mark and Jason stepped out from behind the SUV—beside Jess—and began defending with shots of their own as Tyler and TW continued tossing bags of groceries into the SUVs.
Then Jake heard a man scream. Not an infected man, but one of the members of his group. There was so much chaos surrounding them that it wasn’t immediately clear who’d been hurt. Jake took down two more aliens at the tree line and rushed forward. When he rounded the back of the SUV, Mark was putting a bullet in the head of a large infected woman that was chewing on Jason’s throat.
“No!” Mark shouted. He shot twice more, but it was too late. Jason was hemorrhaging blood from the side of his neck.
“Jake!” Tyler shouted. Jake could hear the panic in his friend’s voice.
Three more infected were running around the side of the building, opposite where Bryan was continuing to mow down aliens.
Jake stepped around his friend and fired at the three aliens. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he watched them begin to run in a zigzag pattern, clearly attempting to make it more difficult for him to shoot them.
Evolution.
“Close up the SUVs and let’s get the hell out of here!” Jake shouted. He ejected the magazine from his rifle, pulled a spare from the side pocket of his bag, and snapped it in place. “Do it now!”
Jake pulled and released the charging handle, loading the first bullet into the chamber, and began squeezing the trigger. Despite the infecteds’ efforts, Jake was able to shoot them down before they made it to the SUVs. Like clowns out of a circus car, more of them came running around the corner. The only difference was that this time there were far too many to shoot.
“Let’s go! Go, go, go
!”
Jake turned, and everyone but him and Bryan were back in the SUVs. Nobody had taken the time to pick Jason up off the ground and help him in a vehicle. When Jake hurried past him to pick up his axe, Jason’s vacant stare told him why. He was already dead.
Jake fired a few shots at some more infected running behind Bryan to give him time enough to jump in the SUV. Amy opened the back door for him, and Jake jumped in. As soon as he did, Tyler threw the SUV in reverse, and the tires smoked as he backed up. Jake looked to his left and watched Bryan fire a few shots before he got in the SUV with Mark and TW. They were down a man, so Jake was happy to see him lend them a defensive hand.
“Keep your head down,” Jake told Amy. She laid down in the backseat beside him. Jess and Tyler were in the front.
The tires squealed against the blacktop as Tyler floored the gas pedal. The SUV raced forward, and Tyler swerved to avoid hitting two infected running at them. He clipped the third in the group—the thud of its body slammed against the right side of the hood. Tyler swerved again, going around three more aliens. There was a break in the onslaught of infected as they approached the end of the building. Jake glanced back and saw TW and company right behind them. Even though they had just escaped a horrible situation, and had plenty of supplies in tow, the mission had been an absolute failure. One of them didn’t make it.
“Make a left at the end of the building,” Jake said. “Go through the parking lot and make a right. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
