They had rolled up right next to where the lumber was stacked, and though there was not a tremendous amount of it left, she figured that there was enough of it to suit their humble needs. But she would wait to load that up because she wanted to know just how many creepers were roaming the store, and she would rather not give them the opportunity to come at them all at once. If she and Sam blasted around the store right now, taking one or two out at a time, then it would be much more manageable.
“Ready?” Amanda asked once Sam was situated.
“Roger that,” Sam said, standing like a baseball playing surfer that was ready to catch a wave.
Here we go, Amanda thought as she heaved her weight into the cart, getting it rolling. Once it was rolling, it wasn’t as difficult to gain some speed as she had anticipated, but the steering around the first corner into the next aisle was a little tough as she swung wide around, nearly colliding with the bottom shelf on the far side. As it was, the cart scraped along the shelf before she righted it.
Amanda positioned the cart so as to align Sam with the creeper that was meandering down the aisle toward them. Sam, being a little elevated now, had the creature within the strike zone and the momentum they were traveling at helped her to crunch the creeper’s skull easily in one swing.
“Six,” Sam shouted, feeling a rush of adrenaline hit her.
Sam could feel the wind washing over her and the sting that coursed through her body from the impact of the baseball bat with its target, followed by the resultant vibration through her arms that still hummed.
Wildly, like they were on some sort of twisted amusement park ride, they careened around the next corner. And this time, Amanda used the bottom shelf that they were scraping against to help right her course. Then they were pummeling down the next aisle where two creepers waited within eight feet of each other. Sam swung the bat and then quickly swung again, downing both of them.
“That’s eight,” she said, readying her balance for the next wild turn.
Amanda could feel the pulse of her increased heart rate through the palms of her hands and in her skull as well as her chest. She gulped at the foul smoke-riddled air like she had seen goldfish do in a tank. Her legs pumped, feeling tired and oxygen deprived, but still she pushed on, letting the momentum of the cart help her, to the next aisle that was clear of any threat.
Somehow, she had managed to do that down all nine aisles of the store, with Sam clearing them out like an expert marksman.
“That’s twelve, and I beat your count so far,” Sam said, with eyes that shone from excitement. “I have never been allowed to do anything that cool!” she exclaimed while Amanda struggled to catch her breath, clutching the handle of the cart just to be able to stay on her feet.
“We did it,” Sam said. “We cleared the store!”
“Not so fast, girlfriend,” Amanda said in between gasps. “Could be more that came in, and we might have missed something. We were rolling fast!”
“I know, you were awesome, pushing so hard like that. It made it so easy to whack them,” Sam said.
“And you haven’t beat my count, we’re even at twelve and twelve, because I ran over two of them coming into the store,” Amanda said, feeling like it was important to set the record straight if they were indeed going to be treating this as a competition.
“Okay then,” Sam said, “we’re even, but there’s still time.”
“You’ve got that right,” Amanda said, unable to not laugh at that.
She was definitely going to give the girl an A+ for enthusiasm, energy, attitude, and creativity. And she could not even imagine what her mother was going to be thinking when Sam came back to camp, enthusiastically recounting her adventures here. Amanda would be the one in trouble with “Mom,” not Sam. But it would be important for Sam to off-load her story, psychologically speaking, so Amanda wouldn’t dream of asking her not to tell her parents about some of their riskier adventures.
A full minute passed before she could stand on her own two shaky legs and take a better look around at what aisle 9 had to offer. On the far side, up against the wall and all the way down were plumbing supplies. She opted to pass on any of those. But on the other side was a myriad assortment of tape, staple guns, and accessories. Farther down that aisle were lamps, light fixtures, and bulbs.
The plumbing supplies had been left alone, and the shelves and bins were full, not true for the tape section that had been picked over. Amanda grabbed the two remaining twin packs of black electrical tape and the single roll of gray duct tape that had fallen onto the floor.
“Anything else?” Sam asked, eyeing the row.
“Grab us a staple gun and some packs of staples if you can find them,” Amanda said.
“Done,” Sam said, quickly reaching to retrieve the items.
The air quality of the store was getting worse, alerting Amanda that the fire was beginning to encroach upon them.
Sam walked alongside the cart this time as they rolled down the aisle where Amanda grabbed a plain-looking lamp and two four-packs of bulbs.
“One can dream,” she said, placing them on the cart with the hopes that Roy could rig them up some light.
Down the next aisle, they scored several hammers, boxes of nails, screws, a power drill, with a case full of bits to go with it, the electrical wiring that Roy had asked for, wire cutters, wire strippers, and an assortment of electrical accessories that Amanda didn’t quite understand their use but knew that Roy would, and could possibly be able to use them.
The poor quality of the air was causing Amanda some concern, and even though she was pleased to have made it to this store before it succumbed to the fire, she was unsure of the wisdom in staying here too long.
“What do you think is behind that door,” said Sam, indicating a gray set of double doors that had a locking handle.
“Don’t have a clue,” Amanda answered, suddenly feeling curious about it. “We were rolling so fast I didn’t even see it on the first time by.”
“Me neither, I was too busy whacking those things and clearing a path for us. Do you think there’s something good?”
“Could be, let’s try the handle and see if it’s unlocked. If it’s unlocked, it’s probably already been raided, but we can check,” Amanda said, temporarily forgetting her concerns due to the overwhelming sense of curiosity that this door offered her.
The door was locked. She was a little surprised that there could be a section of this store that no one had pillaged yet. But then again, she thought, it wasn’t like the place was a grocery store. People had better things to be doing than fighting off the enormous amount of creepers inside the store to attempt to get it open for possibly no real reward.
Chapter 44
“How do we open it?” Sam asked, sounding concerned that they may not be able to check it out after all.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s actually a good thing that it’s locked, that means there might be some valuable things in there for us that haven’t been touched yet. But I don’t really feel much like beating the crap out of the door handle with a sledge hammer right now, so let’s see if our friendly store worker that we bashed has the key on her.”
“Oh,” Sam said, sounding like she wasn’t too keen on going through the pockets of a creeper.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll do it,” Amanda said, walking back to their cart, “besides, I want to go back and check on things with the truck and Red.”
“Sounds good,” Sam said, with renewed excitement.
Amanda pushed the cart into the next aisle, and Sam bashed another creeper that had wandered in on them. Amanda was hoping that an entire horde hadn’t entered the place while they had been at the other end of the store.
“Thirteen,” Sam said, sounding out of breath and a little hoarse.
Even with the bandanas, the smoke was scratching at their throats, burning their lungs and making eyes water. The store had not yet become cloudy with smoke yet, but Amanda hoped to be out of here
before that happened.
This aisle had contained batteries, flashlights, lanterns, kerosene, and a few camping type items that were really picked over. Amanda collected up a few of the packs of batteries that remained, but Sam had found more batteries in the pawnshop than there were left over here.
Sam grabbed the last two remaining kerosene lanterns and the six small bottles of kerosene that were scattered across the shelf. Others had already taken the larger bottles and hadn’t been desperate enough to want the smaller ones.
Amanda grabbed eight more plastic tent spikes, some coils of cotton rope, and the last three tarps, one large and two small. There were a small collection of flashlights left out of the dozens that had been displayed, and Amanda scooped those up too. Even though it was a little disappointing to find so little compared to what had been here, it was still a much better haul by far than anything she had previously been accustomed to.
At the end of this aisle were four checkout lines that had once boasted food impulse items and drinks. There was nothing remaining of that except empty boxes strewn about that had once held the items and some empty bottles and wrappers, which indicated that someone hadn’t wanted to wait to consume them.
“Bummer,” said Sam, “I was kinda hoping for some more candy or gum or something.”
“Sorry, kid, we missed the proverbial boat on that one.”
Feeling like the cart was sufficiently loaded for this trip and eager to see what the store looked like farther down toward the truck, Amanda began pushing the cart past the aisles and toward the entrance that they had arrived in, having Sam keep an eye on their surroundings in case there was more to deal with.
As they approached the truck, they could hear Red barking his warning bark, which put them on the alert for trouble. And trouble came shuffling around the corner, in the form of a female creeper that was wearing a light blue smock with a flower imprint. The smock was filthy, and the creeper had recently turned, so she was fast, but not fast enough for Sam’s bat, and she went down.
“I see what you mean about the recently turned ones being fast,” said Sam. “She was nothing like the others.”
The girl’s eyes were alight with the spark of fight, and Amanda was both proud and concerned. It was good that the teen had taken to the job of protecting herself with such gusto, but Amanda worried that there was just a little something wrong with enjoying it so much. She gave the girl a nod.
Another creeper was scraping at the door to the rental truck, and Red was positively irate about it. He was barking and growling and ready to pounce, should someone open the door to free him.
“I’ve got it,” Sam said while Amanda pulled the cart up behind the truck.
Again, there was no hesitation on Sam’s part to jump into the fray.
Sam found that one to be an easy target. In its frustration to reach the wolf dog, it had never seen her coming.
“Fifteen,” the girl said, but at the time, Amanda was sliding the rolling back door of the truck up and couldn’t hear her.
“I’m way in the lead now,” Sam said, coming up behind Amanda.
“I’m happy for you, I truly am, but can you hop in and put this stuff that I’m stacking here in the back?”
“Sure,” Sam said as Amanda began unloading the cart.
Amanda felt a tickle in her throat, and her eyes had begun to water, and then she was coughing and couldn’t seem to stop. Her throat was sore and scratchy from the smoke.
“You okay?” Sam asked, coming back for more items.
Amanda held a finger up to indicate that Sam should hold that question until she could answer it. She went to the truck to grab them each a bottle of water while Sam was busy tucking away their stash. With all the fluid that they were sweating, they had not had nearly enough water for today. That was her fault, she thought, because she had been pushing them so hard today that they really had not even had sufficient to eat for the amount of exertion that they were subjecting their bodies to.
Amanda drank her bottle right away, and the coughing subsided. Thank God, she thought, because she felt as if she were about to hack up one of her lungs if it continued. She chucked the empty bottle and heard it bump along the floor as she walked back to Sam.
“Thanks,” said Sam as Amanda handed her a bottle.
The girl was red-faced, and it occurred to Amanda that it must be hot inside the van portion of the rental truck. She didn’t want the girl spending too much time in there without a break. They were too close now to exiting this store with a really sweet haul, and she didn’t want anything getting in their way because there was no question that the fire was coming, and soon.
“I’ll go and check her pockets,” Amanda said, nodding to the direction of the downed ex-employee of the store.
“Thanks, because I’d rather not,” Sam said, also chucking her bottle out of the back of the moving truck.
The bottle was caught by the wind and took off out into the parking lot. With no aspirations of slowing down, the bottle swirled and eddied with the other debris that it had met up with, looking like it had taken on a life of its own.
Amanda had never felt the need to dig through a dead creeper’s pockets before, and if that locked room hadn’t been holding such an alluring appeal to her, she wouldn’t be doing it now. She approached the creeper with a determined stride, being sure to check down the long aisle that led to the back and down the adjoining aisle, just to make sure that it was all clear. The last thing she needed was to be caught down in a compromising position and end up being attacked.
She went back and knelt down by the woman that could easily have earned herself an employee of the year trophy for her extreme dedication to the store. Inexplicably, she felt like she should apologize first, as if that would do any good for her now. Instead, she rolled the woman over and thrust her hand into the pocket that she could see had a bulge in it. Even with gloves on, she could tell that she had grasped a set of keys, now she could only hope that they were the ones that she was looking for.
Amanda held up two sets of keys, one was obviously a home-and-car set, while the other had a fob on it with the store’s name on it. With any luck, she thought, I just found our way into that room.
Sam was looking a little tired and wilted when she made it back to the truck. Strong surges of adrenaline could be cruel to the body when they wore off. The high that Sam had been experiencing had obviously worn off by the looks of her slouched body and tired eyes.
“How’d it go?” Sam asked, and even her voice sounded deflated.
“I managed to get my hands on a set of store keys, now whether they’ll unlock the door or not, I don’t know, but are you ready to find out?”
“Sure thing,” she said, walking down the ramp with a little more ambition than she had been showing upon arrival.
“Let’s put the ramp up before we go,” Amanda said.
“Seriously,” said Sam, “that’s so much work, taking this thing up and down like that. Why couldn’t it be one of those powered elevator ramps that you can ride on?” the girl said whining.
“Don’t forget that we might need to head out of here fast. It’s bad enough that we pulled in nose first. I don’t want to compound our chances of getting out of here by having that ramp down in an emergency. You need to use your head a little bit and think things through if you’re going to be truly good at these runs.”
“Okay, makes sense,” she said, reaching to grab one side of the ramp while Amanda grabbed the other. “Where do you suppose the fire is now?” she asked after sniffing at the air.
“Closer than I’d like. Now, one, two, three, and shove,” Amanda said, and the ramp rolled back into place easily.
“Can I ride on the cart again? That was so much fun.”
“What do you think, I’m a perpetual motion machine?” Amanda said, eyeing the girl skeptically.
“A what machine?” Sam asked. “I’ll take that as a no,” she said when Amanda gave her another no-nonsense look.
“In fact, I think it’s your turn to roll this thing,” she said, walking away and leaving Sam to push the cart.
“What are you, miffed at me or something?”
“Just try to stay focused, okay?”
“Sure, roger that,” Sam said, sounding sarcastic.
Now, there’s the Sam I know and love, thought Amanda wryly. But who could blame her for reverting back to her old teenage self after being so overworked, overheated, and underfed?
Chapter 45
There were three keys on the store key chain, and Amanda surmised correctly the first time, the one that would unlock the door. Not knowing what to expect, Amanda opened the door slowly, ready for trouble. When she determined that there were no threats in the area, she opened one of the double doors all the way and then shoved the cart up to it to prop it open. She could already tell, by just the little that she had seen in here, that this had been a smart move on their part.
The room was narrow and long, with big glass windows high up that let in enough sunlight for her to have no need of the flashlight. It was probable that even during store hours back when they had been open for business, they had had no need for artificial lighting during the daytime. It was designed well as a catch-all room for storing extra store merchandise. And as an additional bonus, everything was neatly organized and easily accessible. There were big roll-down doors, where trucks had come to deliver, on the far side of the room that had remained closed this entire time, fortunately for them.
“Whoa! Would you look at that,” Sam exclaimed.
Amanda was experiencing that same sense of elation even though she had been stunned speechless by the sight.
There stacked tidily, directly in front of them was a pile of foodstuff. There were no less than six unopened boxes of energy bars, four cases of small water bottles, four cases of gallon jugs of water with four-gallons to a case. Next to that were six cases of energy drinks, three cases of sports drinks, multiple new boxes of gum of varying types, and a wide assortment of candy bars in a number of other boxes. And stacked on top of everything were four cases of beef jerky, with each case holding ten bags of jerky. The jerky was in original, barbeque, teriyaki, and pepper flavors.
Amanda Carter in the L.A.Z., life after zombies Page 30
