by Nick Harland
We headed left so the wall was behind us and I encouraged Mutt to stay ahead. We reached the corner of the store before another wave came at us, but this time there were only three. Mutt was investigating a different isle so Eve, Esme and I stepped forwards. I did exactly what Esme had showed us and was as surprised as the Zed was to find myself stood behind it with so little effort. As I was congratulating myself it started to turn around but it wasn’t hard to get the headshot in before it could. I saw from the corner of my eye that Eve had had similar success. Esme was fine of course and added her signature knee stamp to get it below her and make it even easier.
We circled the shop keeping the wall behind us and managed a few more Zeds without too much difficulty. We were just starting to get confident when Mutt growled and we saw a small horde from across the shop heading quickly in our direction through the displays. There were too many to count and Eve barked, ‘Guns out, breath and squeeze. If they get close drop your gun and make sure you have time to grab your weapon. Good luck.’
The ‘Good luck’, sounded suspiciously like, ‘It was nice knowing you’, and didn’t boost my confidence. Mutt heroically charged the pack barking loudly and rather than launch at the nearest one he ran through them. How he knew what we needed I have no idea but it brought us enough time to control our panic and get to business. Eve was the first to start shooting and had both her guns out. The rest of us started when they got a little closer and we thought we had any chance of hitting them. We all kept low as a throat or chest shot was still better than a miss over the head and as they were gathered so close together very few of our initial salvo of bullets didn’t hit something that might help us.
I heard Mutt squeal somewhere in the distance and fought the urge to run to him. It was really loud to be among several people all shooting at once. After a few seconds we had thinned the horde significantly but there were still about fifteen of them and they were closing fast. Esme dropped the rifle, which was useless at close range, and did her thing. She ran through them dodging, twisting and blocking as she went. Seeing her disappear into the horde Bill and I ran after her and took advantage of the confused Zeds she’d left in her wake. I took a moment to think just how brave she was. Eve was still accurate enough and had enough bullets left to drop a few more before going hand to hand herself. I didn’t know what Andrea was doing and I didn’t have the time to think about it.
The next two minutes were chaos, there was shouting, displays falling over, and goo. I killed two Esme had left behind and Bill killed at least one more I could see. I heard Mutt bark somewhere in front of me and was relieved he was still alive. Then a Zed hit me from the side and knocked me over. It landed on top of me but I instinctively got the pry bar up in front of me and was glad of our helmet policy as the dumb fucker went to bite it. Adrenalin pushed strength through my muscles and I pulled the Zed off me and rolled on top of it, all the time expecting to feel teeth sink into the back of my neck. I flailed at the Zed below me holding the pry bar at each end and eventually it stopped thrashing.
With wild energy still coursing through me I jumped up to look for my next mark but there were none. Then I heard Eve scream, ‘Andrea’, and turned to see her running to where we had left her. I arrived a moment after she did. Andrea was slumped against the wall, blood flowing from between her fingers that were pressed against her right thigh. Her weapon and a dead zombie were next to her. Eve collapsed by her side and said desperately, ‘Someone get the medical kit from the car.’
Bill, Mutt and Esme arrived a moment later, all looking the worse for wear. Esme was bleeding from a scratch on her left shoulder. I was amazed she was still alive. I picked up my gun, which still had a couple of rounds left, and headed back to the car. Esme followed me and before I could speak she said, ‘It’s not bad, scrapped it on a shelf, you shouldn’t be walking around alone in this hell hole.’
Chapter Twenty Three - Aftermath
When we got back to Andrea, Eve had helped her take her trousers off and she was lying on her back with a jacket under her head. She was panting with the pain. Eve was holding a t-shirt over the wound and looked at me with wide tearful eyes as I crouched beside her. Andrea said, ‘It’s not that bad really. It’s a nasty bite, but that’s all.’
I found some strong painkillers, a large dressing and a bandage in the medical bag and gave Andrea the painkillers. Then Eve looked at me and I nodded. Eve removed the t-shirt and I applied the dressing, Andrea couldn’t stop herself yelling as I pushed it into place. The brief view I had of the wound made me feel sick. The Zed had had time not only to bite, but also to rip and tear. There was a chunk of flesh missing and the wound was still bleeding steadily, though there was no squirting arterial blood which was a relief.
Eve unrolled the bandage a bit and brought it under Andrea’s leg ready for me to let go of the dressing so she could bandage over it. Bill gently lifted Andrea’s foot up so Eve could get the bandage under her thigh more easily. It didn’t look critical by any means but it was nasty. It also crossed my mind that by some miracle none of us had been bitten before and we didn’t know if a bite could pass on the infection…. Colonisation…. whatever.
Andrea was beading sweat and groaning in pain by the time we had finished. We knew the bandage was only a temporary measure but Eve had done a good job and it looked secure. Esme said, ‘What do we do now?’
Andrea said, ‘Lock me in the car and carry on, we’ve come too far to stop. There can’t be that many more, on this floor at least.’
I said, ‘She’s right, we need to get this done and she’ll be safer in the car than we’ll be in here anyway. We need to re-stock our ammo and get ourselves together.’
Eve nodded, ‘Ok let’s lift her, she’s in no shape to hop.’
Between the four of us we lifted Andrea to the car and got her as comfortable as we could on the back seat. We had a couple of minutes to compose ourselves and reload our guns. Eve decided to take one grenade, strictly for emergencies. It would shred anything within fifty feet, including us, but if there was an even bigger horde upstairs it could still be our best move. We also spoke about a simpler plan, running back to the cars and killing them outside with the vehicles. They were still slower than us and we agreed that if there was another horde upstairs that’s what we would do. We weren’t sure they would follow us but it was worth a try. We jammed the double doors open as we went back inside.
There were still a few individual Zeds on the ground floor and three in a staff area linked to the food court. It was a sad site. After we dispatched the three live ones we saw there were several dead ones and also three half eaten corpses that hadn’t turned. The corpses were just outside a large walk in freezer with a huge metal door. They must have survived by being in the freezer, for a few minutes at least. I wondered if the cold might have protected them. They must have come out fighting and not made it. Seeing survivors that hadn’t made it was difficult for all of us. After we cleared the food area of Zeds the ground floor was ours.
Esme said, ‘I know we said we’d clear the whole shop before starting to scavenge but if they’re happy to lie in wait and lots of what we need is right here, is there any reason to? If upstairs is crawling and someone got badly hurt we would have to hightail it home and we’d have nothing to show for it. There are shelves full of drinks and food here and all of the women’s clothing is on this floor too.’
Eve smiled, ‘Good thinking, let’s find some trolleys and start loading up.’ Then she winked at me and added, ‘Keep your heads on a swivel though, we know they can do stairs if they want to and they know we’re here.’
The food section of the department store was fancy and expensive but I’d seen people doing their weekly shop there, which always amazed me. Post apocalypse it was significantly the worse for wear and stank because all the fresh food was well on its way to rotting. It did have shelves full of drinks and wine and lots of biscuits and crackers that were still good though. Some of the cheese was still good a
nd there was loads of sweets, rice, and pasta. There weren’t many tins but there were a lot of jars of sauces and bottles of oils and dressings.
We shoved everything we could into trolleys and rolled them outside to load up. I climbed the ladder to the top of the truck but it was quickly obvious I would have to get into the load area to put the food safely in the water barrels. Eve replaced me at the top of the ladder and Bill and Esme supplied Eve with a constant flow. I put boxes, plastic bottles, and bags of pasta loose in the back and everything else in the barrels. There was bound to be some breakages but if we were careful I though most of it would be ok.
Then we went back into the shop and Bill and I sorted the last of the food while Eve and Esme perused the clothes. I was keen to get the last of the food done quickly so I could join Eve before she hit the underwear section. I was looking forward to good food, good wine, and seeing Eve in something sexy. She was always beautiful, but the ill-fitting kidney warmer pants from the village shop didn’t exactly make the most of her curves.
Bill wasn’t keen on joining the ladies and stayed with Andrea. Mutt and I went back inside and headed for the lingerie section. Eve and Esme already had trolleys stuffed with jeans, t-shirts and tops, and had to guess when picking up things for Andrea. As I arrived Eve said, ‘Good timing, I could do with a trolley boy. If you’re a good trolley boy you might get the odd sneak peek because when one calls ahead so the shop is cleared for one, one certainly doesn’t use the changing rooms.’
I bowed like a waiter and took the trolley shoved towards me. From the corner of my eye I saw Esme smile. The next half an hour was glorious. We shouldn’t really have taken so long but if the last encounter had taught us anything, it was that our lives could as easily be measured in minutes as they could days or weeks. We set about enjoying the time we had. Bill looked like he could do with a rest anyway and Andrea’s bleeding was under control.
Eve’s taste was impeccable but she still asked my opinion occasionally. She tried on several lacy bra’s and negligee tops with fine white straps over the shoulders, the expensive material below accentuating or hiding her breasts to various torturous degrees. It didn’t take her long to hone in on items that both of us liked, but let’s face it, it was Eve and she was stunning so I was easily pleased.
I was pleasantly surprised that Esme took a lead from Eve and also tried some bra’s and tops on. Although she turned around when she did, over the minutes she became less careful about hiding herself and I was gifted with some tantalising views. Neither of us had managed to see a full breast yet but what we saw was round and pert and beautiful. She had already changed into some jeans that were a much more flattering fit and I was uncomfortable the whole time.
Eve also took the chance to sneak a peek at Esme when she could, and squeezed her own breasts or pinched her nipples to tease me when she couldn’t. It was awesome seeing her topless and loving it but my hopes for a quick feel or even a kiss never materialised. She knew I wanted her and might have been less controlled if Esme hadn’t been there. She took delight in being close enough to touch or even rubbing against me when Esme wasn’t looking, but being just out of reach when she was. She also tried on some panties, even though I strongly suspected she knew only too well what would fit her. Although Esme didn’t follow that example, it was a lovely, uncomfortable, half an hour I’ll remember for a very long time.
Eventually they made their choices and their trollies were piled high. We went back to the car and loaded the clothes into the back of Mary. As we convened I said, ‘I’m not that keen on going upstairs. There could well be another horde and I can cope with the clothes I have. I know we might be able to use some of the other stuff up there but none of it’s essential.’ Bill nodded his agreement, we had several pairs of basic clothing from the village shop we’d visited.
Eve said, ‘Really baby, you don’t want to look good while surviving. There’ll be some good quality walking shoes up there as well. I’d like it if you wore a suit to the wine and cheese party tonight.’
Esme smiled and her eye’s lit up, it made me notice just how pretty she was, ‘A party, that’s a great idea. We deserve it and some of the cheese won’t last for much longer. I’d like to wear something nice and pretend life is ok for a while. I know it’s not, but it would be nice to pretend and feel good for a few hours.’
Eve added, ‘I know it’s dangerous and your right, but why don’t we go and look. If there’s a big horde we’ll haul ass and if they don’t follow us to where we can finish them safely we’ll abandon the second floor. How’s that?’
I looked at Bill who shrugged his shoulder, ‘Ok, I suppose there’s not much harm in having a look.’
We went back inside and headed for the stationary escalator stairs. Mutt went first and although I could tell he was holding himself awkwardly from our encounter earlier he didn’t seem anything other than willing. Eve went next with guns out and Bill and I followed. We got to the top of the stairs and looked around. Three Zeds came from the kitchen wares area and Eve said, ‘Bored’, before shooting them.
We cautiously headed towards the men’s clothing on the right and couldn’t see any more. As we skirted around the perimeter of the floor there were two more single Zeds we could easily have taken but Eve obviously wasn’t in the mood and shot them both.
It seemed the floor was clear and any Zed’s that had been there when it happened had been attracted downstairs. There were a few bodies, Zed and otherwise, and although it was never easy to see, we’d got used to it. I was glad we’d came back to investigate. Eve led me to the jeans and casual wear and insisted I try several pairs on. She felt me up to keep me uncomfortable when I was between trousers and whispered, ‘Don’t worry baby, the best things come to those who wait.’ Then she seemed to have her eye in and grabbed various other trousers and put them in a trolley. Esme looked on with smiles and giggles as Eve ordered me around but I thought it was only fair after the liberties I had taken downstairs.
Bill didn’t try anything on but started to fill his trolley anyway. Then we looked at tops and again I tried a few on before Eve took over. As we were heading towards the formal wear Eve grabbed various packets of expensive underwear and socks.
The formal wear was a nightmare. Any manliness I had left after Eve had chosen my pants abandoned me. She used me as a manikin and even some groping when Esme wasn’t looking did little to soften the blow. Esme smiled and looked away when Eve was less careful with the liberties she was taking. I had to admit that she found me a couple of really nice suits, shirts, tops, and jackets though. She offered to help Bill but he declined and chose some less formal attire for the evening. I decided to take control of shoes and found a few solid looking pairs of practical, hard wearing, high sided boots, though it didn’t stop Eve adding some fancy leather shoes to the trolley for me anyway.
The last stop was bedding and kitchen wares. We didn’t need much but we grabbed several packs of cotton sheets and duvet covers and Esme found another trolley and grabbed some duvet’s and pillows. Kitchen wares was about good pans and utensils, not crappy caravan ones, and Eve ad Esme grabbed various other things, some of which I couldn’t even name. Finally we were done and had three trolleys stacked high.
We took the trolleys to the top the escalator and Bill studied them and said, ‘I reckon we can do it. Let’s try mine first, I’ll go in front.’
Bill stepped down a couple of steps then I carefully pushed the trolley towards him until he could grab the front wheels. I pushed the trolley forwards and eased it down onto the first step, Bill steadying it from underneath. It was slow going but still better than repeatedly running up and down the stairs. We made it to the bottom safely and repeated the process with my trolley.
Just as we were turning to head back up the stairs Eve called, ‘Heads up’ and Esme giggled loudly as they threw the tightly bound duvet’s down the stairs. One bounced and hit me full in the chest. It would have knocked me over if Bill hadn’t caught me. Eve
and Esme both put their hands over their mouths to stifle the laughter then came down the stairs smirking and carrying the pillows. As Eve reached the bottom she nodded her head back towards the stairs and said, ‘One more boys.’
The last trolley was lighter, which was just as well, as my arms were hurting and Bill was sweating. Eventually we made it outside and rammed the contents into the back of Mary. Andrea had to move to the front seat so we could put the back seats down to fit all the clothes in but the painkillers had kicked in and she managed to bend her knee ok. The bandage was wet and red but it wasn’t bleeding through enough to make a mess. She looked pale.
It had remained unspoken but we all knew the bite could have infected her or something and I could see the relief of Eve’s face when we got back to Mary and she was still herself. I figured if she was going to change she would have done so by now and was relieved myself.
Two shops past the department store was the pet shop. Although we really needed dog food I wasn’t looking forwards to seeing a shop full of dead animals, even if the only animals they kept were small ones like rabbits and mice. I figured the fish would be dead too. Eve and I got into the truck and drove up to the entrance. I had a good view of the inside of the shop from the truck window and even though there was a horde of at least thirty, they didn’t move when they saw us pull up.
I spoke to the Esme on the walkie-talkie, ‘There’s a horde in there but they aren’t moving. We’re going to pull forwards a little. You guys use the rifles to take a few shots and we’ll see what happens. Be prepared to do the window up and reverse away if they swarm out. Your glass isn’t strengthened remember and they might just try and rip the grill off if they find the doors locked.’
We pulled forwards and watched through the trucks big wing mirror. Esme chose to use the sunroof rather than window, which was smart. She let off one round to smash the glass then lined up another which I assume dropped one of the horde. We waited but nothing happened. Then Esme shot gain and this time the horde ran towards us. Bill quickly backed Mary up and Eve followed them so we would attract most of the horde, but the truck only reversed slowly with that annoying beep beep sound. Unfortunately the plan didn’t work. They were getting smart and appeared to know it was futile to surround the truck and headed straight for Mary.
