He didn't respond the first time. She repeated the question, and this time he looked at her. “No, it's complicated.” His felt needles in his skin.
“Yeah I know. It's about your wife. She's dead.” She said bluntly. Damon's rage exploded from his mouth. “You don't know shit about my wife!” He threw one of the canvas duffle bags into the cab of the Silverado. It struck the glass on the other side nearly breaking it.
She took a step back but then quickly countered. “I might not know anything about her, but I do know that she's dead! She's gone Damon and not coming back!” She calmed herself down. “I'm sorry, but it's true. There's nothing you can do about it.” She reached for him.
“Don't touch me.” He recoiled. “You confuse me, Damon. What was last night then? What were the last few months?” “A mistake...” He murmured. Victoria couldn't hide the hurt she felt inside. Her bottom lip trembled slightly, but she said nothing. “We're goin' to Littleton today.” He changed the subject.
She stuck her chin out. “Let's go then.” She said and turned away from Damon to wipe her eyes. Damon got into the Silverado without another word. Victoria waited until Chloe and the others to walk outside. The teen smiled and patted her on the back. “Don't give up on him even if he's a little unhinged.” She hopped into the passenger seat next to the moody mechanic and left the door open so she could get in. Harper and Riley exchanged quick glances and then got into the blazer. Damon was sure that Riley was filling Harper in about what happened that morning. The death machine roared to life, and Damon hit the gas. __________________________________________ _________
The Silverado was quiet for the hour journey to Walmart. Damon found a spot on a bluff to the left of the supermarket. The blazer pulled up, and Harper killed the engine. The group hunkered down out of the sight of the hundreds of zombies that teetered around the parking lot. Damon looked through binoculars provided by Harper. He expected what he saw. Zombies milled about the sea of abandoned cars...hundreds of them. Some still hung on to their carts and pushed them lazily. “Well we knew this wasn't gonna be easy.” He grumbled.
Riley snorted and snatched the binoculars from him. “Who's the lucky one to go down there and deploy those?”
“I will.” Damon volunteered without question.
Victoria bit back a complaint but Chloe couldn't. “Why do you have to go?”
“Gee thanks, Chloe.” Riley muttered. “I see where me and Harper stack up.”
“You know what I mean, Riley.” She looked at Damon, pleading him with her eyes. “We're not debating this. I'm going.” Damon snatched the duffle bag with the pipe bombs and secured the machete at his side. The mechanic started down the hill making sure not to get tangled in the tall weeds. “Once the first one goes off that's when you get in. Go around to the back and wait just inside.” He trotted down the bluff making sure to stay low. His shotgun bounced against his back. Chloe watched nervously as he pressed himself against an old red Jeep with rusty fenders.
Damon took a deep breath then quietly pulled one silver pipe bomb from the bag. The bomb had a purple phone duct taped to it. Damon flipped through the phone to the list of sounds and found a recorded message. Riley had recorded a special message for the zombies. He lit the fuse and pressed the play button. He lobbed it over the hood of the Jeep. He heard the metal bounce over the parking lot followed by the moans and groans of curious zombies. Then the message played:
ATTENTION STUPID MAGGOT BRAINS. COME OUT, COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE.
HERE LITTLE DEADER, DEADER. NOW YOU ALL GO BOOM! At the end of the message the bomb detonated. Damon covered his ears for the immense crescendo and ducked under the chassis to see how many took the bait. He bobbed his head in approval. Judging by the amount of gore in the center of the parking lot, it killed a lot. Before he could lob another bomb a curious zombie wobbled around the tail end of the Jeep. Damon dispatched it before it could let out a sound. He got into the bag to fetch another bomb. This one had a black cell attached to it. Damon pressed the play button and heard “Here Comes the Boom.” It was Chloe's choice, and he thought it was appropriate. When it exploded he checked to see if the group was moving. Damon saw the vehicles on the move. He quickly lobbed another to keep the dead's attention and get into the side door of the building. While the music played he pinballed between cars and trucks until he came to the side door.
Damon was running for the back door when the music stopped playing. Something was wrong. There was no explosion. The crowd of zombies around the bomb looked up to see Damon dart across the parking lot. They moaned loudly as they stumbled for him. Shit! Damon tried the door knob. Locked. Holy Shit! Damon was halfway through a list of swear words when a zombie grabbed his shoulder. The mechanic whirled around with his machete and chopped the thing's head off. More shuffled towards him. Damon slammed his shoulder against the door attempting to break it down. His body halted when it connected with the steel. He killed another zombie that got too close. He was damn near out of time. His heart was in his ears when he grabbed his pistol and fired it at the lock. The lock fell away and he ripped the door open. He slammed the door just as another zombie stuck its arm through the frame. Damon pressed his shoulder against the door until the zombie's arm came off with a sickening pop. He sealed the door before anymore zombies could get to him. He heard them outside crowding around the door. Damon turned away from the door, facing the darkness and clicked on his flashlight.
Chapter 46
He made his way down the empty hallway in the white glow. Bloody hand prints streaked along the walls almost guiding him where to go...or not to. The plan was for Damon to distract the zombies long enough for the rest to get the trucks to the loading docks. Once in the warehouse they would load up the trucks and trailers with as much stuff and supplies they could.
He walked by the break room and decided it would be best to barricade the rear door with a few tables and chairs. He filled the hallway with them. Just in case the zombies made it through the door it would take them awhile to get through the mess of furniture.
After he finished redecorating, he came to the door that would lead him into the main part of the supermarket. This is gonna be awesome. His own brain mocked his stupidity. After a deep breath he cracked open the door to see what he was going to be up against. Ghostly light shined through the skylights illuminating the aisles. Damon was thankful that the sun was out today. He checked both left and right then lunged for a chip display a few yards from him. He came in by the meat section, and if he remembered correctly he would have to make his way to the back and center of the store. He heard the shuffling feet and moans from zombies that paced the aisles endlessly. A zombie to his left still pushed a cart filled to the top with rotten groceries. It was apparent that shoppers were caught completely unaware and never made it out. It was going to be impossible getting out through the maze of shelves and zombies unseen. He just prayed there weren’t any sprinters amongst the dead. He crouched between the towering display and meat cooler that had turned off ages ago. He couldn’t decide what smelled worse, the zombies or the coolers. The zombie pushing the cart limped passed with the wheels squeaking over the dirty floor without seeing him. The low light provided the cover he needed to stay hidden.
Damon saw his opportunity, and he took it. The bread aisle was empty so he dashed across the main aisle passed all the stale loaves. He was tempted by the Honey Buns, but he couldn’t carry food and protect himself at the same time. He peeked around the shelves and came face to face with a zombie. Without thinking Damon swung his machete in a wide arc and took off its head at the shoulders. “Shit.” He muttered when he heard another zombie alerted by the noise. Damon ran across another aisle disappearing into women’s attire. He ducked through racks of swimsuits and tank tops, and then through baby, and he stopped in housewares. Shadows of vacuums hovered over him as he crouched. Electronics was the last department Damon had to make it passed. He could see the door to the warehouse. There was one problem…It looke
d like Black Friday shopping only the crazy shoppers died a long time ago. He saw the qualities of sprinters in the mix. They twitched their heads back and forth and growled at the other zombies. They paced faster than the other zombies too. A zombie was knocked into movie racks, spilling them over the tile. There were more than he could deal with hand to hand…or hand to teeth. He slid the duffle bag around from his back to the cold tile in front of him. His thick hand pulled out a pipe bomb, lit the fuse and clicked on the cellphone. He tossed the bomb into the mess and hid between a Eureka and a Hoover. The explosion rumbled the floor, and Damon heard the splatter of guts.
He ran through the aftermath before any surviving zombies could figure out what was going on. A guttural scream sounded like an alarm when he passed by the photo booth. The sprinter charged Damon. He quickly took the shotgun from his shoulder and raised it. With the squeeze of his finger the zombie’s head turned to mush. Goodbye maggot bag. Not wasting another minute he dashed for the metal warehouse door. He turned the knob, but the door didn’t budge. Locked. “Fuck…” He turned on his walkie. Static. Double Fuck. He beat on the door. “Riley, Harper. Come on!” He shouted into the door. He could hear more moans. They were very close. Damon turned and leveled two more zombies. He could see through the dim light that more were coming. His skin crawled. He heard the cry of numerous sprinters in the store. The slower zombies were knocked aside by the more aggressive and stronger zombies. Damon splattered the brains of three that burst through the crowd with more shotgun blasts. He turned to use the gun on the door when he heard the door click.
It opened slightly. “Damon…” It was Chloe. Damon flew through the door nearly knocking the teenager down. “Thanks Chloe.”
“We have the blazer and the trailer loaded. They’re working on the Silverado now.”
“Good. Good. Any problems so far?” “We took care of those.” Victoria interrupted them cleaning her sword with a T-shirt. After she was satisfied, she tossed the new shirt to the floor.
“Good.” Damon said gruffly. His mahogany eyes hurriedly scanned the warehouse. He saw Riley loading the Silverado trailer with a forklift. On the forks was a pallet of canned goods. He nodded his head and gave the mechanic a salute before plopping the pallet down. The sound was a little louder than Damon wanted to hear. He walked up to the finished trailer to see what they had finished while he was fighting zombies outside. He could see different types of food, hygiene products, medical supplies and some ammunition. He nodded his head in approval. “Looks good.” He stopped Harper after the big marine put some boxes of clothes in the Silverado cab. “Why don’t you start up the blazer and be ready to leave. I’ll help finish loading the truck.”
While the group worked they were unaware of the sounds of the dead beating on the doors to the warehouse. Bolts from the hinges fell to the concrete, metal bent and strained. Curious zombies in the parking lot shambled around the building. Zombies inside the building and out knew where they were. “What was that?” Chloe’s head snapped up from some clothing boxes. All at once the access door to the outside caved in and a flood of zombies spilled through. Before Damon could shout, the door that he had come through gave way.
“Move now!” Damon ordered. His shotgun put down as many as he had shells for. Riley had made it to the blazer. Chloe screamed. Damon watched in horror as a crowd of zombies had her backed up against stack of pallets. “Climb Chloe!” Damon yelled. Her ponytail whirled as she turned to climb the pallets. One withered oak board snapped. Damon held his breath and let it out when she was able to catch her footing. He moved to her but was stopped by a row of zombies. They forced him to climb up a shelving unit to his left. He prayed they would hold his weight. He turned back. A zombie reached for the teenager’s foot when Victoria jumped in front of her. In a swift movement she brought the sword down, cutting the zombie from skull to groin. She kicked the body back to free herself. She swung the sword with deadly precision severing the heads of three more zombies before she was able to climb up the empty pallets under Chloe. Damon breathed a brief sigh of relief when he saw Victoria and Chloe atop the stack. He was forced to look away when a zombie slammed into him knocking his shotgun away. The zombie had climbed up the shelving unit from behind, which took Damon completely by surprise. It leaned down to tear into Damon’s neck but stopped when a bullet lodged in its brain. Damon scrambled to his feet seeing Riley on top of the blazer with his rifle, face behind the scope. Damon saluted the marine.
A sea of zombies stood between Damon and the others. He looked to where Victoria and Chloe were standing. They were able to crawl to the steel shelving unit next to the stack of pallets. The tower of wooden pallets fell when too many zombies pressed against it. It clattered so loud Damon knew more undead would come. He didn’t have time to think about how bad this whole idea was. The zombies moved to the shelving unit. They tried desperately to reach the two, and some were able to get footing and climb to unit. It was a slow process but more and more zombies were crawling up towards them like deadly spiders. Riley put as many of them down, but Damon heard his rifle run out of ammunition. If Damon didn’t do something quick, the zombies would reach the summit and the two women. To make matters worse, zombies assaulted the blazer. It rocked back and forth. Damon had to crawl to an adjacent shelving unit to escape more zombies. The shelving unit that held Chloe and Victoria was closest to the blazer. There were pallets next to the blazer that they could jump to. “Victoria, take Chloe and go!” He shouted over the chorus of moans and groans. “Use those pallets and jump to Riley!” The zombies were getting closer to them, and Victoria and Chloe started kicking at ascending zombies. “Hurry up!”
“What about you?” Chloe shrieked. Damon thought for a second. “Don’t worry about me.” He hoped that his leathers would hold up. “Damon no!” Victoria had to hold the teenager back. The girl collapsed to her knees. Splinters dug into her fingers as she held on. She wouldn’t leave him.
“Take her and go!” Riley was shouting for them to jump to him. The unit wouldn’t stay standing much longer. “Go NOW!” He watched Victoria pull the sobbing teenager to the edge. She reluctantly jumped. Before Victoria jumped she looked back at Damon. There was so much left unsaid. She followed the teenager across the gap and then to the blazer. It was completely surrounded. Harper shifted the blazer in to drive, but the weight of the supplies slowed them. The zombies pressed up against the truck in a deadly congregation. Damon wasn’t sure that they were going to be able to escape. He watched the driver’s side window shatter. The zombies tried to reach through, but the blazer windows stood high off the ground. He saw Harper sever the hand of one zombie that was tall enough to get his hands through. It wasn’t enough. The blazer wasn’t moving. He had to do something. Damon remembered he had five bombs remaining, but the chances of them working were slim since they already saw food. Also, he didn’t want to hit Chloe and the others. His decision was made. He waved at the blazer. “I love you, Chloe!” He shouted, and then jumped off the pallets yelling at the zombies.
Chloe screamed when she saw Damon jump from the pallets and lead the zombies through the door into the main building. He pushed through the grabbing hands and biting mouths. She thought she heard him say something, but she couldn’t be sure. Tears flowed down her cheeks. She didn’t even notice the zombies still attacking the blazer. She collapsed onto the roof while she sobbed. Her shoulders jumped when she heard an explosion. A majority of the zombies left the blazer and filed through the door where Damon disappeared. The blazer was able to move again, and Harper steered it around the building to the front parking lot. They heard another explosion. Once they got to the far end of the pavement Harper stopped the blazer.
Riley jumped down and helped the two women from the topper. His face was gaunt when he made eye contact with Chloe. “We gotta go back.” Chloe pleaded with him. Her emerald eyes were bloodshot.
The tall marine was silent. He was at a loss for words. He wanted to go back for Damon as much as the tee
nager, but he knew they couldn’t go. “Chloe…”
She sobbed. “We can’t just leave him!” Her chest tightened. Harper got out of the blazer and knelt in front of Chloe. “He’s gone, Chloe. All he ever wanted was to keep you safe.” “How can you be so sure that he’s gone?”
“Chloe, you saw how many zombies there were.”
The teenager sobbed and fell into the big marine’s arms. Victoria felt awkward because of her feelings for Damon and her distance with the teenager. “We’ll wait as long as we can.” Chloe snapped her head up. “Really?”
Both marines glared at the woman but said nothing. The two didn’t want to give the poor girl hope when they knew the regretful outcome. They were trained soldiers. They knew the odds of his survival. They all got into the blazer. Harper left the engine running just in case the zombies tried to surround them again. Chloe pressed her face against the window, her green eyes unblinking as she scanned the parking lot. There were so many zombies at the front entrance trying to get through. More came over the hill. Hours passed since they heard the last explosion. There was no sign of Damon.
When the sun turned a deep shade of amber Harper spoke. “Chloe…” He started. The teen knew what he was going to say. “We gotta leave. We barely have enough gas to make it back as it is. We just can’t wait anymore.” He said to the rearview mirror. Chloe didn’t protest. She just nodded weakly. The teenager leaned against Victoria’s shoulder and sobbed as Harper pulled away from the supermarket. She patted her blonde hair as she tried to ease her.
Zombie Revolution Page 27
