by the virus.
We moved deeper into the town, weapons at the ready, but not seeing anything to cause alarm. I guess that was why I was nervous. I didn’t see anything wrong, yet the whole setup felt wrong for some reason. I had the distinct feeling I was being watched, but I couldn’t be sure. If it was the undead, they would have attacked the moment they had the chance. If it was a hostile local, they had plenty of opportunity to plant a bullet between my eyes. That thought didn’t make me feel any better, but the fact that nothing had happened yet was probably the thing that was bothering me the most.
I broke the silence to the other two: “You guys got a feeling about this place?” We moved further up the street towards the businesses. I could see a subdivision in the distance, rows upon rows of cookie-cutter homes. The entrance was across the tracks again about a quarter mile up the road.
“You mean like something is seriously wrong here and we’re just too stupid to figure out what it is?” Duncan asked.
“Or the proverbial shoe is about to drop and we’re right underneath it?” Tommy added.
“That would be the feeling, yes,” I said, grinning to myself. I looked around as the wind picked up, rustling through the budding trees. Bits of debris flitted here and there and something hit my foot. I looked down and saw that a small white towel had snagged itself on my boot. I kicked it off and it fluttered in the wind, just like a little white flag. Little white flag…
I turned to say something and my mouth dropped. Between us and the RV were probably fifty ghouls, shuffling steadily at us in the increasing winds. The RV itself was surrounded and I had a fleeting hope that Nate had made it safely inside. If he had, he could stay there until his supplies ran out, since they had no way of getting in. If not, rest in peace, old friend.
From the subdivision to the east, zombies were coming out from between every house. Down the street, dozens of zombies were moving out from alleyways. All of them were focused on one thing and one thing only. Us for lunch.
“Ho-lee…” Duncan started.
“Shit,” Tommy finished.
“We need cover,” I said, looking quickly around. I thought briefly about getting on top of the little train station, but the main body of advancing Z’s had already reached it. I looked at the row of houses across the tracks, but zombies were over there as well. Where the hell did these guys come from? It reminded me of something, but I didn’t have time to think about it.
“This way!” I said, bolting for the pharmacy. It was the nearest building and would at the very least afford some cover and reduce being attacked from all sides. Tommy and Duncan didn’t hesitate, they were right on my heels. That was one thing living on the frontier taught you. If a trusted member told you to do something, you did it immediately. Your survival depended on it.
As we ran, I heard the horn of the RV and stealing a glance through the pack of undead, I could see several unmoving zombies stretched out near the RV. Nate was probably okay, safely ensconced in the RV. Hopefully he would be able to pull our butts out of the fire one more time. I was glad to see he wasn’t dead.
Right now, though, I had to save my ass and those of my friends We sprinted to the store and dove through the door. I moved ahead into the darker back area, checking for threats, while Duncan and Tommy threw shelves and counters and everything not nailed down in front of the door to block the way. I made it all the way to the pharmacy counter when the first zombie hit me. I was coming around the condom display and angling back by the stock room when a dark shape reared up out of the vitamins and took a swing at me. I ducked under the outstretched hand and brought the butt of my carbine up to smash the zombie in the face. The blow knocked it back into the zinc supplements, its nose flattened against its face, giving me time to move my carbine to my left hand and draw my SIG with my right. Little brown pills flew everywhere as I exploded the Z’s head into pieces.
“You all right back there?” Tommy yelled from the front of the store.
“Fine,” I yelled back. “Just seems to be only one of them.”
“They’re here!” Duncan yelled and suddenly there was a loud crash, like an ocean wave hitting a coastal barrier.
“Damn! The whole barricade moved! We need cover!” Tommy shouted as he and Duncan frantically threw more debris on the pile. I could see dozens of hands and faces reaching, grabbing, biting, trying to get past the barricade.
“Give me ten seconds to find the route upstairs!” I shouted back as I kicked in the door to the stockroom. Upstairs was our only hope. We needed to control their access, or we were dead meat.
“We can give you five!” Duncan yelled, firing his rifle into the mass of ghouls. He had no chance of stopping them all, he was just making more of a barricade.
I slid past boxes of school supplies and shelves of adult diapers. A lot of stuff was on the floor, but I had no time to see if any of it was useful. I found a door and yanked it open, but it led down into a basement. The stairs just led down into blackness and there was a decaying odor wafting up, telling me exactly what waited for me down there. No thanks.
I heard a loud slamming and a ‘Dammit!’ from Tommy coming from up front. I had to hurry. Cruising down a row of shelves behind the pharmacy counter area, I stopped as my flashlight caught something sticking out of the shelves. Grey flesh reached out and I nearly fired a shot, but a realized that the zombie had to be standing on the other side of the wall to reach like that. Tapping the arm with the barrel of my rifle, I knocked the severed forearm and hand off the shelf and it thudded to the floor.
Strange place to store a snack, I thought as I stepped over the tidbit and reached the end of the row and found another door. It was tucked away in the corner and was positioned in such a way as to make it impossible to open without being directly in front of it. Crap. I had room to open the door, but had no retreat on either side.
I opened the door cautiously and shined my light on the stairs heading up. Good so far. I stepped up and shined the light up to the top, but all I could see was a banister and what looked like a table. I turned back to tell the guys when I heard a small wheezing noise at the top of the stairs. I brought my flashlight back up quickly and lit up a small zombie, probably an eight-year-old. He was staring down at me and his ashen face was twisted in a vicious snarl, his teeth exposed through a torn cheek. He wheezed at me in that particular way young zombies had, curious and creepy at the same time.
I brought up my rifle just as the little bastard launched himself down the stairs at me. I had no chance at a killing shot, so I backed up quickly and let him slam himself onto the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Hate-filled eyes locked onto mine as he slowly lifted his body off the floor. I targeted those eyes and fired a killing shot right before he charged.
I grabbed a handful of his dirty shirt and hauled the lifeless body out of the way. I had no time for regrets, I needed to clear the damn upstairs. I could hear more shots being fired and I knew I had used up whatever time the guys downstairs could give me.
I sprinted upstairs and quickly looked around, seeing a small apartment dwelling. The kitchen was a mess and there was dried blood here and there, indicating more zombies, lucky me. I cleared the kitchen and small living room, then worked my way down the hall. Two small bedrooms were clear, but the door at the end of the hall was closed. I moved quietly to it and tapped softly on the door.
When I listened at the door, I heard nothing, so I was about to open it when the door shook hard, rattling in its frame. Something on the other side was pounding up a storm and by the way the door was shaking, it was big.
I watched for a second, seeing if the door would hold and when I was sure it would, I went back to the stairs to get my friends.
I was on the ground floor and halfway through the row of shelves when Duncan and Tommy came barreling around the corner.
“Go! Go! They’re right behind us!” Tommy shouted, waving his hand at me to turn around.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I spun around we ran up the stairs and back into the apartment. I let Duncan clear the landing, then I threw the table and chairs down the stairs to stall the horde, which was just reaching the door at the bottom of the stairs. Tommy ran down the hallway and Duncan and I were right behind him. He moved into the room on the left and we followed, slamming the door closed and looking for something to brace against it.
A quick look around revealed this room was not going to be a safe haven. It was a boy’s room, probably
