However,some of the houses stood relatively untouched. We drove through one town calledAldham and I noticed a library and a fire station that looked in good conditionbut saw that the police station door was hanging wide open.
There were a few undead shambling around, their clothes all seemedto be their ‘best clothes’. They had on suits and what were once beautifuldresses. I wondered if they had been in church at the time of the change or ifthey were burial clothes perhaps?
That’s whenI saw her, the bride. Her once white dress was now stained red and brown,it was ripped all the way up to her left thigh. She dragged the leg behind herand she appeared to have a severely broken ankle.
We hadslowed down to navigate our way through a pile up in the middle of the road.She got closer, I was really scared but I could not take my eyes off her. There were about a dozen other zombies or ‘spookies’ coming towards our car butall I could see was her. Her face was now deathly white-grey and her eyes thatmilky white color and I wondered if they could see us or just hear and smellus. Her left cheek and her chin were missing as was part of her neck, likesomeone had just bitten her cheek and then ripped down to her chin and pulled,tearing off a long strip of meat. Because of the injury, I could see her jawbone, teeth and gums. It was a gruesome sight. She was now so close that if Ihad had my window down, I could have reached out and touched her. Her mouthmoved up and down and I could imagine the click-clack sound that her teeth madeas they snapped together.
My heartached at the horribleness of being attacked by and turning into a zombie onyour wedding day or at all for that matter. ‘til death do us part…’ and allthat.
We moved on now so I could no longer see her.But the image of her was burned into the back of my mind.
I continuedlooking out of the window. We saw more of the walking dead but not as many as Ithought we would. I wondered if the government really was getting control overthis disease and wiping out the infected walking dead.
We pulledup outside a doctor’s surgery, they had a built on pharmacy. “I remember thisbeing built,” I said now knowing exactly where we were and how to get home fromhere. “There was a big deal about it in the news, new doctor’s health centre to have two different doctor’s surgeries, dentist,opticians, small hospital for the elderly and a morgue. It’s pretty useless nowthough.” I was talking to myself more than anyone else but my mind was workingovertime. I wasn't that far away from family and it made me more determined toescape ASAP. I started to plan where I would go and what I would do to remainsafe when Tony interrupted my thoughts.
“Whoop Deefucking do, a new place, dentist blah blah. WE DON’TCARE. Let's just move quickly so we can get home.” Tony glared and shouted atme.
“Ok, sheeshjust remembering the good days when people still needed doctors and morticians,”I mumbled, getting out of the car and walking around the front to meet Will andthe rest.
“RightGeorge, you and Tony stay up front, get everything on your list plus anythingelse you see that may come in handy. Adam and I will go through to the back andget what we need, once you’re finished come through to us. It seems to all bein one floor, not two as we originally thought. As always stay together andwatch each other's backs,” Will said and before he could finish, Tony wasalready walking off. “Yeah, yeah. It's a simple run. Go in get the stuff andget home, let's go.”
Will shookhis head, biting back his angry response and followed after Tony, indicatingwith his hand that the other two should do so also.
As theyreached him, Tony opened the door to the pharmacy slowly. He called into thepharmacy. “Hello is anyone in there? We don't mean no harm we are just lookingfor supplies.”
We allwaited, each of us holding our breath listening for the telltale dragging offeet or the horrible moans that accompanied the zombies.
“Ok,looks like we are good to go,” Will said after about a minute, he walkedthrough the door, gun at the ready, Adam followed him, then Tony and I broughtup the rear. It wasn't a big area, all the shelves lined the wall leavinga big open area in the middle with a few chairs in it for people to sit andwait for their prescriptions. At the back of this room was a large open windowwith the words pharmacy written above it and a door with a number lock.
Will walkedup to the window and stuck his head through. He looked left and right and downto the floor. “So far it looks good. I'm going in!” he said jumping up andthrough the window in one fluid movement.
Tony sworeunder his breath.
I got outthe list again and re read it. I thought I knew it off by heart but I wanted tomake sure we got everything.
I startedon the first shelving unit on the left and worked my way clockwise. I hadgotten most things on my list and turned to see that Tony hadn't moved, he wasjust standing by the door smoking a cigarette. “Are you going to help? We wouldbe done much quicker with two of us,” I asked him.
“I'm thelookout” he said turning away from me and stepping outside of the door.
I shook my headin annoyance and carried onto the last shelf, here they had anti acid tablets,energy bars, diet shakes etc.
I grabbedall of the bars and shakes and tablets that my bag could carry. I slipped fourof the bars into the pockets of my trousers, I felt they would come in handyfor my Great escape.
Just thenWill popped his head out of the window between the two rooms. “We goteverything off our list and
