The infected reaches out for Jack again, but Jack is pulled away from his grasp. Karo, having felt Jack turn in a furry, didn't need to see the diseased to know what was crashing down upon them. He rips Jack with him to the side, getting clear of the monster. He redirects his attention to see the towering horror following their path.
The infected moves slowly and with a limp. It only has one arm and half of its face has been eaten away. The transition from living to diseased could not have been pleasant for this one. The rustling from beyond the light is getting closer. There are at least two diseased in this room.
Karo only has a moment to decide whether or not to use his gun and introduce the potential of alerting more to their presence. He keeps it holstered. Jack has fallen into a stammering state, incoherently rambling under his breath.
"Give me the other crowbar." Karo whispers.
Jack's attention turns to Karo, but the words do not register. Karo smacks him across the face, bringing forth a puzzled look from his distressed partner.
"Get it together! Crowbar, now!"
Jack nods furiously, sliding his backpack off his shoulders, and pulling the crowbars out. Karo lunges forward in a mad dash, smashing the diseased over the head. It plops to one knee, momentarily stunned. Karo stabs the pronged end of the weapon into its eye socket, knocking the infected to its back. Karo stabs down again into its head, penetrating the soft weathered flesh and splattering brain matter across the floor.
Jack feels a pressure on his foot. He looks down to see a legless infected clutching his shoe. Instinctual reaction takes over, flooding him.
"Shit!" he fearfully exclaims.
He jumps forward, but this diseased has maintained some strength and its grip does not break. Jack tumbles over smacking the floor hard, his crowbar rattles and sings as it meets the concrete. The sound of boxes being pushed in the far reaches of the stockroom pound the air like thunder.
Jack kicks at the infected clutching his foot. His wild swings miss repeatedly, until fortune slips into his favor and he connects against its face. Its mouth opens showing its jagged and red stained teeth. Jack kicks again, and again, until finally the hold is broken. Jack scurries to his feet.
The crashing of metal against the floor rings out from the darkness. A frenzy of stomps and stamps slash their ears. A hand grabs Jack's forearm and squeezes with great pressure.
"GET TO THE DOOR!" Karo screams.
Jack is pulled forward violently. In a daze of cold sweat and heart pounding emotion he turns his head to see the figure yanking him. Elation washes over him as his eyes set upon Karo's backpack. The hurried man tugs him along to the stockroom entrance.
They burst through the stockroom doors, their bodies crashing against them with force. Jack stumbles, slipping on a slushy box on his way out. Karo slams the doors shut and presses his back against them with all his might.
"Find something big now!" he exclaims.
Jack pushes himself back to his feet. He frantically looks around the dim grocery store until his gaze meets a cracked and partially toppled over area of a large shelf. He rushes over to it and pulls on it with all his strength. The shelf hums as it breaks apart, but doesn't fully dislodge.
"I need help!" he screams out.
Karo grits his teeth and races from the door over to Jack. They tug and pull on the shelf loosening it more with each attempt. Karo backs up several paces from the shelf, then charges forward in a full sprint. He crashes into it hard with his shoulder. He retreats and charges again, this time fully separating it and falling to the floor with it.
The terror filled men drag the separated shelf portion toward the stockroom doors. As they approach, the left door flings open, smacking loudly against the wall. Karo rushes the infected as it exits the stockroom, his crowbar held high and already positioned for the head.
The diseased throws its arms up at Karo, inadvertently blocking a portion of his assault. The crowbar jams into the neck of the infected, but this isn't a killing a blow. It screeches and gurgles. This diseased is fresher than the previous one, and still capable. Its hand grabs Karo's hair pulling his head closer. In a scramble Karo rips his gun from the holster. He presses it against the rotting infected head before him and pulls the trigger.
The infected falls limp. Karo slams his gun back in the holster and helps Jack lift the broken shelf portion. They slam it on the door, angling it into a wedged position. The pounding of limbs on metal emanates from the other side.
There's no time to regather their composure. They race off to the entrance of the grocery store, not stopping to check their surroundings. They make a beeline for the road, alerting their course in the direction of the shallow brush they passed through previously.
In the mad dash of getting as far away from this situation as possible they failed to notice the two Adapted rounding the corner from behind the grocery store. The macabre soulless creatures fix their gazes on the two pounding hearts in need of suffocation fleeing from their location. Once the hurried and unsuspecting foes are almost out of sight the monsters begin their slow, methodical, and deadly pursuit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The night passed in what seemed like a slow distortion of time. Rosaline laid outside on the deck for hours. Mikey did his best to comfort her. She hadn’t felt a level of sadness this deep since she lost her mother and sister.
Knowing she has to leave the farm, and Sweetie, has held above her head like a melancholic cloud. More than that, having to take Mikey from the first place he’s called home breaks her heart.
She didn’t sleep, she laid on the bed waiting for morning to come,
