“She hurt?” William asks. “You see any bite marks on her?”
“No, I think she’s fine,” Janus says. “Let’s get her to the car.”
“What the hell’s going on?” someone shouts, and William darts a brief look around to see another car pulling over, the driver sticking his bald head out of the window and staring in amazement at the scene.
“Get out of here!” William shouts at him, just as the zombie boy comes tumbling out of the car. Behind him, inside the car, the girl sits up.
“Holy shit!” the bald guy shouts and speeds off.
Finally someone with a rational response, William thinks, turning around to run after Janus, who has reached William’s car. William opens the door, and they help each other place the girl on the backseat.
“Oh, fuck!” Janus exclaims, alarm in his voice.
William spins around expecting to find both zombies coming at them. Instead, he sees them staggering towards the entrance of the supermarket. Apparently, they’ve sensed a much larger selection of prey, and the glass doors open to invite them in.
“Sofie!” Janus roars and grabs William. “Come on, we’ve got to help her!”
William pulls free. “No, it’s too dangerous!”
“Too dangerous?!” Janus glares at him, aghast. “Sofie is fucking in there!”
“And in two minutes the whole building will be crawling with zombies! You saw how quickly the girl woke up.”
“You fucking coward,” Janus sneers and runs towards the entrance.
“I’ll wait for you!” William calls after him. “But only two minutes!”
Janus doesn’t answer, he just runs into the supermarket.
EIGHT
The air is cooler inside the store, and pop music is playing over the speakers. Luckily, not many people seem to have gone shopping this Monday morning.
By the register is a young, pimply kid scanning an older lady’s groceries. Only a few yards away from them is the zombie girl. She’s eagerly trying to get to them, but is held back by a metal bar.
“You can’t get in that way,” the cashier says sleepily, not even bothering to look up at the girl. “You’ll need to go through the store.”
The girl just keeps shoving to get past the obstacle, and her efforts cause her to tip over, producing half a somersault over the metal bar.
“Hey, what the hell …?” the cashier exclaims.
“Look out!” Janus yells.
Both the cashier and the old lady are now staring in silent amazement at the tumbled over girl who’s getting clumsily back up on her feet and is starting to growl.
“Get away!” Janus shouts. “She’s dangerous!”
“Oh, fuck me,” the cashier exclaims as he gets a look at the girl’s face and apparently recognizes the danger. Without a second glance, he turns on his heels and sprints off down the store.
The old lady, on the other hand, is still just standing there, frozen to the spot, holding her purse, mouth open.
“Run away!” Janus warns her once again, and she looks as though she tries to oblige him, at least her feet shuffle a few inches backwards, but the sight of the bloody girl has paralyzed her. Janus can’t do anything but look as the zombie lunges at her, quickly wrestling her to the ground.
His stomach churns and he forces himself to look away, to focus on what he came for. He turns and runs down through the store. Somewhere down the back is a muffled scream.
Janus checks every aisle, looking out both for Sofie and the zombie boy, but he only meets a few early shoppers with puzzled looks on their faces. One of them is a young, blonde mom with her two young boys.
“What’s going on?” she asks Janus as he passes by them, reaching out in a protective manner for her sons. “Who was that screaming just before?”
“Get out of the building,” Janus just tells her and moves on. “Sofie? Sofie, it’s me! Where are you?”
He reaches the end of the store and stops by the dairy cabinets. Still, no trace of Sofie.
Maybe she’s out back …
He’s headed for the door to the employee’s area, when suddenly, Sofie appears from behind a meat dish. She’s wearing gloves and blows away a strand of hair.
“Sofie!”
“Janus?” she smiles as she sees him. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
Janus goes to her and sighs with relief. “You’re all right …”
“Of course I am.” She frowns. “Is something wrong? Listen, did you hear someone yell out just a minute ago? I was listening to my iPod, so I’m not sure, but—”
Janus can tell Sofie sees something behind him, because her expression changes from mild confusion to utter terror in half a second. Then she opens her mouth and screams.
Janus darts a look over his shoulder just as a bloody hand grabs him. The boy has crept up on him completely noiselessly. Janus attempts a sideway reflex jump, but the kid has too firm of a grip on his shirt. He pulls Janus back and sinks his teeth into Janus’s shoulder blade. The pain is intense. Janus screams and swings at the attacker, connecting with his elbow right under the chin, sending him sprawling.
“Fuck!” he hisses, hunching over in pain.
Sofie comes closer, her eyes large and terrified. “Oh my God … are you … are you all right, babe?”
“Get away!” Janus yells, trying to reach the spot where the boy bit him. To his dread he feels the warm blood already soaking the back of his T-shirt. “Fuck!” he repeats, his voice breaking, glaring at Sofie with a pleading look. “Get out of here, Sofie! Get as far away as you can! You got it? Just run!”
But Sofie never runs anywhere. She tries, though, managing a few, tentative steps backwards while she stares at Janus with a perfect mixture of fright and amazement. Then, the girl steps out from one of the aisles, throwing herself at Sofie and wrestling her to the floor. It happens so fast Janus only has