Mason rushed up, lowering his shoulder and bashing into the last group of two zombies by the door. The impact sent them staggering backwards through the door and into the store. His momentum carried him forward through the door, and he stumbled before catching himself and whirling around.
Hess finally managed to throw his attacker to the ground and smash its face in, turning just in time to see a zombie leap on Mason’s back, sending him face first into the linoleum. Hess drew his handgun and fired at the two zombies converging on his partner’s position, tearing towards his fallen friend.
He grabbed it by the back of the shirt, but the ghoul managed to bite into Mason’s shoulder, taking a chunk of him with it as Hess ripped it from his friend’s back. He put the barrel to its head, watching it savor every bite of his companion’s flesh before he blew its brain apart.
Hess looked down at Mason to help him up, but the blood poured out of him, the bite close enough to his neck that he struggled for breath, gurgling blood.
Hess scrubbed his hands down his face, brain still trying to process what had just happened. Moans erupted from the loading dock and he shook his head, snapping back to business at the looming threat of death.
“I’m sorry, man,” he said, and swallowed hard before placing the barrel of his handgun on the back of Mason’s head and pulling the trigger, setting him to rest. It was an undignified death, and Hess couldn’t fight off the guilt washing over him, but he had no choice. He couldn’t allow Mason to suffer at the hands of the zombies still here, and he couldn’t risk a runner tearing free.
He dug into his fallen friend’s pocket and grabbed the keys, slipping them into his own, and readied his assault rifle, slamming in a fresh mag and holding up his flashlight to illuminate any target he could find.
He moved swiftly through the store, coming around the corner into the center aisle and seeing several ghouls milling about. His first instinct was to light them up, to make them pay for the death of his partner, but he thought better of it. The less noise and wastage of bullets, the better.
One of the creatures turned towards him, attracted by the light, and began shambling in his direction. Hess let out a huff and kept moving. He moved through the front half of the store, gun at the ready, but pocketed the flashlight as he got closer to the front glass with the sunlight pouring in.
There were a dozen or so zombies near the registers, and another few dozen just outside the front door, attracted to the rumbling of the truck just to the left of the entrance. Hess tried to plot a course through, but none of them looked viable as there were just too many zombies by the front entrance.
I have to signal whoever is driving to get out of the way, he thought, and looked around. There was a register just across from him with two ghouls standing next to it. If I can get over there, I might be able to get his attention.
He drew his knife, knowing he’d have to be quiet about it. He waited for the zombies to look in the other direction and then darted out. He rushed over and slammed his blade into the back of one monster’s skull before immediately stabbing the second one through the forehead.
He quickly dropped to his knee, hiding behind the register for cover. He glanced out the window, seeing Kent sitting in the driver’s seat of the truck, just hanging out.
Hess pulled out his flashlight and aimed it directly at Kent’s face, clicking it on and off two times rapidly. His charge outside blinked, confused, looking around. Hess sighed and did it again, finally gaining the soldier’s attention.
Kent looked straight through the window and saw Hess crouched there. When their eyes locked, Hess motioned for him to move the truck out of the way. He received a thumbs up, and Kent popped the truck into gear and moved back, the congregating zombies slowly ambling after him.
Unfortunately for Hess, the flicking light attracted several of the zombies at the front area of the store, and they wandered towards him, trying to find the source. He remained under cover, his knife ready in case one of them got too close. He watched as a couple of them wandered by the top of his checkout aisle, moaning, seeming to know that something was close.
He looked back towards the front, seeing only a few zombies inside the store and ten or so just outside of it, although a bit more spread out than before. As he went back into hiding, he inadvertently elbowed a travel mug that was underneath the register, sending it clattering to the ground.
“Dammit,” he muttered as moaning erupted all around him. He sheathed his knife and readied his assault rifle. “Here goes nothing.” He popped up from cover, aiming at the nearest creature and firing, dropping it fast as he turned and tore for the front of the store.
Zombies in front of him turned to screech at him, arms outstretched. He stopped and fired two quick headshots, and then leapt over the fallen, skidding into the front entryway and slamming the double doors behind him.
Ten zombies pressed up against the row of glass doors at the front, shoulder to shoulder and smacking on the glass. Hess raised his rifle, aiming at the first ghoul’s head and swapping to rapid fire mode. He took a deep breath, and then pulled the trigger, running down the line, taking out a line of them in a matter of seconds.
As the corpses hit the pavement, he pushed
