“Oh yeah, just like I’m back on the farm,” Calvin assured him with a grin.
Zion returned the smile. “Then drive us off to the mall then, farm boy.”
“I thought I was a playa?” the sniper asked, raising an eyebrow.
Zion chuckled. “Only when your woman is around,” he said.
Calvin rolled his eyes playfully, and then turned down a side street, heading around the mini-horde. He drove slowly, making sure the trailer was properly attached. Finally, after several blocks, they reached the edge of the mall parking lot.
The City of Roses Mall was a mammoth structure that housed five anchor stores and another two hundred smaller ones. It was a two-story beast, state-of-the art circa 1995, with multiple entrances outside of the anchor stores. Now, it was home to a few thousand zombies.
The two men sat in the truck, staring at their target, the Super Garden Center, one of the newer anchor stores. Calvin popped the truck into park, and stepped out with his stomach clenched, raising his rifle.
His heart sank as he scanned the store through his scope. The interior of the store was dimly lit via several emergency lights, as were most areas of the mall. Solar powered and installed as an anti-theft deterrent, it was a boon and the only reason the boys had any chance of succeeding.
While the lights were vital, unfortunately they had the byproduct of attracting huge numbers of zombies. There were easily hundreds just at the garden center, with even more inside the mall. While there was tremendous movement inside the store, at least there were only a handful of ghouls outside.
Calvin scanned the doors, four sets of double glass, with several of them open. Rigid steel beams reinforced the frames.
“Well, the good news is,” he began, taking a deep breath, “we have lights.”
Zion pursed his lips. “And the bad?”
“It appears as though they’ve attracted every zombie in a five mile radius,” the sniper replied, and sat back down in the driver’s seat with a huff. They sat in silence for a moment, and then he glanced over at his friend. “How we looking on time?”
Zion checked his watch. “Three-twenty left on the clock.”
Calvin scrubbed his hands down his face. “Ideas?”
“Kinda hoping you had one,” Zion admitted.
The sniper sighed. “Originally I was thinking we just drive right in through the front door,” he suggested. “But it would be a hell of a risk with those beams.”
“Agreed,” Zion said. “But if we can find a loading door entrance…”
Calvin nodded thoughtfully. “Attack it from the inside,” he finished. “I like it. Let’s see what we can find.”
He popped the truck back into gear, and they drove around the outer edge of the lot, headlights off to avoid detection. As they drove, they stared at the mall, seeing some smaller entrances illuminated, with several zombies coming in and out of the building.
They had no luck until they reached the other side of the ball. One of the department store anchors had a gaping hole through the front of the store, mangled metal hanging from the top of the structure, with a ten-foot wide hole resulting from a crash. A few bodies lay scattered on the ground in front of the doors.
“Looks like somebody really wanted in,” Calvin muttered.
Zion nodded. “Looks like they had a head of steam, too,” he said.
“Let’s see what I can see,” Calvin said, and parked again. He hopped out after a cursory sweep and then inspected the hole with his scope. Several zombies roamed around it, but he was more interested on the inside. “Looks like whoever was driving was a speed demon, because they got pretty deep into the store.”
Zion raised an eyebrow. “How deep?” he asked. “Can we get the truck and trailer through?”
“Deep enough that I can’t see it,” Calvin replied. “Shouldn’t be a problem to get inside. Question is… then what?”
Zion shook his head. “Man, I only came to this mall once,” he admitted. “Only thing I really remember is that it’s a big ole bitch.”
“Good to know we have enough room to drive, though,” Calvin pointed out.
“That’s not a problem,” Zion agreed. “What is a problem, is going to be figuring out how to buy ourselves enough time to load the mowers into the trailer.”
They sat in silence for a moment, contemplating.
“I got an idea,” Calvin finally said, “but you’re gonna think I’m crazy.”
Zion chuckled, shaking his head. “I already think that, so you don’t have to worry about your reputation.”
“Well…” the sniper began, “I figure we can Blues Brothers it through the mall, park it beside the mowers in the Garden Center, then get to higher ground in the mall proper and draw them out of the store.”
Zion nodded thoughtfully. “Those things aren’t the most graceful creatures on god’s green earth, so there shouldn’t be too many of them on the second floor.”
“That’s my thought, too,” Calvin said. “So we get in, fight our way to the second floor, draw them out and buy ourselves a few minutes to load up.”
Zion’s eyebrows rose at his friend. “That’s a crazy fucking idea,” he said.
“Yeah I know,” Calvin replied sheepishly. “Just trying to think outside the box.”
They sat in another contemplative silence for a moment, and then Zion looked at his watch again. Three hours and twelve minutes remaining.
“I hate to say it though,” he admitted, “but it’s the best idea we got.”
Calvin blinked at him in shock, having a hard time comprehending that his dumbass idea was the one they were going with. “Just make me a promise,” he finally said.
“What’s that?” Zion asked.
The sniper held up a hand. “If we survive this,” he began, “let me come up with another idea when we’re doing a raid. Don’t want this to be the best idea I ever come up with.”
“If we pull this off,” Zion replied with a grin, “this will be the best idea you will ever have, because it worked. You may want to retire from the idea
