"Smells like shit in here," Day said.
Allen had nothing to say. Day was right. The smell of the dead was cloying. They moved silently toward the outdoor sports section of the store, stepping over the corpses on the ground, their blood shining black in the flashlight beams.
They found the section they were looking for. "Keep a watch," Allen said.
He eyed the rows of camping gear, looking for tents that were small and portable. He found what he was looking for on the bottom shelf.
"Hurry up, man," Day said, his voice betraying his anxiety.
"I'm going as fast as I can," Allen said as he pulled out the desired number of tents. They were mismatched and made a pile as high as he was when he had them stacked. "Shit," he said, his chin dropping to his chest. It would be impossible to carry all of the tents to the other side of the store. He looked around the aisle and spotted a shopping cart full of discount DVDs, his flashlight landing on the cover of a movie entitled "Dutch." He thought he recognized the actor on the cover but put the thought out of his mind as he tipped over the cart, dumping the DVDs out with a loud clatter. He pushed the cart back, flinching from the muzzle flash of Day's rifle.
He rushed to pile the tents into the shopping cart, but the cardboard boxes they were packed in made them cumbersome.
"What's taking so long, man?" Day asked.
"I gotta take some of these out of the boxes."
"Fuck that," Day said. "Just take what you can."
"You want to sleep outside?"
On the other side of the aisle, he heard Walt and Epps arguing over which sleeping bags to take. Epps took the time to stop arguing with Walt and yelled over at Allen, "I ain't sleeping outside, man."
Allen ripped at the boxes, pulling the tents from them one by one and tossing the boxes behind him. They were easier to stack in the cart without the boxes, but his fingers felt clumsy, and he could feel the seconds ticking away.
"Coming out!" Epps yelled as he ran into the light coming from Day's flashlight.
Allen threw another tent into the shopping cart as he caught a glimpse of Walt and Epps fleeing away from them, burdened by ten sleeping bags. They wouldn't be able to shoot anything with that load.
"Shit," he said. "Go cover them, Day."
"What about you?" Day asked.
"I got this," he said. He didn't. He still had to tear three tents from their boxes before he would be ready to go, but he would be alright.
Day nodded at him and took off after Epps and Walt. "Wait for me, you jackasses."
Allen finished unboxing another tent and threw it into the shopping cart. He picked up another one, fumbling with the cardboard until he was able to rip one of the end flaps open. He pulled the tent out. As he placed it in the cart, he heard the clatter of cardboard behind him. He spun, trying to pull his rifle up, but the Annie was on him too fast, pinning the barrel between his own body and that of the Annie. He let the rifle drop and pushed a hand up under the Annie's frigid chin. It felt like ice.
He reached down to his belt and undid the strap on his KA-BAR. He grabbed the knife and jammed it up into that cold throat. The Annie fell to the ground, and Allen bent down to retrieve his trusty knife, a present from his father who always said, "The army will take care of most things, but the one thing the army doesn't do is give you a badass knife."
He stood and wiped the bloody knife on the Annie's body. He replaced it in its sheathe and left the strap undone, just in case he needed it again. He looked down at the last boxed tent. With his heart beating in his chest and the feeling of the dead closing in on him, he said, "Fuck it. Rudy and Amanda can sleep together."
He pulled his rifle into a better position and pushed the shopping cart down the aisle as fast as he could.
****
Tejada ran with Rudy and Amanda. They had been the last group to crawl through the broken glass. He stood outside, willing the pair to move faster, and he knew he was on the verge of panic. He watched as the dead tumbled down the hill. The first wave made their way across the parking lot, dozens of them. Speed was important here. He took his eyes off the dead and crawled through the broken glass, turning his back on the tide that threatened to wash over them.
Hopefully, the others had cleared the way for them. As he stood up, he saw the flashing of muzzles inside the darkness of the store. "Amanda, light the way."
They turned left, stepping over a dozen or so of the dead. "Keep your head on a swivel," Tejada said.
Rudy moved rather gracefully for how big he was. In no time at all, they were in the aisle with the camping gear. "Grab that stove, Amanda. Shove it in Rudy's backpack, and grab yourself one of those backpacks while you're at it."
The young woman did as she was told, and Tejada continued walking down the aisle. "Rudy, grab some of those propane tanks when you get the chance and throw those in Amanda's bag. Get as many as you can. We're going to need them."
He left the two to their task, keeping an ear out for any trouble. He walked past a few aisles, watching his other men do
