The sporting goods store came into view, and Grace turned to Troy, who waved back at her. He tugged Aaron after him, and they moved to the left side of the corridor, knocking over a few ghouls to tear for the store.
Eddie hollered some more in the distance, Leo whooping as well, though not quite as loud and proud.
Grace and Hawk each grabbed an arm of a particularly thick ghoul, running like defensemen together and slamming it into the railing, sending it toppling over to the first floor. Aly and Joseph clustered behind them.
“I thought we were supposed to just run!” he cried.
“We gotta clear a path to the doors!” Grace hissed. “Hopefully the decoy team can keep the rest away, but the ones between here and the doors won’t just run past us. If you can get to the doors first, start working on them, but we gotta kill what we can.”
The rest of them nodded, but didn’t have time to strategize any further, because three more ghouls tore for them from the department store.
Gotta think on our feet, remember? Grace thought bitterly and swung her crowbar for a mighty kill shot.
CHAPTER FIVE
Troy burst into the sporting goods store, the metal chain doors only half-closed. It was probable that they were either just opening the store, or just trying to protect themselves with locking up, when things went from bad to worse.
There were five zombies inside, and they perked up as soon as Troy and Aaron crossed the threshold.
“Get this closed!” Troy barked, banging on the metal barrier, and his partner began to struggle with it, dragging it along the track as quickly as he could.
Troy sprinted across the three waist-high aisles of various equipment, a ghoul in each, three in the far end. He snatched a hockey stick from the wall display and thrust it out lengthwise, attempting to use the business end to hold the oncoming ghoul at bay. Instead, it sank into the rotted corpse’s chest cavity, sticking inside.
Troy fought back a gag, and swung the zombie back and forth, using it as a shield to bonk back its brethren. He changed tactics and began to use it as an undead battering ram, consistently shoving them back.
His reasoning was to keep them busy while Aaron dealt with the other two, but that seemed to be taking longer than he’d anticipated. He chanced glancing over his shoulder, and saw Aaron just locking the metal barrier, and leaping back as a bunch of zombies in the mall hallway smacked into it.
He raised his weapon, as if to jab it through the holes.
“Leave them!” Troy barked. “There’s two more in here!”
Aaron whipped around just in time to see the two ghouls heading up the aisles, and he darted around to Troy’s aisle, wide-eyed.
“Fuck,” Troy muttered under his breath. He’d misplaced his hope, but at least the guy had managed to get the barrier locked. They had to get these zombies taken care of, though, before the others came back to hunker down in the store.
Aaron at least had the forethought to grab a hockey stick, and huddled up behind Troy, holding it in his opposite hand to the tire iron with white knuckles. The ghouls came around the end of the aisle, about to box in the duo.
“Once they get close, we’re gonna hop the shelves,” Troy said. “Ready?”
Aaron nodded, eyes wide.
“Now!” Troy cried, and shoved his ghouls back before throwing himself over the shoe shelves, rolling over into the clear aisle. Aaron followed, but he was a bit slower, and one of the zombies grabbed his ankle on his way over.
He screamed, swinging the hockey stick wildly, so hard that Troy had to duck, unable to get close enough to help him. The heavy shelves managed to keep the ghouls at bay for the most part, though he had to back up to avoid their grasping arms.
He jumped to his feet, stabbing his trio in quick succession, and then finally lashed out to grab Aaron’s flailing stick, wrenching it out of his hands. He brought it down hard on the zombie’s neck, cutting into it slightly. Aaron kicked up with his free leg at the rotted arm, finally dislodging it, and Troy lunged with the crowbar, catching it in the temple with the curved end.
He jerked downwards, tearing the front of the zombie’s skull clean off, leaving only one ghoul to deal with.
It shrieked as it clawed at him, mouth open, bloody drool flying everywhere as it gnashed its teeth together trying to snap at him.
Troy sneered at it, and then jabbed forward with the tip of the crowbar, burying it into the monster’s eye socket. As it fell, he stepped back, chest heaving. He looked down at Aaron, who was still on the floor on his back, covering his face with his arms.
“Thanks for the help,” Troy muttered, and poked Aaron’s shoulder with his shoe. “Come on, we gotta check the back and make sure it’s clear.”
The prone man swallowed hard and got up, picking up his tire iron and following Troy to the cash counter. There was a rack of baseball bats off to the side, and Troy dropped his hockey stick to grab one of them, sliding the crowbar into his belt loop. He gave the heavy wood an experimental swing, and then approached the back room, peering through the glass window.
A zombie in a striped umpire’s outfit smacked into it, and Troy jumped, his muscles relaxing a bit at the fact that the door was shut tight. He reached out and gave it a push just to make sure and then turned back to his partner.
“We need to get back to the front of the store, see what’s going
