He cocked a brow and hit the power button on the stereo. Some soft crooning piano music waved throughout the store, and he looked out at all the speakers lining the ceiling.
“That’s not gonna do it,” he murmured, and looked around for a stack of CDs or something. When he noticed a patch cord running from the mixer to a large amplifier, his eyebrows hit his hairline, and he grinned.
“What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?” Leo moaned, pressing his hands to his head. “We’re stuck in here!”
Eddie shook his head. “Our job is distraction, so distraction is what we’re going to do,” he explained as he picked up a bright red electric guitar and slung the strap over his shoulder. “Once they’re done their job, they’ll come get us.”
“Are you sure?” Leo babbled. “What if the others die, and they just leave us in here?”
Eddie shrugged as he plugged the patch cord into the guitar, pushing up the main slider on the mixer. “Then we’re going down rockin’.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Grace reached the department store first, and her heart leapt into her throat at the sheer number of zombies inside. Even on the second floor, the place was packed. Why were there this many people in the mall before things were even open?
Hawk slid up next to her, and they slid one of the doors closed, clicking the floor bolt down into place. This sent the ghouls into a frenzy, and they thundered towards them at full tilt.
“Hurry!” Grace screamed, and Hawk pulled on the second half of their door, managing to get it shut just in time. She looked over at the second set of doors, expecting Aly and Joseph to be there, doing their job, but they were still catching up.
Fuck fuck fuck, Grace thought, and tore for the other set of doors. The ghouls followed her, and Aly reached them just as she did, managing to throw both of their bodies into the doors just as the zombies crashed into them.
“I can’t!” Joseph blubbered, and quickly turned tail, hurrying off towards the escalator.
“Get back here!” Hawk cried as he pushed in next to Grace, trying to dig in his heels. Their shoes squeaked against the smooth tile floors, and the three of them breathed heavily, grunting as they tried to close the doors.
“It’s not working!” Aly shrieked, her eyes wide with horror.
A loud squeal echoed from the far side of the mall, followed by a series of rapid distorted power chords.
“We’re not going to get these closed,” Grace said, shaking her head. “We’re going to have to make a run for it.”
Hawk swallowed hard as he tried to dig in harder, fingers starting to wiggle through the gap in the doors. “We won’t make it to the sporting store before they overwhelm us,” he replied.
“If we go the opposite way, maybe they’ll run towards the guitar noise and we can hunker down and wait for them to be clear so we can close these doors,” Grace suggested.
“That’s a big maybe,” Hawk groaned.
Aly whimpered as her feet slid. “Make a decision!” she urged.
“On the count of three, we let go and run for that cafe over there,” Grace blurted quickly. “Ready? One, two… three!”
The trio pushed off all at the same time, diving towards the little cafe at the end of the second-floor balcony. If they couldn’t make it in, there was nowhere to go but down. It wasn’t the best tactical decision, but it was a gamble they had to take, better than being trampled by zombies.
As the doors flew open and ghouls poured out of the department store, some of them moved towards the guitar solo, but a good number of them took off after the fresh meal.
Aly tripped over her own feet and fell face-first onto the floor, smacking her face into the tiles. She screamed, and Hawk looked over his shoulder as zombies piled on top of her. Grace’s blood ran cold at the sound of tearing flesh, but it didn’t slow her down. The woman was gone, done like dinner. Literally.
As morbid as it was, Aly’s gurgling body slowed down the bulk of the zombies chasing them, and they managed to skid into the empty cafe, dragging the Plexiglas divider across its track and locking it. It bowed a bit as a quartet of creatures crashed into it, but held.
“Fuck,” Hawk cursed, bringing a hand to his forehead.
“We need to clear the back,” Grace said, voice thick. She hadn’t known Aly for very long, but it was still a tragedy when anyone died because of these stupid missions they were forced to complete. However, there was no time to mourn, they had to do their jobs so they could survive.
Hawk nodded grimly, and they gripped their weapons, miraculously having held on to them during their battle with the doors. “I don’t hear anything,” he said, but they stayed cautious as they approached the counter.
“Me either,” she replied, and when they reached the curtain for the back room, she strained her ears before hooking her finger in the edge of the fabric and pulling it aside.
The back area was a small prep room, with two ovens built into the wall. A tray of muffins sat on the prep table, and Troy approached them, relaxing once realizing they were truly alone. He poked one of the muffins, and then knocked on top of it.
“Hard as a rock,” he lamented, wrinkling his nose.
Grace took a deep breath and pulled the walkie-talkie from her pocket, raising it to her lips. “No Name, are you there?” she asked, and turned around, heading back out into the cafe proper to keep an eye on the front.
Hawk followed her out and poked around behind the counter. He pulled a few levers and discovered the machine that spit out hot water, muttering
