for use as a weapon, it would just make the key easier to find, if he should drop it.
Hank pushed out the front door and again was struck by the feeling that something unseen was watching him. He nodded up to Juan and headed around the side of the building to where the car was. All in all it was no worse than any car last sold 'new' in the United States in nineteen eighty could be. Hank paused a moment, yeah, this was an old first model, part of him was reluctant to even take the car, anything this old would have to have been driven three hundred thousand miles by this time, unless it was an old lady car recently rediscovered and sold from her estate. Another part of Hank was oddly attracted to this marvel of engineering, just how many miles did this baby have on it? It should make two more miles easily enough. Hank approached the door and opened the latch. Or rather tried to, the owner had it locked. Letting out a little laugh Hank used the key to open it up, why would he bother locking this piece of crap? As Hank hopped in and adjusted the seat he checked the mileage, it said eighty nine thousand and two miles. The Fiesta's mile gauge only went to ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine and nine tenths, which Hank should have remembered. 'Oh well', he lamented, 'what difference does it make? It'll make another two miles.'
He turned the key and was rewarded with a sputtering cough of the engine turning over and a red light on the dash, indicating low fuel. 'More like 'no fuel'.', Hank muttered to himself. How could this kid work at a gas station and leave his ride running on fumes? Shaking his head Hank put the car into reverse and then pulled around to the front of the gas station. A ringing sound caught his ear and after a moments fumbling he remembered the cell phone and grabbed it out of his breast pocket.
'Hello?' he answered.
'Man where are you going? Me and Juan want to come too!' said Kevin.
'Oh, yeah, sorry Kevin, I shoulda maybe yelled out, this thing needs gas, only has fumes. Hey at least the cell phones work!'
'Oh okay, you fill it up and we will cover you. Bye.'
'Bye.'
Hank pulled up alongside the second set of pumps and tried to fuel up the car. Nothing. Yeah that's right he had to go inside the store again to authorize the sale and turn the pumps on. At least there was still power. He headed back into the store with his shotgun and looked around behind the counter for a button to press so he could fill up. It was not hard, there was a beeping noise to go along with the flashing light and after the simple press of a button Hank had the pump working. He also spotted a bright red two and a half gallon plastic 'station gas can' for loaning out to people who had run out of fuel, it looked like it had only been used a couple of times, Hank grabbed it and a yellow coke out of the cooler before he headed back to the car. He sat his soda pop down on the hood while he bent over the gas can, taking off the lid he filled it up before jamming the nozzle into the car's gas tank. As he grabbed his pop and went to take a drink he became aware of a man leaning up against the outside of the Gas 'n Go building. Hank would swear the guy was not there a second before, now he was. The stranger was wearing a gray shirt, dirty jeans and black work boots. Hank knew it was the same 'Dave' Kevin had run into even before he read the lettering stitched into the shirts breast.
Everything seemed to slow way down for Hank then, he saw 'Dave' start to say something, then something about his demeanor changed as he saw Hank's reaction to him and he started forward faster than Hank would have thought possible. Hank had originally thought he would play it cool by sitting his drink back on the car, then reach down and pull up his shotgun to get a shot off while the son of a bitch was still smirking up against the wall of the store. However by the time he had his hands on the barrel of the shotgun to pull it up for use Dave had slammed into him, he heard a shot ring out from the top of the building, but all it did was puff up some dust and concrete from behind his legs. Then Hank was pushed back into the car with enough force to break the side window and maybe a couple of his ribs.
Twisting sideways Hank used Dave's momentum to propel the zombie over the roof of the car. As Dave was sliding over the roof his hand smashed out and made a grab for Hank. Somehow Hank got his face out of the way of that grasping claw and Dave hit the pavement on the other side yelling. Hank's shotgun had fallen to the ground, requiring him to bend over to pick it up, as he did so a sharp pain spiked through his back from the damage he had taken from being shoved into the car. He ended up on his knees with one arm holding him off the ground and the other grabbing at his back. Hank knew he had to ignore the pain or he would die, looking under the car he could see Dave's booted feet heading around the back end. Hank reached out and grabbed the shotgun but Dave had gotten a grip on the other end. Fortunately Hank had the trigger end and as Dave hauled the gun, and Hank, upwards he pulled the trigger, releasing a round of buckshot at point blank range into Dave's abdomen. The son of a bitch jerked back, but did not let go of the gun, which was ripped out of Hank's weakened grip, half falling Dave caught himself on one hand while Hank stood there gaping at him.
Hank had no illusions that a gut shot would kill Dave, he was hoping to sever the zombie's spine, which he thought might turn the him into a crawler. Instead he watched in fascination while Dave's torn apart stomach pulled in on itself and mended over the wound Hank had inflicted. Dave stood up slowly grinning like the Cheshire cat.
'You ain't seen one like me have you? There are more of us too, super humans, or super zombies, the things we can do are just amazing.' Dave said, when he finished he flipped the gun around and started to point it at Hank. That is when Juan's shotgun shell hit him in the hands and gun. Dave's hand simply disappeared in an explosion of congealed black blood, white bones and fingernails. The gun fared little better taking a hit to the stock which blew it in half and triggered it off at the same time, the second blast caught the fiesta full in side, shattering the rear passenger's window and carrying through to star up the front windshield from the inside.
Juan's second shot hit Dave in the shoulder, blowing chunks of his shoulder blade across the top of the fiesta, Dave had rebounded into the car with the first hit and was hit while falling down by the second blast, knocking his upper torso into the back of the car. Juan pumped a third and fourth round into the body hitting the zombie's legs and buttocks with rounds that were tearing it apart. Then he ran out of ammo, Hank backed up steadily towards the front of the store, while Kevin ran up from the side alley. The randomly wandering undead were now headed their way in a slow shambling rush.
'Hank! You okay Hank?', asked a worried Juan.
Hank nodded towards Dave who was not moving, not really, but his body was pulling itself together in some sort of parody of healing.
'It ain't dead Juan, try not to hit the tire. Aw shit Juan, don't shoot, we gotta get outta here.', Hank pointed at the gas hose on the ground pumping fuel all over the ground in a growing puddle.
'Mierdas. Esta pendejo, esta malcreado, man he is bad Hank, I gotta get close for a head shot, will the gun set off a spark? Blow the place up?'
'Kevin, don't shoot! There are gas fumes everywhere, we gotta back off or take the car and get outta here.' yelled Hank. As he said this he limped around to the front of the car and hopped in. He had left the key in the ignition, but the car was not running, he started it, hoping that the mere act of starting the car would not set off an explosion. A second later he was still there with no big boom. As he started the car forward he heard something behind him, turning he saw Dave trying to crawl into the car, but unable to get his arms in through the window.
'I am gonna so fuck you up, so bad, so bad you will beg me to kill you, then I am gonna let you come back and torture you some more 'Hank' and I will get your little buddy too. Fucking roof sniper. I am gonna shove that shotgun up his ass and pull the trigger, but only after I bite him too.'
Hank spun the car faster around the parking lot, out onto the street in an attempt to keep Dave from being able to gain any leverage and crawl in and to use the momentum to force him out of the car altogether. It worked and with a cry of 'I will find you fuck head, you are dead!', Dave disappeared out the window onto the street. As Hank sped off he heard the sounds of Juan and Kevin firing. He pulled back into the Gas 'n Go, behind Juan and Kevin, who were busy firing at the body in the street, which was actively dodging on broken legs. A few of their shots hit it and sent it staggering, however neither of them could manage a head shot and Dave kept moving until they ran out of ammo. Then he turned, straightened himself up and looked at them, really looked at them, as if trying to memorize their faces. When Kevin pulled his gun back to his shoulder Dave flinched and ducked sideways, Kevin laughed and Juan told him, 'Get in back Kevin, get in amigo. We gotta go!'
Kevin piled his long lean form into the back seat of the car, appropriately enough Juan rode shotgun.
'Kevin, keep an eye on him with the rifle take a shot if you can, but I want to know if he follows us.'
Juan reloaded his shotgun with shells from his front shirt pocket. 'Ammo's on the roof in the
