I decided shooting it might be a mistake. The noise would be too loud and might draw other zombies that might be hidden away. I put the gun the holster and took out my knife. I went up to the zombie. It looked up then and growled at me. It made to move for me but I stabbed it through the skull before it could. It stopped moving immediately. I pulled out the knife and cleaned it with a towel on one of the shelves.
“Is everything alright?”
I jumped at the sound of the male voice. I turned around trying to catch my breath. My heart was racing. Which I realized was ridiculous; a zombie wouldn’t ask if everything was alright.
Though a zombie might’ve been a more welcoming sight than that of Freddie who stood in the doorway.
“Sorry,” he said.
“It’s okay,” I replied.
He nodded and looked at the zombie on the ground.
“Is that the only one?”
“I think so. I don’t know where anymore would be. There’s not a dressing room or anything.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
I came out of the storage room and walked awkwardly next to Freddie.
“How’s Jamie?” I asked just trying to make small talk.
“Scared and I don’t blame her. We shouldn’t be out here. This was a stupid idea that Daniel had.”
“Well, I’m happy you are. I’d be dead without you guys.” I said and it was the truth.
He smirked, “Yeah, sure. You sure it’s not because you’re dying to bang Daniel?”
“Excuse me?” I asked taking aback by his suggestion.
“I saw you two talking earlier so don’t try to deny it.”
“What exactly is your problem? Do you go out of your way to be this much of an asshole or is it just a natural part of your ugly personality?”
Freddie began laughing.
“This is funny?”
“Yeah, because I had no idea just how bad you wanted him.”
“Look, my husband was just killed by a zombie. So no, I’m not looking to hook up with Daniel. Just because a woman and a man were talking doesn’t mean that one of them wants to have sex with the other. Case in point, this conversation right here because all I want to do is punch you in your face.”
His face changed from his smug look to one of concern, “I had no idea. I’m sorry.”
“Instead of saying you’re sorry, which is crap, how about you just stop running your damn mouth about shit you know nothing about.”
He nodded but said nothing.
“Everything alright?” Jamie asked making her way towards us.
Freddie looked at me as he said, “Yeah, Shelly just ran into a zombie that’s all. Just one, she killed it. We’ll be fine.”
Jamie looked worried but said nothing. She just turned and headed back for the tent. Freddie followed Jamie’s path.
I leaned up against the wall and rested my head against it. I didn’t know which was worse the undead or the living.
Chapter 13
I made my way over to the camp fire display and sat down. I had an attraction to Daniel that was true but the last thing on my mind was sleeping with him. The suggestion of such made me angry and annoyed. As if sex would be on the forefront of anyone’s mind in a time like this.
I heard voices coming from down the hall. It sounded like them but I waited until they were in sight before opening the gate.
“How’d it go?” I asked. “Find anything good?”
“There wasn’t a lot to choose from. Place has been picked almost clean.” Phoebe said.
“I’d hate to see the super markets.” I said.
“I got enough to make y’all a good meal, don’t you worry,” Robert added.
“Anything happen here?” Daniel asked.
“Zombie in a closet, eating some guts. Other than that it was pretty uneventful.” I said closing the gate back down.
“There was a zombie in here?” Phoebe asked.
“Yeah, but we should be alright. Just need to stay vigilant.” I replied.
Phoebe nodded but looked concerned. She busied herself helping Robert.
“Those two come out at all?” Daniel asked indicating the tent Freddie and Jamie were in.
“Just to see what was going on with the zombie.” I lied and added. “I think Jamie is having a hard time with all of this.”
“Yeah, I know.” Daniel said and headed towards the back of the store.
Robert kept his word about the food. He made us a make shift shepherd’s pie out of hot dog and hamburger buns, veggies they had found at a sandwich shop and some canned meat. It was surprisingly good though not as good as breakfast had been.
We decided on the watches. I volunteered to go first with Robert since I knew once I laid down it would be hard for me to get back up so I thought it best to get the watch out of the way. Not that it was nearly as dangerous as outside would be, especially with the gates closed but we all figured it would be best to still do a watch. Daniel and Phoebe insisted on it especially after hearing about the zombie in the closet.
Before going to bed we took turns going to the rest room which was only a few feet from the store.
Phoebe, Jamie, and I went first. There were ten stalls and most of them were completely disgusting. I wasn’t surprised by it and Phoebe didn’t really seem fazed but Jamie was more than a little sick to the stomach over the sight of it. There was one very clean stall, almost immaculate at the end. We took turns using that one. The water was still on which I didn’t expect.
Jamie went first while Phoebe and I brushed our teeth.
“Robert keeps mentioning something about a typhoon,” Phoebe said with toothpaste in her mouth.
“What?” I asked.
“Yeah, he wants to get to the caves ASAP because of a typhoon they said was building off the coast.”
“When? When, when did they say that? I don’t remember anything about a typhoon.”
“Neither do I but with all the undead running around, there’s a strong chance it was over looked or forgotten.”
“So you’re telling me that there is a typhoon headed for us?”
“Possibly, but Robert might be remembering wrong or just extremely paranoid.”
I let out a sigh, “does he remember when they said it might hit?”
“At the end of the week possibly.”
I scratched my forehead, “so, like in two days?”
“That’s what he keeps saying.”
Jamie flushed the toilet. Phoebe and I stopped talking, as if she couldn’t hear us.
“I feel terrible,” she said walking to the sink and turning on the water.
Phoebe didn’t say anything, she just headed to the toilet, saying “I’m next,” as she headed for the stall.
I looked at Jamie’s face in the mirror, something wasn’t right.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Just my stomach,” she said as she dried her hands. “And my head, and my muscles, and every other part of me.”
Tears began to run down her face. I walked over and gave her a hug. She wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace.
“I’m so scared,” she gasped. “I feel like I’m going to fall apart because of it. The terror is so strong.”
“It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay,” I said but didn’t really believe it.
“You’re not scared?” she asked pulling away from me and looking at my eyes.
“Yes, I am completely terrified. But giving in to fear gets you nowhere right?”
She gave a weak smile, “yeah, that’s right.”
Phoebe came out of the stall.
“Sorry, I had to pee.”
“It’s alright,” I said.
We finished up what we needed to do and headed back to the store. The guys let us in the gate and headed out themselves. Robert gave Phoebe a kiss before going. Freddie didn’t even look at Jamie.
After they left, Phoebe climbed into one of the tents.
“Night, gi
rls. I’m beat.”
“Goodnight,” I said.
Jamie smiled and said “Night, night.”
I sat on the log in the makeshift camp sight.
“I heard what Freddie said to you earlier,” Jamie said. She continued when I looked at her confused. “About my brother.”
“Oh, that.”
“I’m sorry. He can be bit crude,” she said.
“You sure do apologize for him a lot.”
She shrugged, “he’s just not good with people.”
“You mean he’s not a good person.”
“He is, deep down. You wouldn’t understand,” she said looking down at her feet.
I sighed, “I understand. It’s hard when you love someone to always see them clearly. Believe me I know.”
She nodded, “well, it wasn’t nice what he said to you. He’s jealous of Daniel. I don’t really know why.”
“Well, now’s the time for him to man up and stop being such a baby.”
She laughed, “Yeah. That’s not going to happen though. Goodnight.”
“Night,” I said.
She went into the other tent and zipped it shut.
The guys came back shortly after Jamie had gone into the tent. We closed and locked up the gate. Freddie settled in with her without saying much to anyone. Daniel, Robert, and I sat around chatting a little before Daniel went to sleep. He had set up his sleeping bag off to the side of the two tents instead of sleeping in one. I think he wanted to be ready at a moment’s notice if he needed to be.
Robert and I set together with the lantern on. We didn’t talk much. Robert seemed to be deep in thought and I was just trying to stay awake for the three hours our watch lasted. Volunteering to go first I realized might have been a mistake.
“Strange how life has turned out, isn’t it?” Robert said.
I nodded, “strange indeed.”
Robert was about to reply when there was a sudden burst of laughter. It was coming from down the hall.
Chapter 14
Robert looked at me. He pointed behind the counter where the cash register was. I made my way over to the counter and crouched behind it. Robert picked up the lantern and followed me. When he got in position in front of me, he turned the lantern off.
We sat in silence waiting for whatever it was. I could only hear Robert’s breathing and the deep breaths of the others sleeping in the tents. Then the laughter echoed off the hall. It sounded unnatural and unreal given the situation the world was in. It was something you would expect to hear in a mall on a Saturday afternoon from a bunch of teenagers.
I wondered if these people had been here awhile and if they had known we were here. What if this was part of a sick game and now that the world had about come to an end, they were going to go on a killing spree of the few people that were still kicking?
“Let’s go sleep in the hammock store,” a girl said. Her voice was echoing in the open space. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”
“Could you take this a bit more seriously? We were almost attacked by those things.” Said another girl.
“Yeah, but we weren’t so let’s enjoy what we can.”
I saw the light from their flash light. They came into view in front of the store. I almost thought it was only the two of them until a boy joined them in front of the store.
“Come on Laci, we’re safe for tonight.” He said.
He looked at the store we were in. Robert and I moved more behind the counter just in case they shined the light in. I was worried someone was going to wake up and give us away. Daniel couldn’t be seen from that angle where he was sleeping thankfully.
“Why is the gate down on this store but none of the others?” the boy asked.
I felt my blood run cold when he said that. I just knew we were done for.
“It’s probably to cage in those ugly things.” One of the girls replied.
“No, they would be trying to get us. There are people in there.” He said his voice sounded sinister. “Come out, come out and play whoever you are.” He then began to laugh.
There was a smacking sound.
“What the hell did you do that for?” He shouted.
“You’re going to get us killed. If someone is in there that’s alive, which I highly doubt, they’ll probably kill us. It’s not like we have anything to defend ourselves with.”
“Look, I was just being funny, you’re so damn uptight. Let’s go.”
Their footsteps started and faded into the distance.
I heard a zipper.
“What was that?” Phoebe whispered.
“Just some stupid teenagers,” Robert replied. “They won’t hurt us.”
Phoebe nodded and went back in the tent after Robert’s reassurances. Robert and I went back to where we were guarding near the front of the store. He only turned on the lantern to guide our way back then shut it off to keep from being noticed.
“How do you think they got past all those zombies outside?” I asked, curious beyond belief considering that they had said they had no weapons.
“They’ve probably moved on from there. It’s been awhile. Regardless the reason, it sounds promising for us tomorrow.”
We kept guard for two more hours. There were no more occurrences. The teenagers settled in somewhere because they never came back and there were no appearances from any zombies either.
After we were done with our watch, we woke up Phoebe and Daniel. Robert gave them the watch to keep track of time and we switched places. I took the tent and Robert the other sleeping bag.
I was completely exhausted even my bones were tired. I was out almost as soon as I laid my body down. However, my sleep was not the most restful. I never woke up but I had strange dreams involving being attacked at a drive thru by Jackie. Then it lead into seeing Adam and Julie together before they both became Zombies and tried to attack me, then it formed into a dream involving Daniel that had absolutely nothing to do with zombies.
I woke up feeling scared and uneasy. I took a long drink of water for my mouth was completely dry.
I unzipped and exited the tent. Everyone else was awake and eating sandwiches for breakfast, since they wouldn’t keep very long.
“Good morning,” Phoebe and Jamie said at the same time then erupted in a fit of giggles.
“Morning,” I said sitting down and fixing myself a sandwich.
“How’d you sleep?” Robert asked.
“I slept alright. Did those kids ever appear again?” I asked.
“Not during our watch,” Phoebe replied.
“We heard some noise coming from down the hall but we never saw anyone,” Freddie said. “They might have headed out the other way though.”
I was surprised he spoke of his and Jamie’s watch instead of Jamie. He almost sounded like a human.
“Not to rush you but we need to get going and make up time.” Daniel stated.
Phoebe said, “We’ll be alright. We can walk fast.”
“It’s alright, we can get ready.” I agreed. I ate my sandwich as we got everything together. I wanted to get to the Navy Base.
It didn’t take long to get our stuff together since we didn’t need to set up our own tents.
Phoebe unlocked the gate and lifted it. We headed out cautiously but it appeared that no one else was in the building anymore.
Though we decided to go back the way we came. The food court was trashed. There was food and condiments everywhere. I doubted Daniel, Robert, and Phoebe had left it like that.
Phoebe shook her head, “That’s what I probably would’ve done if I was a teenager in the zombie apocalypse.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t do it now,” Daniel teased.
Phoebe smacked his stomach before descending down the stairs.
We made it to the locked front doors. We wanted to see what we were heading out into before we took the emergency exit. There were no signs of any zombies but the sky looked angry. It looked very odd for Guam. I knew then that what Phoebe had
said about the typhoon was probably true. If we got caught in a huge storm, would we be able to find shelter in time?
Since no one else made any fuss about it I decided not to worry. There was enough to worry about without worrying about a storm that probably wouldn’t hit anyway.
We walked out of the exit. The air was heavy and extremely humid. I felt the sweat form around my hairline and almost all over my body immediately. I drank a lot of water. Probably more than I should have since I was supposed to be conserving my water.
We were all quiet as we made our way. I could tell I wasn’t the only one affected by the humidity but no one was complaining.
“Does the weather seem odd to anyone else?” I asked.
“Are you overheated?” Freddie asked.
“No, something is off.”
“I’m telling you that typhoon they reported is going to hit us,” said Robert.
Daniel stopped, “I don’t think so. We’re probably getting an effect from it but I don’t think it will hit us full on.”
“I think you’re being unrealistic.” Robert said, “those things have a mind of their own it could easily change course again.”
“Let’s just focus on not getting eaten by zombies and cross the typhoon bridge if and when we come to it.” Daniel said.
Nobody said anything else about a possible typhoon and we continued on. We weren’t making great time though. We were trying to stay on the main road but the deserted cars seemed to span the rest of the Island. Who knows what people were thinking, there were only so many places to go. Perhaps it was just a state of panic or fear. After all, fear was what seemed to be keeping me running.
Then it happened. It seemed to go so damn fast. A zombie appeared out of the jungle to our right. Daniel caught sight of it and managed to stab it in the head without any problem but the zombie wasn’t alone. I was learning fast that they often traveled in packs.
The next zombie, Phoebe took out. I got my own to deal with. In no time we were outnumbered by this mass wave of zombies intent on eating our insides. Yet we managed to hold strong it seemed. Everyone was stabbing and dodging their way through. We were going to make it, I could feel it. We were going to be alright.
Plague of the Dead (Book 1) Page 5