Miles ran over and grabbed his sleeve. “No guns! No guns! If you shoot it, you’ll draw more to you! If you shoot and miss… if you shoot and miss, you’ll draw more to you and waste ammo!”
“Well what the hell?! That thing is coming right for us!” Burrows was in a panic.
Clint and Lance hadn’t said anything, but they felt the same terror. The slow moving creature, with strings of hair hanging down its vacant face was still at least nine feet away and stumbling barefoot on the concrete. The clothes it was wearing were tattered and its skin was a purplish gray, either from trauma or from the long-term effects of the virus. Miles could tell the creature had turned a long time ago and the body was all instinct with no muscle to back it up. It was dangerous and harmless at the same time.
“One of you can kill it with a knife or a hit to the head. Like I said, a knife or blunt force traumas. You can’t shoot. Nobody shoot.” Miles turned to Julia. “What weapons did you bring?”
Julia, a little thrown off by the question, was ashamed to answer. “I… I didn’t bring anything. I just brought a knife but it’s pitiful.” She pulled a Swiss army knife from her back pocket and flipped it open to the two-inch blade. Miles made his way over to inspect it.
Burrows kept looking between Miles, the know-it-all-kid, and the still coming freak. “So, kill this thing or not? It’s gettin’ closer and closer!”
“Yeah, kill it if you want to. You don’t have to. We bout to leave. You can leave it if you want.” Miles played with Julia’s small knife and tried a few striking attacks at the air. “Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
Julia shook her head and chuckled. “You know, everyone has tried to convince me that I should learn, but I just haven’t gotten around to it.”
“You don’t know how to shoot a gun?” Miles was legit surprised.
“Sorry, no I don’t.”
“That’s too bad. Do any of you know how to shoot a gun?” Miles turned around and his question was aimed at Clint, Lance and Manson. He even eyed Burrows and wondered if he really knew how to use his weapon.
“Firing a gun isn’t something I’m particularly interested in learning.” Manson continued backing away from the slow approaching freak. “That’s why we have these fine gentlemen with their guns.”
“You point the gun and pull the trigger. How hard is that?” Clint pulled out his revolver and nearly dropped it.
“If you let me, I can show you. I’ll use my gun on this freak right here!” Burrows raised his gun again.
Torrez pushed past Burrows and used the blunt end of his shotgun to bludgeon the infected monster. It went down easy. “Puta! He just said don’t shoot.”
Miles stood in the middle of the group and looked around. “Have any of you killed an infected before?”
Clint swallowed hard and rubbed at his eye patch. “I killed one before I got to the quarantine, almost two years ago. The damn thing got my eye before I got him, though. Just some poor bastard off the road that I figured I’d give a ride to.”
Miles nodded and turned to the other men. When Manson turned up his nose and Lance looked away, the boy turned to Julia, who again chuckled and shook her head. The boy then turned around to Burrows and waited for his response.
Burrows was insulted. “Yeah. I killed a bunch of them before.” He wiped his mouth again.
Miles frowned and started counting fingers. “One, two, three, four. Maybe five. We just have to buddy up and protect people. I’ll keep Ms. Julia safe. And Mr. Burrows can keep--”
“Burrows can stay close to me if we’re pairing off,” Manson cut in. “I trust him to keep me safe.”
Miles nodded. “OK. Then Mr. Toros can be with Mr. Clint.”
Torrez took a moment to recognize who he meant, then went to stand by Clint after a short chuckle.
“And Mr. Castle can keep Mr. Lance safe.”
Julia smiled, “Well, you sure are taking the lead.”
“I have to. I’m the map.” Miles looked up at her.
“Alright. We got our buddy system. Now can we go?” Lance was growing increasingly impatient.
Julia just sighed. “C’mon.”
Miles pulled his phone from his pocket and imitated scrolling through his playlist. He decided on Bootsy Collins I’d Rather Be With You. As the tune began playing in his head, he followed after Julia and the others.
Julia saw him playing with his phone. “Does that phone even still work?”
“No. It died a long time ago. But I remember the songs. I remember the songs.” The boy began to sing, “I rather be with you-ooh! Yeah!”
Julia smiled and continued heading with the rest of the group for the blue van with the word “Costco” on the side. Torrez, Burrows and Castle got to the vehicle first and did a lap around the van to ensure no freaks were nearby. Julia walked to the driver’s door and opened it, unlocking the other doors so everyone else could climb in, through the automatic sliding door. Castle got in the front passenger seat. Burrows, Torrez and Clint took the middle row of seats. Lance sat in the front row at the window and Manson moved in next to him and held his bag in his lap. Miles was the last to get in. When he sat down next to Manson, Julia started the van and looked back at him.
“Can I see your phone Miles?” she asked with a sweet smile. Miles was hesitant but she reassured him by saying, “I won’t keep it for long.”
The boy relented and took out his earphones before giving her the phone. Castle had to move his bulky legs and adjust the seat for more room when Julia reached over and opened the glove compartment. She pulled out a bunch of cords and laughed before a small ah-ha and she plugged a cord into Miles’ phone.
“What’chu doin’?” Miles asked, watching the woman plug in the cord before starting the van.
“Well if your phone is just dead… maybe we can charge it.” Julia pushed the on button on the phone and the device came to life with a blinking battery on the screen.
Miles gasped, “Oh wow!”
“Hmmh. The networks have been down for ages now.” Manson pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Charging his phone will be pointless. It’s not like he could use it to call anyone.”
“Ms. Francine had music on her phone though!” Miles licked his lips looking at the phone in Julia’s hand. “She had a thousand songs! She had a thousand songs and I listened to them all!”
“Ms. Francine? Was she someone else who survived with you and the old man?” Julia placed the phone in Miles’ hand when the battery was at five percent, still plugged in.
Miles pressed and held the power button on the phone and the device came to life. His eyes lit up just as the Samsung logo appeared on the screen. Then the phone was back on and Miles punched in the security code. He was absolutely giddy.
“Miles… who’s Ms. Francine?” Julia asked in a whisper.
Miles scrolled through the phone and went to the music player. There he double-tapped the screen and looked up at Julia in the front seat. “She was a nice lady. Yeah, she was really nice, and she went to my school and was a teacher there. But she didn’t make it. Everybody dies. Except us.”
As the music started to play from the once silent phone, Miles got even more excited. He started rocking hard, back and forth as Fat Joe, All the Way Up started to play. Miles bobbed his head and put his thumbs up, showing them to everyone in the car. Torrez returned the gesture but others in the van just ignored the thirteen-year-old boy.
Chapter 8
Antonio walked with a newfound confidence that already boosted his natural swagger. A fresh haircut and new threads can do that to a nineteen-year-old kid who never owned a pair of Jordans in his life. But now he was rocking the shoes with the outfit to match. Antonio felt like a big shot, making his way through the store with Lincoln and Brandon as his escorts. People were watching him from the aisles, gawking at him, and he gave them a show; strutting with his head held high. He was also doing his own gawking and looking around at the abundance of everything they had st
ill on display in the store.
“Man, ya’ll got everything up in here. I see why everybody wanna stay.” Antonio said.
“Yeah, the store is packed with everything,” Brandon laughed. “But all that stuff don’t mean shit when it has an expiration date. We had a lot more in the beginning, but a lot of food and other stuff just got used up.”
“Yeah, but y’all still got hella stuff up on them shelves.” Antonio looked back at Brandon, trailing behind him. “Plus, you still got bottled waters and granola bars and shit.”
“We froze a lot of stuff.” Lincoln chuckled. “But we couldn’t store everything and some stuff just went bad over time. Sucks too. We had lots of food in the beginning. Now we just got pasta and granola bars and yogurt.”
“And hella freezer food. Like, how many times can you eat hash browns for breakfast lunch and dinner?” Brandon laughed and Lincoln joined him.
“Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Damn, me and Miles mostly only eat lunch to conserve food. Y’all got it good up in here.” Antonio was grinning as he looked around but the older men stopped laughing. “I heard y’all be watching movies too. Where y’all be doing that?”
Brandon’s face went from sour to excited and he snickered with a cough, “Oh you heard about that? Ha ha!”
“There’s a huge eighty-inch screen TV in the electronics. We use it on special nights, special occasions.” Lincoln’s eyes were huge with delight.
“Aw man! That’s crazy! Can we go see it?!” Antonio had never seen a television so big in his life. “Is it really eighty-inches?”
“Yeah!” Brandon started veering off to the right and Antonio followed, “C’mon! You wanna see it? C’mon!”
Lincoln was hesitant at first but went along after them. People scattered and disappeared behind stacks of Clorox bleach where they had hung sheets for doors. Men were standing at the entrances to where families tucked away behind pallets of Tide washing detergent. The people who lived in the store watched Antonio cautiously from their hideaways and tents running along the aisle. They were disappointing to Antonio though. He had hoped someone would’ve said something about how fresh he was looking and compliment him on his fade.
But they were all decked out in freshly washed clothes or t-shirts straight from the rack. When there was an abundance of clothes from all the name brands, of course everyone in the store took advantage of their pickings. It made Antonio think about the two other outfits he had to wear back at the treehouse. They weren’t name brand. Hell, if they were, the brands had long since worn off. The old man just found what he could when they needed it. Johnathan never got Antonio any Jordans, but he always got him shoes.
Antonio shook his head and thought of the old man’s words. Don’t be greedy. These people had too much stuff. Food, water, clothing, toilet paper. Antonio stopped in his tracks when he saw stacks of the 2 ply Charmin being used as a fort for a small woman to live in. These people were way too greedy. They should share the wealth. Antonio started walking with an exaggerated strut.
“What the heck you doin’?” Brandon asked with a chuckle.
“What? I’m just feelin’ my swag. I’m lit Mr. Brandon!” Antonio stopped to dance in true Oakland fashion; dipping low and popping his collar with a “thizz face.”
Brandon put a hand over his face and laughed. Lincoln watched the teenager dance with a big smile on his face. It was fun to watch even if the big man wasn’t sure what kind of moves Antonio was performing. Slowly more onlookers started to trickle out and Antonio got more animated with his movements until he fell backwards into the stack of toilet paper.
“Oh shit!” Antonio shouted.
Brandon went to help the young man up, trying not to laugh when the small woman lashed out. “Oh my Lord! Watch--watch where the hell you’re going!” The woman jumped out from under the shelf where she lived.
“Sorry about that. You ok man?” Brandon was lifting Antonio to his feet.
“Yeah… sorry.” Antonio offered the small woman his apologies, but she didn’t seem very accepting.
“Maybe we should just get going to the electronics aisle, you over here trippin’ people out with that Oak town shit!” Brandon took the boy under his arm and pulled him.
Antonio’s hands were slow, and he felt his heart stop when Lincoln looked his way, but the big man hadn’t seen the pack of Charmin Antonio had shoved up the back of his shirt. The teen quickly tucked in his shirt and tightened his backpack while Brandon tried calming down the upset woman. Eventually the three men just started backing away and the woman started to rebuild her fort. Antonio would’ve taken another pack if the opportunity presented itself.
They turned a corner, went down an aisle past more squatters, and Antonio slipped sweaters from hanging lines only to cause a disturbance so that he could snatch other clothes items when no one was looking. Brandon dealt with the disgruntled people bothered by Antonio and his actions and even Lincoln had to step in a few times to quell the people’s anger. Antonio used the distractions to take more clothes to stuff into his backpack when no one was looking. His hands were faster, and it was like he was back to his days of shoplifting through the mall when he was younger. It somehow seemed easier now.
The people in the store were upset about Jenga games being knocked over or stacks of books being bothered. They weren’t even aware that Antonio was robbing them blind with each odd question used to enter their space, though he was quick to turn and run when he saw he had angered someone. They’d complain and Brandon would try clearing it up with Lincoln’s help. These people were too relaxed in their makeshift living quarters and tents erected liked mansions in the center of the aisle. The attitude was more, “get off my lawn” rather than “give me back my stuff you took.” Antonio was frustrated with their lack of inventory with their own belongings but was thankful they weren’t so observant.
The guys turned a corner again to the electronics aisle and Antonio was blown away by the still lined up and on display, cameras, televisions, radio speakers and household appliances as far as the eye could see. It was a paradise of riches.
“This is crazy! Do any of this stuff still work?” Antonio asked, spinning around a few times to take in everything.
“Yeah man. All this stuff still works.” Brandon grabbed the cord of a nearby tall lamp and pulled it to turn the light on. “But we only use what we need. All these display items are still plugged in, but we can only use them at certain hours.” He pulled the cord again and turned off the light.
“Ok, ok. Y’all out here winnin’ though. I see you.” Antonio started rubbing his hands, curious about what he could grab when his two companions weren’t looking.
“We doin’ aite. It’s crazy man. This store has everything. Literally.” Brandon took a minute to look around the aisle, he was still in awe of the boat loads of goods still in their packaging on the high shelves.
“Yeah, this was gonna be like a super Costco.” Lincoln was bobbing as he nodded. “Like, it was gonna have a food court with McDonald’s and Subway. And like, you could buy anything in the store.” The big man’s eyes started to wander.
Antonio unscrewed the lightbulb from the lamp and tucked it in his backpack. Then he swung the bag back on his back before Brandon grabbed him again and pulled him along.
“C’mon man, you gotta see this TV!” Brandon was full of glee.
Antonio fixed his clothes and nodded his head, excited again about the eighty-inch TV, but nervous that he might’ve been caught. “Yeah, let’s see this thing.”
They continued down the huge aisle of microwaves, toasters, stoves, and refrigerators. Antonio opened doors, looked inside devices, and distracted the two men while he looked for more things to take. It was as easy as asking, “What’s inside here?” or “Does this still work too?” and they let him have free range through everything. Big appliances would be useless outside the store. The boys didn’t even have power back at the treehouse. But it didn’t hurt to look. Besides, Antonio’s escor
ts were being careless with how much freedom the teen had. Brandon was too caught up in seeing the kid again and Lincoln was just having fun in the reverie along with them. Antonio used that to his advantage.
But when they finally reached the mock family living room with surround sound speakers and an L shaped long couch, Antonio couldn’t help but look stunned at the massive television fixed to the far wall.
“That’s crazy!” Antonio exclaimed and his mouth hung open.
“Yeah man, this thing is crazy.” Brandon stood next to the boy grinning hard. “It’s one of them 4k ultra HD joints. It’s like watching everything live. And the sound system makes it feel like you’re in a movie theatre.”
“Damn! This shit is clean right here! What movies y’all got?”
“Shit, pretty much everything. We was watching all the Star Wars movies this week.”
“Too bad we won’t get the chance to see how the new trilogy would’ve ended.” The big man Lincoln hung his head in regret.
“Yeah, the eighth one would’ve came out a year ago, right?” Brandon shook his head. “Too bad people started gettin’ sick and killin’ each other.”
The two men chuckled at the dark joke while Antonio picked up throw pillows from the couch behind them and stuffed two into his backpack. The bag was starting to get full with all his pilfering. When he spun around to look through the rest of the room, he saw the store manager, Lesly, turn a corner and start making her way towards the entertainment system. She stopped when she saw Antonio and the two other men.
“What’s up?” Antonio saluted her with two fingers and ran the same hand through his unkempt high top.
Lesly was flush and turning red, then turned to Lincoln and Brandon, “What are you doing here? Why is he here?” Her high pitch voice was even higher in her alert state. “He shouldn’t be here! Why is he here?”
“I’m so sorry Lesly, it’s my fault.” Brandon was scratching his head, looking bashful. “I was just showing Antonio around. I asked Captain Baker, and Lincoln was gonna take him back when we were done.”
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