Wake the Dead

by Vanucci, Gary F.

  Ben held the door shut from there and stared at Alex and then to Shadow. “He’s gotta stay outside. Don’t know what we’re gonna run into, but better he stays here.”

  Alex stared into the golden eyes of the wolf, the reflection in them cold and emotionless. “Stay, Shadow.” With that simple command, the wolf lay down in front of the glass doors in the shade offered by the awning above.

  Once inside, Alex noted that the interior was lit well enough, with a good portion of the florescent lights still working, and even the registers had power.

  The group of four entered the store and Ben immediately grabbed a shopping cart and Liz, a basket. She immediately started off in her own direction. “I’ll get my hygiene products, some toothpaste, brushes and clippers for Bryan. I swear he’s worse than a girl sometimes with how he likes to trim his goatee,” she added, looking over her shoulder and smiling at the men. “And don’t’ forget to grab Kelly’s new pots and cooking supplies!”

  “Ah you have a cook, eh? Is she good?” asked Alex hopefully.

  “Kelly is a he, jackass,” Ben corrected. A real man’s man, if you know what I mean. He makes his own armor, wrestles bears, that kind of shit.”

  “Wrestles…? Never mind. I’ll follow you. Lead on,” Alex said, looking for stuff he needed to as they scanned the aisles for items. Phil had disappeared down one of the many corridors, too, leaving Alex alone with Ben. “This place hardly looks like it’s been touched.”

  “That’s because not many people live around here anymore. They mostly scattered to the winds, or died when the plague hit. We lost a lot of friends.”

  Alex nodded his understanding. They grabbed some canned goods and spices, the cooking supplies that Liz had reminded them to get on the way, and even more cans of tuna. They went down the pet aisle next and Ben grabbed a few bags of cat food.

  “A cat? Shadow’s not gonna like that.”

  “Don’t worry, that wolf ain’t gettin’ near Buster,” Ben cautioned. “You and that wolf will most likely be staying in the courtyard chapel. But, I’ll let Nick explain how things work later.”

  “Can’t wait,” Alex said sarcastically. “If he’s anything like you, I’m going back to the cabin…,” he added in a whisper under his breath.

  They passed the frozen food aisle and oddly enough, the meats were still cold, but had to be well past their due dates.

  Alex spun on hearing a noise to their left and nocked an arrow, aiming his bow in that direction, when Phil came around the corner.

  “I couldn’t find tissues. So I went in the back thinking they might have a supply back there somewhere,” Phil explained.

  “So, where are the tissues? We need them for Tom,” Ben said sharply.

  “Well, there’s a working freezer still in the back with frozen meats. I’m grabbing a few for dinner!”

  Phil ran off excitedly and Ben shook his head at the empty air. “Fine, I’ll find the tissues!” he called after him.

  Liz appeared from her shopping spree and looked at Ben’s cart. ”I found the pharmacy. I got as many different meds, decongestants and cough suppressants as I could find.” Alex noted that her basket was full to the top and brimming over with products. “Batteries? Nick wanted batteries for the flashlights.” She groaned and disappeared again, in search of the overlooked batteries.

  Ben followed Phil into the back, as did Alex. The store really appeared to be completely empty except for them. Phil started tossing frozen steaks into the cart to the tune of Ben’s frowning expression.

  “You don’t have to have any,” Phil said to Ben with a laugh. Alex ignored their bickering, fished through the frozen packages and found a group of meats that were frozen. He grabbed a steak of his own and made his way down the corridor away from Ben and Phil. “There’s gotta be a break room, right? For the employees back here? I need a microwave.”

  “There’s like a crow’s-nest there where the managers oversee the store near the back and up a flight of steps. That place has a microwave. Go out and make a quick right and look up,” Phil remarked absently, still sifting through the meats and inspecting them thoroughly.

  “How do you know all of that?” Alex asked in disbelief.

  “”I used to work here,” Phil said absently. “This might be good still,” he remarked to Ben who mumbled something under his breath and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Oh…okay, I’ll be back,” Alex said, running to the spot Phil mentioned. He climbed the stairs and found the room of which he spoke, empty except for a chair and a table in the center. It stunk; no doubt, the refrigerator was full of spoiled food items that Alex would not want to inspect. He did, however, find the microwave, and thawed the steak briefly for a few moments. When he checked it a few minutes later, the steak was very fleshy, no longer frozen. He stabbed it with his knife and stared at it, smiling. He wasn’t completely sure if it mattered that it was thawed or not, but he wanted it to be a nice meal for Shadow.

  He took the steps down two at a time, ran back to the front of the store and peered out the glass doors. He caught sight of Shadow, still lying in the shade, but in a different spot. He tossed the thawed meat to Shadow who immediately sniffed at, and then began tearing at the steak ravenously, enjoying the meal his alpha had provided for him.

  Alex turned and made his way back to the rear of the store where he had left Phil and Ben. He passed Liz, who looked through packages of batteries still, mumbling to herself as she did. No, not mumbling. Evidently, she found an MP3 player and headphones, and was listening to music.

  As Alex neared the back, Phil emerged with a smile planted firmly beneath his chainmail coif, and Ben came through next, shoving the heavy shopping cart through the doors. “Found the tissues in case anyone cares.”

  That was when Alex caught sight of the first one, right behind Ben. He nocked a bow, exhaled, and let it fly just as the door was beginning to swing closed. It was the only shot Alex would get, he acknowledged with urgency, as the zombie was almost to Ben’s location.

  Ben turned a horrified look Alex’s way, thinking him to be the target of the missile, but he watched with wide eyes, as the arrow flew past him and into the skull of the hostile undead creature behind him.

  The zombie stumbled backward and slammed into the wall as Ben shoved the cart the rest of the way through the doors in a hurry, looking to Alex with a pale face. Alex said nothing and simply nodded. He ran back through the doors past Ben and yanked the arrow out of the zombie’s head and ran back to join the others.

  “Nice work, Alex,” Phil congratulated with a slap on the back once they stood together again.

  “Where the fuck did that one come from?!” Ben asked nervously, color beginning to return to his face. “Shit!”

  “What was that?” called the voice of Liz as she joined them, tossing a few packs of batteries into the cart. She laid her basket on top too, removed her hatchet from her belt and removed the earplugs. “Found another straggler?” Phil and Ben nodded to her and she proceeded into the back, disappearing for a few minutes. No one else spoke as Ben leaned on the cart and Phil rifled through the items inside.

  “I gotta get bleach, I forgot. Be right back,” said Phil as he briskly walked away to find said item.

  “Laundry time?” Alex quipped, holding his bow in one hand and a bloody arrow in the other.

  “Actually a little of that, and a little of purifying drinking water from the river. We boil it, too,” Ben answered calmly, all hints of his former irritation toward Alex seeming to have faded. “Nick likes to be careful with the drinking water.”

  Liz reappeared from behind the double doors leading into the stock area once again and signaled for them to follow her. She placed a finger to her lips for them to remain quiet. They did so, following her along a few turns in the corridor. As they reached a door, one with a glass windowpane, they could see several zombies within. It looked like a break room, for the employees possibly, Alex considered at first.

  “Shouldn’
t we just leave?” Alex whispered. Liz shook her head and Phil looked at her, removing his shield from his back and the sword from its scabbard.

  “We try to cleanse the earth of this abomination in small doses wherever possible,” Phil explained, smiling wide and exposing a missing front tooth, which Alex had not really noticed until now. “Besides, we shop here. And…I knew them.”

  Liz silently opened the door, she stood to one side, and Phil stood opposite her. Ben whistled and the undead creatures began to run into each other at the prospect of feasting on these latest morsels. They ran into one another clumsily while Phil and Liz chopped whatever flesh happened to be caught between their shields.

  Alex watched in appreciation of their coordination and within a minute, the zombies were beheaded, or otherwise sent to their final resting place. It was a simple, and yet well designed attack.

  “Uh, guys…,” Ben mentioned from where he stood beside an exterior door. They all joined him there and Alex peeked out into the back side of the building where a horde of the living dead stood, wandering around among the trash, gore and various dumpsters at the rear of the building.

  “Let’s roll. We got what we came for,” Ben said, backing away from the door. They all followed him as he took the cart and they made their way to the front of the store. Alex was relieved to see Shadow there, finished his steak, and waiting for them to return.

  They all headed to the van where Alex unlocked the back and opened the door. Selina winced against the intrusion of light in the dark space. Ben handed her a bottle of water and a handful of energy bars. “Eat up,” he said with a grin as the other two emptied the cart into the back of the van and climbed inside.

  Alex opened the passenger door and Shadow climbed in. A minute later, they were on their way. Alex looked at Shadow briefly and then through the window on the passenger side. He could not help but notice the dozens of zombies that meandered about the rear side of the shopping center.

  “Gonna take a long time to get used to this shit,” Alex whispered as he drove past quietly.

  Chapter 12

  It wasn’t long again before they were at the filling station and began looking for gas cans.

  “Regular or decaf?” Alex asked with a goofy smile beneath his beard as he exited the van.

  “Unleaded,” Phil said as he and the rest of them piled out of the back of the van. Phil peeked around the back of the station to see what was there and disappeared around the corner, sword and shield in hand.

  Alex filled the can he had found initially in the back of the van, while the others looked around the lot. They rounded up one can, seeming to be about another two-gallon container, the same as the one Alex had.

  “Use this, too,” Selina said from the back of the vehicle. Alex peeked inside and noted that she had all but emptied the gallon of water Ben had given her not ten minutes ago. She finished pouring the remainder into the thermos and she had evidently consumed the rest. “Yeah, I was a bit dehydrated up there on that roof after all.”

  Alex took the empty gallon container, and handed it to Ben who filled it with unleaded fuel as well, and tossed it inside the van. Alex opened the passenger side door and let Shadow out. The wolf followed Alex to the convenience store entrance, its door a sheet of glass from top to bottom. Shadow stood before sniffing around and uttered low growl.

  Alex pushed open the door as the bell jingled eerily from above him, and he could hear the faint sound of moaning. Alex backed out of the doorway and Shadow backed away, too, snarling just as a zombie crashed through the glass door, shattering it and crashing into Alex, knocking him over.

  He held the thing off with the stock of his bow, but the creature was strong. It had fed, Alex realized with a certain ire, as blood erupted from its mouth, covering the ground beside him in crimson and gore.

  Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the familiar black form of the wolf as it leaped through the air, taking the zombie’s weight from atop him. The zombie clawed and bit at Shadow, trying to get a piece of flesh, but Shadow was the better. His jaw clamped down on the zombie’s neck, tearing flesh away.

  Alex rolled away and stood. He wiped stray droplets of blood from his face as he got to his feet, removed an arrow from his quiver, and pulled back the string. Before the arrow was loosed, however, an axe head split the zombie’s skull.

  It spasmed a few times before going motionless, Shadow still tearing at its flesh and then backing away from it. He sprinted into the store through the broken glass and pounced on another zombie as Alex and Liz followed into the dimly lit space, a row of windows behind the counter the only light source.

  Alex and Liz watched as Shadow bit into another zombie while a handful more, all moving very quickly, barreled down the aisle, knocking over candy and other items as they crazily made their way toward more flesh.

  The undead were incensed and wild, their eyes wide and their limbs pumping their mindless forms onward.

  Liz held her shield up and stood her ground directly in front of him. Alex took the closest one down with an arrow to the head and quickly nocked another. He let the next one fly right over her left shoulder, hitting the next closest one in the head, sending it stumbling backward into the one behind it.

  Shadow continued to dominate his undead enemy and Alex removed his knife and made to step forward when he heard something come in behind them. His heart sunk as the image in his mind consisted of more of the damnable living dead arriving to overwhelm them all. He reached for his pistol and the shotgun, but when he turned, he was relieved to see that it was Phil coming to their aid.

  Liz shoved the closest one back and into the other three, though she lost ground under the impact, stumbling backward. Phil caught her and steadied her with his own shield, smiling in the face of the deadly situation. Phil stood beside Liz, using their shields in unison to hold the zombie flesh back while taking measured slashes with their respective weapons.

  “I gotta get me a sword,” Alex lamented aloud, gripping his bow and moving to stand on the case beside the register. He pulled the bowstring back and loosed another arrow over Phil’s head and into a distant zombie, the arrow driving into its shoulder, not killing it, but sending it backward under the impact.

  Phil slashed an arm off the closest zombie while Liz buried her axe head in the one to her right. Alex heard a commotion in the back and a gunshot sounded. Ben stood before them suddenly, entering the store from the back entrance and gaining the rear flank of the zombies. Before another thing could happen, Phil stepped forward and severed the last moving zombie’s head clean off.

  “Like to keep this edge sharp!” he roared as he steadied himself on the slick floor. Shadow still tore flesh from the zombie, eating away without seemingly a care in the world. Alex shook his head at the wolf and smirked at the simplicity of the animal.

  It eats, it shits, and it sleeps.

  “I found their meal back here,” Ben said dejectedly. Alex climbed down from his perch and yanked an arrow free, breaking it off as it stuck in bone. When he made it to the others, they stood huddled around the remains of a woman and a young boy, torn to pieces and barely recognizable in their current condition.

  “They must have wandered in here not long ago,” Ben surmised. “I found a car in the back with the keys in it. Not much there, either. They must have been desperate….”

  They all bowed their heads in silence for a minute while Phil grimly and mercifully severed the heads of the departed mother and child. Phil’s expression changed as he did so, and it was an expression that Alex had not seen before on the big man. He had been good-humored through everything else up until now.

  Alex looked to Liz and she shook her head, pulling him aside. “Phil lost his wife and son at the fair when the plague hit,” she said, looking Alex in the eyes. “He didn’t take it well. Went out hunting zombies for hours by himself. Always came back limping and wounded, got rested up and did it again.”

  “I can understand the motivation,”
Alex said with a nod.

  “Don’t bring it up, though. He isn’t right about it yet,” Liz explained further.

  “We should head out,” Ben suggested, wiping sweat from his brow.

  “What kind of pea-shooter ya got there?” Alex asked, trying to infuse some levity into the situation.

  “I found a twenty-two pistol a few months back on a dead zombie. And don’t give me any shit about it,” he said with a smirk. “I try to conserve ammo, so I don’t use it unless I absolutely have to.”

  “Tell Alex the first weapon you tried on the zombies,” Liz said jovially, unable to stifle a laugh and removing her helm. It wasn’t until after wiping the sweat atop her head with a towel hanging on her belt and then replacing it before she finished her spell of laughter. Ben stared at her and sighed.

  “I used to have a stun gun, but realized right away it doesn’t do shit to these fuckers. Almost got me killed, too.”

  They all headed out to the van where Alex saw in the distance another zombie trying to get into the back of the van, pounding on the window. He nocked an arrow, held his breath and exhaled, taking aim and letting the arrow loose. It found its mark truly, crossing a span of at least a hundred paces.

  “Nice shot, Robin Hood,” Liz said as the zombie fell to the pavement. “It’s starting to get dark, let’s go.” They all ran to the van, Alex unlocked the back door, flung them both wide and caught sight of Selina clutching a knife.

  “Are you all right?!” Alex asked her as he stepped on the head of the prone zombie attacker and yanked the arrow free. She simply nodded and exhaled a notable breath of relief at seeing them.

  “I was hoping not to fight again for a few days,” Selina said. “At least until I can kick this exhaustion.”