The Most Uncommon Cold (Book 5): Surviving Beyond the Zombie Apocalypse

by Jeffrey Littorno

  “So where was Paul during all of this?” I asked, trying to show that I had been listening.

  “He didn’t come in until after noon. If I remember right, he said something about taking his son or daughter to the doctor.” Kat looked down at the memory of Paul.

  “C’mon,” Taylor called from around ten yards ahead of us.

  Next to him, Christina said, “Yeah, c’mon.”

  Kat and I had stopped at the edge of the loading area facing the building. I turned to answer the others when I saw the shells.

  There were only a few, shuffling around on the other side of the cyclone fence some fifty feet away. At least, there were only a few at first. The group seemed to swell before my eyes. In an instant, it grew to more shells than I had previously seen gathered.

  “Christina, come over here now,” I said quietly but forcefully. “Taylor, you too.”

  “But I am fine with Taylor,” Christina protested.

  Taylor started to say something, but a sound behind him caused the boy to turn. His body immediately tensed as he spun around and shoved Christina over to me.

  The four of us stood there transfixed by, or perhaps paralyzed by, the group of shells. I began picking up the behaviors of the different shells. There was a tall, thin old woman in a white medical coat pressing her face into the wire of the fence. Next to her, a young Asian boy in blue jeans and a white t-shirt was feebly trying to climb the fence. He went through the motions, although his feet and hands never connected with the fence. Behind them a few yards, I saw a heavy dark man wearing nothing but a pair of socks and staring down at his feet.

  “What do they want?” Christina asked in a shaky voice.

  After a silence, Taylor answered, “I guess they want us.”

  “I don’t know if they want anything,” Kat offered. “Looks like they’re kind of lost; like they’re all looking for something.”

  We stood there observing them for a few minutes, before I said, “Well, let’s head back inside.”

  “What are you talking about?” Kat asked.

  “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to be out here with those shells,” I turned and started to walk back inside when I realized no one was following.

  I stood there and watched them with my hands on my hips. I couldn’t have struck the pose of an irate mother any better had I tried.

  Taylor shook his head a little and said, “We can stay away from them. We need to go to the store and those things are always going to be around.”

  “He’s right,” Kat said. “We’ve got to go sometime. Might as well be today.”

  “Yeah, might as well be today,” Christina added.

  Clearly outvoted, I considered my options. I could send a pouting Taylor and Christina back inside, but that meant Kat and I would have to gather everything on our own. To tell the truth, I did not expect her to be much help. We could all go back inside and try this again another day. However, Taylor might well be correct in that the shells were always going to be around.

  I admitted defeat and said, “Okay, we’ll go, but you have to promise me you’ll be very careful. Taylor?”

  He grinned and answered, “Promise.”

  “Christina?”

  “Promise!” she responded and giggled.

  I looked over at Kat, who nodded.

  “Promise?” Christina asked.

  Kat smiled. “I promise.”

  “Those things aren’t too fast, so we should be okay if we can stay away from them,” Taylor offered.

  “You’re right. As long as we stay together, we should be fine. But we can’t get too comfortable or careless.”

  I looked over at Christina to make sure she was listening. She looked straight at me and smiled.

  “Where are you going to stay, Christina?” I asked.

  “I’m going to stay right next to Taylor.” To make her point, she walked over and took his hand.

  Taylor grinned at me with satisfaction.

  “Okay, let’s get going,” I relented.

  We moved slowly along the edge of the loading area as far as possible from the group of shells. I kept an eye on them as I walked. They appeared to be unaware of our precise location as the shells continued facing the spot where we had been previously. Did they go by sound or scent? I pondered the question until we got to the corner of the area.

  There was a gate locked by a chained padlock. Taylor started to climb over when I stopped him.

  “Hold on a second,” I told him as I listened for any sound coming from the area beyond the gate.

  I heard nothing and nodded toward the gate. In the next instant, he was over it and standing on the other side. Before I could stop her, Christina squeezed through the opening and stood next to Taylor. I gave her my best glare, which brought a whisper of “Sorry.” Next, I helped Kat climb the gate. As she reached the top, a big crash came from behind us.

  The shells had pushed over the fence and were headed toward me. Although they did not move quickly, the force of the crowd seemed to push the first shells ahead without their effort. Stupidly, I stood there, frozen and simply looking on as all of this happened. The result being that a skinny Mexican boy’s shell was able to grab my leg as I climbed the gate.

  Christina screamed. I looked down at the tug on my leg and was nearly yanked off the gate.

  “Over here, you stinky fucks!” Kat yelled, moving away from the gate and shaking the fence as she went.

  “Come get me, you bastards!” Taylor yelled, rattling the fence.

  “Can’t catch me, you poopy butts!” Christina yelled, running behind Taylor.

  Whether it became distracted by the sounds or simply lost interest in my leg, the shell holding my leg stopped. I pulled free and flipped over the gate to the other side.

  The others continued to yell at the shells, and after a moment, I joined them. “Right here, you pieces of shit!”

  I stood close to the fence and studied them as they followed the sound of my voice. The confusion was clear. Some shuffled between the noises we made. Others moved quickly, almost lunging. Still others stood where they were and simply jerked their heads toward the various sounds.

  After a minute, Taylor noticed the behavior and stopped shouting. “Let’s try something. Everybody be quiet for a second. Now, only Kat yell.” She did as requested. As expected, all the shells moved or looked toward her. He signaled for her to stop.

  “Now, Kevin.” I yelled and got the attention. Taylor signaled for me to stop. “Let’s try this.”

  He pointed at Kat who yelled, and pointed next at me. The effect of all this direction and various sounds was that the shells were taken through a series of controlled movements.

  “It looks like they’re dancing!” Christina squealed.

  She was right. We laughed at the observation.

  “Well, I don’t know if that’s useful or not, but it sure is entertaining,” Kat said.

  “Good idea, Taylor,” I offered. “We might be able to use that if we get cornered by those things.”

  Taylor grinned. “Or if one of those things gets ahold of someone’s pant leg.”

  “Or if that happened,” I agreed.

  We made it the rest of the way down the alley, up the street, and to the store without seeing any more shells or other moving things.

  The store was much bigger than I had been expecting. I suppose that made it a CheapMart Superstore. Regardless of what anyone called it, the place was huge. More importantly, it looked as though there had been only minor looting there. The big glass windows remained intact and were still emblazoned with posters of the latest sale items.

  I looked at the picture of a family laughing as they played in the snow and showed off their new CheapMart coats. The scene instantly knocked the wind out of me. I could hear the laughter of the family and then it turned to screams. I studied the poster as it began to change. Suddenly, the smiles turned to howls of terror. The shells swarmed in from all around the family, ripping them apart. Th
e snow instantly turned red.

  “C’mon, slowpoke,” Christina called as she pushed by me.

  She ran to the front door, standing there and expecting the door to swing open.

  “Looks like they’re closed!” she yelled.

  “Not for us,” Kat told her. “We just hafta find another way inside.”

  “Okay,” the little girl agreed, taking Kat’s hand.

  We walked around the outside of the store, looking for a way inside. Nothing presented itself. On the side of the building, a huge parking lot sat empty except for three small cars. We continued walking around the building to the back without finding any obvious entrance.

  “Well, the good news is this place seems to be extremely secure,” I said. “The bad news is there doesn’t seem to be an open door.”

  Kat snickered. “Oh, we’re looking for an open door with a welcome mat or a sign saying ‘Come on in?!’”

  “That would be nice,” I laughed.

  “How about that?” She nodded to a small open window on the second floor over the covered area for returning carts.

  I looked at the window and next at the grinning faces around me. “So am I the only one here who doesn’t have a criminal past?”

  Three heads nodded.

  “Oh, you too?” I asked, tickling Christina.

  “It looks pretty small, but I might be able to get through that,” Taylor said.

  He stood on an overturned cart and climbed up to the open window. As soon as he reached the window, he turned back to us on the ground and said, “It’s too small.”

  “Well, let’s keep looking,” I said, even as I knew the answer.

  “I can do it,” Christina said quietly.

  Chapter 4

  “Okay, so you just come straight downstairs and look for a small door, maybe in the back. There should be a simple lock on the door for employees. Okay?” I asked with more fear in my voice than I wanted to show. “If you see anybody in there, you run and hide.”

  “You’re a good hider, right?” Taylor asked.

  “Right!”

  “See you soon, cry baby,” Kat laughed.

  “See you soon, poopy butt,” Christina answered before crawling through the window.

  As soon as she disappeared, I realized that this could be a huge mistake.

  “You okay?” I called.

  “Yeah, it’s kinda dark, but I’m okay. Bye.”

  We stood outside on the top of the cart barn as a little girl went alone into a store that might very well be filled with zombies. I did not have a good feeling about that.

  “We should have looked for another way in,” I said aloud.

  “She’ll be fine,” Taylor said, but his voice revealed that he did not trust his own words.

  “Hey, have a little faith. All she had to do is open the door,” Kat offered. “We only hafta hope that there’s none of those things in there.” Her expression made it clear that the possibility of shells inside the store worried her.

  “I’m going to look for another way in,” I announced, climbing down.

  By the time I reached the ground, Taylor and Kat moved right behind me.

  “I guess you should stay by the front door,” I said to Kat. “That way you can see her in case she comes that way.”

  “Okay, but call me if you need help.”

  “Of course,” I answered as she headed to the front. Taylor and I continued farther along the back of the store.

  We hurriedly moved around the building looking for some sort of opening. We found an opening for a door with a light overhead but saw no way to open it from this side. As we continued to search, my anxiety grew. I imagined Christina in the corner of the store, cowering as a group of shells moved toward her.

  “How the hell could I be stupid enough to let her go inside by herself?” I meant to keep this in my head but ended up saying it as well.

  “We don’t know that she’s not okay,” Taylor answered.

  I simply looked at him and shook my head.

  As if on cue, a high-pitched scream came from deep within the store.

  “Shit!” I screamed as we started running to the front of the store.

  Kat came running toward us. “I heard a scream!”

  As he ran by her, Taylor said, “So did we!”

  Once we got to the front of the store, I looked around frantically. I did not know what I was searching for, which explains why I did not find it. Finally, I threw myself at one of the front doors. The pain in my shoulder convinced me that this was not the way to get inside.

  I stepped back and looked at the door. Taylor and Kat regarded me with expressions of fear.

  “Help me with one of those carts. All together we might be able to throw it hard enough to break the glass.”

  We grabbed one of the carts near the door and lifted it.

  “Hey, I am waiting for you guys!”

  Taylor and I both turned, leaving Kat holding the cart which nearly fell on top of her.

  “Shit!” she yelled.

  I scooped Christina into my arms. “Are you okay? We heard you scream!”

  The little girl appeared to be surprised by my reaction. “Yes, I’m fine. I sorta got scared by one of those star-chewed things.”

  “Yeah, those star-chewed things scare me too!” Taylor laughed, shrugging to show his confusion.

  I looked at her closely before putting her back on the ground.

  “It’s pretty dark in there,” Christina said. “I couldn’t see the door.”

  “No problem. Glad you’re okay,” Kat told her as she gave her a hug.

  We headed to the back of the store and the open door.

  “Did you see anything moving inside the store?” I asked before going through the door.

  “Nope, only a stupid star-chewed thing.” The little girl pointed at a mannequin wearing a bright pink sweat suit.

  I smiled and went slowly inside. The others followed quietly behind me. Christina had not exaggerated when she said it was pretty dark. I had to wait for my eyes to adjust before I could see much inside the room.

  We were in some sort of break room with a few small tables and three or four plastic chairs around each. The odor of rotten food was strong. I looked around to see a big yellow refrigerator. Before I had time to say anything, Christina pulled open the door.

  The overpowering stench of food gone bad immediately filled the room.

  “Yuck!” Christina whined as she looked inside.

  Even with the foul odor, none of us could resist moving next to the little girl and taking a peek inside the refrigerator. The interior was dark, but it was possible to make out a carton of milk, a hairy box of something, some soda cans, and a few dark paper bags.

  “Gross!” Kat exclaimed.

  “Nothing worth taking in there,” Taylor offered, stepping forward to close the refrigerator door. “Let’s see if we can find some better stuff.”

  “Good idea,” I said and followed him out into the main area of the store.

  Light from the windows lit this part of the store, and, surprisingly, it appeared to be mostly undisturbed. I pictured the employees on the final day of business.

  “Bobby, make sure you prep the register drawer for tomorrow,” a middle-aged woman with short blonde hair told a short, thirty-ish Asian man. “I want everything ready to go if you call in sick tomorrow.”