by Raymond Lee
Every word out the man’s mouth was an absurd heap of crazy, but Janjai found herself nodding. She didn’t know what her dream meant, not in a way she could put into words, and the imagery was confusing, to say the least, but she did know the way she felt while experiencing it. When Raven walked out of that fire, she felt safe. Protected. She felt hope. Replaying Hal’s words through her mind, she felt that again, and knew he was right about Raven, even if he was crazy. Even if believing it made her just as insane.
“Hurry,” Damian urged, tossing guns into the cart. “Just throw everything in here. We ain’t Christmas shopping. Start grabbing and tossing.”
Elijah rushed to do as told, snatching up every weapon within reach. “We took out the camera. He can’t see us.”
“Yeah, but if he knows we took out the camera, he knows we could be here now doing this and he could be headed this way to get us in a sneak attack.”
“It’s not a sneak attack if we’re watching for him,” Cruz said, finger poised over the trigger of his gun as he scanned the perimeter.
“Yeah, I just hope you see him before he sees you. This shit was not in the plan.”
“We had a plan?”
“Funny,” Damian muttered, grabbing more weapons. “It’s all fun and jokes until your brain’s splattered on the wall and a bullet’s lodged up your ass.”
“You know we have to get all these guns where we can guard them.”
“Yeah, I know.” Damian sighed as he grabbed the last gun and instructed Elijah to help him finish filling the cart with ammo. The fewer weapons Kurt had access to, the better. “Let’s just get this done and get back to the group. I’ll be happy when all the cameras are down and we can just go gank his ass.”
“We can’t take out all the cameras,” Elijah said, tossing ammo into the cart.
“Why not?”
“Because eventually there will be only one camera left, and when there’s only one left he’ll know where to wait for us.”
Damian shared a look with Cruz. “Smart kid.”
“I’m not a kid.”
Damian grinned. “Whatever, man. You make a good point though. I wonder if Kurt’s as smart as you. If so, we need to be extra careful on our bathroom breaks. It’d be the perfect place for him to just wait on us. It’s the one place we have to go every day. If he hasn’t figured it out yet, he will soon. Unless he’s a complete idiot.”
“We already go in threes,” Cruz reminded him. “We’ve been using the one closest to us and there aren’t any cameras between us and it anymore.”
“Yes, but he could lie in wait, knowing that eventually we have to go.”
“We should switch up bathrooms,” Elijah suggested. “Use different ones each time and make sure there’s no pattern.”
“Good idea. We can take out the cameras by the bathrooms later.”
“Shhhh!” Cruz held up a hand, motioning them to be quiet, before gripping his gun with both hands, shoulders rigid as he scanned the area around them.
Damian motioned for Elijah to get down as he pulled out his revolver. The kid didn’t obey, instead retrieving his own gun. Neither of them sure why Cruz had called for silence, they faced away from each other and backed up until their backs met Cruz’s.
“What is it?” Damian whispered.
“Heard something,” Cruz whispered back.
“It’s him,” Elijah said. “We should have went back to the group after disabling the last camera.”
Although Damian had been thinking along the same lines earlier, part of him celebrated the fact that Kurt had come for them. A dark part of him that wanted Kurt’s blood. “Let him come.”
“Don’t get cocky,” Cruz warned, voice low.
“I’m tired of us cowering from this bitch,” Damian shot back. “We should have killed him the moment he took a shot at me and Janjai.”
“There it is.”
“There what is?”
“The I told you so. We know we screwed up, all right?”
“Guys,” Elijah cut in. “You really want to argue about this now?”
“No, I want to end this,” Damian answered, stepping away from the group.
“What the hell are you doing?” The question came through Cruz’s clenched teeth.
“What we should have done to begin with.” Damian tightened one hand around his gun while the other checked the rock hammer slung from a sheath at his hip. Since he’d been admonished earlier about getting too comfortable, he’d made sure to be fully dressed and prepared at any moment. Kurt escaping had been a much needed reminder that they were never truly safe, not in the world’s current state.
A scuffling sound came from the front of the store and Damian ran for it.
“Damian!” Cruz called for him. “Shit! Come on, Elijah. Stay close.”
Damian didn’t care if he was being reckless. He supposed some people would say he was trying to be a bad-ass. Some would say he was just a fool. He knew what he was. He was tired. He’d spent too many years dealing with people like Kurt, people who wanted him dead just because they didn’t care for his skin tone or the fact that he found men attractive. Screw that. He was done feeling threatened by racist, homophobic cowards. Kurt wanted to take him out? He could try, but he wouldn’t be able to sneak up on him, get him when he least expected it. And he wasn’t going to make him look over his shoulder and live in more fear than he already had to. The zombies were one thing, but hiding from this bitch? No. No more.
“Damian!” Cruz growled his name as he ran to catch up.
Damian stopped running and turned toward him. “I’m doing this. You want to play it safe and live in fear just waiting on him to show up and push you into action, fine. Not me. I’m not playing defense anymore. I’m taking him out like I should have done and this time nobody’s going to tell me not to.”
“So you want to play offense?” Cruz and Elijah caught up to him. “Fine, but it still takes a team. He may be just one man and I know you can take him on in a fight, but he’s crazy, vengeful, and pissed. That’s a bad combination and I guarantee you he’s not going to play fair.”
“He needs to be dealt with now.”
Cruz nodded. “Fine. Just be smart about it. A little anger is good fuel, a lot of anger can make shit blow up right in your face.”
“It sounds like you’re going to give me some excuse why we need to wait this out. I’m not in the mood for it.”
“Get down!” Elijah rammed into his side, shoving him to the floor as a gunshot rang out.
Cruz instantly brought his gun up, shooting in the direction the shot had come from. “You hit?”
“No,” Damian answered, checking himself as he stood and helped Elijah up. “Thanks, kid.”
“I’m not a kid, and you’re welcome.”
“I don’t think I got him but I did hear him running,” Cruz delivered a disappointing update before looking at the two of them. “You still want to play offense? Here’s our moment.”
“Cruz, come in.” Raven’s voice crackled over the walkie at Cruz’s hip. “Come in, Cruz. Now, damn it, or I’m coming after you.”
Cruz brought the walkie to his mouth and pushed the button allowing him to communicate. “Stay where you are, Raven. Guard the base. Well?” he asked Damian, silencing the walkie.
Damian didn’t waste time thinking of an answer when the answer was obvious. “Let’s get the bastard.”
The three of them walked shoulder to shoulder, armed and ready. They proceeded toward the front of the store, determined they wouldn’t stop until the threat had been eliminated.
“You would really do this on your own, wouldn’t you?” Cruz asked.
“I have to.” Damian didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t something he expected a Hollywood leading man to understand. Even if he hadn’t been a movie star, Cruz had the size and looks that made life easy for him. He doubted he had to prove himself every damn day of his life, or that he’d ever been bullied just because of other people’s insecurities.
“About time,” Elijah muttered under his breath.
“You did good back there,” Cruz said. “It doesn’t mean I wasn’t right when I pulled us back before, Elijah. You were almost killed.”
“If you were right, why are you finally going after him now? Because we have Damian? You don’t think I’m capable?”
Cruz looked over at the young man. “No, I’m doing it because both of you have enough desire for the man’s blood to make you stupid. I’d rather be with you, helping you out than have you run off on your own and get yourselves killed.”
“Thanks for the faith.”
“If I had no faith in you, I’d have knocked your asses out my own self and kept you out of harm’s way.”
They heard a large crash up ahead a moment before several bouncy balls rolled toward them.
“What the hell?” Damian kicked one out of anger, sending it throttling through the air.
“This way.” Cruz tugged the sleeve of his shirt, directing them down an aisle to their right. “He’s trying to slow us down. We’ll just go around the obstacle.”
“Those balls were in a big bin right near the front entrance. We know where he is, let’s just shoot that way,” Elijah suggested.
“No,” Damian said, remembering Janjai’s panicked attempt to help her sister when she’d helped bury Angela. “We can’t shoot blind. We could hit anything or anyone. What if one of the others decided to leave base and help us without us knowing?”
Elijah’s shoulders slumped, but he pressed on.
“He has a point,” Cruz said, stopping. “Ever play dominoes?”
“Dominoes?” Damian frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Cruz smiled, lifting the walkie to his mouth. He spoke low in case Kurt was within hearing range. “Raven? Is everybody safe at base?”
“Yes,” came her quick reply. “You all safe?”
“Yes. Stay there,” he ordered before turning the walkie off and returning it to his hip. He placed both hands on the display shelf before him. “These pretty much go all the way to the front of the store, don’t they?”
Damian smiled, catching on. “Oh hell yeah. On three?”
Elijah joined them in placing both hands on the display shelf. “One,” he started the count off.
“Two,” Cruz said.
“Three!” Damian finished as they pushed the shelf rack over. As it tipped over it hit the rack parallel to it and started a domino effect which sent every display shelf in that row crashing to the floor, all the way to the front of the store.
A loud grunting sound near the front caught their attention. They looked at each other, smiling.
“We got the bitch,” Damian said, as he started walking on top of the turned over display shelves. Elijah moved over to the left aisle running along the fallen shelves, while Cruz took the right.
“Be careful, Damian. He could be under any of these, just waiting to reach out and grab you.”
“Or shoot you,” Elijah added, trying to look under each shelf he passed.
Damian heeded their advice, making sure to look where he stepped, aware of the noise he made as he did. Judging by the groan they’d heard, Kurt was still a few rows ahead. He’d already been shot by Hal that week and hadn’t had enough time to heal. After being toppled by the display shelves it was possible he wouldn’t be able to lift his arm to shoot. Damian actually hoped that wasn’t the case. He wanted the man dead, but he didn’t want it to be that easy. He wasn’t like Kurt. He didn’t want to take the easy win. If he were being honest with himself, he also wanted to hear the sound of suffering coming from Kurt before he finally allowed the man to die.
Gunshots sounded as Kurt, having heard them approach, started shooting randomly from beneath the shelf he’d been caught under. All three men hunkered down, getting as low as they could to avoid being shot as Kurt made a desperate effort to save himself.
On his haunches, Damian trained his gun as Kurt stopped shooting. Judging by the holes left behind in the shelf after Kurt shot, he could gauge where his body was. There had to be a pocket of space, big enough the man could stay there indefinitely, or crawl out either side.
Damian waved, getting Elijah’s attention. He pointed to the left area where Kurt could make his escape and used his thumb and index finger to indicate shooting.
Elijah looked to where he pointed, then back at him before nodding.
Damian held his hand up, motioning for Elijah to wait. A few more hand gestures and he had Cruz in on the plan as well, but from the other side.
He waited for the men to raise their guns and get in position, then he raised his index finger, followed by his middle finger and ring finger.
“Now!” he said, slashing his hand down through the air to grab his rock hammer as his partners let their bullets fly and he surged forward, the sound of rapid fire drowning out any noise his heavy steps would make.
With Elijah and Cruz shooting at both ends of the narrow space where Kurt had been trapped, he had no way out except to burst out of the area just above him, which he’d already weakened with his own bullet holes as he’d blindly shot around him.
As Damian predicted, Kurt bashed his way out of the entrapment, his upper body busting through the shelf on top of him.
Damian was there, yanking the gun out of his hands before he could shoot it and pistol whipping him across the face. “It’s over now!”
He grabbed Kurt beneath the arm pits and pulled him free of the fallen shelves before slamming him down on top.
Kurt’s back hit the top of a shelf, causing him to cry out as the sharp edge tore into his skin. Damian smiled, delighting in the sound of the bully’s pain before he lowered himself on top of him, making sure to bury his knee in the man’s gut. Then he unleashed his anger.
“You wanna shoot at us?” he screamed, delivering his first punch. “You want us to live in fear? Screw you!”
Kurt’s knee came up, connecting hard with Damian’s testicles. He fell forward, air completely gone from his lungs as the pain swelled.
Kurt pushed him aside and made a run for it, scrambling over the turned over shelves as Elijah and Cruz shot at him. He cleared the shelves and yelped in pain, spinning as a bullet connected with his already injured shoulder.
“Stop!” Damian yelled, having regained his ability to breathe and recovering enough to stand. “The bitch is mine.”
“I ain’t your bitch, Niggerella!” Kurt yelled back, holding his injured shoulder as blood seeped through his fingers. His face didn’t look any better, rivulets of blood trickling from his nose to cover his mouth and chin. He spit some onto the floor. “I’ll kill your faggot ass. This ain’t the end.”
He turned to run, and Damian threw the rock hammer, watched it roll end over end through the air until it found purchase between Kurt’s shoulder blades. The man went down hard.
Damian made his way over the rest of the fallen shelves, wincing as he cleared them with his ankle taking the brunt of the landing. It was almost nice, anything to take his focus off his balls which still screamed in pain.
Cruz and Elijah stayed back as he approached Kurt and yanked the rock hammer out the coward’s back. He rolled him over with his foot, glad to find him still breathing.
“Look at me.”
Kurt’s green eyes stared up at him as his mouth opened to spew hatred, but no words came out.
“Like I said, bitch. It’s over.” He brought the rock hammer down again, right in the middle of Kurt’s face.
Elijah made a gagging sound before turning and picking up a straw basket that had fallen from one of the shelves and rolled into the aisle. He dropped to his knees and vomited into it.
“He’ll be all right,” Cruz said.
Damian turned toward him. “You shoot better than that. You could have killed him.”
“I could have.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“You needed it more,” Cruz answered simply.
“Thanks
.” Damian yanked his rock hammer out of Kurt’s face and walked over to a rack of T-shirts. He used a Twilight one to wipe the blood off his favorite weapon. “What do you suggest we do with his body? Burn it?”
“Nah, the smell would be awful.”
“We’re not going to bury him?” Damian had already decided he’d have no part in that.
“Hell no. We’re going to give him the same kind of service he wanted us to give Angela. We’ll take him to the roof and throw him off.”
“Works for me.”
Cruz switched his walkie back on and raised it to his mouth to deliver the good news to the base camp but froze as his gaze locked onto the scariest thing he’d seen since the laser dot on Elijah’s face.
“What is it?” Damian asked, turning his head to follow his gaze. “Oh shit.”
They stared at the multiple holes in the furniture and appliances blocking the front store window.
“Maybe the bullets didn’t do too much damage to the glass,” Damian suggested. “Maybe some of them were stopped before hitting it. We should check to make sure it’s stable though before we—”
The crash of glass cut off his words.
“Everyone get your shit. The zombies are in the building,” Cruz said into the walkie as he grabbed Elijah under the arm and yanked him to his feet. “Time to move!”
The furniture and appliances they’d shoved against the front windows started sliding toward them with a loud scraping sound as the zombies that had been pushing against the windows spilled in.
“How long you think until they get past all that furniture?” Damian asked as they turned to run, the same moment a panicked “What?!” came through the walkie.
“Not very,” Cruz answered as they started running toward the base camp. “Hopefully Kurt’s still appetizing enough to hold the first wave of them off.”
“Cruz?!” Raven’s voice screeched through the walkie again.
“Front windows are busted,” Cruz quickly explained into the walkie. “Grab the coats and bags, and meet us at the door to the gardening area. Hurry!”