I patted the grateful mother’s back. “We weren’t gonna let you die.”
“We were having some trouble with the engine and needed to pull over, and since we didn’t see any zombies, we thought the place was safe. The engine overheated and it needed more coolant. George stopped and popped the hood and…” her voice trailed off in a quiver. She took a deep breath, and then let it out again. “Well, they were all over us, just like that. And the RV was too hot and wouldn’t start.”
“Luckily, we got the RV started,” George said. “It just needed some time to cool off.”
“No place is safe,” I said, “not anymore.”
“Do you live around here?” Val asked George.
“Just passing through,” he answered.
The RV stopped in front of the pharmacy.
“Are you sure you want to get out? We’re happy to give you a ride to anywhere else,” Mary said.
“I appreciate it,” I said, “but we can’t. We’ve got a very sick friend back there, and we can’t leave our team behind. It’s best if you get your family out of here.”
“All right,” the blonde lady said, tearing up.
We said our goodbyes, and Mary blew us all kisses as they drove down the street.
Maybe my mother’s right after all, I thought as the kids smiled at me and little Leah waved her teddy bear’s arm at me out of the back window. I do have a big heart…and I’m glad it isn’t gone.
***
My eyes scanned the huge white building, looking for the best window to break. I inched closer with my bat in hand.
Val gripped my shoulder. “No bat. I can’t have you getting all cut up on glass again. We do this the old-fashioned way, she said, picking up a brick.
I smirked at my sister. “Got a little breaking and entering experience, huh?”
“Why, yes I do. I believe it’s on my résumé.”
“Uh…inside jokes are not polite,” Kate said, brushing her blonde hair behind her ear.
Val chuckled. “When I lost my mind, I broke into a grocery store with a brick.”
Kate smiled. “Got it.”
“Wait a sec,” Val said, suddenly dropping the brick. “The door’s already open.”
I hurried over and noticed that it was slightly ajar, but only a crack. I threw my shoulder into it and tried to push it open, but it wouldn’t budge any further. “Something’s blocking it, maybe furniture.” I gagged and doubled over, overcome by the stench of death.
“Can you try again?” Kate asked.
“Yeah, sure.” I took a deep breath and pushed with all my strength, and the door opened just enough for us to squeeze through. I peeked inside, but it was too dark to see anything. “I can’t make out a thing.”
Val glanced inside. “Look out, Dean. Let ol’ freaky eyes give it a go.”
“Val, do a little recon, would ya?” Kate asked. “If it’s swarming with zombies, we’ll just have to get the others and come back to storm the castle.”
“I like it,” Val said, grinning.
Kate gripped her crowbar and began to move inside for a better look around, then reflexively inched back, coughing from the foul smell. “Tell ya what. I’ll stay out here and guard.”
“No,” Val said. “That herd back at the RV was huge, and I’m not about to leave you down here by yourself.”
“Right. We all go on this little shopping spree together,” I said. “It’s the safest bet now.”
Val peered through the cracked door for a few moments, then glanced back. “It’s clear. Who is going to squeeze through into the dark unknown first?”
“I will. Might as well get it over with since you’re making me go.” Kate abruptly stopped midstride, holding her nose. “Whoa. What died in here?”
“You’re not kidding.” We barely had the door open and the putrid stink made my eyes burn. I pulled my shirt up over my nose, but the thin fabric did little good to eliminate the reek of the place, particularly since all my clothes were filthy and smeared with zombie remains anyway.
“Man up, you two,” Val said. “The smell is the least of our worries.”
I knew she was right and tried not to breathe too deeply.
Squeezing through the opening I’d created, my boots crunched over the debris as I crept into the darkness.
A startled gasp escaped from Val’s lips.
“What is it?” I asked, not liking the sound of that one bit.
“It’s like the battle scene back at the restaurant. But worse.”
“Worse?” I asked. “No wonder it reeks in here.” Nausea flooded through me and I suppressed my urge to vomit.
“Don’t get too worked up. Everyone’s dead. Nothing to worry about,” Val said.
Kate shut the door behind us. “I missed out ‘cause I was on guard duty. What did you guys see?”
“Slain zombies. But it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.”
“Do you see how to get to the medications?” Kate asked.
“I’m scoping it out. It looks like we’re in a big room with some benches. Just follow me. We’ll have to walk to the other side of the room over to the counter and hop it.” She gripped my hand like a big sister leading her little brother through a crowded mall. “This way, Dean. I’ll lead you around the bodies.”
Kate grabbed my other hand, and I gave her a squeeze to reassure her. I stared into Val’s green eyes that were glowing like beacons in the pitch dark.
“Val, your eyes are doing their thing,” I said.
“Meh. I guess the curse has a few fringe benefits,” she said, laughing nonchalantly.
As brave as we all tried to be, and as much as we all tried to man up, it was impossible not to be creeped out while we made our way through the blackness, being led by the green-eyed Val.
“Step to the left,” Val said.
I did what she said, but my foot caught on something, and I lost my balance and stumbled. My fall was softened by something, and I didn’t want to imagine what that might be. The bat flew from my hands and landed on the floor a few feet away with a dull thud. A stinging pain surged up my right arm, and I had to bite my lip to stifle a scream. I’m man enough to handle it, I told myself.
“What the heck?” Kate asked.
“Sorry. I tripped,” I said, my voice cracking with tension at the realization that there really were monsters in the dark after all; at any given moment, a zombie could sink its corroded teeth into our flesh, and we’d never see it coming. Val said it was clear but that didn’t mean anything. Not anything at all.
“Are you okay?” Kate asked.
“Yeah.” I started to feel around for my bat when I swore I felt something furry. With my horror mounting, I froze.
“Hey, I found a flashlight,” Val announced.
“Where’d you find that?” Kate asked.
“I-I unwrapped it from the cold, dead fingers of a decapitated man.”
“You what?” Kate said, her breath low and heavy.
I blinked. “Shine it over here, Val. I think there’s an animal in here.”
Val swung her flashlight beam down, and it didn’t land on an animal. Instead, it illuminated a headless pregnant woman wearing a fur coat, a white dress, and heels. I gasped, words frozen in my throat, then scrambled up and jumped back. The contents of her purse had been dumped, and I caught a glimpse of a picture in her wallet: a photo of a man, a woman, and four beautiful children. The family looked so happy in the picture, and it made me want to puke. When another wave of nausea flooded my stomach, I held my breath and tried not to puke once again.
“Before I hand you the flashlight, I have to warn you. That dead woman’s just the tip of the iceberg, Dean,” Val said. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
After she handed the flashlight to me, I waved it around in front of us so those of us with low-powered, normal, human eyes could get our bearings.
Kate screamed. “Oh my gosh! She’s right. This is like something out of some horror movie, only with more
realistic special effects. I think I’m going to be sick!”
“It’s a little on the gory side,” Val said.
There was a sea of dead bodies in front of us, most of them decapitated, and blotches of red and brown blood covered the walls and the linoleum on the floor. From the looks of things, it had been some battle. When my gaze shot toward the door, I realized that furniture hadn’t been blocking the door after all. Rather, a large decapitated man had fallen in front of it in a bloody heap; without his head, he must have weighed 250 pounds.
Chapter 9
Ironically, the pharmacy where people used to shop for things to make them feel better was littered with dead bodies, and decapitated heads were everywhere. From the looks of it, a lynch mob of locals had been established in an effort to take their town back, though we had yet to see any of them.
“Found another flashlight,” Val said.
Kate held her palm out and sucked in a trembling breath. “I’ll take it.”
When I glanced down, I saw Val running her hands through a policeman’s holster. “Where’s your gun, buddy?” she asked, as if he could answer her without his head or a pulse.
I swallowed hard. “Somebody must’ve already snatched it.”
“Just our luck,” Val complained. “None of ‘em are armed.”
I cringed at the three headless policemen in shock. It was one of the most horrible sights I’d ever seen.
“At least they’re dead,” Kate said, trying to keep her voice from wavering. She jumped over the counter. “I can’t take this stench. Let’s hurry up and get outta here.”
“Hey, Dean,” Val said, “look at this.”
I shined my light on the blackened wall. “Looks like there was a fire, but somebody musta put it out.”
“Exactly.” She pointed down to the ground. “Look.”
“Fire extinguishers,” Kate said. “So what?”
I picked the first one up, but it was empty. “You don’t get it,” I said.
“Another inside joke?” she asked.
“Val and I used these against zombies in an elementary school.”
“It totally confused and disoriented them,” Val said. “We don’t have any real weapons, so we should take the full ones with us. Let’s set ‘em by the door, and we can grab them on the way out.”
Val picked one up. “This one is full.”
“They’re kind of big and bulky,” Kate said.
“I know, girl,” Val said, “but you’ll be glad we have them if we get ambushed by those creepy-crawlies again.”
“I say we at least grab one,” I said. “If it gets too heavy, we can ditch it.”
“All right, but I hope we can find some guns somewhere,” Kate said. “It’d be so much more…efficient.”
“Right, but for now, this is better than nothing,” Val said. “We’ve gotta use everything at our disposal to gain the upper hand if we’re gonna get out of here alive.”
We jumped over the counter, and I shined the flashlight around. I was glad to see a large room lined with shelves of bottles and jars and no dead bodies at all. When I glanced to the right, I saw a long corridor. “Where do you think it leads?”
“No time to find out,” Val said. “We just need the medicine, and then we’re outta here.”
I pushed a small bookcase over to block the entrance. It wouldn’t do much to keep the zombies out, but it would serve as an alarm if they happened to knock it over, and I thought it might give us those few precious seconds we’d need to make an escape. While the girls searched the shelves for antibiotics, I gazed down the empty hall, waving my flashlight around from wall to wall. Like most other places in the town, it seemed absolutely deserted. Whoever the vigilantes were, they’d done a good job of taking care of many of the threats. “How do we know what we’re looking for?” I asked, scanning the shelves.
Val skimmed over the bottle labels. “Look for Z-Pak, Zithromax, Amoxicillin, Penicillin, Augmentin, or Keflex.”
“Did you go to nursing school or something?” Kate asked.
Val laughed. “No. I sort of inherited a little medical expertise from my fiancé.”
Kate squinted at a bottle, then put it back. “Fiancé? Really? I didn’t know you’re engaged.”
“I’m not,” Val said sadly, “not anymore.”
“I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t know.”
Val stopped her search as she pondered for a moment. “It’s all right, Kate. Can’t change what’s in the past, and crying won’t bring him back.” She was a strong woman, but her voice still trembled every time she talked about Travis, my would-be brother-in-law that I’d never get to know.
Kate touched her arm. “I know, Val, but I’m sorry. If it’s any consolation, I do know how you feel.”
“I know you lost your sister back in Kingsville,” Val said. “I’m so sorry about all that.”
Kate stared straight ahead at the bottles, then changed the subject. “I don’t see any antibiotics here, none of the medicines you mentioned.”
Val ran a hand through her hair and released a frustrated sigh. “Me neither. Now what?”
I walked slowly around the room, looking up and down all the shelves. When I glanced to my left, I noticed an open door leading upstairs. I shined the flashlight beam through the darkness. “There’s a staircase,” I said.
“Shut the door and lock it!” Val yelled. “Can’t have any zombies sneaking up on us.”
I closed the door, but there was no lock. As I swung my gaze around, I saw another door, one secured with a small padlock. “There’s a locked door back here. Maybe it’s a closet or storage area or something with extra meds in it. I’m gonna get this door open and check it out.”
“Not without me, you’re not,” Val said, rushing over.
Kate tugged at a drawer in a large, horizontal, metal filing cabinet. “I’m going to check out the bagged orders that were supposed to go to customers. Surely someone had a prescription for antibiotics around here.”
“You keep working on that, and I’ll give Dean a hand,” Val said. She moved closer to the door and jiggled the lock. “Hmm.”
“I’ve got a bat, or Kate has a crowbar if that would work better,” I chimed in.
“Nah, that’s okay. I got it.” Using her hammer, Val smashed the lock to bits. “That’s how it’s done, little brother,” she said proudly as the door swung open.
I smirked, but not for long, because a zombie in a white lab coat, with teeth as sharp as the hypodermic needles that were lying around, lunged for my carotid. My stomach lurched, and Kate screamed, but with lightning-fast reflexes and a surge of adrenaline, I whacked its head and knocked it over.
Val slammed the door shut. “What the heck?” she said.
I tried to calm my racing heart. “Talk about a mad scientist,” I joked, but no one really found it funny.
Kate began pounding on the filing cabinet, trying to get it open. “Let’s find this medicine and hurry outta here. We should have taken all those dead bodies as an omen, a warning or something.”
“It doesn’t pay to be superstitious anymore,” I said.
She pounded on the cabinet, to no avail.
“Can you get it or not?” I asked her impatiently.
“No. Who would have thought it’d be so hard to break into a darn filing cabinet. The thing must be made out of titanium or something.”
Val blew out a breath. “Looks like it’s hammer time again,” Val said. “Look out.”
“Not so quick with the war-hammer, Thor,” I said, stopping her. “If you bang around on that thing and dent it or smash the lock, we’ll never get the door open,” I said. “We’ve gotta find the keys.”
“My guess is that the keys are in the pharmacist’s pocket,” Val said, “and he didn’t look like he’d be willing to just hand them over.”
“Did Dean kill him?” Kate asked.
“I smacked the good doctor into next week,” I said, stepping closer and raising my bat, “but just in
case, I’m ready to smash him into next month.”
Kate’s eyes widened as she stood next to me. “How about next year?”
I met her gaze. “Just open the door. When I get done, this guy’s gonna need to take a whole lot more than two aspirin to get rid of his headache.” I took up my home-run stance as a trickle of sweat ran down my back.
Kate slowly opened the door and stared down at the corpse. “He isn’t moving, Dean. I think he’s dead.”
“They all are,” I said. “Question is, for how long?”
“You know what I mean. Just hurry up and grab the keys.”
I cringed as I stepped closer to the body and reached into the large hip pocket and felt around. The creature didn’t stir or move, which was quite a relief, and as I looked up at his decayed face, I wondered just how long he’d been locked in that supply closet.
“Anything?” Val asked.
“Scissors and, uh—”
The zombie apparently wasn’t too fond of being pick-pocketed, because he suddenly grabbed my wrist, and a shudder ripped through my body. I grabbed the scissors and thrust the sharp blades through his left eye socket, and he fell backward, gone for good. I then reached into his pants pocket and was thrilled to feel keys.
Kate immediately grabbed them and tried the smallest ones in the filing cabinet drawer. A little silver key turned with a click, and we began looking through the prescription orders. I really didn’t have any idea what we were looking for, but Val grabbed about seven bags and stuffed them into her backpack that was slung over her shoulder.
“Aren’t these painkillers?” Kate asked, holding up a bag of Vicodin. “Says here it was prescribed for a pulled tooth.”
“It’ll work for a hurt shoulder, too, though it will make Lucas a little…loopy.”
“Like that’ll be anything new,” I joked.
“Right,” Val said with a smile. “Nice find, Kate.” She stuffed it into her bag. “Now let’s get outta here.”
I hopped over the counter and swung the flashlight beam down so I could avoid stepping on any dead bodies or heads. When we finally made it to the door and I opened it, natural light flooded in, along with green arms and long black nails reaching for me.
The Zombie Chronicles - Book 5 - Undead Nightmare (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) Page 9