“You two, load shopping carts full of food, water, batteries, and flashlights. We may have to ditch them at some point but we’ll worry about that when the time comes. Watch out for any others who may be waking up for a snack. It looks like some get up right away and others take a little siesta before they rise. Meet me by the loading dock in the back when you’re done. I’m getting my cleavers.”
Chapter 7
Peter was at ease now that he had some sufficient weapons. They were silent and deadly. The sizes of his three cleavers ranged from medium to very large. He was also equipped with a Michael Myers-sized butcher knife. Lena and Nathan came trucking around the corner, carts overflowing with the essentials.
“Looks like we’re well stocked for a while,” said Peter.
“We sure the hell are. I even found WD-40 in the aisle with the flashlights to grease the wheels on these loud rusty-ass carts,” said Lena.
Nathan was quiet. He kept replaying the scene of his hesitation. It was his fault Isabel was dead and he knew that. Lena nonchalantly gave Peter a little nod, signaling him to talk to Nathan. Peter agreed, feeling sorry for the poor guy.
“Hey look, Nathan, I’m sorry I was hard on you earlier. I’m just trying to keep us whole. I feel like I can do this but we need to work together and do what needs to be done, no matter how ugly it might be,” said Peter.
“It’s my fault,” Nathan said.
“It’s nobody’s fault. It’s this fucked-up situation’s fault. There is no way you could’ve been prepared for something like this,” Peter said.
“All I can say is thank god you’re such a zombie nerd,” Lena chimed in.
“Everything happens for a reason. I wish the circumstances were different because I don’t want to see people dying. But my lifelong obsession is proving to be rather helpful. I’m still not sure what the hell is really going on. If it’s some kind of super virus or if people simply are just turning into zombies, either way we need to be smart. Please believe me when I say I know what I’m doing. Let’s just hope it hasn’t spread too far.”
“We’re with you. Right, Nathan?” asked Lena.
Nathan just nodded, still a bit dazed.
“Well, these should help make you both feel a little better,” said Peter handing the cleavers to Lena and Nathan.
The trio all stared at their newly acquired weapons for a moment. They were sharp and gleaming. His cleavers were one of the few things in Peter’s life that he took care of.
“Yeah, this will do just fine,” said Lena.
Before Peter could speak he heard the sounds of the dead attempting to rise coming from different areas of the store. “Perhaps this is a good time to get a feel for your weapons. Their heads are soft so just hack, pull out, and keep moving.”
Lena and Nathan exchanged an encouraging look, tightened their grasp on the handle and started moving behind Peter. Leaving the supplies behind, they moved toward the moaning and dragging footsteps. When they spotted the small group Peter instantly noticed one of them at the rear, not moving, not doing anything. Suddenly he turned and disappeared into the next aisle.
“Did you see that?” asked Peter.
“See what?” asked Lena and Nathan simultaneously.
“Never mind, can you handle these three?” Peter asked them.
“No problem,” said Lena.
Peter waited a second to make sure her confidence didn’t go to her head. He watched as they quickly slaughtered the first two women walkers just like he instructed. He knew they could manage the last one so he began looking for the potentially smarter one who chose a different path than the others. Peter found him, now two aisles over, and locked eyes with him. He didn’t recognize the tall slender man so he figured he was an unfortunate shopper. Massive cleaver in hand, Peter approached and again, the man turned to the next aisle.
“Un-freakin-believable,” said Peter, back-peddling out of the aisle and shooting over to the next. When he reconnected with the clever zombie, Peter wasted no time. He darted toward him, holding the cleaver hard and high like he was going to throw it. Much to his surprise, the decayed man mirrored Peter’s image by barreling toward him as well. He had no weapon but his hand was held high, ready to claw away. Lena and Nathan appeared at the far end of the aisle and they were stunned by the scene unfolding in front of them.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” said Lena in a rapid manner.
Peter side-stepped and sliced at the throat of the decayed, detaching its head from its torso and putting an end to its effort to outflank him.
“Nice move,” said Nathan.
“Hopefully that’s the last of them that’ll be waking up for a mid-morning snack. We should get back to our supplies and move,” said Peter, wiping the oil-like blood from his blade.
“Why don’t we just lock this place down and stay here with the supplies?” asked Nathan.
Before Peter could shut him down with his list of reasons why that’d be a bad idea in the long run, they heard the weak excuse for a barricade start to fall apart. Lena ran first to get a view of the front door and said, “That’s not gonna hold.”
Peter and Nathan caught up to her and each grabbed one of her tiny arms, “Let’s go,” they said together.
The trio quickly booked it back to their supply carts with every intention of taking off.
“Where are we going?” Lena asked.
Before either one of the cleaver-wielding males could answer her, the barricade came crashing down as a flood of zombies poured into Custom Cuts. Lena screamed and Peter took a defensive position in front of the carts. Nathan was frozen stiff, terrified of the massive group heading their way. He quickly thawed and let out a feminine scream of his own when the back door flew open, followed by an armed-to-the-teeth husky older gentlemen entering. He was sporting some camouflage pants and a black T-shirt that was much too tight. He had a hunting rifle hanging from his back, a revolver on his hip, and a pump-action shotgun in hand. “Looks like you folks could use some assistance,” he said before unleashing some hell with his shiny noisemaker.
The group slowly backed off as he did his thing. Peter was impressed and instantly thrilled to have another human in their bunch. Shot after shot, kill after kill, the stranger demolished all of the decayed ones. The white flooring was now wildly painted black and loaded with carcasses.
“That was amazing,” said Lena.
“It’s what I do, little lady. The names Jim, Jim Bagwell.”
Nathan ran over and shook his hand immediately. “Thank you, sir,” he said.
Peter’s eyes were scanning and his ears were trying to block out Nathan’s ass-kissing.
Jim’s hand was still locked with Nathan’s, but his eyes were on Peter. “I think I got them all, son.”
“I’m sure you did, but that little war you just had in here with them had to alert many others,” Peter replied, still not making eye contact with him.
“Well, you’re welcome,” said Jim sarcastically.
“I’m sorry. We’re grateful for the rescue. I’m not sure we could have taken all them down. We’ve just been sticking to silent weapons so we don’t attract others,” said Peter.
“Good strategy. But sometimes you’ll need to make some noise if you want to survive the apocalypse. What’s your name?” asked Jim.
“Peter. Did you say the apocalypse?” asked Peter with some scrutiny.
“What would you call it?” Jim fired back.
“Just a screwed-up situation, I’m Lena by the way.”
Jim nodded at little Lena and tipped his brown worn out cap.
“Look, kids, I’m not sure what you’ve seen or heard yet, but my home was overrun by those things and my wife was turned into one within minutes of being bitten. I had to put her down myself. There’s no two ways about it. She was dead and then she got up and came after me. I’ve watched movies; the scene at my place could’ve been in one.”
“I’m sorry about your wife. I had a similar situatio
n with my girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend. And Nathan here just lost his girl right in this store,” said Peter.
“So you kids have been through it, too. Well I have a big truck loaded with gas, guns, and food. I see y’all have a nice little stash of supplies, wanna ride with me?” asked Jim.
“I have a truck out front that we can take as well,” said Peter.
“I have plenty of room in mine. We’d save on gas if we just take the one,” said Jim.
Peter agreed, knowing that resources would be harder and harder to come by in the coming weeks. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, Peter,” answered Jim.
“Have you noticed that some are more coherent than others? Have you come across any that seem smarter?” asked Peter.
“Come to think of it, I have. The neighbor kid was a real brain. He actually ducked out of the way a couple times when I shot at him. I ended up getting him between the eyes but I thought that was odd. The rest of them were mindless beasts just running straight into my line of fire.”
“It’s confirmed then. Based on your level of intelligence, that will determine what type of zombie you come back as. This is amazing,” said Peter.
Lena pulled out her cell phone and started scrolling down her contact list. “Do you have any idea how far this has spread, Jim?”
“Not sure, darling. I called my brother in Memphis about five times now but haven’t been able to reach him.”
Her little fingers scrolled faster until she found her mom; she paced back and forth while it rang and rang. “My parents are in Pittsburgh,” she said as she hung up.
“I’m sure they’re just fine. What about you, Nathan? Do you have any family around?” asked Peter.
“Yeah, my parents are up in Orlando with my younger sister. I’ve been trying to call.”
“Well, everyone keep trying. It’s only a matter of time before communication goes down all together. I don’t have any family left and I killed my girlfriend so I have no one to call,” said Peter.
Peter and Nathan pushed the carts out back to Jim’s black F-350 and began loading it up. They were set for months with food, water, fuel, and a small arsenal of weapons.
“So where we headed?” asked Lena.
Peter knew the smartest thing would be to head south and hop on a boat to the Bahamas. But he wouldn’t say it knowing the rest of the group had family north. “I suppose we head up toward Orlando on our way to Memphis and Pittsburgh,” said Peter.
“That sounds mighty fine to me, Pete,” said Jim with his southern comfort charm.
Lena and Nathan nodded in agreement before they piled into Jim’s monster truck. When they pulled onto Forest Trail Boulevard, they proceeded east toward the highway. Jim was driving below the speed limit, scouting the route ahead. He noticed cars heading in the opposite direction and they were hauling ass. One by one they passed him, flashing their headlights and honking their horns. “Something must be happening ahead,” said Jim.
Peter began to see what the NASCAR race in the next lane was all about. A massive wave of dead was coming their way. “Stop!” yelled Peter.
Jim slammed on the brakes, nearly bringing Nathan and Lena to the front seat from the extended cab.
“Oh my god,” said Lena.
“There are hundreds of them,” Nathan added.
They were at a dead stop with a decision to make. The truck was silent for a few seconds until Peter said, “It’s your wheels, Jim. Do you want to turn back and see if another road is clear?”
Jim smiled and looked at them all huddled up over the middle compartment. “This is our road. Buckle up.”
I hope you enjoyed volume one, my fantastic readers. Apologies for the massive cliffhanger and I hope you’ll follow Peter Troy and the gang in this horrifying thrill ride to see what happens next. Volume 2 should be available in May of 2014. In the mean time, check out some of my other books,
Essence (Battle for Blood, 1)
http://www.amazon.com/Essence-Battle-Blood-Joseph-DiBartolo-ebook/dp/B00DIL4M5W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1393035872&sr=8-2&keywords=joseph+dibartolo
A Timely Curse
http://www.amazon.com/A-Timely-Curse-Joseph-DiBartolo-ebook/dp/B00BQOB4G8/ref=pd_sim_kstore_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1P6PRQHYYKM6A4PW9E5K
The Rise of Peter Troy: The Decayed Ones Page 3