Survive

by Ashley Shannon

  “The fence will hold, we just need to stay-“

  “No, Jasper, you’re wrong. That fence won’t hold them. We have maybe thirty minutes at the most to get everything we need and get out of here. You don’t know how strong they are, you don’t know.” Kimber’s voice was strong, even though she was scared. She knew she was right. Eli had known too, that is why he made them carry guns and start preparing.

  “Jasper you stay here.” Drew handed him a gun. “If anything comes through that glass shoot it. Don’t hesitate. Shoot them and run to the back of the store to the automotive place where we came in. Kimber and Carin, go get the Tahoe and pull it into the building. That way we can load it up without the zombies attacking. I’m going to find Eli and Rion and tell them we have to hurry.” No one protested Drew’s orders. They split up, running to where they needed to be, ready to complete their missions.

  Drew figured Rion and Eli would be in the baby section. Rion had seemed excited to look at clothes with Eli, and whatever little crush Eli was developing had made him want to go along. It was good that Eli had found someone, but she figured that he could have picked someone who wasn’t nine months pregnant. That was the thing about love, though, you didn’t get to choose. Even if she had been able to choose, Drew would have picked Kimber every single time. That feisty girl was everything Drew had ever dreamt of and now she was going to do everything in her power to get her, Eli, and the rest of them out of this alive.

  Running up to the aisle filled with diapers and wipes, Drew saw Eli on his knees next to Rion, who was laying on the floor. This could only mean one thing and they were all royally screwed.

  “She’s in labor?” Drew asked, already knowing the answer. “You have got to be kidding, Eli, zombies are breaking through the doors in one of the entryways. We have to leave.”

  Eli looked up at Drew. Fear was written in his eyes, all big and round. For the first time, Eli looked truly scared. He wasn’t in any shape to be their unofficial leader now. She was going to have to pick up the slack.

  “We pulled the gate over the windows and doors and locked it, but I don’t think it will hold them.” Drew looked at her feet, not wanting to admit the next part, but everyone had to know. “If the glass breaks, we’re screwed.” She put it simply.

  “We have to come up with a plan,” Eli said, standing up and ducking his head closer to Drew so Rion wouldn’t hear. “How many do you think are out there?” Eli asked.

  “Maybe a hundred or more. There is no way we could take them all. Especially with Eric…” Her voice drifted. Eli and Drew were two decent shots and Eric had seemed like he was pretty good. Without him, that only left two of them who had even shot a gun before. Those odds were not good.

  “I’ve already sent Kimber and Carin to pull the Tahoe into the building. We can load it up safely inside and then leave. Jasper is watching the glass to make sure it holds while we get everything we need.” Drew looked from Eli to Rion and then back again. “But what are we going to do about Rion?”

  The question hung in the air and neither Drew nor Eli could answer it.

  “She can’t have the baby in the back of a car.” It was going to be hard enough on Rion to have the baby without any type of medical care, but in the back of a moving vehicle on the run? The whole thing seems impossible to Drew.

  Eli ran his fingers through his hair, his brow crinkled in deep thought. “She’s just going to have to.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY - SIX

  Kimber quickly flicked her eyes around the parking lot. Carin was standing next to the button that opened and closed the door, that way she could close it quickly when Kimber had pulled the Tahoe in. The air was ice cold and caused her cheeks to turn pink. Snow covered the ground. It also fell from the sky, swirling around in the wind as it fell. A thick blanket was over everything. The snow was perfect, in a way Kimber had only seen in empty fields. She had never seen a parking lot so perfectly covered in snow, with no tracks or footprints. Everything was very quiet, the way it usually was when it snows. Everyone is tucked inside and no one is driving around and everything is just quiet. Kimber figured that is the way it would always be from now on. Not many people were hurrying around to run errands and go to work these days.

  Everything looked perfect except for one small thing. The Tahoe was nowhere to be seen.

  “Shit,” Kimber said under her breath. She thought that Drew had locked it, but she couldn’t remember for sure. It was an older car and someone could have hot-wired it.

  She turned and headed back in to talk to Carin. The door sounded behind her, rattling as it lowered down to close. Kimber turned her back to the wall and leaned against it. Now they had no means to escape. Too bad Wal-Mart didn’t sell cars. They sold everything else they could need except the one means to escape.

  “The Tahoe is gone. I don’t know how we’re going to leave now, but we can’t stay here.”

  “The fence at the front of the store will probably hold,” Carin said. “That’s what it’s made for.”

  Kimber’s eyes widened. “No, that is not what it was made for. It was made to keep thieves out. Live, human thieves. Not super strong, dead, came back to live zombies.”

  Carin looked to the ground, feeling dumb. Kimber felt bad for being so harsh, but she had to make Carin and Jasper understand that once that glass broke, they were no longer safe. Eric had tried to do a nice thing, a noble thing even, but in a way, he had ruined everything they had. If he hadn’t tried to safe that family, their group could have stayed in the store for a week or more. Once he opened that door, he had put them all in danger. Now, Kimber, Drew, and the rest of them, had to do everything they could to stay alive.

  “What about the car from the family Eric tried to save. Isn’t it still in the parking lot?”

  “Carin you’re a freaking genius!” Kimber said. They both grab a red can of gasoline in case it was needed and sprinted back up to the front where Jasper was.

  “Hey, is there a car in the parking lot still?”

  “I’m not getting close to those things to see!” Jasper’s voice went up a few octaves. Not exactly a team player or the bravest person Kimber had ever met. Clearly Jasper was the kind of guy who could only handle zombies when they were safely stuck inside a video game. She held her hand out for the gun that Drew gave him and then walked over to the window. The smell of rotting flesh and decay, the same smell she had noticed at the cabin, surrounded her. Kimber looked past the horde and saw a minivan in the parking lot. Whoever had driven it had even been thoughtful enough do a good job parking it. They would have to take a chance that the keys were in it, but even if they weren’t, the bodies of the people who had tried to escape into the store weren’t far from the van.

  “If we can distract the zombies away from this door, we could make a run for that van. Then we could drive it up to the doors, load up everything and Rion, Eli, and Drew, and could get out of here fast.”

  She looked from Jasper to Carin, both wearing expressions that she was freaking crazy. Knowing that they hadn’t faced the undead before, Kimber tried to be understanding. All she could do was hope that they didn’t freeze up and get someone killed. Every one of them had an important job to do and if someone wasn’t paying attention or got too scared, someone she cared about could end up losing their life. Drew came sprinting up from behind them, just as Kimber was going to try and convince Jasper and Carin of her plan.

  “Rion went into labor. We have to get out of here now, but she can’t run.”

  “The Tahoe is gone,” Kimber said. “But I have a plan.” She relayed the plan to Drew. “It’s not a bad plan.”

  “It’s actually not,” chimed in Jasper. “And I think I can handle the distraction. If you guys,” he said, pointing at Drew and Kimber, “Can get the van to this entrance and Carin can get Eli and Rion up here, I can send a distraction out the other doors and clear the way.”

  “You’re sure?” Kimber asked, hoping whatever his idea was, it would work.
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  “Yeah, I just need ten minutes.” Jasper sprinted off into the store.

  “Take a cart,” Carin said, grabbing one for herself, “That way you can run with the supplies. Pack up some more clothes, food, and weapons. Things like sleeping bags and tents could be helpful too.”

  Kimber ran off to get Eli and Rion. Rion’s screams could be heard throughout the quiet store. Drew and Kimber raced to the aisle with can goods where they had left their bags. They piled them into carts and raced back to the front of the store. The wheels on the carts rattled as they ran. In any other circumstance, this would be fun, running through an empty store, racing each other. But the two lovers weren’t racing each other, they were racing the clock, and this was a race they didn’t want to lose.

  CHAPTER TWENTY - SEVEN

  At the other entrance to the store, music was blaring loudly. The Barbie jeep with only a teddy bear driver drove out of the automatic doors. In the back of the jeep was a small fire. Kimber watched in wonder as the jeep drove across the parking lot on its own. The zombies who had been so intent on clawing through the glass were now turning their attention to the music. The mass started to move. Unfortunately, Teddy’s steering expertise weren’t as good as Jasper’s and the jeep ran into where the carts were stored. The plastic wheels on the jeep kept spinning against the pavement parking lot.

  “It’s working.” Jasper had snuck up behind Kimber, as her and Drew were waiting for the zombies to move closer to the jeep before they ran. He was humming along with the song, while he waited. His version of whistling while he worked.

  Why you have to be so rude… don’t you know I’m human too… Catchy lyrics and oddly fitting, Kimber had to admit.

  “Okay get ready, they’re almost all over there.” Jasper was grinning from ear to ear, like the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. He had a secret, but he wasn’t about to tell it. “Wait for it…. Wait for it…” He kept saying and then Kimber saw it.

  The fire in the jeep spread from the back to the front. Poor teddy caught fire, orange flames flickering over his face and down his body. A few seconds passed and the entire jeep exploded.

  “Go!”

  With that Kimber and Drew sprinted to the van. The parking lot was now littered with body parts. Kimber and Drew dodged the flaming debris and made their way to the van. Drew ran to the driver’s seat and searched for the keys. They weren’t in the ignition.

  “Kimber! Look for the keys.”

  Kimber ran to the bodies of the family that had once owned that van. She searched the mother’s pockets but came up with nothing. Crawling on her hands and knees, she searched the father’s pants pockets, only to come up empty-handed again. They had to be somewhere.

  “Drew, I can’t find them.”

  Both girls scrambled to find the keys, time passing quickly, both of them exposed to life-threatening danger.

  In the middle of their search, Kimber heard Jasper yelling.

  “THEY’RE COMING!”

  Jasper’s plan to distract the zombies that were already in the parking lot had been a good plan, but none of them had thought through the downside. The fire and the sounds of the music along with the explosion had attracted twice as many zombies as before. They were surrounded and closing in fast. Freaking out, but trying to stay calm, Kimber searched for the keys. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shiny bit of metal was in the father’s hand.

  The keys.

  Kimber pried them from the dead man’s hands and raced over to the van. She gave them to Drew and then climbed into the back of the van, not wanting to waste time by running around to the other side. The tires screeched as Drew sped over to where Jasper was waiting.

  “Where are the others?” Kimber asked, jumping from the van to load up the supplies.

  “They’re coming,” Jasper said, opening the trunk to load the duffle bags. Kimber looked down the main aisle. She didn’t see Carin, Eli, or Rion.

  “I’m going to get them. Finish loading this up and hold them off as long as you can.” Kimber turned and sprinted to the baby section, the sound of Rion’s screams echo towards her.

  Kimber rounded the corner to the baby section. Her heart was racing and the sound of its beat echoed through her ears. A pain crept into her chest, stinging with each breath. She was running on nothing but adrenaline, having been deprived of most of her basic human needs for the past two days. Her feet took her towards the sounds of Rion’s awful screams, pounding hard against the floor as she ran.

  Eli was helping Rion into the electronic wheelchair, but she kept stopping because of the pain.

  “We have to go now. There is a swarm of zombies headed this way. If we’re going to make it out of here, we have to go,” Kimber said, panting with each word.

  “She can only move so fast, Kimber. She’s in a lot of pain.” Carin was standing and watching Eli move Rion, her hands resting on a shopping cart full of baby stuff.

  “Carin go, load up the van. Tell the others we’re coming.”

  Together, Kimber and Eli got Rion into the electronic wheelchair. She was crying and there was blood soaking her pant legs. Kimber looked at Eli, a sense of alarm in her expression. She didn’t know anything about birthing babies, but whenever she saw blood, she was sure it wasn’t the best sign. Kimber ran ahead of them. Eli stepped on the edge of the chair and steered it as well as he could. Rion continued to cry, the pain almost unbearable. Contractions were coming non-stop now, one right after the other and she could barely hold on.

  “Eli, I think I have to push.” She was panting as she talked, sweat beading along her hairline.

  “You can’t, Rion, we have to get you in the van first. Carin got all the towels and water and stuff that we need. You just have to hold on until we get you in the van.”

  Rion nodded. She tried to be brave for herself and for Cash. Jasper was waiting by the van to help. The girls were all sitting inside the van. Rion was sure they were saying things to her, telling them to hurry, but it all just sounded like noise to her. She couldn’t differentiate who was saying what. All she could do was focus on going against what her body was telling her. She couldn’t push, not yet.

  Eli took one of her hands and Jasper took the other. She walked the four or so steps it took to get into the van. Finally, Rion was able to lie down in the backseat of the van. Eli jumped in after her and Jasper closed the doors behind them.

  “Eli, my pants, they have to come off. I- I need the to push.” Rion’s voice was strained, almost a whisper but Eli heard her and took out his knife. Careful not to cut her skin, he sliced through the thin material of her leggings and pulled them off of her.

  Drew began to pull out of the parking lot but came to a sudden stop as she ran into a horde of zombies. She reversed and turned to go the other direction, but she couldn’t go much further in that direction. They were surrounded. The fire was still burning and the zombies headed towards it, but because they were coming from all directions, Drew couldn’t find a way around them.

  “I can’t go-“ She began to say but was interrupted by the ear-splitting sound of gunshots. Drew reached out her arms, grabbed Kimber, and pulled her down. Jasper ducked down with Carin in the middle seat. Eli couldn’t take cover because he was holding Rion’s legs, the baby had begun to crown and Rion had no choice but to push.

  The sound of gunshots came from all around them it seemed, and zombies began to fall. No one was brave enough to look and see where the shots were coming from. The undead that surrounded them continued to fall, creating a clear path of escape, and just as the shooting stopped, the sounds of a crying baby could be heard.

  Author’s Note

  When writing Survive, I wasn’t sure I would be able to do just that. Survive started as an idea I had seven years ago, during a discussion with a few co-workers about how we would handle the zombie apocalypse. While everyone else was talking about bunkers and cabins, I was thinking bigger. I wanted to take over the nearest Wal-Mart. There you would have everythin
g you needed. It was originally called Super Dead Store. A terrible title, but I knew the idea was something I loved. After two years of serious work, I have arrived with a story I love and I hope that everyone who reads it does too. I am excited to share with you the stories of Rion, Nolan, Eli, Drew, and Kimber in the next installments, Alive and Thrive. Alive will be released in January 2018. Thrive will be released in February of 2018. Thank you so much for going on this journey with me.

  About the Author

  Ashley Shannon is the author of the young adult zombie thriller series, Survive.

  Survive is a fast paced adventure following four teenagers, who are faced with the end of the life as they know it after leaving detention. Alive and Thrive, books two and three in the series, are set to be released in September and October of 2017.

  When she isn't writing, Ashley can be found on her YouTube channels, discussing books, grammar, writing, and more. She is active on social media and can be found on Twitter, GoodReads, and at her website www.ashley-shannon.com With her son, Graham, Ashley resides in rural Iowa and enjoys reading, drinking coffee, playing in the park, and the occasional ill-fated art project.

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