Holiday bolted into the alley as the zombies pushed up the stairs in front of the office. David followed him closing the door behind them. They started walking down the alley towards the back of the sheriff’s office. At the end of the alley they saw nothing but that soon changed as the sun grew taller in the sky. A dead body was lying at the very end of the alley – right where they had to go. They walked as quietly as they could not to draw the attention of the horde now inside the office. As they reached the body, Holiday slowly stepped over it, being extra cautious not to touch it or make any noise. Next it was David’s turn. As he stepped over the body the door they had closed behind them burst open. A bunch of zombies spilled into the alley face down as more crawled over top of them. The dead body David was stepping over raised its head causing David to hop over it. The body slowly pulled itself to its feet. Zombies staggered through the alley, their moans echoing off the brick walls. Zombies still filled the street in front of the office as well. The commotion from earlier had drawn an enormous crowd. As David and Holiday ran past the next house to the south, they knew they would have to be quieter in the future. Sound seemed to attract the horde.
“So some are slow,” David said as they walked around the corner from behind the next building. Ahead of them was the park that all of Lone Tree was developed around. “But some are fast.” He said quietly to Holiday as they stopped and leaned up against the wall of the building.
“I guess,” Holiday replied, “either way we have to be more quiet.” He continued.
“But why are some faster than others?” David asked.
“Who cares? No way for us to know. We have to keep going.” Holiday pointed to the park, “Going through the park is probably the best way to get to Viv’s house.” For the size of the city the park was rather big. It was almost like a forest in the middle of town but the trees where around the outside only and the middle was wide open with a few swings and sandboxes for children.
“Ya, the zombies on the street might not see us but for all we know there are a lot of zombies inside the park. I say we take the street.”
“Way too risky,” Holiday said shaking his head, “the park is the best option and it’s straight across to Viv’s” Holiday started to walk forward but David grabbed his arm.
“We don’t know if Viv is even gonna be there sheriff,” Holiday pulled his arm away. “We should go to the gun store.” David pointed down the street beside the park. “Then if we go into the park and there are a shit ton of zombies, at least we stand a chance.” Holiday nodded and peered around the corner of the edge of the building toward the sheriff office building. Zombies still staggered around by his car but not as many as there were before.
“More guns and ammo will help when we need to get out of here too.” Holiday said walking crouched to a turned over car on the street. David followed and slowly they crept down the street towards Bartley’s Guns and Ammo store as a loud monstrous roar filled the city from an unknown source.
Chapter 4 – Meeting Destiny
“What the hell was that?” Jane asked as she tied her blonde hair into a ponytail. She snapped the elastic on her hair and adjusted her pink sweater to cover her stomach. She grabbed her rifle off the desk and ran toward the front door holding the gun backwards.
“Stop asking,” Eric replied staring through a peep hole cut into the barricaded front door of the gun store. “You asked the same thing when we heard gunshots ten minutes ago.” He walked away from the door rolling his eyes as he saw her holding the rifle backwards. She flipped it around now holding it the right way. Eric sat down in an old wooden chair, hoisting up his baggy jeans to make it easier; He rubbed the short stubbles on the top of his head and continued. “They were gunshots.”
“Ya but that was a roar just now,” she said in a nasally squeaky voice.
“There ya go; you answered your own damn question. It was a roar.” Jane smiled as if she was complimented. Eric grabbed a hand mirror off the small table beside his chair and pointed it at his face slowly shaking his head. With his other hand he poked at his cheek beneath his eye slightly wincing at the pain. The gun store had its own generator and with all the windows and doors boarded up from the inside nothing outside could see the lights or get in. Earlier Jane had hit him in the face with her rifle when it got stuck on a gun rack. She could not get it off and while tugging at it Eric came to help. She got it free when he got closer and bashed him by accident. “I told you to not fuck around with the guns!” He said slamming the mirror back onto the table.
“I said I was sorry Eric!” She exclaimed. “It’s just a little bump anyways! Why are you being such a baby?”
“It’s all swollen and bruised! What do you mean little bump?!” they both spoke at once - neither clearly hearing the other.
“What?” he asked staring at her intently with his brown eyes. Not sure exactly what she said but still hearing enough to take offence. He raised one of his eyebrows.
“I said how is it going to bruise?” she replied and placed the rifle down on a table. She then stood with one hand on her hip and the other one was raised as she waited for an answer.
Eric shook his head, “You are not that blonde?!” He said, now sure he was offended. Jane’s face turned to confusion.
“Black men don’t bruise …. Right?” she asked relaxing her arms. Eric erupted in anger at the question and began screaming at Jane.
“Of course we do!” He continued as; Jane screamed back trying to be louder than Eric. Suddenly, another person appeared in the room.
“What the fuck are you guys doing!?” She hollered stomping down the stairs. “Calling every zombie in town? Shut the fuck up!” She walked past them and headed into the back room. Eric and Jane stopped yelling and turned away from each other.
“Sorry Destiny,” Eric said as he turned his head to check out her ass in her mini jean skirt as she walked.
“Just my luck I get stuck with a ditzy blonde and the only whiny black guy in the entire state.” She muttered under her breath. The others didn’t hear her. She called herself Destiny although that was not her real name. She prided herself for having exceptionally long black hair. She was heading through the state trying to put as much distance between her and her abusive ex as she could. On her way to ‘anywhere’ she decided that if her ex-boyfriend caught up to her, it would be best if she had some protection. She was at the gun store when everything started going to hell.
“Hey Eric!” she yelled into the front room from the back room. “Come gimme a hand will ya?” She said as Eric walked into the room. She lifted up a box and set it on a table. The entire back room was filled with boxes but they had no idea what was in them. The owner, a man named Bartley, died shortly after going outside to see what was happening. The others barricaded themselves in and were now out of food. Destiny pulled out a hunting knife and cut into the top of a box. “Grab a box and help,” she said. Eric grabbed a box and placed it beside hers. He pulled out a Swiss army knife and cut into the top of his box. Destiny chuckled slightly.
“What?” he asked as he held the tiny tool.
“Nothing,” she said clearing her throat, “just didn’t know people still carried those.” She opened the top of her box and searched through it. A bunch of small fireworks was all that she found. Eric rolled his eyes at her and opened his box. It held the same thing as well as an assortment of large ones.
“Well that is just great.” He said pushing the box off the table spilling out some of the fireworks. He stormed off back into the front room as Destiny put her box on the ground and followed him sighing loudly.
“Find anything to eat?” Jane asked, perky as always.
“No Jane,” Destiny said as she opened the gun cabinet behind the front desk and pulled out a pair of 9mm pistols. “We didn’t find anything to eat.”
Destiny began walking towards the front door, checking her two guns to see if they had ammo as she walked. They were full of ammo and even though she had never fired a
gun before, she had been around her ex-boyfriend for too long. She knew if she had to she could use them.
“What are you doin?” Eric asked walking in-between her and the door. “Don’t think going out there is such a great idea right now Hun.” He said reaching for her guns. She pulled away and gave him a very angry look.
“I will go wherever the fuck I want,” she said, “We need food and are a block away from a supermarket.” She pushed past Eric and up to the door looking out through the peephole. “Don’t ever call me Hun again,” she said putting her guns on the ground and grabbing a hammer that was lying in front of the door. The door then slowly slid open towards her with a creak. She looked at the door; a big strong wooden door, with boards all around it. The only problem was, the boards were only nailed to the door and not to the frame around it. She looked at Jane who sat in the chair looking at them innocently; it was Jane who ‘barricaded’ the door. Eric leaned down to Jane and softly said,
“You nailed the boards to the door and not the frame?”
“I don’t know physics! Thought it looked good enough like in the movies and stuff.” Jane replied as Eric placed his hands on his head and turned away in frustration.
“Right, good job!” Destiny said sarcastically as she dropped the hammer and picked up her guns. “I’m gonna go, Eric would you please fix this?” Eric nodded as Destiny closed the door behind her as she left the gun store.
She was immediately on the side walk which ran down the street close to the buildings. Beside the gun store was the Pharmasave Drugstore. It had lots of medicine but no food; not even a single vending machine with snacks. She would have to go around the corner and down a few buildings before reaching the Superdeluxe Mart.
She pointed her pistols all around her; she felt like she was in a video game and her body surged with adrenaline. No zombies were in sight but she knew that could change quickly. She started heading down the middle of the road. The trees of the park blocked her view of what was around the corner and she wasn’t taking any chances. She walked quickly, watching the tree line and the alleys for any runner kind of zombies. The slow ones were a joke, at least to her; they were not worth wasting a bullet. Last night four of them saw a man who was a zombie running toward the gun store, they thought it was a real person but quickly discovered it was not when Bartley went out to help and was attacked. In Destiny’s eyes that made the fast zombies the problem. She had seen dozens of slow moving zombies walk by the store. Some tripped over their own feet; others just went in circles for no reason. That was not scary or even a big threat to her. She neared the corner which had a big tree at the edge of the park. She walked up to it and placed her back against it. She leaned around the corner smirking at how easy it had been so far. Her smirk faded as she saw what awaited her at the supermarket just down the street. Out in front of it, she could see six zombies standing motionless staring off into the park’s tree line. She couldn’t tell if they were fast or slow ones but knew it was a major risk finding out. To make matters worse, inside the massive glass windows lining the front of the supermarket, she could see at least a dozen more zombies. From the angle she was at, she couldn’t see much more and she didn’t need to. She sighed with disappointment and thought about what to do next.
Just then a hand gripped her shoulder tightly. She swung around raising her guns ready for a fight. David’s hand grabbed her arm stopping her mid spin, the force of his hand caused her arm to jump and she fired one of her guns. She looked at David and Holiday in shock but was quickly filled with fear as the same blood curdling roar from earlier echoed all around them. Then she realized she had shot her gun and drawn attention to where they were. She leaned around the corner of the tree once more, the six zombies that once stood motionless were now running at high speed toward her. What was worse was a number of fast running zombies poured out of the supermarket and began down the street toward her as well.
“Run!” she screamed to David and began running towards the gun store. David and Holiday didn’t hesitate - they ran as fast as they could to keep up to her. Destiny crashed into the front door pounding on it loudly with the butt of her guns screaming, “Open the door!”
Nobody replied! All she heard was the increased sound of growling as the horde of zombies barrelled around the corner towards her. The disfigurements of each one seemed more terrifying the closer they got. Destiny raised her guns and began firing at them. David and Holiday, only feet away from her, both turned and began firing their guns. David let off six massive shots which overpowered the sound of the other’s guns. Destiny nearly covered her ears - it was so loud. As David reloaded, Holiday emptied his clip, severing decomposed arms and causing several heads to pop like blisters. When his gun emptied, he slid the clip out of the gun and let it fall to the ground as he quickly reloaded. His hesitation from earlier and his fear were completely overwhelmed by his anger and adrenaline. Several zombies fell dead as more seemed to pour out from the park and the street around the opposite corner. Some were faster than others but all moved with blinding speed. A few nearly reached the three but flew to the ground from the hail of bullets being fired into them. Holiday’s gun emptied again only this time he had no clips of ammunition left. He ran beside Destiny and began to bang on the door screaming almost louder than the gun shots. David had reloaded several times at this point and only had three bullets left. He slid the three into his gun and raised it for what he thought would be the last time. Over thirty zombies rushed them from all around as Destiny’s guns both clicked empty. Just then a massive barrage of bullets ripped into every zombie they could see. The sound of an army flew over their heads as Eric and Jane leaned out the upstairs windows with large fully automatic weapons. Eric screamed at the top of his lungs but nobody could hear him over the shots. His screams turned to laughter as the gun he held jostled his entire body. Jane was nearly in tears as the gun seemed to shake her entire body almost completely outside the window. There was a moment when David believed she would accidentally hit them. He ran up to Holiday and the three stood at the door crouched, covering their ears with their weapons and hands.
After a mere minute passed Eric and Jane’s guns finally clicked out of ammo. Eric continued laughing and wooing, jumping back inside as Jane broke out laughing and began clapping, dropping her gun out of the window beside the others below. David, Destiny, and Holiday looked around at the mangled remains of dozens and dozens of bodies. Destiny banged on the door slowly this time as she waited for more zombies to pop out of anywhere. David turned to the door and with a massive kick he flung it open. Holiday quickly ran to the gun rack, picking up a shotgun and grabbing a box of shells. His hands shook slightly while he loaded the shotgun; his ears rang loudly in his head. David and Destiny slammed the door shut and leaned against it breathing heavily.
“Nice gun!” she yelled - her hearing obviously impaired slightly. She pointed to David’s gun as she holstered a second gun in the back of her skirt. He handed it to her smiling and walked over to the gun rack beside holiday. He searched for more ammo for his pistol but found none. He shrugged slightly and grabbed another pistol from the rack. He was happy to have a normal weapon. Destiny went to give David’s pistol back but he shook his head and motioned for her to keep it. Her face grew even more excited as she holstered her new third gun into the back of her skirt. Holiday and David emptied the gun rack and loaded any weapon they found with ammunition. They started setting guns on the side table by the chair and some in front of the door.
With three guns Destiny was feeling very confident and strutted around without a care in the world. Outside, moaning sounds cut her celebrating short. She ran up to the door holding it closed and peered out the peep hole. All the fast zombies from earlier sprawled out across the road motionless and completely destroyed. Now a massive group of slow zombies shambled their way from everywhere she could see and headed toward the gun store. Most had climbed over the bodies and were headed toward the store. Others crawled and a few fell over
the bodies unable to completely stand up afterward. She smirked and continued celebrating.
“There more?” Holiday said cocking his shotgun
“Ya but just some slow ones.” She said smiling.
“If enough slow ones get on us, we won’t be able to do much. Even this store can’t hold out forever.” Holiday continued as he walked toward the door and peered outside the peep hole. “I’m going out, watch this door!” He said harshly and opened the door. He walked outside firing his shotgun into the zombies. Again, he severed limbs and imploded heads as the slow crawl of zombies got closer and more massive. As he fired, Eric and Jane ran down the stairs; Jane in her underwear and Eric missing his shirt and trying to pull his pants up.
“What’s going on?” Eric asked confused, “Is there more?” He finally pulled his pants all the way up and buckled them in place as Jane covered herself with her hands. She started to go back upstairs but paused and said.
“You said we won? Victory sex is so-Over!” she then stormed up the stairs to find her clothes. The others stared at Eric with their heads lowered.
“What?” Eric said turning to go back upstairs to find the rest of his own clothes. Destiny and David chuckled and both looked out the peep hole as Holiday fired his shotgun wildly.
“I’m Destiny.” She said in between the sound of gun shots. Smiling, David looked at her amused by her name.
“David,” He nodded out the peep hole towards Holiday, “And that is our sheriff Holiday.” Destiny’s smile grew wider as Holiday screamed profanity at the zombies who were falling almost faster than they could count. “He has been through a lot today.” David said,
A Zombie Survival Series (Book 1): Infestation Iowa Page 4