by Tim Moon
“Can we get moving? My leg hurts,” Ty said. He’d mostly been quiet since Charlotte patched him up at the scenic lookout.
“We can grab some fresh food, like fruit, but we should mostly stick with non-perishable stuff,” Keanu said.
“I’m getting a lot of fruit,” Anuhea said.
The grocery store looked ominous. It was a squat building, spread out and spearheading a small shopping center. With the lights off it would be difficult to see inside but they’d manage.
Ben was astonished that they had yet to run into other survivors. No one drove on the roads, no faces in windows, no one walking the streets, although that would be pretty dumb. A pervasive feeling of abandonment filled the air everywhere they went. It was unsettling, especially for a place that usually so full of life.
He cleared his throat. “Don’t forget supplies like batteries, flashlights, matches, or any other essentials that we might need if things don’t go our way. If the airport is open, we can just leave what we don’t use for someone else.”
Two rows of shopping carts were lined up to the right of the automatic doors. Charlotte walked over to get one while Ty limped behind her. Ben had a feeling he was playing up the injury. From what he’d seen it wasn’t actually that bad.
Keanu was checking out the doors, hoping for a quiet way to open them. With the power out the doors obviously wouldn’t slide open.
“Are they locked?” Ben asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Keanu said. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and dug his fingers into the tiny gap between the two sliders. He grunted with effort as he pulled on them and they slid open a little.
Ben slung his rifle and grabbed the other slider. Together they pulled the doors apart so everyone could fit. Ben entered the grocery store and quickly unslung his rifle. He wanted to be ready in case there were any infected inside. So far, it was quiet, but the infected weren’t always loud right away. Keanu crept inside, pushing the door open a little more so he could fit.
Ben turned and waved everyone in. They filed in as quietly as they could. All they could hear was the light rattle of the shopping carts.
Opening the doors let in a little more of the dying light but once they got further back into the store it’d still be difficult to see.
“Hey does your phone still have power?” Charlotte asked.
“I think so,” he said. He pulled his phone almost having completely forgotten about it since the messages from his dad nearly killed him in the parking lot. The screen lit up his face as he checked it. “No service.”
“Use it as a flashlight,” she whispered.
Ben pressed the button and the bright flash on his phone lit up the store. He turned and smiled at Charlotte. “Good thinking.”
She just nodded.
“Let’s go. Move quiet.” Ben turned and started forward. He held the phone in his left hand, resting the barrel in the crook of his elbow. He led them to the left to begin their plunder.
Adrenaline pumped through him. He thought back to the days when he played video games like Dead Space with his friends. Giant monsters would jump out to scare you, or they’d crawl up a wall and spit stuff at you. This wasn’t a game though, this was as real as it got. Anything that jumped out at Ben here would get a face full of lead, for real.
The direction they started was gloomy but had plenty of open space to move through. They passed by a pyramid made out of stacked cases of beer. It wasn’t the best time to drink, so he kept walking. Ben slowly moved his phone back and forth, watching the area for infected. It turned out that he’d led them to the fresh food section of the grocery store. Considering they had no refrigeration system they couldn’t use most of the stuff, but Anuhea said she wanted fruit.
“Hold up here,” Anuhea said. She grabbed a cluster of bananas and Charlotte bagged up some apples. They continued moving along, passing the premixed bags of salad and dressing and various other items. Some of it was already going bad. Rot filled their nostrils.
Ben glanced behind and saw Oliver making a face. He looked like he was about to cry. Ben fought the urge to laugh. To stave off a potentially deadly mistake, he bit his lip. Laughing was a bad habit that had plagued his life, any time he got in trouble or was being yelled at, he’d develop an uncontrollable case of nervous laughter.
Ben wondered where the employees where. Had they all bugged out and just abandoned the place? Had they all made it home or were they part of the infected hordes sweeping across the island? Even more interesting was that apparently no one else had looted the store. Ben got a bad feeling about that. There was no way that everyone nearby had enough food stored up. This was a very touristy area.
“Where is everyone?” Ben asked quietly.
Charlotte shrugged.
They walked to the back wall and turned right. On the left was the butcher, stacks of spoiled meat sat in cellophane packages. Unpleasant odors wafted toward them. Turning right down the next aisle, they came to crackers and chips. These they could use. Ben grabbed a bag of Kettle Chips and a few packages of beef jerky that hung near the end of the aisle.
The crinkling of chip bags seemed so loud that Ben turned and shushed them. Oliver looked happy. He was holding two big bags of Cheetos. Ben could already imagine his tiny fingers coated in the delicious cheese flavoring, making a mess.
They continued to the end of the aisle, turning left to go around the end cap and continue down the next aisle. It’d be slow going with so many people but they snaked along through the store at a decent pace.
Hilo was only a few hours’ drive away but nothing had gone smoothly so far, so planning for delays seemed prudent. Better to have too much food than not enough. When they reached the drink aisle, Ben helped put a case of Gatorade on the bottom of the cart. He waited while Ty loaded a couple cases of water on to the carts and then they moved on.
Something crashed to the floor a few aisles down. Ben turned and looked back at his group. Everyone but Ben and Keanu had crouched down as if that would hide them - they were in the middle of an aisle. Ben waved Anuhea over to him. He turned off his phone’s flashlight and whispered to her.
“I’m going to go take a look, you and Keanu wait here with the group. Keep them safe,” he said.
Even though his eyes were still adjusting to the darkness, he could tell she was frowning at him. After a moment’s hesitation, she finally nodded.
“Okay, hurry up.” She turned and padded over to Keanu to pass on the word.
Ben turned without waiting for a response and stuck his head out, peeking around the end of the aisle. He didn’t see anything that would have made the noise. Whatever, or whoever, it was must still be in the aisle or possibly hiding from them. He braced himself for a confrontation. Ben felt his hands getting damp with sweat. His heart raced but he kept going anyway.
There was a crunching sound. Ben froze. He listened for a few seconds trying to determine what the noise was. No doubt about it, something was crunching…eating? He decided to keep going. He looked to the right near the cash registers in case this was some kind of trap. He didn’t want to be ambushed.
He walked quickly looking down the aisles as he passed them. After passing two aisles, he moved close to the end cap of one and froze again. More crunching and the rustling of clothing or a bag, he wasn’t sure. Blood was rushing so quickly through his veins that his ears felt like they were throbbing. He worried that he wasn’t hearing things properly.
The noise was down the next aisle. In all, Ben had moved three aisles away from his group. He licked his lips and gripped his rifle tightly. If it was an infected person, he wanted to put it down quickly and get it over with quickly. The anticipation was killing him.
He turned down the aisle and heard a rustling. Thankfully, nothing came at him. The crunching stopped and all he could hear was his own breath. Suddenly terrified something was behind him, he looked over his shoulder but nothing was there.
Ben aimed down the aisle with one hand while he turned the ph
one’s flashlight on with his other hand. On the floor, he saw that a bag had fallen to the floor and burst open. Small pieces of food were scattered across the tiles.
“Cat food?” he whispered to himself.
He walked toward the bag and something flashed on the shelf. Ben’s heart nearly leapt into his mouth. He spun toward it and looked closely. Two shiny eyes stared back at him.
“Goddamn cat,” he started laughing. It looked at him a moment longer, before it scampered off. He’d been about ready to pepper the area with bullets and in the end it was just a cat. For some reason it was the funniest thing to happen to Ben in a long time. “It’s all clear guys.”
Ben was wiping laughing tears from his eyes when their shopping cart convoy pulled up at the end of the aisle.
“What’s so damn funny?” Ty whispered.
“It was a cat,” Ben said, gesturing to the bag of food on the floor.
“Can we take the cat with us?” Oliver asked.
Charlotte giggled. Ben thought it was strange, but cute.
“I don’t know, Oliver,” Ben said. “He was pretty scared. I think he ran off to the back of the store.”
“Awww…”
“If we can, we’ll grab him. We wouldn’t want him to be lonely would we?” Ben asked.
“Really?” Oliver asked, his eyes lighting up.
“Yeah, grab a bag of food in case we find him.” Ben moved the phone toward the cat food. “How about that purple bag right there?”
Oliver reached over to the shelf and pulled the bag off. It was only a medium size bag, but little Oliver struggled with it. His face was set with determination so Ben didn’t interrupt him.
“Good job,” Anuhea said. Oliver carried it over to the cart. He was too short to put it inside, so she took it from him and set it in the cart.
“Can we go now?” Ty looked thoroughly unimpressed by the situation.
“Come on,” Keanu said. “We only have a few more aisles to clear.”
Ben went to the front of their convoy and they moved on to the next aisle. The carts were filling up quickly and he was worried they were wasting too much time. Once they loaded up the Humvee, they’d still have to find a safe place to stay for the night.
Then he thought they could probably find a room in the grocery store to hole up for the night.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“It’s already dark outside,” Keanu said.
“I was thinking we could check out one of the office rooms here? We already know the store is clear,” Ben said.
“Right and at this point, driving around with the headlights on would attract too much attention from the infected or anyone else.” Keanu looked around.
“Exactly,” Ben said.
“Should we move the Humvee so people don’t see it and think the army is here?” Anuhea suggested.
“That’s not a bad idea. We’d need to close up the front door. I think we could block it with shopping carts and then clear the stockroom. We haven’t been back there yet and its possible doors back there are open. After all, that cat got inside somehow,” Ben said, looking at Oliver. He was still hoping to find the cat.
“We were supposed to leave here.” Ty crossed his arms over his chest. “We can just stop somewhere along the road to Hilo to sleep, so at least we’re closer.”
“Were you listening? Driving with the headlights on could attract attention that we don’t want.” Ben looked hard at Ty. “Hilo’s not far. We can make it tomorrow during the daylight. It’ll be safer.”
“We have guns. Or at least you do,” Ty said, gesturing at Ben’s rifle. “We could deal with any attention.”
“Sure, fire off the guns and draw even more infected toward us,” Charlotte said, obviously exasperated that they were even discussing it. “What’s the problem with staying here?”
“It’s an obvious place for other people to hit,” Ty said simply.
“True but we can block the front door and put the Humvee out back so they’re out of sight, but also ready to go if someone rolls up,” Ben said. “We probably have more firepower than anyone that might try to mess with us. Hell, we haven’t even seen anyone and obviously no one has been in the store for a while, probably not since the infection spread.”
Ben turned away; he couldn’t deal with this right now. He started to walk away. They were all okay with staying there except for Ty. Ben stopped when he realized what he was doing.
Can’t run from your problems, he thought.
“Let’s do this democratically with a simple vote, just like last time. Majority rules. Raise your hand if you want to clear the rooms and stay here tonight?” Ben looked around. Everyone’s hand went up, even Oliver’s. Ty was handily defeated, again.
“Can we get to work now?” Keanu asked.
“Sure.” Ben turned to Anuhea. “Where do you guys want to wait while we clear the stockroom?”
“We can sit by the cash registers. That should be fine,” she said. Charlotte nodded.
“Would you mind staying with them?” Ben asked, nodding toward Charlotte and Oliver.
“Not at all,” Anuhea said.
Everyone moved over to the front of the store. Charlotte, Oliver, and Anuhea chose a spot near the self-checkout lanes.
“That’s smart. Good cover all around,” Ben said.
Ty sat near them, but kept some distance.
Keanu led Ben past the registers toward the rooms at the front of the store. He tried a door that was behind the customer service counter, but it turned out to be locked.
“That was easy,” Keanu said with a smile.
“Yeah,” Ben said slightly disappointed.
“Easier than dealing with your buddy.”
Ben grunted and said, “I don’t know what his problem is. He’s been kind of a dick since shit started going down.”
“I’ve seen his type before. He’s just not cut out for this kind of situation,” Keanu said. He stopped short of saying Ty was a liability, but the look on his face expressed it clear enough. “Just keep an eye on him.”
“I’ll try to talk to him,” Ben said. “We need to clear the air anyway.”
“Speaking of, do you know how to clear a room?” Keanu said, refocusing them on the problem at hand.
“Not really. I’ve seen it in movies and games but I’ve never actually done it.”
“When we enter a room, I’ll go first. I’ll enter and go left to the corner of the room. You’ll come in and go right about halfway in. Sweep your gun from right to left and stop at the opposite corner - not at me. Okay?” Keanu showed how it was done with his hands. “Our lines of fire should eventually cross, but not directly at each other.”
“Um…sure.” Ben adjusted his grip the rifle, flexing his fingers.
“As long as it’s only infected we should be fine. They won’t be shooting back,” Keanu said with a reassuring smile. “The key is to move fast and shoot the enemy, or infected, quickly.”
“Maybe we should just club them? The noise might attract more,” Ben said. At least that way he couldn’t accidentally shoot Keanu.
“You want to get that close? I don’t, not in such a tight space. One bite and you’re done, man. Game over.”
He had a point. There wasn’t any room for a mistake like that. They’d just have to take the risk with gunshots.
“Besides most of the noise will be muffled. This is a pretty big place with plenty of walls and stuff to absorb the sound,” Keanu continued.
“Fair enough. Let’s do this.”
They left the locked door and moved along the wall. A short hallway led to the restrooms.
“Ah, these are important,” said Keanu. He motioned for them to move forward.
Ben followed closely, holding his rifle the same way he’d seen Keanu carry his.
Keanu moved to the other side of the door and raised his hand with three fingers raised.
He looked at Ben in the light of the flashlight and mouthed the words: three, two, one.<
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He pushed open the door to the women’s restroom. It smelled funny inside, a mix of perfume and body functions. The open areas were clear. They pushed open each of the stall doors but there was nothing, except for an unflushed toilet.
“Some people are so fucking gross,” said Keanu, scrunching up his nose.
They left the women’s room, laughing. Then it was all business again as they cleared the men’s room. Only one stall to clear and it was empty. No other doors lined the hallway so they went back out into the store.
“Should we hit the deli and baking area? I don’t think there are any doors over there,” said Ben, gesturing to the wall closest to them.
“I don’t think so either, but let’s not leave it to chance. Like you said, one bite and it’s game over. We can go along this wall and then cross through the stock area and emerge next to the deli and bakery.”
“Sounds good. Ready when you are.”
They worked well together. Along the wall closest to them were the magazine stands and a small area for bestselling books. Ben was tempted to grab a book, but he could do that later. Before bed or tomorrow morning before they left, he promised himself. Near the books were greeting cards, balloons and other celebratory stuff. No one would be using that stuff anytime soon. There wasn’t much to celebrate when thousands have died.
Before long, they had cleared the main part of the store for a second time and strode to the back doors leading to the stock room. Keanu stopped before the two black plastic doors leading into the stock area. A sign above the door said “Employees Only.”
“You still have the flashlight thing?”
“I sure do,” Ben said. It took him a moment to fish the phone out of his pocket and turn on the flashlight again.
“Okay, here we go. Stay close this time though. I think the stock room will be too full for us to clear like a normal room. We’ll have to go through slower too to make sure we cover everything,” Keanu said.
“I’ll follow you,” Ben said, stepping up behind the big man.
“I don’t feel like getting shot, okay? So, watch where you swing the barrel of your gun,” Keanu said with a smile.