by C. M. Fick
Ryan and Ezra approached the open door; the group of men guarding the exit backed up. The two men stumbled through the door and collapsed into the small area.
"Are any of you bitten?" David, the leader in the library, asked. He gave a pointed look at Ezra's bloody leg, "We'll need to see that."
"He hurt it in the crash." Melissa roughly pulled up her father's pant leg, revealing the long, deep gash in his calf; Ezra grimaced as the blood-soaked jeans, pulled away from the wound. "None of us were bitten."
A gunshot echoed in the stairwell and everyone turned to see Misty, stuck on the lawn as six zombies closed in on her. She aimed her gun at the nearest zombie and pulled the trigger; the gun clicked empty. Her eyes went wide and flicked to Todd; she gave him a small apologetic smile.
She doesn't think she'll make it in. "Do something," he shouted, spinning to look for a firearm. He cursed himself for leaving a small armory in his truck, and my handgun in my bag. Being without a gun was no longer an option; now, you never knew when you might need to protect yourself from one of the undead. He cursed his lack of forethought, fingering the knife strapped to his belt. His mind raced, trying to think of options. If I go out and distract them, maybe she can get in, he took a step forward, hesitating, but will I make it back?
"Here," Ryan nudged his arm. Todd tore his eyes away from the zombies encircling his friend, and glanced down at the offered gun, "use mine."
Todd didn't waste time; "Thank you!" he said, pushing his way past the men at the door. He shot the zombie closest to Misty. Giving David a cold, hard stare, he snapped, "Now was that so hard?"
David snorted. "She has a gun and should've counted her bullets. We'll tell her to run around the building, and when it's clear, she can come in. We can't waste our ammo, when the solution's so easy. Who knows when we'll find more?"
Aiming at the next closest zombie, Todd fired another round. The side of the zombie's head flew off, but it didn't stop the creature; he hadn't hit the brain. He aimed again, taking care to steady his shaking hands. The second shot lodged in the zombie's head and it crumpled to the ground. "She's out of ammo and she'll die if we don't help her."
David shrugged, "She's a big girl. She can take care of herself."
Todd put down a third zombie, giving Misty the opening she needed to run the remainder of the way; he turned on David, "You son-of-a-bitch." Before Todd knew what he was doing, he sucker punched the leader in the mouth.
"Todd!" Misty yelled.
Disgusted with David's attitude, Todd glanced back up to see her dodging around the few remaining zombies in the yard. As she passed the final one, between her and safety, it reached out and tangled the ends of her hair in its clawed fingers. The zombie tripped and pitched forward, yanking her off her feet. She fell back with a scream. The zombie clawed its way forward, pulling the handful of hair towards its gaping mouth. Misty struggled to get free, but only succeeded in entangling it more.
Without a second thought, Todd ran out onto the lawn. With his running momentum, he kicked the zombie in the head. It flopped over to its back, lying dazed but not dead. Misty whimpered as he bent down, drawing his knife. "Hey, you gave me quite a scare there."
She looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes. "Cut it. Cut it off now." With a quick slash of Todd's blade, she was free.
As Todd helped Misty up, the zombie also struggled to its feet. "Let's move," he said, pulling her forward.
"You have a gun," David hollered, "kill the dang thing."
Pushing Misty past him, he whispered, "Get inside."
Todd turned around to face the zombie who'd almost killed his friend. He was surprised to recognize it; it was the town's insurance broker, Cindy. A large woman in life, Cindy had waddled around town, always eager to stick her nose where it didn't belong. I never did like that woman, Todd thought as he took aim. In death, she'd obviously lost a few pounds, but not in a good way. Whole chunks, torn from her sagging jowls, left gaping holes in her face and neck. Entrails hung from her round, exposed gut, and clumps of her thinning hair were torn out, exposing the white skull beneath. Her torn and blood-spattered Mumu told Todd that whichever zombies had eaten her, feasted well. Cindy's flabby arms jiggled as she stumbled towards him, moaning for his flesh; he swallowed the rising bile in his throat and pulled the trigger.
Upon returning to the library, Todd wished he'd stayed outside and took his chance with the zombies. "What the hell's going on?" he asked, turning to David and pointing to the two grown men, struggling on the floor. One of the men was Ryan and the other was David's right-hand man.
Blood leaked from the leader's nose, but Todd didn't remember blackening his eye. "That son-of-a-bitch punched me," David said, dabbing a handkerchief beneath his nose.
"So did I," Todd replied, curtly.
David waved him off. "I deserved that, for not helping your friend; in your shoes I probably woulda done the same thing. He," he thrust his finger towards Ryan, "punched me because I told him we didn't have the supplies to properly tend to her father's wound."
"Oh, he has them," Ryan grunted, pushing the other man off, "he just won't let us use them."
"What we have is for those people in there." David thrust his finger towards the library. "Medical supplies aren't so easily accessible anymore and we can't waste what we have trying to tend someone who's just shown up. Those people put their lives on the line to make this place safe, and I won't put them at any more risk than they already are."
"But he needs medical attention," Melissa said, "the wound needs to be cleaned, sewn up and bandaged, or he might die from an infection."
David shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I have a lot of other people relying on me. If it'd been my call, I wouldn't have even opened the door."
Melissa gave Todd a pleading look. "Please Todd."
Todd held up his hands. "I'm just here for a few days, but I'm willing to go search the pharmacies for you; hopefully we can find something to take care of your dad's leg." Todd turned to David. "We'll split what I bring back, after Ezra's been taken care of."
"If you go," David warned, "then everything you bring back will be put into the group stock. If you don't agree to that, then you all may as well leave now."
Todd's fist balled at his side, "Next time you step over the line, I'll break your nose." David cringed, stepping away from Todd. "We're going and you're going to allow Melissa to look after her father, in the library, until we get back. When we return, I'll give you part of whatever we find as payment for keeping them safe. Hell, I'll even tell you where to get more." David spluttered, but Todd spoke over him. "We'll leave after we look after Ezra, and if something happens between now and then, you won't get a thing. Got it?" David's face flushed red in anger, but he nodded. "Good. I'll need two volunteers from your group, just in case we run into trouble."
Gathering supplies...
Finding volunteers wasn't so easy; no one wanted to risk leaving the safety of the library. Finally, a man whose son had severe asthma, along with his brother-in-law, who was a RN, offered to go with Todd, Ryan and Misty to look for medical supplies - provided they would also look for inhalers.
"We'll try Wallgreens first, since it's the closest; then, we'll hit the CVS store." Todd outlined the plan, as everyone walked to the Land Rover. "I'd like to stick to the smaller places first and hope we get lucky. It hit so fast that most people didn't have a chance to gather supplies. Provided we don't run into any major trouble, and if both stores are a bust, then we'll branch out. Head down to Walmart and see what's going on over there."
"Phones and internet were already off when I got back to the house." Misty said, as she jumped into the front. Ryan, and the two men, Parker and Jer, climbed into the back.
"It was dawn by the time I was packed and on my way out of town; the blockades were up by then," Todd said to Misty as he turned the ignition. "I don't know what the army's been doing or if they're even still there. They haven't come into town, but I tried three roads outt
a town that morning, and the last one warned me not to try it again; that they'd disable my vehicle next time."
"Wait," Ryan interjected, "I was at work when I saw my first one. What do you mean, 'it was dawn by the time you were on your way outta town'?" Todd looked at him in the rear-view mirror. "Did you know this was happening when the plane crashed?" Todd sighed; he hadn't spoken a word about that night to anyone. Just then, a zombie stumbled into Ryan's side of the SUV; he jumped and let out a little squeak.
"We'd better get moving." Todd said, pulling out of the parking lot. Driving slowly, he navigated around debris in the road. "Why was Ezra driving so fast through this mess anyways?"
"We were trying to get down to the highway. Ezra took us past the hospital and the place swarmed with them. I'm sure there are survivors on the top floor; I don't think they'd all be there, if there weren't." Ryan stared out the window. "Ezra tried to get around, but the truck got stuck and those things started surrounding us. He'd just lost his wife and son, so I understand why he panicked. By the time we were free of them, I think that he just wanted to get as far away, as fast as possible." The air thick with tension, they drove in silence for the remainder of the way to Walgreens.
Knowing Parker and Jer hadn't been out of the library since the first day, Todd decided to give a brief rundown of what everyone was supposed to do. "We'll try to keep this as quiet as possible; no guns unless absolutely necessary. We'll go in and clear the place first. Then we'll look for items we may need." On top of having guns, each of them carried a weapon that wasn't quite so loud. Todd had a crowbar, Ryan, his machete; Jer and Parker both carried hammers, and Misty had a tire iron she'd pulled from a car. Everyone nodded and got out.
As Todd ran towards the store's door, he could hear the others following close behind him. He looked into the entryway as he pushed on the automatic door; it slid aside, releasing stale, putrid air.
Misty gagged. "I don't think I can go in there if it smells like that," she said, covering her nose.
Something bumped in the dark interior. "I don't think we should go in there at all." Jer finally spoke.
"We need inhalers for Carter," Parker hissed at his brother-in-law.
"He'll be far worse off if you go and get yourself bitten." Jer hissed back.
"Would you two shut the hell up?" Misty snapped. A magazine rack just inside the interior door fell over with a crash, making them all jump. They watched as a zombie rounded the corner and pressed itself against the glass. Most of its neck was torn away and its arm was chewed down to the bone. "Eeww, gross," she backed up several steps.
Two more zombies joined the first, beating their hands on the glass and moaning loudly. Todd stepped back, trying to figure out what to do next. The door needs to slide open and we'll have to deal with those three right away. It'll be tight with four of us in the entryway, but if we're careful, we can do it.
Three gunshots rang out in quick succession and the zombies inside fell. Todd spun around, to see Parker aiming his gun into the store. Already sorry he'd agreed to bring the man along, he barked, "What did you do that for?"
Parker shrugged, "We need to get the door open and can't do that safely with those three there. Now it will be easy." More moans began to emanate throughout the store; Parker visibly paled.
"It wasn't just those three in there." Ryan said, pulling on Todd's arm. "We need to get back to the truck and leave now."
Glancing back over his shoulder, Todd agreed. More than a dozen zombies started to press up against the glass, and beneath their weight, the glass around the three holes began to crack. "Run, now," he shouted, just as the glass shattered. The five of them dashed back for the truck; zombies poured out of the store. Once they were all inside and safe, Todd turned on Parker. "If you do something like that again, I'll shoot you myself." He cranked the ignition and the truck roared to life. They drove down the street, trailing zombies behind them.
Round two...
Much to Todd's relief, the intersection at Tyler Street and 21st Avenue was oddly void of the undead. He wasn't sure exactly why there weren't any zombies shuffling around, but he wasn't about to complain as he pulled into the empty CVS parking lot.
"Ryan and I will be the only ones going in to check out the store." Todd gave a pointed look to Parker. "If we decide it's safe, then the three of you can come in and we'll grab whatever we can carry."
"Why can't I go with you?" Misty crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Todd. "I'm a better shot than you are, even if I can't crush one of their skulls with a crowbar."
Leaning forward to talk to Misty, Ryan opened his door. "We're just going to make sure we can get into the store; we need someone to wait here with Parker and Jer to keep them out of trouble while we go in." He lowered his voice, as if the two men could no longer hear him. "If we all go in, and he does something stupid..."
"I wouldn't do something to jeopardize this run," Parker snapped, "my son could die if he has an attack we can't manage."
Ryan turned on him, "You already did that, back at Walgreens. Just shut up and sit here like a good little boy until we get back. We won't be long."
Sighing, Todd got out of the truck. "Come on Ryan, times wasting."
Cautiously, they approached the door, watching for movement inside. When everything remained silent and still, they pushed the sliding door and entered the small glass enclosure.
"I still don't see anything moving," Ryan whispered as they slowly slid open the inner door; with it open, they could smell death in the store. "Ugh, maybe I was wrong."
Todd walked into the store, scanning the aisles directly in front of him; nothing moved. To his relief, the shelves, while seemingly ransacked, still held an abundance of merchandise. "I think we've hit the jackpot," he whispered to Ryan, walking down the front of the store to check the other aisles.
Something metal rattled in the far back corner opposite them. "What's that?" Ryan hissed, pausing to glance over his shoulder; it rattled again, louder this time.
"Probably a zombie," Todd said, hefting the crowbar in his hand. "Get your gun out, just in case we run into trouble." He quietly walked back the way he'd come. When he reached the third last aisle, he saw the end of the pharmacy counter at the back of the store. Closed, the metal shutters shook as another rattle echoed through the store.
"Please tell me we aren't going to turn a corner and run into a bunch of zombies," Ryan's voice shook as they walked.
In the second to last aisle, Todd saw more of the pharmacy area and the back of a single zombie. His stomach dropped; it was locked behind the counter. "Damn," he said through gritted teeth. "There's more than one, and they're where we need to go."
Turning the corner of the last aisle, Todd stopped abruptly; Ryan bumped into him and groaned when he saw why. Close to ten zombies pressed together in the small space, between the counter and the wall. "How are we going to deal with that?" Ryan asked, pointing at the enclosed area.
Sensing there was living close by, the zombies began to moan and thrash against the metal barrier. "Let's finish clearing the open parts of the store," Todd said over the cacophony as he walked towards the rear, "and then we'll call the others in while we try to figure this out."
When they'd ensured the rest of the store was clear, Todd jogged to the front to motion for the others to come in. Once everyone was inside, he explained the situation. "So, I want the three of you to grab bags and fill as many as you can, with things we'll need. Rubbing alcohol, gauze, anti-inflammatories; look for first aid kits and vitamins. Go aisle by aisle and take as much as you can carry." He handed each of them a large tote bag. "Use these for food - look for protein bars especially. Stick all the bags you fill by the door and we'll carry them all out at once. We don't want to draw attention from outside. Ryan and I are going to see how we can get the zombies out from behind the counter, without splattering their brains all over the medicine."
No one said anything as they each chose a separate aisle and quickly set a
bout their task; even Parker didn't utter a single complaint.
Todd and Ryan returned to the caged zombies, still thrashing against the shutters. The ones closest to the front forced their arms through the narrow rectangle openings, scraping the dead flesh from their arms. "Oh god," Ryan choked, "I think I'm going to be sick."
It looked to Todd as if, when they pushed their arms through, they'd rolled up chunks of their skin. "Come on," he said, pulling his heaving friend towards the undead. The closer he got, the worse the smell became. "I think our best bet is to move these," he stopped beside a set of long shelves, "over here." He moved to the end of the large shelving unit, dividing the last two aisles. "If we block them off here, I think they'll take the path of least resistance, down the first aisle, and we can pick them off as they come around the corner. That way, we'll have decent light and be close to the door if something goes wrong."
"But how are we going to deal with that?" Ryan asked, nodding to the locked shutters.
"I'll shoot off the lock, raise the shutter and run like hell." Todd elbowed him, "just don't shoot me when I come around the corner." He laughed, but Ryan didn't find the joke amusing.
"Their arms are going to be a problem." Ryan inched closer, careful to stay out of reach. "How are you going to deal with that?"
Todd motioned to Ryan's machete, "You'll chop em off first."
Swallowing hard, he looked from his blade to Todd. "I'll do it."
While Ryan took care of the obstacles in Todd's plan, he went in search of Misty; he found her in the feminine hygiene aisle. "That's gotta suck," he said from behind her; he saw her jump, but she didn't utter a sound.
Turning slowly, she let out a long breath. "Don't sneak up on an armed woman," she warned.
"I'm sorry," Todd gave her a half-grin. "I promise not to do it again." They hadn't had a chance to talk since she'd arrived; or rather, they hadn't spoken since the night of the crash. "I'm sorry about Dennis too," he blurted, growing somber.