Amanda Carter in the L.A.Z., life after zombies

by Jo Lee Auburne

  “This is what they used to refill the front shelves,” Sam said, in a whisper because she was too stunned to speak at a higher octave.

  “Yep, they must have just got their order delivered when all this broke out,” Amanda said. “I’m surprised with all the runs on the stores before society collapsed, that they didn’t bring this forward.”

  “It’s just sitting right here, ready to go, it’s so perfect,” Sam said, still whispering but making no move toward it, almost as if she thought it may be a trap.

  “I suppose it’s possible that someone that worked here decided to hold on to it in the hopes of coming back for it for themselves,” Amanda said.

  “Maybe it was the woman that you got the key from?” said Sam, finally finding her voice again. “It wouldn’t have been easy to get in here after things got bad. Maybe she didn’t make it this far?”

  “Could be,” Amanda said, sharing Sam’s feeling that this was all too good to be true, but not wanting to miss out on it either. “Let’s load up, quick.”

  Amanda moved the cart, getting it snug with the pile so that they could easily begin stacking items as fast as possible. With this kind of haul, they would be risking death should anyone see them with it, and then there was the approaching fire to consider, along with the hordes that were drawn to it.

  Now Amanda was not as worried for the future of the group as she had been. They would have enough food to last them long enough to attempt to grow something. That is, she considered, if she made it back with this and the rest of the inventory she needed to make that possible for them.

  It quickly became apparent that they were not going to be able to take everything on this trip and that they would need to come back for the other half of it. Amanda hoped that they would not have any trouble and that the fire would hold off long enough for them to finish up in here and allow them a chance to gather a few more items from the front of the store as well.

  “Let’s move,” Amanda said once the cart was as full as they could make it without risking a catastrophic spill somewhere along the way.

  “This thing’s heavy, you’re going to make me push it?” Sam asked with a whine.

  “Yep.”

  Amanda had already grabbed two full five-gallon propane tanks that sported tags naming the owners who had dropped them off to be filled, and she had both of her hands full because the tanks were heavy and awkward to carry. There was one more full tank; they had all apparently belonged to the same owner: a Mr. Timms. But they were hers now, and with the fire consuming all the propane tanks in its path, they would need everything that she could find.

  “That’s so not fair,” Sam said, huffing as she lined the cart up with the door.

  Amanda ignored the girl, being sure to check the area once she had opened the door for Sam and the cart. There appeared to be no new developments, and they began their slow roll to the truck.

  “There’s no sense in both of us pushing it,” Amanda said. “We have to roll slowly, or the stuff will fall off, and I really need to take your mother some more propane for that cook stove.”

  “Whatev,” said Sam, looking more red-faced than she had before, as she pushed her body weight into the cart to keep it rolling along at a slow and even pace.

  “Look, don’t go giving me any attitude now. Who was the one that got to do their batting practice on the creepers while I pushed my ass off?”

  “All right, you have a point,” said Sam, sounding winded.

  “Sorry,” Amanda said, honestly sounding apologetic. “But life became so not fair six months ago, and nothing’s changed yet, except that for now we’ll have more food than we usually do.”

  “Okay, I get it. But my body hurts, and my stomach is growling and I’m hot,” the girl said, managing to sound pathetic.

  “I’m sorry about that too,” Amanda said. “I’ve been pushing us hard, and we all need a break and something to eat and definitely more water. But this fire isn’t showing any mercy, and we can’t stop here.”

  “Got it,” the girl said as she pushed and huffed.

  The trip back to the truck was gratefully uneventful, and they were quick to roll out the ramp and begin stacking their cache in the truck. The only problem that they noticed on this trip was that the smoke from the fire was now visible in wafts blown in by the wind. Smokey gray wisps floated across the parking lot and some of it was becoming trapped in the store with them. They now had very little time before the fire and the creepers would overtake them, if they didn’t succumb to smoke inhalation first. Just seven months ago, Amanda could not have ever imagined putting herself in a situation like this, yet here she was.

  Amanda led the procession back to the storeroom at a run, prompting Sam to push the cart quickly behind her. The wheels on the cart clattered along, vibrating the metal and creating a loud sound that echoed through the store. The cart made a lot more noise empty and rolling fast than it had with a passenger or a load. Amanda wouldn’t be surprised at all if the noise would draw a few more creepers in on them, but it seemed to her that it was a risk that they needed to take.

  Back in the storeroom, they worked quickly, as a team, loading the remaining foodstuff. Amanda grabbed more rolls of duct tape too, before picking up the remaining propane tank and leading them back to the truck.

  She had been right, either the nearness of the fire, or the noise from the rolling cart had drawn another four creepers into the store. They had wandered in and became drawn by Red’s growls and barking. The four of them seemed determined to ineffectively claw their way into the driver’s side of the truck.

  “I got this,” Sam whispered, moving to pass Amanda up and move in on them.

  Amanda put her arm out, firmly stopping the girl.

  “Stay put, and I mean that. There’s too much that can go wrong with this many, so just watch and learn and keep half an eye out on the entrance in case there are more.”

  The cart had rolled up a lot quieter with the load on it and being so intent upon gaining entry to the cab of the truck, they had not noticed the two women, and Amanda hoped to keep it that way.

  She knelt and walked agilely, softly sneaking up behind the one nearest to her. This creeper was clawing at the others because he couldn’t get close enough to the door of the truck to touch it. Amanda had the knife out, holding her breath, not wanting to make a sound. She plunged it into the back of the thing’s head, between the skull and the spine. The knife slid its way out as it went down.

  The one farthest to the left noticed her and turned, head cocked for a second before it reached and lunged for her. She sent it reeling backward with a swift kick to its solar plexus, thus creating some distance between her and it. Next, she dodged to the right, stabbing that one in the temple. She was quick to remove the blade. The one that she had kicked backward was close enough to touch her again, and she grabbed it by the arm and spun it into the last one that was still clawing at the truck attempting to reach Red, effectively pinning it. She stabbed the one whose arm she had a hold of. Before the pinned one could spin around, she took it out too. All four creepers had gone down quickly and efficiently, making a small pile beside the truck.

  “Incoming!” Sam yelled, beginning to move with the bat.

  Amanda turned to see another one staggering in with half of its body on fire and the other half crisped to blackened skin and bone, and she knew that more would be soon to follow, but as of yet, she could see no more behind it.

  “Can I have this one?” Sam asked, coming up beside Amanda, looking like she was ready to pounce on it.

  “Go ahead,” Amanda said, realizing that since it was on fire, the bat was probably a better tool to take it out with than the knife anyway.

  “So we’re even at sixteen and sixteen,” Sam said after giving that one a powerful whack that finished it off.

  It was painfully apparent to Amanda that the girl had become an all-out adrenaline junky that was probably not old enough or wise enough to keep herself from getting
into a situation that she couldn’t handle. And she felt a pang of regret for helping to let the girl loose out here when Amanda herself may not be around long enough to help the girl temper her passion to pursue the thrill. Sam would one day become a tremendous asset to their group, and in fact, she had already proved herself to be well on the way. The problem was with what Amanda could see in the girl’s face. Sam walked back, eyes alight with a vengeful adrenaline-fueled fury that as yet knew no boundaries.

  Amanda knew then that without her mentor by her side, the girl would die a horrible death if she couldn’t learn to keep herself in check.

  “That was awesome how you took on four of them like that,” Sam said, still huffing and clearly pumped up.

  “We need to off-load this haul and burn our way around the store before there’s a whole pack coming down on us,” Amanda said, realizing that there was no time to go into a debriefing session right now.

  “Sure thing,” Sam said, jogging past Amanda to reclaim the cart.

  It amazed Amanda that the bedraggled and weary girl of just a few moments ago was now apparently experiencing her second wind. And as much as Amanda thought it wrong to take advantage of the situation, she knew that now was time to get the most out of the girl before the adrenaline buzz wore off and she had a disgruntled teen on her hands again.

  Amanda felt guilty as she went to retrieve the propane tank that she had set down. By all rights, she thought, they should be packed up and headed out by now. She knew that there was something wildly wrong about sticking around to finish the job here when every sensibility inside of her was screaming to leave. But when it came down to it, she considered, she and Sam were not so different after all.

  Chapter 46

  There was no doubt in Amanda’s mind that there would be hell to pay with Sam’s parents when they got back to camp. She had assured Maryanne that she would keep Sam safe, and now they were racing with the empty cart farther into the store to grab a few more of what Amanda considered to be essential items, risking their lives in the process. There was no guarantee that they would make it out of here, not now that the store had begun to fill with smoke and the creepers would be soon to follow by the hundreds.

  Amanda had skirted around the densely populated hub of town before, silently slinking by, noticing the sheer volume of creepers that had congregated in the center of the town. Now all of them and more had converged on the fire, and the fire was converging on them. Sam had no idea just how many there would be arriving here soon, and Amanda hoped that they were fast enough that she never had to see just how risky this move of theirs was.

  The wheels on the cart clattered and rattled until they pulled to a screeching halt in the gardening aisle. Together they loaded eight bags of potting soil, vegetable seeds, a stack of empty five-gallon buckets, some fifty-foot hoses, and two new shovels with shiny orange plastic-covered handles.

  The cart was heavy, and they both pushed it back, stopping long enough for Amanda to grab spools of chain, more rope, and barbed wire, along with two handsaws. This she dumped on top of their load, making it look like the Grinch’s sled that was overloaded with loot from an unsuspecting town.

  Before they made it back to the truck, two more crispy creepers were set to intercept them.

  Amanda instructed Sam to keep pushing the cart while she grabbed one of the shiny new shovels. She beat one of the creepers backward, sending it to the ground but merely momentarily incapacitating it, while she bashed the other one. Finally, before Sam could reach them with the heavily laden cart, she put her foot on the fallen one to keep it from getting up. It grabbed at her sweat soaked jean pant legs, scratching at the fabric, before she put its lights out permanently.

  “Totally cool,” Sam said with awe as she pushed her weight into it, rolling the cart past them, while Amanda worked to wrench her legs free from the clawed fingers that still held onto the fabric.

  For a moment, Amanda wondered what she must look like right now. She had spent months, sensibly, safely working her way around town, sneaking past creepers and raiders, avoiding contact with any of them unless absolutely necessary. And now, here she was throwing caution to the wind to pursue a passionate dream that they might be able to become a self-sustaining community way out there in that desolate desert and trying to accomplish it amidst the threat of fire and hordes of zombies. She wondered if and when it was time to give up a dream to seek higher ground or if she would just continue to madly pursue the impossible into oblivion and drag the girl there too?

  She took a deep breath to try to steady herself in an attempt to regain her sensible sense of equilibrium. Immediately, she began to cough. The air was quickly turning gray, and Sam was gaining ground on her way back to the truck. She jogged to catch up, fighting the urge to continue coughing and hacking along the way.

  Amanda caught up to the girl and threw her nonsizable weight into helping push the cart.

  Unlike the other times, when she had had Sam neatly stack their haul into the back of the moving truck, they began to chuck the items from the cart into the truck. They worked quickly, synchronized, like they had worked together for years, instead of less than a day.

  Before they had finished, three more creepers had found their way in. Sam took out the one that was actively ablaze, and Amanda handled the other two.

  Embers from the fire floated past the entrance, carried by the high winds. Black smoke trickled past, mixed into the quickly graying air. The rush and roar of fire began to hit their ears. It sounded like a hungry ogre that was preparing to eat them.

  Creepers had begun to congregate in the parking lot, shuffling around, bumping into each other, confused by the sheer volume of sound vibrations. Amanda knew that it wouldn’t take them long to steer themselves their way, and with every passing second, more creepers came to join the party. Some of them were alight with fire, and this ignited others that they came in contact with, until it looked like some warped version of a domino chain reaction.

  “We have got to go, now!” Amanda said, shoving Sam toward the front of the truck, before reaching to roll down the door to the moving van.

  She instantly wished that she had just left the back of the truck open, because the sound of the rolling door drew the attention of the quickly gathering horde of creepers.

  Amanda ran toward Sam who was already shoving Red into the passenger seat of her truck.

  “Throw it in reverse, and punch it. Take as many of them out as you can. When you’re completely clear of the store and the creepers, turn it around, and drive as far and as fast as you need to get away from here. I’ll be right behind you,” Amanda said breathlessly while noticing that the creepers were moving in on their location.

  She waited to make sure that Sam had no problem finding the reverse gear before stepping over the fallen creeper bodies, which had already begun to pile up around their vehicles, to dash for her truck. The last thing she had wanted was for Sam, in her haste, to find the drive gear instead of reverse and slam into the back of her truck in the middle of such a crisis. Granted, had she not been pushing them so hard, they wouldn’t have landed in this predicament in the first place. But now there was nothing to be done about the situation, except to hope that Sam and the big rental truck were capable of clearing a path for them to have a way out before they, and all the supplies that they had worked so hard to collect, would be trapped.

  Amanda’s truck fired up immediately, for which she was grateful, even though she hadn’t had much doubt that it wouldn’t. But there was always that little niggling feeling that would creep in at times like this, saying, “Are you sure the truck is going to start?”

  She looked in her rearview mirror to see that Sam was doing the same thing. The girl was staring intently into the large side mirror of the truck that gave her a clear view of what was coming up behind them. Sam appeared to be clutching the steering wheel tightly and was either temporarily immobilized by fear, or she was waiting for something.

  Amanda thre
w caution out the window and laid on her truck’s horn, hoping to snap Sam out of whatever she was finding to be so mesmerizing back there and kick the girl into action, because action was required. The rental truck was a nice, big size, but soon, it would not be big enough, strong enough, or be traveling with enough momentum to push its way out of this parking bay, and they would be trapped in the worst way imaginable by walls of hungry creepers. That event would soon be eclipsed by the arrival of the fire and they would be burnt to a crisp inside their vehicles, probably dying first from smoke inhalation.

  Sam was looking in the mirror, shocked and terrified by what she saw. She had heard Amanda, Roy, and her father speak about the dangers of encountering the hordes in town; but she had always pictured it as being what she had already experienced when their house had been surrounded by creepers on the day that they were liberated and fled from town. This was so much more horrific that she became temporarily paralyzed.

  For a moment, she no longer felt the extreme sensation of being alive and aware; she felt fear tearing at her muscles and causing them to shake. Her legs were shaking so badly that she doubted whether she could get her right foot to push down on the accelerator. Bile rose from the pit of her empty stomach, causing her to have to swallow it back down. She felt it burning at her esophagus even as her arms shook all the way down from her shoulders, until it reached her hands that felt melded to the steering wheel, as if she couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to tear them away if she had to.

  The parking lot behind them was quickly filling with creepers, and fires had begun to spread from one to the other. Smoke was filling the air, depriving her of oxygen even within the closed off cab that she was sitting in. She wondered momentarily if she might not pass out. Red had stopped barking now that she was here, but he was continuing with a slow and rumbling growl that made the threat seem even more real than it looked. She knew now why her parents had been so dead set against her coming to town, why they had said it was far too dangerous. Killing the creepers had become to her a fun-filled sport that had helped to release some of her pent-up anxieties and give her a sense of empowerment. But there was nothing at all empowering about the perilous position that they were in now. She felt helpless to do anything about the approaching fire or the herd of undead as the bile rose again.